Trouble with HP Laptops’ Wireless Broadcom Cards
Keywords:Â HP, Problems, Issues, Wireless problems, Wireless device vanish, vanishes, HP Warranty, International Warranry, Hewlett Packard, Wireless Card, Broadcom Wireless on HP Laptop, Disappearing wireless card in HP laptops, Undetectable in device manager, Windows Vista, Windows XP
AND yet again we come to another grand session of the HP saga of surprises. The problem I’m about to address comes with several different models. In particular, it seems to be very popular with versions of the dv6000 laptop from HP, but my dv2120us from the dv2000 series has now also become a victim of HP’s disappointing hardware. I’ve been a dedicated HP customer for years, and I think the’ve just about sealed the deal to convert me with this one.
Low and behold, my wireless card simply stops working. The computer behaves like it’s not there. When I flip the wireless switch on the laptop to off, the light stays blue (it needs to be red when off), when I switch it on, it stays blue. Basically, the switch does nothing. What else, device manager is unable to see the wireless adapter even when I switch on the hidden device view. Btw, I’m running Windows Vista Business.
Tried the latest wireless driver, no use. Spoke to a monkey on HP chat, still no use. Hp’s only solution? Send in the laptop for a motherboard replacement. They won’t even send me a damn motherboard to I can replace it myself. Apparently it’s too difficult. What mullarki!Â
With the research I’ve done, it seems like an update to the Nvidia chipset or the graphics driver MAY solves the issue, so I’m going to give that a shot. If not, some suggest restoring the laptop back to XP Media Center may resolve the issue. In either case, I’m going to try this out and see if it works.
This may be a hopeless cause, since you have to be in the US to employ the HP warranty. Outside the US, my shit is worth more than HP warranty, especially here in Pakistan. See who else is ranting about terrible HP support and the bizaare disappearing of the Wireless Broadcom device in HP laptops here @ http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1104931&admit=-682735245+1177447268014+28353475.
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April 25th, 2007 at 2:48 am
Problem Solved. I updated/re-installed the Nvidia Geforce Go 6150 driver that HP Update provides, NOT THE ONE on the HP site for the laptop, and the wireless card was rediscovered, the driver installed, and now I’m connecting using it. How interesting! Read this HP! Losers!
May 9th, 2007 at 6:06 am
Asif, my HP Update doesn’t provide any update for geforce… where can I find this update for my notebook?
Ps.: I unistalled the nvidia driver and tried the broadcom software again, but nothing happened.
May 9th, 2007 at 4:00 pm
Which laptop do you have? And are you using Vista or XP? My driver version is 7.15.10.9759 from 1/17/1007. Are you using a dv2120us? Let me know exactly what model, and we’ll try and hunt down a driver for you.
May 14th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
hi, I have the same problem since 2 days…tried all that with HP chat…nothing worked…pc recovery with desctructive mode also dint help. Mine is dv6000 with XP media center….any help would be greatly appreciated….already lost whole my weekend troubleshooting this…and same here…im also outside US n hence no use of warranty.
Should I also try looking for geforce driver and do the same………thanks for quick reply…
May 14th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Suresh,
The wireless card disappearance problem seems dominant in all HP dv series laptops. Not only that, it seems like the issue is not restricted to the Windows OS, but also comes up in Linux and Ubuntu. Only common ground we have is that it’s only after a certain OS update that the card starts to malfunction. I have been unable to isolate which update that is, but it works before I update win XP with the 78 updates that come up after SP2. One of those suckers is the root of all evil.
However, it does seem like there is a hardware defect involved, something that conflicts with a security issue across all OS platforms. The worst part is that HP doesn’t address the issue, even though it has happened to thousands of people. I’m doing some work on getting started for a class action lawsuit, and will post updates on the site, so look out for that.
Now, the geforce driver issue ONLY resolves problems in Windows Vista. It has been useless to me in XP. I just switched back to XP yesterday. The only way the card works, and works once before a reboot is by resetting the bios. Here’s how to do that. Take out the batter and unplug the power to the laptop. Hit the power button and keep it pressed for 30+ seconds. Then, connect the battery and the power again and reboot. The wireless card is detected almost every time you do this routine, but it will most certainly disappear when you reboot.
