*HP ProBook 4430s & 4530s Owners Lounge!*

The software is complete and functional. HP will probably continue using it for a few years even though its been abandoned by the original author. I have little hope for backwards compatibility for future software, but there's always the community to help out with making it compatible.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/fingerfox-se/

The guy that wrote this lurks these forums, I'm too lazy right now to find the thread specifically pertaining to the software mentioned.

 

Thanks for the fingerfox tip. I hadn't gotten far enough into the research to find that. Configuration was a bit hit-and-miss for Hotmail but we will see how it works with other sites.

 

Give me an update on it when your ready. I haven't messed with and have completely uninstalled all hp security tools and now have a useless fingerprint reader on my palm rest because I ONLY use firefox and the dp software is ie only.

 

HP ProBook 4530s i3-2310 7200 rpm 320gb 6gb memory:

Ran it on battery for three hours before it needed a charge at full brightness watching a mkv hd video, configured my vpn connection, remote desktop connection via vpn, and some ie browsing. Seems pretty fair battery life?

 

I would say that sounds appropriate considering you were at full brightness and watching video plus it sounds like you had wireless going too. If you were watching a file off of the optical drive, I would be really impressed.

 

Copied the hd mkv video to hdd and ran it from there, used wired connection for vpn as a configuration necessity here for half hour then the rest of the time was wireless ie browsing while monitoring email, UPS, and weather. . .

Now I'm monitoring the time to full charge, charged to 60% since an hour and a half.

 

I average about 4 and half 5 hours under normal web browsing at 60% brightness, bluetooth turned off, a few modifications to the power scheme(graphics set to maximum battery, processor limited to 50%) and a fresh install. Ive also let the hp power management set itself up after to the battery recalibration according to hps notes. Ive also reapplied thermal paste as well.

 

I am running default processor performance and full video brightness. I cleaned up the startup programs to necessity but I am running synaptic touchpad, bluetooth, log me in, power monitor, ms action center, speaker, network connection monitor, and two anti-virus programs (malwarebyte and avira) Basically disabled the HP monitoring software in startup.

Its back to full charge in two hours.

 

HP ProBook 4530s i3-2310 320gb 7200 rpm hdd 8gb memory

Added the gskill 4gb module set video graphics to maximum performance; Windows Experience Index 5.7

 

QuickSpec Changes

it seems those HP bastages downgraded the whole line up by removing usb 3.0.

sounds like the newest build dates won't have usb 3.0 anymore.

all of you who got usb 3.0 probably bought old stock.

 

USB 2.0 will be with us for another 4 to 5 years or more before USB 3.0 really kicks in.

 

Newegg has GSkill 13333 10666 4gb laptop memory on sale for $19.99 with EMCKCHD33 ; )

 

I wonder why HP would cancel usb 3.0?

I just received a HP ProBook 4530s i3-2310 320gb 7200 rpm hdd 4gb memory usb 3.0 from Newegg on Thursday July 21 2011.

I have a an external WD usb 3.0 HDD an it works fine; although I didn't measure the transfer speed I did load all my programs and utilities from the usb 3.0 without any problem. The usb 3.0 port is unmarked but is next to the hdmi port on the left side.

 

I'm not sure it will be the same in all countries, but I've heard about a new 4530 version in august, with 1600x900 screen [in France, may be elsewhere]. And it seems there will be USB 3 too.

I'm waiting for this version to buy ;-)

David.

 

>>March 23, 2011 - From Version 2 to 3 - Changed Removed USB 3.0 and added the specifications for the products' modules.<<

I wonder if this must be misleading, incomplete or in error. That was March 23 and my unit that was built almost three months later seems to have USB 3.0. I don't have a USB 3.0 device to verify but I do see the 3.0 controllers and drivers in the device manager. You would think that this change would have already been implemented if it was going to be implemented but who knows. I wonder if that means they removed the 3.0 decal from the side of the laptop at the port itself? That would make sense because there isn't one like the one that has been seen on the 4530 in some of the marketing material pictures (not sure about "in the wild").

 

>>Newegg has GSkill 13333 10666 4gb laptop memory on sale for $19.99 with EMCKCHD33 ; )<<

Waaaaaaaa! You all can thank me. They always drop the price after I finally order something and it is too late to cancel

 

Me too, just put the 4g GSkill 13333 10600 memory in last evening : )

I ordered 8gb of GSkill 13333 10666 memory for $39.98 just because its good deal and will use my current 8gb 10600 elsewhere.

I got a one notch speed increase with the 10666 memory on my Dell XPS 17 for what its worth ; )

 

You know, looking at the case and the usb port, there is no indication that it is a usb 3.0 port. I wonder if it was just kind of thrown in there to clear stock or in march decided to drop it built the cases and then last minute said"screw it, lets put the usb 3.0 in there". Typically on laptops a usb 3.0 port is indicated by a blue port or a ss next to the usb symbol. My 4430s has none of those indications, but it does indeed have usb 3.0. I can see that from the device manager and the drivers and specs pages and the speeds from my 3.0 drive.

