The HP ProBook 5310m Owners' Club

Perhaps more accurately - dirt is much more easily noticed on the 5310. We are filthy animals by nature, and the world itself is filled with dust, pollen and whatnot. Use the cloth!

HP have dealt with this issue by removing a screw. You'll find the instructions many months back in this very thread.

 

I had a backlight failure on my 5310m a few weeks ago. I am in Israel atm and support over here is just amazingly good. Although I only have the smallest available support package ("send in"), they sent a technician to my office and he was replacing the screen in front of my eyes. I had no camera at hand, so I can't provide you with pictures (I think he would have objected to that anyway). But what I can tell you is that in order to replace the screen, he had to take the whole laptop apart. To say that it is a complicated procedure would be an understatement. I will give you a short description of the disassembly as far as I can remember (there may be some mistakes):

First of all: HP treats the whole screen as a unit, they replace it as one part. So I think there is no normal way of opening it (I cant find any screws on mine, I think it's glued). Apart from that: There are three cables that connect the screen to the base unit (mainboard): One video-cable, one for WIFI/3G, and one for webcam/mic. They are directly connected to the respective parts on the motherboard - at three different spots.

So what the technician did (as far as I remember) was: He removed the battery and unscrewed every available screw at the bottom of the base. Then he removed the keyboard (what agony for my nerdy soul, as you have to basically rip it off - ouch!). Below the keyboard are more screws that have to be removed as well. Now he could take off both plastic parts that cover the bottom (the metal frame becomes visible at that point).

He removed the HDD, and - again - took out all the screws that became visible on the bottom. That allowed the removal of the plastic cover on the upper side of the base unit (I think he disconnected the display from the base unit at that step - the cables remained connected).

Under the upper plastic cover there were more screws that had to be taken out. These were holding the mainboard in the metal frame, so the two could be parted. If I remember it right, one or more cables connecting display and and base unit is/are attached to the bottom of the mainboard (the side that faces the metal frame). The mainboard has a small seperate circuit board attached to it (I think it holds the displayport, etc.).

Disassembly and reassemby took more than an hour - and remember: it was done by a trained HP technician. That may explain to a certain degree why HP puts such a hefty price tag on the repair.

 

http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01888801/c01888801.pdf

Mx and service guide. All of the 5310m's hardware secrets revealed, including part numbers.

 

Awesome find, I am reading through it now. HP machines are notoriously difficult to take apart.

Wow - thanks for posting your experience.

At the bottom of the 5310m's display it looks like there are two covered screw holes on either side but it would make sense that HP treats it as the one unit.

Hi James, sorry to hear about your experience. Did you buy a preconfigured model or a customized one? I have the SP9300 processor but mine came with the Intel 5100 wireless, which is excellent. The signal strength is better than any of my previous notebooks. LaptopMag gave the 5310m high marks for good wireless reception, and they had the Broadcom chip:
HP ProBook 5310m Review - Battery Life and Wi-Fi

There is a fix for the spacebar issue as noted, just search this thread. You can fix it by either removing a screw or using some electrical tape. I used the electrical tape method and have not had a problem since.

Agreed about the DisplayPort - it is an advanced port and it is even rare in newer video cards. While I think HDMI is out of place on a business machine, I admit, at this point in time, it would be more appropriate than DisplayPort.
I have a DisplayPort > HDMI adapter and > VGA adapter, however only the HDMI one works and I can't get audio to pass through. Some members have gotten audio to pass through though.

Your complaint about the speakers is echoed by other owners here; there is one on the left and one in the middle. If you take the bottom panel off you can see there is an opening for a speaker on the right but it doesn't look like HP was able to route any wires or a speaker there because that's where the hard drive sits.

At any rate, your 5310m should be a much better performer . . . try updating your drivers. Also, make sure you are using the Portable/Laptop power mode in Windows 7. Check out our Computer Optimization Guide for more tips (it is a three-part series).

 

I'm expecting my unit to be delivered any day now and am interested in upgrading the memory. The service manual that someone posted a link to shows the HP memory to be 800MHz at the 4GB capacity point as compared to 1066MHZ at the lower capacity points and I'm hoping someone who did the upgrade can confirm that the machine does in fact run at 1066MHz on the memory interface.