It’s a disappointing issue, and I want HP to pay for the abyssmal support and lack of quality products. This is like the Ford sales of the inflammatory windshield vipers, and Ford had to set it right. I hope HP has to do the same. Communist Bastards!
May 17th, 2007 at 8:28 am
Hi, my laptop is a dv6308ca, and I have the geforce go 6150… where can I find a driver update for it? thanks,
May 17th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Gustavo, What OS are you using?
May 18th, 2007 at 6:13 am
Vista home premium 32…
May 18th, 2007 at 10:08 am
Can I overclock this video board? this geforce sux.. I cant play anything
May 18th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Gustavo,
Which driver do you have installed currently? Is it the one HP Update provided, or it Windows Update get it for you? Or did you download it off of the driver section on HP.com? Try the downloads section for dv2120us, it has the same video card. It may just be that HP as fucked up all the arrangement of the downloads. The HP Update driver for the video card just mysteriously disappeared. It was a B version of the driver. At least for the 2120us, it is available on the site under vista downloads.
I only attempted to look at the BIOS once to see if we could overclock the card, but didn’t see anything there. Maybe you can search for another utility on the web. I would avoid that though. The laptops already heat up so much, and I’ve had it shut down because of overheating on me several times. If you overclock the Graphic card, you may risk frying stuff inside.
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:08 am
None of these suggestions worked for my HP dv6000. They sent a new card–nothing. I am finally having to send it back in to them. What a mess!
May 22nd, 2007 at 12:42 pm
Jo, sorry to hear nothing worked for you. To be very honest, mine also only works incidentally. If I shut the laptop down for 8 hours and then boot it, the card comes. If it stays open and i reboot, nothing. I guess it is just a hardware defect that has something to do with the PC heating up. My dv2120us was a deal. I guess you always get what you pay for.
May 24th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
I have a dv6000, Turion64×2 2.0 with the 7200go runnin XP. My wireless card started to disappear from device manager about a week ago. at first the bios reset would do the trick, now that is not a guarantee anymore. i am in the US, but HP wants me to sit on the phone with someone who DOES NOT know the first thing about computers and do a full system recovery before they will redeem my warranty. that is unacceptable, i’m not going to recover to its original state when i know its a hardware problem with the broadcom card. i’ve spent too much time getting updates for Warcraft and Windows to just start over, especially when I KNOW a recovery will NOT solve my hardware problem. after researching sites like this, it seems like most people are having to send it in for a motherboard replacement. i use my laptop all day at work and probably 5-6 nights a week at home, so this is very frusterating for me. i’m using an old USB wireless adapter out of frusteration until i can find a week that i don’t need my laptop at work(not going to happen). i’m probably going to have to tell the guy on the phone i’m doing the recovery without actually doing it, i refuse to lose my work for something so stupid. this is my first and last HP i’ll ever own, buyers beware HP is a terrible company to work with.
May 25th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Dude, I totally agree with what you’re saying. I have three laptops, an HP, a Sony, and a Toshiba. The more I use the other I get to see how sturdy they and how much more solid they feel when you use them.
HP’s customer support is only in the name. It’s not like their customer support actually knows anything technical. That’s what you get for hiring monkeys at USD 10/hour.
It’s probably best to tell them you already tried recovery, it will save you a lot of time. It is a hardware defect, and let’s hope changing the motherboard is a permanent solution. Keep in mind that the motherboard needs to be changed. If they just change the wireless card on the MB, you’ll still have it disappear after a couple of weeks.
May 25th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
HI, I have just had the same problem with my HP Laptop. Its an HP dv 6000 AMD Turion 2.0x, basically the same config as ‘Rated R’,. I want to know where can i obtain the nvidia drivers to solve the problem. I went into PC recovery and have already lost alot of data due to this. I just need some help to bring it back on. My Bluetooth is working, its just the WLAN which has entirely disappeared, when i came to this forum i realised i wasn’t alone in my problem.
