*HP EliteBook 8760w Owners Lounge*

I was just about to ask for an update about the same question: We know that the i7 26xxQM runs memory at 1333 max,
but do later 8760w bios versions run 1600 memory at 1600 on the CPUs that support it? Any updates anyone?

 

A year later....

Now I got my 8760w configured the way I like it. I have 32GiB of Ram, one 512GB SATA-III SSD and one 1TB regular disk. The laptop runs Ubuntu 12.04.

I upgraded the memory and the system disk just recently. Newegg dropped the price of the Samsung to $550.- and the price for the 8GiB sticks was down to $105.- per pair. I use the Crucial 1333/10600 Ram, it runs at 1.35V and has a CAS latency of 9. Newegg now offers also 1.35V sticks with 1600/12800, but they have a CAS latency of 11 and that makes it even slower than the 1333 sticks. And - the 4GiB sticks that I had until recently, were only supported at 1333 anyway (and I have not seen any BIOS upgrade that would address 1600 memory).

The Samsung SSD is supported at max transfer rate of 480MiB/sec read, i.e., it is definitely SATA-III. My only problem right now is that I am using software encryption and the overhead for this drops the read rate for encrypted data to 140MiB/sec. The 1TB Samsung SpinPoint M8 gets 110MiB/sec.

Anyway, I'm very happy with the laptop and I'm pretty sure it will last me for five/six years.

cheers,
Werner

 

F.27 BIOS Jesus Christ! It is making the 8760w into a hair dryer!

With F.27 BIOS, HP have changed the fan control so that it runs much aggressively. The fan now starts at higher rpm much earlier so that the fan is basically constantly blowing at high speed which is very irritating. The rpm steps are also now changed and the suits the resonance frequencies worse, there is a constant whining sound now. Previously it was better, more swishing sound from the fan blow. It was really good I could revert back to F.26 again and after I did that the computer become much calmer again.

 

Hi!

How could you revert to F26? Just download and install?

 

Yes, it is possible to revert from F.27 to F.26. Just download and install.

 

So I shutdown my computer from windows and left. I didnt see if it fully shutdown or not when i left. When i came back i pressed the power button and the laptop does not turn on. No Lights are shown. My friend also has the 8760w, so i tried to use his battery and charger, but still does not work!

I saw a post about removing the AC/Battery then holding the power button for 30 seconds, then putting the battery back in and turning it on. That did not work.

So Is there any idea what happened to my laptop and how i would go about trouble shooting it/fixing it?

 

XP and win8 with raid and backup?
this is my plan:
as already stated it is possible to install 3 hdd or ssd in the 8760w, so i would like to have 1 hdd with xp 1 ssd with win 8 and use the 3rd hdd as raid 1 for both systems (partition 1 xp partition 2 win8). i need xp separately because of some old software and i would like to have it on a different disk to dual boot every system separately. on top i would like to have a docking station with a separate hdd as a backup system for both systems.

Is this possible? and if it is, how would you configure it?

thanx and greetings

 

Are you sure it is not easier to use W7 Ultimate (which has a XP compatible mode) ?

 

thank you for your help, but i dont want to touch the xp installation (never change a running system) and want the win8 installation physically separate, so i can test all my applications in win8 and work with the xp installation without ruining it

 

I am looking to purchase an 8700W. Can anyone pm info on how to get a discount?

 

you may need to discharge it properly, sounds like a static issue.

Take out power and battery, hold power button for 30 seconds, then remove the tiny silver button battery from under the keyboard and leave it overnight.

It might reset your board, it might not, but it's worked for me in the past.

 

I tried the SIIG Card it does not work. It does not recognize g-raid mini or Lacie Rugged. Nothing I connect to it works. This is the second card in two weeks. Please tell me what I am doing wrong.

 

I'm struggling with the keyboard on my 8760w. The last couple of months the keyboard is getting "unprecise", missing a "type" here and there. It feels like its helping if i really hammer the keys, but that's no good. I did remove the keyboard when I added RAM, could there be some bad connection between the keyboard and system or something?

 

Project: Create the most graphics extreme HP 8760w desktop replacement on the planet.

