Where to Post your Pavilion Questions and Problems

[Jamie Hughes]

Hello Everyone,

There seem to be a lot of Pavilion specific questions being posted in the Microsoft forum so I wanted to let everyone know about the Pavilion forums that are available at the Customer Care website. The Pavilion forums are an excellent place to find answers and post questions about your Pavilion-specific issues. Please visit their forums at:

http://forum.support.hp.com

You will also find other useful forums at this site including JetDirect, DeskJet, LaserJet, Vectra/Kayak/Brio, etc.

Happy posting,
Jamie Hughes

[Tim Malnati]

Just an FYI... The Pavillion forums work in a different manner than what we are used to here. The forums are moderated which means that any response has to be reviewed by someone in HP before it is posted in the forum. 24 hours is somewhat typical for the turn-around, but I have seen it longer. In effect this eliminates any responses from anyone but HP support people. It is somewhat similar with what you would experience in a phone support call (when you can get through!). Not much more than a one-on-one communication that is slow at best, and the quality of the support tech may be good, or may not.

In many ways the ITRC forums have 'rasied the bar'. It's not uncommon for people to get a response in less than an hour and the points system promotes interaction. There is still a question in terms of quality, but there is a good chance that errors are noticed and corrected by others participating. Maybe HP should revisit the forum methodology on the other side of the house??? The fact of the matter is that people are looking for solutions to their problems in a minimum of time.

[Tim Malnati]

One more thing... It's not unusual for your answer on the Pavillion forums to be nothing more than directing you to telephone in with your issue instead!

[Michael Patrick]

When I bought my Pavilion 8775C the salesman told me it would be no problem upgrading to W2K (I use server rather than pro) and I also checked with MS for compatability. It would be nice if HP would put any disclaimers as to OS compatability and Support somewhere prominent on the box.
So far I have found Riptide drivers for the audio side of the Conexant modem and have that part working. No joy on the modem side though. I searched until I found the correct drivers for the modem from conexant (no mean feat, their sight is chaotic). I am sure I have the right driver as I interrogated the WinME side of my machine rather extensively and got all the appropriate info. Modem queries fine in diagnostics but am unable to connect. Called HP and they danced around as to support and pointed me at Microsoft. If HP doesn't want to support W2K then why give me drivers for it on the CDs I got with the system. Anyway, HP Support was a somewhat joyless experience. Will try 7th-eclipse drivers next in the continuing search for something that works. Kinda makes me feel like I should have bought another brand. I don't understand why PC manufacturers and even ISPs like AOL refuse to support Windows NT 4.0 to 2000. There are a vast number of users out there who want an OS with some beef to it in the Windows world. Sorry to say but WinME is as challenged as it's hybrid ancestors. The Conexant Modem/Audio card is probably one of the more difficult pieces of hardware I have worked with in my 30 years of hardware/software experience. I would have been willing to pay a little more for something that was compatible with the rest of the world.