HP Pavilion DV6000 Laptop Wireless Failure – HP Says 1 in 7 Affected

— Technology

If your wireless is failing for no reason on your HP Pavilion DV6000 laptop, call HP before your warranty runs out. An HP tech admitted that 1 in 7 of them require motherboard replacement to fix the problem. Not a BIOS upgrade or drivers.

[UPDATE] – It has now been released that the problem was possibly due to faulty heat handling on the NVidia G84 and G86 parts. The BIOS update, listed in the extended warranty, simply changes how the fan operates. That should give your product about enough time to function before the warranty runs out.

You should call HP to get your laptop serviced if your laptop is exhibiting the following behavior

  • Wireless device no longer recognized
  • Wireless switch doesn’t work
  • Wireless will not come back after shutting down or going into a sleep mode

The HP Pavilion DV6000 is a fairly popular laptop. Available at many retail outlets and online, it happens to be the one that I decided to purchase just under a year ago.

It’s a decent machine and the price was right. My particular model is a DV6436nr that I picked up at Best Buy. After removing Vista and installing Ubuntu, the laptop was running rather well. However, the wireless was spotty at best.

I assumed that it was due to the difficulties that can occur with wireless and Linux. I followed all of the guides and installed all the drivers. Yet for some reason, my wireless just seemed to be getting worse. Eventually, the device would only work when it felt like it. I decided to go ahead and install Windows XP and see if I could get it working in that OS. No dice. My laptop was still within warranty so I decided to start looking around to see if anyone else was having this problem.

It wasn’t long before I came across this lengthy thread at the HP site. In it, “Anna” from HP says that updating the BIOS will fix the problem:

“Hi, it’s Anna from HP Total Care,

I’m sorry some of you are having trouble with your wireless WLAN not detecting your wireless network and not displaying in your device manager. The issue appears to be affecting AMD based Dv6000, v6000 and Dv9000 notebooks running Microsoft Windows Vista.

We’ve got a BIOS update and some instructions on getting this resolved. If the BIOS update does not resolve the issue, please contact HP support and we will help facilitate a repair.

Please do not try replacing your wireless card or inserting a third party wireless modules as some have suggested here on this forum. This will not resolve the issue and is in violation of FCC regulations.

[…Instructions on how to install the BIOS update…]

I hope this is helpful. Please let me know if you have any further questions and we’ll work to respond personally or on the forum as best we can.

Anna”

This solution was garbage and yielded no results. The switch on the front was basically useless and the device simply was not being recognized any longer. Frustrated, I searched further and found that this is a much more prevalent problem than I originally thought. Even ZDNet posted an article about the failure.

I eventually called HP to get my laptop repaired. As indicated in other posts, the solution is a motherboard replacement.

Here’s the kicker: the customer service agent who helped me when I called HP said:

“Yea, there’s about 1 in 7 laptops that are affected. But, there’s no way to tell which ones they are and that’s not enough to do a recall.”

Wow. The worst part is: the problem is hard to diagnose due to the fact that the device only works half the time. Instead of it being a problem with the wireless, or the drivers, or the BIOS, it’s a problem with the motherboard.

I’ll admit: the repair process was painless. They sent me a box overnight with shipping labels and I had my laptop back in a week or so. But come on HP: if 1 in 7 devices are failing and it’s hard to detect, help the consumer out and let them know.

Until then however, you can call HP at 800-474-6836.

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  • Ann

    time to start a class action suit. any attorneys out there?

  • Chris

    wow – i must admit i’m not too happy that i’ve got this problem with my dv6119us. purchased the same month as rob b (dec 2006) but now that i know what the problem is (a faulty motherboard), i can’t say i’m furious, and nor do i think joining a class action lawsuit over a 3 year old computer is right.

    those of you getting jerked around while the computer is still under the manufacturers one year parts and labor warranty or close to it are getting a raw deal, but everyone else who thinks hp sucks because of this? come on. from your car to your refrigerator to your socket wrench, they give you a warranty for a reason. hp even extended it to two years -for free-. how many pieces of junk technology fail everyday?

    yeah I’ll buy hp again, they’ve been fair to deal with. Pick a brand and a product, and somebody hates them with a burning passion over how they were done wrong. i’ve seem so much whining and feet stomping over the past two days while looking for a solution to this problem, I’m amazed that our society hasn’t collapsed from unrealistic expectations. but maybe its started doing that now.

