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

Alrighty guys well I redownloaded the Win7 iso again (using the download manager this time) and burned it, but it still will not get past Step 5. Help me out here, wth is wrong? I think I am burning it incorrectly, but when i check the DVD drive it has that Windows Operating system icon, so I must be doing something right.

HELP

 

I've lost all the normal background color on web pages using both Firefox & IE on my new Envy. Any idea what might have caused this & how to fix?

 

Why? Who reads page 1?

 

Barely anyone until I crankily reply "Go to page one..."

 

Wait.. WHAT? So this is an ongoing problem, then. Ethernet shouldnt get disabled no matter what. And since when did realtek start making NIC ports?

 

At least two years. Likely longer. I have one on a tablet. No issue with it though.

 

So back to the ethernet topic: The "disabled/missing" problem before the sleep/wakeup method is ongoing or no? Or woodjya just be using that method during the Post-Clean-Install period to get drivers to permanently install=working?

 

Well well. So this ethernet problem is more prevalent than I first thought. Time to test it out when I get home.

While I'm at it, I'll even take the liberty of posting snapshots of my touchpad.


Cya guys. Did my reading and OneNote doc prep for today.

 

no no.

it's ongoing until you get your drivers installed.

then it works fine.

edit: It's SUPPOSED to disappear from the device manager it's a power saving thing. it's just that it stays disappeared if you don't have the drivers.

...which is a problem if you are clean installing.

 

Hello,
I've been following this forum since just before the ENVY 14 was released, so I thought I'd register to introduce myself and give my thoughts on the 14 which I got yesterday.

This is my first laptop ever, so that's exciting. I'm not new to computers, just never needed a laptop before. With that said I don't really have much to compare this to, so that may affect my opinions somehow.

Mine is all stock except I got the i5-520m. After reading more about it I wish I just stuck with the i3 for my purposes, but whatever, no big deal.

So as far as the common pros and cons go:
I have no whine.

Screen looks fine. Having only normal computer monitors, and a Sony TV I have my desktop hooked up to now instead of other laptops to compare it to I'm not as blown away as some people seem to be. What I don't like is that to say it's glossy is an understatement. It looks more like a back-lit mirror than anything else. Can anyone with more experience tell me how this compares to other glossy laptops?

Feels super solid, except there's a small gap above the right speaker where the top of the front piece meets the palm rest. I could probably bend it straighter if I took the laptop apart, if I decide that really bothers me.

The other thing is I have what I feel is RIDICULOUS keyboard flex. It feels ok typing, but it doesn't take excessive force to get pretty good travel out of the thing.

I haven't done any customization yet, and I'm still getting used to Windows 7 (until this I just had XP), so I may give more impressions/questions later. Touchpad feels fine to me, but having only used a mouse before, I don't have any habits to break/change.

So yeah, so far I'm happy with it, it's a nice laptop. Not perfect of course, but considering the price I'm not sure I could have gotten anything better.

 

Alright, after I think I may do a clean install of Win 7 Ultimate tomorrow, just wanted to make sure I had everything straight before diving in and risking messing anything up.
I'm backing up SWSetup(minus Corel stuff,MyColors, and Flash/Shockwave) to a DVD, after I do that, I'll start the new install, keep HP Tools partition, go through everything Windows tells me to do, then install the drivers from the drivers folder on my SWSetup DVD.
Only question I have right now is if I can delete the Recovery partition since I already have a set of recovery discs in case I need to restore it to stock. Sorry for the noobish questions, just wanted to make sure I understood everything I read from the guides before jumping in on my first clean install.

 

Ahhh. That's a breath of fresh air

Anyhoo, HP is pissing me off, cuz they're pulling Activision/Blizzard, Activision/RedOctane type thing here with the HP/Compaq crap that you guys are having to deal with in a $1G+ computer. Only thing keeping me interested is the hope that it'll run SC2 on high.

 

Did I perhaps uninstall something that made the volume keys stop working?

 

Hey folks, I'm a LONG time reader but 1st time poster. I finally pulled the trigger on my envy 14 earlier today. i5-450 with everything else stock.

These next two weeks are going to be brutal...

 

Ok, finally got it to start the installation process. Don't know what finally clicked, but it did. Wasted 5 DVDs oh well.

So next question, should I keep any of the partitions???? I would rather not have any partitions at all, and just have on drive. Is that fine?


Once again sorry for noob questions, this is my first clean install.

 

If you don't me asking, what's your estimated built date?

 

HP tools partition.

 

What happens if I accidentally deleted the HP tools partition and need to clean install win7?

 

After playing around with it for 2 days, I've decided it's definitely not worth the cost and my CW will do just fine for the time being.

Maybe I'll return to it when the price drops. Off to Fedex

 

August 9th

 

I've seen that there are a few HP Envy 14 users who have installed Seagate Momentus XT hard drives.

I was just wondering if you could give me some general impressions of the harddrive? I've heard that the Momentus XT is a great harddrive but can be a bit of a hassle depending on what laptop you install it in (I've heard E series Dell Latitude laptops don't take well to this drive). Have you guys been having any issues with the harddrive? How is it affecting battery life if at all?

Any responses are greatly appreciated.

 

That same device ID is on the envy 15's and someone (don't know how) figured out that it is the hard drive protection circuit, which is not needed if you have an SSD. Mine still shows as unknown device even though I did not install the drivers.... Have 5 envy's with the same unknown device and no problems to date, I wouldn't worry about it....

