DV8T Christmas Gifts, Bad Stanta

I just retured my order to HP. Here's what I had ordered. Two of each!

• DV8T Laptops
• Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
• i7-720QM Processor
• 8GB DDR3 System Memory
• 500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive
• 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 230M
• 18.4" diagonal High Definition HP Ultra BrightView Infinity Display
• Lightscribe Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer
• Webcam + Fingerprint Reader
• Intel Wireless-N Mini-card with Bluetooth
• Lithium Ion Battery
• Microsoft(R) Office Professional 2007
• XB4 Docking Station
• USB Video Dock 2.0

Day 1
I got the order a week ago on Saturday 12/19/2009. Shipping was fast and everything showed in good solid shape. There was no evidence of any physical damage to anything. I unpackaged the first set and everything seemed to be fine. I setup the XB4 and the USB Video dock and installed the laptop. I booted it up and it seemed to work fine. Everything installed just fine and I was able to get it on the network and joined to my domain. Using three monitors I was able to expand the desktop and use all of them. I installed Comodo backup software and did a complete backup of everything thing. No issues.
Day 2
First time use on day 2 and I found the laptop have no video. Moved the mouse and keyboard and nothing responded. The video would not wake up. Remote pings from my old ThinkPad timed out. Powered the system down and it restarted from the crash menu. The remainder of the day the laptop stopped responding on three different occasions. The video would go blank, the fan shut off and the speakers crackled. The mouse or the keyboard would not respond the remote pings would time out. Each time it required a power off and on to get it working again.
Days 3-6
I called Hp's tech support and they had me update the system rom to V.12. Throughout the week it was much of the same routine again with the laptop stopping and having to power it off.
Day 7
I called Hp tech support again and they couldn't resolve the issue. I ended up contacting the return department to have it exchanged. Oh BTW, don't use "Bill Me Later"! They wouldn't help process the exchange which "Screwed Me Later" out of the 6 month interest free financing. That same day I unpackaged DV8T#2 and began to set it up. That laptop had all kinds of setup issues. The USB Video Dock wouldn't load the graphic card due to Windows 7 blocking the drive and I had to go do HP's Vendors website to download it. Also the wireless network adaptor stopped working after I installed Itunes and it took three reboots to get it working again. I'll say I spend a total of 5 hours getting DV8T#2 setup. While all that was going on I noticed an issue with DV8t#1. If I tapped on the case or moved the laptop in any way the video screen would go blank, the fan would shut down and the speakers would crackle. Hmmmm
Day 8 - 10
Same issues with DV8t#2. No video from time to time after I let the computer site for a few hours. Then the tap test confirmed that this laptop was also bad. It even did it in the RBSU F10 and F2 Diagnostics. I ended up calling Hp again. This time I'm having the entire order returned.

From what it looks like on Hp's community forum several people with DV8T laptops purchased in the month of December are having the same issue.

Guess I'll check out Lenovo's site tonight to see what they have to offer.

 

I hope you have a better experience with Levono.

 

Not sure about thermal management design on DV8, but if it's like DV5 and
DV6, it might be a good thing you're considering other "offerings"

 

The dv7/dv8 with i7/nvidia230m are new models and it would probably take a few bios revisions or hardware revisions to iron out all bugs. I am happy i got the last gen dv7 with 0 problems although i am also a little jealous of the i7 performance. I am thinking about swapping the p7350 to a faster cpu later on since the prices on the P8xxx/P9xxx/Qxxxx have gone down a lot but i'm not sure what cpu's would work in my dv7.

 

The coolers are actually quite good on the larger laptops. I doubt he is having a thermal issue there, it's simply the price to pay for getting new tech. It's always like that for early adopters.

 

Yes I just meant that after getting burned, it's a good idea to look for "greaner pastures".

Steph, you got one of those 45nm 25 Watts TPD CPUs I envy YOU!

 

Using three monitors I was able to expand the desktop and use all of them
Can you tell how you were able to activate all three monitors in same time? I can get only 2 in same time
thx