  • Jill

    Just wanted to say thank you for all the information regarding the dv6000 HP Pavilion. Wireless wasn’t working; spent significant hours trying to figure it out. Called HP and they wanted $260 to fix it; told me the free fix expired. Purchased the USB wireless adapter for $30 and it has been working so far! THANKS!

  • I am having same problem, laptop not included in enhanced warranty program, but still need solution….

  • Robert

    I am so glad that many DV6000 series Pavilion laptops were repaired by HP. However, the TX1000 series of laptops uses the same defective motherboard and has the same problems as the Dv6000 series and no recall or repair program was instituted by HP. The motherboard HP part number is 441097-001, the same as used by the Dv6000 series. I ordered a motherboard to repair a HP Pavilion tx1327cl. When I placed the order I was required by HP to provide the unit’s serial number and product number. The replacement part costs over $400.00! I installed the replacement motherboard and discovered that it was not correctly configured for a tx1327cl but rather a tx1250eg. The BIOS needed to be tattooed, that is a special HP utilility called HPsetCfg is need to change the BIOS serial and product numbers. Why is this important? If you try to restore the system from a HP System Restore DVD, the system will be setup as a tx1250eg. If you try to restore the system from the user made restore disks, an error message occurs, “Disks not for this machine”. I spent many hours on the phone with HP support explaining this problem and I was directed to a case manager. The case manager explained that I should have sent the notebook to HP for repair and there was nothing that could be done to resolve the problem. I came up with my own solution: I contested the parts purchase with my credit card company and requested a full refund since the part HP provided did not correct the problem as it was the wrong part for a tx1327cl. HP is not short for Hewlett Packard, it REALLY means Hopeless Products. Our IT group will never purchase HP products nor recommend them to any of our clients. HP you are the new Packard Bell and very soon we will be reading about you going bankrupt! Thanks for nothing HP.

  • every day computer technology is getting better and better and yet this is one great example of a great technology , if i would go 5 years back from now i would not even know what this is all about but thanks for posting this great information .

  • Jennifer Reci

    The same issue just occurred on my dv9410us laptop. Downside is my laptop is out of warranty (by 7 months), so the replacement motherboard is going to cost $399. This should be a recall if it is a known problem and I will pursue HP to request that this faulty motherboard be replaced since it is a known issue. If all else fails, I won’t be buying another HP and will opt for an Apple instead. Very dissapointed.

  • I think you need to replace motherboard as there is something here stated here.. It might solve the problem.

  • Sam

    Dear does dv 6000 have bluetooth

  • Ray

    My dv6436nr is having the same problems as everyone else. I purchased it in July 2007 and the original problems began in oct 2008. I sent it back to HP and they replaced the motherboard and sent me a new power cord. I was out of my 1 yr warranty and this particular laptop was not covered under the Warranty Servie Enhancement Program for whatever reason, but HP fixed it for free anyway. Two months ago it started doing the same thing again: the wireless adapter would disappear from the device manager and the wireless would work about 2% of the time. I called HP about 5 times and eventually was elevated to a Case Manager. Although she was really nice, she said the could not do anything for me. Tonight…I got the black screen of death. When I push the power button, the key lights will glow for 1 second then nothing happens.

    I am in the process of filing a complaint with the Attorney General’s Office for the State of WA for fraud and unfair business practices by HP. HP is very aware of he problem with the dv2000/6000/9000 laptops, but has done little to fix it. I’m so tired of waiting for HP to do the right thing, that I am going to go at them. Pending the decision by the AG’s office, I plan to file a small claims suit seeking the return of money that I paid for the laptop. Only when HP realizes that cannot weasel out of doing what’s right by their consumers will they step up. Let your voice be heard and contact your AG office now. The more people that file a complaint, the more likely an AG will move forward with a lawsuit.

  • I think you need to replace motherboard as there is something here stated here.. It might solve the problem.

  • Francis

    My HP DV6000 is fairly ok but has so many freaking glitches. Ok well i started using it with vista.. it worked fine after a while. Eventually, i got to a point where my laptop had whats known as the “blank screen” when you can turn it out and the buttons at the top light up but the screen stays blank.. i had to go to youtube and watch videos on how to fix it.. it was working fine, then the sound problem. where the speakers dont work but headphones work. this also can be solved by looking at tutorials. on youtube why is HP having ALL these difiiculties.