 

So, the distorted color is suddenly gone today! This is GREAT!!! I do have a CPU wine, but it is only heard if I put my ear near my laptop. It will bug you to death if you actually try to listen to it, it has some psychological effect... Even if it is not audible, sometimes you will think that you hear it! haha... This is definitely the best laptop ive had so far... Day 2 is going well for me...

 

Just got home, turned on the Envy for the second time since late last night.
Happy to report that the fan has now stopped going crazy on and off. However, the fan seems to be always on but not loud enough to bother me.
Startup seems relatively fast to me
I can hear the whine but only if I put my ear really close to the laptop
Only complaints now are the keyboard flex although that doesn't impede my typing that much, the crappy touchpad, and the fact that the ethernet cable and some of the venting is on the right side where I use my mouse.
How do I access BIOS btw?
EDIT: Also, what do I do with the recovery partition? I didn't do a clean install
I also only have 100 out of 132 GB free... what the hell?

 

Alright. It bugs me when things show up there that should be installed but aren't. I installed the drivers, is that an issue if you have an SSD?

 

Has no effect on clean install. BUt it seems to have an effect on BIOS updates. IF it is missing it seems as though the BIOS update won't work. Must be a new methodology HP is using because it never mattered before.

 

Pretty please anyone???:

 

I have a question about the win 7 key. I made a stupid mistake when I ran the key backup tool, it created the key file but not the other one for some reason. I didn't notice that and now can't validate my new install. Just trying to activate with the key online won't work. Would MSFT validate the new install if I call them? I made a backup image of the original HP install and can go back if I have to, but that would be a pain.

 

I have an SSD and it comes with that driver installed from the factory. Don't sweat it.

 

does anyone else have issues with the audio on this laptop? Mine's getting a weird beep right before any sound is played through my headphones

 

Dang it. I tried following instructions on page one for this. Ethernet doesn't seem to work.

 

Hmmm. I keep getting the error cannot install to this partition. I thought the HP tools was the reason why this is happening. Any thoughts?

 

I just erased the backup partition but it will not let me extend the main drive any suggestions? I have the 160 ssd

 

What partition are you trying to install windows to? Did you create and format a partition to install to during win 7setup?

 

I backed up those files. Wondering if I create that small parition again and replace the files if it will let me update the BIOS. Seems kinda stupid IMHO, but this is HP.

 

I deleted everything and crated a new parition out of the unallocated one and I can't install in there or any partition I make.

Something doesn't make sense. So best bet is to start again. Use win7 setup to remove all partitions except HP tools. Then create and FORMAT the new partition with the remaining space. You should have no problems installing windows there after that.

 

they're just weird.

that's what someone else did to get it to work.

mine worked by putting it to sleep and waking it up after first trying to install from the installer twice and then trying to install once from the .inf file in the realtek driver's directory somewhere (right clicking on the inf and picking install)

 

Dumb question alert, how exactly do I uninstall the drivers? I've looked in device manager and can't find anything with "reaktek" in it.

 

I dunno how he was uninstalling it either.


so *shrugs*

 

Question again: Ok I am at the part of the install where it asks for my product key. Pic: Clean Install Windows 7 - Enter the Windows 7 Product Key . Now what do I do now if I used the ABRbeta program to backup my activation? Do enter the product key and check Automatically activate Windows when I'm online or do I wait not put in anything and run ABRbeta when windows launches???

 

Hi guys, I was uninstalling HP mediasmart using revo uninstaller and now my sound doesn't work at all! Can anyone help me? sorry if this has been asked before

 

no.

just skip the product key. just keep going. it'll let you finish installing.

run abr after windows finishes installing and the product key will be automatically added when the activation is resumed

 

ok so i have been working on my switchable graphics issue, and i can boot into safe mode and see both adapters but the ati 5650 is disabled...i try and enable it but yet still am only getting a black screen when i switch to high performance gpu when i boot windows normally. I am so confused, how is this working for everyone else and screwing up for me? I wiped my windows install clean, installed chipset drivers and the hp drivers from the drivers thread of this forum, and i cannot for the life of me get my switchable graphics working....you guys are just doing the same thing and it works?

 

Is the Intel Rapid Storage technology worth installing? What exactly is it because its one of my higher consuming processes.

 

I got the message "The INF selected does not support this method of installation." Do I need to do a "have disk" method of installation in the device manager?

 

The later. Have you checked that ABRBeta created backups of your OEM Key and OEM Cert? If so, there should be no problem activating offline.

Bronsky

 

It controls my Crucial 128GB SSD nicely. Do you have an SSD in your envy?

Bronsky

 

I have a problem with the Wifi light. This is what it says in the first post:

I've installed both HPQL and the MS Smartmenu from the drivers thread but only the mute light works. The weird thing is that the HPQL made the mute light work instead of the Wifi one.

 

Has anybody used a kensington lock like this one with the E14? Was about buy one for when I leave my laptop in my dorm, but was looking at the slot and it seems to have it on a curve, so just wanted to see if anybody had tried to use one with no problems since I've don't have one to test with right now and don't know if this would affect anything.

 

Alright finally got it installed, thank you so much for helping me. I am off the Envy14 Drivers thread to wreak havoc there.

EDIT: verification went swimmingly