*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 1*

Here are my thoughts NotebookGrail:

1. ACHI should already be enabled, is it not on your system?

2. I actually had a long debate with myself over whether to install the SDD in the main drive bay or not. Initially, I wanted to make use of the 3D Guard thing, but I decided to install the SSD there since I know that if I didn't, I will in the future have the urge to upgrade the drive to something faster... And would result in more hassle.

3. My system came with FreeDOS so I installed everything by hand. I definitely recommend doing it at least once, so you get a good feel of what drivers/softwares are needed for what (like the Intel Management Software installed the driver for the mysterious PCI Communication device on the system). There are really no bloat in the sw that came with 8740w. But all the administrative management, or protection related software weren't really necessary for me, so I skipped them.

On the note of installing Win 7, I recommend moving your "whole User" folder to another partition. The OS partition really doesn't need that much space, you want to keep on the OS and the necessary drivers, important system level software on that partition.

FYI, my 160GB was split to 60GB (OS partition) and 100GB (Data and program partition)

4. Which leads us to you question about Page file. I'd recommend keeping it on the other partition on the SSD. And let windows adjust the size as needed. Because honestly, none of us users can perfectly predict just how much page file an application can generate. And when you take in to the consideration of multiple applications running at once, the page file usage is even harder to track.
In my years of tinkering with PCs, I have tried all sort of suggestions, in the end I found that letting the OS choose yielded best balance of minimal storage space waste and performance.

 

1. Sounds correct.
2. Windows 7 can be installed from usb stick or optical media (take your pick).
3. I'd go for a clean install so I know what exactly is on there.
4. I'd leave the page file on whatever windows wants and definitely make sure its pointed at the SSD. Windows 7 seems to be much better at handling memory allocation.
5. Correct

Les has a good Win 7 + SSD optimization guide that you might want to check out.

 

I've been running the same drive in a 8540w for a few months now with Win7-64bit. I will be putting the same SSD in the 8740w when it arrives. Regarding some of the specifics:

I'd be surprised if your bios wasn't already in ACHI mode.

I would install from scratch, but mostly because I don't know what the recovery disk does. In addition to disabling defrag, a good Win7 install on an SSD should enable TRIM support. I was impressed with the HP driver and downloads support when I reinstalled on the 8540w. There were also setup utilities available, like one that reinstalled/configured the default HP power settings.

Consensus seems to be that putting the page file on the SSD makes the most sense. I think people are tending to getting overly protective about avoiding SSD writes. Fwiw, my previous laptop has been running the original Vertex SSD drive with Win7. I never made any SSD tweaks for it. It ran 40+ hours a week as a Java development workstation for ~1.5 years with no issues (before the video card died.) It was limited to 2GB and often had to swap out.

I recently used the "SSDTweak" tool provided in the OCZ forums. It disables prefetch and some other items. However, they 8540w seemed to get unstable after that and had some startup/shutdown problems that looked to be related. I undid the changes and everything is good again. I'm personally not a believer in most of the recommended SSD tweaks that are out there.

Also personal preference, but I never even opened the included driver disk. I always download latest drivers and skip the bloatware. As mentioned above, I was really impressed with HP driver coverage and support for the 8540w. I'm assuming the same level of support exists for the 8740w.

I generally remove these things and I never miss them. But, I never bother with recovery beyond the built in windows recovery disk tools either. (I think this is what is on the HP tools partition?)

(Along these lines, I disable windows system restore too. It rarely works IMO, and I've read it's messes with SSD TRIM commands.)

Looks like v1.10 is most recent Vertex II firmware now. (Mine came with 1.05). Recent Vertex firmware updates are not supposed to be destructive, but I still wouldn't chance it and would apply the firmware update first. ...assuming you want it. Reading the change log, it looks like it would be prudent but not required?

Please post up how it went for you when you do it.

 

According to Judicator, 3D DriveGuard protects both bays, the primary and the expansion bays, but I cannot assure you.

UPDATE: According to the Service Manual, 3D DriveGuard protects BOTH drives (if secondary one is present):
Quote from page 13

So I'm 90% sure that Judicator was right.

 

Anyone here have a Corsair F240 SSD?