May 25th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
My friend, here’s the problem. The HP Update driver is available on hp.com for download, but it really doesn’t solve the problem at all. It’s a temporary fix, that will work for a day or two. The only thing that has worked almost everytime is resetting the bios. Disconnect power and battery and hold down the power button for 30 seconds +. Connect both back and boot, and you should have the card detected.
May 26th, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Hey thanks alot. I haven’t yet tried the fix but will do so immediately. This will solve the problem permanently I hope, because just yesterday after formatting the HD the wireless device appeared but when I rebooted it was gone again, its become quite frustrating. Thanx alot for your fix once again.
June 10th, 2007 at 10:47 am
I have had same problem.
I tried everything such as holdng power button 30 sec,resiting the wireless card, system recovery, farmatting hard drive,replace w/ new wireless card sent by HP and etc.
Very rarely it worked but generally it happened again.
I am really sick and tired. Hp asked me to send my laptop to fix it and it would take 10 to 15 days. And if I want to use express delivery service, the cost will belonging to me.
Ridiculous!!!. I am getting losing my trust on HP. HP used to have excellent technical and
customer service, but feel like not any more. I can’t find HP return policy. Not sure yet, but
most likely I might never buy or recommand HP products.
My laptop was purchased last Dec. I am wondering what is the return policy!!
June 10th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
I agree with you. I won’t be recommending HP to anyone. Truth is, HP has fallen down in customer sand tech support dramatically, and they really have no return policy that lasts 6 months. We need to gulp this one down; in fact, I’m writing an article on the 10 reasons to NOT buy an HP.
June 13th, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Well my problem continued, I tried the holding down the power buton fix and et all, but nothing seems to wrok. The problem disappears only to reappear the next time I start up. The HP service centre here has agreed to replace the motherboard since my laptop was still under warranty. I am hoping this solves the issue. I have met a few other people who are facing similar hardware issues, one lady told me that only 20 days after buying the laptop a dv2000 series, the motherboard was gone. it would be intresting to read the article..
June 13th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
The article is complete. It’s posted on the front page.
July 15th, 2007 at 7:48 am
Im having the same probs with the wireless card and some bootup probs, sometimes it doesnt even boot up the bios, it just stays at a black screen, ive done everything you can think of, i also used system recovery to set it back to factory settings, and nothing works, i have the same model number, dv2120us
July 15th, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Okay, I’ve sent my laptop to hp for repair. It’s been 8 days and they keep sending emails that they won’t make their 3-5 day deadline. I don’t think they know what the hell is wrong with the laptops, but they’re giving it everything.
I also had the staying at black screen issue, and at that point i stopped wasting time with it and sent it to the US with someone.
July 15th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
Tell me how it turns out, im hoping to send it to HP so they cacn fix it, but im going on vacation in a week.
July 15th, 2007 at 11:16 pm
I’d sent it anyway if it’s under warranty; they gotta fix it or they’ll replace it. They’ll probably replace the board, and probably with something different from the original; although that may not solve the problem. The biggest problem is the excessive heat that it produces; you can probably boil water on a dv2120us that’s been running for a couple of hours.
July 18th, 2007 at 5:37 am
yeah at first i thought the heat was normal because after all it is a laptop but sometimes when u feel the bottom i think its way too hot.
August 1st, 2007 at 1:47 am
Stuck with the same problem I will try the drivers update and bios rest , finger crossed!! I have dv6000 also, has anyone installing Linux on it?????????? I have tried 3 different distro nothing seems to work…although they work fine with VMware….
March 17th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Hello Asif,
I just started having the same problem… I have the dv6000 series, but specifically the dv6470us. I spent an hour and a half on the phone, reset the bios and eventually got the device showing again. After rebooting and coming back to use it the following day, the device was gone again. Now, the bios reset won’t even refresh it. Perhaps I’ll have to do the full reset with power disconnected and all. I see there have not been any post on here since 8/1/07 and I was wondering what the outcome was after you got yours back. Has anyone found a fix that works? Thanks,
Atilla
March 17th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
There hasn’t been a new opost here Atilla because HP concluded, from their own mouth, that the hardware was defective, and that Broadcom was having trouble fixing it too. The solution was to get a replacement. You can try BIOS upgrades or downgrades, resetting by removing the battery and holding down the power button for 10 seconds etc. etc., but in the end, the card will keep disappearing. Defective hardware means there is only one solution: replacement.
