Wireless won't turn on

[Skeeter Jenkins]

This is either a case of "planned obsolescence" or an honest problem that just isn't cost effective for HP to alleviate. PCs in general, and HPs in particular, just aren't the same as they used to be.

I'm beginning to experience the same problems as everyone else here. The external switch won't enable wireless detection, and stays in the amber hue. I've sent the machine in for both the wireless and the display before, and after replacing the motherboard that had supposedly burned out, I received the machine back only to go through it all again.

If this currently isn't a large enough problem to cause a profit drop for HP, then people need to start buying from a company that takes its products seriously the first time. All I can say to that end is, "good luck."

[Adrian888]

I GOT A SOULUTION! :D

All you gota do is buy one of thos wireless usp adapters and it will bi-pass the failed chip in your laptop.
I haven't tried it yet because my chip is still in the process of failing, but the tech said this should work.
I hope this makes people happy.

-Adrian

[Jay Levin]

This solution is unfortunately temporary.

The problem appears to be with the motherboard which WILL fail sooner (rather than later). I used the temporary "fix" of a Belkin USB wireless adapter which worked fine for a couple of months - but then the motherboard failed completely.

It now only engages the hard drive from a cold boot with vigorous pressing of F12.

HP want "between 450 to 650" US $ to replace the motherboard which lasted only about 13 months before starting to fail.

[adam we]

I have the same problem with the tx 1320 us. I'm appalled at the lack of integrity HP is showing here. A friend of mine is an attorney with a large firm in Philadelphia, PA - he is doing some discovery to see if the wireless problem qualifies for class action status. He said that the plaintiffs injuries need to exceed 5 million dollars - and if HP's preferred solution is to charge us $400.00 dollars a pop to fix our machines...well I think it will be way beyond 5 million. Hopefully HP will come to their senses and recall the faulty machines.

YOU LISTENING HP????

[FJ SAFRYN]

Hi,
I bought my dv9005 in 11/06 and just got the same problem.

Am now using an external Link Sys WUSB300N card. Works ok for now.

[RickStone]

I just had the same problem with my wife's HP Pavillion dv6000 laptop.

It was working fine, then just stopped recognizing the wireless card. My daughter had been using it, so I was in doubt as to what had/hadn't been done to it software-wise (virus?). So I ran the complete recover to restore everything to the state when it was new.

Still can't recognize the wireless. The indicator light stays orange no matter which position the switch is in.

So I google "HP dv6000" looking for a manual, and the FIRST thing I find is a Recall notice http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&docname=c01087277 Yeah, I know, they're covering their butts by calling it a
"Limited Warranty Service Enhancement" but they basically know that these machines were defective from the date of manufacure. They told me that my machine didn't qualify for the free service because it was 9 months past the warranty extension and tried to get me to shell out $250 for a new mother board.

Maybe I'll try the external wireless card solution, but it sounds like the MB will probably go bad next. I've owned a bunch of HP computers (have four of them working in the house right now) but I'll probably be looking at Dell next time around.

[louis69]

Apparently this is an issue known by Hewlett-Packard and they make no attempt to satisfy their customers by resolving the issue free of charge. I have a D9000 in which the wireless disappeared and when I looked into the control panel I noticed that there was no wireless card. I replaced the drivers, I replaced the wireless card, I updated the bios and I research this issue online to find that some laptops have issues with this sort of problem. I noticed that they extended the warranty on these laptops for one year but after I found out that my warranty expired three months prior to this wireless card expiring itself. I cantacted HP and I was told that if I was to send it out to a computer repair shop, it would cost me 400+ dollars to fix and that HP would fix it for only $250 which I feel is ridiculous. Apparently they've know of this issue and they obviously have it set up so that their customers get screwed because they know this problem will more than likely pop up after the end of expiration. This should apparently be a recall where HP should replace and repair the situation at no expense to their customers.

[DKSF]

Same problem with pavilion tx1000. Restored to factory condition, reinstalled drivers, updated bios, replaced wireless adapter with another original product... nothing made it work. Just called HP, they are willing to fix it for $3xx, f that. I am going to get usb wireless adapter as the remedy to this chronic issue.

[Jay Haward]

Same problem here. Tried everything in the book but light still stays orange,meaning windows can not detect a wireless connection.So I contacted HP Tech Support on the issue and I was appalled by support Techs attitude. He would not help me because my Pavillion dv6458se was out of warranty and I were to spend $2xx to purchase a warranty so he could help or spend a mere $50 now and he could try to troubleshoot on line. But better yet, I was pitched to purchase a new Laptop right then and for sure he would beat any price Best Buy or other big stores could offer. So, I am trying to solve a problem associated with HP's own shortfall and I get to hear a salespitch. Very disappointed with HP.

[odin_2]

Thought I'd add my 2 cents....I've had a DV9000 for something over 2? years now. AMD processor, came with vista 64bit, but I dual boot with, and use almost exclusively, Ubuntu.

