DV7-4073nr Hard Drive and Blu Ray Drive issues

[Daikaiju710]

I had my Pavilion for over 1 year and just a week after the warrenty expires my hard drive and the blu ray drive fail (regular dvds can still play)

Replaced the hard drive (all i can afford) and 5 weeks later the new hard drives fails. Just swapped it out with a replacement, has anyone have had this issue, also any ideas about the blu ray drive?

Any suggestions would help.

Thanks.

[Hoosier_Farmboy]

I had almost the exact same issue.  About a week out of warrenty, the hard drive failed.  I took it back to the store where I purchased it (Fry's Electronics) where after a $70 diagnostics test to confirm what I already knew (the hard drive was bad) and spending another $235 to replace the drive, it was running again.  Of course, most of the software was purchased online so the downloaded files and the registration keys were on the harddrive that failed.  So, I had to repurchase some of my software.  And now, only 5 months later the hard drive has failed again.  The technician at Fry's told me that they have had alot of this model HP come in with similar hard drive failures.

Does HP stand behind there products? Apparantly, theHP  DV7-4073nr is a piece of junk. Does HP stand behind their products?

[Huffer]

HP stands behind their products to the letter of the law. A one year warranty means one year not one year plus an hour. I do not speak for HP, I do not work for HP, but this is what I have seen and all the other PC makers are the same. Hp does not make the hard drives by the way. And have you ever heard of online backup? Don't let anything that is important to you exist on only a single hard drive. They die all the time, so all models of computer have a lot of hard drive failures. Most hard drive failures are caused by electrical surges or rough handling by end users. It's just a fact. 

[Hoosier_Farmboy]

 I can assure you that this laptop has always been plugged into a surge protector and has never been subject to any rough handling. In fact, other than trips to the repair center, the machine has never left my desktop ... ever.

I have always had good luck with HP products in the past.But,  I really believe there is something wrong with this laptop design. The technician at Fry's shared with me off the record that this model is one of the most frequent ones brought in with hard drive failure ... some, like mine, multiple times.  I have notice (and the technician confirmed) that this laptop puts off alot of heat.  So much so that I have been concern about allowing papers to rub against the underneath side.  I believe this might be a design flaw that leads to hard drive failure.

As you can tell, I am becoming frustrated. The out-of-pocket cost to replace the harddrive in this pc multiple times is adding up.  And that is not counting my time lost in productivity as well as time to reinstall all my software each time. It is almost like I've had to buy this same machine twice.

Does anybody know who I can contact at HP to see if there is any way to get my money back or a replacement unit with less known problems.

[Huffer]

DV7 series do tend to run hot. You had not mentioned that before and heat can kill a hard drive and an optical drive.

Here is a direct line to the CEO:

http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/execteam/email/ceo/index.html

We have actually been starting to see some indication here that the dv7 series has had assembly issues where the heatsink and cooling system is not properly put together and does not properly cool the laptop. It appears you are in the Indianapolis area i.e. near me. There is only one Frys east of the Mississippi and north of the Ohio. If you want to send me a PM through this board I have some ideas as to how the problem might be diagnosed to see if maybe you are a victim of this build issue.

[Daikaiju710]

Well thanks Huffer for the link which I used this morning and I just hung up with the rep, and the first thing out of their mouth after confirming who I was was, 'Well Sir, you have to pay $300.00 for repair." WRONG ANSWER.

I have invested over $1,200.00 on this machine and it has become quite honestly a ripoff.

I am sitting here in a 7+ year old IBM Thinkpad that has not had one issue.

I bought the DV7 because I wanted a machine that was going to last me a while being that I am disabled and on a limited income.

Well now I am just waiting for the DV7 to just die because I refuse to spend more money on it.

Shame on me for counting on HP to have a quality and long lasting product.