*HP EliteBook 8730w Owners Lounge*

Ignore - Tapatalk brought me to the FIRST PAGE OF THE THREAD instead of first unseen... AGAIN...

 

Thanks. Would that one work well for CPU and GPU? In another article I read that someone used Arctic Cooling MX4. Is there any significant difference between these two when it comes to a 8730w?

 

Yes, there is a big difference - MX4 is very average thermal compound. On the other hand Kryonaut is the best non liquid metal TM on the market.
In my case the difference between the two was 8C in favor of Kryonaut.
With MX4 on my previous i7-2960XM I had max temps as high as 95-97C and 86-88C with Kryonaut.

 

Thanks again for the helpful answer @mirage_bg.

The smallest tube of 1G should be enough for GPU and CPU, right? Even this one is more than 10 USD/ EUR... Sure enough a complete rip-off.

 

Yes, will be enough for the CPU and GPU.
I know, a bit pricey, but it’s worth every penny if you don’t want to bother with liquid metal stuff.

 

Hi guys! I came here from the HDX9000 thread. I'm trying to get QX9300 working by making a BIOS mod. So I need to install an ACPI table from 8730W. Do anybody of you have it in a separate file? If you don't, could you please run RWEverything and extract it from there?
Please, follow this guide to not miss needed elements.

Thanks in advance

 

No need anymore, I've found it.

 

Sorry guys, it seems like I need those files. Could you please follow the video and send me the files?

 

@mirage_bg I finally got to do this, applied the paste but now have two questions:

Do the little dots around the GPU need to get covered as well? When I removed the original paste they were covered, but I do not see anything in the instruction videos.

Also, does the newly applied paste dry out quickly or can I still make adjustments to it after a day or two?

 

No, they are not supposed to be covered. Simply the original one has been way too much and has leaked outside the GPU die.

As for your second question - the paste doesn’t dry out quickly, but I wouldn’t recommend to do any adjustments after the initial one, because it would operate worse and you will experience higher temps.

 

TY for the quick answer @mirage_bg.

I will do the GPU all over then. I think there is still enough paste in the 1ml tube, but can not really see it.

Can I just remove the paste from the side edges of the processor on the pic and then leave it as it is?

 

No, this is wrong amount and way of doing what you've done.
Clean it up entirely, and then you need just a little rice size drop in the middle of the CPU's die. That's it. Then do the same on the GPU but with a little more amount of paste - one and half rice sized drop in the middle. Put the heatsink back and you are good to go.

 

@mirage_bg I did it as explained in this instruction: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Clean-Laptop-Fan-and-Apply-Thermal-Paste-on/

However, I also saw some youtube videos on the line/ drop methods, but was confused because I did not see how this was supposed to cover the entire chip, as displayed in this video:



I also wanted to verify that everything went right but obviously the only way to do so is to put the heatsink on the drop of paste and then check the temps through the system during operation?

 

The heatsink pressure does the job.
On the video you posted the CPU is with cap and therefore the method of applying the thermal paste differs from what I suggested in your case.
You have bare-die CPU and the best way is drop on the middle and let the heatsink pressure does rest of the job.

 

Sounds very easy. I owe you a beer for all the tips, @mirage_bg.

This is what it looks like now. I will put all parts back on and post the temps here once the system is operating again.

 

Still way too much but ok, the temps should be very good. Good luck!
Share the results afterwards

 

Removed some again.

Will post once I know more. What a big adventure this has already been.

 

@mirage_bg

I tried starting the laptop again but the screen remains black now. Everything else seems to be normal (lights & fan). What could this be?

 

Tell me what you’ve done till now?
It sounds like GPU...

 

@mirage_bg Not really much besides taking the whole thing apart, new paste for CPU & GPU, cleaning the notebook with pressure spray, and replacing the BIOS battery. I just hope the GPU did not get any harm from all the wiping. I just used napkins, cotton and alcohol for cleaning though. Is there perhaps a chance that the cold air pressure spray froze up something on the motherboard?

Is it okay if I remove the heat sink etc. again to check if I can see anything or would I also have to apply new thermal paste again if I do this?

Edit: Probably I should connect an external monitor and see if that works. Unfortunately I do not have one right now though.