Regards.

 

I expect HP didn't have a part for 1066Mhz at 4GB at the time the manual was printing. Here's the description of that part # from their parts store now...

581097-001 In stock
4GB, 800MHz, 240-pin, PC3-8500, DDR3-1066 SDRAM Small Outline Dual In-Line Memory Module (SODIMM)
RoHS: Modified

Looks like the module is rated for both speeds. But what's really funny is HP wants $875 for a single 4GB Ram module!!!

EDIT: Also just noticed that HP parts store lists 240-pin SODIMMS, whereas the NewEgg link only has 204-pin SODIMMS. 240-pin is desktop memory, right? Is this a typo on HP's parts site?

 

I have the following 4GB memory module: Hynix HMT351S6AFR8C-G7

 

The 2GB stick in my 5310m is running at 1066MHz (see attached).

240-pin is desktop DDR3 memory, correct; you should buy 204-pin So-DIMM memory. Any of these will work:
Newegg.com - Computer Hardware,Memory,Laptop Memory,204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM,4GB,DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500)
Looks like prices have fallen to the $100 mark or so!

 

I just got my 5310m and it BSOD'ed while doing the HP part of the original install and now keeps rebooting and BSOD'ing.

It also doesn't seem to be able to boot off an external USB optical drive so I can't do a fresh install either

 

Try installing from a flash drive.
The BSOD may have something to do with ahci.

 

I finally managed to create a bootable flash drive and installed Win7. It's still odd that it won't boot off the external USB optical drive, even when the latter is connected through a powered USB hub.

Curiously, the graphics WEI is somewhat lower than my Acer 1410 which has the same internals except with 2 DDR2 DIMMs instead of this single DDR3. It's either that orthe fact that the Acer runs the 64-bit version of the OS.

Also, I'm going to have to do the spacebar mod.

 

When people reference the "spacebar fix", are you talking about the "deaver" fix with electrical tape or the "turbochan" fix where you remove a screw.

Turbochan, you never did post a followup with more specifics about which screw needs to be removed. At least to me, left of the DRAM is not sufficiently specific

 

Unless Laptop Magazine was mistaken, the card they're raving about was a Broadcom abgn whereas the starter card in the 5310m is a Broadcom bg only

 

Though I'm too lazy to open mine and confirm, I think it's one of the screws that actually holds the kbd. See page 4-23 in the mx manual http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01888801/c01888801.pdf
I believe it's one of the screws labelled "1" in this graphic. Better view of the hole on 4-21.

 

Thanks much! I made the change and the spacebar is much better now.

I've also installed CrystalCPUID to reduce power consumption and, while I haven't actually measured battery drain yet, the fan runs much less often now. Take a look at the instructions on How to Increase Your Laptop’s Battery Life A LOT with CrystalCPUID | Scottie's Tech.Info

Finally, I've ordered an Intel 5100 from ebay since I could see the half mini-PCI Broadcom would be easy to pull out when I was doing the keyboard mod.

This is turning to be an expensive hobby

 

Hey mtorgow, can you tell us which supplier this is? Just for future reference. Thanks!

Woops, I was just gonna post a pic but looks like you got it taken care of =)

 

Hy guys,

After 1 year of no problems, I have a problem.

My battery is not charging. When I put the powercable in I see a red light for a few seconds and then it goes out.
Also windows says battery is not loading ??

Any one experience this ?
Connection broken inside the 5310m ?

 

I had a similar issue two months back. The laptop was fine but its adapter had broken somewhere in the cable.

If I juggled the cable around a bit I could get it to charge occasionally but it was highly unreliable.

Anyway I had to contact HP for a replacement which they provided due to the warranty. Shipped in one day so I'm only half-upset.

 

I borrowed an ASUS external DVD drive from a friend and was able to boot off it. Some web research showed that there is an incompatibility with some netbooks and my Rosewill external drive that I only got a few months ago

There was nevertheless a significant delay in the response to pressing ESC during initial boot to bring up the boot menu when the drive was attached.