Upgrade my HP 8760w FirePro M5950 graphics to the extreme NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M (4GB-DDR5) with 1,344 CUDA compute cores.

I would like to significantly increase the graphics capacity of my 8760w laptop for DirectX11/CUDA/OpenGL for specialized "computing architecture/art" applications and rendering. The standard 8760w graphic boards available from HP are NVIDIA 4000M & 5010M and are priced between $2,500-$4,000 just for the graphic board. If my ATI graphic board died, HP replacement part is only $250 which shows how low-end it is. Switching the graphics fan version from ATI to NVIDIA is only $48.00 from HP.

It is my understanding that the 8760w uses the "MXM 3.0b" graphics module form factor and cooling standard. Aside from swapping the fan out, I should be able to put into my 8760w laptop any MXM 3.0b standard graphics board. A MXM 3.0b standard NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M, 4GB RAM and 1,344 CUDA cores graphic board only costs about $800 new, $600 refurbished. Twice the compute power over the HP supplied 4000M/5010M at 1/5th the price. Labor not included.

With the GeForce chip being a standard gaming chip, I am sure it would also be recognized and supported by any video game at the highest level FPS/performance.

Passmark Video Benchmarks for these video chips (higher is better)
HP standard graphic board options for 8760w:
FirePro M5950 (1GB RAM): Benchmark - 1,257
NVIDIA Quadro 3000M (2GB): Benchmark - 1,214
NVIDIA Quadro 4000M (2GB): Benchmark - 1,608
NVIDIA Quadro 5010M (4GB ECC): Benchmark - 1,383

versus:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M (4GB): Benchmark - 2,637

HP wants $4,077.00 for the Quadro 5010M (MXM3.0b) graphics board upgrade. A new GTX 680M MXM3.0b is $800.00.

Questions:
Anyone ever replaced their 8760w graphics board with something other than the HP options?
Does the 8760w BIOS have a restricted hardware white list? Has anyone unlocked the BIOS used on the 8760w?
Heat could be an issue (especially if I sometimes overclock the 680M). I have to assume the standard Quadro 5010 generates quite a bit of heat. Any graphics cooling advice here? Is there software that can provide greater control over the 8760w fan (e.g. during GPU overclocking)?
Any thing else I need to consider besides violating my warranty/service contract?

 

Without really knowing for sure, I guess that the HP BIOS restricts you from fitting a Keplar based Nvidia board on the 8760w. Just as it is the BIOS that restrict the RAM from running at 1600MHz despite the chipset supports it. To be honest, I'm curious myself if it is possible but pessimistic at the same time.

 

Done. September 12th, 2012, 6:20PM (PST).

The world's first HP 8760w with graphics powered by NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M (4GB-DDR5 / 1,344 CUDA cores).

Summary Notes:
No HP BIOS mod needed (nor would it have been possible because it is RSA cert. signed.)
Uses the HP 100W rated heat sink/cooling solution used for HP option NVIDIA Quadro 5010M card.
Very safe max. GPU temps leveled off at 90C during ten minutes at 100% GPU stress test. (my biggest worry, after possible encrypted BIOS).
HP BIOS fan tables variably incremented up fan speed as GPU temps were rising to max 90C temp and max fan speed. (ie. integrated with GPU temps).
Tools: you need Torx T8, plus small and very small Phillips screw drivers.
GPU swap in Elitebook very easy compared to consumer-class notebooks.
GPU replacement guide: Used "HP EliteBook 8760w - Maintenance and Service Guide" PDF from HP website.

Nvidia 680M in HP 8760w/i7-2630QM/8GB Benchmark:
Furmark Stress Benchmark:
AMD 5950M ran at 4FPS (100% GPU)
NVIDIA 680M ran at 34FPS (100% GPU)

AMD 5950M 3DMark06 Score: 11,085
NVIDIA 680M 3DMark06 Score: 18,435*

*I feel like this score should be higher but I can't justify why yet other than the 3DMark06 benchmark being too outdated for Intel Sandy Bridge/NVIDIA Kepler architectures. I know the GTX 680M(mobile) vs regular GTX 680 does thottle down and up. CPU score was low too. Max temps imply room to safely overclock.


