Is there a browser which will enable HP support website to be used?

[AndyA55]

I'm trying to check for new drivers for several products, but the HP website is unusable.

Select Support, Software & Drivers.

There is no longer anywhere where I can input a model number or serial number, so click on the BIG ICON for laptop. The marker round the icon indicated that I have successfully clicked.

I wait.

I wait.

10 minutes go by. Nothing changes.

I select another browser and repeat.

Exactly the same symptoms.

I try IE11, but that won't even show me the BIG ICONS.

I bring up a couple of VMs and try three other browsers, even trying IE9, which got me that one step further than IE11.

Every browser shows exactly the same symptoms.

I have come to the conclusion that HP have thrown away their website, which just used to be horrendously slow, and replaced it with oe written by a trainee who never progressed beyond day 2 of their Introduction to HTML before deciding that "Used Car Salesman" was what they really wanted to be. Obviously nobody at HP cared enough to check things before declaring the project "live".

Nobody appears to care about quality as long as the graphics on the front page look fancy enough.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Right now, I am getting this message on the upper right hand corner of the support pages...

"We are upgrading our website If you experience errors during this time, please try again later."

Accordingly, I have come to the conclusion that you have jumped to the wrong conclusion.

[AndyA55]

I am not seeing errors. I am seeing NOTHING HAPPENING.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

I have used Edge, Chrome and IE11, and I can get to any model PC's support page just fine.

However, when I go to select an operating system, nothing happens.

But on the upper right side of any support page, is an info box with this message...

We are upgrading our website

If you experience errors during this time, please try again later. 

That's all I can tell you.

THE SUPPORT PAGES AREN'T WORKING FOR YOU, ME, OR ANYONE ELSE ATT.

Here are three recent posts reporting the same issue...

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Software-and-How-To-Questions/I-CANT-DOWNLOAD-DRIVERS-FROM-HP...

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Software-and-How-To-Questions/Can-t-download-display-diver-as...

 https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/Need-latest-bios-Download-page...

We are just gonna have to wait patiently or impatiently for HP to finish whatever it is they are doing with the support site.

[AndyA55]

Despite your claims of usability, Edge, IE11, IE9, Chrome and Firefox still get no further than a highlight round the Big Icon. Do you have some weird version of Java installed? Some ad-blocking software which magically corrects website scripts as a sideline? I am using bog-standard, fully patched up-to-date browsers with no add-ins or add-ons.

Sometimes when I hit refresh I get "We can't find that page". Hitting "Reply" here got me two instances of "502 Bad Gateway" before I had a chance to write this. That's a proper (if less than helpful) error; I need to live with that according to the popup.

So, HP's OFFICIAL attitude to having a completely unusable website is:

     WE COULDN'T CARE LESS. WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE ARE DOING SO CAN'T ESTIMATE A FIX.

     IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS WE HAD PEOPLE WHO COULD DO THIS TECHIE STUFF, BUT WE HANDED THEM ALL PINK SLIPS.

     THAT MADE SURE THAT THE PEOPLE WHO MATTER GOT HUGE BONUSES. COST SAVINGS ARE WONDERFUL!!

In the meantime, there is no proper communication from the company other than "try again later", from a website which has gone truly T.I.T.S.U.P.

    Total

    Inability

    To

    Support

    Usable

    Performance.

The normal method of upgrading a website is:

    1. Write new code

    2. Test new code

    3. Fix problems in new code

    4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until acceptance testing by other people is passed.

    5. Change pointers to go to the new code rather than the old code.

    6. If serious flaws are found by users, undo step 5.

It appears that only steps 1 and 5 have been performed.

[AndyA55]

Having written that, I hit refresh on the Big Icons page and clicked Laptops again (for the 6th time since my last reboot about an hour ago.

I got a request for a serial number!!

So I went to the other room and found the serial number for one of the laptops I wanted to check drivers for,  and filled it in. Note that these machines are NEVER connected to the internet for security reasons.

"More than one result is associated with the serial number entered: "xxxxxxxxx"
Please provide a Product Number to complete the request. "

Eh? The serial number is not unique? This is the first time I've come across identity theft being performed by a computer manufacturer! I could have had at least a year's extra warranty if I'd known they were selling my serial number again!

So back to the other room and carefully write down the Product from the label. Of course I needed to stop what it was doing and eject it from the docking station to see this, as it is not readily accessible from the OS like the serial number is.

"Please enter a valid product ID".

So not only are there multiple machines out there with my serial number, but the machine I purchased direct from HP is not a product that HP recognise!

On a whim I remove the #xyz from the end of the Product ID. I know it ought to be the whole 11 character string, because that is what HP printed on the label, but maybe they can't translate Hash into Mercanese, so I try it with just the first 7 characters.

"Sorry, no results match your search for ....."

So HP don't believe my machine exist in ANY dimension. 

BUT FOR THE FIRST TIME.....

I now get the chance to type in a model number instead. I do, and can reach the area I first tried to reach 20 hours ago. I still don't know whether there will actually BE any drivers, but I have now bookmarked this page.

For those people who actually need to find stuff, try:

https://support.hp.com/gb-en/drivers/selfservice/identify/noresults?q=xyz&sku=1234&filter=&sn=xyz&so...

Which gets you to a place there you can type in a model number.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

I am using the stock versions of IE11, Chrome and Edge.

I can get to the support pages but they don't let me select an operating system get to where the drivers are located.

I don't work for or represent HP, and I'm tired of reading your unsubstantiated belching and farting about HP's attitude, because that accomplishes nothing.

The support site is broke.  It jolly well sucks.  HP will fix it when they fix it.

Bye.