~~ FLAMING ~~ Compaq V6719NR - Best Buy Closeout - Got one for $308.99. YMMV!!!

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: Delbert
I made recoverery disks a couple days ago and installed XP yesterday. So far so good. I followed the first guide in the 5th post here

That post on HP's own forum links to these other pages:

Links to:

dv6748us windows xp drivers

The Official DV6704nr "Vista t...er.do?threadId=1204621[/l]

DV6790NR appears to be essentially the same model under the HP name with the same motherboard that comes with more RAM, a larger hard drive and a higher price.

I got on HP's tech support chat, and one of their people e-mailed me a list of links to XP drivers for this machine. I have to go out to see a client, right now. I'll check the above links to compare it to the list he gave me. If the e-mail from the tech has more info, I'll post it.

And for the sake of whatever deity you believe exists, boot the beast, and make your recovery disks before you wipe the drive to install XP.

 

[konakona]

so did you call a generic customer support number @ BB to get that remote shipped to you? mine didnt come with one either

that, and they tried to charge me $29 for "optimizations" they have done on the computer. when I told em I dont want it they were trying to be generous by saying, "oh we will take that off for ya". I wasnt too surprised to get home and find out that there was no optimizations to speak of on the machine. Oh well, tweaking it up is part of the fun playing around with new computers

 

[Hajpoj]

Scored one for $349 after getting the manager to price match a $349 location.

TIP: When the cashier rings it up, you must know of a $349 location and say that you were sent over from that location with the promise of a price match. The manager came over and verified the price with the computer and instantly adjusted it. Obviously YMMV but it should work at any BB as long as you use the story of being sent over by another, worth a shot for people with $499 laptops waiting to be scored....

DON'T ASK FOR A SIMPLE PRICE MATCH, SAY YOU WERE PROMISED ONE, it's all in how you present yourself!

 

[bryanW1995]

nice. I think I'll try that at my local best buy...

they have other locations across town that have it for 349.99 but they're oos. The local one had two in stock...if they're still available then I could be in business!!

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: konakona

so did you call a generic customer support number @ BB to get that remote shipped to you? mine didnt come with one either

No, I called the store where my friends and I bought them. The sales guy remembered us because we were all there, together, and all very excited, and he was shocked by how low the price was so he knew sending the three controls to me would cover my friends, as well.

I think it's important to report problems like this ASAP while the deal and memories of what happened are fresh. This appears to be a common problem with this model so as more people report the problem, the more documentation BB will have, and the easier it will be for the next person to get help.

Good luck.

 

[monkeydo]

scored one here for $360 plus tax after taking a lot of hassle. They tried to bundle it with a security software for $499 and it was a take it or leave it option. I would have walked out if it was not for the fact that they quoted me a price of $360 over the phone and I had to leave work early and drive for 30 minutes with the price of gas at what it is I was not going to walk out emptyhanded. The "goon squad" was trying to sell me the brooklyn bridge which I did not want. What a scam, took the pleasure out of my purchase. Had to go back the next day to pick it up because "they had to restore" the software. If there were authorities to complain to I would file a complaint.

Okay package, not as fast as my 2 ghz dual core desktop, strange was expecting something comparable. Nice wireless and lots of ports. A hdmi port and an external e-sata would have made it better. No remote.

 

[bryanW1995]

dude, quit whining. $360 for a laptop like that is a freakin' STEAL.

 

