*** ALL QUESTIONS dv9500t ****

I'm in process of ordering the DV9500t but noticed that the option for video cards have changed. The 8600GS is now limited to 256K instead of 512K. Was this an error on HP's website because NVidia does not have a listing for that memory card. I assume we are all thinking we have 512 dedicated memory and we really don't???

 

It's the same card as before, they just changed the description. The 8600GS has always had only 256MB of dedicated memory. Anything above that is shared system memory. So, they changed the wording to remove the amount of the shared system memory from the total, but it's still the same card and same specs as before.

 

Doh I'll have to check with HP. I just received my dv9500 and my drives were not set up in a raid array! Customer service told me when i received my laptop my dual 120Gig 7200RPM drives would be RAID-0 (striping) for speed. The customer service rep said that windows would display only a single physical drive with two virtual drives. They even said that if one of the drives failed i would have to send them both back for service. Good thing I kept the chat log. I wouldnt have bought two drives if i knew i couldnt do raid.

 

I just got my dv9500t with the T7250, 2GB RAM, and the 8600 vid card. I have attempted to hook it up to my TV. Mitsubishi DLP WD-52631. I go the sound and picture working, but the edge of the picture is cut off on all sides when displayed on the TV. It's just enough to cut off the windows bar at the bottom and the top of any maximized window (the sides are also cut off a bit too). Any insight on why the edges are all cut off on the display? Is it the tv? laptop? both?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

I have a DV9500T that had the 8600GS with the "511mb" card, and just ordered two more with the "256mb" cards. In fact, they are the same card, and the original "511" was a bit misleading. The card has 256 built in, and can dynamically take more from the system, depending on how much ram you have installed. Here is what Windows says:

Display adapter type NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS
Total available graphics memory 1023 MB
Dedicated graphics memory 256 MB
Dedicated system memory 0 MB
Shared system memory 767 MB

Hope that helps!

Joe

 

How are you connecting to the TV? Are you using svideo, vga, or hdmi? HDMI should display correctly; the others are analog and would require some type of calibration either on the laptop or on the TV.

 

Yeah, I guess that information would help. I am connecting via HDMI.

 

I'm going to end up getting the dv9500t to replace my 6500t. I'm upgrading from a Dell E1505 with a 1680 x 1050 screen and the 1280 x 800 screen just didn't cut it.

I'm very very split on which screen to get. Should I get the 16xx X 1050 BrightView or the lower res. with the brighter 2 lamp screen?

I plan to watch quite a few movies on it, so color reproduction quality is very very important to me.

any advice would be awesome!

EDIT:: does anyone that owns the 1440 screen with the UltraBright comment on it's quality?

 

I always go with a high resolution screen, but that's just me. I think the brighter screen might help you if you watch movies or do work outdoors, but inside I usually have the lights down, at least a little, for watching movies. To me it's more important to be able to fit more stuff on the screen.

 

are both 1440 and 1680 still techically considered 720p or are we in 1080p territory with the 1680 resolution?

 

See this image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Vector_Video_Standards2.png

 

I'm in the middle of ordering and have run across some questions that I hadn't considered already.

1.
I'm looking at the Op System option Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit) vs. Upgrade to Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit) for ONLY $99!!

I had read that you can get a 64 bit Premium version from MS as an upgrade for $11 (the shipping charges). The reason I ask is that I could just upgrade the memory to 4GB myself but I know I'll need a 64 bit OS for that.

So should I get the 32 bit from HP and then buy the 64 bit premium version upgrade from MS (if there is such a thing for $11)?

Very new to all this Vista stuff so I'm worried about 2 GB of memory.

2.
I want to get the Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo processor T7500 (2.20 GHz, 4 MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)... Is this a 64 bit processor because here's the description that makes it unclear to me...I've put the words that have filled me with question marks in bold.

So from what I gather, yes, it's a 64 bit processor but you have to buy the 64 bit version of Vista ...right?

3.
Memory Module

Can someone confirm that this notebook has one memory module for all memory that's one the underside of the laptop and that getting 2 2GB sticks of RAM to plug in would be as simple as opening the bottom and installing them both? My current HP laptop has one module on the underside and one module under the keyboard so I never upgraded.

