*HP ENVY 17 & 17 3D (2XXX series) Owners Lounge*

hopefully you didn't do what I did. I put CoolSense on "Coolest Mode" which logically would logically make the fans run full time, instead it makes your laptop run cooler by limiting the CPU which I found out when doing some benchmarks and got annoying low scores all of a sudden. (I guess if you want to be technical it says that it will adjust your processor to keep the laptop cool, but I failed at reading comprehension =p )

 

Does anyone have a problem when right clicking the desktop and clicking "Configure Switchable Graphics"? The first time I do this after a reboot, whether right after or hours, the cursor has that loading icon for a few seconds but nothing open. I click it again and it works. This always happens...not too big of a deal but was just wondering if I was the only one.

 

Thanks... I wonder if its because I downloaded everything from Windows Update, even the optional ones.... I've been having the mouse freeze on me and had to unplug it...then inesert into another usb port wierd...something to do with microsoft mouse drivers vs. synaptics....stuff...ugh, I need sleep.

KJ

 

A friend of mine who has the Alienware had similar problems as you Killa Joe, he just couldn't understand why his brand new $2500 computer performed worse than his old $600 one, until he realized he had it in some kind of insane power saver mode. I don't think the Envy has a hardware button for stuff like this, but it could be it's something in the bios, or even windows settings?

 

Ok, last post for tonight, I really need to get sleep, lol.

Apoxxx, you make some good points. I am hoping the Envy rep tomorrow can help me figure it out. I'm a bit concerned though, I did Google search about corrupt sectors and that sometimes doing the total recovery fixes the slowness, but will "cover up" the bad sectors. I don't want that either. I read bad sectors can occur by accidental damage to the HDD, and as my box outside had some signs of wear and tear/holes and a bit crumple zone...I'm thinking it could have been dropped during shippment...anything is possible...

I'm gonna pick the Envy reps brain, and if I'm not 100% happy with the results, I will return it, and hope they will let me add a few bucks to get the SSD option which I was shying away from. I just can't live with a slow laptop, at least not now in 2011.

The other concern I have is, if I do return for exchange I want them to honor the coupons I used for this purchase.

KJ

 

I haven't seen that happen yet, I will keep an eye out for it though.

 

If you want to download a disk benchmark program (like HDTunePro or Crystal Disk Mark) I can download it as well and we can compare disk speeds since we both have the same drive. If your drive is performing slowly it should show in the benchmarks.

 

OK. I have the 2820, 8GB ram, and 7200rpm drive. I will try those programs and post results tomorrow. I'll look out for yours.

But I am now thinking it really is damage....I didn't want to believe it, maybe I'm still wrong..but I'm going by the visuals... box has hole and crumple zone..... when I opend the lid to the Envy, I noticed a few milliameters of the left keyboard was raised above the metal case! So yeah...it must have had a nice jarring/fall, etc inorder for the actual keyboard piece to have been lifted out of its place.

Still, I want to see our numbers compared....then I'll talk to Envy rep, and see. Thanks again.

KJ

 

I downloaded everything as well, and haven't had that problem. Definitely try that restore, something strange sounds like it's going on.

 

I suggest you run SpinRite or another HDD utility on it. The disk may contain several errors that require correction. As far as I know, there aren't any other factors that would slow performance that poorly. Remember though, that the faster a drive spins, the quicker it wears. Drives with slower RPM ratings generally outlive drives with higher ratings.

You may also want to test the hard drive in another system. The SATA connection on your Envy may be damaged or impaired. While this would normally be detected during POST (power on self test) it is a possibility that is worth testing.

SpinRite 6: GRC|SpinRite 5.0 to 6.0

 

KillaJoe...

Couple of things to think about. Do a Ctrl-Alt-Del and see what percentage of physcal memory is being used. With 8 GB of Ram...I remember on my Envy that idle...I ran no more than 22% and I had to open a lot to get that higher than 50%. You can also do a CHKDSK / F /R at command prompt and machine will reboot and check all files and HDD surface. I honestly don't know too much about Samsung Spinpoint Hard Drives...I am now, only dealing with my first ones. I purchased one a few months ago to turn into a backup drive...in a USB 2.0 enclosure...It is somewhat slow, compared to the Western Digital Scorpio blacks that I have used. Also...defrag and run HDTach and run it in Windows XP SP3 mode. and post pictures of your curve. I am posting my desktop RAID performance to give you an idea...your numbers should be about half...since my desktop drives are 10,000 rpm. The idea is to let us see what is going on. Could be a ton of services running that you don't need...and I always set Windows Update to let ME choose what to download and install. I have had problems in the past and do the updates in quantity that I am sure of and the ones I don't know...one by one...so I can remove is something goes wrong. Talk to HP...and post what you can. HD Tach is available...just google it...defrag before you run it.

Also...don't forget that these machines are new and one thing that is going to run a lot in the beginning and will dissipate over time is Superfetch. It works in the background for about the first month...and oftentimes I see complaints where people's hard drive lights are always flashing...

Lots to think about

 

KILLAJOE, So you want HP to replace your laptop simply because it takes longer to boot up than your DV7? Would they entertain that? I hope it works out.

 

Before chasing a ghost around why don't you look at your event id 100 and see what might be taking so long.

 

That may very well be. I never used MS mouse drivers on my other laptop. Just the Synaptics. Most MS Mouse functions are built into Windows 7 and I have never had good luck running MS software and Synaptics on the same machine...

 

That sucks KJ about your laptop. I hope you dont eventually have to end up sending it back in for an exchange....

