HP Pavilion dv2000 wireless
November 25, 2010 8:41 PM Subscribe
Help me figure out how to get the wireless card working in this HP laptop. The only way to bring it online is to boot a linux live cd then boot back into Vista. What is going on?
My partner got an old HP Pavilion dv2000 laptop from a school friend who moved overseas and abandoned the laptop behind. Not being experienced with Windows computers, I foolishly wiped the whole disk (including the recovery partition).
I've been trying to set it up for her. I put Vista on it and found all the drivers on the HP website and got everything working except the wireless card. I tried starting over with XP, getting all the drivers and again couldn't get the wireless to work. I also tried all 3 BIOS versions available without any luck.
The wireless card is not detected by the computer (doesn't show up in the Device Manager) and the light on the front of the computer is orange (indicating that the wireless is off) even if the switch is set to 'on'.
I read in a few places online that this specific model has issues with the wireless card related to a motherboard defect. HP extended the warranty for people with affected models to get it fixed, but I don't think I can be helped by that in this situation.
I also know that there doesn't seem to be a hardware failure because I can get the wireless to work repeatedly under specific circumstances. I have Vista installed with all the drivers and the latest BIOS. If I boot the laptop off of a linux CD (tried a couple different ubuntu versions/distros to see if they could detect the wireless), the next Vista boot will have the wireless working fine, blue light and all.
So I need some help from serious windows vista/hardware experts. There must be some kind of low level hack I can do that can fix this and hopefully the 'trick' of booting off a linux CD might give a clue of what to do? Perhaps booting of a linux cd is resetting some setting in the BIOS? Or something? Thanks for any help from me and my partner! Her current gateway laptop is likely to die any day.
My partner got an old HP Pavilion dv2000 laptop from a school friend who moved overseas and abandoned the laptop behind. Not being experienced with Windows computers, I foolishly wiped the whole disk (including the recovery partition).
I've been trying to set it up for her. I put Vista on it and found all the drivers on the HP website and got everything working except the wireless card. I tried starting over with XP, getting all the drivers and again couldn't get the wireless to work. I also tried all 3 BIOS versions available without any luck.
The wireless card is not detected by the computer (doesn't show up in the Device Manager) and the light on the front of the computer is orange (indicating that the wireless is off) even if the switch is set to 'on'.
I read in a few places online that this specific model has issues with the wireless card related to a motherboard defect. HP extended the warranty for people with affected models to get it fixed, but I don't think I can be helped by that in this situation.
I also know that there doesn't seem to be a hardware failure because I can get the wireless to work repeatedly under specific circumstances. I have Vista installed with all the drivers and the latest BIOS. If I boot the laptop off of a linux CD (tried a couple different ubuntu versions/distros to see if they could detect the wireless), the next Vista boot will have the wireless working fine, blue light and all.
So I need some help from serious windows vista/hardware experts. There must be some kind of low level hack I can do that can fix this and hopefully the 'trick' of booting off a linux CD might give a clue of what to do? Perhaps booting of a linux cd is resetting some setting in the BIOS? Or something? Thanks for any help from me and my partner! Her current gateway laptop is likely to die any day.
Response by poster: I did download the drivers for the wireless card from the HP website.
It is possible that the wireless is broken. But it works under the conditions described above.
There is a switch for the wireless and light that is orange if the wireless is off and blue when it is on. When the wireless card is working (after a linux boot), the switch and light work normally (blue for on, orange for off). Most of the time, the light is orange and the wireless does not work/is not detected no matter what position the switch is in.
posted by The Wig at 8:56 PM on November 25, 2010
It is possible that the wireless is broken. But it works under the conditions described above.