  • Купил сей девайс в США. Всё круто, не обрадовал драйвер для wi-fi, которого, ну ооочень уж трудно найти. А так всё классно!

  • I purchased a HP DV 6000 about 2 years ago from Future Shop. I was in the USA for a few months and whilst there I experienced problems with my wireless device. My computer failed to connect to the internet and the wireless device was malfunctioning. I called HP in the USA and they informed me that there was a recall on the computer. I informed them that I will send it to them and they said that I must return it to the dealer Futute Shop in Canada. When I returned to Canada I went to Futureshop to return the computer. They confirmed that I had an extended warranty. A week later they told me that the wireless device was faulty and that I had spilled water on the computer which destroyed the motherboard. I denied ever having spilled water on my computer and challenged them to replace or repair my computer. I am now seriously thinking of taking them to court. If anyone has experienced a similar problem please let me know and we can all launch a class action law-suite against these thieves, including HP. I will fund the litigation.

    Thanks
    Vicky Singh

  • andreas admassu

    hey my dv6439nr does the same thing it turns blue whenever it wants to(like it needs somekind of movement) and goes back amber again… i am in a 3rd world country so warranty and contacting hp are of no use any one with a suggestion …. please i want to download lost

  • The issue with the DV2000, DV6000, DV9000, and TX1000 laptops happens to be both your fan, video memory, and video card.

    If you update your BIOS that will help with the overheating, and update your video card drivers directly from Nvidia for the GO6150 series.

    If you do not update these files, you will need to have a BGA reflow service to fix your chipsets to restore your wireless and video. What will happen is you will get no video, all blue lights, and the system will cycle on and off every 1 to 2 minutes.

    Check http://www.doubleclickittofixit.com/about.html

  • Eliza

    I got this laptop just over 2 years ago. After about 6 months it wouldn’t turn on properly, so I had to reboot it. Then, after about a year the fan blew out. Now it over heats ridiculously quickly. I have got through 3 chargers, which cost ALOT. Now, my 3rd charger is getting bad, and it is hard to keep connection. My laptop does not charge so it has to be plugged in permanently, and on the rare occasions it does fully charge the battery life is around 5-10 minutes. It regularly turns off, really suddenly. Especially if the charger slips out, instead of letting my resume my work as it used to it restarts and sets the date back to 2006. It also makes strange noises and the sound goes all “robotic”. Now, the wireless won’t work, so I did some incestigation and found that it was the error ID 6100, googled it and hit a goldmine with the amount of comments on here. The amount I have payed getting this laptop fixed (the screen also beccame wonky) I could have bought another one. And just for the record, I am only 14 years old. I have seriously wasted so much money on this, I have a right mind to disemble it and sell the parts that do work, and buy a new laptop.

  • I am corey and i am using this notebook from last 8 months. I bought itr for $ 650 from e-bay. I found this laptop as an convenient laptop for all purposes like, gaming, watching movies, and for all other purposes. You must refer to http://www.onlinenotebook.com for updates.

  • jessica

    i’ll admit this laptop seems to have really documented issues, which is kinda not cool! it starts getting super hot and shutting itself down, i look it up and low and behold it’s a common problem. my wireless suddenly disappears, i say what model it is and the computer smart people are just like oh no! happens with the dv6000. to be fair, they just took out and put back in my card and the wireless came back, and they did suggest either getting a new card or one of those usb things u can insert; who gives a crap about fcc guidelines on wireless cards anyway

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  • William

    Go to youtube and watch the “dv6000 reflow”. I did it (myself) and it works. It fixed EVERY problem I ever had with this piece of $hit…. In 2 years, I’ve had 2 mother boards replace and every other “fix” the HP suggested. All “fixes” were a waste of time and money and were only temporary,,,, at best. It is an overheating problem caused by bad design.

  • John

    Is this Class Action Lawsuit related to this issue?

    NVIDIA reaches settlement in class action suit affecting Apple, Dell, HP laptops

    http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/30/nvidia-reaches-settlement-in-class-action-suit-affecting-apple/

    John

  • I happened to take a look at your site and wondered if you’ve checked your site for your rankings for your top keywords. You have decent rankings for them. Excellent work on the site.

