*HP ENVY 14 & ENVY 14 Beats (1XXX series) Owners Lounge, Part III*

RAM prices are rock-bottom, especially at where I live now. If you can spare the extra cash, I'd say take it since RAM can be considered as an investment; when you don't need it and market prices are higher, you could sell it for some profit.

Of course, it will speed up the system if you are approaching 70% usage of your current 4GB since less data is swapped/written to the hard drive.

 

Question about quick buttons. How i may use with only fn button?
I like to use these buttons (f1 f2 f3...) in my applications...

 

go into the bios (spam esc as you boot, then hit the function key for the bios (f10 I think) when that menu pops up)

turn quick keys off when you're in the bios.

 

Thank you!

 

scored a 1st gen w/ radiance for $600.. sweeeet

 

Wow dalamchops...from where? ...and I take it its an i5? Thats a sweeeettt deal

 

Craigslist. Its got the i5 520

 

Doesnt get better than this...awesome deal...

 

I just opened my Envy up and saw that there was an mSATA port under the HDD (presumably for the WWAN card) and was wondering whether it would be possible to

a) install an mSATA SSD
b) boot from said mSATA SSD

i search the envy forums and there wasn't a single hit for mSATA!

 

I think someone was able to do this with a Sandy Bridge Envy 14 (2xxx). Not sure if it would be possible with the 1xxx line. You could be the guinea pig for it. Just make sure to buy the SSD from some place that will let you return it if it doesn't work. I suggest Amazon.

 

Funny thing, I just checked the HP website and found that they are actually offering an mSATA SSD premium option (albeit, for the second generation)!
I guess I'll post on the HP Support Forums for more feedback.

 

The slot is missing...

 

you might have to get one of those msata ssd w/ the controller built in.

 

You can't do that.

HP does mPCIe whitelisting in the BIOS.

That means you can only use HP-approved cards with the Envy, which is only the HP-supplied WWAN card or WLAN card.

 

What are the models of cards included in a whitelisting?

 

Only the cards HP provides with the laptop

That would be HP WWAN card
Broadcom wifi
Intel 6200 Advanced-N

That's it.

 

Also Envy 14 bios is in "not hackeable" status. That means you can't remove the whitelist even hacking the bios

 

im also thinking bout ebaying me a 4GB aditional ram cookie for my beats edition its a real bargain now, however I forgot how to checkout which version it is (envy14 1010,1100 , 1210?..or whatever the marks are) does that make a diference when choosing RAM isnt the only diference 1033 for i5 and 1333 for i7, Ihas a i5 450 I tought I culd see the version when hiting fn+esc, but I obviously dont ...please advise

 

It just needs to be DDR3 ram in a so-dimm package. 1033 or 1333 doesn't matter, but only i7's can take full advantage of the 1333MHz ram.

 

tnx mate... placing it in shouldnt be a problem either, i have the break it down manual somewhere, looks pretty simple

 

has anyone actually repasted the cpu/gpu on the envy?? Any tips or anything to watch out for.

 

I know someone did when it first came out.

things that I know you have to watch out for

"when popping off the top half of the case (assuming you're gonna pop off the top cover) you will most likely ruin your touchpad cable.

don't pop off the top cover"


but seriously there are like 5 cables that are double sided taped and are very thin and if you put any pressure on them they will tear and you will be in trouble. (touchpad data, touchpad power, keyboard data, keyboard power and light power, and the power button cable)

they also get pulled up when you pop the top cover so..

yeah.

 

Lately I have noticed my envy's boot up time has gotten longer (50 seconds to login, 1:25 to desktop, use to be 40 to desktop) and my processor seems to always being doing something. I went into msconfig, boot tab, advanced options and noticed that I had only 1 processor listed under "Number of Processors." This is not right, it use to say four. I have a dual core intel 460 (2.53-2.8) and I believe Intel makes windows believe it has 4 cores instead of two, hence why I use to see 4. But now it only says one...and that is the only option.

Is it possible that my envy no longer recognizes the others?

 

I just went into advanced System Info and under processor it says
"Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 460 @ 2.53GHz, 2527 Mhz, 1 Core(s), 1 Logical Processor(s)"

I don't understand why it says only one. I am pretty sure it was not always like that...

 

Go to msconfig > boot > advanced options.

Is the box that says "number of processors" checked?

If so, uncheck it and click okay, then reboot. See if that solves the problem

 

Wow, that fixed it! Thanks. My System Info is now correct and I can see all processors in task manager again. I wonder how it got like that. I'm guessing its best to keep that box unchecked?