 

Same here my usb 3.0 port looks the same as the other three usb ports. I labled the laptop above the port ; )

Maybe HP doesn't offer usb 3.0 as an option on this model now?

Does anyone have one without usb 3.0?

My Dell has two usb 3.0 ports so its seems its a standard now, also my asus has usb 3.0

 

hope you guys are right.
someone on newegg wrote a short review saying there was no usb3. Somewhat scared the shiet out of me.

I've been keeping my eye on the 4530s, and if they really remove usb3 later, that would be a step backwards, considering that the lower dv6t line has it standard now. It wouldn't make any sense at all.

I'm hoping once Ivy bridge comes out, price on the 4530s will take a dump.
then it's buy time.

 

From what I have read, Ivy Bridge won't be out until the first quarter of next year. That is a long time to wait. Do you really think you will want to buy a year old design at that time?

 

At a sub $500 price point, how much more of a dump do you want the price to take?

 

Has anyone else had a sticking Ethernet port on their laptop? When I first got my unit, I had a cable that pretty much got stuck the first time I tried to remove it. At the time, I thought it might be due to a bad sliver from the snag boot getting wedged in there. After I finally got the bad cable out, I tried another cable and it was tight but didn't get stuck. I don't use ethernet cable connection much at all and just now used it for the second or third time. This cable got stuck too but it only took me about a minute to get it to release. I don't want to have to return the laptop and reload a new one, so I very carefully put a thin coating of lithium grease on the what seem to be the friction surfaces inside the port (nothing near the connector wires) and things seem better but if I leave the cable FULLY inserted (key for the test) for a minute or two and then try to remove it, it can sometimes have a bit of a catch/drag to it that requires a significant amount of effort to dislodge. I can live with this as long as it doesn't get any worse.

I think it has to do with the tab/lever on the top of the cable itself that acts as the catch/lock to keep the cable in place because I tried a third cable where the latch/lever has been removed and I didn't have any problems. I am wondering if the port was installed just a tad too low on the motherboard so that the ridge/side that acts to lock the cable is a touch higher than normal and thus doesn't allow the tab/lever to fully clear.

I would be interested to hear if anyone else has this same issue. I really don't want to have to do an exchange.

 

My rj45 didn't get stuck but the port seemed tight so much that I had to take a close look to make sure it wasn't an rj11 port ; ) Once I looked where I was trying to put the cable all went well ; ) I think its just recessed a bit and requires careful guidance?

 

I ordered 8gb (two 4gb) Gskill 13333 10666 for $39.98 from Newegg yesterday. Unfortunately they shipped with DHL camel : (

 

>> I think its just recessed a bit and requires careful guidance?<<

At this point after the lubrication, I am hoping "careful guidance" will get the job done. Originally, I thought I was never going to get it out without hurting the laptop. It took me over 40 minutes to get the cable unplugged. It was unbelievable and I thought it was just an issue with that particular cable.

>>Unfortunately they shipped with DHL camel : ( <<

They used DHL for me too. I just checked the tracking and it has moved about 200 miles since my first notice of shipment on the 24th. Usually newegg 4-7 day free shipping has taken about 3 days in the past. I think it could take the full 7 days this time with the lame-a@@ hybrid DHL/USPS shipping.

My video card for my desktop has been having issues and the company has given me an RMA. That means the desktop will be unusable for quite a while so now I will be getting lots of experience "evaluating" the new laptop.

 

If Newegg in New Jersey ships UPS to Maryland I get it the next day always! I do not see how its cheaper to ship it out in the county and back to the city via DHL. It seems UPS would be the cheapest service because the direct route so close to my address? I hope its DHL direct and not the hand off to USPS how can that be cost efficient?

Anyway I really like this laptop its basic and gets the job done. . . I travel with this one and now my Dell XPS 17 stays home ; ) I also use a tower desktop pc at home. Pretty soon it'll be one in each room ; )

 

Just checked my Ethernet port out and I have no problems. I tried 2 different cables and both went in fine and removed with little effort. Neither were tight, but they were snug.

I installed a few games on my 4430s just for the hell of it and surprisingly the hd 3000 handles a few titles pretty well. I really wasn't expecting much and Intel integrated has been terrible at everything except for displaying windows. I have to say I was pretty impressed at the power of the hd 3000, its a huge leap from "Intel integrated". Civ5 on medium was smooth and playable, Sins of a Solar Empire was playable, Anno 1404 on low-medium was smooth and playable and Lord of the Rings Online was 30-60 fps on medium-high settings.

