*HP EliteBook 8540w Owners Lounge!*

Greetings all

An update on my extended wait for a custom configured unit here in the U.S.

I placed my order on April 5 online without a sales-rep involved, via the small-medium busines portal. The online system estimated (and still says! :vP) a delivery date of April 14. Not so much. A week after the 14th came and went I got an automated e-mail saying my order was delayed due to "material shortages" with no further explanation, or estimated ship date. A call to a sales rep resulted in no additional information on why or when, and no love when I asked for any sort of discount / penance. The online tracking system showed all components had been delivered...

About a week later I get the customer satisfaction survey via. e-mail. I am not very satisfied, and they now know about it. Another week goes by with no new news so I call again. What a different experience! I got a very helpful person this time, who immediately offered to pay for my shipping, and to investigate a further discount. She couldn't (can't) tell me why it's still delayed (Weird), but did come through with a $300 discount (nice!). She said it would ship last week. It didn't. I'm ever so faintly hopeful that it might ship next week...

Executive summary: still no laptop, or estimated ship-date, but less anger and frustration than before.

Anyone else waiting this long?

Jon

8540w, i7-820QM, Nvidia 1800 w/ 1GB GDDR5, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, FHD + WC, Win7-64, , BluRay, and a partridge in a pear tree. Someday.

 

Thank you very much for the needed update. I would have never found that because I've been looking on the HP website and not the softpaq download manager

+rep

 

F.09 is available here...

HP EliteBook 8540p Notebook PC and HP EliteBook 8540w Mobile Workstation System BIOS Update F.09 - c02130797 - HP Business Support Center

I received this notice via email several days ago from HP. I signed up for Alerts and this bios update was with a number of other items.

I have not updated to F.09 so I don't know if there are any problems with it or not. Still running F.08.

Well, I decided to actually download from the site given in the email but I can't find F.09 so maybe it isn't actually available. The email called it a "routine product change notification" so I guess that doesn't mean it is really available. Odd.

 

It might be because of your LCD panel. A number of notebook manufacturers have been having supply problems with 15.6 inch FHD panels.

 

ty for info.
didnt know 8540w have VGA whitelists...
found thread with 8510w+hacked bios but looks like he didnt succeed.

well, the problem is that HP japan doesnt offer CTO for 8540w.
the fixed model with m5800 have HD panel only, which is totally unacceptable
m5800 with ONLY 15.6" 1,366x768... can u believe this!

so i had to change mxm myself to go ATI+FHD.

i could order m5800 mxm from hp, but currently hp parts surfer doesnt carry m5800 mxm board yet...

now am pretty much fascinated with Envy 15 2010 model
returning my 8540w *sigh* and getting Envy 15 seems to be the closest way...

one more compalint, HP japan doesnt offer Envy notebooks
its totally out of comprehension how HP japan choose what to sell!

 

While doing the softpaq update of the bios, i noticed how it also listed an available update for hp power data. So I tried to update, but I got the error code 2869 while trying to update....any ideas. (when doing the hp software update from help and support on the start menu this package is not listed).

-oh yeah and f.08 fixes the standby issue for me 2

 

No it's not... as you wrote it's just a notification about changes of a new Bios, it's not a downloadable Bios upgrade to F.09

F.09 will support the new Intel cpus, anyway I don't care for that, I just wanted a fix for the standby-fan-issue which F.08 brings. The support notification is already known in this thread by weeks, the F.08 update was instead only available on new machines.

Great to hear!

Oh I didn't used headphones yet, but you're right, no audio and I get that crackling sound too. Back to IDT audio drivers...
Hope we get a better driver (no weird virtual sound improvements the windows driver doesn't have this and it sounds way better).

 

Thats the thing with east sellers-its limitations. I suppose you could of got the M5800 with 1366x768 and just changed the screen instead- Cheaper and easier to mess with the screen the the GPU and unaffects the warranty.

On the other hand and the envy 15 new relaunch is good. i dont personally think the build is as rugged. HP home laptops seem to brea or become loose over time compared to business. The GPU is what makes me like it.

 

hi guys, just a quick question... the bios of the p versions are compatible with the w versions? because i stillsee the F0.6 on the 8540w support page.

another question would be about the gpu: fx1800. according to speed fan my gpu is constantly between 65-70° on Power Saver A/C. is this something i have to be worried about?

greetz shu8i

 

Here another similar question to above post. to the M5800 users what idle temps do they have and what is it at load for the GPU?

