*HP EliteBook 8730w Owners Lounge*

Welcome to the forum ellsworth.

you are not allone when it comes to "the red shadow in the corner" problem. I had two units now with the same problem and I think it is important that HP (and LG) understand that we will not accept any "miscolorings" with that display. You have the right to be picky if you pay that price for a laptop.

 

So... 3.5 weeks now since I ordered mine, and they still don't have any idea when it'll get shipped.
Humm.

Seems to be all to do with the dreamcolour screen they say.

Grrr!

 

Welcome Peter .

 

Took my order a little over 3 weeks. Hang in there...

K

 

Pix of the 8730w DVD burner:


Bottom and Front


Top & Front


Top and Back


Bottom and Back


Threaded-Tab-Drive-Holding-and-Removing Apparatus


SpecPorn

 

I had to wait about 1 month . Don't worry .

 

I think it actually helped speed things along by calling the customer service rep and making sure they were aware I was expecting them to ship my order on the date they indicated, or else I wanted an explanation. I called them a couple times. Each time, I was impressed at how professional and responsive the service rep handled my call.

 

You must have had a different rep then.
I've been doing the same thing here in Sydney and all I'm getting is- "Sorry Sir, we have no idea when the screens will be in stock."

If I know it's going to be another week or so I can live with that, but for all I know out here it could be another month!

Regards,
Simon

 

Here are some photos of the HP Docking station 2008 180w attached to my 8730w .It is very small . I thought it would be bigger but no it is small .

 

Good news,

Just got an email. Seems Hp has dream color screens back in stock in my area so I should be getting mine within 5 working days. Woohoo!!

 

Does anyone have this machine with an extreme CPU (x9100/QX9300)? Is there a way to control the CPU multiplier (overclock) from the BIOS?

Also, a word to the wise (in case it hasn't been mentioned elsewhere)...lower end models based around 35watt CPUs cannot be upgraded to 45watt CPUs without first replacing the motherboard. Maybe this isn't news but it was sure an unwelcome surprise for me...

Thanks in advance for answers to my first question!

 

I am happy for you Simon .
A few days ago i upgraded to vista business 64 bit .
The system is flying and very stable . I am impressed .
Now i have 4 gb ram all seen and later when prices drop i will upgrade to 8 gb.

Chris

 

Yep that's my plan also. Upgrade to SSD raid 0 and 8GB of ram when I save some money back up.

How easy is it to upgrade to 64bit by the way? Are all the drivers there and easy to install?

Regards,
Simon

 

Μe too
I had the original dvd's from hp and it was a piece of cake
There are 2 dvds . One the os and the other with the drivers .
After installing all you have to do some updates from windows update site .
I had about 60 update . All run fine and the system is running very smooth.
Regards
Chris

 

Good news I just got a reply from newmodeus about the optical bay caddy for the 8730w. They now have them in stock if you wish to add a bit of RAID to your system.

Regards,
Simon



Their message:
We now have an optical bay hard drive caddy for the 8730w.
http://newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_5&products_id=216

 

Simon if i am not wrong is the outside part black ?? Or is it as in the picture white ?

 

It's black to match the 8730w.

From the site:

"The front faceplate has a black finish."

"The Photo below is for illustration purposes only. The actual item has a black face plate, not the silver one as shown in the photo below."

Not a bad price I think if you want to add raid to the system.

Regards,
Simon

 

Ok thanks . Just to be sure .

Simon i just ordered one . Will receive it in 10 days here in Greece .

 

Hi,

Just as a first port of call, has anyone else been experiencing complete lock-ups of the system lately? It seems to coincide with some recent updates (Vista 64bit), so was curious if anyone else has noticed anything off.

Have had my 8730 since before Christmas and never had a crash, until the last couple of days when it seems to just freeze up intermittently.

Cheers,
Carina

 

Until now i have no crashes . I did all updates and my systems works perfectly.

 

Think I might have figured out what caused it, with error logs showing a problem with GoogleUpdate before every crash. Removed the b****r for now, to see if it fixes the problem.

 

I ordered my 8730w - Thanks to everyone for contributing to this thread. This message is about my overall impression (pretty negative) of HP's ordering process. Sorry about the length, but hopefully HP monitors these forums and can use this information to solve some of their problems.

I ordered on the 14th through the HP website. HP's credit department called back at 7am a day or two later - I just missed answering the call and called back immediately but had to leave a voicemail. I called back again at the end of the day and left another voicemail. It sounded like they wanted to verify the shipping address I used with my credit card. I never received a call back or any further confirmation that the issue they were calling about was resolved.

