DV8000 Series - Keyboard problems. Anyone else?

[RBEmerson]

A couple of follow-on comments. First, when I pulled the ribbon cables, I cleaned the contacts with alcohol "just 'cause". To my surprise, the contacts on the white ribbon had some sort of crud on them that showed up on the pads I used to apply the alcohol. Thinking I'd accidentally removed some labeling from the cable, I gave it a close look and... nope. All the lettering was still on the ribbon. The other cable (brown) was cleaner, although there was signs of a very light deposit on the cleaning pad.

Reading further through the 76+ pages of notes on this topic, I decided to follow up on the BIOS update, particularly as the "latest and greatest" is F.22A and I had F.13. So I installed it and...

...so far, so good. Typing this post has been much easier than any typing I've done up to this point. I've done a couple of posts elsewhere and, so far, no caps lock-ups, etc.

It seems then, ribbon cleaning helps somewhat. A BIOS update finishes the job. For my DV8330us. YMMV.

[island_boy]

I was on my DV5000 all night and I did have a few instances of double characters but I think it was due to my sloppy typing.. I couldn't reproduce it in Word after going through the entire alphabet and all the numbers a couple times. I was also Googling and found out that the DV5000 keyboard is what was used on the ZE series - seems like the DV8000 keyboard is the only model to ever use it. I can't imagine the DV5000 and DV8000 keyboards being *that* different though.

Anyway.. I really like my DV5000 and I hope it will serve me well. I'm about to send out for my Vista Home Premium upgrade.

[ubatz]

I hope it works out for IB and RB but I must say I'm not hopeful. You always think it is your own fault that a key or the spacebar missed and just when you think it is fixed, you feel relieved, it comes back a day, week or even 2 weeks later to bite you.

[island_boy]

I hope it works out for IB and RB but I must say I'm not hopeful. You always think it is your own fault that a key or the spacebar missed and just when you think it is fixed, you feel relieved, it comes back a day, week or even 2 weeks later to bite you.

Unfortunately.. You're probably right. It just goes to show how much I liked the laptop! I'm on my Sony now and man can I type fast on this with very little error. Anyway.. I'm packing the HP up for sure now. I was listening to some music while doing my work and it kept skipping. Doesn't matter if I'm using WMP or iTunes - I also updated the WLAN driver and audio drivers. It's got 1GB of RAM and it has over 650MB free when it's skipping. I did a search and it appears to be a problem others have had as well.

I'm pissed off at HP for ruining such a great machine. I bought two DV5000; the second one is still sealed. Unfortunately both will be going back..and they were only $499 each! What a bargain. Though I must say.. The original Turion is rather pokey. My Pentium-M is much faster - though battery life isn't as good as it should be for a CPU with speed stepping..I'm sure it's because everything is small and fast (5400RPM SATA HDD, DDR2 RAM, nVidia Go vid card w/ dedicated mem).

I'm going to write HP a letter describing my problems and let them know that they've lost a customer. Shame on them.. I'm going to save for a MacBook and that will be my secondary machine.

[ubatz]

Sorry IB, we all loved the laptop but the keyboard makes it a total bust. Last night I had to write a letter, missing keystrokes and spacebar started on the 3rd word, miserable. Your lucky you paid so little for your dv5000 lemon and you can return it. I've learned a lot from this experience and will buy my next notebook at a place that has a return policy that is longer than 30 days like Costco. I will also make sure I read the notebook's warranty and do more research on their customer service. HP has a warranty but they choose not to honor it.

[island_boy]

^ Rarely have I ever paid attention to the warranty on any computer I bought. And in this case, it wouldn't matter either since HP should have supposedly been able to fix it. It does pay to read up here on NR to make sure you know what you're getting. I'm thinking my next laptop will be a MacBook and in a year or two when I need a new primary machine, those small 12" Toshibas are looking pretty good.

Good luck to you guys. I feel for ya.. I really do.

[pavless]

Hewlett-Packard Company
A certified class action lawsuit has been filed against the computer company regarding certain Pavilion models of notebook computers. The class action claims the computers contain defective inverters. An inverter is the component that regulates voltage to light the display screen. When an inverter fails, the screen becomes extremely dim or flickers, rendering the computer useless. An inverter costs less than $20, but Hewlett-Packard allegedly quoted consumers $650 to fix the problem. The lawsuit also claims Hewlett-Packard knew about the defect before it sold the computers to the public.

Register your Defective HP Complaint
If you have suffered damages in this defective HP case, you may qualify for damages or remedies that may be awarded in a possible class action or lawsuit. Please click the link below to submit your complaint to a lawyer for a free evaluation, or call 1-866-220-0411 toll free.

Click here to submit your complaint through a secure form
to Green Welling - Jenelle Welling
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com...ca_hp-pavilion

I haven't forgot Ubatz--Just faxed my dispute on the second Pav to my CC Co. 23 pages--not including their forms. How is this not getting to lawyers. , yet the flicker does.

[ubatz]

Go figure Payless. Maybe someone who has a lawyer in the family. Tis law firm does have an online complaint from and when I have time I'll give it a go. Thanks for the tip.

[idahoakl]

Well I have good news. I chatted with HP online last weekend and the tech and I both came to the conclusion that they keyboard was indeed a hardware problem and the tech said that I would receive a call within 36-48 hours. Well I finally got a phone call yesterday from a case manager and they said they had decided to give me a replacement laptop. The specs are above what I currently have and it should be a good laptop, we'll see when it gets here in a few weeks. I thought I would share the avenue that I took trying to get my laptop fixed.

1. BE POLITE - everyone I talked to was much more pleasant than if i tried to push
2. Get a few youtube videos - I think the fact that I had 2 videos, one before repairs and one after really helped.
3. Have a little luck

Good luck to everyone and I still check this thread daily for anyone's success/horror stories.

Matt

[ubatz]

Good for you, I think the youtube video does the trick. Did they ask you to take the video down?