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

Whats the general failure rate of a refurbished envy 14? Wondering whether I should get an extended warranty or not...

 

Yep, the second version of the driver is my favorite. That version gives you Tap Zone features that aren't available in the standard driver

 

I get close to 5 hours of movie-watching when watching movies with Windows Media Player off the SSD rather than the DVD drive. I have an ENVY 14 with Intel Core i5 M450 2.4 GHz/4GB RAM/160GB SSD. I use the Intel integrated graphics with the graphics battery power plan set to "Maximum Battery Life", wireless turned off, and brightness turned down a bit. And I have the standard battery, not the slice.

 

holy crap belltown.

what sort of movie was it (meaning was it just some sort of standard def avi file or was it some 720p mkvs or what?)

 

I just realized that the WiFi indicator light on my Envy's keyboard was no longer changing color, did a bit of sleuthing, found some posts in which people stated that this functionality was part of HP Wireless Assistant, reinstalled HPWA, and lo and behold it started working again.

Since I first uninstalled HPWA I haven't missed it for a moment and quite frankly don't want to have it installed. So is there any way to get the WiFi indicator light on the keyboard to change color when turned off other than by having HP Wireless Assistant installed? Does anyone without HPWA have this function working?

 

I have it installed, but not running.

Just disable the service and the startup entry

 

Just regular DVDs ripped to my SSD without any kind of conversion or compression. The two I watched on my last plane ride were 2:01 hrs and 1:48 hrs, a total of 3:49 hrs, plus I played some card games for another 30 mins and still probably had another 15 mins of battery juice left.

 

nice. so just dvd iso.

cool. media player classic or wmp 11/13/14/whatever number it is at now?

either way that's really impressive. ...dammit I don't wanna go down in hdd size though. also a 320gb ssd is way too expensive.

 

I just use the standard Windows Media Player that comes with Windows 7 (Version 12). I'm going to try VLC sometime to see if it makes a difference.

Yes, it is very easy to fill up a 160GB SSD. I do like the speed though.

 

You could replace the ODD with an HDD caddy to get more storage space, and then get an ODD case.

 

I don't have HP Wireless Assistant, never have since I clean installed and my WiFi light changes color when it should. The only wireless stuff I have installed is the wireless driver.

 

You could try reinstalling the wireless driver. The one I've been using where I know the wireless light works is version 14.0.1.2 ( ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp51501-52000/sp51592.exe)

 

Yeah, I don't either, but the battery life people seem to get with them makes them an attractive option. I could go down to a 250ish drive and probably not miss the space, but the price is still stopping me. ODD removal is not an option for me, I like to buy games with a disc cause I'm old fashioned. Using an external would seem counter productive. An option I'm looking into is a large USB drive to hook to my router. I would mostly need storage at home anyway.

 

usb externals are nice.

though I've had one die on me finally (took it like 2.5-3 years)

I may have to blame the wii for that though since that was what it was being used for primarily in the second half of its life.

 

Not really sure about the failure rate. Extended warranty only hurts if you don't use it. Usually though, it's a good precaution, you never know the quality of the repairs that were made.

 

Anybody gotten Crysis 2 to run on this computer? I'm having major issues with audio stuttering and pausing even on the "high" setting. Can anyone recommend a driver?

 

I have the same problems. The graphics and gameplay are great but the stuttering audio makes it an unfriendly playing experience. I'd love to find a fix.

 

how do i take apart my envy a bit to clean the fans i noticed some dust when i blew into the vent and

i was getting higher temps than usual i just want to give it a nice cleaning


how?

 

I have no idea what's going on in the game. I have transfered my saved game from this to my desktop, but I like to play games on the go sometimes. Another weird thing is whenever I am playing on my tv screen, if it switches to the laptop screen because I lift it up, it just crashes. I guess that's to be expected with a new engine and a new game, it's like super beta.

 

Yeah it's super weird. I've never experienced anything like it before either so I have no idea how to fix it. I hope there is a patch, I don't have a desktop anymore

 

Take off the battery cover, and underneath the battery cover there are some small screws, you'll need a small screwdriver, and you remove these, and then you get access to the fans and stuff.

 

thanks


idk whats going on my core i5 430m in hwmonitor said it hit 96C while playing
bad company 2!

thats too hot isnt it?

TZ00 read as 94C max
TZ202 read 77C max

arnt these temps alittle hot???

my 5650 only hit 60C max

 

77 seems normal if the thing's been playing for a little awhile.

94 is ..oh..way too hot

 

Try setting max cpu usage at like 90%. Before doing that my temp went up to 90s also but after, it only goes up to 70s. 10% actually has a lot of effect on temp but not much on game experience.
Also, if u think the fan sound is too loud, set the cpu usage at 90% then ur fan wont go full power w/e game u play.

 

I just played bad co 2 for like 45 minutes and core 1 on my 430m just hit 102C


-_- this is starting to me off...

 

What's with people and high temps o.o

Even an i7 envy shouldn't hit 80C when playing BFBC2. Dust perhaps?

 

yeah im guessing that too because when i blew on my rear vent some dust came out (started burning my eyes ) so im taking it to my old mans house so i can open it up and give it a good cleaning..

 

If you're still having problems, try setting the Crysis 2 executable in the program files x86, Electronic Arts, Crytek, Crysis 2, Bin32 folder to run in XP Compatibility mode for Sp3, and in the Beats Audio panel, disable the power management under preferences. Under Sound in Control panel, disable the let applications take control of this device. It's not the most ideal solution, but it helps make the game a bit more playable with less stuttering. Also make sure you're in high performance mode, and start and quit and restart the game. Don't know why, but it seems to help the stuttering too.

