I bought it a couple of years ago: dv1049cl, the beauty. Mine had 1.5GHz Intel Pentium M processor, 512M of RAM, CD/DVD RW combo drive, 3 USB ports, 6-in-1 flash card reader, Wifi (802.11g + BT), 60GB hard drive space, harman/kardon speakers (they are really cool) .. Would you expect anything more from the notebook?
Yes – reliable hardware.
It all begun after almost five months of intensive usage. USB port, the one in the most comfortable place (top-right corner of the keyboard) went West.. After a call to my supplier, I found out that this can be fixed very easily – the USB port together with TV-out is a tiny element connected to the motherboard which can be simply replaced. I have never fixed this. I never have time to leave my notebook for maintenance – I’m a SysAdmin. Never mind about that USB port, I have two more!
Next – the flash card reader. From the very beginning it seemed very suspicious: one day it works, the other – it just stops responding; it loves one card but hates the other cards; works fine after reboot, but freezes after some hours of usage. Anyways, I got all that fixed by accidentally leaving my MMC for two hours in a dock – the card (and the reader) got so hot, I could barely separate them. After this event, the card reader never worked again. I called my supplier to register the second fault and I was told that in order to fix this, my motherboard needs to be replaced. I have never replaced it – I never leave my notebook for maintenance.
What’s next? The screen. After about 700 of open-ups and 700 of close-ups (usually I open a notebook twice a day) LCD became jittery and unpredictable: first, the light – it gained some intelligence and started turning off whenever tired (in order to turn it back on, I had to reopen the screen); second – the power loss. If I accidentally move my screen, the notebook accidentally reboots (yes, the notebook is battery-backed so it’s not a supply wire problem). I did not call my supplier. What’s the point? I will not leave my notebook for maintenance. I never do.
Then – the ESD (Electro Static Discharges). It started as soon as we moved to the new carpeting coated office. I know I’m not the only one suffering from this – even desktops have ESD problems in that kind of environment. However, I was the only one in the office who’s notebook rebooted every time I stepped to it. Luckily, I found one spot where the discharge does not reboot the notebook – it’s the very bottom-right corner of the notebook (near the “harman/kardon” sign). I don’t work in a carpeting coated office anymore, but a habit to touch the “harman/kardon” first has remained.
Now, the battery and the power supply. Yes, the battery passed away (just three days ago). How did this happen? In a very strange way: a week ago the notebook became very rude – sometimes it just won’t power on, sometimes it starts for one second, for three, for a minute and sometimes (just like now) – I can use it all-day-long. Anyways, after about a hundred of hangs, I found battery charge led (and a battery icon) blinking. I plugged off the power supply chord, the battery discharged and it have never recharged again.
Notebook hangs continue, thought. Sometimes I can’t turn it on for an hour, sometimes – for a whole evening. It may hang after twenty minutes of usage, it may not. Think that’s an electricity issue? Even if it is, it must be HP related as the notebook lives together with Sony Vaio, Toshiba Satellite and a Gateway. They are all safe and sound.
Next notebook? I’ll give MacBook a shot.
9 comments ↓
Gues my first Notebook is HP or not?
But I’m happy, no problems yet 
I was happy too. So, how many days do you have it so far? You’re sayin’, no problems. So I guess no more than 60
[...] blog « Why I would never buy HP notebook again 24 01 [...]
I have a HP notebook DV1040 and one by one all the USB ports stopped working!!!iIt has 3 ports. HP says that in order to fix this Ill have to take the computer back to the US where I bought it!!!!
Noe I cannot use a mouse or an external hard drive, the computer is disabled!!!How can such a large company have such poor support (It took about 10 phone calls to finally speak to someone who told me to go from India to the US as they dont support this model in India!!!!
First 3 out of 3 USBs fail, the computer is disabled and then negative support!!it seems that my vote is HP SUC_S!!!! Buy something else
totally agree with that..
i have to keep pressing on the the handheld panel to make the f__king HP laptop continue to work; definitly an hardware problem even without using any brain cells, but those “service representatives” asked me to re-install winxp… That’s quality service …
Well, I guess I am not the only one. Its comforting and not so too that there have been others before me. Not so coz there seems to be no good customer service. Dell is superb on that front. I too use dv1040 or near about bought in Singapore
My first USB (top right hand corner) conked a year ago after 6 months of intensive use. Now, the one on the left is slowly getting there (you might wonder 1 year is a long time – Man, I have taken so much care of that port that my wife does not touch my computer anymore coz i would yell at her if she went near it) Today, out of frustration of frequently plugging and unplugging my mouse to get it to work, i have given up and plugged it into the final USB port – the one I left for an emergency. I use flash drives often and I need that. I am terrified that soon it will conk from use.
That said, I love the HP laptop. The keyboard layout is very nice and until now I have had no issues with battery life or with screen.
I never leave my laptop with any one else, not even a service rep, so thats out of the question. I am seriously considering moving to Dell (it sucks as well, but hell, they are cheap and they come to your door step for service in 1 day). I guess even if it conks 10 times during its lifetime and I am sure it will, its worth it.
But I will miss my HP laptop!
p.s. why do they place the USP ports at positions where they could be subject to shoves. They could have placed them at the back and it would have been fine.
Don,
right these dv1k series laptops look and feel really really cool (well, at least I thought so before I got my first macbook) unfortunately the hardware and support do not. And as for USB ports at the back – I hate that when I’m using my notebook in bed or when I’m trying to blindly plug in something (MacBooks have them on the left, so it does not concern them). Actually I broke a couple of USB flash memory keys with laptop in bed
I am writting this comment on a HP pavillion with three non working USB ports. It didn’t take much brain power to figure out that this must happen all the time to anyone who doesn’t treat their laptop like it was a bomb set to explode if it were to actually be moved around a bit. I may try to get it repaired somewhere, but that makes the actual price of the computer not such a bargain. Not to mention the fact that I can’t really do anything in the mean time. I suspect these comments are the tip of a very large iceberg of broken HP usb ports.
To read more stories from other unhappy HP customers, check out:
http://www.unhappyHPcustomers.blogspot.com
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