I'm trying to decide between the OCZ Vertex2 240GB and the Corsair F240.
According to this updated comparison, they're basically the same.
It appears that the Vertex2 and F-series SSD do not have the "firmware limitation" normally implemented on the Sandforce 1200 controller. So the performance is right on par with the Sandforce 1500 controller.

I can get an F240 for about $499, while the Vertex2 240GB would be about $540 after discounts.
Since the performance and warranty are the same, the only other thing to compare is firmware updates.
OCZ seems to release updates more frequently than Corsair. At least comparing the old Vertex1 vs P-series (with Samsung controllers).
But now both use the same controllers, so I'm not sure if that still applies.
Anyone have any updates on that?
Also, just how important is it to have frequent FW updates on SSD?
I mean, I can see FW updates being important if there are a lot of critical bugs/errors. But if the SSD works fine from the start, is it really that critical to update FW every time a new update is released?

I don't know, it seems to me SSD FW updates are like BIOS updates. By that I mean, if your original BIOS is working fine, there really is no need to upgrade it just because a new one is available.

Obviously, if there are a lot of problems to begin with, then frequent FW updates would be a good thing.

 

@Lethial, Aikimox, HiddenUser,TechAnimal,Kaliatech - thanks for your comments and suggestions. Will for sure follow LES tips and tricks as well.

ACHI is already enabled.

Any real reason for partitioning apart from keeping data in different logical drives? Is it really necessary to split the SSD into partitions? Or should i leave it alone and also move the "user folder" to the HDD in the upgrade bay.

By the way, isn't the SSD considered flat and does partitioning help? SDD can write wherever it wants to, right or am i wrong? In case, it's not, then for example, if i partition and have say 40GB for OS, am i not making that 40GB consumed faster and make life difficult for SSD?

 

By discounts are you referring to rebates and bing Cashback's? If not, i am interested in your source for the deal for Vertex 2. If yes, then you could get Vertex 2(so is F240) it for $508 or even $ 483 with CC cashback included.

 

Yes, I'm referring to BCB and rebates.
I was planning to get the vertex2 from TD. But even with 15.2% CB and $20 rebate it's still $540.

Where are you getting the $508 and $483 from? Seems better than my current options.


There's a guy on ebay selling new OCZ vertex2 240GB for $560. After CB and ebay bucks it's only $495.
The only catch is that there's no box and they're missing the labels, which basically voids the warranty.

 

I purchased the entertainment.com book (again if u use the cashback listed in that deal u could get 2 book for $2) and got a $30 coupon for tigerdirect(Once you purchase the book, register for a online account and login and search for tigerdirect.com). Its still active. The $30 will automatically apply when u click the link from entertainment.com
Link

So $659-$30instant-$100BCB-$20Rebate=$508+i used BoFA additup and got additional 4%= 508-25=$483
Edit: Note, TD doesn't invalidate the BCB becos of the $30 coupon as you are not entering it anywhere, its just activated automatically.

 

Wait, how do you apply both?
I mean, if you have to go through the "entertainment website" in order to get the corresponding coupon AND to get BCB, you have to go through the Bing search engine. If you don't finish the BCB transaction w/in the same window/session, then it won't work. I'd imagine the same thing applies with the "entertainment website"

So how do you do both?

 

Partitioning does not help. I would actually suggest NOT partitioning the SSD. If you do, you'll have a 60GB physical portion of your SSD that's getting a lot of writes via temp files, cache, and general OS usage, while the other ~190GB or so is being used sparsely, maybe only actually being written to a dozen times or so over the life of the drive, as you're installing your applications and user folder there. While SSD failure rates are indeed long, your 60GB partition will wear out faster because wear leveling isn't helping anywhere near as much as it could (leveling over a small partition rather than the entire drive).

The only two reasons I'd partition any hard drive is if I had a spinning drive, then I'd partition the first maybe 100GB (out of 500) for OS and apps so that they reside on the outside tracks of the drive, thus utilizing higher read/write speeds, or if I wanted to dual boot another OS. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to partition a SSD.

 

Ok..Here is the step by step assuming you purchased entertainment books and setup online account.

