*HP ProBook 4430s & 4530s Owners Lounge!*

[Shemmy]

I don't need the modem, I was just curious as to why in this day and age a laptop would have a port for one.

Because you never know what sort of infrastructure you'll have access to or what services you will need.

[Jamoke60]

I'm hoping someone might provide clarification on the latest bizarre experience with my 4530s.
I purchased this unit Nov 1 last year from HP Direct. I recall during the sales call asking the rep in detail exactly what programs came preloaded. I was told that this so-called 'Office Starter', consisting of 'basic' Excel and Word, came 'free' with the 4530s. In the last six months this has served all my needs, so I never puchased the full Windows Office package externally.
Last week I noticed that I could no longer open any send .doc files. I tried opening Word, only to see a prompt at the bottom of the page: 'Internet connection was lost: check your Internet connection to resume downloading Microsoft Office'.
This didn't make any sense: dsl connection has always been up, I am not 'downloading' anything from Microsoft.
I contacted HP Tech Support with other ongoing problems, asked about this, was ignored.
I called again today, and the Rep tells me: 'the reason Word doesn't load anymore is that you only had a trial offer'.
I didn't know what the hell he was talking about. The Norton AV that came with this unit was a 60 day 'trial', and I was warned every few days via pop-up how many days of protection I had left, and I should 'buy today', etc.
I never received an email alert, pop-up prompt re: this so-called Office 'trial': nothing.
Inquiries to the HP sales office have gone unaswered.
The whole experience has left a bad taste in my mouth.
If there is anyone who can tell me exactly what the hell the deal is with this so-called 'trial' Office Suite, that was NEVER identified as such at any stage either before or after purchase, I would be grateful.
I assumed that I fully paid, and therefored fully OWNED these 'Starter' Word and Excel programs.
If I am wrong, I would welcome leads as to how to get this software at a discount.
Thanks very much!

[VA1]

I'm hoping someone might provide clarification on the latest bizarre experience with my 4530s.
I purchased this unit Nov 1 last year from HP Direct. I recall during the sales call asking the rep in detail exactly what programs came preloaded. I was told that this so-called 'Office Starter', consisting of 'basic' Excel and Word, came 'free' with the 4530s. In the last six months this has served all my needs, so I never puchased the full Windows Office package externally.
Last week I noticed that I could no longer open any send .doc files. I tried opening Word, only to see a prompt at the bottom of the page: 'Internet connection was lost: check your Internet connection to resume downloading Microsoft Office'.
This didn't make any sense: dsl connection has always been up, I am not 'downloading' anything from Microsoft.
I contacted HP Tech Support with other ongoing problems, asked about this, was ignored.
I called again today, and the Rep tells me: 'the reason Word doesn't load anymore is that you only had a trial offer'.
I didn't know what the hell he was talking about. The Norton AV that came with this unit was a 60 day 'trial', and I was warned every few days via pop-up how many days of protection I had left, and I should 'buy today', etc.
I never received an email alert, pop-up prompt re: this so-called Office 'trial': nothing.
Inquiries to the HP sales office have gone unaswered.
The whole experience has left a bad taste in my mouth.
If there is anyone who can tell me exactly what the hell the deal is with this so-called 'trial' Office Suite, that was NEVER identified as such at any stage either before or after purchase, I would be grateful.
I assumed that I fully paid, and therefored fully OWNED these 'Starter' Word and Excel programs.
If I am wrong, I would welcome leads as to how to get this software at a discount.
Thanks very much!

Ah I see. You should have contacted Microsoft first, since the majority of laptops come with MS Office starter pre-loaded. Basically it is installed because MS wants you to buy the full package. The MS office starter does NOT expire and I am guessing it may be doing updates and whatnot. If you will not use MS Office to its full potential I would personally suggest using a freeware program such as OpenOffice which essentially does the same thing.

Let us know!

[Jamoke60]

"The MS office starter does NOT expire and I am guessing it may be doing updates and whatnot."
HP Support Assistant has operated well in alerting me and downloading all HP updates, so I don't think this issue has anything to do with missed updates and 'whatnot'.
More disturbing to me is the fact that in the 6 mos that I've had this laptop, I've experienced a failed harddrive, innumerable other tech problems, that HP Tech Support has only succeeded in helping me with on avg about ~ 50% of the time. IE, I have received repair instructions from diff agents that have contradicted each other, and had to rely on user forums such as this one for solutions.
However, the answer to this question should be totally clear: either the preloaded 'starter' Office Suite is a 'trial' version only, coded to stop working after six months, or it is NOT, as you assert.
The fact that I can't get anyone at HP to answer such a simple question is mindblowing to me.
If the issue is indeed a 'tech' one, then why is HP so impotent and misinformed in solving something like this?

[Jamoke60]

This is the deal re: Word not running. With a failing HD, I followed HP back-up instructions calling for downloading a full 'system image' of the HD prior to removal, for the purpose of 'reimaging' the new drive.
It turns out that when this is done, Word will no longer run. They are telling me that I need to pay $115 for the product key permitting me to download a new copy of Windows Office Starter.
Can anyone give me a lead (links) to the current best deal on standard Windows Office?

[hhhd1]

first, try to see if your current harddrive have a backup image of the original set of software,
reboot the computer, press esc to access the bios boot menu, see if there is a recovery option there ....

be warned, the above will format the harddrive if succeeded.

if that didn't work, try alternative free software like open office, it is supposed to be the competitor of the FULL office suite,

Why Apache OpenOffice

Apache OpenOffice Downloads

[ize]

This is the deal re: Word not running. With a failing HD, I followed HP back-up instructions calling for downloading a full 'system image' of the HD prior to removal, for the purpose of 'reimaging' the new drive.
It turns out that when this is done, Word will no longer run. They are telling me that I need to pay $115 for the product key permitting me to download a new copy of Windows Office Starter.
Can anyone give me a lead (links) to the current best deal on standard Windows Office?

Office 2010 Starter is not trial software and does not expire. Something must have triggered a switch to the full office suite or messed up the office starter files. Not sure if a re-installation of office starter will be enough, might need to clean lots of registry entires first.

Search on your harddrive if you still have the original office starter installation folder. Should be called OEMOffice14 if I remember correctly.
The main executable is SetupConsumerC2ROLW.exe (search for that too)

Another harder way is to manually extract the entire office starter installation folder from the HP_Recovery partition where the main hp factory .vim file resides. Need a utility that can extract files from .vim image.

[VA1]

This is the deal re: Word not running. With a failing HD, I followed HP back-up instructions calling for downloading a full 'system image' of the HD prior to removal, for the purpose of 'reimaging' the new drive.
It turns out that when this is done, Word will no longer run. They are telling me that I need to pay $115 for the product key permitting me to download a new copy of Windows Office Starter.
Can anyone give me a lead (links) to the current best deal on standard Windows Office?

Well welcome to the forum Lot's of useful users on here.
As for MS Office, if you are a student (or know one heh heh) you can get it for $11 as long as you are at a participating University (UofT, UOttawa etc.)
Link

There are also different types of Office but by the sounds of it, it seems that you are looking for home and student edition (cheapest). This can usually be picked up for around $90 USD depending on where you are from.

[jhonq]

It is done. Full control over the fan. The tool can be found here.

[daitern]

It is done. Full control over the fan. The tool can be found here.

Congratz !! It can be usefull to us users here if one might be intrested in implementing it ... So basically you decide when to start / stop or delay it when in need ??