HP DV8235NR Expresscard 54 TV tuner heat problem

Hello, I'm new to the forums but have used your site's notebook reviews extensively.

I have this issue with my 2-month old HP DV8235NR laptop (Specs are at the bottom of this post). It came with an HP brand Expresscard analog TV tuner, the one discussed in this review. When I got the laptop I bought an amplified TV antenna from Radio Shack and tried to use it with the card. It worked pretty well but after about 15 minutes the picture went fuzzy, then gray, then it said the tuner card had been removed. I took the card out and it was extremely hot. I chatted with HP support and they had me reset BIOS settings to default and reinstall AHCPI power drivers. The problem was still there. They sent me a new card and I just got it yesterday. The new card is slightly different than the original, it has a different label but it's the same thing. This card gets extremely hot too, maybe worse than the first one, but it never stops working. Now I know TV tuners tend to get hot but this can't be normal. I mean I can hardly touch the metal part of the card after removing it.

I'm afraid the heat is going to damage something or shorten the lifespan of the hard drive under the expresscard slot. HP wants me to return the system for reapirs but it's not worth losing the laptop for a couple weeks to get the TV functionality back and to be honest, I don't think there's any way it's the laptop itself causing the issue. If it was overpowering the card it would just fry it and it would be obvious, right? How often do these slots go bad hours after running it for the first time? I should mention that I returned the amplified antenna, thinking it might have damaged the card. I'm using this new card with just the 10-foot coax cable attached, no real antenna. I don't have cable TV at home.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Other than this issue, I would highly recommend this system to anyone who needs a desktop replacement. It is a powerhouse.

Core Duo T2300
1GB DDR PC5300
200GB (2 X 100GB HDDs in RAID 0)
17" LCD @ 1440 X 900
GeForce go7400 256/256 dedicated/shared VRAM
built-in 54G wireless 802.11 LAN

 

I had the HP dv8000t for a time with the TV Tuner and near the same configuration you have. I hooked it up to a satellite connection - it did not get overly hot, but was quite warm to the touch and was not comfortable to touch. I believe the fact that you are using an antenna may be the source of the problem. Is there any difference in heat when hooking it up to a cable?

 

I don't know, I don't have a cable connection to test it on. I will be going on vacation soon to a house that has cable, I will try it there.

Anything else?