EliteBook 8740w Ultimate Upgrade Guide (mSATA mod, GPU upgrade, cooling and etc)

Hello. I buy an HP nVidia K3100M 4GB GDDR5 MXM 3.0 Type B to install on HP 8740W or HP 8760W.
The heatsink of 8740W need of modify to fit perfect?

 

Hello
I heve a problem with my elitebook 8740w,only works with external display,the laptop screen seems to power on but stay black.My gpu is ati firepro m7820.This happends after trying to sell the laptop and recived return faulty.
I tryied win+p,fn+f4 and the same.I open the laptop and the screen and seems to be everything ok no scartches or damage to the screen.Please help.

 

I am also interested on installing k3100m on my 8740w (now on fx3800).
Anyone knows what do I need?
Grinding the cooler?
Special inf for driver installing?
Low power working?

The seller says the k3100m is hp part



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You can probablt try to reflash the vBIOS. It might just be a corrupted vBIOS
Otherwise it might be a fried GPU or color mapping board.

 

tried replacing a working FX 2800 with K3100m. The computer would turn on - fan running but no video output. Vbios Version 80.04.C4.00.04

Processor I7 820m
8GB Ram
Non Dream color

 

Has anyone thought about upgrading the bluetooth module to the new 4.0? I am starting to have a hard time with the current module. I am thinking about buying this https://www.amazon.com/Plugable-Blu...&qid=1515941755&sr=8-4&keywords=bluetooth+4.0
Then taking it apart and soldering it to this http://forum.notebookreview.com/att...8/?temp_hash=2f93a9eea0af3075a5a60fb0834cdf95
It looks like there are only 4 leads so it would be just a usb connection so I could solder it to the board on the new usb adapter. Does anyone have a pinout? Ideas??? If successful this could be a sticky.

 

Will installing a quadro m5500m require Bios modding or will it simply be plug and play? Will any m5500m work or does it have to be from a cetain company?

And does anyone know where to buy the aluminium lid assembly? Mine is all dented up from the previous owner. I have the dc display so I'm not sure if it's exactly identical to the regular 8740 with tn panels.

 

I'm looking at getting an 8740W, and am wondering if it is possible to upgrade the GPU from the 5000M to something newer. I searched for the most recent posts about the 8740, and noticed there are some unanswered questions about GPU upgrades on this thread.

Also, is the DreamColor better than the Dell Premium Color, and is the EliteBook better than the corresponding generation Dell Precision?

I believe that the 8740W was the last 16 x 10 IPS. Are the Dells all 16 x 9?

 

The 8740w was the last 16:10 for HP, and the M6500 was the last 16:10 for Dell. Everything after that was 16:9.

I don't think Dell had an IPS in that generation; the M6500 Covet came with a RGB LED screen, but I don't believe it was IPS. Hardware-wise, the M6500 edges out the 8740w, it's has a slightly smaller footprint, internal space for 2x 2.5" hard drives, mSATA drive, and DVDROM drive simultaneously, as well as separate CPU and GPU fans.

In build quality, the 8740w feels better to me, and has better aesthetics; the M6500 is pretty much just a big brick of a machine. The 8740w has also seemed more reliable to me, my M6500 has always been fussy about the fingerprint reader and the TPM chip seems to be going out, as well as the graphics card (although my M6500 has nVidia vs the ATI in my 8740w). That's totally anecdotal, though.

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Is the GPU upgradeable from 5000M to something better? Also, can the driver for the 480M be used with the Quadro to achieve better gaming? (Yes...I like to break up work sessions with a little gaming on whatever machine I'm on.)

 

I've seen people upgrade to K3100M or so, but have no direct experience myself. I know there are refurbs on eBay that come with them installed.

Also if you look earlier in the thread, there's someone that put in a K5000M and it seems to be working.

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Thanks for the quick response. Any thoughts about using the 480M driver with the 5000M?

 

Honestly no clue. If it detects it properly, it might work, but I think there are some actual major hardware differences between Quadros and regular cards, so I don't know how well standard drivers would work.

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The dream color and premier color uses the exact same display at least with the newer the 15" and 17" 16:9 precision and EliteBook series.
I don't know if the older 16:10 displays are both used by Dell and hp.
However, as a current 8740w and the 8560w both with dc displays, the contrast of the 16:9 display on the 8560w has noticeably highest color saturation running native color profile.
Just to note the 17" 16:9 dc/premier color displays have pretty bad viewing angle when looking offer center.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/hp-elitebook-8760w-owners-lounge.581056/page-124

 

Can somebody confirm if the 8740w dc2 has the same color coverage as the dc2 find in the 8760/8770w? Are both panels from the same manufacturer?