Parts:
680M-4GB MXM3.0b graphics card, $800.00-USD. (Purchased from Eurocom*)
NVIDIA fan/heat sink assembly (includes thermal paste). $48.00, HP Part# 652544-001 - (used by standard HP NVIDIA Quadro 5010M option)

*Eurocom. I've read the complaints. They exceeded my expectations. How many first-call tech support groups can you call and they can give you the Thermal Design Power details of a hardware component?

NVIDIA Graphics Driver Version: 306.02

NVIDIA Driver file edits to NVMI.inf
(lazy swap of model/MSI values for 8760w/HP values).

Driver file edits
Change:
%NVIDIA_DEV.11A0.10BE.1462% = Section044, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_11A0&SUBSYS_10BE1462
To:
%NVIDIA_DEV.11A0.1630.103C% = Section044, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_11A0&SUBSYS_1630103C

Change:
%NVIDIA_DEV.11A0.10BE.1462% = Section045, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_11A0&SUBSYS_10BE1462
To:
%NVIDIA_DEV.11A0.1630.103C% = Section045, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_11A0&SUBSYS_1630103C

Change:
NVIDIA_DEV.11A0.10BE.1462 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M "
To:
NVIDIA_DEV.11A0.1630.103C = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680M "

 

Oh wow, this is incredibly impressive. Do you reckon this could work with other MXM 3.0b video cards as well, such as the 675m? How would you change the driver ini file appropriately, I don't quite understand how you found the HP values.

 

Yes, I do believe all NVIDIA MXM3.0b graphic cards would work along with the HP NVIDIA heat sink component.

The HP Vendor ID (103C), HP laptop model ID(1630) can be found by using device manager to open "Hardware ID" in the drop down list box for the device property. NVIDIA card model ID (1212=675M, 11A0=680M) can be found by looking the driver file.

I am not sure about other MXM3.0b graphic card vendors. I did dump apart the 8760w HP (Insyde) BIOS into the 980 individual ROM files and scanned them for the ROM's dealing with the graphics cards. I put just enough effort into it to learn that HP created their own proprietary "whitelist" scheme that wasn't provided to them by BIOS vendor Insyde. HP then encrypted it with a RSA cert making a BIOS mod close to impossible without constant BIOS failure problems. They apparently are not restricting NVIDIA cards but they definitely have some proprietary code that is referencing just ATI and NVIDIA graphics cards and no other vendors. The BIOS looks like swapping wireless cards is likely whitelisted to certain manufacturers as well.

For the 675M, here would be the driver file edits:

NVIDIA Driver File Edits for GeForce GTX 675M

NVIDIA Driver file edits to NVMI.inf

Driver file edits
Change:
%NVIDIA_DEV.1212.10CB.1462% = Section031, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1212&SUBSYS_10CB1462
To:
%NVIDIA_DEV.1212.1630.103C% = Section031, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1212&SUBSYS_1630103C

Change:
%NVIDIA_DEV.1212.10CB.1462% = Section032, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1212&SUBSYS_10CB1462
To:
%NVIDIA_DEV.1212.1630.103C% = Section032, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1212&SUBSYS_1630103C

Change:
NVIDIA_DEV.1212.10CB.1462 = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M"
To:
NVIDIA_DEV.1212.1630.103C = "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M "

 

Thanks for the explanation. I think you've put down the wrong part number in your first post though. Looking at the service manual the correct number is 652544-001 and not 652543-001.