 

Is anyone familiar with the gain/loss of disabling one CPU core and running in "single-core" mode which is a setting in BIOS?

I'm thinking the laptop might run cooler? Depending on what turning one core off actually means from a hardware-perspective of course.

 

I guess the only way to find out is to try it.

My biggest question would be whether the other core gets turned off and uses no power or is just on but disabled; I think the latter.

It goes without saying that multitasking and performance in general will be better with both cores enabled.

-------

Something I thought about over the last couple of days: if there's one upside to having a single DIMM slot for RAM, it is that one DIMM uses less power than two. I still wish this notebook had two DIMM slots though, upgrading to 4GB would be a lot cheaper.

 

why would you want to do it? do you have sp9300 or su2300. I've the su2300 and laptop runs cool all the time. i usually have it on my laptop and it only gets slightly warm near the cpu area.

 

also, has anyone installed an intel advanced N 6200 wireless card? i just got one off ebay for $20 shipped but someone in this post mentioned it might not work unless we mod the bios (I was hoping to get the 6300 but 300mbps is good enough for me presently.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/com...0-advanced-wireless-cards-37.html#post6546463

 

If you have Intel WiFi Link 5100 AGN and Windows 7 connects only at low speed to N networks (65-120 Mbps) check this setting:
Open the wifi adapter in Device Manager, select Advanced tab, 802.11n Channel Width for band 2.4 should be set to Auto.
Mine was set to 20 MHz only with the default Windows 7 install.

 

I cannot get the DisplayPort working with a Dell U2311H monitor. The 5310m screen goes blank when I plug the cable into the laptop and the Dell monitor receives a signal because the error message on the screen changes from "No DisplayPort Cable" to "Going into Powersave mode".

Still no video though and this seems like a software issue. I've updated the Intel GMA drivers to the standard Windows set, the HP support set and Intel's own latest. No difference. Need help!

 

The HP support suggested that I hadn't gotten the Dell monitor but rather a HP monitor because then it would work.

Great tip! ...

 

..which begs the entirely rhetorical question: what is the purpose of interface specifications if each manufacturer is going to implement them a little differently anyway?

I do have a real question though! Has anyone found a way to kill power to the USB ports when the notebook sleeps?

 

AFAIK there is no way to turn off power to the USB ports in Sleep mode.

Let us know if that works out for you. I believe HP locks their BIOS and only allows certain cards to be used; the 6200 was never offered with the 5310m so that throws up a flag.
If your notebook didn't come with the Intel wireless and you want the upgrade, the 5100 will work. I recommend it; after using generic wireless for years, the Intel in the 5310m was a big upgrade for me. I noticed it resolves network issues better and connects faster. Also, it doesn't have any connection issues coming out of Sleep/Hibernate.

Very strange. I guess you tried using the [Fn] key to switch the display over manually? The monitor should be plug-and-play but of course, that's not always the case.

Interesting tip - I will have to check my settings.

 

I purchased the Patriot PSD34G10662S and am having problems with it. Immediately after installing the laptop would not boot and the capslock light would flash three times, pause, three times, etc. The next attempt to power up was successful, although now the laptop won't wake from sleep mode, and the capslock light flashes again. It still has trouble booting and usually takes a couple of tries.

The laptop passes the memory diagnostic found in the preboot menu. The only thing I've tried is updating the bios to the newest on (released June 3rd I think) but it was no help. Any other ideas?

 

I use memtest86+ to determine whether memory is bad. You can download it here:
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
Usually how it works is you burn it to CD and boot from that. Obviously since the 5310m does not have an optical drive you will either have to use an external one or make a bootable flash drive; I haven't tried the latter.

Basically, let it run overnight (at least 8 passes). If the memory is good there should be no errors; if there are then time to RMA it. To me it sounds like you have a bad stick. Bad memory is actually quite common, I have been the recipient of numerous bad desktop and laptop RAM (about 40% of the sticks I have bought turned out to be defective).

 

Has anyone had any luck changing the function of the quickweb hotkeys?

