Problem with Pavilion dv8 top slider bar (treble/bass control)

[HaggisCat]

It's hard to say and I have no idea where the laptop goes and how competent any given HP technician is.

 It's just like when you take your car in, some mechanics truly understand the workings of an engine and he does what is necessary to fix the problem, while others have their papers from college stating they're mechanics, but all they know is what the diagnostic computer tells them.

 A fix like this with the kaptons tape and additional shielding I would think is not in the HP books as fix for this problem, so if you get a bad technician that does not understand what is going on here, or is too arrogant to admit it (lots of those), then that person will pay no attention to this thread.

 Also, if you haven't directed the guy to the specific page and post, he is not going to go through all 19 pages looking for what probably is an unauthorized HP procedure. There is all this liability stuff that may not allow them to apply the fix even of it does work. Today's society has no common sense.

 I am going to assume that it's still under warrantee and with that, even if you took it apart your self you would void it. So in reality you don't have a choice, you can only hope that someone at the other end has some common sense.

[wphughes]

I must say that my son and I both bought a DV8T and he had to send his back for the repair; when mine started going crazy I got really mad so I wacked it with my knuckle kind of hard at the mutee button and it went away and hasn't returned in the last two months, just a fluke maybe. I know it's crazy it's just kind of funny that it worked.

[AudiA4Man]

It's been a while since I fixed my laptop according to Brians' fix. It acted up a few times, I got a little mad and pushed really hard on the slider bar and it snapped. Obviously I was too careful with it when I first put it back together and didn't completely snap it back together correctly. I HAVEN'T HAD ANY PROBLEMS WITH IT EVER SINCE!!! This computer actually rocks. I'm always fixing other peoples computers and you can really tell the difference. I even fixed the DigitalPersona finger print reader problem by replacing it with HPSimplePass. Now it works with Firefox 4. But for some reason Firefox is going up in numbers monthly it seems causing all kinds of plug-in problems. It keeps wanting to update to Firefox 5.

[Simo71]

Update!! I think I have some important information to this topic and wanted to share it right away. As seen in my earlier post I thought that this problem was fixed, but about 2-3 weeks after applying the fix of adding the shielding the problem returned! I did this two times with the same problem returning after abour 2 or 3 weeks. Very Strange I must say. Not sure why my computer would opperate like nothing is wrong for 2-3 weeks and then the treble/bass and wifi buttons would go crazy again after no problems when implementing Brian's fix. I have done this twice now with the same results and am now on my third time with some different information. What I discovered is that the grounding pad underneath the ribbon cable is not grounded to anything that I can tell. Im not sure if this is normal in the way of grounding Lap Top computers, but it is confirmed on my DV8 that the grounding pad underneath the ribbon cable that attaches to the LED board is not grounded on the same circuit as say the Keyboard screws, the two screws that you take out on the bottom of the PC to remove the keyboard. When I touch a multimeter to the pad underneath the ribbon cable to the other grounding areas on the PC such as next to the monitor hinge where the speaker cover ataches I don't get continuity, but other areas such as just above the subwoofer to the right I get continuity, to the left I get no contuinity on the keyboard screws. This leads me to believe that Ground is not on the same circuit or might be broken on the pad bellow the ribbon cable. PLEASE CONFIRM! I am not the best at electronics, but the grounds on my computer are clearly not on the same circuit.

[HaggisCat]

@ Simo71

 If you were to remove the top cover, you would see that the plastic has been plated with copper. In your case, there has not been enough of a layer to do anything. Not many people would have thought to take continuity tests to find a proper ground, that's very good work on your part.

 I found by taking a continuity test from the metal plate above the DVD reader to the outer barrel of the AC adapter I have continuity. (the outer barrel of the AC adapter is ground)

  This shows that the metal surface above the DVD reader us a good ground and ounce the key-board is screwed in place, the back of the key-board becomes part of the grounding circuit.

 Attaching your own grounding strip to the additional shielding to the last key-board mounting tab will properly ground the circuit.

   The last screw on the far right side is an excellent place to use as a grounding point. This will become necessary as in Simo71's case as there may inadequate copper platting on the top cover. In any case this key-board mounting screw should be used in all cases.

 To also point out, ground is ground, there are no separate grounding circuits on a laptop and it should not be this way. Areas that should be grounded that show no continuity on the rest of the circuit have not been properly grounded. All the grounding points on the laptop that are in fact grounds are supposed to make a complete circuit to the outer barrel of the AC adapter.

 

 The photo was taken at a very high resolution and was added to the site as large as possible. Please use your browser to magnify the page for a better look.

[Simo71]

That's what I thought, but wasn't 100% sure. So In my case as well as prob many others the fix would fail if the Ribbon Cable was only grounded to the pad below it since the pad itself is not grounded. I am wondering now if a broken ground is the whole reason why the dv8's led board has been actuating on its own with no escape for the static build up.

Regardless, what I did was to make a path from the Ribbon Cable ground pad over to one of the keyboad screws that you take out from underneath the computer. I just laid down some copper foil tape to create the path way and I also turned it back up to connect to the area above the subwoofer providing the shielding for the wireless antenna. Kinda of like in a large U Shape. Then I checked everything for continuity which was good.

I will see about posting some pics and an update.

[LiquidGx]

Just got my DV8t back from HP for the 4th and final time.  Despite clearly defining what needed to be done, rep air simply replaced the "Volume PCA" which I'm sure will not fix the issue.  I'll get it fired up tonight and we'll see if it last a week.

[Sanchertx]

 Hello,

HP now has a firmware update for this capacitive strip. The firmware update will flash from ver .91 to version v.92 . So far all the testing has been positive. Please try this on your units and let me know how it goes.

The softpaq is due out any minute now on the FTP server. Here is the location on where it will be..

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp53501-54000/sp53677.exe

regards.

[BearLemley]

I have the same problems with my $2500.00+ dv8   This along with an $1100.00 screen repair/replacement (in Thailand, just out of warranty) has been frustrating.  

This problem of  Tone or Volume control started when I had the laptop for less than four months and was reported to HP without any success.  It remains now a year and half later. Intermittently my wireless control goes on and off by itself  which now makes me always prefer a wired connection when I travel. 

One procedure stops it from popping up and taking focus.  This is to open the task manager, go to the Process tab and end the process "HPToneCtl.exe" with the description of "Tone Control".  I think this is an issue with the touch sensitivity of the surface of the control, but I don't think HP will want to fix that although that panel is easily replaced. 

I will try the grounding procedures above when I have time.

Hopefully HP will choose their vendors more carefully in the future.

[HaggisCat]

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Operating-systems-and/Pavilion-DV8-Quick-Launch-Firmware-upgra...

 Kamat_HP has made a firmware update available that is supposed to correct the problem.

 Please post back and let everyone know the results.