Fan/graphics board heat sink assembly (includes replacement thermal material):
For use with ATI graphics subsystem 652543-001
For use with NVIDIA graphics subsystem 652544-001

 

Benchmark Summary for Nvidia 680M-4GB ("Kepler") in 8760w/i7-2630QM

System specs:
HP 8760w, i7-2630QM, 8GB, 1TB (2x500GB-RAID0), Nvidia GeForce GTX 680M-4GB "Kepler"
Nvidia Driver Version: 306.23

Furmark Stress Benchmark (1280x720):
ATI 5950M: 3 FPS
Nvidia 680M: 43 FPS

3DMark06 Benchmark:
ATI 5950M: 11,085
Nvidia 680M (Stock): 18,435
Nvidia 680M (O-Clocked): 19,026

3DMark11 Benchmarks:
Nvidia 680M (Stock): 5,696 (P)
Nvidia 680M (O-Clocked): 6,591 (P)

Nvidia 680M (Stock): 5756 Graphics Score
Nvidia 680M (O-Clocked): 6,856 Graphics Score

Nvidia 680M (Stock): 6,223 Physics Score
Nvidia 680M (O-Clocked): 6,238 Physics Score

Nvidia 680M (Stock): 4,727 Combined CPU-GPU Score
Nvidia 680M (O-Clocked): 5,471 Combined CPU-GPUScore

Over-Clocked Settings:
GPU Clock: 854 MHz (VBIOS max.)
GPU RAM Clock: 2,280 MHz (Capable of higher clock but appears ECC RAM causes memory error rate increases, slowing performance.)

Extreme-Over-Clock Settings:
VBIOS firmware flash mod required to remove GPU OC upper-limit of 854 MHz.
GPU Clock: 1050 MHz (best guess from Clevo-680M users)
GPU RAM Clock: 2400 MHz (best guess from Clevo-680M users)
3DMark11 (projected): 7,500 (up from OC value of 6,600)

Upgrading CPU from 2630QM to i7-2920XM/2960XM might add another 5-8% to benchmark scores.

 

Would it be possible to add the new i7 processors (ivy bridge) to our 8760w?

 

I think Ivy Bridge in the 8760w is very doubtful.

It would require a BIOS update and an Intel Management Engine 8.0 firware update (from v7.1) neither of which is currently available.

8760w also uses the QM67 chipset, which was excluded from the Intel firmware Ivy Bridge support update list. Intel announced the Ivy Bridge supported chipsets but excluded the following chipsets: Q65, Q67, B65, HM67, HM65, UM67, QS67, QM67.

Ivy Bridge is a minor CPU update and the extra features would bring very little to the 8760w-SandyBridge.

 

The chipset doesn't support it.

 

Hi EliteBook 8760w Owners,

I just joined this forum a couple of minutes ago.This forum has been very helpful in deciding between Dell M6600, HP 8760w and Alienware M17x R4; I am a huge fan of Outlets. So I am trying to decide between the 3 refurbished systems below and trying to get some feedback as to what will be a better deal. They are all on hold for me until tomorrow.

1st : HP 8760w W7P-64, i7 2820QM, 750GB +256GB SSD, 16GB DVDRW 17.3FHD Dream Color, I don't know the WLAN Card and a Quadro 5010M Video Card with 1 year Accidental warranty all for $2560 /w tax and shipping
2nd: Dell M6600 W7P-64, i7 2960XM, 3x 128MB SSD, 32GB 1333MHZ, DVDRW, 17.3FHD LED/RGB, Quadro 4000M, 6300N WLAN and 3 Year Warranty, no Accidental warranty all for $2963 /w Tax and Shipping.
3rd: Alienware M17x R4, i7 3820QM, 512MB SSD SATA3, 32GB 1600MHZ, DVDRW, 17.3FHD, NVIDA GTX 680M, Intel 2230 WLAN, 1 year In Home, all for $2483 /w tax & shipping.

All three are excellent specs and I know the 2960XM is much more powerful than the 2820QM, but the 3820 will best the 2960XM at stock (not that it matters to me). I am amateur photographer Still/Video. so either one will do. So the questions is, which one is the best deal. Hopefully I can get some good amount of reply before tomorrow. BTW: All three are certified refurbished; not scratch or dent.

One other quick question; does anyone knows if HP will replace my 8760W (if I decide to go this route) if it got damaged/dropped beyond repair, with a newer model or will they build the spec that it originally came with? I only mention this because the HP 8670W comes with accidental damage (hopefully I will not needed) and I dropped one or 2 laptops in my lifetime. Answers to this question will help me make a discussion.