 

The F.08 BIOS doesn't show up on SoftPaq for me.
I only see Catalog Version 1.0.2.889 released on 21.05.2010.

 

Noone wrote the F.08 is available on the support page. You get the update when you start your HP SoftPaq Installer. This is a 8540 w Thread and as you see in my sig, I also have the 8540w, it works.

I use CPUID Hardware Monitor to view the temps. I have between 50 and 60°C during normal work (HP optimized, no power savings).

It says it was released on 28.04:



I uploaded it to rapidshare for those who didn't get it via SoftPaq:
Bios_F.08

 

I meant the catalog version at File/Catalog information.
It seems like I'm stuck with an old list of available downloads and SoftPaq can't get a recent list.

 

are you sure that it's not your CPU temp? my cpu is on 53-54° but the gpu is 60°+ on idle.

 

Anybody have any problems with background static/interference coming thru external speakers when routed thru a KVM?

I've got my 8540w hooked up to a brand new Aten CS1784 (4-port) KVM. Keyboard, mouse, video, and sound all routed thru the KVM. When switched to any of the other three computers on the KVM, the speakers are silent (unless I actually trigger some sound event). When switched to the 8540w, there is background static/interference that is very annoying. If I hook the speakers directly to the 8540w's headphone jack, the interference/static goes away. I've swapped KVM cables and switched the port the 8540w is hooked up to with no effect. It's only the 8540w that has the issue.

Using the default ITD drivers/codec.

Anybody have any ideas?

 

CPU is generally higher, here a screenshot from the last hours of work. On idle it's ~5° lower

 

now i'm confused since my gpu temp is always higher than my cpu temp. so i should be worried?

 

Doesn't seem too high to me, do you have any problems? If not, don't bother.

 

Brilliant! It fixed mine too. Now I have nothing left to complain about

 

Yes, in addition I have the feeling the fan is running more and more rarely

 

hello to all

can anyone explain what's the use of the HP_tools partition ? i mean, how am I supposed to use the utilities that are stored on this partition ?

should i delete this partition, would this void my warranty ?

thanks for your help

anthony

 

This partition is needed for HP quick tools like quick-web and quick-look. With those tools you can browse or check your calendar without need to boot windows. You can start quick-look/quick-web by pressing the mail/clock-button / world-button beside the power-on-button directly ofter you pushed the power-on-button.
2) Don't do this it will void your warranty, overheat your system and accidentially destroy all the mojo of your Elitebook!

 

in the meantime i found this post by a_afra who tells that it's possible to reconstruct the HP_TOOLS partition if needed ...

i suppose you are joking at me, right ?? (sorry but i'm french and i'm not sure that i precisely catched the exact feeling of your post !)

anthony

 

lol he is. internal hardware that is exchangeable definately does not void warranty. messing with something like the cpu, gpu and things on the motherboard however totally voids warranty.

look up what warranty covers for your notebook.

 

well that seems logical to me, but i preferred to ask ...!

now i've got another question about the HP_TOOLS partition, and especially about UEFI : below i quoted a post that mentions the installation of Seven "in UEFI mode"

my question is : can someone explain "UEFI mode" vs. "Normal BIOS mode" ?

thanks
anthony

 

Now that the Sleep Mode issue is fixed only one big problem remains for me: the crappy IDT audio driver. After causing several crashes I uninstalled it and didn't have a single crash for ~2 weeks. Then I noticed that the headphone output doesn't work with the Windows driver and reinstalled the IDT. The result is that my notebook locked up twice during booting (so far, more is sure to come), once with F06 and once with F08 BIOS.

Am I still the only one with such problems?

 

This might help you (my french is not up to this, so i can't be sure )
Extensible Firmware Interface - Wikipédia

 

Thanks Fela !

In fact I had already gathered some info about UEFI, but my question was rather about SapienZ's quote :
- what does it mean to install Seven " in UEFI mode" rather than in "Normal BIOS mode" ?
- and how is this done ?

thanks
anthony

 

You can activate the UEFI mode in Bios.
If it's activated you can install windows in UEFI mode, if it's deactivated you can install windows in normal BIOS mode.

