*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 1*

Hello HiddenUser,

I will ask around. Once I hear something, I will let you know as much as I am allowed to disclose.

 

Ok..First time fan speed issue. This is the first time the laptop went to sleep mode. When it wakes up, the fan ramps up to speed and stays on like that. The GPU Fan speed says 30%. RPM 2, GPU Temp 35C

 

Dear Eric,

I appreciate very much your help.

Kind Regards,
Chema

 

Have you guys tried running shooters and checking the input lag? *just a reminder *

Also can you keep DPCLat Checker in the background for a few hours of regular use and post a screenie?

 

Pardon my ignorance - any linky for shooters?

 

Input lag is almost impossible to figure out unless you get a way to count it. AFAIK, this can only be done on a laptop's LCD with a 60 fps video camera and capturing your mouse click/keyboard press in frame with the screen to see when the screen responds. I don't currently have a 60 fps video camera, but I'm working on it.

 

One question probably omitted, and I think it's relatively important.

Since the color space modes are controlled by software and there is no (physical) button to switch among them, what about if the user reboots and loads another operating system, for example, Linux? Is the color space remembered between reboots? That is, if the user enables the sRGB space in Windows and then reboots and loads Linux, will the color space be the same?

 

kartik_subbarao | 6-14-2010 | 820QM | FX2800M | 4x4GB | W7P | WUXGA+ | 1,2

Thanks again for all your efforts on this!

 

People measure lag on LCD and plasma TVs by connecting them to computers and running a timer on two displays (CRT and TV). If the CRT is considered to be zero then the lag on the plasma or LCD can be calculated. Would this not work for laptop displays as well?

 

There is always some concern when using the two outputs (rather than a splitter) that lag is introduced by clone mode, possibly asymmetrically. However, having an external CRT vs. the native screen should give at least a lower bound on input lag (assuming that the crt is getting any extra lag introduced). Comparing this setup between a DC2 and non-DC2 screen should give a split between the two.

This seems to be a handy and pretty easy-to-read tool for measuring input lag:
Refresh Rate Multitool .exe - [H]ard|Forum

(Some in the same thread suggested this timer:
smtt.thomasthiemann.com - Technical support for the program SMTT
)

 

Last Update to Problems: 7-15-2010

1) Fan - fan stays on medium after waking from Sleep mode and will not shut off regardless of CPU/GPU temps...this problem is reportedly fixed in BIOS F.04, but that version is not yet through testing and is not currently available

2) Crash - fan suddenly ramps up to maximum speed, 30 seconds later the laptop goes blank as if it has lost all power...suspected problem is GDDR3 conflicting with 4 dimms...problem is perhaps solved by HP, but no official word yet on when solution is to come...claims made here suggest all newer laptops should not have this problem as the fix has already been implemented in the factories...anticipated fix is mobo replacement

3) Freeze - during startup, the computer freezes at some point during the animation (4 color dots rotate and flower into the Windows logo)...freeze may also occur during blank screen after this animation just before the Login screen appears...users must hold down the power key for several second to power down the system and reboot normally goes without any difficulty


Last Update to Roster: 8-9-2010
NBR username | Shipped Date | CPU | GPU | RAM config | OS | screen | Problems
Notes

knight427 | 6-1-2010 | 720QM | M7820 | 2x2GB | W7P | WUXGA+ | 1, 2, 3
Notes
I traded this one into HP for an upgrade that was supposed to be tested and ready to go...not so much

knight427 | (see "a") | 820QM | M7820 | 4x2GB | W7P | WUXGA+ | 1, 2, 3
Notes
(a) HP had on-hand, made way before DC2 units
(b) 4 dimms was completely unstable, reduced to 2 and now crashes/freezes 1-3 times per day
(c) still feeling out new ATI driver, it did change fan behavior under heavy GPU loads

