HP laptop lack of support

[expat]

Actually lack of giving a tulip for the customer.

My partner bought an HP laptop in December, running windows 8. She later accepted Microsoft's upgrade to 8.1. Result: web audio no longer plays. No BBC Iplayer any more.

Called HP support. Their response: "by installing windows 8.1 you have voided your warranty".

Oh right. Sorry for doing something so stupid as upgrading to the current version of the most popular OS in the world. HP has no audio drivers for 8.1 for this laptop.

(There is more: when their website asks for the Product Number, they don't want the thing marked "Product Number" on their own label. And when I enter the Serial Number, they are unable to find it. And the support monkey told us a pack of lies too).

Microsoft don't have clean hands here either IMHO: I tried to roll back to the original Windows 8 using Recovery. Ah no, upgrading to 8.1 wipes the original recovery partition, so only recovery to Windows 8.1 is possible.

Sigh. I did tell her to get a Mac.

[BigRed]

have you tried the generic windows audio drivers? My two year old Fujitsu lifebook which originally came with windows 7 upgraded to 8 then 8.1 with no issues. I upgraded the touchpad driver to add in windows 8 functionality.

[MPwannadecentincome]

only hp.com there are various support threads try there.

BTW even the windows 8 drivers might still work if you put them in manually?

[expat]

Worth a try, next time I'm back. Just think it's pretty tulip to have a 2-month old computer broken by a 0.1 windows upgrade.

[mudskipper]

Cheers - husband just phoned and said he was about to upgrade his dad's HP laptop. I advised him not to bother!

[vetran]

order a usb sound card £2 on flea bay. should keep her going for a bit.

HP are dreadful for work I have an Elitebroke 8570 and spent 8 months waiting for some video drivers that didn't bsod every other day. Latest set seem to last a few weeks.

[expat]

order a usb sound card £2 on flea bay. should keep her going for a bit.

HP are dreadful for work I have an Elitebroke 8570 and spent 8 months waiting for some video drivers that didn't bsod every other day. Latest set seem to last a few weeks.

USB adapter worked fine. 2nd solution (to root problem, which was how to watch iplayer) was to buy a "Now TV" box for £9.99 - streaming box subsidised by Sky in the vail hope that we will subscribe to their pay channels.

[petergriffin]

This is why I don't buy new laptops with Windows preinstalled. Even only installing a service pack invalidates the warranty.