There is a switch for the wireless and light that is orange if the wireless is off and blue when it is on. When the wireless card is working (after a linux boot), the switch and light work normally (blue for on, orange for off). Most of the time, the light is orange and the wireless does not work/is not detected no matter what position the switch is in.
posted by The Wig at 8:56 PM on November 25, 2010
I have a similar problem on an HP laptop. Sometimes just plugging in an ethernet cable would cause the wireless to start working. Instead of trying to fiddle around with Windows, HP drivers and probably crappy hardware I bought a USB wireless adapter for $20 and use that instead. It works great and it gets better reception than the built-in wireless card to boot.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 9:58 PM on November 25, 2010
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 9:58 PM on November 25, 2010
Unfortunately I don't have a solution, but I can think of a possible explanation. After you leave the live cd, are you fully shutting down the system, or just doing a reboot? If the windows drivers aren't properly initializing the NIC, but the Ubuntu drivers are, that might carry over through a reboot. It seems farfetched, but wireless NIC's are weird.
For a long term solution, I would try Windows 7 if you can get a copy. I thought students could get it cheap, but I just checked and it's still $65. I'd recommend finding a copy to test with before laying down cash.
posted by mad bomber what bombs at midnight at 10:11 PM on November 25, 2010
For a long term solution, I would try Windows 7 if you can get a copy. I thought students could get it cheap, but I just checked and it's still $65. I'd recommend finding a copy to test with before laying down cash.
posted by mad bomber what bombs at midnight at 10:11 PM on November 25, 2010
I'm guessing this is a Broadcom internal card, which HP has had huge issues with. I gave up fiddling with mine long ago (both on Vista and Ubuntu) and bought and external USB card which has been reliable and trouble free.
posted by woodjockey at 6:43 AM on November 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by woodjockey at 6:43 AM on November 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
I have to agree with woodjockey on this one (and I worked at HP from 2001 to 2006) .. the dvxxxx line of laptops is widely known to have a variety of hardware "inadequacies" (failing motherboards, disappearing wireless cards,etc). Mostly due to the fact that the DVxxxx line is low-end and built with cheap components. (this is not necessarily a knock against HP.. many manufacturers build cheap/low-end laptops that are not reliable.)
I imagine the reason you get lucky to have it work under Linux is because the Linux driver initializes the wireless card in a different way (or like mbwbam said, maybe it's a power-cycle glitch)
In either case... I think you're probably wasting your time trying to get it to work (expecting it to work reliably will leave you disappointed).
posted by jmnugent at 7:21 AM on November 26, 2010
I imagine the reason you get lucky to have it work under Linux is because the Linux driver initializes the wireless card in a different way (or like mbwbam said, maybe it's a power-cycle glitch)
In either case... I think you're probably wasting your time trying to get it to work (expecting it to work reliably will leave you disappointed).
posted by jmnugent at 7:21 AM on November 26, 2010
Response by poster: It is indeed a Broadcom internal card. There isn't some magic whiz way to figure out how the linux driver is initializing the card and getting it to intialize that way? I am rebooting after a linux boot, not shutting down. The wireless card doesn't work as far as I can tell while linux is booted though.
I guess a USB wireless is going to be the way to go. Glad I didn't pay any money for this thing! Is Windows 7 likely to solve anything?
posted by The Wig at 7:37 AM on November 26, 2010
I guess a USB wireless is going to be the way to go. Glad I didn't pay any money for this thing! Is Windows 7 likely to solve anything?
posted by The Wig at 7:37 AM on November 26, 2010
Nope. I work at a computer repair shop, and we see the dvXXXX series of laptops with this problem all the time. The problem is that they used bad solder on their circuit boards. Over time as the computer heats up and cools down, the solder cracks, breaking the circuit. Most common thing we see is dead wireless, but sometimes other parts go too.
A USB wireless card will work more reliably than the failing internal card.
posted by JDHarper at 8:39 AM on November 26, 2010
A USB wireless card will work more reliably than the failing internal card.
posted by JDHarper at 8:39 AM on November 26, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Is it possible that the wireless is broken?
Is there a switch on the laptop itself to turn the wireless on that is switched off?
posted by k8t at 8:48 PM on November 25, 2010