HP elitebook 8770w: will it burn a 120w power adapter? And other questions

Hi all,
I posted some time ago a thread about buying a prof. laptop. I ended up buying a HP 8770w on ebay.
It was supossed to be this (copy-paste):

Core i7 3720QM 2.6Ghz
16GB of RAM (4GB x 4 Banks)
Nvida Quadro K4000M GPU
160GB Main HD with Windows 10 Pro Installed and most drivers, Official Windows 7 COA under battery for re-installation or upgrade or re-activation.
No Optical drive
Battery holds a good charge on this one.
Comes with A/C adapter.

The ad said it came with 2x160GB HDD´s .Today I got it and I got these "issues":
It doesn´t boot to windows (BootDevice not found) and when I take the cover out I can only see 1 HDD.
BTW, I can´t locate on BIOS any HDD.

EDIT: I just found out that the HDD installed has no metal caddy and instead it has some foam to push it. It was loose so I pushed it back to the right place and now Win 10 starts and loads. I guess I´m gonna need caddies.

The power adapter is a 120w one, I think it´s way underpowered for the needs of this laptop, so I wonder if this is gonna get burnt if I tried to run some game.
Anyway I haven´t even tried yet to plug some other HDD (there´s no case or metal caddy to place a second HDD properly) either to use a bootable USB to check what comes this with.

Any help will be really appreciated (and sorry for this long text)

 

I doubt that you'll burn the adapter, but you definitely wont be able to use full performance. Get a 200W or even 230W adapter as soon as possible and keep the 120W as a travel adapter if you wish. Don't use the drive without caddy or the vibrations can damage it permanently.

 

Firstly, thanks for your answer triturbo and sorry for my late reply (It´d seem I´m not interested on this but this is not true at all as I have been pretty busy these days, but I read your answer the same day).

That adapter I got delivers a lower voltage (18.5v) than the 200w-230w ones (19.5v). I noticed this when searching for one on ebay (so I wonder how this can work and even run new games actually). There are soo many different models (from HP) which fit exactly both voltage and wattage but they have a different model number (like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-Elite-83...856366?hash=item33b0c24f2e:g:~54AAOSwXshWqnad), so I wonder if they could work. According to the service manual these are the proper ones:
200W PFC Slim AC Smart Adapter (693708-001)
230W PFC AC Smart Adapter (693714-001)
Do you think I should try to get only any of those (obviously, better the 230w one) or could I get anything from HP (on ebay) that fits the power requirements?

On the other hand, the seller has just made lame excuses about the wrong PSU ("we were able to power and charge each of 8770´s and 60´s with 120-150 watt adapters...") and the inexistent caddy for the HDD (he says the foam was added "as a precautionary measure to keep it slipping out of place"). So I´m gonna ask him for some compensation (even when I feel kinda guilty for the price I paid for this beauty). Do the chinese caddy copies found on ebay work with no issues? and what about the "original HP PSU´s"? I´m afraid there are plenty of fakes as well...

Changing subjects, I just upgraded it with a cheap 240GB SSD OCZ Trion and I´m thinking of replacing the thermal paste with "Phobya Hegrease" that some friend of mine recommended. Any other better option for the paste?

One last question, is there an easy and simple way to know what kind of screen I got? I´m sure it´s not the Dreamcolor one, but just in case ^^

Thank you in advance and sorry for this looong post.

 

Since it's lower voltage, it means that it pumps out more Amps to get the same Wattage. This is nothing scary, since the 230W outputs 11.8A, while the 18.5V 200W would output 10.8A. The thing is if it's OEM, since the quality of the components is more important.

The Chinese caddies are relatively good, but they do vary and there are different types and thickness, so it's best to get the HP one. If the listing said HDD caddy, then demand it and on the response that it may slip, replay that it is secured the same way that the DVD/BD is secured.

I'll recommend Gelid GC Extreme, it's the best non-liquid metal paste out there.

Check the hardware ID in the Device Manager and Google it afterwards, I can't recall what was the 16:9 DreamColor ID.

 

Thanks a lot again triturbo for your fast answer.
I didn´t explain it well... I meant the 120w power adapter I got with the laptop is rated at 18.5v (that´s why I´m puzzled, so lower voltage and also wattage but still works and it can run games as I said). The 200w-230w ones I found are rated at 19.5v.

So I guess that if you recommend that paste is because it is better than the Phobya NanoGrease Extreme. BTW, Would I need to get thermal pads for replacing them on the graphic card (I never had done this tho)?

Regarding the screen it´s an AUO219D. Google results says nothing about DC. I wonder if this is LED or not.

 

I got confused probably, but as long as it is rated @120W, the engineers made their calculations, so no worries. As I said 120W are enough for general usage, just don't expect full performance, that's all.

Haven't checked how it fares against this particular paste, but you have to take into account, that our CPUs are bare die, where most reviews test them on desktop CPUs with heat-spreaders. In the desktop case MX-4 is one of the top performers, but it would pump-out within a month in a laptop, leaving nothing to conduct the heat. I know, because I was using it before.

It's AUO, so definitely not DreamColor, but it's pretty good panel for a TN, has 72% NTSC coverage and yes, it is LED.

 

Nice to know that.
What´s your point of view about the thermal pads? BTW I´m getting on the CPU (the highest temp. I got is 84ºC while playing and at the same time downloading at 300Mbits/s) higher temps than on the GPU (74ºC is the highest so far). That´s a bit weird, isn´t it?
And if you were me, would you ask the seller for some compensation? xD

 

The pads should be OK to be reused, as long as they don't break into multiple parts. The temp difference is normal, the CPU and the GPU have different usage, cooling requirements and heat-sinks. You have opened-up yours, check out how different the CPU and GPU heat-sinks are.

