HDX and the XB3000 expansion

I made a separate thread because I need to figure this out and there's a lot going on in lounge right now.

I picked up a brand new XB3000 for $70 today and I have my HDX sitting in it right now. Now the manual says it will work (and it has the correct expansion port), but the manual also says it doesn't support power through the dock.

So I need to go and buy a 90w AC adapter for the dock, and use the HDX's adapter to power the laptop.

So does anyone know, if I plug it in and hook up the expansion cable is it going to be ok, or is that going to give it power from both and fry my system?

 

Johnny - Good luck with the XB3000. Mine - purchased in July - is sitting in the basement waiting to go to the recycling center. I have recovered, and use, the wireless transmitter and the mouse - the keyboard never worked. Anyways - if I read your question correctly - I would NOT plug your HDX power supply into your HDX while it is docked in the XB3000. I don't know for sure - but since the dock will be providing some power to your HDX - you could get have an over-voltage situation and damage your HDX mobo. And, my XB3000 came with its own power supply - which works nicely with my dv2000 and dv6500. Last comment, just an opinion, the XB3000 is garbage, I would return it for a refund if I were you. Good luck with the this and an-yang-he-ka-sayo...

 

What other issues did you have with it? I have no use for the keyboard and mouse, I gave them to my girlfriend. I wanted the usb ports, the stand itself, and the external hard drive.

 

Bad idea. Also, the XB3000 is not compatible with the HDX. The one that was/is is the HP Quick Dock.

Ok with that out of the way, The HDX may itself power the XB3000. Certainly has the wattage overhead. Thing about that dock is that once plugged it, it disables the computer speakers to use its own. Plus it wasn't designed for the weight and open height of the HDX.

I'm with jellygeo on this... return it.

 

That's messed up that they'd say in the manual that it's compatible, but it's not. I can't really return it, I got it from a street vendor in a city an hour from here.

As far as the stand goes, I have it in there and as long as it's above 45 degrees, it's pretty stable.

So it will fry it though if I connect it and it's powered?

 

The stand part of the XB3000 is actually fairly nice and it does elevate the laptop for more comfortable viewing. The sound functionality on mine wasn't ever consistent - sometimes sound came from the XB, sometimes from the laptop (I tried both the dv2000 and 6500). I wouldn't attempt to connect power to both the XB and your HDX if I were you. I console myself with the $220 loss by using the cordless mouse and power-supply. I really like H-P products - I have a dv4z enroute (to replace the dv2000 - going to my daughter) - but the XB3000 did not work well for me.

 

I wouldn't recommend powering both. don't know if it would be in series or parallel. If in series, then the voltage would multiply. That would fry it. If in parallel, then only the available amps would increase and that might be ok.

 

Ya that's what I'm thinking too. I think it must be parallel for the HDX manual to say that it will work, just not powered. Or I hope anyways.

I opened a dialogue with HP support through email and got this in the reply:

"I would like to inform you that we may connect the HP Xb3000 expansion base with the help of expansion port 3 of the notebook. However, the notebook will not power up through the HP Xb3000 expansion base due to non compatibility."

So it appears they are saying that it will work, I just need to power it on it's own. I replied by asking this directly and we'll see what they say. I won't do anything until I get a concrete answer from them.

I do really like this thing. I'm sorry to hear about the issues some people are having, but I haven't had any trouble with anything that I've used so far. (Mind you, that's only 10% of the stuff lol) The stand extends all the way to the back of the notebook and seems pretty stale with it in there and the keyboard and mouse work flawlessly. I'm using them at work right now.

So I'll update when I get the next response.

 

Here's the final answer I got:

Hello John,

Thank you for writing back.

John, I would like to inform you that the 180 watts Ac adapter for your
HDX9494NR notebook is used to charge the notebook, and the 90 watts
Ac adapter for your XB3000 Expansion base is used to charge the Expansion
base only. The both Ac adapters are used to maintain the products separately.



So, if you connect your notebook with Ac adapter and with the Expansion
base that wont damage your notebook as the power passes only from the AC
adapter that is connected to the notebook.



Hope, the above provided information will help you. Please contact us if you
have any questions or clarifications. We will be glad to assist you further.

For information on keeping your HP and Compaq products up and running,
please visit our Web site
at:
http://www.hp.com/go/totalcare

Have a Nice Day!

Sincerely,



Kevin

So after all this it looks like it's good to go. Now I just need the 90w adapter and a 1TB hard drive.

 

OK, good news then.

As for 90w, check these guys out. They're right there in Singapore. Good prices.

http://www.pchub.com/uph/model/0--1906-3/Common-Item-HP--parts.html

 

Sweet, thanks for the info. I'll let you know if anything catches fire.