Is it true the backlight keyboard exhibits significantly more flex than the keyboard with no backlight or does this only applies to the 8730w? Is there anything I need to know when swapping from the non-backlighting to backlight keyboard?

Does the aluminum lid cover on the dc2 have the exact same thickness and internal mold as the non dc 8740w? The reason I'm asking the lid assembly on the 8760w with dc is slightly thicker than the standard display.

 

The DC2 panels in the 8740w have the same color coverage as those in the 8760w/8770w, and all are from the manufacturer LG. All of the DC2 screens come originally with oversaturated red, green, and blue, so that that over time, as the color saturations decrease, the screens can still be adjusted to adequate specs. The red comes oversaturated the most because it is the one that lessens in saturation the quickest of the three.

It is true that the backlight keyboard has more flex than the non-backlight ones (there are two non-backlight ones, which look the same and have the same quality, just from two different companies that supplied them for the 8740w, with the innards of the keys having different structures, thus making the keys not transferable from one company's keyboard to the other company's keyboard).

The 8740w's DC2 and non-DC2 lids have exactly the same external dimensions. The DC2 one has facility for screwing the color board to the lid. I have replaced non-DC2 screen kit with DC2 screen kit, simply taping color board to non-DC2 lid, with no overcrowding, with no problem whatsoever.

 

I am one of the ones who put a K5000M into an 8740w. It works fine with its stock HP video BIOS that was meant for the 8770w, but it requires a Quadro driver from the nVIDIA website instead of one from the HP website.

 

If this is the case, LG really went downhill with their newer 8760/8770w dc2 panels cos they suffer from poor off center viewing angle. The dc2 8740w doesn't suffer from this.

I guess this explains why my 8740w dc2 has a lower color saturation than my 8560w dc2.
Do all screens that use rbg led backlight loose color saturation over time? What about the typically led white backlight screen? So, in summary, all rbg led displays will end up being more washed out than cheapest tn panel out there. I guess there's always price to pay for having a high gamma screen like with oled where it is susceptible to burn in.

Do typical led with white blacklight eventually lose saturation over time?

But the non dc2 lid has no facility for screwing the color board to the lid so what do mean by simply taping color board to non-DC2 lid?

 

which backlight technology would have the longer lifespan?

RGB LED
or
WLED

 

What's driver you use? I am trying to start k1000m in 8740w. without drivers I have a simple windows video adapter. I am trying install driver from oficial nvidia site, but an error occurs during installation. And I have another problem. Laptop normal boot only with 540m cpu, with 720qm - blackscreen and some color lines.

 

Under win 10 driver can not install. Under win 7 driver with *.inf modification's work's.

 

Is freezing on a grey screen a sign of a faulty video card?
Had to take the battery out to restart the system, holding down the power button did nothing.
BTW the hp diagnostics app is absolutely useless, ran both short and extensive test for each category not showing any errors.

 

EDIT#2: The card is not working properly. I am experiencing a "skipping" issue where the computer freezes for a fraction of a second every few seconds making gaming and keyboard input next to impossible. After going back and forth with my eBay seller (dsyzyl) he has been very helpful and performed some testing for me on his end. He found that this "skipping" issue affects the 970m, 980m, M3000m and K2200m cards in the 8740w laptops so those are a no go. I wanted a card comprable to the 970m and he recommends against the 870/880m as well so we ended up settling on a 780m which actually has more shaders (1536 vs 1280) and memory bandwidth (160GB/S vs 120GB/S) but the trade off is less VRAM (4GB vs 6GB). I know it doesn't bench as well and is older but I did get a sweet deal on the 970m ($280 shipped) as it is now selling for $400 and $280 is still less than the current 780m he has for $330. Performance wise I think I will be happy with it however I am a little annoyed to have an older card as I had plans to use this card in a future laptop upgrade when the time came.

Confirmed GTX 970m 6GB works in the HP 8740w. Driver links and more information below.

Edit: Fan is stuck at full blast so I guess I'll have to run software to control it. That does explain my lower temps across the board though haha. Brightness control on the keyboard does not work however Windows brightness settings do work fine. I don't have a Dreamcolor display so I cannot comment on that. Preliminary benchmarks look great. Havn't had much time to actually play with it yet but so far it beats the hell out of my old FX2800m.






I did have to grind a few mm of material (shown below) from the heatsink to clear the one voltage regulator but otherwise fit like a glove. I had a Clevo cooling plate for the back side VRAM that I tried to adapt to work in my laptop but I just didn't have the clearance between the GPU and mobo to fit it.



https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gMOZB2HPDJ-pEvSLUq5Pz-mx1qA9u6SD

(Link Above) Verified working driver for 8740w
Must disable signed driver checks for Windows 10
Version 391.24
Windows 10 x64
Nvidia GTX 970m 6GB

Above is a link to my custom driver I used in my 8740w. It is version 391.24 and includes updated INF files for the 970m in the 8740w as well as a variety of Clevo and Alienware builds. You must disable signed driver checking in Windows 10 and it will install with no issue. I'd imagine if you add/edit a line in nvhmi.inf you can make it work for any other Elitebook depending on chipset.