Thanks in advance, and I look forward to everyone's response, hopefully soon.

Kind Regards.

 

WWAN and WLAN in one laptop?
the tilte says it all, i dont understand the point, why it shouldnt be possible to get both modules in the 8760w, i checked the maintenance and service guide and there its written, that these modules are not interchangeable, do you know a way to get both running?

 

Not interchangeable means you can't use the WWAN card in the WLAN card and vice-versa, it doesn't mean you can't use both.

 

thank you for your help, but in the manual it seems as the place for both modules is the same, i cant find another option?

 

In that case, it's best if you can find a picture of the underside of the laptop. I can't help here because I have a 8560w which does have bot WLAN and WWAN slots.

 

So I got my 8760w about 2 months ago. I was initially very impressed, but since then it has been one disappointment after another. I'm currently using my old Dell Vostro to type this, as the 8760w is waiting to be serviced again..

It's the first HP I've bought... Usually go for Dell, but their latest Latitudes are a bit poor, and I got the 8760w cheaper that I could find a m6600.

Basically this is my experience with HP and the 8760w.

- After 2 days, the motherboard failed. HP took it for servicing(1 week).
- After HP replaced the motherboard, the fan would run at 100% most of the time even when the machine was idle.
- HP took it for servicing again(another week). Replaced the graphics card, fan and display cover!?
- After this the display has a black dot in it. It's not a dead pixel, more like something trapped between the LCD and backlight.
- HP Sent someone to replace the display. They bought a box with FHD 17.3 LCD.. written on it, but the part inside was a motherboard for some other laptop?!

So I'm waiting for the right part to turn up, and then maybe the display will be fixed. The fan problem is better but not good. It still switches up to 3800 RPM from time to time for no apparent reason. Normally it runs at 2400rpm and still makes a very noticeable noise. Yes this is a subjective thing to say, but apart from the HDD the Dell is silent/very quite of the time. As is my MacBook Pro in work... as was my Asus..

I've had a look at the fan problem myself.. Attached is a photo of the Embedded Controllers memory region. The addresses 0x2E & 0x2F are the fans current speed(0x41) and control register(0x7B) respectively(Lower values are faster). For some reason the control register is being ignored and the fan is running as fast as it'll go. On the right you can also see the temperatures aren't high, and the machine is idle(CPU stepped down). The GPU is running faster as there was an external monitor attached. Which puts the GPU clocks up a bit for some reason. It's not hot though. There is an option in the BIOS to control if the fan always runs when on AC. This has no noticeable effect on my 8760w.

I'm writing this because I'm because I'm pissed off with my 8760w and I want to share my 'owner' experience. I'm not expected solutions, and I don't want to suggest you buy a Dell or anything else. Just not a 8760w if you find fan noise irritating. Then again I may just have been unlucky and got a duff unit.

 

On this forum, I see too many owners mentioning about HP taking days of time for fix a problem, or sending the machine to HP for service for a week etc etc...

Why are you sending the machine to HP? Isn't the tech coming to your home and fixing it?

What is the basic warranty?

I have been a DELL user for over 15 years and wanted to explore HP options and though I would like to try HP for one time, thse support issues are holding me back.

Could somebody who had dell before explain these support differences between DELL and HP?

 

Ohhh, HP, HP, HP.....
Do we get a new BIOS update? Or not?

Last week I got this email from HP:
----------------------------------------
Routine Product Change Notification
Sep 19 2012
NOTEBOOK - System BIOS Update F.28 for 8760w (c03482791)
=======================================================

And following the link in this email:
----------------------------------------
NOTEBOOK - System BIOS Update F.28 for 8760w - c03482791 - HP Business Support Center
========================================================

This page contains this information:
----------------------------------------
SUPPORT COMMUNICATION - PRODUCT CHANGE NOTIFICATION