1. Go to entertainment.com and login. Then search for tigerdirect.com. Click on Get code and the page will be refreshed with the redeem link. Click the redeem link and it will take you to TD website.

2. Now on the same page, go to Bing Shopping and search for "hdd" or any therm that will bring up TD 15.2% BCB link. Click on the BCB link for tigerdirect, which will take you to the TD page with BCB activated.

3. Now search for the vertex 2 and click add and go to cart. You will see both BCB and also the $30 discount applied.

4. Checkout and have fun. You should get your BCB in few minutes. I got mine rightaway.

Hope this helps.

 

Is there a Direct link from MS to download the Windows 7 professional ISO legally? I came across it in some forum, i forgot to bookmark it. Google search leads to some and i am getting confused with the student edition.

 

I see.
I figured going from entertainment>TD>Bing>TD, would cancel the coupon from first website since you're not completing transaction before getting out of TD the first time.
But good to know it works that way.

This is for W7P64 from Digital River

 

Just search the forum for the Win 7 ISOs...

 

@notebookgrail

Hey, I signed up and found the TD $30 deal at entertainment.com.
But there seems to be a problem with the TD "$30 value" link.
I've noticed that on all other online deal links within the entertainment website, when you click them, on the next page there's a "get discount" button.
BUT, when you click on the TD "$30 value" link, there is no "get discount" button on the next page. Only "website" link. When I click it, it takes me to TD, but there is no $30 discount within the cart or checkout page.

On the instructions for the TD $30 value link it says'
"Just click on a "Redeem Now" link in the My Codes module."

What is this "my codes module" they're referring to? Is there a step I'm missing?

This is what I did;

Login to entertainment> click online deals> click TD $30 value link> click TD "website" link (there is no "get discount" or "claim discount" button. Only "weblink")> this takes me to TD> go to Bing (same window)> click on TD 15% link (this takes me to TD)> add item to cart> proceed to checkout.

At this point there is no mention of the $30 discount. Only Bing CB is shown.

I also tried the same steps as above, but omitting the bing process completely to see if there was an error between going from TD>Bing>back to TD. Just going from entertainment>TD>adding item>checkout.

But still, no mention of $30 off.

Looks like the TD $30 off deal already expired.
Oh well, at least I didn't have to buy anything to login to entertainment website.

 

FYI - I just heard from my sources that we will be coming out with the i7-840 CPU for Canada and the UK. I cannot disclose the timeframes, but they are coming at some point. For other countries, including Spain, there is no information yet. Sorry about that.

I'll keep you posted.

 

@vasbinde:

Ok, Eric. I've already seen that the i7-840QM processor is already available in United Kingdom. Since UK is in Europe, I guess that 840QM will be soon in my country.

Thank you very much

 

The partitioning is NOT for performance but for future OS update/wipes. Not everything is about performance. It is mainly for future OS updates. By keeping your data and programs separate, you will have easier time when you decide to reinstall your OS.

I definitely wouldn't do the partitioning if there are more HDD bays for the Elitebook. TBH, the more I learn about the SSDs, the more I realize that I should just bite the bullet and buy some nice SLC SSDs for OS drives of my systems. The directions that the MLC drives are going doesn't give me a lot of confidence in SSDs.

All that talk about keeping the SSDs as "sparsely" populated as possible seems kinda "funny" to me. If we accept that SSDs will only have its optimal performance and reliability if we use a fraction of its capacity, then we are just being "sheeps" and letting the manufactures being more and more lax on the quality of the products, and lie to us even more. What is next? Boasting the SSD capacities in Bits? :rolleye:

Speaking of the drive bay, thanks for the clarification HiddenUser.

From the sound of it, most of you have already replaced your HDD. For the screw that holds the HDD to the chasis, can you guys tighten it till it can't be tightened any further? Or is it loose? (For the screw on my drive bay, the screw seem to be stripped or something)

Oh, an update on my problem, the tech was very helpful and according to him, it is a main board problem, so it will have to be replaced. But the main boards are on limited availability right now.