[Harvey]

~~~ IMPORTANT UPDATE re MISSING REMOTE CONTROLS ~~~

One of the three machines my friends and I bought has a tech problem so I contacted HP's tech support. THEY ARE FANTASTIC! We determined the problem was that the wireless system failed, and they immediately sent me the pre-paid shipping carton... but that's not the relevant part of the story.

I asked if they could help with the missing remotes. The CSR took my info and reported it up the food chain, yesterday. Today, their CSR, Carolyn called me back about them. I gave her the serial numbers for the three machines, and three remotes are on their way.

I asked how others could get help with the same problem. She said to call (800) 474-6836 = (800) HP-INVENT. They now have notice of the missing remotes in their system, and she agreed that this should make it easier for others to get more immediate help.

Making good products is a good first step. Good follow up support like this makes all the difference in the world. I'll still build my own desktops, but for notebooks, HP/Compaq has a fan, here. :beer: :thumbsup:

I'll add this to the OP, as well.

 

[slag]

While not a "hot deal", is this laptop worth $499.99?

Seems it needs another gig of memory, but has a 160 gb hd, can burn cds and dvds, has an nvidia 7150 video card (better than the ATI and Intel integrated offerings, and has firewire, etc..

So.. is it worth $500.00, or can you link another in the $500-$600 range that would be better.

Im going to want it to play wow, maybe some other older games (diablo style), etc.

 

[Hajpoj]

499 can get you a C2D 1.4ghz 2GB RAM, 80GB HD and an upgradeable 8400m
599 gets you the same with an 8600M instead. Over at dell, I think it's still in the hot deals section.

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: slag
While not a "hot deal", is this laptop worth $499.99?

Seems it needs another gig of memory, but has a 160 gb hd, can burn cds and dvds, has an nvidia 7150 video card (better than the ATI and Intel integrated offerings, and has firewire, etc..

So.. is it worth $500.00, or can you link another in the $500-$600 range that would be better.

Im going to want it to play wow, maybe some other older games (diablo style), etc.

Best Buy was selling this model for $599 after a $100 instant markdown, six weeks ago. Before that, it was $699. HP sells exactly the same model as DV6719NR with 2 GB of RAM and a 200 GB drive.

So yeah, I think I got a hell of a deal.

The only limitation is two SO-DIMM slots so the memory limit is 2 GB, which is really minimum for Vista and plenty for XP.

 

[slag]

Originally posted by: Hajpoj
499 can get you a C2D 1.4ghz 2GB RAM, 80GB HD and an upgradeable 8400m
599 gets you the same with an 8600M instead. Over at dell, I think it's still in the hot deals section.

how does the c2d 1.4 stack up against the AMD 1.9 ghz x2?

80 gb seems pretty small anymore as well..

still, looks promising.

 

[Hajpoj]

Originally posted by: Harvey

Originally posted by: slag
While not a "hot deal", is this laptop worth $499.99?

Seems it needs another gig of memory, but has a 160 gb hd, can burn cds and dvds, has an nvidia 7150 video card (better than the ATI and Intel integrated offerings, and has firewire, etc..

So.. is it worth $500.00, or can you link another in the $500-$600 range that would be better.

Im going to want it to play wow, maybe some other older games (diablo style), etc.

Best Buy was selling this model for $599 after a $100 instant markdown, six weeks ago. Before that, it was $699. HP sells exactly the same model as DV6719NR with 2 GB of RAM and a 200 GB drive.

So yeah, I think I got a hell of a deal.

The only limitation is two SO-DIMM slots so the memory limit is 2 GB, which is really minimum for Vista and plenty for XP.

I picked a 2x2GB kit and Vista seems to recognize only 3GB exactly, I suspect the rest is being dedicated to the GPU. At least 512mb is GPU dedicated with 3GB free for vista, not too bad.

 

[sapiens74]

Thanks again OP.


Got the remotes coming for both mine with Recovery CD

 

[LittleNemoNES]

how does the c2d 1.4 stack up against the AMD 1.9 ghz x2?

about even

 

[konakona]

Harvey, thank you for your pm update. I really appreciate it

the laptop works very well in vista, but I had a hard time getting the wireless (atheros 5007) to work in kubuntu 8.04. with two different versions of xp32 drivers + ndiswrapper, the wireless chipset sees available networks but stalls at 57% (@ acquring IP address). since people from earlier versions of kubuntu seemed to have similar issues, it definitely isnt the "8.04 is a beta" thing, more of a knetworkmanager bug; some got it working using YAST, but I am not too sure how to do it. madwifi simply cant detect the card. bummer

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: konakona

