Comments on: Review: HP TouchSmart iQ506 PC

By: Pete

Pete — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:54:21 +0000

Since my post in March, I have had 2 subsequent Hard Drive failures for a total of 6. The store finally gave me full credit for my IQ506 and I purchased two lower priced computers for what the IQ 606 cost.

I really liked the IQ 506, it’s a shame that they are for the most part a good looking piece of junk with many good features. HP has no idea how much I hated having to part with my IQ506, and yes they have lost a customer

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 23:46:57 +0000

My IQ506 died yesterday. I bought it in October 2008.
The first hard drive failed by Thanksgiving that year.
As did the keyboard. Both of those failures were in the
warranty period. So I kept it running.

After the warranty year, the CPU cooling fans failed.
Replaced that out of my pocket to the tune of $90.
Also replaced the replacement keyboard.

So in my first 17 months, the computer has suffered at
least four failures that make it inoperable. Forutunately
for me the IQ506 has taught me the value of good backups!

It has now devoured a third hard drive. After reading that
I am not alone, it is off to computer shop. It is unlikely
that any HP’s will be on my shopping list. I an writing this
review and the kid’s Dell Studio Hybrid which has taken kid
abuse for one month less than I have had the IQ506 and has
never needed any more attention than a trip to the garage to
blow the dust out of the cooling fans.

HP if you are reading this, you are losing customers with
the crummy reliability of your IQ506s. -stve

By: Pete

Pete — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 03:53:10 +0000

Bought my IQ 506 1 year and 3 months ago. I have had 4 hard drive failures and 1 optical drive failure since I bought it, 2 HDD failures in the past 4 months. It’s out of warranty now, but I bought a 3 year service plan from the store, which requires a replacement after the 3rd “qualified” repair. Although I love the idea and ease of the IQ506, I do not want another one. It is too much of a pain to keep going through HDD failures, not to mention that in less than 15 months the machine has been down almost 6 months.

By: dr burke

dr burke — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 05:33:18 +0000

I, too, brought an iQ506 It was ok for awhile, the HD crashed the first week;
turn around good, then a memory chip went bad third week, good turn
around, then the 6th week the returned PC display was broken. Good
turn around. Then the new iQ600 came out, but HP says you have to
BUY a new computer to get it, no free upgrade for previous owners. Then
I said screw HP and switchover over to Windows 7 and never looked bad.
Then on the ?? week, I read if Windows 7 users will have to buy a new
computer to do all the fancy touch stuff and many computer don’t
qualify and need to be thrown out and buy a new one, if you want this
costly upgrade. So, I now have a touchsmart running Windows 7, that is
to dump to be used as a touch for Windows 7 extra. HP don’t care
about previous owners of iq’s and my advise is why would any idiot
buy an obsolete iQ506, then the newer system in on an iQ600? I would
suggest sending it back for a refund, ASAP; before it becomes antiquated.

By: TOM

TOM — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 07:54:58 +0000

Hi all, like so many others, I too feel compelled to report a Hard Drive Failure. While my system is nearly a year old, I have not used the Touch Smart a great deal, (hour wise), so would not have expected any hard drive issues.

The only other complaint I have about this computer is the fact that it “buzzes”, (vibrates), while running. Around the outside of the screen, is rather cheap plastic and when placed on a desktop, very often makes annoying sounds.

Rather sad to think that a major company like HP cannot get their collect S*** together on Hard Drive design and functionality.

By: Greg

Greg — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:18:11 +0000

I have been searching around on the internet for days trying to figure out why my headsets failed to work with this computer when, much to my dismay, i found that there is in fact no microphone jack on the computer. the jacks located on the computer that i mistook for microphone ports were in fact line-in jacks, not compatible with standard mics. the computer itself is great and i enjoy it, however almost one year after purchase the hard drive did crash. customer support was great and sent out a new HD right away as well as someone to install it.

By: Angie Tafoya

Angie Tafoya — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:30:47 +0000

You can get your money back under the consumer fraud act. Take it back to the store where you purchased it or if you purchased it from hp send it back to them for a full refund. They have known about the defect in the hard drive for some and have chosen to bandaid the problem. The have an obligation to inform you at the time of purchase of the defect in the hard drive. It doesn’t matter what the store’s return policy is as the item does not work as it is suppose to and you have one year upon discovery of the defect to file a claim.