 

Hi Rampage, ok..here we go again.. Once you login to Ent website and search for TD. Don't click the "website" link. On the right side, there will a yellow highlighted thingy called "How do i get the discount" below that there will be "Claim Code" link in Orange color. Once you click that, the page will refresh and below that you will see "Redeem link" against each of the book area you ordered.
Also make sure the order value is $300, the coupon applies only if its $300 or above.
I have atatched the screenshot highlighting the one you need to do.

 

I wish that instead of offering 840QM in Canada, HP would offer the same configurator as in the US and let people buy on-line. Sending them to resellers that don't even carry Elitebooks is not funny.

 

Hello!

I got my Elitebook 8740w on April 30, and it's been working ok until now. Now I have a huge problem and I don't know how to handle it, so any help would be appreciated.

Yesterday I had to leave the office and the laptop was left on. When I came back it was in sleep mode, so I shook the mouse to log in again, and nohing happened. The laptop was totally unresponsive to mouse (both on the laptop and USB) and keyboard. I also tried pressing the power button once, but it also didn't help. I had no choice but to force shut down by holding the power button. Real trouble starts after that.

Now the laptop can't be turned on, that is, it boots to Windows usually after I leave it powered off for an hour or so, and then it works normal. But when I shut it down, I can't be sure that it'll boot again. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.

The difference between "normal" behaviour (when it boots) and "abnormal" is that in normal state all touch sensitive buttons (QuickLook, QuickWeb, Wireless, MousePad button and three volume buttons) light up right after I press the power button, while in "abnormal" state QuickLook and QuickWeb buttons don't turn on and the Wireless button stays blue (enabled) even though it was disabled when I shut down Windows last time. Also, sometimes the fan turns on, sometimes it doesn't (or at least I don't hear it).

I asked local HP Service Representative and he told me to reinstall Windows, but somehow I don't think it's a Windows problem because the laptop doesn't even get to Windows boot stage (I think so) - there is no indication on screen whatsoever, HDD led flashes a little but then it stops completely, there is no sound to indicate WIndows loading - NOTHING. I mean, it doesn't even get to the point of showing the BIOS message. And I also updated all the drivers both from Windows and HP Update the last time it booted successfully. I also did the tests in BIOS and everything passed.

I must mention that I did have some trouble starting the notebook when I turned it on with wireless mouse/kb receiver plugged in the USB port. It happened only a few times, and after a shutdown it booted normally, so I didn't give much attention to it.

The OS is Windows 7 Pro that came with the laptop, the part number is WD941EA#BED, I can't tell you any other detailed info since I can't turn the thing on. If I manage to turn it on, I'll definitely try to reinstall Windows, but if anyone has a better idea it would really save me a lot of time reinstalling and configuring all the software and virtual machines I'm running on the laptop.

EDIT: It turned on! It was left off for about an hour and now it turned on as if nothing happened. Specs from HP Support Assistant:
CPU: i7 Q720 @ 1.6GHz
RAM: 8GB (2 x 4GB 1333 MHz Samsung)
Graphics: NVIDIA Quadro FX 2800M
System board: 1520 KBC ver 33.2A
BIOS: 68CAD ver F.01

And now I see that it's asking me for some new updates aswell: Quick Launch Buttons, System BIOS and Intel PRO/Wireless !? I already installed Quick Launch & Intel Wireless the last time I was updating!? This is the first time that it wants me to update the BIOS though.

Any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks!

 

@ mrtosiba,
Welcome to the forum

BIOS update might fix your issue, so let it install.

If it doesn't help, try the Power Drain:
Turn the system off
Unplug the power cord
Remove the battery
Press&Hold the power button for 30sec
Insert the battery and plug the power cord
See if the problem persists.

 

mrtosiba, I can't believe HP support rep told you to re-install Windows .... actually, I can believe it sadly. And it's why I don't ever start with them [any support desks] anymore; if that's the kind of assistance we can expect from them, why bother! I should because of the boot problem of our 2nd Gen 8740w's, but don't for the previous reason.

I see you're up and running; I think the machine went into Hibernate mode before after being in Sleep mode past the configured threshold period. I manually go into it often with my 8740w, and I haven't had problem coming out of it. But I've seen my other computers have problem coming out of Hibernate when the machine automatically switched from Sleep mode to Hibernate mode as defined by the power profile. That was older versions of windows but I imagine the behavior still is the same with Windows 7 as I believe the reason for the failure to restart is a hardware+software problem at a very low level and that level has likely not changed for Windows 7.

