Wireless won't work anymore.

Hi all!

A friend of mine encountered a big problem this morning: his wireless card stopped functioning without him doing anything. He has a DV6227CL laptop. The led near the On/Off wireless switch only lights orange, not blue anymore. The card doesn't even show up in device manager, not even after a fresh Vista install (had to do it anyway).

Any suggestions?

 

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01087277&lc=en&cc=us&product=3340166&dlc=en

They just extended the warranty for repair on certain models, INCLUDING the one you mention above for the problem you mention above. Read the link.

 

Tell him to reinstall the driver for wi-fi card as the driver coming with Vista DVD is not updated and most todays cards need to have updated driver before they can operate under vista properly.

 

You tried to install the Vista driver from HP? I'm assuming it's the 32 bit version of Vista.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...&cc=us&dlc=en&product=3340166&os=2093&lang=en

 

I had the same problem with my dv6000z, the wireless card stopped functioning and didn't even show up in device manager. At first they sent me a new wireless card, but after that didn't work I sent it in and they ended up replacing the motherboard. This is a known issue with HP's, especially the AMD models. If the card isn't showing up in device manager then it is a hardware problem, not software. I would call HP and have them send you a new wireless card, if that doesn't work you will have to send the laptop in and they will probably end up replacing the motherboard. Luckily when I sent mine in they didn't reinstall Windows, which was nice because it saved me from having to redo everything.

Best of luck to ya!

 

I installed the driver from HP's website from the beginning.

After I got through the listed systems in your first link I discovered that my friend's service tag is listed there, so it's eligible for that extended warranty. Do you have any idea where I can find out if it's still under warranty? They say it can be up to 24 months after the initial warranty started, but we don't even know when that started. We need to find out exactly where we stand. Is there a way to find out just by our service tag?

 

When did he buy the laptop? He has to know that, or he can log into HP.com and find out when the purchase was made. If he isn't the original owner, or even if he is, call HP and give talk to them about it. They will know if the laptop is still under warranty (and also if that extended warranty is still covering your friends laptop), and then they can take care of the problem.

 

I found it:

Wty: HP HW Maintenance Offsite Support
Start Date End Date
11 Jan 2007 14 Feb 2008 Expired

From what I understand it's still eligible for the Extended Warranty Support.

 

Wow, 2 weeks too late for the full warranty. Luckily though you should still be eligible for the extended warranty because the wireless is a widespread problem. Give HP a call and give them all the laptop info and take care of it with them.

 

Things aren't so easy. I live in Romania and I don't know if HP will tell me to send it here in Bucharest or in the US. Heck, I don't even know which one would be the fastest solution: sending the laptop to US or to Bucharest and waiting for repair.

 

I had the same problem They sent me a new card, I reinstalled everything under the sun and they even replaced the MB....nothing!!! This is a known problem and HP knows it.
They sent me a new computer (Intel based instead of AMD/Apollos based) and so far I have not had a problem.

Also, somewhere I read that the removal of the Norton "bloatware" kills the Wifi function.....by any chance did he remove the Norton trial S/W?

Other than that, send it back, it's a known issue. I can PM you the phone # for the managers hotline if nedded.

 

So, "Very long story short". If you think your wifi card is broken.
Go into manage wifi connections properties and make sure they have not changed to some strange numbers and the automatic feature has not turned off.


We removed Norton bloatware though the Vista uninstall menu. Wifi continued to work fine.

Now for the long story.

After months of using the PC.
Now! Something else just happend to us when we tried to add a Linksys game adapter to the network. Very strange. Almost like a ghost in the machine issue. Becuae all we did is plug the game adaper into the XBOX. Never touched the laptop at all. Our WIFI card seemed to have broke.

This is what broke our WIFI connection to the network and internet.
First all we did is turn on the computer. We then went to the linksys website to check for updates. Wifi was working fine.

We then plugged the xbox into the game adaper.

Next we went back to the computer. Checked network map though network and sharing center. Only thing we saw was no networks found. Not knowing much about this stuff. We just went back and removed the game adapter. Figuring maybe it was jamming signals or something Hee Hee.

No joy. Still no network connection. Then we went into manage network connections. WE saw a big red X over WIFI networks.
Next we went into Device manger. The WIFI card was still listed.
Didn't know what to do. So we rebooted. Still no Wifi network access.
We then disabled the card though device manger and then turned it back on.
This still didn't work. We began to panic.

Look though some of our old notes.
Told us to do a command line ipconfig /all
From what I understand. List the ip address and port numbers and what they should be.
We did and saw a number under ip4 something like 160.128.x.x instead of 192.168.x.x.
Very strange. Thinking maybe we were hit by a virus. Or someone hacked into the network.

The next thing we did was to go back into "manage Network Connections" and check the Wifi properties under TCPIP Version 4.
The screen came up and showed use the following IP addresses. 160.128.x.x instead of Obtain address automatic.

Next we deleted that address and selected to Obtain address automatically.
selected "Ok" "Ok". There was about 2 seconds where the computer just locked up. It came back to life with a blunk noise.
The red x on the wifi connection was gone. We were once again able to connect to the network.

Next we wanted to make sure GA caused this. So, we plugging in the game adapter once again. . Guess what? That's right. It broke WIFI again and changed the settings on my laptop back to the same strange ones as before.

I was told by a couple of people that this is a known bug in Windows Vista. If Vista sees a WIFI IP conflict on machines that have internet connection sharing turned on. The machines will just turn off the Automatic IP feature.

So, "Very long story short". If you think your wifi card is broken.
Go into manage wifi connections properties and make sure they have not changed to some strange numbers and the automatic feature has not turned off.

Good Luck

 

The main differences between my situation and yours are:

1. My card doesn't show in Device Manager anymore.
2. The wireless button shows orange in either position.

When I get my hands on that laptop again, tomorrow, I will try what you said, but I doubt it'll work, as I said, the card isn't in the Device Manager.

 

This is part of the massive problems HP laptops have. Warranty is extended to two years and you can join a class action lawsuit as well.

See this link which will help detail your problems along with the extended warranty... Remember to never buy an HP again...

http://www.topix.com/forum/computers/hp/T0MJR4DP7135S7QA6

 

I'd buy again, but Intel instead of AMD.

 

Actually, I would buy HP again. Their CS was fabulous, they never gave me a problem or an attitude and were always willing to help.

I can't say that for some other large computer manufacturers...I won't mention any names. All electronics have QC problems to a certain point....it's how those companies handle the problem that is more important than anything. HP exceeded my HIGH expectations of how the problem should have been handled. They gave me a better computer, larger HD and more hardware at no extra charge....OH, and a BIG apology!!! I can't complain.