By: skp

skp — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:58:28 +0000

thanks a lot. exactly what I needed.

much appreciated

~skp

By: Ryan McLaughlin

Ryan McLaughlin — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:05:19 +0000

I went through the steps in the review.
Your Touchsmart should have come with a diagram on how to remove the back.
The HP website has a Upgrading and Servicing Guide on how to get to the inside.

Hopefully one of these three will help you.

By: skp

skp — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 20:16:26 +0000

any advice on taking off the back. got all the lower screws and can lift the cover half way off, but seems like there are top screws which i can’t seem to find.

had a HDD failure and need to swap it and try and recover data.

any help?

thanks
skp

By: Cyrus

Cyrus — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:23:28 +0000

And, how do you set the HID mouse in the USB panel? Sorry, I’m a novice at this…

I managed to disable the AHCI in the BIOS and I got the blue screen on booting up. Am I supposed to disable it AFTER installing the SoundMax driver or BEFORE? I did so before and it gave me the blue screen.

Thanks, Gregg.

By: Cyrus

Cyrus — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 02:18:48 +0000

Thanks, Gregg. How do you disable AHCI in BIOS? I will try to install the Soundmax driver like you said.

By: Gregg

Gregg — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 03:07:55 +0000

Cyrus,
install the soundmax driver, then you have to manually point the device to the driver files by saying I will specify the driver to use blah blah.. also you go to nextwindow and download their software and make sure HID mouse is set in the USB panel, then the touchscreen will work. also you need to disable ahci in the bios so that you dont blue screen on booting xp.

By: Cyrus

Cyrus — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:38:28 +0000

Hi. I’m trying to do the same thing (downgrade to XP from Vista) and I’m having trouble. I can’t find the sound card driver and have tried the SoundMax drivers but with no luck. How did you get the touchscreen to work? The remote/IR? Can you help me? Maybe give me the links to those drivers if you have them? Or even just send them to me? I would really appreciate it.

By: me

me — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 05:09:26 +0000

idk why most have you have problems with the touch smart. I got my iq 506 last December and it runs like a charm. The only thing that stinks is that its 64 bit so there arent that much software compatible with it mostly antivirus and antispyware programs =/

By: gregg

gregg — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:33:11 +0000

How did you get the touchscreen to work with XP exactly? I installed nextwindow but still nothing yet.

By: Tony

Tony — Sat, 23 May 2009 18:29:23 +0000

I have the iq 506, and it is great no problems here, I’ll cross my fingers.

I kow it comes with 4 gig’s of ram, how much more can be added? This machine is hungry for more, running all these programs, if osmebody could direct me to the right path, what type of do I Buy?

Thank you very much.

Really apreciate the info.

By: Ryan McLaughlin

Ryan McLaughlin — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:09:28 +0000

Thanks for your note. I am hearing about a lot of complaints about HP’s hard drives right now and I am sorry that it is affecting you. If the hard drive is the only problem you are having I probably would not buy the extend warranty. The reason is because the hard drive is very easy to replace and you can probably buy a better, bigger one for less than the warranty will cost.

By: Pattie Deck

Pattie Deck — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:11:23 +0000

Hello to All, I purchased an HP IQ506 for my husband early last Fall. Initially, we were really excited about the new functionality of the Touchsmart product…that is, until this PC suffered mutiple hard drive failures and related problems. Between the hardware issues and the quality/timeliness of HP’s service, my husband has become very frustrated with his IQ506 experience and HP. In fact, because of these issues and loss of computer time, my husband is in the process of researching replacement computers for the IQ506…after owning it for less than 9 months?? (He really needs a reliable PC for the work he does at home.) It appears that the hard drives Hewlett Packard used to build the IQ506 are LEMONS. Finally, I’m not sure we will throw good money after bad by purchasing the extended warranty being “pushed” by HP. Caveat emptor (buyer beware), Regards, Pattie

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:07:46 +0000

HI everyone, I also have a touchsmaart 506 bought in 11/08. Hard drive died (would not be recognized by system, all data lost even though I bought the same HD to swap logic boards). Now I have the overheating of CPU which freezes machine once every few days. I leave machine on 24 hr’s day. I have speed fan and the temps on core 1 or 2 read about 54C when it locks up. When running normally, they read 42 or so. Hp support has been horrible on this machine. I had to wait 3 weeks after they shipped me new HD for recovery DVDs.