Well I would rather get the part, but if they are Chinese, you most likely wont, so get a compensation. Chinese are rather arrogant lately. You bought a listed item, anything different than the listing should be discussed.

 

Thanks a lot for your thoughts and help triturbo.

 

One last question I forgot to ask. Do you think I should remove the battery when connected to the mains as I´m keeping it in to compensate somewhow the low powered power adapter?

 

I keep my in. Usually, if not used, it's good to leave it charged at 50~70% on a cold dry and dark place, but then you lose one of the main benefits of having a laptop - built-in UPS. So either way there's a trade off - either longer battery cells life (proper storage), but no back-up power, or increased battery wear (because they do age, even if not used, but are still plugged into the laptop), but having a back-up power.

As for the power compensation, I'm not really sure how it works in systems that don't support the so-called hybrid power. You can share your experience on the matter, but in any case, it's increased wear for the battery, so again, it's up to you.

 

The guy from ebay is offering me to get and send the caddy and the proper power adapter when he can find them and also a 25% reimbursement of the purchase price or a flat 35% reimbursement with no parts sending. I didn´t expect such an act of kindness. I think what he´s offering is too much...

 

A friend of mine is telling me to try to sell the Quadro K4000M and get a gaming one with that money plus the one I´d get from the reimbursement (I still doubt I would accept such excessive discount--> guilty feeling). That would be a risk (as usual when buying online) and I guess that would cost an arm and a leg.
I have seen on this forum one guy who was able (with some issues) to make a 970M work. I wouldn´t expect (either couldn´t afford) such a change. Do you think there is any chance of upgrading this GPU with something better (for gaming mainly) at an affordable price (keeping the same heatsink if possible)?

I guess there´s nothing to do about the CPU as they are way too expensive... am I wrong?

Also I don´t know if a better CPU (with a higher TDP) would still work with no heat issues... anyway I´m not sure if upgrading the CPU would be really worth in terms of gaming.

Thank you

 

I got a new and original HP 200w charger at no cost. In addition to that, I bought 2 chinese HDD caddies on ebay (still waiting for them to arrive) and I bought a really cheap Spanish keyboard (it was actually a 8760w one) that fits and works perfectly but I have found 2 "issues": there´s an extra "layer" left (just above the keyboard base; you can see holes through it and even the key "structure" under them), the other thing is the sound the space bar makes... it can be annoying at times (I recalled some guys talking about that issue on the 8760w forum).

BTW I think I will add a second HDD as a storage drive (1TB).

On the other hand, I tried to use a SIM card to check if the 3G connection would work but I was not able to do so. I think it´s a windows 10-related issue cause I´m almost certain that this one comes with that wireless module as it has the SIM slot and it feels it works (you can push the card and it holds it in there till you push it back). I think I need to test that out on windows 7... any help/thoughts on this?

Finally, I wanted to say I accepted the 35% reimbursement the seller offered, so this beauty cost me less than $400 in the end. I couldn´t be happier ))

EDIT: I forgot to mention I just realized there is a dummy SD card that comes with this laptop, this one comes with none tho, so I tried to find some on ebay and they are either really overpriced or on different shapes (according to the laptop´s make). I know the cheapest way would be just using a real SD, but that would mean having the electronics working all the time--> earlier failure and I don´t want that... suggests?

Thanks in advance.

 

I think all of them come with the sim card reader. Actual modem is an add-on. No point making an expensive laptop with another set of motherboard options that lack the sim reader too.

Take out the bottom cover and you'll see if there is both wlan and wwan cards or just wlan.

 

OK, just checked that... I didn´t expect that could be split into 2 separate parts... So as I can see, there´s the card place (the sim card reader, on the motherboard maybe?) but also the proper WWAN module, that BTW is not present (there is the m.2 slot and another one empty next to it and I guess that´s the one). Now I understand why I saw 2 loose cables when I took out the DVD cover/caddy, those were for the WWAN antenna.

Thanks for the help KLF

 

Regarding those cards, I can see on the maintenance guide that there are 2 possible choices:

HP un2430 EV-DO/HSPA Mobile Broadband Module 634400-001
HP hs2340 HSPA+ Mobile Broadband Module 668969-001

and I just did a quick search and found that the second one is better... am I wrong? Would I get from any of these also GPS capabilities (without the need of using a SIM card I mean)?

 

HSPA+ works here in europe and many other places, while I believe EV-DO is more north american thing. Consult your operator before making a purchase anyways.

In my experience quite often the wwan modem won't "start" unless there is a sim card inserted. If that is the case here, I'd get a prepaid card and keep it there even when it is out of balance. Or a sim card from any old phone, I believe you only need to know the pin code (and then remove it).

 

I´m not sure If I explained the dummy card thing properly... I meant a dummy/fake card for the SD card reader.

And about the WWAN, I found them suspiciously cheap on ebay (less than €20), not sure if that sounds right though...

 

Hope you’ve gotten your answer by now, but I’ve seen co-workers scorch their power supplies when using anything smaller than spec for Elitebook laptops (and we all had them). Same thing happened when anyone used a laptop power supply with a docking station. Just because the smaller (retail consumer class) power supplies have the same power connector as the business class laptops and accessories doesn’t mean they’re universally interchangeable.

 

Yes, and I found out by myself as well. As someone said, It can handle the laptop, but it gets really hot when I want to get all the juice from it (which I doubt it could be possible, due to the lack or power). However, with the small PSU, I was able to play games with intensive graphic requirements. Anyway as that kind guy recommended me, I´m using the little one for "travel" or light tasks and the big one for the heavy stuff.