 

Sweet, thanks for the tip man. I'll have to try that tomorrow after my last exam. I'm too busy cramming now, and if I start playing, I'm totally going to fail hahaha

 

I don't believe the refurbs from HP have a particularly higher failure rate than new ones (have owned 2 refurbs, 5 new ones), which do have somewhat high failure rates, but only when delivered or new. The refurbs have actual human beings testing them and upgrading components. Still, the ext wtty just puts it at par with new buyers and their 2 yr wtty. It can be a real plus if you go to sell it, and have to disclose it's a refurb. Takes away any perceived risk of it and gives you peace of mind as well. Plus you can get Hp Care Packs pretty inexpensively.

 

Just played alittle bit of bad company 2 on a table at school on battery


i5 never went over 65C

cleaned it this morning and the power plan i have it on is supposed to throttle the cpu down... but i guess thats overridden when i game??

i think the combo of me laying in my bed all the time and never really on a hard surface was giving me my heat problems... Im gonna buy a passive laptop cooler or would the slice that im getting today act like the same thing??

so should i even bother?

 

Ok, scratch that. It seems the updates that Windows got yesterday gets it to the playability of those tweaks without making them. Hopefully if they release another patch it will completely fix the sound stutter. I would really like to know whats going on in the game.

 

I was literally about to do that haha, thanks again for the tips! Yeah id love to know whats up too. such a weird bug.

 

You should definitely get a cooling pad. If anything, the slice will add heat, though I've heard this one doesn't let the heat build up quite as bad. Another thing you could check that might let the computer overheat is if the processor cooling policy is set to passive in the advanced power management. When you're playing games, it's generally best to go into high performance mode. This will automatically set the fans to come on and keep the computer cool.

 

Ever since i downloaded sp1 and the new ati drivers my boot time (especially loading the desktop) time has gotten really bad. Also when it is loading the desktop background is black and the taskbar is grey for like ten seconds maybe more, when before it went straight to the background pic. Anyone have this problem?

It used to load pretty fast. I'm wondering which if any of those are causing it?

 

define new ati drivers.

if you mean 11.3 maybe it's them.

I'm on sp1 and don't notice any change to boot time.

I'm on 11.2 though for ati drivers

 

I apologize i meant 11.2 also i have the new synaptics that installed at the same time.

 

huh. odd. I don't get that.

maybe it's something else. 'course I clean installed like 3 weks ago.

 

Where are you guys getting the new ati drivers? And how do I know what version of the drivers I have?

 

hey guys, why can't i overclock with msi afterburner??? I keep trying to change the .cfg to unofficial overclocking = 1 and it keeps telling me access denied when i try to overwrite??? Any solution?

 

run notepad as an administrator?

make sure you dont' have msi afterburner opened when trying to edit the thing?

 

I am trying to use ethernet on my ENVY 14, i tried to install the Realtek driver from hp's website but i get this error.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

I dont know what settings is stopping it from installing

 

this is caused by a bios setting that puts the realtek controller into deep sleep mode for power saving whenever you remove a jack from the thing.

if drivers aren't installed, the jack gets confused and doesn't come out of deep sleep mode.


In the bios there should be an option for ethernet power saving or something like that. Disable it.

It should work then. (re-enable the power saving after you finish reinstalling everything)


Also, next time you clean install do not unplug the ethernet cord at all throughout the reformat and reinstall, it won't go into powersaving and windows will install drivers for you.

 

thanks a lot. it worked!

 

yw. We all went through that on our own clean installs.


except well. There was no bios option to turn off power saving back then. We had to just confuse it enough til it woke up (plug ethernet cord in, put windows to sleep, take windows out of sleep, repeat til port goes "oh crap there's an ethernet cord plugged in me" and then it would wake up and install the drivers)

 

i love the envy theme/windowsblinds, but i wish to make the title bar/window bar smaller. i tried to change it under the Window Color and Appearance setting but it seems that the "Theme Manager" overrides the windows settings.
it too thick, i want to make the firefox part where it says the webpage -page 15 - mozilla firefox part smaller. i attach picture so you know what im talking about.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

I'm thinking about buying a notebook cooler for my E14. Just streaming videos the temps are mid 50C. But when I'm gaming, I've seen it hit 98C once and I'm kinda concerned about overheating but usually it's around 80ish C when gaming.

Do you guys suggest getting a cooler for this puppy? And if so, which?

 

As there are no real intakes on the bottom of the Envy a cooling pad doesn't make much sense if you ask me.

Are anyone using the latest ATI drivers?
Im woundering if the brightness control still breaks when updating from HP drivers.

Whats the point with changing the mininum CPU from 5% to 65% in order to keep the fans quite? Shouldn't I just lower the maximum?

 

I was thinking by blowing air at the exhaust, it would cool the laptop a bit just by convection...

 

If you're using a desk to play games on, then elevating the computer with a couple of books to improve airflow might help keep temperatures more reasonable. The rear vent is kind of blocked by the screen, using an external monitor with the lid down has been my method for keeping temps down when gaming. If you're gaming in bed when the temps go up, there's not much that can be done. A cooling pad might help, but I can't guarantee it as someone mentioned, there are no intake vents near the cpu/gpu. A lap desk would be the best option for the bed, then it would maybe get enough airflow to work. I personally haven't had problems with the temperatures going too high even in my lap. Maybe some thermal paste was over applied?