Install was a complete success and I am so far happy with the results. Will be trying games and benchmarks later on tonight. So far I've observed 10-20C lower temps on both CPU and GPU surprisingly. Curious to see how that holds up after stress testing for a bit to factor in heat soak.

Below is the link to the how to PDF provided to me by my ebay seller (dsyzyl). He also provided me with nvcvi.inf and nvbli.inf modified for our needs but that did not work as I had to take the above steps to get my drivers installed. Figured it would be a good reference to link it in this thread. If you need those modified inf files download my zipped driver above and they are within the "Display.Drivers" folder.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzCUtaSqUXj9RFVTQzM1WDdXR0RXQlZkWDJPNlhWSVo4MEdZ

 

Has anyone successfully got the auto fan control to work properly in HWInfo? I've read the threads from the creator that explain the issues with the temp sensor inputs but I had hoped there would be some kind of solution now. Was playing with the automatic fan control numbers and I cannot get it to automatically adjust speed at all.

 

Congrats on the upgrade!

So far there's no software solution, or at least none that I know. There's a hardware one though.

Break-down on the HWInfo - Editing the table wont help, since the sensor sends wrong data (overheating), so the fan spins at full (or close to full ~3200rpm, where's full means ~3500rpm, I think that it does change (to ~3500rpm) if you load the CPU as well, but haven't tested it thoroughly). What you can do is set an rpm value of your liking (say 2700rpm) in the fourth or fifth section, so this way you can make HWInfo load this value at start-up and have relatively hassle free moderate usage, while keeping the noise down. Of course if you want to play a game, or launch a heavy application, you'll have to ramp it up manually. I'm fine with that setup and I'm not touching the fan control in about 70% of the time. Make sure to set an alarm for the CPU package, in order to know if a demanding background process kicks-in. Set it to say 86ºC, so you'll have time to ramp-up the fan in order to avoid too much thermal stress on the CPU. The CPU would be fine, I have forgotten mine way too many times (throttling @99ºC), but keeping it cool is always nice.

 

Welp that party was short lived... Having an issue with the 970m and I believe I was sent a defective card.

The PC is "skipping" in the sense that while typing a sentence (or password) it will miss keyboard input and therefore letters. You can also see this when moving the mouse or doing anything else with motion on the screen. I confirmed it to be hardware by booting to multiple Linux live disks and the issue was there as well. One by one I swapped components, tried each RAM stick individually, swapped CPUs, and the only thing that fixed the issue was reinstalling my old FX2800m. I am within the eBay seller's 90 day warranty period so hopefully he honors it and a replacement card will be all I need... Of course the most expensive part of this build is the one that's failed... I can provide videos of the issue if you are interested.

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Oh I like that idea. Where would I put the probe though? I'll definitely look into this after I get the above mentioned GPU issue sorted

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That's unfortunate. I hope that all would be well with the new GPU.

The CPU, at least hat's where I'd put it. The logic is that you can do tasks without needing the GPU at all, or with light load on it (virus scanning, indexing, movies, internet and etc). So the CPU would always command the right temperature, even when gaming, you still need the CPU, so it would still generate heat and ramp-up the fan. For the later (gaming or system heavy apps (CPU + GPU)) I still recommend running it on max - slower temperature build = cooler hardware = longer lifespan.

 

Updated my post about the 970m up there FYI. Looks like its a no go for our 8740w.

It looks like the probe isn't the flat style thermistor so it cannot be placed directly on the die. Wondering how readings at the top of the CPU cooler (between the heat pipes maybe?) would compare to the actual core readings we see in the OS. 70C for 100% fan sounds like a good target even mounted to the CPU cooler pipes. Will be doing testing on that soon.

 

Sorry to hear that. I didn't know that 9 series had this skipping issue in our machine. Anyway, the GTX 780m is still pretty solid GPU. I'm yet to get the GTX 1070 running properly, so far external only (DP), so there's that.

Looking forward to the result of your testing.

 

1060m was my ideal choice because performance wise it was comprable and I'd like this to be useful in a newer laptop in the future however a 1060m in the form factor we need is hard to come by and compatibility was still a question so we settled on the 780m

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As far as @RMSMajestic tested it, it's a no-go on a DreamColor and even less on any other configuration (i.e. LVDS display), since Pascal and Polaris dropped LVDS support. So yes, the 780m seems to be the fastest hassle-free working GPU. If M3000M stutters as well, it's quite likely that the M5000M would be in the same boat (after all they are 9 series based Quadros). Of course this has to be tested and proven, but again - enjoy your 780m, at least we know that it works flawlessly.