Koshinn | 7-14-2010 | 840QM | M7820 | 2x2GB | W7P | DC2 | No problems so far. Haven't tested 4 sticks of RAM
Notes

kartik_subbarao | 6-14-2010 | 820QM | FX2800M | 4x4GB | W7P | WUXGA+ | 1,2

NotebookGrail | 7-14-2010 | 840QM | M7820 | 2x2GB | WP7 | DC2 | WP7 Automatic Update Restart freezes up

Thecla | 7-10-2010 | 820QM | M7820 | 2x2GB + 2x4GB | W7P | DC2 |
Notes

lethial | 7-10-2010 | 820QM | M7820 | 1x2GB | FreeDOS| DC2 | strange noises
Notes

klangfarbe | 6-15-2010 | 720QM | M7820 | 4x2GB | W7Px64 | WUXGA+ | 1, 2, 3, high pitched buzz noise
Location: Croatia

 

^this is what I have so far. I'll keep updating it as people post their info. You can PM the info you prefer. Note that I have a link to this post in my sig, so it will easy to find so long as I keep posting.

 

The problem is that this is not an external LCD monitor, it's built in to the computer. You can't split the output, you can only clone the display onto a CRT, which is not an accurate measure of lag. Cloning output can show zero lag when there is actually much more.

Again, cloning the display introduces lag.

 

Yes, hence my statement that it would provide a floor -- unless activating the second output introduces lag to the main display and not the external, it will give a minimum value for lag.

More importantly, since our options here are between two internal screens, if we can get figures for each, the difference should be accurate (both might be low measures, but they should be low by the same amount).

In any case, it's the best we can do until someone gets a high-speed camera setup working and measures lag directly (which is going to be non-trivial anyway, since the moment of key activation isn't necessarily going to be perfectly clear).

 

I'd just try 2 games:
Crysis (Demo)
and
AA3 (Free, online multiplayer)

I didn't want to even know the actual numbers. All you need to do is play a few online FPS games and see if you feel the same level of responsiveness and precision.
Ideally, it has to be a game you already know very well.

 

YouTube - Testing input lag

Made that about a year ago.

I'll be honest with you Aikimox, I haven't played games in such a long time that I wouldn't notice it.

 

Anyone? I know the majority of users are not Linux users, but you can try with a live CD too, for exampl e, KDE 4 Live CD Download it from one of the mirrors and burn it to a CD-RW or install on a pen drive. This distro has a nice GUI (it's very user friendly).

Simply run Windows 7, set the color space to sRGB mode, then insert the live CD and reboot. Watch the color differences between the graphic user environment of the live CD and Windows.

Thanks, it's important for Linux users (like me), since I think no Linux version of HP Mobile Display Assistant is available.

@vasbinde: Eric, is there a Linux version for Mobile Display Assistant planned? The EliteBook 8730w was SUSE Enterprise 10 certified but there was no version of Display Assistant for this OS.

 

Here are my stats, and some random comments after using the laptop for a few days:

Thecla | 7-10-2010 | 820QM | M7820 | 2x2GB | W7P | DC2 |

I've added another 2 x 4GB RAM, which I got from HP:

HP 4-GB PC3-10600 (DDR3 1333 MHz) SODIMM (AT913UT) specifications - HP Small & Medium Business products

and haven't had any crashes so far with all 4 DIMMs populated after a couple of days, so hopefully this means they have indeed fixed that issue (the most serious one I've seen IMO, apart from when they had the issue of not being able to ship the laptop ).

I ran a few passes of memtest86+ overnight to make sure the memory was fine just in case I got some blue screens or something later on.

I have the 256GB SSD from HP, which shows up as a Samsung MMDOE56G5MXP. Ironically, and not that it means anything, after adding the extra memory, the SSD is one of the low scores on the windows experience index (7.1/7.4/7.2/7.2/7.1 for cpu/ram/graphics/gaming graphics/hard disk.