I would love to make this key toggle bluetooth on and off.

any ideas?

 

Once I got my 5310m to a state that I'm happy with, I added it to the list of Windows PCs that are automatically backed up to my HP Mediasmart Windows Home Server machine.

I'm paranoid enough to check the integrity of backups before I really need them and was chagrined to discover that, while the backup was declared successful, the restore operation found a problem with the archive. I'm working with HP tech support on a resolution but was wondering if anyone else has had this experience.

Thanks.

 

For those having problems connecting a headset these might be helpful:
Logitech USB to 3.5 mm Headphone Microphone Splitter $9.00 USD

Genuine Sennheiser PC166 USB to 3.5 Jack Audio Adapter $18.66 USD

 

Please note that USB to 3.5 mm adapers and USB headsets bypass the soundcard!

 

An update on the hp wireless whitelist: I've been through atleast 20 threads on insanelymac/mydigitallife/etc forums for the last 2 weeks but haven't found a solution yet. the 5310m uses a 2MB Insyde bios size; currently people on the other forums successfully disassembled 1MB Insyde bios from older hp/compaq notebooks to remove the check for specific wifi cards completely. Work is still in progress for 2MB bios.

Also, I found an $8 DP-HDMI adapter that transmits audio too (am running Win7)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130409361613

For a 4GB upgrade this RAM posted right away (no issues or crashes):
Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Laptop Memory Model F3-8500CL7S-4GBSQ

For now, I'm thinking of buying a HP approved N card to avoid spending more time on this (I'm the kind of guy who wishes there were 48 hrs in a day lol). Can someone please specify the exact part number for the Intel 5100 as suggested by Charles P or the Broadcom 4322AGN. Hopefully both of these should support 5Ghz without problems.

Also, is there anyway we can add a backlit keyboard. I'm coming from a dell studio xps 1640, so I'm completely spoiled

 

The timing of your query is amazing since my Intel wifi card was delivered today and I've been able to confirm that it works great. Details through this ebay link.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&item=350364713061&view=all&tid=247187167022

There are vendors selling what seems to be the same card for less but this one was the only one that seemed to know about the whitelist.

 

Just got mine delivered by UPS today. 99 pages is a lot to go through so if someone can give me a rundown of experiences with this laptop it be greatly appreciated.

Specs fit my needs perfectly and even considering moving to an SSD in the near future.

thanks guys.

 

wow... thank you very much... i'm getting one right away

 

I just noticed that my new 5100AGN was connecting at only 65Mbps and tried your change to the driver settings but have seen no improvement. I'm going to try turning off the .g AP sitting nearby.

 

It is not possible to add a backlit keyboard to the 5310m - sorry. You can however add glow-in-the-dark stickers - search this thread at the top right, I don't remember exactly where it is.

Congrats on the choice!

Two reviews:
HP ProBook 5310m Review
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...book-5310m-full-review-w-pics-benchmarks.html

Anything else, just search this thread or ask away.

I'm also considering an SSD, though the new Seagate Momentus XT is very tempting. The 250GB version is a single-platter drive so it should have very good performance. It's less than $100 at Newegg.

 

Hi guys. I usually post over on the Sony board as I am a Z user myself. But I just got this Probook for my wife -- refurbed -- and it is giving me a lot of problems. It doesn't seem to be stable and I can't find anything wrong from a software point of view. There is nothing in the event viewer, all drivers are on there etc etc... its just unreliable. Her IE doesn't like gmail, maybe 1 blue screen per week, and sometimes it dodesnt wake up from sleep. Is this normal? Are you guys having these kinds of issues with this thing? I've updated the BIOS -- one thing I notice, which could be tell tale: when i up the brightness, for example, there is a severe delay on when the HUD is displayed. The screen changes immediately but the HUD takes a few seconds. This could show there is some bottle neck somewhere.

Anyway my manhood is on the line. She doesn't know anything about computers, but trusted me to get her one and now she's pretty bummed. I am tempted to format but it seems so heavy handed for a relatively new system. And suggestions?
Thanks!

