Desktops forum: HP Pavilion a1250n modem and PCI slot problem

Thanks for your response and I wanted to clarify some things. All three machines that had the problem had the MSI motherboard (MS-7184, which is an OEM motherboard and not supported on MSI's website, as far as I know) and I asked that they put in an ASUS motherboard for the repair. As for other options, the only other Athlon 64 X2 machine that I found from HP (model m7248n) uses the same MSI motherboard and eMachines doesn't make an Athlon 64 X2 machine. I considered putting my own together, which I've done in the past, but I wanted a reliable machine from a well-known company with a good warranty and support. Ironic, isn't it?

As for an update, I spoke with the HP engineer working on the problem and he was very understanding and helpful, in direct contrast to most of the others I've dealt with at HP. He told me that he found a problem with the MSI motherboard and forwarded it to another engineering group for further investigation. He said he found no problem with the ASUS motherboard but because it is a non-standard motherboard I would have difficulty getting BIOS updates from the HP website. I'm not sure if this is correct because the HP website now lists an ASUS motherboard as standard in the a1250n.

HP has offered to buy back the computer, which would make all of the time and effort I devoted to this problem a waste of time, or fix the machine with the ASUS mobo and give me $100 or unspecified upgrades, which I feel still doesn't go far enough. I'm trying to decide between getting the money, building my own machine, and cutting all ties with HP or getting the repaired machine and cash.

Thanks for listening,
Kelly

Thanks, and Merry Christmas to you as well. I'll probably go the route with the new ASUS motherboard but I'm still furious at the technical support/customer service side of HP for this ordeal. I did get a little of what I wanted from HP when the engineer called me and thanked me for troubleshooting this problem. He also said it was now in another engineering group's hands to come up with a fix for it, so at least I know someone at HP is working on fixing it for future machines.

Take care,
Kelly

Remember when you could not use the slot next to the AGP slot? That issue was and still is a well known PC design issue.

To hold HP responsible for making a PC compatible design is a very interesting stance.

What about all the other PC (and Windows) nuances and quirks?

Bottomline: If we are asking for a perfect machine, I don't think we see such yet.

Bob

The annoyance has been around for a very long time. However it comes and goes with how good a driver writer you have and more.

You may not find solace with HP so I offered a solid fix of how we cure that. Your choice to fight it, but that's your choice.

Winmodems are well known failure points with high CPU loads. If this is news to you then welcome to the winmodem story.

Bob

The IRQs are now shared. If a driver has a bug then under high load the IRQ software chain may show the bugs. This is not a HP specific issue and why I offer the surefire cure.

However there are some that don't want to hear that PCs still have bugs to be worked out.

Bob

Right before Xmas, I purchased a HP a1250n. The evening I recieved it, I downloaded a BIOS upgrade and my computer has been 'hung-up' ever since. I can't describe how terrible HP's Service has been. I will return my machine on Monday and never purchase another HP product.

I concure that the problem is a faulty main board/BIOS. This board, the #ms-7184 is NOT supported by MSI and that's about the same for HP. It looks like it was made by MSI as an OEM product for HP. Every post I can find on this machine, reports some kind of base-level problem.

It would be my recomendation, that anyone thinking about purchasing this computer, look elsewhere.

i have hp m7290.nl with ms-7184 pci is the problem
the usb dosnt working good http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/nl/nl/ho/WF06b/36757-37161-39925-39925-39925-12252912-64934755.html