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

If Corel was installed the same way they did on the E 15 then it's gone forever after a clean install. Dozens of peopel tried to get it back but it's a no go, even if they cloned the original drive it still didn't work, some very high tech copy protection was used IIRC.

BTW, Red light is actually the easiest on the human eye, especially for dark enviroments. It is standard backlighting in all marine vessels and aircraft, both military and civilian, darkrooms, emergency lighting and most high end cars. They use it because it does not effect your night vision capability, when in darkness you can still see other colors and objects with red lighting in the foreground.

 

Anyone know what WmiPrvSE.exe does? Sometimes my cpu usage spikes up and this thing is causing it. It kinda annoying when ur doing something and then fan starts to blow like jet engine.

 

I've gotten it to work after a minimal image recovery, just install it from SWSetup, both the photo and video suites work that way. The photo app doesn't currently work because it's missing a DLL, but I think that's CCleaner's fault, not sure if I want to bother reinstalling, because I'm not sure if I really want to use it...

 

Corel isn't really good. If you need a drawing software, just grab the GIMP and Inkscape. They're both free/open source.

 

Eff, I spent two hours on the phone with an incompetent tech support guy who wasted my time and ended up just agreeing that my optical drive is defective, but I can't send it in for repairs because I need it for school and he refused to just send me the part because it's not "customer serviceable". I thought someone else here had gotten them to replace his drive? I did get refunded $70 when I called the customer resolution line in the first page of this thread, so I might just buy an external until I'm off for vacation.

 

Ok, it was not included in the E 15 SWsetup folder, and copying it (or cloning) did not work.

 

I contacted support and after two hours of the guy poking around my computer uselessly he finally agreed it was defective but said I would need to send it in. How'd you get them to send you a replacement?

 

Have customer service agree on an RMA and give you a discount on a new replacement unit you need to have built. If you're within the 21 day period you should RMA and get a new unit. You shouldn't play with warranty repairs with a new product.

You'll probably spend more time with repairs than a new order because you'll be shipping it to them, waiting for them to diagnose the issue and possibly waiting on parts. Then of course the trip back. Hopefully nothing else breaks while they were playing during the "repair".

Good Luck

 

Whats up fellas, I am having some microphone issues I wondered if anyone had encountered before. I will start from the top. My microphone is picking up everything! This began a few days ago and has gotten progressively worse to the pointi of picking up my keystrokes and merely tapping on the case. Secondly, when I speak into it, I get a horrible sound, that radiates for about 30 seconds, similar to a dolphin call, but 10x's worse.

If anyone has encountered these problems or has any suggestions I would appreciate it. I am out of the country so I cannot return in, and I my microphone is of utmost importance.

 

There are a lot of options in the IDT/Beats Audio Control Panel, under the recording tab. Make sure you're adjusting the Integrated Microphone Array. I'd guess you can fix your problems by tweaking some of the settings in there. I've also been able to fix issues like that by tweaking the mic volume in Skype's options panel, assuming that your problem is occurring in Skype.

 

Hey Crussell, thanks for the help, I will look into it and let you guys know what worked.

 

Well, the problem is that I can't afford to not have a computer; I'm an engineering student and I need my computer to do basically all of my work. The worst part is that the drive isn't reliably broken; eg. it plays some DVDs but I couldn't get it to install Windows 7. And I think just about everything else about this laptop is perfect so I wouldn't want to RMA and get a new laptop with the whine or something like that. And I think my 21 day period actually ended yesterday >.<

I've actually already gotten refunded $70 just by calling the customer resolution line from post #1, and I figure I'll just use that money to get an external DVD drive, as well as that optical drive bay HDD caddy and just remove the optical drive altogether and stick a hard drive there, because I've installed a 64GB SSD in place of the hard drive and am using an external drive for larger files/programs like virtual machines.

 

why can't I update my BIOS!?!?! anyone? I extracted it and then ran winflash in the swsetup folder but it still says I have F.02

 

If you connnect the Envy to a plasma/lcd TV using HDMI will it switch to the correct resolution?

Got a 720p plasma TV so I guess the Brightview version of the Envy will have the same resolution but what if I buy a Radiance model, will I have to set the switch the resolution manually from 1600x900 to 1366x768 everytime I connect it to my TV?