 

I recently purchased a refurb from hp directly and have absolutely no issues with it except for the fact that IE took a good few seconds to load when first started (I think this is because of the low end SU2300 cpu - not hp's fault).

First, I would install a fresh copy of Windows 7 Professional either from a usb or external drive. Burn it on a disc and install it. See if your problems go away?

you can download Microsoft's original Windows 7 from
http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65804/X15-65804.iso

 

Sorry to hear about your problems.

Something I would try before anything else - run memtest86+ and make sure there are no memory errors:
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
I believe you can put it on a flash drive and boot to that or burn it to disc and use an external drive. Leave it run overnight (8 passes minimum); if it finds even one error then you should RMA the notebook. Based on your description, it sounds like it may be a memory problem.

Also Download HDTune and see if your hard drive has any errors:
HD Tune website

One last thing - turn off your notebook, remove the battery, and press the power button a few times to drain any excess electricity running around. Then remove the bottom panel and reseat (take out + put back in) the memory and hard drive. Reassemble + reboot.

If those tests pass without any errors, then it's likely a software configuration issue and try the fresh install of Windows 7 as noted; the necessary drivers and software are relatively easy to find on HP's support site. Use the latest drivers, not the ones that came with the notebook.

Let us know how everything works out.

 

Hi there,

Anyone know what cables I need to buy to hook my 5310 to a relatively old tv (Philips 23PF5320 LCD)?

I'm hoping I can get away without buying converters, but can't seem to find a definitive answer.

Thanks!

 

I am guessing your TV has RCA and/or S-Video connections (?). I think you would need a DisplayPort > VGA converter and then a VGA > S-Video/RCA cable. Let us know.

 

I am still wondering if anyone has had any experience with the HP Probook 5320m??

In Norway it seems that they are pushing out the 5310m in favour or the 5320m so I'm not sure if I should be quick and grab the 10m before it runs out of stock??

The 5320m is abit more expensive, hence me asking.

Also the 5320m comes with the i3 processor (or i5 but Im looking at the i3) and I was wondering if theres a significant difference in speed/performance between the SP9300 and the i3??

All I do is office work (excel, word etc) + internet, watch movies, youtube, music etc.

Also, if I get the SP9300 will it last me like 2-3 years? I'm probably going to be doing the same things then, as this is what I've used my computer for during the last 8 years or so....

Thanks in advance

 

I would just get the 5310m with the SP9300; it will be more than powerful enough for what you do. I use my 5310m for those same activities.

Unless you are stressing the processor for extended periods of time (ex. 100% usage for 20+ minutes at a time) then you're not going to see a difference between the i3 and the SP9300.

No one here has a 5320m to my knowledge; it looks like the exact same chassis except with updated internals.

 

Thanks for the info Charles, appriciate it!

I'm going to go for the 5310m then!

Ill come back once I'm one of you guys in this thread

EDIT: I've read in some reviews that the HDD is REALLY loud. Is this a general problem?
Is it easy to change HDD even for a novice like me? Also, can you guys recomend some cheap but good HDD that is quiet/fast (Im a student so I cant afford SSD and a new laptop at once)? Additionaly, further down the line I'd want to install an SSD, is this possible?


Thanks.

Nick

 

Mmm, I wouldn't describe the hard drive as very loud.

The majority of people who have ordered the 5310m with a 320GB 7200RPM hard drive have received a Seagate 7200.4, which has a poor quality motor and vibrates. It is quite noticeable and annoying, however I don't know what your definition of "really loud" is. It's not going to bother the person sitting next to you, but after using the notebook for a time you will notice the hard drive creates a high level of ambient noise -- as in, when you turn the notebook off there will be an audible decrease in the ambient noise level.
Fortunately the hard drive is very easy to replace. If you have some spare cash, I would go for a Hitachi 7K500. I replaced the Seagate drive in my 5310m with one and have been extremely satisfied. It is a very quiet hard drive, very little clicking sounds, and no apparent vibrations. I would go for the 250GB or 500GB versions.

Wait until you get the notebook though; it may come with a Western Digital WD3200BEKT, which is a very nice drive.

 

Thanks again Charles. Ever so helpfull!