[Sophia L]

My HP Pavilion dv6500 laptop went berserk a month or so ago and I thought it was malware-related, especially since a scan found Win-32 PUP GEN. I posted here:
http://www.geekstogo...statement-help/
and after a week of exhaustive tests, the laptop is (or always was, I'm not quite sure) malware-clear but the problems remain. Following CompCav's advice, I completely erased all data and reinstalled the operating system, only to find myself more or less exactly where I started. CompCav, who spent a lot of time, thought and effort trying to help, suggested that now it is something I need to have addressed in this forum with you, and that you guys would be best suited to help me.
So, please - help me. As I said in the other forum - my friends are making fun of me by now for not just giving up.



Here are the symptoms and I'll probably forget some things at first.

• ENTER key does not work. (I use CTRL+M for now, which works MOST of the time).
• Computer boots only to HP logo and from there, the only way to get to Windows is to press ESC.
• Once I get to my desktop, the start window pops up all by itself.
• I have no control over clicking (there must be a better technical term for it ).
• I CAN move the arrow through the touchpad over the desktop, but as soon as it just hovers over something in the start menu, that opens the corresponding program, without me clicking on it.
• The only way I regain control over clicking is by going through ctrl+alt+del and opening the Task Manager. I don't even need to close any running program through the Task Manager. The open programs show in Task Manager as running, NOT as "not responding". For some reason, as soon as I get to Task Manager, I regain control over clicking.
• Before today, even after reinstall, there was a faint ringing sound as it was going from the HP screen to Windows. This morning it was gone.
• The symptom I'm about to describe has been gone for a week or so, but the laptop used to ring, upon booting, in a defeaningly loud sound, non-stop, until I would force it to shut down. It was ringing even though the sound was set to mute.
• I am missing a bluetooth driver and today got a message that I'm missing the Motorola modem speaker driver. (I don't have the original CDs any longer).
• SINCE the reinstall - HP Total Care Advisor (their spelling of "adviser", not mine... )says that they are two urgent critical updates, one is HP UPDATE SOFTWARE UTILITY and the other - MAINTENANCE. When it goes to the PC ACTION CENTER screen, and I click on RUN, everything either crashes or I get an error message "UNABLE TO RUN update" or something to that effect. I don't even see the option to click on MAINTENANCE.
• When HP ACTION CENTER crashes, I completely lose control over clicking again and have to go back to the Task Manager. Here, it is different from the situation I described earlier, in which merely going to Task Manager re-enabled
  clickingon windows. With this HP Action Center, it shows in the Task Manager as "not responding", and only after I end the process (which usually shows in Task Manager as 2 or 3 programs and not one) I regain control over clicking.

When I boot from Puppy Linux CD, some of the symptoms go away.


The differences:

• It goes from HP to the first Puppy Linux logo very quickly, unlike when it goes from HP to Windows.
• There is no ringing whatsoever when it boots up.
• Windows (START or any other) don't pop up by themselves.
• I have control over clicking from the start. No need to go the CTRL+ALT+DEL route to gain control over clicking.

Here are the tests I ran this morning:

http://www.geekstogo...ost__p__2156267

http://www.geekstogo...ost__p__2156273

Thanks! Looking forward to hearing from you.

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I just tried to edit the post above and add something I forgot - and all three times I tried - just merely placing the cursor on a line I wanted to add something to - it jumped some 30 lines down and opened a huge empty space between lines. By the way, the same happened here, in this post - this post started well below the top of the page, maybe 3 inches; but in the preview window it seems normal, so you won't see it the way I saw it here when I typed this.

What I forgot to mention:
I am having trouble with this update: UNABLE TO UPDATE SYNAPTICS POINTING DEVICE.

Also - having trouble installing service pack 2. It seems to be downloading OK, and then the download stalls and crashes.

[Sophia L]

I just tried to edit the post above and add something I forgot - and all three times I tried - just merely placing the cursor on a line I wanted to add something to - it jumped some 30 lines down and opened a huge empty space between lines. By the way, the same happened here, in this post - this post started well below the top of the page, maybe 3 inches; but in the preview window it seems normal, so you won't see it the way I saw it here when I typed this.

What I forgot to mention:
I am having trouble with this update: UNABLE TO UPDATE SYNAPTICS POINTING DEVICE.

Also - having trouble installing service pack 2. It seems to be downloading OK, and then the download stalls and crashes.

[wannabe1]

Hello Sophia L...

Man...CompCav really gave this machine a good looking over. It's very possible that many of the issues you are experiencing are related to the synoptics drivers. You may be missing some other drivers, too, which may be compounding the problem.

