Envy 17 SB: Request guides here.

I decided to post a thread where people can ask how to do certain Envy 17 SB oriented tasks.

For example did you know you can set up hotkeys to switch the graphics?

How-To's:

1. Hotkeys for Graphics Switching!
Envy 17 SB.
First switch to the the ATI graphics option (Mobility 6850m) then:
-Right click desktop.
-Go to Graphics Properties.
-From there on the top right hand corner there is a button saying Preferences. It will open a drop down menu.
-Go to Hotkey on the drop down menu.
- Enable hotkey features. On the drop down box labeled List Hotkeys choose Mobile Intel HD Graphics.
Then you will see options on the Menu. One for High performance, one for Power Savings GPU. Setup your hotkeys.

Mine are Alt+CTRL G for ATI
and ALT+ CTRL H for Intel.

2. How to find Installation files, for example Adobe premiere set ups.
Envy 17 SB
-Navigate to Start-> My Computer
-Open the C: Drive and navigate to the folder "SwSetup"
- Select the folder you want.
Here are some quick names and what the folders contain.
Folder: What it is:
Adobe Adobe Reader
Adobe PE Adobe Premiere Elements 9 and should contain Photoshop.
AFlash Flash Player
CyberDVD Cyberlink DVD Suite
CBDVD2D PowerDVD 10 for Bluray etc
Drivers Contains Drivers for Hardware
MSLight Silverlight
MSSE Microsoft Security Essentials Antivirus
MyColors Stardock Mycolors allows for custom UI for Envy Theme
YouCam Webcam Software to record, take snapshots, and more.

3. How to check serial/other information of your Envy 17 without flipping it over.
- Press FN+ Esc

4. How to check if your Envy 17 SB is affected by the Chipset flaw found in the sata 2.0 controllers.
-Open the Start menu
-In the search bar type devmgmt.msc, press enter.
-Please open the tree under "System devices". Look at the PCI-E Express roots.
- If you see you have devices connected to SATA ports 2–5, then check if the device(s) starts with "Intel® 6 Series... etc", if so then you may be affected. If you have no devices plugged into the 2-5 sata ports, you are not affected.
---This is a not a 100% sure way to find out, please consult HP to see if your chipset is affected. Short of disassembling the laptop there is not much that can be done.

Feel free to request how-to's related to your Envy 17 SB.
Please do not ask for How-To's on things that are not specific to the Envy 17 SB.

 

New guide added: How to check if your motherboard is affected by the chipset flaw.

 

That may well work with machines that didn't ship with the fixed SSD / HDD hybrid. My drives are all running on SATA RAID controller, even though disabled in bios. This is an oddity we with SSD / HDD are going to have to live with. According to my device manager...I have nothing connected to SATA ports

 

I am speaking with HP to see if there's a way to find out. So far they are not giving any information, the only way to confirm if it is affected is to contact them and give them the Chipset family.

Edit: my notebook is affected so I am going to be out of a notebook another 6-8 days, on top of the 2 months already I've waited to get a working 100% functional laptop.

I am afraid Mr. Nice guy is over, I am asking for compensation or a refund. I have had enough. First the audio is bad now I received a defective chipset. Way to go HP.

 

Okay this is odd like hell.
Basically HP Support said I do have an effected chipset, but my Case Manager said I do not as they no longer have the bad revision available anymore. Doesn't make sense considering the performance I was getting from the 2nd hard drive I install but I will take her word for it as I am sure she has access to the inventory.
Luckily I have my data backed up in at least 5 locations so I will be fine taking a gamble here. Now off to ship out of previous Envy 17 back to HP.
Meanwhile time to run hard drive diagnostics on the 2nd hard drive perhaps the time it spent loose may have caused some damage, who knows.

 

I am afraid I dont follow your logic. A "healthy" B3 stepping southbridge has no design issues with any of the ports. So your devices can be connected to any random port with no problems whatsoever?

It seems to be really impossible to know for sure unless you have a look at the chip itself... Think Ill wait a bit and see what HP does next...

PS. I also called the technical support, to be frank I dont think that any of the people I talked to had the remotest idea of what I was trying to ask them/tell them . Makes me reluctant to send it back and have them "repair" it without being certain myself.

 

Are you 100% certain you have the bad revision? Did you take a look at the chip?

Man Im really confused ;/

 

Yeah in the end the only way to find out is to open the laptop up and take a look.

 

Yeah.. Well I think Ill give HP the benefit of the doubt for now. Noone is getting a B3 readout it seems, so I assume we all have it but just dont know it yet

Its a sweet notebook tho, Im really digging mine.

Have a nice day/gnight from me!

 

Mind if I request a guide? How to choose RAM modules for your envy and how to install them . What frequency should it be and what CL can we pick?
First laptop for me, dunno how much choice I have over what the hardware does, seeing how all the bios settings are locked

 

According to HP and Intel...most times, you will not see the B3. Had to do with the fact that a B3 acknowledgement by Win7 would cause some Install of new chipset drivers. So Intel did something to the B3 to be detected as a B2 or something like that...luckily these machines are defaulted to a two year warranty...I got the four year at home...we'll see.

Intel® Chipset Design Issue May Affect Certain HP Desktop and Notebook PCs HP ENVY 17t-2000 CTO 3D Edition Notebook PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

The one big thing to tell is the serial number thing. With first thre digits over 108, you should be covered. Shipping defective Sandy Bridge at this point would leave HP open to class action lawsuit with the chance to lose billions. Don't think that HP would do that.

 

This guide will not be updated for a day or a few days, my net is down at the house. So everyone keep your eyes open as I will begin to post videos for things like RAM replacements and hard drive replacements once my internet is back up.