See my earlier post above for specifics
I have to give the HP Laptop Service Escalation department Kudos - -
They have bent over backwards to try to fix the problem - - however - - They are NOT engineers, they have no technical expertise, and no familiarity with the hardware.
They sent out a replacement Centrino N-2230 card - which failed just as the original did. Then they tried a different WiFi adapter - the RaLink RT-3290LE Bluetooth The computer did not even recognize that a WiFi card was available with this plugged into the WiFi socket - - The WiFi indicator light remained orange (with the N-2230 it would connect - but only for 5 minutes - then fail).
I tried an external Linksys WUSB-600N WiFi Dongle - system posted an error message about being unable to interface with the device {this external device has functioned flawlessly with numerous other computers}
The next thing they are going to want me to do is send the unit to their technical support shop for 'inspection and repair', and the FIRST thing that will happen there is - - they will wipe the HDD and re-image the system - - trashing weeks of program installation (all from well known companies such as Microsoft, Adobe, etc) some unrecoverable as the program keys are date, time, and hardware specific. If I were to send the computer in for 'inspection', I would first remove the HDD and let the service department work the hardware issues using a 'test drive' loaded with their baseline drive image. Regardless of result - this is not real world - as the system must be able to work properly with all of the HP updates, Microsoft updates, and mainstream programs that had been installed.
Judging from the number of similar complaints - this is NOT a problem that is going to be solved one laptop at a time - - it is a problem that is going to have a single solution (IF ANY EXIST) which when applied will fix ALL of the complaints listed in this thread. My belief is that the problem lies somewhere in the Insyde BIOS, or in a common HP driver or Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL) interface that is severely muffed up. I very much hope is is NOT an internal hardware conflict or problem - such as the one HP had with the video chip in the Pavilion DV6000 {design flaw lead to severe internal overheating such that the video chip actually de-soldered itself from the motherboard}. HP suffered a severe black eye over this problem
I can only hope that a simple and universal solution to this WiFi failure is identified and distributed VERY SOON.