the laptop works very well in vista, but I had a hard time getting the wireless (atheros 5007) to work in kubuntu 8.04. with two different versions of xp32 drivers + ndiswrapper, the wireless chipset sees available networks but stalls at 57% (@ acquring IP address). since people from earlier versions of kubuntu seemed to have similar issues, it definitely isnt the "8.04 is a beta" thing, more of a knetworkmanager bug; some got it working using YAST, but I am not too sure how to do it. madwifi simply cant detect the card. bummer

I have some serious questions for Compaq's tech support. The Vista driver page for this machins lists the wireless LAN as Atheros 5007. However, I have reason to believe it is actually a Broadcom card. I will report back when I learn more.

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: Harvey
I have some serious questions for Compaq's tech support. The Vista driver page for this machins lists the wireless LAN as Atheros 5007. However, I have reason to believe it is actually a Broadcom card. I will report back when I learn more.

if it is anything like my old dell, there is a panel on the under side that you are unscrew and review the wireless card, kinda like the Memory Slot panel.

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: andylawcc

if it is anything like my old dell, there is a panel on the under side that you are unscrew and review the wireless card, kinda like the Memory Slot panel.

The wireless LAN in my machine is HP part number 459339-001.

Wireless LAN 802.11b/g (Merlot) mini PCI adapter card (Broadcom) - 54Mbps data rate, 2.4GHz operating frequency range

That would explain why people are having a hard time finding the driver for XP.

More info coming as I find it.

 

[Harvey]

Four Broadcom Wireless LAN Drivers on HP's site:

sp34152.exe
Release Date: 2006-11-10
Version: 6.10 A
Provides the Broadcom 4.100.15.5 Driver

Fixes intermittent issue where the audio skips when playing a CD or DVD. This issue may occur when the Broadcom WLAN card is scanning for access points (APs).

Fixes potential security vulnerabilities that have been identified.

---

sp36684.exe
Version: 6.20
Date: 15 Aug 2007
Provides Broadcom 4.150.29.0 Driver.

Fixes an issue on HP Pavilion and HP Presario notebooks that have a slider switch to enable/disable the wireless function, where the wireless LED takes about 20 seconds to change from amber to blue when resuming from Suspend or Hibernate mode if the slider switch is in the enabled position (slid to the right).

---

sp37950.exe
Version: 6.20 E
Date: 15 Nov 2007
Provides the Broadcom 4.170.25.12 Driver

Fixes an issue where a register value is not properly restored when resuming from Sleep mode. - Fixes an intermittent driver re-install issue by updating the co-installer.

---

sp38766.exe
Version 7.00 A
Date: 12 Mar 2008
Provides the Broadcom 4.170.64.5 Driver.

(No fixes listed)

 

[Delbert]

The driver that I installed for XP shows in device manager as a Atheros AR5006X
Sombody in This Thread says it's a Atheros AR5007

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: Delbert
The driver that I installed for XP shows in device manager as a Atheros AR5006X
Sombody in This Thread says it's a Atheros AR5007

I opened up the machine and searched for the HP part number. Mine is Broadcom. I spoke with an HP tech who said they supply them with Atheros, Broadcom and Intel wireless modems.

Make sure you get the driver for the card in your machine. To find which is in yours, open the same section where the RAM is, and get the HP part number. Then, just search for that part number on HP/Compaq.

 

[Delbert]

I understand that the HP part number says it's a Broadcom. The ARBXB6 number that lies under the HP sticker seems to be associated with Atheros hardware.
And the Atheros driver works fine in my XP downgrade.
Pics of mine. Top pic is undersde, bottom is what you find under the HP part sticker.
Compaq wi-fi adapter

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: Delbert

I understand that the HP part number says it's a Broadcom. The ARBXB6 number that lies under the HP sticker seems to be associated with Atheros hardware.
And the Atheros driver works fine in my XP downgrade.
Pics of mine. Top pic is undersde, bottom is what you find under the HP part sticker.
Compaq wi-fi adapter

Thanks. That's the same one I have. Do you have a link for that driver?

Another issue...

I downloaded the latest BIOS for the machine from Compaq's download page for the machine and flashed it from ver. F.27 to ver. F.2C. This had the unfortunate effect of nuking the IEEE 1394 Firewire controller.

If you do that before you read this post, you can click the "version" link on the page to find links to all previous BIOS version. Flashing it back to ver. F.27 restored the Firewire controller.

 

[andylawcc]

hope this will be of any help

pics of my 4 year old Broadcom from a Dell Inspiron
broadcom7.jpg