Merlin S720 blue screen issue HP dv8210us

jschurawlow

On my dv8000 series laptop this card is now causing a blue screen issue when used heavily for periods of time (it's random too, sometimes it will blue screen on me other times not).

HP of course (as if you all did not know I would be saying this), is indicating it's a hardware compatability issue (again great at stating the obvious on this one). I've read things online to both regards as far as the S720 and the S620's were concerned. Novatel aparently released a firmware upgrade previously on the S620 which resolved this blue screen issue with that card awhile back. I'm unsure whether it's to do with the usb emulation on this laptop or if it's to do with the card itself.

Anyone with information on this please contact me pronto/asap. I'm seriously a bit sick of these random blue screens from this card already (and it's brand new.... which says something in it of itself right there). Don't get me wrong I absolutely love this card and if Novatel is going to have this fixed very soon I will end up keeping the card undoubtedly.

Thank you in advance to any who post and have details on what can be done to fix this issue. Also please note it only is blue screen'ing thus far intermittently and doesn't do it all the time under heavy usage either (typically it will but there have been times I've pulled 1.8MBit down on it without it dying soon thereafter).

vsbdtv · EVDO Newbie Joined: 07 Sep 2006 Posts: 1 Location: Atlanta

jschurawlow · Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 3:22 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the response. I ended up changing the driver from the NEC it used to the standard/generic one which seems to have helped some but it unfortunately hasn't fully resolved the issue.

From what I've read (ended up reading up as much as possible on this type of problem) that error is typically indicative of devices pulling too much power off the bus. I'm guessing the cardbus on the laptops now is typically run off usb bus power (which is somewhat annoying and also a dumb thing to do) thus the card is pulling too much at a shot. Also when I read up on this the S620's had this issue on a wide variety of laptops as well, Novatel in turn released a firmware update which resolved it and the S620's didn't end up bsod'ing much if at all anymore. I'm hoping it is the same issue and they put out an update for this soon (seems like a fairly early need for a firmware update, I'm guessing they needed to aim at deadlines to get these cards out).

Again don't get me wrong I love this card the radio is a ton more efficient speedwise than the sierra i had previously (a good 200-300K better speed wise steadily). Hopefully once they put out an update it'll also solve the issues with the flow control and what not (when using the modem driver on the logs I had been noticing error/flow controls failing).

jschurawlow · Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 7:34 pm Post subject:

As an update just had it bsod on me yet again. I did contact novatel earlier this morning about it, have yet to hear back from them (used the contact system in their website).

Going to be stuck trying to get them via phone I think if that's even possible as now it's causing my screen to act weird initially (curved white around the edges until it refreshes/loads the bios). I'm hoping the power issue with this card isn't wreaking havok on anything. Again if anyone hears of an update on how to fix these bsod's please let us know asap.

EDIT: For anyone following this thread, it's gotten to the point where I have called them on this issue and am getting a replacement card shipped out (going to see if maybe it was in fact just a bad batch of cards that novatel shipped). I'll post an update if anything changes or if I'm able to find out further information myself (been hunting around on the web for the past 2-3 days now without a whole lot of luck).

jschurawlow · Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2006 2:02 am Post subject:

ok yet another update on this issue. From doing quite a bit of research I did come across an interesting fix (it seems to almost completely resolve the problem, at least thus far it hasn't bsod'd on me nearly as often as it was before). In device manager disable the power management for the USB Root Hub corresponding to where the usb composite device (which the novatel is using of course) is on. Telling windows to not be able to turn the device off to help in power consumption seems to have helped somewhat. It appears this bsod issue is something having to do with how windows manages the power on removable devices. Hopefully Novatel will release a firmware update like they did with the S620.

To further note I should be receiving my replacement S720 either today or tomorrow yet (as it was shipped out already). I'm going to end up setting that up as well and using it instead as this card has had enough other issues (noteably the error control and flow control failing) beyond that of the bsod's, which is leading me to believe this card is actually bad.

Craig Hildebrandt · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 18 Sep 2006 Posts: 12

Please refer to the following customer advisory from HP for the USBOHCI.SYS crashes. The softpaqs that are missing from this document are targeted to be released in the next 7 - 14 days.

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=c00774301

Thanks,
Craig Hildebrandt

malaki86 · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 18 Sep 2006 Posts: 11

Where did you find the hardware flash for the 620? This BSOD is really annoying.

Also, the HP link you posted isn't available. Got the same results when doing a search on hp's site, and it showed the same link. Unavailable.

Cancel that - it's available now.

I'm downloading the flash update immediately.

(crosses fingers)

Craig Hildebrandt · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 18 Sep 2006 Posts: 12

Are you saying the HP document is not available, or the Softpaq referenced in the document for your model notebook is not available? The document is at this link.
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c00774301

What model notebook are you using? Some of the softpaqs are in the process of being released and are not available publicly yet. If you want a beta copy of them contact HP technical support.

Thanks,
Craig Hildebrandt

malaki86 · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 18 Sep 2006 Posts: 11

The page is available now. I'm just waiting on the public rls for my notebook. Pavilion DV8100.

Thanks

jschurawlow · Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 7:39 pm Post subject:

Craig thanks for the post of that url, very helpful. Hopefully HP will have this update rolled out shortly then. (Finally glad to see they're bothering to move on resolving this, I had thought it was actually a card issue also as the 620's were giving similar bsods).

jschurawlow · Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 4:11 pm Post subject:

Craig the urls you posted to that article are coming back:

RVRoadie · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 27 Dec 2005 Posts: 22

I have been living with this problem for more than a year on my HP dv6000. A year ago I reported this to HP, Novatel (I have the v620), AMD and Microsoft.

Nice to see someone finally took some action.

I just applied the bios flash from the above link, and will hope for the best.

Craig Hildebrandt · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 18 Sep 2006 Posts: 12

jschurawlow
I am sorry to hear you had a bad customer experience with HP technical support. I assure you corrective action is being worked on this to ensure this is handled better in the future. HP is also urgently working to get the remaining softpaqs posted to the web as quickly as possible. Can you please provide me your HP case number, and I will see if we can arrange for a follow up phone call or email to you to close out on this. If you don't have a case number, please contact support again, describe the issue, provide your serial number and refer them to the customer advisory HP has posted. Ask the agent to refer to his internal document c00773873 as the agent instructions should tell the tech support agent how to handle this situation properly. Above all obtain your case number from the phone agent before hanging up, and post your case number to this forum. With that HP case number I can ensure you are contacted and this is handled correctly.
Thanks,
Craig Hildebrandt

malaki86 · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 18 Sep 2006 Posts: 11

Any idea on the release date for the bios update for the DV8100?

jschurawlow · Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 5:15 pm Post subject:

case #7333332934

On another note I already called HP now twice on this issue. The first time they were useless and now the 2nd time when trying to get a beta/rc of the BIOS flash they were even more useless trying to tell me such doesn't even exist (which is complete BS if they intend to release within a week from today it's blatently obvious it does exist). I already also sent a contact to the CEO office (via the website form, probably will be useless as well), mentioning the situation and that betas/rc files should be readily accessible upon request.

I too would appreciate this being resolved asap (quite frankly at this point I doubt I'll be buying anything HP in the future after getting this type of treatment from support over such a simple request).

Again Craig thank you for your assistance.

EDIT: malaki86, support on the phone told me it would be more than likely another week, the bios flash you need is the same I been waiting on and been being more or less told off about by phone tech support.

I'd really like to see a tier2 support line of sorts for those of us who already know enough to do all the basic as well as intermediate trouble-shooting of our devices.