 

Thanks for the feedback on the ethernet issue.

I would really appreciate it if I could get a bit more help confirming something else. When you turn Caps Lock on or off, do you get a black and gray pop up window in the lower right area of the screen to indicate the change? Do you get the window when you turn the num lock (fn key + scroll key on a 4430) on/off? I would also be curious if you have installed the Logitech Setpoint software for mice.

I get this pop up window and can't find a way to turn it off. I thought it was a function from within the Logitech software. There is an option for this but when I turn it off within the setpoint software, it doesn't kill the pop up window function. I was talking to a tech support person at logitech and he claims that the window doesn't sound like how their software should appear and thinks it might be from some other software. While that could be possible, the problem started right after I installed their software and when I turn the option on within their software, I don't see I different software from them start appearing on the screen. You would think I should see a second software start popping up noting the change in the cap lock or num lock function.

My tip of the day is that if you use Outlook and hate the safe send add-in of the privacy manager that self installed itself into Outlook, the way to turn it off is to go into the HP Protect Tools administrative console, settings, then applications. This function really messes up cut and paste functionality. Every time you start/open a new message, the privacy manager copies 8 files to the office clipboard. So if you had just cut something in an application (say a website link) and then started/opened a new email into which you wanted to paste the link from the clipboard, there are now 8 new items in the office clipboard queue that are in front of that item which means you can't just "paste" because you will get the last of the 8 items versus the link you really wanted.

At this point, I have slowly elminated using every tool in the ProtectTools suite except for the fingerprint scanner and that may not last much longer.

 

I had a chat few minutes ago with HP presale rep. and she said USB 3 was ment to be present on 4530s all the time, but japanese earthquake changed plans. I think it will be back soon, new AMD cpu versions already got it. I wish HD+ will spread up from South Korea soon. HD+, usb 3, switchable graphics, good price - cant resist.

 

I use logitech setpoint with a g500 mouse. I just set the mouse and it retains the setting so there no need to keep the software loaded.

I use CCleaner - tools to edit the startup and eliminate "all" the hp software from loading. I also disabled the hp stuff in services ; )

There is an update for the synaptics touchpad driver as well as other updates on the hp website.

 

So you don't now and have never in the past had the little pop up that indicates when the num lock or caps locks has been changed?

Thanks.

 

I was really looking forward to buying this notebook since it contained usb 3.0.
Does anyone have the 1600x900 reolution on either 15 or 17 inch versions? How is the quality of picture/text?

 

that totally explains the march revision date.

anyone know....
Are the usb3 ports controlled by an NEC chip ?


also, how far back does the screen tilt ?

I saw a new hp at the store tilt all the way to 170*. But others seem to be limited to 120, which i hate.

 

Is there a way to change the default fingerprint software on this laptop?

It being incompatible with ff4 kills it for me.

 

The capslocks on my 4530s has an led indicator on the the upper right corner of the key. No indicators appear on the desktop or taskbar for the numlock or capslock state when pressed.

My dell xps also has the caplock led on the key and the numlock on state is indicated on the taskbar by the clock.

 

I just purchcased a new 4430s off eBay for $500 shipped and ordered the G. Skill 8GB RAM kit from NewEgg. I'd like to know if it's worth replacing the 320GB 7200 HDD with a Scorpio Black of the same size (or with the 500GB model). Also, has anyone performed a clean install of Win7 and been able to reinstall only certain HP programs, like QuickWeb?

 

>>The capslocks on my 4530s has an led indicator on the the upper right corner of the key. No indicators appear on the desktop or taskbar for the numlock or capslock state when pressed.<<

Ok, thanks for checking.

 

My daughter's toshiba is using a wd scorpio black 320 gb its fast but no faster than the 320 7200 rpm in my 4530s so unless you upgrade to 500gb for increased storage space the wd black scorpio not going to have a speed increase.

I considered getting a wd black scorpio 500gb for more storage space but the 320gb is enough on the 4530s secondary laptop.

Consider SSD for speed but the SSD is too pricey for size for me at this time.

 

Thanks for that info! I'll just keep the factory HDD.

Yeah, those are too much for a lot of us I was looking at the Filemate 24GB Ultra Expresscard SSD drive. It's not blazing fast by any means, but at 115MB/s read and 65MB/s write, it would be a nice place for ReadyBoost (would I even need ReadyBoost with 8GB of RAM!?) and as supplimental storage, since it wouldn't stick out like a USB drive does, and it would leave the SD slot free for my many microSD cards.

 

If you make a copy of the swsetup folder and save it on an external drive or whatever, you should be able to do the limited reinstall /recovery (I forget the exact name) of the OS from the recovery partition of your hard drive, then copy the swsetup folder back to the drive and then just selectively reinstall any additional programs/files that you want from the swsetup folder.

