I’m sure most of you guys out there doing warranty repairs know about this one already but for those who do not here’s a primer.

A few months ago HP released a large scale service advisory for many laptops that were sold over the past two years or so. The symptoms usually involve loss of WiFi or a black screen on start-up. HP recommends that, if you’re able, to first try a BIOS update and if that doesn’t work then to send the laptop in for a free repair, even if your warranty is expired.

You can read more about it here.

Laptops affected:

HP Pavilion notebook PC series Compaq Presario notebook PC series
dv20xx v30xx
dv21xx v31xx
dv22xx v32xx
dv23xx v33xx
dv24xx v34xx
dv60xx v60xx
dv61xx v61xx
dv62xx v62xx
dv63xx v63xx
dv64xx v64xx
dv90xx
dv92xx
dv93xx
dv94xx

(The above table was copy pasted from the HP website.)

Take a look at the above table and if you have a laptop with a matching model number click the link to find out if you’re eligible.

Here are the symptoms from the HP site:

“The following symptoms apply to Pavilion dv2000 and Presario v3000 notebooks:

  • The notebook does not detect wireless networks and the wireless adapter is not detected in the Device Manager.
  • There is no video on the computer LCD panel or external monitor.
The following symptoms apply to the dv6000, dv9000 and v6000 series notebooks:
  • The notebook does not detect wireless networks and the wireless adapter is not detected in the Device Manager.
  • There is no video on the computer LCD panel or external monitor.
  • The notebook has no power and no active LEDs.
  • The notebook does not start.
  • The battery charge indicator light does not turn on when the battery is installed and the AC adapter is connected.
  • The notebook issues a single beep during boot indicating no power.
  • The external monitor functions but there is no image on the notebook LCD panel.”
My tech shop has seen a large amount of these laptops come in. We are an HP authorized repair center so that figures but I’m willing to bet that even you independent technicians have come across these laptops. There is really not much you can do yourselves to repair this. HP usually ends up replacing the motherboards on laptops that are sent in, they also wipe the units.
Notice how these are all AMD based laptops? Guess which company I’m staying away from…