Thanks in advance for the help. I CTO my last notebook but with no prior Vista experience and not wanting to be stuck with something I'm not happy with right from the start, I'm having a harder time ordering this than a new car!

 

..................................

 

You can get the 64bit anytime upgrade dvd for $5-7 and use that to do a clean install of 64bit Vista home premium. Take a look at the clean install guide in my sig. It's not an "upgrade" to 64bit, it's a lateral move.

 

Thanks orev! I had my eye on that thread about the clean install. It seems like a great guide and I'll definitely follow it when my new computer comes in!

Thanks for your help!

 

mujjuman, totally spaced out on you and wanted to thank you for your reply too.

Getting 2GB would be two 1 GB sticks. I would've just gotten 1GB and I have to thank you -- that was a GREAT CATCH. I had forgotten all about the possibility of it being 2 DIMM for the 1GB stick. That would have been a surprise.

Guess I was asleep at the wheel there! Thanks so much for waking me up.

 

Is the screen glossy on the 9500?

 

Yes

..........

 

I have a new DV9500T with the Nvidia 8400 running Vista home premium (did a clean install). The windows experience tool only rates it 1.0 with the problem being in graphics... It also says "new hardware detected" but under device manager, there are no "?". Any thoughts?

 

Sounds like you need to install Video drivers. Did you install any of the other drivers too?

 

Need to install the drivers with the modded inf from http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/ and it will go up to 3.4 for the 8400 GS.

 

Thanks, Orev. I actually did install the Nvidia drivers. I uninstalled/restarted/reinstalled as well when I was still getting the 1.0 on the Windows Experience scale. When it was restarting, it was trying to install another display adapter driver so that is indeed most likely where my problem lies.

Could this have something to do with it: When installing my drivers, I installed the following: Intel Chipset Installation Utility for ICH8 for Microsoft Windows Vista .

If this is my problem, can I fix it or will it be easier to start from scratch once again?

The rest of my specs are the same as yours with the following exceptions: 2 gigs RAM, Home premium; no bluetooth or fingerprint reader.

 

The intel chipset for ICH8 is for the chipset, not the intel video (which you don't have), so yes, you need that driver. Did you rerun your experience benchmark? That would be the only other reason why it's only showing a 1.0.

 

Well, early this morning I reinstalled and the Windows Experience is now displaying properly (3.4 and 4.1). The only thing I did differently was not installing the ICH8... Pardon my ignorance, but is that an important update? Yes, I had rerun the experience benchmark...

Does that update appear in Vista updates (I know some of the others do...) If not, I will install it later on.

Thanks so much! The computer really does seem to fly now... My husband will be extremely happy come Xmas!

 

It's a good idea to have the ICH8 chipset driver installed, as without it you may not get all of the power saving features the laptop has. It's very odd that driver would cause a problem with the video, as they are unrelated. Of course, if it's causing a problem for you, then you shouldn't install it.

 

hey all,
Alright I'm about to take an HDMI cable and stab myself in the eye....I recently just purchased a dv9500t with a 8600m GS card. I hooked it up to an external monitor that has been hooked up via VGA in the past using an HDMI to VGA cable. Anyway, whenever I go about hooking the laptop up, I get a pink screen when the screen should be black, then a green tint over the entirety of the picture when it shows up. Problem is, I've hooked this up via the hdmi out last week without any problems to my tv using an hdmi to hdmi cable. The converter cables I've tried (I've tried 2 and got the same results) are both 6 foot cables. Does the problem lie in the length of these cables or is this brand new video card shot? I should also mention that when I hook it up via VGA their are no problems. Thanks in advance

 

It might have something to do with the content protection on the hdmi connection. On my dv9500t, when i plug it in to my tv it just works. I doubts it's a problem with the cable length, but maybe a bad cable? Do you have a buddy or a way to test the hdmi connection with a different TV? I'd also take a look in the advanced display control panel and see if there's any way to set the output to the monitor, or some other setting you could play with.