Brand new dv7-4270us freezes, then won't recognize hard drive

[mrvickery]

It's been happening with increasing frequency that I'll boot up into Windows 7 Home Premium, launch a browser and shortly after the system will hang. If I launch Task Manager beforehand it'll show the CPU is below 100% the whole time. Clicking through the browser will provoke "not responding" in the title bar, until it goes away. Sooner or later the whole system will hang for a few minutes then automatically reboot. The system will claim no hard drive is found.

For a while I was able to move past this by opening up the case and reseating the hard drive cable on both ends. Then it's fine for a little while longer. Today nothing seems to get the laptop to register the hard drive again. Please tell me I don't have to go through HP's support to replace hardware.

[rockkevin]

Hey I have absolutely the same problem. I just bought a brand new dv7-4270us At first I thought is was a software issue, so I did a fresh install of windows 7 64 and reinstalled the drivers. Most of the drivers listed on the support page didnt work, but thats another story. When I started using the computer it started locking up as soon as I logged in. I then thought it was windows updates that was feeding me a corrupt driver, so I shut that off too and put up a fire wall. Soon after that I got the blue screen of death and the message of "boot disk cannot be found" on reboot. I haven't attempted to open up the computer at all but seeing as I am currently in afghanistan, I really don't like the option of having to send my computer to customer service. I really feel like I got a lemon. A friend suggested A. That I purchase a new HD or B. Send my Laptop to HP. I was about to select A. until I saw your post on Google. Hopefully someone has a answer.

[mrvickery]

The good news: I found out the problem. The bad news: it's the hard drive. Windows just announced it detected a failure in the hard drive and it needed to shut down. Don't boot up again until the hard drive has been replaced. Isn't that just fabulous?

I'm severely disappointed in HP now. For the last several years I'd been pleasantly surprised by their laptops, and now there's this. I can only hope this is a fluke with the latest batch of hard drives they put here. Now to call HP support and see if they live down to their reputation.

[rockkevin]

Yeah. I came to the same conclusion this morning after my hard drive finally 'pooped the bed' this morning. It repeated a error message on every boot up. Here is the exact message for anyone esle reading:

BOOT DEVICE NOT FOUND

PLEASE INSTALL AN OPERATING SYSTEM ON YOUR HARD DISK

HARD DISK - (3F0)

I definitely hear you about the HP issue. I had just bought the previous HP dv7 3 Core for my wife and we were pleasantly surprised. I thought I was actually doing something by purchasing a 4 Core for myself but now I feel screwed. Let me know how it works out with HP Customer care.

[mrvickery]

HP support was quick and precise. It probably helped that we agreed on the diagnosis. Interrupting the boot sequence to run system diagnostics confirmed (for the first time) that it was a hard drive failure, so the technician created the ticket and had a new hard drive shipped to me. It arrived in less than 24 hours. I'm presently in the process of running the HP-supplied recovery disks, and I'll be sending back the old hard drive tomorrow.

[mrvickery]

I spoke too soon. I ran the recovery DVD, then it rebooted and hung at the BIOS screen. Rebooted again, and it gave me "BOOTMGR not found." Now, I've been in the IT industry long enough to recognize a software problem when I see it, but I called HP support anyway. Boy, was that a mistake. The young lady meant well, but she was going off scripts and didn't actually know what she was doing. Still, I played along and performed the hardware tests that I'd already done before. Finally I ended up running the recovery DVD a second time. Same behavior. It's still hanging at the BIOS window, only this time I'm not rebooting just calling HP again.

[mrvickery]

Okay, latest update. About half an hour of dead air with a technician who confirmed that the second run of the recovery CD returned the same behavior, then asked if I wanted to pay for an extended warantee.

Um. No. No, I do no want to give HP any more of my money. I'm pretty close to asking for my money back for this thing.

In the meanwhile I'm on hold waiting for a hardware technician. This does not bode well.

[mrvickery]

Okay. After an hour on the phone I spoke with a supervisor who verified the disks that came with the hard drive were the correct disks for system recovery. They're going to send me a FedEx box in two to three business days for me to pack up the laptop, send it back to them, and they'll rip it apart to try to get it working. Expected turnaround is seven to nine business days.

So in two weeks I might have my laptop back. Ugh.