 

OK !
thank you

 

The IDT driver caused a few freezes for me too. Almost a month ago, I've installed the IDT driver for the 8 740w, which is a slightly newer version, and since then, it works flawlessly!

 

Personally, this machine is running awesome for me! The only problem I had was with the sleep issue but that has been cured since the bios update.
The IDT driver hasn't given me any issues either. I think this machine is great.

 

the only thing that is annoying me is that there are no keyboard shortcuts like (next,pause,previous) for some media players anybody has a clue how to create them on yourself? would be very nice

 

Great info, I'll give it a try

 

Keyboard shortcuts are set by the programs themselves. The enable/change/set them you should check the options or preferences menu item for the media player itself.

 

Yup there are usually settings in the player itself that you can customize to your liking. below is a picture for media player classic settings. everything is there. also as far as a pause button, I noticed most players use the space bar. hope this helps

 

Received my 8540w two days ago. I have got win7 32 on it now. RUNS great! i got the i7 pre configured version... Wondering if using a win7 64bit VLK media would work with the serial number on the bottom?

 

Yes it will so long as its the same edition. Check out the Win 7 forum on this site for more info

 

these keybinding work even if you've minimized the player? i can't find such options for WMP//ZUNE

__EDIT__

found a solution: AutoHotkey.com
now i've Ctrl+F5/6/7 binded to player prev/pause/next

 

But online activation sometimes doesn't work. Activation via telefon works.

 

when I did it with Vista there was no online activation it just read that the BIOS was Lenovo (it was on a thinkpad) and it just activated... that simple.

 

Glad you found a solution.

As for your question, the standard hot key settings in each program will only work if your focus is on that program. If you minimize it and start using another program then the hot key will no longer work for that function.

 

I tried to install Win 7 x64 with license key from bottom - it installed but was not activated. I called to HP and they told me, that you can't install it from retail disk. So they just sent me disk with Windows 7 x64, got it in 2 days for free.

 

Nice to hear, but did you try to activate it by phone?
I recently installed Win 7 on a T510 with the sticker licence key and a retail disc! I couldn't activate it via internet, by phone worked fine.

 

Didn't worked out for me. I deinstalled everything and reinstalled the 8540w version. Sound is all right now.

 

What problems did you have with 8740w driver? I don't have any stability or quality issues.

 

HP and other computer manufacturers should start at least including the 64 bit disc. With most mid level and up notebooks shipping with 4GB RAM the 32 bit version of Windows can't even make full use of the hardware. I can understand that buyers would want 32 bit version for compatibility or department approved reasons, but it's still no reason not to ship the 64 bit disc as well.

 

They don't ship the 64 bit disc because most consumers could not tell you the difference of a 32bit disc and a 64bit disc. They would probably choose the 64bit disc because it is a higher number (lol), and then they would wonder why some of their software is not working and call up hp...then hp would have to tell them that, that particular piece of software is 32 bit and has issues with the 64 bit version of windows....then the customer would get the famous please format your computer and install 32 bit win 7.

By only shipping the 32bit version, people will not have any compatibility issues. This is due to the 32bit win7 being supported by all windows software, and they know that if you are that computer literate you can just call them up and ask them for a disc, or download a copy off the internet for free.

 

Well, finally got my order in.

i7-820QM, 15.6-inch diagonal LED-backlit FHD (1920 x 1080) Antiglare w/Camera, Webcam Integrated 2.0MP Only Available with and required selection for Display w/Camera, ATI FirePro M5800 with 1GB DDR3 video memory, 8GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM (2D), 500GB 7200RPM SATA 2.5 Hard Drive, DVD+/-RW SuperMulti with Double Layer LightScribe Drive, HP Integrated Module with Bluetooth® 2.1 Wireless Technology, Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (3x3), 56K v.92 high speed modem, 150W Hardware Kit 8540w, 8Cell 68Whr 8540w Long Life Battery (3 year warranty).

Ship date of 6/18...can't wait!

 

Did sound like crap, don't know why at all...

@All: I got a second 8540w with preinstalled Win 7. Instead of the SoftPaq Installer there is a tool called HP Support Assistent which is really great and much more compfortable than the SoftPaq Installer: HP Support Assistent Download