The order status link they provided by email worked the first couple of days but was throwing server errors for several days after that so I tried calling to check the status. The customer service number listed on their website was not in service and directed me to call a different number. That number worked but when I gave the rep my order number they couldn't find it - turns out this was the "home" department and not the "small business" department. The rep was helpful enough at least and gave me an alternate phone number to try. Unfortunately small business customer service was closed for the day.

I called back the next day and spoke to a rep who said he would find out what was going on with my order and send me an email later that day - I never received the email.

I called back today and was told the order would be delayed until Mar 14 due to a parts shortage. The rep I spoke to said she would have new info on Wed (Feb 25th) and committed to calling me with an update on that day (we'll see what happens).

The website has always and continues to show a Feb 22nd estimated ship date.

So in summary:

1) Credit department calls at 7am and then never responds to followup calls
2) Non-working customer service number listed with order status on website
3) Order status website that is down for days at a time
4) Customer service rep promises followup that is never received
5) Listed availability dates on ordering website that are totally bogus (the website still shows near immediate shipping)
6) Quoted shipping dates on order status website that are wrong and never updated
7) No proactive communication about extensive delays after ordering

Other than that I can't wait to get this thing in-house!

 

I've had pretty much the same experience as you I'm sad to say. Hp are very slack with the whole ordering thing. I had a great experience with my Rep who helped me order it, but once it left him I've had nothing but broken promises of call backs / emails, etc.

I've also been hit by this "parts shortage" and 4 weeks later have been told that it "should turn up sometime this week". We'll wait and see.

Regards,
Simon

 

Be patient all of you . It is worth .I waited about 4- 5 weeks too and i can say you that THIS laptop is the best you can get .
I am very happy after a month of working with . No problem at all and it is working 10 hours a day on full load .I put business 64bit and the machine is flying without any problem . No stuck , no hanging , nothing . Everything is working fawless .
Best regards
Chris

Simon .my second hard disk bay is on the way . i will receive it in 4 days and put in there a WD BLACK SCORPIO 320GB ,7200 RPM Hard drive .
After that i think doing RAID 0. I will see , because i have to format everything and i don't know if i have time for this . If not i will have 2 hard drives with total 720 gb of space .

 

Cool. Would be good to see how fast this thing is on RAID0.

Regards,
Simon

 

Ok, to HP's credit, they did call today as promised (at a reasonable after 9am time even!) and let me know the delayed ship date had improved to March 3rd. I also received an email (albeit a day after the scheduled delivery date) letting me know the shipping may be delayed.

I originally opted for 2nd day air shipping, so I also asked about the shipping time - but she said since it was coming from China it would take 3 days and they would refund me the 2 day charge. Oh well, with any luck i'll still have it by the end of next week!

So, anyone running an SSD in one of these? The Intel X25 series looks pretty good.

 

It is too early for SSD maybe in 6 months, when they will become more reasonable with prices .

 

Well you can set up a RAID 0 without reformat everything. The Intel-Tool will set up the 2nd. harddrive and copy the data to it. (I did't try that on a HP, but used it on my M6400, but it should be the same).

 

I think you are wrong . I read the pdf file for raid setup and it says that for raid 0 you lose all data .Did i miss something .
It is not enough to copy the data because the setup must put together the 2 disks and have to do a clean install . I think or am i wrong ??

 

For Raid1 I think it would work, i.e. no data loss is it's just a copy of disk 1.
For Raid0 I think you'd lose your data and have to start again?
Either way I'd make a backup of your important docs before you start.

Regards,
Simon

 

Yes i agree .this is what i have read . For raid 0 i lose everything.

 

hi!

I am new to this forum, I found it on google while looking to buy a 8730w, the FU467EA to be exact with FX2700, intel P8600 and a 1440x900 screen res. My question is if anyone knows how the screen quaility is on this version (defenitly not dreamcolor) and if anyone knows how much this one gets in 3dmark06.

Thanks!

PS: here in Romania, I found some online stores claming that this configuration also comes with the FX3700 (512mb vram ??). Is this possible, at a price of ~1200€ ?

http://www.vaddit.ro/index.php?obj=front&action=product&product_id=5923

 

Have any of you who reported having problems with the battery discharging whilst the computer is switched OFF come to any conclusions. I have an 8730w, Core 2 Duo, FX2700, Dreamcolor. The first machine I received had the pink cast over the bottom of the display, the replacement was better although it still had a very slight cast but the battery would discharge by 25 per cent in 24 hours. That machine went back to Poland for a m/board replacement but on return it is just as bad. I'm wondering what other users who reported this problem some posts back have done. I wish I'd bought a Thinkpad W700 now but the HP is certified for Avid MC, so that's why I got it, along with eSata.