What Aikimox described would have gotten you there faster. Now, in addition to what Aikimox said you can press ESC immediately after the power button. Not sure if you can switch to booting Windows in Safe Mode from there; if so, select that. Else you can press F8 early in the boot process to activate Windows boot options, then select Safe Mode from there. There is a hidden system file named hiberfile.sys (or similar; I don't have my 8740w near me to turn on, and this Dell I'm on can't hibernate so I don't have that file). You can delete/remove that hiberfile.sys file after changing its attributes at the commandline to remove its hidden+system attributes. Then reboot. You'll lose your previously hibernated session and any unsaved data in running programs if you do that, but the machine should boot cleanly after.

It is of course easier to completely drain the machine of power as Aikimox said. But if the machine still does not start due to an un-healthy or incomplete hibernate file, you can try what I just described .

 

Yeah, that's what I was expecting to find. But this is what it says instead;

" TigerDirect.CA offer is only available to members who own a Canadian edition
and TigerDirect.com offer is only available to members who own a USA edition.
We apologize for the inconvenience."

I didn't actually buy anything in order to log in to the entertainment site. There's a way to circumvent that according to that SD thread.
But maybe that's why it's not showing me the "get code" button.

 

Most programs dont work if you install them on one partition and format your os partition. And you can just backup your data, like you should be doing anyway. There's seriously no reason to partition a ssd except for dual booting.

And ssds do not really perform slower when they are more filled; regular hard drives do. Ssds are slower if they dont have TRIM. I have never heard from a manufacturer that your ssd should be sparsely populated.

 

@Aikimox & m8o:

Cheerz people, looks like the BIOS update did it. It turned on successfully three times now, hope it stays that way. Also, thanks for the power drain and the ESC button tip, didn't know that. I think I'm gonna turn off Hibernation since I don't have any use of it, I usually don't need the laptop to turn on in seconds time, I can wait for it to fully boot and load everything I need.

I'll see what happens in next few days, hope the problem is gone.

BTW found this forum by accident after helplessly searching HP site for a solution and it's really cool.

Oh, and I feel I should clarify the HP support story: the guy I contacted isn't working for HP, he's working for a company that is an authorized HP service partner, and he said that they don't help people solve OS & software related problems, only hardware issues, and asked me to reinstall Windows to make sure that it's not bad drivers or something similar before bringing the laptop to service. It's got something to do with their HP contract and so on. Before that, I also called HP and they told me that they don't do any kind of support at all and told me to find an authorized service company.

Thanks again!

 

Haha, I guess I'll be shooting for 16GB after all.

Quote from Dell's recent announcement of 32GB M6500 laptop;

"Other customers that will benefit from the expanded memory footprint are those utilizing Computer Aided Engineering applications such as Ansys Workbench and Ansys Fluent. CAD/CAM engineering customers who work with fluid dynamics will be able to load larger data sets in memory which will greatly improve their work time. Jobs that took multiple hours to complete can now be done in fractions of the time."


But you also need a very capable CPU for the job and I'm not sure that the mobile core i7s are really up to the task.

 

Alas, that's true. But if you really need more CPU horsepower and don't mind the bulkiness and weight - why not try a Clevo x7200 or the older D900F. They also offer a better GPU - GTX 480M. I assume, you will also be able to fit the next Quadro in there.

 

But you can just reinstall you app and get to keep all your settings. And I was surprised to find how many apps/games actually work w/o the registry info after my OS drive crashed couple years ago.

As for keeping the drive sparse, that came from the notion of wanting to minimize the amount of re-writes to the flash chips thus maximizing the lifetime of the drives. It is not something manufacturers will advertise, but something that I gathered from all the great SSD articles out there (like from Anand, or the ones that I linked pages ago).
Granted, I am bit overly cautious too much of the time that it is really not very healthy.

 

For starters, the price on those Clevos is very high.
I can't justify spending that much on a laptop when I have easy access to more capable desktop computers.