On the bottom of your lappy, there should be a sticker with the full model designation of your machine. I know it's a dv6500, but there should be more on the sticker. If you can supply me with that information I'll see if we can't round up the correct driver for the touch pad and get it installed. Let's see if doing that doesn't alleviate at least some of the problems you're having.

wannabe1

[Sophia L]

Thanks so much. I took a couple of pictures of the stickers and they're "parked" here: http://photobucket.com/HPstickers

[Amlak]

Computer boots only to HP logo and from there, the only way to get to Windows is to press ESC.

This suggests to me some hardware failure.

We might have to do a disk check for your hard drive and see if that is the issue. If not, we'll have to try MemTest then.

Anyway, first step:

Back up all your personal data first ... just in case your hard drive ends up dying on you for good.

Then, do the following:

Right before the Windows loading screen appears, tap F8 repeatedly. And, hopefully, you should see the menu option Repair your computer (if not, let me know if you have a Windows CD so we can do it from there).

Select that option and press Enter.

Then click Next at the following prompt or two and login as your normal user account.

Then click on Command Prompt and type in the following:

chkdsk /r c:

and press Enter.

It might ask you some question. Just type Y as your response.

Now let it do its thing (this might take a while).

Right when Stage 4 starts, pay close attention to the screen every now and then just to see if any signs of hard drive failure is indicated onscreen. You can tell if you start reading something about bad sectors being replaced onscreen.

If you actually do see bad sectors being mentioned, then it's definitely the hard drive. If not, well, either way, just let me know.

[wannabe1]

Hi Amlac...thanks for the suggestion. Have a read HERE...you'll notice that the disk check has already been run a number of times and has come up good.

Sophia, download these Touch Pad Drivers from HP. Install them and reboot. Let me know if there is a change in the machine's behavior.

[Amlak]

As far as I can read, it only worked once successfully. Anyway, I still think there's a hardware failure going on as it's not typical (and even not possible as far as I know) of a Windows issue to cause the first screen to freeze unless she presses ESC.

It's a shame that the chkdsk doesn't shown any signs of hard drive failure because these crazy and random variety of issues usually occur because of a faulty hard drive.

I'm not sure if faulty memory can cause such symptoms, but I think it'd be worth a try to do a memtest eventually. Because I sure hope it isn't that the motherboard itself is stuffed.

[wannabe1]

If there is a keyboard failure during initialization, the loading process will halt pending user input (pressing ESC). It's for this reason I'm making sure that the touchpad/keyboard drivers are properly installed. We may also have issues with the chipset drivers, but would like to address the keyboard issues first.

It's a fact that we may be looking at some type of hardware failure, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

[Amlak]

Hmm, ok, but what I'm not understanding is how would installing drivers for Windows fix something that's outside of Windows? Or am I misunderstanding what you're saying?

[Sophia L]

Man...CompCav really gave this machine a good looking over.

Boy, did he ever! I'm very thankful.

Hi guys, thank you for the suggestions and the discussion. I just got home from work. Here's a quick report: I was able to install the Synaptics update before I saw the link you posted. When I went to your link, I was told that my version was newer, so I did not install it until further instructions.

I'm about to order this keyboard: http://www.ebay.com/...=item3f0d369baf

It's inexpensive and is said to be genuine HP. Hoping it will help somewhat.

Will re-read your posts now to see if there was something else for me to do, besides the Synaptics update.

[Sophia L]

By the way, I found this, where one of my problems was discussed ad nauseum:

http://social.techne...5d-48d3c2deda7c

I only scanned it quickly this morning, but seems they didn't come to any conclusion.

[Sophia L]

Computer boots only to HP logo and from there, the only way to get to Windows is to press ESC.

Then click on Command Prompt and type in the following:

chkdsk /r c:

and press Enter.

Yes, I did do it, and more than once.

The full "name" of the laptop: HP Pavilion dv6500t CTO Entertainment Notebook PC

Edited by Sophia L, 14 May 2012 - 11:59 PM.

[Sophia L]

By the way, I emailed the EBay seller of the GENUINE HP KEYBOARD. His listing states that his is the only real HP original keyboard there because the fake ones offer 2 & 3 year guarantees and only the genuine HP offers a one year warranty. When asked directly in an email how Genuine was Genuine... - he replied that it was NOT an original HP BUT "a good copy made in China". So much for truth in advertising...

[wannabe1]

Did installing the touchpad drivers make any difference at all in how the machine starts or runs?

Any USB keyboard will work with your lappy. It doesn't necessarily have to be an HP keyboard. You may find an inexpensive one locally that would work just fine.

I don't have time to read the article this morning before work, but will look it over when I get home.

[Sophia L]

Good morning! The only difference I see (and that may be temporary, as the slight ringing that was gone for a day is back) is that when I go through ESC. from HP to Windows, the left side start window doesn't pop up all by itself. Everything else, including the clicking being disabled until I go through ctrl+alt+del is the same.