I tried running some MATLAB computations and comparing results with ones using an older (but faster) Desktop core-i7 920 (2.67 GHZ) cpu. The 8740w with the core i7-820QM (1.73 GHz) generally takes about 30%-50% longer for the same run (e.g. 1199 secs vs. 837 secs).

Not sure exactly what the results mean, but I also a ran 3dMark Vantage benchmark: gave total score of P8250 (cpu: 11133, gpu 7595).

Edit: Also ran 3dmark06 to compare with some other scores posted here. My result was 13154 with sm2/sm3/cpu = 5383/6342/3329.

I checked out the LG display with UD Pixel and everything looked fine. Colors and viewing angles are great. HP has a handy mobile display assistant which I've used a few times to reset display to default FULL/NATIVE mode after apps did stange things to it. I set it to run on start up and appear on the right-click screen menu --- for same reason that also attaches the Mobile Diplay Assistant to the recycle bin menu. Don't know if that's intended or not but it seems a little odd.

I had similar issues with the HP software updater -- stopping in the middle to update itself and then having to be rerun for the rest. Also, after that I hit the quicklook button which brings up the software updater, and I figured I'd run that too, but it seemed to reinstall the old versions of the software and I ended up re-reintalling the new ones...

It took a while to get used to those buttons -- it has light/buttons at the top of the laptop:

1) main power button (this one actually has to be clicked down unlike the other touch-sensitive buttons, so maybe that caused some of my issues with not getting the laptop out of sleep)
2) quicklook button: opens outlook when laptop is powered off (might be nice if I ever used outlook at all), software setup utility when power is on
3) web-button: opens web browser
4) wireless indicator: shows if wireless is on and turn on off
5) touchpad: turns touchpad off/on (ok I guess if you don't want brushing touchpad to move cursor when using mouse, but not so useful for me either)
6+7+8) mute + volume down + volume up switches
9) calculator button: launches windows calculator (also not sometrhing I use much)

They're fine, but I'd probably have preferred a couple of display brightness up/down buttons (which are available on function keys) or something to several of those myself.

It took me a while to notice that the backlit display control is on the fn/space bar key (doh!) but it didn't seem documented anywhere. There seem to be only two settings (on/off) and the backlight goes off after about 30 secs of inactivity, even when plugged in (not sure if that can be adjusted in some way). Overall, the backlit keyboard is very nice: it's more of a chiclet type than a solid type keyboard, but it's firm and feels good to type on.

There's been a few squirrily things but nothing serious.

I had the synaptic touchpad driver stop working a couple of times on me and windows couldn't find the driver even though it was installed. I had the fan on after resuming from sleep, and the dark-screen-with-drive activity-after-reboot thing a couple of times.

The fan is audible (right now for example) but not loud I would say. It comes on when the machine is under load, but still nothing I find upleasant, anyway. Overall, seems to run very cool. I don't see any construction issues -- the top plate has the keyboard between two piece of brushed aluminum (I guess) and zags up a little at the back rather than being completely flat, but all the joins are clean and fit well.

 

@Thecla:

Good "quick review". 2 questions for you:

Does this drive support TRIM?

Can you remap the QuickLook button in order to launch Microsoft Outlook? (it does make more sense, I think).

Also I encourage you to perform the previous test I posted (only for DC2 users). Thank you very much in advance.

 

What make is the RAM? Is it Samsung? Also is the RAM Make/Model (the one u purchased from HP) the same as the one that came with the laptop?

 

According to Crystal Disk Info

Crystal Dew World - Software - CrystalDiskInfo

the 256GB Samsung drive does support TRIM (also SMART, 48bit LBA, and NCQ, but not APM or AAM, whatever that all means...)

As it's set, the QuickLook button launches (or in my case tries to launch and gives a login error in 20 different languages) outlook if the computer is off and launches the HP software setup when the computer is on --- not sure if the button can be remapped, but that would be nice.