 

My experiences are similar, and with essentially the same configuration. I'm developing a love-hate relationship with my 8730w. I love it for many good reasons, and still think I made the right choice compared to other units available on the market. But this battery thing really gets to me. I also bought the 12 cell ultra capacity external attachable battery. They both (the primary 8 cell, and the 12 cell external) suffer from RAPID power drain if left attached to the computer, even while the computer is turned OFF, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!! After a full charge (100%), the primary battery is dead in three days even if the computer has not been used or turned on - that is ridiculous! I compensate now by removing the batteries from the system during times I am not using it.

My suspicions are the dreamcolor display causes the problem. I would be very grateful to hear reports from others that do not have a dreamcolor display, and whether or not they suffer from the same kind of power drain.

I also see the red-ish tinting at the bottom left and slight discoloration along the bottom of the screen. For the first couple weeks I didn't see it. But it is now more recognizable to me than it was earlier. I don't know if the system has varied over this time from when I first bought it, or more likely it is just me now more easily recognizing the defect. I could probably live with it, since it is not horrible. My feelings are that I may be sorrier if I send it in for replacement, since you never know if things will get better or worse after repair. Also, something else may get compromised in the process. And finally, the downtime without a working system is a very high cost for me right now.

I still have not dedicated the time I need to take to contact HP about the battery drain problem. I know it will take some of my time which I just can't afford right now. But evey time I think about it, I get angry and will probably be calling them soon.

-K

 

I predict a small storm at HP regarding this battery drain problem while the unit is off. If it is a firmware configuration problem, why haven't they already released a BIOS update? This is looking pretty bad actually. HPs most expensive line and they do this.

 

Hi

I've got my Elitebook this Week and installed Windows 7 Beta. Now i have Problems registering my Fingerprints in the Credential Manager. The first 3 Scans are ok but then it jumps to the start because the 4 scan is made instantly and fails.

Has anyone made the same experience?

 

Hello

After I RMA the second machine with about the same problems HP decided to cancel the purchase. I interpret this that HP silently admits that they cannot solve the problem with the battery drain in particular and also they know about the problem. I'm happy about the decision since I would never accept that the battery drains 25% per 24h if the computer is off. That would mean that the battery is empty after 4 days.

So, now the 8730w is no longer a choice because of these problems. What am I now supposed to buy?

 

Do what I did and get a MacBook Pro?
After almost 6 weeks of being messed around by Hp and 3 broken promises of when it would turn up I told them I wanted a refund.

 

This is, unfortunately, what I think the situation is. I am getting HP to come out and do a repair at my home, which will probably be another m/board swap. How the engineer will check the current drain I don't know, I doubt he'll wait around for the battery to run down, maybe he'll have some form of measuring instrument, who knows. If this last repair fails, and I think it will, I will have no choice than to declare the machine unfit for purpose and demand a refund.
There only seems to be one other choice (I DON'T want a Mac) and that would be the Thinkpad W700. I'm underwhelmed by the Dreamcolor display so the HP doesn't have that trick up it's sleeve now, as for onboard eSata...well, I can get that on the W700 via the dock or an expresscard. I have had Thinkpads for many years and have always found them to be very very good. The only reason that I went with HP this time, as I said before, was because it's certified for Avid Media Composer, but I'm pretty confident that the W700 will work fine for this anyway. The only other downside of the W700 is it's size.

 

A technician could replace your motherboard but the risk is that this is a design error of the motherboard resulting that all motherboards are faulty. If HP is smart they quickly do a respin of the motherboard where they have fixed this problem. Before you agree with HP to replace the motherboard make sure they have acknowledged the problem and they have a solution (new motherboard revision for example) otherwise you might have the same problem with the new one. If HP decides not to fix this problem I suggest you do a refund unless you love to put in and out the battery all the time. Low battery level in a lithium ion or polymer battery might destroy the battery in very short time.

The W700 is not a choice for me because it is quite much more expensive than the 8730w with the same specs and it is also quite bulky. I refuse to buy a Mac. The possibility is Dell M6400 but I don't know much about it when it comes to quality, keyboard flex for example which I don't want anything of. Then we got Asus W90vp, it is very heavy but it got plenty of raw power. The 8730w was actually perfect when it came to size vs power, too bad HP rushed it to the marked.