  • Well, I have had the same problems with my dv6000 (6140) series notebook, purchased new in Feb. ’07 ($1200) from Staples. I bought the 2-year warranty at the time, another $120. The MB was replaced in July ’08 (through the Staples 2 year warranty) although HP had secretly extended their warranty on the faulty MB to 2 years and never told their customers. So basically, I spent money on a warranty package that was unnecessary because Staples didn’t have to pay for the fix. The replacement MB was guaranteed for a year. So, 18 months later….. In Jan ’10 the MB began acting up again; first symptoms: no sound, no microphone although the speaker and mic jacks work fine; next symptom: occasional WiFi disconnect; and in Sept ’10 a more recent symptom: doesn’t always boot — all lights – no action and it goes through a series of auto re-starts until I finally hold the on/off button down to kill the sequence. It does fire up about once in 20 tries. I have called HP Help on several occasions, like others, and gotten the same stupid replies… “out of warranty”. As of last week, they won’t even fix it at MY expense. In other words, HP is completely distancing itself from this product. Spoke to a case manager last week… same stuff, although as a gesture of good faith, she extended the 1-year warranty on my 2 teenagers’ HP dv6’s for 2 years. Big deal, but considering HP’s track record, they might just need it! Bottom line… I removed the hard drive and transferred all my data files and folders to another computer (a non-HP desktop); saved all e-mail messages and contacts by e-mailing them to myself (using another e-address) as attachments; again sent to my in-box on the other computer. Then I began to do the research on dv6000 issues and have read dozens of threads like this one. I cannot be bothered with replacing the MB myself even though I could buy one from eBay and I am capable and have the required tools. I will not purchase HP again. Curiously, I have had good experience with HP in the past but this experience has left me totally cold. My bigger concern is that I like the XP operating system and one of my critical business programs ( I am a real estate broker) will not work with Vista/Windows 7. So I’m stuck, unless I can figure out how to dump Windows 7 and install XP on my next notebook. Any recommendations on a RELIABLE notebook? I am interested in the outcome of the NVIDIA lawsuit and my notebook is one of the affected ones that are the object of the class-action lawsuit. However, I am Canadian, living in Canada and cannot benefit from any settlement in favour of HP’s USA customers. If there are other Canadians folllowing this thread, I’d be interested to read of your experiences. Also, if there’s a Canadian lawsuit in the works, I’ll jump on that bandwagon in an instant. You are welcome to e-mail me here: morten@royallepage.ca

    Smile… it could be worse!

  • To William (Sept. 10 posting)…
    You are absolutely right. THIS IS NOT A MOTHERBOARD PROBLEM.

    My dv6140 has been completely fixed by “The PC Pitstop” located in AVON, NY (south of Rochester), for $75.00. Here’s their website: http://www.AvonPcPitstop.com and their YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2jPq8Qf6g0

    They “reflowed” the solder beneath the GPU, applied a better bonding agent and installed small copper plates to diffuse the heat (and threw away the foam crap that was preventing the heat from being dispersed). They also replaced 2 of the inferior quality cables that had cracked (because of the heat) and, as a result, restored the audio and mic functions that had been “lost”. These guys are GREAT.

  • Donna

    Just came across this thread. I purchased a dv6000 in Jan. ’07 that is ‘one out of seven’. Lost wireless, half the screen goes grey at times, keyboard screw ups, freezes etc. Nothing is permanent except the wireless issue.
    I contacted James Cecci, the lead atty. mentioned in Sheila’s September 27, 2009 post. He told me that the case had been consolidated and moved to California. He could (or would not) tell me where, but he indicated he did not think they had filed yet.
    Does anyone know anything about this? I would like to join the class action if I could. I have spent hours on the phone with India and many dollars trying to fix something that can’t be fixed!