 

When I connect my Envy to my 1080p LCD TV, it switches my resolution automatically. I don't know if it happens all the time, but yeah. You should be able to change to whatever resolution you need if the screen supports it.

Oh, and I have the radiance display. Brightview would obviously work the same.

 

Thanks Virtuos, will give it some more thought because at the moment I find it too expensive.

Swedish price with Radiance, 6gb, slice battery: $1860+vat.
Now thats probably $200 more than the US price and if you add the horried Swedish VAT of 25% it just gets silly.

 

Hi guys,

I just got an Envy 14. I formatted the hard drive and installed Windows 7 with the drivers from hp ( Software & Driver Downloads HP ENVY 14t-1100 CTO Notebook PC - HP technical support (United Kingdom - English).

I can't get the wifi to work. I installed the latest Qualcomm Mobile Broadband Drivers - Gobi2000 but the card is not recognized.

Does anyone have any insight on how to fix this?

Cheers!

 

first page of this thread

 

hey guys, is there any way to get the HP recovery partition back? I want to update the bios but don't want my recovery discs not working and be unable to make a spare

 

I just tested something, whether or not the thermal paste on the CPUs is decent (I hate thermal pads/grease/whatever most OEMs put on by default.

Before thermal paste application



After thermal paste application



I'm pretty sure I might have screwed up the layout of some of the wires. My computer works but I'm scared of something blocking the fan, even partially since the shell is getting much hotter than it used to be. On the good side, the computer processor itself idles cooler, which I don't have a screenshot of

As you guys can see, changing it makes a minor difference although not a huge one. I also doubt that any normal usage would manage to hit the 90 degree thermal throttle on the i3 370m

 

Ok, so I went to play some music on my computer and it wouldn't play; it acted like it was, but the timer would not move. Also, I was using Beats as my player and it said "it could not play the file, check to see if the file is still present." So needless to say, I went into the HP Beats player and disabled my microphone, and I was able to play my music again, but now I would like to enable my microphone and I do not see the option anymore...any ideas?

 

guys, possible i bought a envy 14 with Core i5 450M, then i upgrade my self with a Core i7 820QM on it. is it possible?

 

How do I turn the Backlight on for keyboard

 

I have to press F5. It has a picture of three squares and what look like "rays of light" coming out of one of the blocks

 

so has anyone found a way of actually using the webcam at 720p?

 

Saw some new ATI drivers on the HP Envy 14 driver download site and thought I'd install them. It ended with my screen black and having to do a hard reboot. Nice one, HP!

 

no. HP has two separate motherboards for the envy. One for i3/i5 (has the switchable graphics radeon) and one for i7 (no switchable graphics radeon).


though the only real difference between the two cards is the bios.

 

Havent been around on this thread for a bit but the Envy 14 beats edition is out today omg..1600x900 screen isnt available tho.

 

I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions on things I can do to my Envy 14 to help it run Premiere Pro CS4 better. Right now (depending on the source files), it's pretty painful (very slow, locks up frequently, etc.).

My configuration is as follows:
Core i5-450m
ATI Radeon 5650
4GB RAM (1 Dimm)
320GB 7200rpm HDD
Windows 7 64-bit

I'm wondering specifically if adding an SSD would help. I've considered pulling out the DVD drive, putting the HDD in a caddy in there, and installing an SSD (probably an Intel X-25M 80GB) in the main drive slot. I'd then install Windows and my applications on the SSD.

The other obvious thing I could do is add another 4GB dimm of RAM.

Does anyone have specific knowledge of whether either of these things would help with running Premiere Pro CS4 better? Any other suggestions?

 

hey.. does anyone in here know about the official launch of HP Envy in New Delhi, India?
i've been wanting to buy the Envy 14..
also does anyone seem to have any idea of the approximate price in India?
i've checked a few websites and they don't seem to know.. they just keep pointing out that it's for $999 in the US.. the specification that i'm looking for is:
i3 (maybe even i5 if its not too expensive)
4GB ram
320 GB HDD
ATI 5650
and the rest i suppose to be standard..

thanks in advance
vineet

 

so, my envy has 8 gigs of ram, and when i check the memory manager, its constantly at 20-22% and thats just for the computer to be on and running. Is this normal or do i have a bunch of unnecessary background programs running?