Sure, I'll try this as soon as I have the chance. (I'm afraid I'm a lapsed linux user who's regressed to windows.)

Yes the 2 x 4GB RAM I got from HP separately was Samsung, and it came with 2 x 2GB Samsung RAM installed --- not sure about how the details compare (the trial version of Everest I installed only give info about DIMM no. 1!)

 

I've found a website to check on HP warranty (mine confirms that the 3/3/3 standard warranty includes on-site):
Warranty check - IT Resource Center

Serial number should be on the invoice (the part where it says SER# . The product number is the item number on the invoice (from the line BU IDS Quad 8540w in my case).

 

I want to replace my Vertex 2 with a higher capacity drive already. The G3s were the reason why I bought this thing in such a low capacity anyway.

Why is the 7820 less expensive than the other graphics options in the CTO configurator? I've been wondering about that as it seems to be based upon the HD 5870 and it seems to be pretty good at most everything.

 

Can you try this HWINFO32 and post the name of each model dimm?

 

The fact and reality is by the time G3 is affordable(price wise), there will be talks of G4. IMO the best time to buy any piece of hardware is somewhere mid-life cycle.

Instead of thinking that the 7820 is less expensive - think as "why is NVIDIA expensive?". The reason its expensive becos of all the various certifications they go thru and there is a premium we pay for that. The 7820 also goes thru certain level of certification, but not to the extend of NVIDIA. I might be wrong, but this is what i believe.

 

I think that's exactly what Nvidia CEO/CTO said in an article earlier this year. If I find the article I'll post the link here.

 

Here's what it gives me:

 

I just ran 3DMark06:

HP 8740w

Default settings @ 1280x1024
Core i7 840QM, ATI FirePro M7820
4032 MB RAM

13,241 3dMarks
SM2.0: 5410
HDR/SM3.0: 6344
CPU: 3395

 

Nice, did you have the new driver installed? Did you do anything special, that's 200 over my best-of-two runs.

EDIT: oh, I just noticed you have 840 over my 820...if you have time can you run all the stuff I did...click on the 3dMark06 link in my sig...I also have PCMark Vantage an 3DMark Vantage I need to put in there.

 

What about the piece of hardware you're using to type this message?

480M doesn't have all those mysterious certifications and yet it costs 3x the MR5870 for a very little gain in performance. Not to mention that it requires an incapsulating heatsink and is cooled by 2 fans in Clevo's.

 

Incidentally, HP chose to deliver this piece of HW mid cycle, resulting in additional savings

 

I posted this q'n few pages back(not exactly the same as below). So i am asking again as i didn't get reply.
Do i need to download the 400+MB file for the PCMark+all the vantage mark testing?. Is there any like a online version?

 

Yes, the platform is not fresh but DC2 and M7820 are the exceptions.
I'd never jump on it if wasn't for the crazy discounts.

AFAIK, - yes you have to download the whole package.




<<< BTW, what's the the exact weight of the laptop?

 

What type of discounts did you get and when were they available?

 

Thanks , will try that.

Just the laptop w/o the power cord/adapter is 3.6 Kg = 7.9 lbs
Not bad for such a packed power and features. And i hate having more than 2 bay (HDD bay+Optical/HDD Bay), when technology is eve changing on the HDD capacity

My old Dell E1505 is 2.8 Kg=6.1 lbs.

 

Found a new issue - happened 2 times in the past 2 days.
When the laptop is booted up in the morning (basically after a nice night/day rest) and when the screen comes up with the login (right after the windows logo), the screen flickers with RGB colors like as if its end of world and the power is going down. I will post screenshot when it happens the next time. But its resolved when i shutdown (press power button) and restart.
Has anyone noticed it? I guess it must have something to do with 10-bit.

 

I took a picture of it last night; dont' have time to post until about 6 or 8 hours from now. It worried me as I was like "holy crap, what do I do now", but then noticed I could determine where the power-down button was. It also reminded me of when my wife's old Sony 'laptop on a stand' lost its graphics card.