 

Looks as though it is anything with the GM204 chip which includes the 965m, 970m, 980m, Quadro M3000m, M4000m, M5000m. The 780m is the GK104 so looks like Kepler architecture chips are safe but it makes me wonder if a 1st gen Maxwell (GM10x) chip would work or not. They are found in the weaker 700, 800, and 900 series cards. Since the seller has an 8740w as a test bed he is testing the 780m for me and as long as all is well I will have that on the way to me tomorrow mid day. Hopefully it doesn't get held up in customs for 6 weeks this time...

 

Works fine, no issues except fan control not working. I was also able to turn on 10-bit color in nVIDIA control panel for smoother color

At least I didn't experience any problems with driver version 382 and 378 for world of warships.

nVIDIA is well known for nerfing the old GPUs as oppose to AMD. So you don't always wanna stay ahead. Also, it would make no sense to install spyware such as the nVIDIA Experience Panel.

HD 7970 used to be between GTX 670 and GTX 680, and now it's almost the same as a GTX 780

 

Mine is a non DC model. I was using 391 with the GTX 970m but the driver was irrelevant to me because the skipping issue occured with no driver installed as well as when booted to other non Windows OSs. I have a spare hdd I cloned when I initially setup the laptop and I even went so far as to throw that in to see what it would do with the FX 2800m driver having never tried the modded 970m one and all had the same result - skipping or whatever you want to call it.

I opted to install GeForce Experience because I'd like to make use of Nvidia's Gamestream tech to stream this PC to a lighter (weaker) laptop or my Core 2 Duo HTPCs and still play the games I want. Moonlight is an open source Gamestream client program that allows any PC Mac or even Android to become a client so you aren't just restricted to Nvidia Shield tablets or TVs.

Lots of Nvidia hate around these parts lol. It just so happens to be all I used since I was a kid so I just like the brand. I grew up around an Intel house so I guess it makes sense since they have been paired together forever.

 

I have a K5000M installed on my 8740w. I have a GTX 780m I would like to install. How hard is it to get the 780 to work? I have never messed with the .INF before. Is it very complected to do? Any insight on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

First check if the 780m physically aligns with your heat-sink. You'll have to grind the heat-sink if it doesn't. Secondly, for your actual question - use this guide. It would take a while the first time around, but you'll be fine afterwards.

 

just installed GTX 770m (from msi) in 8740w, dual core board, non-dream screen, driver fix, works fine.

 

i bought a gtx770m for my pc hp 8740w i installed the card but it did not work
help me how did you make it work
and I bought a Quadro k3100m but it did not work too
i read that you have to modify .inf but i have no idea

 

Are you getting any video on the screen at all?

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pc does not turn on gtx770m
for the k3100m does not turn on but there is light on the screen
I think it is necessary to install the driver before inserting the gpu in the pc
help me please

 

No that's not how it works, the driver is installed in the OS and you don't need a driver to see your bios screen or even boot into Windows. Without a driver it will just come up as "Microsoft Basic Display Adapter" in Windows. You either have a bad card (or motherboard) or you may need vBIOS flashed to one compatible to our EliteBooks. If the PC completely won't turn on with the card inserted I'd say you have a major issue with the card or computer.

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how to flash vbios
please show me

 

I have an elitebook 8560w with a quadro fx 2800m that is mxm 3.0b card. All work fine with temperature too because the highest is 69 degree celcius but i have two problems. The first is that the gpu doesn't reach the 600mhz on core clock. It's only above 340mhz. Memory and shaders too doesn't reach the maximum frequency. The second the brightness that i can't adjust. My specs are:
i7 2820qm
6 gb of ram ddr3
700go hdd
No dream color screen hd+
120w charger.
Please what is wrong ?

 

If i need to flash vbios please give me the file or the link.

 

how to flash vbios on HP Elitebook 8740w
i have gtx 770m and quadro k3100m both both of them not working
help me please

 

Has anyone successfully managed to get a Quadro m5500 working?

 

As far as I know no one has ever tried and it's pretty rare, not to say unobtainable, GPU to begin with.

 

Don`t need flash, you need CPU with intel graphics. I am use "non supporting" k1000 in my 8740w with 540m cpu. With 720qm it doesnt work.

 

I'm looking in to buy a Quadro m4000m.
Will I need to flash vbios or will it simply be installing new drivers?
The stock card is the fx3800.
Will the including heatsink need be swapped out as well?
The panel is dc display. Will I still be able to run the m4000m with 10bit colour enabled?