 

Is it possible for the backlight on the laptop to wear out?

 

I have been wondering this myself, about both the keyboard and display backlights. Another wear and tear component I have been wondering/worrying about is the power jack. It is a part that is often over looked that recieves considerable wear and tear from plugging/unplugging. Does anybody have any thoughts on the durability of these components that has knowledge of this kind of thing?

 

I doubt the lights will "wear out" any time soon because they're LEDs. Also, the power jack is the same as that of a cell phone, you use it very often, but it doesn't really wear out that quickly and should last a very long time even if you plug/unplug it everyday.

 

The only reason I have concern about the power jack is my Toshiba Satellites power jack came partially unsoldered and the computer would turn off randomly for no apparent reason. A little Google fu came up with the solution, the power jack workaround which involved soldering wires to the board and soldering the jack to the wires. That computer has had me very wary of the power jacks, but you have reassured me that this jack will be a solid solution and will not crap out on me, thank you! +1

 

yeahhh screw hp!!!

 

Do the BIOS updates. I had that problem. Update to F.12A or whatever is most recent. Should help if anything.

 

using 20-22% is windows doing superfetch and stuff. that's normal.

 

Hey guys, I just ordered my new HP Envy today. I decided to sell my Alienware M15x so I could get a laptop that had more than a 1 hour battery life. I am so excited about getting this beast!!!

HP ENVY 14 customizable Notebook PC
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-520M Dual Core processor (2.40GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.93GHz
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5650 switchable graphics [HDMI] - For Dual Core Processors
• 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 320GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• Microsoft(R) Office Starter 2010
• $1! SAVE NOW!! Norton Internet Security(TM) 2010 - 15 Month Subscription (activation required)
• 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 3.75 hours of battery life +++
• 14.5" diagonal High Definition HP BrightView Infinity LED Display (1366x768)
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support (Slot Load)
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam and Dual Digital Integrated Microphones [For Brightview Infinity Display]
• Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
• Backlit Keyboard
• Corel(R) PaintShop Photo(TM) Pro X3 + Corel(R) VideoStudio(R) Pro X3
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope
Estimated build date: September 15, 2010

 

I remember reading somewhere that CS4 uses a good chunk of ram.. so I wouldn't be surprised if adding more would help out a lot. I'd try that before SSD just because it'd be the cheaper option to start with.

 

it is a beast and i love it. came from a macbook pro and this thing blows it out of the water. perfect size too. not too big like a 15.6 but not too small like a 13.3. just right enjoy. I recommend you use reil's touchpad software. makes using the envy 14 touchpad better/easier.

 

It really is. The trackpad was my main gripe.

Reil's software makes it AWESOME

 

Awesome, I'll download reil's touchpad software right now and get everything ready for when it arrives. Yeah I was glad to get rid of my Alienware just because of the sure size and the annoyance of lugging the thing around.

 

Sorry for not reading if this was brought up before, but is there any news if the Envy 14 beats edition will offer the 1600x900 Radiance Display? I don't particularly care for the beats part of it, but the black just looks so much nicer than the silver of the regular Envy in my opinion.

 

the maintenance guide shows only one screen for the beats, the brightview

doesn't mean the brightview may sometime appear but for the foreseeable future, no.

 

Damn, I wonder if it's possible to buy a 'replacement' radiance screen and retrofit it.

 

I'm not sure.

it wouldn't be black though, that's for sure.

I think there's several parts you have to have for the radiance (not just the display)

 

it is no where near silver. Its more of a dark bronze. Kind of like a darker penny. Its really nice and you should see it in person to really appreciate how nice it is. In the picture, the design is more pronounced, but isn't as pronounced in person which is a good thing imo. The regular one does not attract fingerprints but the beats one does. Also, the chrome on the outside is made out of plastic, so i've heard, instead of the regular aluminum/magnesium which is another negative. The beats design looks like a target logo.

 

Ugggghhh.


well at least now I know for a fact my hard-drive is terminal (it failed the drive self test)


now we have to convince HP to send me a replacement (without me having to send HP my laptop)

 

Yikes, that's never fun... Any chance you've got a backup 2.5" lying around you could pop in there while you wait for HP to send you the replacement (assuming they are willing to do it that way)? Even a 60 GB 5400 RPM drive is better than having your computer out for a couple weeks...