 

Have you done this before or it’s first time for you to disassembly the laptop and change the paste?
Why did you change the bios battery?

 

Now is getting harder, because the reason could be literally everywhere - CPU, GPU, Bios battery...
You have to start with trying it on external display first and if it doesn‘t work (most probably won‘t) then start replacing first GPU, then CPU until you find the culprit...
But as I said - be prepare for long and uneven way of investigation

 

I have disassembled the 8730w many times before to clean the fan but never took off the heat sink or replaced the paste. I am working on another 8730w right now but do not want to risk taking it apart as I rely on this machine. It will be difficult to find replacement parts now to test what is wrong.

Is it ok if I open the heat sink again to check if there is anything I could see or would I have to re-do the paste then as well?

Edit: I changed the BIOS battery because it was empty. The system date always reset itself after the computer got unplugged and disconnected from the battery.

I hope that perhaps something is not properly connected somewhere so will try to reopen it. However, I also believe that the GPU is the issue. I thought about it when I realized that I used a toothpick to clean the tiny knobs around it from the decade old, dry paste. Perhaps this was not the best idea. I will find out.

 

Yeah, toothpick is not the best idea as it could easily damage the resistors around the GPU die. Always use cotton stabs (tapping) when you clean around the CPU/GPU die and use Arctic cleaner two steps solution for best results.
Now it sounds like the GPU is gone, at least until you connect the laptop to external display or change the graphics card with another just to see where exactly is the problem.

 

Just to clarify... Does the paste need to get replaced if I open the heatsink again?

 

Yes, for sure. If you don’t, air-bubbles will get between the GPU/CPU die and the heatsink that will lead to worse thermal performance.

 

Did you guys know that there are hidden BIOS options located in the DSDT table? I think they can be unlocked

 

@mirage_bg I still did not get to check the error through an external monitor but was wondering if it is possible to upgrade the graphics card from Nvidia Quadro 2700M to a Quadro 3700M without making any additional hardware changes? Apparently this is supposed to improve the performance by around 20%.

 

Honestly I am not sure as I am using 8770W.
You have to ask some of the guys here around who are still using 8730W.
In any case I would recommend to buy a card which you can return it later in case the system doesn’t recognize it. May be here in the thread was mentioned before if such a combo was successful or not..

 

yes, it is possible to upgrade from the 2700m to the 3700m. But you need the "bigger" heat pipe system (if you don't have it already). Check the "Maintenance and Service Guide" which in an updated version suggests it even for the 2700m). However, my upgrade was done by HP (because my 2700m broke). And my 3700m broke also, so I am back to 2700m. I am not sure who is to blame, but NVIDIA had some problems with the 2700/3700. But of course it could be bad cooling or bad assembly. What is not possible, if I am right, is to upgrade from the ATI to any NVIDIA card (different mother board?).

Edit:
but make sure your 3700m is for the 8730w. If not, you have to replace the BIOS of your 3700m with the HP BIOS for the 3700m but this can be tricky (never done it)

 

Thanks a lot for your input, Sotton. I already checked the maintenance guide but unfortunately there is no photograph to compare both heat sink versions. The instruction says 494011-001 is for 2700m and 518096-001 for 3700m. The one I have is probably 494011-001 and it looks just like this. Unfortunately I can not find a photo of 518096-001 anywhere, so do not know what is different.

Either way, would it be worth upgrading to 3700m anyway or should I rather use 2700m again to have a reliable system and avoid any possible complications with my WUXGA screen?

 

as you can see in the picture there is only one heat pipe but place holders for another, so it is the old one.

I guess it is still difficult to find a 3700m for a decent price, this was always the problem. I would not spend too much money, 8730w is too slow (at least with my dual core and 2700) and no protection against Spectre exploits.

 

Thank you very much for the confirmation, @Sotton. If the heat pipe would need to get replaced as well, it would probably not make much sense to do the upgrade. There are 3700m's on Aliexpress but I do not know if they are the right ones. The upgraded heat pipe I could not see anywhere.

The 8730w is working fine for me for the internet with T9800 and 8GB ram.

I had to look up spectre exploit. It seems that all processors prior 2018 are vulnerable for this, so I guess any new computer is what you would recommend? How common are these attacks?