Document ID: c03482791

Version: 1
NOTEBOOK - System BIOS Update F.28 for 8760w

Release Date: 2012-09-07

Last Updated: 2012-09-19
DETAILS OF CHANGE

Added support for dual USB keyboards in the MS DOS environment.
Added location, manufacturer, size, and speed for each memory slot in the F10 BIOS Setup (Computer Setup).
Updated the MEBX version to 7.0.0.0062.
Updated the PXE code version to 1.3.95.0.
Added support for Wake On LAN (WOL) with DC power.
Fixed an issue where the BIOS cannot be flashed unattended if the BIOS password is larger than 16 characters. (This issue only occurred when the BIOS is flashed in delay mode.)
Added Max SATA Speed option in F10 BIOS Setup (Computer Setup). This will allow the user to set the maximum SATA speed to 6.0 Gbps or to 3.0 Gbps.
Fixed an issue where the BIOS Power On feature would not wake up the computer from the Off state in certain scenarios.
Fixed an intermittent issue where the optical drive tray would not open when the eject button was pressed.
Fixed an intermittent issue where the battery may not start to charge if it had been fully discharged.
Fixed an intermittent issue where some computers would not boot from Solid State Drives (SSDs).

SUPPORT URL

HP EliteBook 8760w Mobile Workstation -  Download drivers and software - specify product name - HP Business Support Center
REASON FOR CHANGE

F10 BIOS Setup (Computer Setup) quarterly refresh maintenance release.
IMPACT OF CHANGE

By default, the new F10 BIOS Setup (Computer Setup) option, "Max SATA Speed," will be set to 6.0 Gbps.
The new F10 BIOS Setup (Computer Setup) option, "Wake on LAN on DC mode," will allow the computer to be able to wake up from Off, Sleep, or Hibernation while running on battery. By default, this option will be disabled.
The new PXE code version 1.3.95.0 provides security enhancements that could require configuration changes on the PXE server.

DATE OF CHANGE

Effective Date: 2012-09-20
Hardware Platforms Affected: HP EliteBook 8760w Mobile Workstation
Components Affected: HP EliteBook 8760w Mobile Workstation
©Copyright 2012 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
=========================================================

Obviously, I am interested in this BIOS since it includes "speed for each memory slot in the F10 BIOS Setup". I was searching for this BIOS download, but could not find anything - other than the Product Change Notification. Therefore I opened a ticket with HP support and got this response:
---------------------------------------------
Hi Christopher,

Thank you for contacting HP eServices.

This e-mail is in reference to the CASE NUMBER: 4683673440

Appreciate your time sharing the information related to the issue with the PC. I understand from the case notes that you received an email stating that the latest BIOS release is available. I apologize regarding the notification as the update is incorrect and we have already escalated the issue to the L2 support team.
The L2 team has confirmed that there is no update released for the System BIOS Update F.28 as per the Document ID: c03482791. I apologize for the inconvenience caused.

As per the L2 team, customers are requested for check back after 30 days. You may call the voice telephonic support team or log a case to check the status or contact the email or chat team if required.

Thank you once again for contacting HP eServices.

Regards,

Michael
Support Technician, Technology Services
Business Desktop/Notebook/Workstation Monitor
Hewlett Packard Company.
=================================================================

According to this email, the new F.28 release is not (yet?) available. This means the "Alert Email Notification" and the "Product Change Notification" on HP's web site is a fluke?.....
And I never sent them an email with the name "Christopher". I always use my correct name. So where did HP Support this name up?


Obviously, this makes HP look really bad. However, I am using my 8760w on a daily base and I havn't had any problems with it. I feel sorry for Timp74. Looks like he got a real lemon. My system runs also very quiet. The fan kicks in only when I put some load on the system, or when it is in the docking station. Otherwise the fan is hardly noticeable.

cheers,
Werner

 

FYI. 10/09/2012
$1049 - HP 8760w / Intel i5 / 128GB SSD / 4GB / Refurbished from HP Business Outlet

PN: QU780USR#ABA
Windows7® Pro-64, Intel® i5 2540M processor (2.6GHz), 128GB SSD hard drive, 4GB memory, DVD, 17.3" (viewable) HD+ display, FPR AMD M5950 graphics, and one-year onsite limited warranty.

Orig. new list price: $3,088
Refurb. list price: $1,499
Sale price: $1,049

Check HP Business Outlet site.