I got another one. On battery power right now and my battery is draining fast because there is no way no how for me to turn the brightness down. Ambient Light Sensor is definitely off, by every means I can find. Tried every power saver mode; everything. Cannot control the brightness. (and the ATI menu option when I right click the desktop is gone and I can't figure out how to get it back!)

 

Just installed 2 more sticks of RAM... opening up the keyboard is a pain.

And you need to install HP Quicklaunch drivers to get your fn+f9-f11 to work. fn+f11 is the light sensor, by the way.

 

As i am new to SSD world, need someone to guide me with the right configuration for Photo Work.
I bought a OCZ Vertex 2 XE 240GB SSD (~$484 after all rebates and CB's).
I am planning to put that in the optical bay (already purchased a HP Optical Bay HDD caddy from newmodeus.com)
Now i know that its best to install OS and all the apps on the SSD. Regarding the photo processing, should i point the temp file location for working with images to the SSD or the HDD?. I will turn off Cache from the photo processing software as it is not helpful when having a powerful processor.
I am planning to save the processed images in the internal HDD and then move to external 1TB HDD on a scheduled basis.

This is as far as i know. So please provide your valuable suggestions.

 

I've given that some thought... put the SSD in the primary HDD slot (assuming you're installing your OS on it... and if you don't install your OS on it, it's kind of a waste) and the storage HDD into the optical bay caddy. Why? Because if you ever decide to put your DVD drive back in, you'd have to remove your OS drive, which means your computer won't be useful.

 

Did you try the HP Display Assistant? It has sliders to set luminence when using AC power and battery -- they seem to work for me anyway.

 

My rep offered 25%, but he got promoted afterwards and no longer can be of any help to us. I know that some people here got as much as 28%.
Maybe they can PM you their rep's info?

3.6 is a feather! Wow! My wife's W510 is ~3kg. M17X=6kg

 

Sent you PM about discount.

 

That's the thing. It should be showing in the notification area but it's not & not showing on right click on the desktop & I can't get it to show. I'm quite sure I couldn't adjust it because I was in the AdobeRGB mode, but I could not get that tool to load to change it. Otherwise there's about 4 or 5 ways to adjust brightgness &none would work.

 

Thanks again man.

 

Another question regarding the weight, guys -
Can you tell me the exact weight of the entire package?
I need it for forwarding the system to Canada. Fedex doesn't provide that info for some reason

 

I don't know if it's the same thing as what you're getting, but I do find that the HP display assistant has a tendency to disappear off the right click screen menu even when that option is checked under settings. When that happens I can't even get it to come up from the HP folder in the start menu -- running it just gives an hour glass "looking for compatible display" and then closes when it apparently doesn't find one. Rebooting the machine typically restores the diplay assistant to the right-click menu option (both on the screen and weirdly on the recycle bin menu too).

I don't know if it's connected with the display assistant funkiness, but I've got several times the problem of starting up (I think mostly when restarting directly from windows, but I don't know exactly how to reproduce it) and getting a blackscreen, though there is disk activity so it seems like it's just the screen that's not active. I have to do a hard reboot, when windows comes up with a didn't close normally warning, and then when I start windows I get a completely screwed up display (not sure if this is the same issue others commented on or not) with lines across it, poor colors etc. Then I shut down windows from the start menu, and when I power the machine back on everything is ok...

 

@ Thecla,
Wow, sounds like a poor power management of the IPS screen. Doesn't look like a driver issue to me. This could mean that W7 can't handle the screen properly. What if you switch to 8-bit, does the problem still occur then?

 

13.1 Kgs=5.9 lbs

By the way, did yours get shipped?

 

Are you sure? You mean 5.9Kg=13.1lbs?
That's heavy... Did you order some extras or was it just the config in your sig + the power supply?

BTW, mine is shipped from China and will be in NY by Wednesday.