March 18th, 2008 at 9:35 am
thanks… I was just hoping that I would not have to deal with sending the unit in. What was the turn around time? Has the new hardware been ok so far? Thanks
March 18th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I’m afriad that the turnarund time was horrid. They took just about three months, and even then they sent it because I had threatened to sue. They kept telling me the parts were on ETA, and they didn’t get there for over a month. Then after I threatened, they sent me a new laptop, dv2000 series, but newer model. And you have to talk to a support manager out of Palo Alto for that. The monkeys you get from customer service are pretty useless; you’ve got argue through them and speak to a manager.
The new laptop is fine. It’s a dv2415us, and except for a couple of quirks, like the screen going black and staying there when running on battery mode, it’s not so bad.
March 22nd, 2008 at 12:00 am
I have the exact same problem as everyone here. I bought a DV6000 series in Japan last June and about a month ago the wireless card stopped showing up.
After a month of conversations on the phone they a service rep told me that they acknowledge my problem but that because I don’t have an American or a Japanese address I can’t get any service.
When I complained and told them that I had a global warranty, they told me that tech support was global but service wasn’t. That is shocking to me.
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:26 pm
I have an HP dv6208nr laptop and I’ve been having the disappearing wireless card probelm. I tried all of the solutions in this forum and others and eventually ended up sending in the laptop for repair. The process took a bit less than 2 weeks and I got my laptop back and it worked perfectly for a few months until the HP update appeared on my screen with a bios update. I updated the bios and soon afterwards the wireless problem started all over again. When I got my laptop back from being repaired there was no sort of paperwork or anything stating what repair work had been done but I assume they replaced the motherboard. So, to anyone planning on sending their laptop to HP to repair the wireless problem I’d suggest not doing any sort of bios updates once they get it back or the wireless problem will most likely start all over again. I gave up on the situation and ended up buying a wireless usb dongle which sovles the problem for me and ended my headache with it all.
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:49 pm
It would be interesting to find out exactly what hp did with your laptop mark.
I know just buying a USB wireless card is worth it, but it is uncomfortable to use with a laptop, and HP plain cheated everyone they sold defective stuff too.
I got a replacement, but the grief and delays I had to go through with HP is not worth anything. They should be shunned.
I think they’re only good for printers, but I’m not even buying those from hp anymore as a protest. A company that continuously lies to their customers will not do well for very long.
March 24th, 2008 at 7:01 am
I agree Asif, HP should be shunned! I also purchased a 4385 printer and it has a few problems of it’s own working wirelessly with my laptop. It’s passable though. After that, I don’t plan on purchasing anything HP again. I got a usb adapter from Wal Mart that swivels and rotates and it helps a bit with placing the wireless usb dongle out of the way on my laptop. Still a bit uncomfortable like you said though.
March 24th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Yeah, they’ve simply compromised quality for price.
I had to get a Laser Multifunction Device for my office last week, and in the past I’ve gone for a Samsung SCX 4521F, but I had a hard time finding it now, so I ordered a Lexmark X340 instead. The HPs were tempting, but then I’ve almost boycott HP purchases.
The software that comes with their printers also runs very heavy. I’ve never used a Lexmark before, so it’s a first for me. But the Samsung was a wonderful piece of equipment, a must for any small business.
March 25th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Could Roxio be causing the wireless malfunction? A few days ago I uninstalled everything Roxio that was on my dv6208nr laptop because I never used it. Afterwards, I noticed that the built in wireless was working again so I removed the wireless USB dongle that I had been using. I then decided to create some system recovery discs and kept getting an error that my laptop didn’t have a drive capable of cd or dvd burning. I researched that online and discovered that removing Roxio on some HP laptops could cause the recovery disc creation to not work. I then reinstalled Roxio to create my recovery discs and when I did the built in wireless stopped working again. After creating the recovery discs, I uninstalled Roxio again, rebooted and the built in wireless is working fine again. I’m going to try multiple reboots, sleeps, and hibernations to see if the built in wireless continues to work and I’ll report back tomorrow evening or nite.