 

I got my FX3700M for around $100 from ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-HP-FX3...Video-Card-488125-001-460734-001/152350557871
Sellers usually mention laptop's brand names in the lot title.
This is the one for 8730W because there was no other HP laptop that came with FX3700M. It also has an HP sticker and the BIOS version 62.92.6E.00.10 that is of HP.

I haven't checked if 8730W BIOS contains VBIOS for both 2700 and 3700, but most likely you will have to replace it. It's not that difficult if you know how to do that. You can decompose BIOS with the Phoenix Tool, replace VBIOS and then pack everything back. I would then flash it with a flash programmer to avoid checksum checks.
But you can also try to flash BIOS from a 8730W that already came with 3700M

 

@remdale Thank you for the heads up on the BIOS! I did not think about that at all. I am not experienced with this and would not touch it if my existing 2700M BIOS does not automatically recognize 3700M.

 

2700 and 3700 are basically the same thing with a different software set up. Most likely 3700 will be recognized as 2700 because it's up to vbios in the laptop's BIOS.
There's a bios chip on the video card that contains the vbios, but it's not used at all. Even if you erase the chip, the laptop will keep working fine.

 

One more thing that should be mentioned is a DSDT table. You might need to replace it, but I'm not sure about that. Otherwise, just flash the whole BIOS of the 3700 version of 8730W.

 

Maybe I was not clear, I only meant to check if the VBIOS is from HP (BIOS of the FX3700M, I should have said VBIOS) because there are FX3700M used by Dell e.g with DELL VBIOS.

The 8730w BIOS does not need any change cause there are no different BIOS versions, it can handle all graphic cards (ATI and both NVIDIAs). And it will show as FX3700M, BTW.

 

Allright. So if I decide to upgrade and buy the new heat sink and FX3700M, it will work 100% without any new hardware, drivers or BIOS changes, yes? Pretty much plug & play?

 

I strongly suggest to use the upgraded heat pipe, it is even better if you use it with the FX2700M

check out if HP still has them in stock, http://partsurfer.hp.com/

NVIDIA drivers are also old and not updated BTW, I get the occasional Bluescreen with my FX27000...

I only have the T9600 with 6GB and surfing is working but not much more

So far I have not much heard about Spectre exploits but the 8730w is too old to get the necessary Microcode update from Intel so this may not be a big problem and I think Chrome has some features to avoid exploits.

 

Maybe re-installing the NVIDIA drivers is a good idea/necessary but that is all.

 

Did you know that the MXM interface of Dell cards is different? It cannot be used with any other laptop

I hope so too.

 

I did not know that, so it is even more important to get the right 3700 from HP. However, MXM should be some kind of compatible? What about Lenovo? But not important, best is to just get the HP version, no problems with VBIOS and MXM compatibility, I guess.

 

I mean this is how the Dell's connector looks like


You won't be able to insert it into your HP.
I didn't buy Lenovo and don't have any intent for now, but the vBios is different for sure.

I will tell you more, there's no other way for you

 

Hey Sotton, nice to see you here!

To be more specific there are no known issues replacing the ATI with the nVidia - Just need the right heat sink (I know because the service center installed an ATI card by mistake once on my machine and never bothered to remove the traces of it when they finally returned the laptop after my first DC screen had gone bad).

It's a different matter with the Quad-Core processor. The motherboard would then be too strained and you'd risk blowing the power section MOSFETs.

To be prudent, one would have to check video card power consumption. In any case you may find the new card throttling the CPU if the power supply wasn't up to par. 135W I'd consider the minimum for an nVidia powered 8730w although you may be able to run it OK with the 120W power supply, but only if you're not driving the DC screen.

 

Check the ebay link below there's one for sale for less than $20

No, not at all. The FX3700m has more memory (1GB versus 256MB) so it will work better for games that require more of it. I have both and honestly don't see any difference between the two computers. Otherwise it's mostly down to driver version and OS.

As for the heatsinks pretty much the only difference between the two is the FX3700m's has an extra heat pipe - furthermore it's downward compatible with the FX2700m card and it's quite cheap to get https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hp-Elitebo...d-Heatsink-SPS-6043b0054801-A01-/192426385817 so why even hesitate [/quote]

Here's a couple pictures comparing both cards so you can compare, they're not mine but I wasn't about to take my computers apart just to take these pictures . The Heatsink details are mine, unfortunately I don't have full pictures, but it should show the similarity quite well.