For now I'm better off leaving the heavy work to the desktops.

But I'm still curious to see just how capable this laptop can be.
That's why I'd like to experiment with it.
But for now, I think my money will be better spent on a SSD.

 

Yeah, you're right.
SSD will definitely offer a bigger boost than a 940XM.

 

Partitioning your drive won't protect you from hardware failure and if you're reinstalling the app anyway, what's the point? Most settings in modern apps are stored in your user folder, just back that up. And with a big ssd you don't need to worry about writes. At 10000 writes mbf, it'll be like 10 years at writing and erasing 20gb a day before the drive dies. I.e. you'll upgrade your drive before it fails. So there isnt a reason to leave the drive sparse. But do what you want, it's your money.

 

Has anyone tried replacing the original thermal paste?

I used Artic Silver 5 on both CPU and GPU over a week ago.
It still idles between 55C-60C.

Also, I noticed they used thermal paste instead of the typical thermal pads on the graphics card memory chips. They still use thermal pads on other parts of the GPU, but not on the memory chips.

I wasn't expecting that when I first pulled the HS and I didn't have any thermal pad replacements at the moment.

I'm not sure whether I should replace it with thermal pads or just apply some type of ceramic thermal paste like they did.

What do you guys think?

 

Holy Geronimo Zombie!!!
Could you post some pics? That would help to understand the situation. If they really used paste on memory chips,...that's tooooo bad. Only pads should be used on those.

 

Yeah, that was my understanding. That's why I was surprised to see that.

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of it.

I'm thinking I should probably order those Akasa thermal pads.

 

Or Bergquist. But were you able to clean the chips? Were they very dirty?

 

I didn't remove the paste on the chips, since I didn't have anything to replace it with.

GPU temps remain the same as before.
CPU temps are also just about the same as before.

They didn't look dirty. It wasn't smeared all over the PCB. The paste was confined to the chip's surface area.

Is Berquist better than Akasa?
They're certainly more expensive than Akasa. Is it worth it?

They also offer different thickness. Not sure which is more appropriate for mine.

 

Honestly, I never tried those (just ordered a sample of HI_Flow 225U and GAP Pad VO Soft), but you can ask Soviet Sunrise. He deals with them on a regular basis.
Looking forward to your progress. I don't have the system yet to join the quest...

 

Hello guys
I've just tested the new Nvidia drivers for fx3800 + new PhysX .. the result is quite nice...
Vantage result went up from 6666 to 7590!

 

Hello guys
I've just tested the new Nvidia drivers for fx3800 + new PhysX .. the result is quite nice...
Vantage result went up from 6666 to 7590!

Please update my result on the first page

 

Now a virtual tie with the ATI 5870. Interesting...

 

My CPU right now is at 38C and GPU at 42C, doing nothing but surfing the web.

 

@xsrx

What do you mean "+ new PhysX"?
Is there a separate driver or test for PhysX?

When you check GPU-Z does it show a check mark next to PhysX?
On mine, the nvidia control panel shows that it's on, but on gpu-z the physx box is not checked.

 

just download the nvidia PhysX drivers
NVIDIA DRIVERS 9.10.0224
than you'll find the box checked on gpu-z.

 

Thanks for the link.

I didn't know PhysX required a separate driver.
I thought the feature was incorporated into the regular drivers.
I guess my laptop had physx disabled this whole time.

 

That's impressive!
Thanks for the update.
Now, the scores have to be fixed all over the web
Still, I can't justify the costs of the Quadro cards.


@ Koshinn,
Your temps are perfect. What's the room temp?

 

idk, 75-80F

 

Need help
I am trying to get audio out of the displayport, can't get it right. I have a Displayport to HDMI adapter which supports audio. When i connect to my HDTV all i get is only video. No audio. If i look at the sound properties (playback devices), i see the ATI DP Output saying "Not plugged in". I installed the latest ATI HDMI audio driver as well.

 

Those of you looking to buy the Samsung 4GB sticks;

$100 at ebay before 10% discount. M471B5273CH0-CH9
$106 at Superbiiz before 3% discount. M471B5273CH0-CH9

It's from the same vendor, superbiiz. But you get a better deal through ebay.