 

Thanks, I'll do that!

 

jcannon1018 wrote: RE: FingerFox >>Give me an update on it when your ready. <<

I have used it quite a bit over the last few days although on a limited number of sites. My summary is that if you really like the fingerprint function AND are good/patient when it comes to configuring things, it might be worth your time. Configuring can be hit or miss and sometimes you just have to settle for a less than smooth experience.

Flickr works perfectly. Hotmail works but after it signs in it gives you this error box so you just have to hit the enter button and everything is fine. The option/setup box within fingerfox can be frustrating because the choices can change with each website. You have to think in terms of specific pages you visit versus setting up for a whole website (but if you open multiple pages at once from bookmarks, be ready for lots of log-ins). Fingerfox still relies on the credential manager and you will have to setup a log-in file for Firefox and another for IE, so make sure to label the files differently during creation or you will get confused if you ever need to look at the sign-ons. If you screw up during a sign-in or partially do a manual sign in and then want to try to finish with the fingerprint reader, it most likely will not work. That is to be expected but sometimes you are stuck with manual log-ins until you clear your cookies. Some sites, like this one, require me to swipe my finger twice in a row. I can't figure out why. Maybe it is a setting i need to change but I just don't know about yet. Sometimes I can sign in but when I go to submit a post it will ask me to sign in again but will have to do it manually. This is a good example where you have to be willing/like to experiment or fingerfox is probably just going to be too much frustration.

I appreciate the effort the author put into the plug-in. It is a good workaround and I am not knocking it but I am trying to give a realistic picture so people can decide if they are willing to put forth the effort needed to make it work.

FYI - there is a setting to turn off the event sounds for the finger printer reader if that annoys you. I hit that with my palm sometimes when typing. I have seen options for this in both the windows sound dialog and one of the HP dialogs.

 

I'll probably just skip fingerfox then. Thanks for the update.

Also, I do get a pop up box in the bottom right hand corner of the screen whenever I use the caps lock/num lock. It is hp software causing, but I'm not sure which it is.

 

The usb 3.0 controller is by renesas, here's a screen shot...

 

I did a fresh install when I got my 4430s. I kept all the partitions except for the c: which had windows on it. I downloaded all drivers and software from hps site except for intel software which I downloaded from intel. After the install was finished I checked the other partitions to see if the booted properly. All partitions worked, Quickweb, Diagnostics, and recovery worked fine. I had no problems installing any of the drivers or software. I did not install protectools or any of its relevant software.

A problem I did have was using the touchpad driver from synaptycs website, the most current driver. This caused some feature to not work like the tap to turn on/off the touchpad in the upper left hand corner of the pad itself. I had to use hps driver for it to work correctly.

 

Thanks for the verification on the pop up. I have researched things for a long time and finally found out by trial and error that this is a function of the hpCaslNotification.exe. Even if you terminate this process, the second you press the caps lock or num lock keys it will start up the process again automatically. You can kill the windows by renaming this file but that also kills the pop graphs for volume, screen brightness, etc. I am contacting HP to see how I can change the preferences to turn off just the caps/num lock pop up.

 

I must have killed the indicators with an update?

But there is TrayStatus or Keyboard LEDS programs if I need it ; )

 

HP support was useless. They kept telling me to delete software that is on the Pavillion series but not on the ProBooks. It is apparent they haven't been trained to know what software has been installed on these computers yet. Over 50 minutes on the phone and after getting escalated to tier 2, they still couldn't find someone who knew anything about these computers and how they are set up. They said they will call me back after escalating it more but they have yet to call and I bet they don't ever call.

My issue is one that 4530 owner's won't experience. The 4430 does not have a 10 key pad. When you use a USB 10 key pad, every time you touch a key, it will pop up the num lock window and constantly switch back and forth between on and off. If you type in 4587951 it will switch off and on seven times alone! Very annoying and it covers up part of your spreadsheet.

I am testing a workaround now that I discovered on my own. Hopefully it will work but I need more time to test it.

 

jcannon1018 - I think you were the one who mentioned a while back you wished there was another way to wake up your laptop bedsides pressing the power button. FWIW, there is a setting in the BIOS that allows the computer to be woken up by USB activity. If you activate this and then use a USB wired/wireless mouse, Wacom tablet, 10 key pad, etc., any movement/input from these devices will become another way to wake your computer.

Update: If you have a Logitech mouse, you may experience a downside to changing the BIOS. After changing the USB option in the BIOS, I started to experience an issue where the mouse scroll wheel would often "scroll" at a very, very much lower speed after I woke the laptop up from sleep mode which then required a computer reboot or unplugging/replugging of the USB dongle to reset the mouse. Once I reverted to the previous BIOS setting this behavior stopped.