March 26th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
That’s a first. If Roxio is causing it, well, I really don’t know what to say.
It’s interesting that Roxio is also the source of drive discovery. More interesting, the recovery disc procedure works, but what you need to try and see is whether you can actually restore from the recovery discs.
That’s another problem; several laptops fail to restore, even when you order the recovery discs from hp.com.
Let us know Roxio really is the cause for your dv6208nr. Maybe we should inform the prodigal staff at HP.
March 26th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
So far, after uninstalling Roxio again, the built in wireless is still working. Even after putting my laptop to sleep and hibernation multiple times and multiple reboots. Ad far as I’ve been able to determine everything else works fine with Roxio uninstalled except for recovery disc creation. The cd/dvd drive works as normal with everything else. Maybe the recovery disc creator software used the burn enging from Roxio or something? Not sure. Roxio came preinstalled on my dv6208nr and I can install it anytime fromt he recovery parition of the hard drive. When I get the time I’m going to install Roxio one more time to see if the wireless malfunctions and then uninstall to see if that corrects it for the third time. The only thing is my laptop worked fine for months when I first bought it and Roxio was installed and it also worked fine for months after I got it back from HP for repair with Roxio until I updated the bios to the latest version. After the bios update, the wireless only seems to work with Roxio uninstalled. I’d also like to point out that the built in wireless has worked with Roxio installed but very rarely and it usually malfunctions after every sleep, hibernation or reboot but without Roxio it’s been working fine since Monday evening.
March 26th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Hello Asif, I have a dv6000 special edition and i am suffering from the same prob with my wireless. could you tell me were i could find the nvidia update to fix it … thanks a bunch
March 27th, 2008 at 3:12 am
Mark, that’s definitely very interesting. If you see any inconsistency in that conclusion, please be sure to post it, so we know. Let us hope that HP can see this and get their shit together, athlough given their track record i don’t see that happening.
Brett, the nvidia update doesn’t solve the problem. Read Mark’s post. He also has a dv6000. Apparently uninstalling Roxio solves the missing broadcom wireless adapter problem with the hp paviliion dv series. Well, with the dv6000 anyway.
April 11th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
HI, I have the same problem the wireless card disapear, and I cant find the solution, but I don´t know something, The problem is Hardware or is operating system ? I mean if use Windos Vista the problem will be over
April 12th, 2008 at 10:40 am
The problem is hardware, and possibly incompatibility with Roxio that comes pre installed on the laptop. Remove Roxio and see if that helps.
April 21st, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Hi guys, I hate HP! I bought my dv6308nr in Brazil but it is a refurbished only sold in US, so I couldn’t bought a warranty extension (cause I hadn’t a US address and credit card). Sucks, just sucks! Now.. I restart my note and my wireless card was gone! Oh no.. never .. I never won’t buy HP notes again!
I will try your advices but my BIOS has a tip that is a hardware problem: the boot order menu puts a “!” (exclamation) on “network card booting” option ! This seems bad, very bad. At last I will try remove and reconnect the minipci card. God bless myself !!
April 21st, 2008 at 11:51 pm
hi again..
I found this: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?docname=c01087277&dlc=en&lc=en&cc=us
HP knows the problem but I don’t know if this will help me cause of I live in Brazil but my notebook is a US model.. anyway.. this link above seems helpful for some people
April 22nd, 2008 at 7:24 am
HP has been aware of the problem for over a year. They sold defective units on several levels; some with defective motherboards, others with defective LAN cards, and yet some more with defective inverters. The lesson here is simple: Don’t buy from Hewlett Packard.
Only one of these defective type units is covered under this new program.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:27 am
hi i also am having a problem with Dv6208nr with the wireless deal