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View Full Version : Your Opinion: HP dv6000-HP Aus play dumb, HP USA recall



Bucky Ball
November 18th, 2009, 06:43 PM
Hi all,

Really keen to get people's opinions about this - especially anyone who has had problems with any of the HP series, been effected by the following issues and/or has had their machine repaired under this particular service enhancement (see link below) - as I'm wondering where I should go with it all.

This is the situation. At the start of October 2009, the wireless card in my HP Pavillion dv6305us just up and died. With a little research I quickly discovered there was a recall in the States and just tonight discovered there is one in the Asia Pacific region, too (meaning Australia, which is where I am).

The first symptom on the HP page for this issue is exactly what happened to me: wireless card 'disappears' as if no longer even in the machine (lspci and Windows device manager show nothing). On further trawling I discovered the card wasn't the issue (one case of someone putting theirs in another HP machine and it worked perfectly) but a motherboard issue. I emailed HP Australia with a couple of links full of HP user posts which told the whole story of the issue and a link to HP's own service enhancement page (see below) outlining all symptoms. They promptly replied that they'd be happy to replace the card ... at cost!

I replied saying they didn't read too well because it is a motherboard issue. That was known. It ping pong-ed like this for almost the whole of October until finally HP Australia advised me they were sorry about any inconvenience and would be happy to replace the motherboard this time rather than the wireless card ... at cost! Well, it was something different to their last six emails where they'd tried to charge me $200+ for a wireless card they knew wouldn't fix the problem, and also perhaps some kind of indirect admission it wasn't a wireless card problem at last? I ended up telling them not to email me anymore. I was going to go further with this when I had the time. It was a b****y insult! Right from the start they made like I had no idea and sent me fixes that desparate HP users had already published online yonks ago (with pictures; even better).

So I just a week ago bought a great little wireless dongle (OpenNetworks i306w) to cover for the dead card, plugged it in and worked straight away. Great. But soon after the hard wire connection went down. Hmm. That's nothing. Shutdown, boot up and the progress bar locks mid-glide and the caps lock starts flashing. Timing: the busiest part of the uni year. That little problem was gonna have to wait.

I hand in my final assignment and uni, for me at least, is finished for the year, so I spend two days trying to fix my dv6305us and with no warning what ever the motherboard dies completely. Reboot and black screen. Power lights come on, machine whirrs for about twenty seconds trying to boot then powers off and restarts to a black screen, ad infinitum. I had wasted two days because I realise now there was no way I was going to be able to fix it as the MB was slowly dying.


*

Here's where I'd like some opinions and advice from the good folk of the forum. My laptop, being the HP dv6305us, is covered for service enhancement (read motherboard replacement) in America, the EXACT model and product #RV005UA:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...87277_identify (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3370281&docname=c01087277#c01087277_identify)

And even though there an identical service enhancement being offered in the Asia-Pacific region (and everywhere else by the looks), it does not cover the dv63**; only goes as far as the dv62**:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...roduct=3370281 (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01296338&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=au&lang=en&product=3370281)

So if I was Stateside it would be covered because it is a known issue but in Australia I'm screwed. That can't be right. Problem is, could be screwed anyway because they are offering the repair for up to 24 months AFTER the start of the warranty period which, for me, would be any time before July 2009 ... I'm three months out by beginning of October 2009 when this whole sad mess started.

Where do people think I should go with this, if anywhere? Have I got a hope in hell of getting any joy out of HP Australia? Should I find out where HP Headquarters are and give them notice of my intentions?

I have the time right now and taking this further; it's one of the projects that's been sitting on the back-burner until the holidays arrived. I'm willing to go to the media!! But before I do I will be seeking legal advice to see if I've a leg to stand on. I registered the machine when I bought it and there was about six months warranty left then. It was in December 2007. I've had it for 23 months and it is dead. For AU$1300, not really happy, in fact totally appalled, and will be steering near HP in future at this rate. :-(

What do people think?

ps: thanks for letting me get this off my chest. It just died a few hours ago. ;-)

pps: Ha, that last ps sounds like I've just lost a pet rather than a laptop! If that was the case I'd be drunk by now!! lol =P~