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Gee, Thanks HP...Your Support Stinks!

Wednesday, 19 December 2007

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Update 3: I am now able to boot using no special commands like noapic with the newest nVidia beta driver (169.07). The driver itself has problems as it keeps me from using the console as it is extremely fuzzy, and moves around too...it also seems to prevent me from being able to properly reboot or shutdown.

Update 2: Many people think I don't have linux running on the laptop...I do, I am just not satisfied, as lapic is not functional, thus I can't save power and have more speed as a result of using High Res Timers...Other than that, it is a great laptop...except for the fact they wanted to charge me $700 to put in a new lcd...I did that myself for $200....see that rant here.

Update 1: Oh...and to HP: I apologize if I came across as trying to defame HP, or trying to imply that the quality is not good. I was more or less going on trying to get a good response from the geek community in order to fix my problem...which hundreds, possibly thousands of other folks have. I love my laptop, I just dislike having to disable apic at boot...I found a fix for the lapic bug, though, which turned out to be the bios, but the fix disables a bios setting that is hidden. So I can use HR timers and dynticks now...I apologize to HP for any misunderstanding. There are employees at HP that care, and I have been in contact with a couple of them..contrary to popular belief, they actually care about getting Linux on the HP lines.

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Well, I am sick of not being able to use High Resolution timers, which my hardware supports on my HP dv9205us laptop, but the BIOS has bugs, and will not allow me to, because it won't boot Linux without the "noapic" in grub's boot parameters. This feature would greatly speed my computer up, and use it's full potential...It is really nice of HP to use the "the customer is always right" mentality, especially when I contacted them and asked nicely if they could fix the bios and re-release it...here's what I got back:

Hello Matt,

Thank you for contacting HP Total Care.

From your message, I understand that you would like to have a fix for BIOS compatible with the Linux Operating System.

I am very sorry to inform you that, HP supports only the preinstalled Operating System. HP is unable to guarantee how Linux Operating system will function on a PC not originally designed and/or tested for this new operating system.

Matt, HP does not recommend installing of Linux Operating System, it could not guarantee a high level of compatibility for all basic hardware and software components of the PCs. PC device drivers (including graphics, BIOS, chipset, etc) for some PC components may simply not be available. I regret for the inconvinence caused. HP does not support Linux on any models of HP Pavilion PCs at this time. Information about Linux can be located at the following Web site:

http://h10018.www1.hp.com/wwsolutions/linux/index.html

HP pre-installed the latest version of the Microsoft Windows operating System (98, Me, XP or Vista) on your Pavilion PC. The Warranty on your Pavilion system does not apply to software not provided by HP and does not apply to defects or errors in hardware resulting from software not provided by HP with that system. Please review your PC documentation to identify the supported operating system.

I once again apologize for any inconvenience that this information has caused you.

If you need further assistance, please reply to this message and we will be happy to assist you further.

Sincerely,

HP Goon

Well...wasn't that nice of them, to basically tell me to screw off in a friendly way?...Anyone good at bios hacking? How about somebody mods this bios for me and fixes it, and perhaps unlocks all of the "hidden" features within while you're at it? You'd have to find a way to test it other than using my computer, but emulators are available... parwok -at- gmail

Comments (29)

	1. Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it on 19-12-2007 12:54 - Guest
	What did you expect? Why should they spend their time and money making sure that their systems are compatible with everyone and their uncles software. It doesn't make sense. I like linux, I'm not a hater. I'm just realistic. It's a bit silly to say paint HP in such a light. Why are you installing Linux on a retail system anyways? You've already paid for Vista, might as well use it.

	2. Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it on 19-12-2007 13:04 - Guest
	Blogging it is the right thing to do. If enough of their customers make noise, hopefully they will realise that getting a reputation for creating Linux-incompatible hardware will seriously impact their server business. I hope the various podcasats pick this up - HP has had reps on a few of the podcasts in the past waxing lyrical about their Linux-friendly stance, so it might be a way to notify their PR department that this is crappy service.

	3. Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it on 19-12-2007 13:06 - Guest
	"tested for this new operating system" New ??? What have they been doing since 1991, sleeping ? http://qorganizer.sf.net

	4. Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it on 19-12-2007 13:12 - Guest
	Matt... in your face. lol

	5. Written by Scott on 19-12-2007 13:13 - Guest
	Yeah, Ian has a point. Why should you have the right to do what you want with your computer just because you "paid" for it. Suffer the Vista, bitch. But seriously, I've read about replacing a machine's BIOS with an open source alternative (tinyBIOS? OpenBIOS?) Not sure the details, if it'll help you, etc. but hopefully a lead for you to follow. And if it doesn't work at least they'll probably discuss your suggestions as opposed to HP's caveat emptor approach.

	6. Written by George on 19-12-2007 13:19 - Guest
	Don't bother. Tell him that when running Vista that high-res timers are not supported, and since this is a feature of the BIOS and modern computers that you want it fixed, since it's obviously broken. Take out the Linux part of the equation - it should still be broken in Vista or XP, right?

	7. Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it on 19-12-2007 13:36 - Guest
	That response is a canned response from India. Whoever wrote it hasn't got a clue about anything.

	8. Written by Caleb on 19-12-2007 13:36 - Guest
	it's not a matter of adding support for other operating systems, it's a matter of fixing a problem that shouldn't have been there to begin with and generating good PR. I've been fighting with hp (compaq) for a year now with their support system, and will not purchase another hp.

	9. Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it on 19-12-2007 13:43 - Guest
	Sorry dude, you can't expect them to correct that for you for free if it's a problem in Linux and not in Windows. I'm writing this on a Packard Bell running Ubuntu and I spent a good few hours getting the unsupported modem to work with it -- but I didn't go whinging about the lack of support because I realised it was my choice to install Linux and so I had to deal with the problems it generated...

	10. Written by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it on 19-12-2007 13:45 - Guest
	One should research his/her hardware before purchasing to see if it supports the application it will be used for. It sounds like HP doesn't support Linux on their (low end) Pavilions. I'm sure HP has a model that Linux works on with high resolution timers, or maybe there is a version of Linux that will support the Pavilion.

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