 

To be honest, I'm in the same boat as you. If I'd wanted a W700 I'd have ordered one to start with, the 8730w does have advantages I don't want to give up. I'm hoping the engineer may be well enough versed with these boxes that he can answer questions, rather than just unplugging and plugging boards in. This computer is really a transportable desktop replacement for work purposes, not a road machine, I have a Thinkpad T61p for that. I'd only rarely use it on battery, so maybe after all I might need to keep it. We'll see, I'm going to keep pushing HP to sort this out though.

 

The pinkish tint is usually a sign of a bad mixture of gas within the CCFL backlight. It happened with Palm IIIc PDAs a few years back and Palm was willing to fess up and fix anyone's PDA with the problem. That being said, if they give u a replacement LCD from the same batch, they would probably suffer from the same pinkish tint.

 

This particular problem is only valid for the RGB-LED displays and not the CCFL variants.

 

Hi guys!

I also got my 8730w (previously I had 8710P).

I have two questions.

When the computer is booting, the DVD is loud, just like it is trying to boot from DVD. Previous model was quiet in this department.

Another annoying thing is the keyboard. The keys get stuck when you press them. Not all, the top ones.

Can you try to press DELETE key kinda sideways to the right. Does is stay stuck?

I am sending it back..

Cheers,
S.

 

I see that a lot of friends gave up and cancelled the 8730w order . Why ? Me too waited for more than 1 month but it is worth the time and the money .
My dreamcolor is perfect and the machine is flying with vista 64bit.
I am seeing too a drain battery of about 15% a day on my primary battery.
After all i have even the 12 cell ultra high capacity battery and toghter i get more than 4 hours of full load working .It is enough i think for a beast like this .
Do you think that other brands don't have minor a major problems ?
For my logical mind it is not right and worth to put hands on the laptop because there is a battery drain at this moment because if there is a problem in the motherboard ( and there is a problem for sure ) it is not wise to change NOW because HP has not fix anything . It is too early . First must the problem get public ( very much public ) and then after a month or two there is a change that they have solved the problem . WAIT . Dont do anything now .
If the machine is working how it should be it is not fair to put on hands for now . I repeat wait a couple of months and than we will see .
After all this kind of workstations are most of the time on AC .
I am very happy with my 8730w and i am sure you will be too if you have patient .
Last thing to tell is that every new laptop need a period of time to work smothless .

Simon , I am very sad that you cancelled your hp order . Why so ? You had no patient to wait a bit more .

 

Send it back because it is not normal . Everything must be fine and perfect
Regards
Chris

 

If it is empty my DVD drive makes no noise at all on bootup, if there is a disk in it it will make a few clicks as it starts to read the disk but nothing more than that and I consider it normal. All the keyboard keys are free and the DELETE key is no different - definitely NOT sticky. On the computer I have now, which has been in for repair once, the latch button which releases the lid was sticky and sometimes didn't work, or the lid did not stay closed, this was fixed by the service. I have noticed a couple of times that the ON/OFF button has not powered up the laptop, even with repeated presses, this usually does not happen though.

I would suggest you contact HP about the DVD drive and the keyboard, they will fix it for you, although you may have to return the machine to them. They seem to be pretty good about this I have to say.

It is clear that manufacturing is poor and quality control very poor. HP must pay more attention to the quality issues if it is to stay in the upper end of the market.

Battery drain is not uncommon, Google threw up many instances of laptops suffering this problem from vendors such as HP,Sony and others, over the years. This would be a nuisance on a GBP 500 laptop but is not acceptable on a machine that costs GBP 2300.

As it happens, I may keep the 8730w (amazingly). I will only use it for video editing, which can't be done on battery power anyway. I'll just run it with the battery removed. An engineer is coming tomorrow to swap the m/board again, I'll report what happens and what he has to say about the faults.

 

Is it possible to reset the Regio Code Change Counter of the Blu Ray Drive?

If'e got an "HL-DT-ST BD-RE GBW-B10N"

 

After a SECOND m/board replacement my 8730w battery drained 22 per cent of it's power in 15 hours last night while completely switched off. While this is not absolute evidence, I have the strong belief that this is a fault with ALL 8730w's. I shall be calling HP to demand that they supply me with a machine that does not have this fault or refund my money. What a waste a time.