 

The refurbed 8760 does give one pause -- but for many reasons.

How many forum members, if they had it to do over again, would get the new 8770 model rather than the 8760 they have now?

I ask this because a friend got a defective Elitebook 8770 with Dreamcolor, SSD, etc. and finds the keyboard too stiff. There are rumors that the 8760 keyboard is "softer" and so she is considering returning the 8770 for an 8760.

Both are available for about identical new CTO pricing right now from HP. The 8760 has the 2nd gen Intel processors; the 8770 the 3rd gen. The chassis are not the same (see the 8770 owners' thread for links to the parts manuals online) so even the screens are not the same (the 8760 has an ambient light sensor). The 8770 screen on the defective unit has a very light pink hue for a third of the entire viewing screen, fading left to right to a pale grey hue. Very strange. Clock is off sometimes, windows pop up saying there are and are not disks in ports that have nothing in them, etc. Again, very strange. But anyway....

It may be too early to know what problems the 8760 has/had which the 8770 has or has not solved. But from your experiences, if the screen and a softer keyboard were your priorities because of visual and hand disabilities (and the processor upgrade is of no serious importance), what would you do?

Has the 8760 DreamColor screen posed serious issues? Is the keyboard of the 8760 a bit stiffer on the hands? What drives you nuts about the 8760 (and have you heard that the 8770 solved that)?

Any and all suggestions are welcome.....

 

This thread needed a bump and I need some help so here we go...

I want to use the 8760W with two hard drives, I know it supports a total of three but in the past I've used an optical bay drive as well as the first available hard drive bay (no longer have the optical). The second hard drive bay is blocked by a plastic block under the SATA port which is part of the speaker bar (see this post http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...ebook-8760w-owners-lounge-26.html#post7830395)

As many users seem to have done, I've carefully sawed my way through the plastic block and got rid of it (exactly as in the picture linked), however my SSD or my HDD still won't go into the SATA port, something is still blocking it and I have no idea what. Can anyone give me an idea of what I need to do?

This laptop is brilliant but this silly plastic block business blocking a drive in the SATA port just makes no sense to me and I can't understand how this issue could make it into the customer release, hah, is there some actual intended function I am missing?

 

While I'm on the forum just thought I'd reply ,the difference between the 60w and 70w are minor in terms of the chassis.. I mean really, I've no idea why they got rid of the ambient light sensor but imo it's a pretty minor thing which I would imagine most users find useless. Clock off, no disks in ports.. well, must be the 70w and might just be Windows software or driver issues, I've seen nothing of the sort on my 60w.

There are only two annoying problems on the 60w which I have come across and they probably won't annoy most users, only the picky ones like me...

a) Dreamcolor screen backlight circuitry is overly noisy on battery power (relatively minor issue but it shouldn't be this way, nothing HP can do about it without raging at LG and most users don't even notice this due to their working environments so it's no big deal for HP). I doubt this has been fixed in the 70w, must be the same panel, never have seen any color tinting/unintended hues as you suggest on the 60w, the screen is near perfect visually.

b) Speaker bar (+maybe something else) blocking 2nd HDD bay as in my above post... no idea if that has been fixed.

Can't comment on the keyboard really, I don't like chiclets too much, I did have keys squeaking on the 60w when I had been typing consistently for months after a while but HP just sent another out, 2 mins to install so no big deal.

Err... if it was me, I would assume next to no keyboard improvements (keyboard keys are very soft imo) in the 70w and no screen improvements, if there was anything significant I'm sure they'd advertise the hell out of it (Kepler, Ivy Bridge... not so much the latter) so I'd go with the 60w if those were your priorities. The 60w is great, if it had a 16:10 screen and a keyboard like the 40w you'd have to pry it from my cold head hands.

 

I do think you may have just got a bad unit, rare but happens. I agree, HP's servicing process can be tedious. The business tech support is great, and on the phone they will usually be able to diagnose the issue properly if you describe it to them in a competent and clear manner (if you can't then you're in for the long haul ), but the service centers often do their own testing and sometimes completely ignore the recommendations of tech support resulting in things being sent back and forth (and as in your case, a fix at the service center may actually have solved one problem and generated another) and annoying the customer. If you're sure of a specific problem, then you gotta be straight with tech support and ensure that they talk to the service center directly multiple times so that they only do what has been requested by tech support. The onsite replacement LCD thing is just really bad luck .