FX2700m

HS Detail


FX3700m

HS Detail

 

Hello everyone, i have been keeping an eye on this retro machine and now i have two options. I need your valuable opinions. I can get the machine1 for 120usd while the machine2 costs 185usd. I am more keen on the machine 1 because i can check it before buying while i have no chance to check machine2. What i really want to know IF the dreamcolor wuxga panel is way superior than the wuxga regular panel on the machine 1 ? This is what bothers my mind. I have no use for fx3700m for cad or gaming and i don't need those 8gb ddr2 rams cause i have them in my stash.

Please enlighten me or direct me to a comparasion of dreamcolor and standart wuxga panels. Thanks.

Machine 1 : T9600, 4gb ram (2+2 ddr2), FireGL V5725, wuxga panel ( non dreamcolor ), 250gb samsung evo ssd, 2 x original adapter, original and new hp laptop bag.
Machine 2 : X9100, 8gb ram (4+4 ddr2) Quadro FX 3700M, wuxga dreamcolor panel, 160gb hdd, 1 x original adapter

 

When you see a DC equipped machine and they "jump" you answer "how high"

Bottom line, the bright, brilliant Dreamcolor on the 8730w is incomparable to the dull WUXGA, I've had both. There is simply is no comparison possible, and the great thing is, you can actually adjust the white point on this machine, while you can't with the DC2 on the 8740w.

Do note the DC screens of that generation all have a faint color tinge near the bottom left and right corners due to imperfect light mixing of the R G and B LEDs, but it's only visible to someone who has perfect color discrimination and only on a perfectly white background.

For everyday work and especially for photo work, the DC screen is invaluable once properly calibrated and adjusted. I work with a high end external monitor on my 8730w (a NEC PA301W) and although it's probably the best external monitor for this generation machine, it's just not as good as the DC especially at the high and low end of the brightness scale. The only way it beats the DC is the fact it's an IPS screen whereas the DC screen is a TN, that only delivers perfect performance when directly perpendicular to the screen.

As for CAD work, honestly it's a lot of hype because you wouldn't be using the FX3700 for that, heck the applications that can make use of that costs multiple thousand dollars and there are basically no drivers written for it anymore that unlock those features. But for an 8730w with Dreamcolor it's definitely the better card to get because it has double the memory of the FX2700. As for playing modern games you'll probably realize you are fairly limited. As for myself I occasionally play Duke Nukem 3D, the eDuke32 version, and although it's fairly recent and vastly improved technologically from the original with its true 3D actors and superior textures and lighting, I can play it maxed out to full external monitor res of 2560x1600 without issue.

I'm ALWAYS on the lookout for another 8730w... I have a couple of spare DC screens waiting for me to find another suitable machine for but here in Montreal, they've become extremely rare and most people want two to three times the prices you mentioned here and that's for the NON-Dreamcolor version...

I should probably add that besides more memory an SSD is probably a must nowadays, so go get one. that 16oGB drive is pretty much useless unless you intend to run XP and XP era programs on it.

 

Hey man,

Already felt lucky to get such a detailed and fast reply from a 8730w expert. I see that you suggest me to go for the Dreamcolor panel and i will go for it if that makes such a huge difference in visual quality of the display. Another question, does the 3700m vga used in this laptop suffers from failing ? If it fails, could you replace it with the cheaper ati 256mb mxm card supporting dreamcolor ?

 

Sotton who sometimes comes back here had one such failures if my memory serves me right, but I believe this kind of failure mostly happens under heavy gaming.

One thing you have to know is that the DC panel only works with the FX2700 and 3700 video cards. In other words, you are limited to those two cards on the 8730w if you're running a DC panel. Good thing you asked

Another thing - I strongly recommend you open it up when you get it and clean the heatsink, these machines tend to overheat when dusty. Doing so requires keyboard and switchplate removal, then you have access to the fan, unscrew it to access the cooling fins and get the dust bunnies. I have a cat and a dog and need to do this once a year

I believe I posted some pictures on how to do this at some point, if tinypic hasn't removed them yet it could probably help, it's really no big deal to do this.