 

Yeah. Checking that box will disable all but the number of CPUs that you selected, and then force the CPU to run at max speed.

 

thanks.. so i guess it's not really wise to do so..

 

well. it depends on whether or not you can get to the cpu and gpu without popping off the top cover. I know they're reachable from the bottom cover of the computer but I don't know if you can get everything unscrewed.


I mean, couldn't hurt to take off the bottom cover and poke around a bit. Just try not to take the top cover off without being very careful

 

Guys. I replaced my DVD drive with an HDD drive not so long ago and that required opening the top cover.

It is not as scary as you might think. The only cable that is very short is the touchpad one. It has a connector which needs to be opened when you lift the top cover by no more than 5cm.

When I first opened the computer I did not do that and pulled the cable out of its socket - nothing happened.

All other cables are long enough to fully open the top cover. Then you can easily disconnect all the cables and take the cover off.

 

ah. when I did that the cable ripped (it wasn't just pulled out of the socket.

guess I just had worse luck

 

Hey guys. So I got my envy 14 beats edition and I got to say everything is great. HOWEVER, I'm having a problem with my games on steam. For some reason when I launch most of the games I own on steam the screen flickers for about a minute then just goes blank. Has this problem been reported with the new sandy bridge machines? Thanks for the help.

 

The only Steam game I have is Civ 5, and it works fine on mine. Did you update the BIOS and switch it over to Fixed Mode yet?

 

Yeah I updated the BIOS, but what is fixed mode?

Also, upon further investigation I found out the problem only occurs when I'm playing on my external monitor through HDMI, it works fine when its unplugged. Any ideas why that would be happening? Thanks.

 

In a nutshell, Fixed Mode (as opposed to Dynamic Mode) is more like how the 1st gen ENVY 14s worked. You might want to look at the 2xxx thread about this stuff, like the last 5-6 pages or so.

Not sure why it would only happen when you're plugged in via HDMI though. Can you Alt-Tab or Alt-F4 or anything and make it come back?

 

There is a soft flap in the battery compartment area. Lift it and you can access the connector for the cable.

 

Here's an odd situation for you...

I sent in my Envy 14 Beats for service to solve a simple problem I was having with the touch pad. When I received the laptop back, I received a slice battery instead. Now, my laptop is in route as well but I was told by customer service not to return the battery. So did I just inherit a slice battery for free? Not sure how it happened but I'm not complaining.

 

HP is doing MAJOR restructuring now. They may be selling off their PC business and stopping production of the TouchPad. They are now focusing on software and IT solutions. Best Buy has been said to be asking HP to take back it's TouchPads because it couldn't sell them before, and it sure as heck can't sell them now. Their stock has tumbled, I was shocked when I heard. Maybe this has something to do with the free battery.

 

HP may be selling off its PC business, but we don't know that yet. They are simply publicly exploring their options, which could also include spinning it off as an independent company or even still keeping it in addition to selling it. But it is not for sure that they are selling it as of now.

 

How can I recovery my envy 14 to factory windows after I install a new windows 7 myself. my recovery partition is still here but I can't use it.
My recover menu (F11) is not working just boot windows normally.

 

gotta install hp tools partition stuff (I think)

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp52001-52500/sp52407.exe for system diagnostics and other things

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp52001-52500/sp52264.exe for bios update stuff


pretty sure this works (but I'm not positive)

 

installed an intel 320 and 8gb ram

feelsgoodman

 

Has anybody had any issues with updating the Intel Chipset and Rapid storage drivers with the ones posted on the forum
I've only got the latest driver from HP's website, but i think i might have an issue with my eSATAp which is only coming up as SATAI not II.

 

I believe the Envy 14 first gen is Sata1 only.

 

nah. first gen can do Sata2 (at least for the main hdd caddy) which shows up as 3 Gb/s on my intel rapid storage driver stuff.

the dvd drive caddy shows up as 1.5 Gb/s though. Never had anything that uses eSATA so I don't know about those drives.

 

Oops.
I was thinking of sata 2/sata 3

 

So has anyone installed the latest driver? Any issues?

 

I have installed....using it for the last 4 days...so far everything is normal....

 

just received and installed aditional 4gb mem module, the process lasted about 2 mins.. easy peasy, works like a charm... sexy time

 

Hi, can someone recommend where I can buy a charger for my envy 14. I'd like an additional one so I don't have to lug mine around. I bought an hp charger off amazon but it didn't work. Thanks in advance!