Also, whilst I prefer offsite support myself (can't trust most onsite techs to do stuff properly in my experience, I had a nightmare experience with one for my 8560w), if HP does screw up your offsite repair and the original issue has not been fixed or a new issue has been created following the repair, they will offer you an onsite repair at no charge if you ask (even if your warranty is RTB), so that may save some time if you trust the onsite techs .

Fan noise on my 60w is just fine, but then I do use nVPPM to disable Powermizer and then max out clocks only when I need to (literally can't hear the fan, only SSDs so it's not being drowned out by the HDD spin). Even with Powermizer active, it's really not too noisy for the power the laptop packs. I also have tried HWInfo's fan control utility and that works just fine on the 60w, have you tried that?

 

Mini bump *... hard drive issue resolved, since it was first time I was using that port, the caddy just needed a bit more of a push. Works as it should now.

 

New to the thread. Had my 8760w for quite a while. Always been struggling with a sound glitch. I see quite a few people have had the same problem and this was resolved by uninstalling either HP's power assistant or their connection manager or updating the sound drivers. I've updated my sound drivers and I don't even have any of HP's software installed except for the drive guard and yet I still have this issue. Any ideas?

 

I have an 8760w with the i7 quad core and 8 GB of RAM (2x4GB) fitted on channel A.
I also have 2 memory modules of identical speed but only 2GB size.
Are these able to be mixed and what would be the best configuration?
Channel A 2 x 4 and Channel B 2 x 2
Channel A 2 + 4 and Channel B 2 + 4

 

Configuration 1.

 

Hi

Im trying to set up a 27" 2560x1440 resolution using a dual link dvi cable to an external monitor via the "hp advanced docking station"

Problem is Nvidia control panel will not let me use anything higher than 1920x1080

Any idea on how to resolve this

Im using latest nvidia drivers and bios f.28 with a 8760w quadro 3000m

thanks

 

Found the problem, the 307.45 drivers don't support 2560x1440 resolution no

I had to downgrade the driver to the HP certified 296.67 to get the panel to work

 

Hi! I just installed windows 8 pro in my HP 8760w and is working fine. The only problem is that the new HP support assistant cannot update yet some of the drivers and some HP utilities (Power assistant). It works with windows update. HP has not given yet update for its utilities for windows 8. However, the new windows are faster and I can use an external USB 3.0 hard disk with significant increase in speeds.
Did someone had this experience?

 

My only problem is the damn fan noise:

After more testing, I also found out that the fan problem is also there even without an external monitor plugged in. If I play a 1080p movie on the internal screen on battery the fan stays quiet, if I plug in the power, the fan noise will start after a few minutes, if I remove the cord, the fan noise stays. To get the fan quiet again, I will have to stop the movie, wait a few minutes and then start again.

Strange, all power plans are the same.

 

Change the power plan in the ATI CCC. However, you can't play HD movies with subtitles without stuttering if you turn the GPU down.

 

Are you sure both power plans are exactly the same? From the information that you provided it seems that they aren't the same.
Check your temperatures when the laptop is idle on battery/plugged in and watching a movie on battery and plugged in.

Are you using DXVA (GPU) for the movie or the CPU?

Did you disable the fan always on when on AC power in BIOS?

 

My HP 8760w laptop has the 2760QM processor installed (Gen2)

Is it possible to swap it out for the 3820QM (Gen3)?

Thanks,

Storm

 

Not possible, the gen 3 CPU's run on different chipset.

 

hi
I have HP EliteBook 8760w is that I can change the graphics card 3000M by 3000K is that possible?

thank you

 

Anyone using the extended ST09 (QK639AA) hear a really mild clicking noise from the battery when it's discharging (off AC). My battery works just fine but I noticed it makes a clicking noise every 1-2 seconds all the time (can only hear in a completely silent room). Is this normal? Ty.