Turned on the lappy the other day and I had the same problem. Wireless won't turn on. light just stays orange. Booting to 'doze gives the same thing.

Ordered an intel wireless card thinking that the card went bad, no joy, same thing. So I started searching and found this thread. Looks like I'm SOL same as everybody else.

[taylorwireless]

You need to turn on the wireless in the windows mobility center.

Start>Control Panel> Mobile PC> Windows Mobility Center

It's the top right button which will prob be a button that says "Turn Wireless On" click this

[John W. Carr]

You need to trust the people on here Taylorwireless, this is a hardware problem.

The first thing to buy is a USB Wifi stick, then when the whole machine collapses replace it with anything other than HP/Compaq.

[taylorwireless]

If you're having problems with the orange light and not getting your wireless to turn on even if it thinks is on then try the Windows Mobility Center. Right click on the battery icon and get to it that way.

there might be more problems with other computers but this fixes my problem every time. Try if before sending your's in or buying a new computer

[John W. Carr]

Thanks Taylorwireless but like I said earlier the wireless failing was a wake up to the fact that the whole motherboard is not appropriate. Just after the warranty expired the thing refused to boot. Just 2 clicks from the optical drive and then nothing.

[Anita East]

Thanks, everyone, for the information...good to know the MB's future destination...this is my second HP notebook...same thing. Can get a little more life out of them in their docking stations, for some reason, but docking stations are inconvenient to lug around...

I had a couple of months of down time a few years ago to begin working on my first HP issue...spent lots and lots of time with HP, with no useful results. Owner of two HP notebooks, two HP docking stations, two HP printers...

[Alessandro Orefice]

I just had the same problem. The wireless doesn't work anymore and the permanent orange light.
We have treads here since 2006. Same problem over and over again, no matter the model.

[TAMATHA]

I've only had my hp pavilion for 4 months and my wireless went out, i've tried everything under the sun and nothing worked. I am so not pleased right now, 4 months are u serious.

[louis69]

Common issue that HP is aware of. It is a motherboard defect that usually goes out right after the warranty expires.I was tired of using a USB wireless card and I was disgusted with the results of my customer service. After several calls the only resolution given to me was 300 dollar cost to fix it by replacing the MB. I ended up selling the POS as a parts machine and took a big hit financially. I've been working on computers for almost 10 years and this is not the first time I've had a personal issue with their machines.

[khanna_3]

Just had the same problem with my HP! Wireless card quit working. Called HP and was told that I should be happy that my computer lasted for 4 years. I was first told that I could pay $260 to get the wireless card and MB replaced. I then talked to a supervisor (Andy) who tried to tell me that HP has no corporate office that I could call. I told him he was wrong and he said that they do have a corporate office but they only use email to communicate. He refused to give me an email address and then told me I could go online to get a phone number. I reminded him that my "oh so reliable" HP couldn't connect to the internet. Once I finally got in touch with the corporate office they told me that as of July 31, 2010, they could no longer even work on my computer, so the replacement parts that were offered to me for $260 are no longer available. So pretty much, I'm screwed. But they did offer me a coupon to HP and if I bought a new HP computer today, they would give me an extra year on the extended warranty!

[John W. Carr]

Ooops .... I meant 'khanna'

[Mileslld]

We had two HP6730b's with the same issue. After trying everything posted on line, the fix was to re-install the HP Wireless Assistant v3.5 for Win7, 64.

[Zaheeruddin]

I have the same problem with with my HP Pavilion tx1110us notebook. Downloaded HP Wireless Assistant version 3.50.9.1 (23 July 2009) but no luck. The re-installed HP Wireless Assistant doesn't even open.

Hope someone can find a solution to it.
Peace to all.

[JP Fortin]

Wow!

I also ran into this problem, got the run around from HP, but no resolutions. I have already recommended to my customers the HP Pavillion models and after I have shown them the issues that I ran into with my customer support experience and how widespread it was: the schoolboard changed their orders of 1200 units to another product. I have been using another product for years also and never experienced an issue that cannot be resolved with self-help or a brief call to a human being.

I was proud of our products and now I am just too sad...

[John Wesley Johnson]

I have ran into this problem with several HP dvxxxx models. On more than one occasion, it turned out to be the wireless was disabled in the BIOS. Whether it was from user error, by accidentally turning it off or BIOS upgrades, where is was never turned on. Make sure and check that it is enabled in your BIOS!

[brianzilla]

i'm too excited to go back and figure out the exact way how i fixed, but here it goes:

-when the computer boots up press f10 to go to bios
-under boot devices or something about startup devices, it says something about internal network something...
-i know there were 4 things and of those 4 one of them was 'disabled'. so after enabling it, BAM
-i registered a username to share this for you guys cause there was so much stress around this issue haha. hope this works!