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  • I spent money on a warranty package that was unnecessary because Staples didn’t have to pay for the fix. The replacement MB was guaranteed for a year. So, 18 months later….. In Jan ‘10 the MB began acting up again; first symptoms: no sound, no microphone although the speaker and mic jacks work fine; next symptom: occasional WiFi disconnect; and in Sept ‘10 a more recent symptom: doesn’t always boot — all lights – no action and it goes through a series of auto re-starts until I finally hold the on/off button down to kill the sequence. It does fire up about once in 20 tries. I have called HP Help on several occasions, like others, and gotten the same stupid replies… “out of warranty”. As of last week, they won’t even fix it at MY expense. In other words

  • tommc

    To Morten Oct 15 & 19
    Hi Morten,
    Like you I have had the same problem with my DV6000 as well as my brother who bought a later model on my recommendation (before the HP apocalypse happened). I had the wireless problem, audio and finally startup problems with both machines. Pretty much the same as you describe.

    You mentioned that the Avon Pitstop guys fixed the problem for you by doing the reflow etc. Did this fix all the problems including the wireless issue for you?

    I’m living in Ireland but seriously considering sending the two machines to these guys if its worked out for you. The thought of dumping the machines that cost a lot is killing me! HP have certainly lost my future business that’s for sure.

    Anyway any info would be appreciated.

    Cheers,
    Tom

  • Gary K

    I have worked for HP and got a good discount on DV6000 machine when i bought in Yr2006 but unfortunately as most of you have experienced the problem was with the wireless card. My wireless card stopped working when the warranty was done and i could not get any help from HP support.
    I purchased a new wireless card module and reset the whole machine but no luck.
    I also got a HP laptop for my brother and his laptop screen died after the warranty was over. Again , no luck from HP support…..

    After the long term frustration and wasting my money on my laptop which became a piece of junk after just over a year, i decided and suggested all my customers not to buy HP.

    Now , I have Macbook Pro and Sony laptop with no problems for past two years.

    I don’t work for HP anymore as i lost confidence and loyalty towards the brand.

    Please as an advice NEVER IN YOUR LIFE buy HP laptops or computers though they are flooded in the market. Another good brand is Toshiba if you are considering other than Apple.

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  • JOUJ

    Ok so the only way to fix this shit product wireless issue is to buy from ebay a USB wireless card. There is no other solution and I know I wont be buying anymore something called HP.

  • It is really a serious issue when the system stops working and its warranty time is also over, then you are left with no option but spending money for its repair.

  • Yeah I had the same issue. I just wound up buying a new system.

  • It looks like the extended service warranty that rich davies supplied a link to may be helpful for you Paul.

  • Hi all,
    I am joining you complaint club. I just bought a dv6000 in Jan. 2010. Same problem as everyone else. No wireless connection, no boot and black screen. I am adding this comment to let you know if you are planing to bit the bullet and buy a new computer Compaq is having the same problem so avoid this one too. Do research and find if they have a specific model that is bad too. GOOD LUCK TO ALL.
    Note I am never buying an HP again this is the third one that I have to put a motherboard in.

  • KevinNZ

    I have just had a major prob with my WLAN hardware not being recognised any longer… essentially… it dissappeared. I have read all the blogs about the problem…. and feared the worst…..but the problem had only been prevalent since downloading the latest updates from Microsoft for Vista……….. i used system restore and removed the latest round of updates… and the machine is working fine again……. DON’T DOWNLOAD MICROSOFTS LATEST UPDATES it will disable your WLAN hardware Updates started around 12 April 2011

  • I also mentioned my concern about repeated failures despite repairs.

  • Ahmed

    Hello all,

    My laptop (HP Pavilion dv6253cl) has the same problem and I don’t have any warranty, what can I do? I never going to buy Hp notebook :-(

  • janice

    I bought my PV6000 in July 2007. The wireless was gone in 2010.Tired refreshing the bio and all the other remedies suggested, non worked. I called HP, Same crappy treatment everyone got. Told me that they were replacing mb for free for the past couple of years, but I was 8 months too late, and suggested I pay $300 to replace the mB. I basically told them to F themselves.
    Plugged in my cable and the laptop lasted another yr. A week ago, the battery won’t charge. I tried all the suggestions, nothing work. Now I did a search and found out the battery is another big problem. This is crap.

    I am throwing this piece of crabage out, and will buy me a new one.
    I will NEVER buy another HP, and please tell EVERYONE you know to not buy another HP ever!

    Janice

  • Well, personally I think the HP is the best. I have had mine for about 5 months now and it’s incredibly fast. The battery doesn’t overheat like my old one used to with Dell.

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