 

lots of great advice here KJ -- anxious to see your results esp HDD performance. one hopes you don't have a SATA channel that is doing too much error correcting.

all reminds me that in order to compare results such as temps, boot performance, disk performance, etc. we need to normalize results by using a consistent set of tools. and that in order to really take advantage of the 21 day return policy, one needs to fully test things out using one or more of those tools. I'd like to see some discussion on what tools to use to validate performance. -- DL

 

Temperature monitoring:
- HwInfo32 or HwMonitor, whichever work's or reports more information.
For stress testing CPU:
- Prime95- minimum 8 hours with no errors.
- Intel Burn In test- minimum 8 hours with no errors.
Stress testing GPU:
- Furmark GPU Stress test- Around 1-2 hours should be enough~.
Testing Ram for errors:
- Memtest86 CD version, 10 passes.
Testing LCD for flaws or tolerances in viewing angles/more.
-http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/
Audio Playback testing:
- DPC Latency Checker

Here are some I can think of quickly off the top of my head.

 

I tell you what. After downloading from windows update (sp1 and some others) my boot time has really gotten slower. It's very noticeable. I almost wonder if it's SP1 that is making it lag so much because after that and the new ati I've had some weird things happening like an extra ten seconds at the desktop screen (it is slower before the desktop starts loading as well) and sometimes a grey screen at the bottom for a few seconds as the desktop loads. Let me know if you figure it out.

 

The only recommendation I would make here. When I ran updates on my Envy...I DID NOT let Windows update do SP1. I downloaded SP1 and have an install disk...that I ran it from. I cannot say that I witnessed a slowdown of any nature after having done that...anything is possible with MS...

 

Hi Everyone,

Please forgive any mistakes, ive never posted in a forum before - I've been following this thread for the last few weeks, and everyone seems great so I thought maybe someone could help me out, I'm in Canada waiting for the envy to be released here but no luck so far, i called hp yesterday and was given a release date of july, since i cant wait that long i was thinking of coming over to the states to pick one up, would be coming to new york so does anyone know any stores that are currently selling the hp envy or any website that delivers to canada, id really appreciate any insight you guys have thanks so much

 

I heard that the Microsoft Store in San Diego had some, but that's kind a out of your direction. Not even sure if there are MS stores on the east cost. But it would be start for your search.

 

what the hell HP why is it taking so long to ship out my envy. mine is still in production. i ordered it March 10. ETA shipping March 31. wonder whats taking so long???

 

From what others are saying in Dell, etc. Because of the Earthquake / Sunami in Japan...all chip supplies were effected. I asked HP about that...they have just about caught up on orders and are supposedly back on time. We'll see

 

SpartanJet, finally got home from work and rad the HDTunePro both on my dv7 with 5400rpm and the Envy with 7200rpm. Results:

dv7---- minimum: 22.1 MB/s Envy---- minimum: 26.6 MB/s
maximum: 89.3 MB/s maximum: 117.7 MB/s
access time: 17.7 ms access time: 17.0 ms
burst rate: 119.3 MB/s burst rate: 116.6 MB/s
cpu usage: 4.0% cpu usage: 2.3%

I also ran the file benchmark, the dv7 completed that, but the Envy got stuck and froze half way through!! I am so frustrated at this. Hope this info gives you clue as to if my HDD is screwy.

P.S. I appreciate all the responses guys, thanks!

KJ

 

Killa

The Minimum on the Envy is really low...but the Max is normal...even high for laptop drive. Your access time seems a bit off. Cpu usage looks good.

Here are the numbers on my Western Digital Scorpio Black from my Dell Inspiron. I figure that the old SATA bus was the bottleneck...but you can see how well your drive does with the maximum. With that said...can you run a benchmark on your video card? Did the Windows update install AMD drivers...did on me and I had to uninstall them. They stunk to high heaven...could be another issue...

 

Not sure, I did not notice all the updates, just let it do its thing... How can I tell which version I have of AMD?

I'm currently on hold with Envy support... let's see what they say.

KJ

 

Dude...not trying to be funny, but just relax!! I ordered mine the day after yours, and my ETA shipping is April 1. It's not March 31 or April 1 yet, so all we can do is wait. Hewlett Packard is a huge corporation with over 300,000 employees and an operating income of over $11 billion dollars. We can all speculate, but unless we work there, I'm sure none of us will really know what takes so long to order parts, build, manufacture, test, and ship the tons of orders they get each day. Just relax. Take deep breaths. Count backwards from 1,000 by 7s. And when we get our systems, let's rejoice and play each other in a game of Crysis 2. LOL

 

Hey KJ, you have an issue with the keyboard on the left side raising up as well? I had the same issue too. I also posted up the pic of the gap between the outer case of the laptop and the body.

I chose to exchange the laptop and I had to accept the 1 TB instead of the 640 GB. I figure I could sacrifice a few seconds for a larger HDD. Once they make huge and inexpensive SSD's then I'll get into that.

Also, if you choose to exchange it, some of the reps might try to say they can't find the coupons you applied to your first purchase and therefore are no longer valid. Don't let them fool you! Keep trying until you get a supervisor willing to give you all of your coupons. They probably wont give you anything additional for the hassle of exchanging it, but you should at least be able to get the same discount as on your initial purchase.

 

I just ran HD Tune Pro here is the results:


By spartanjet at 2011-03-25

Other than the min transfer rate your numbers look better than mine lol When you say it takes a long time to load windows how many seconds are we talking about (from the moment you see the windows splash screen to actually logging into windows)?

 

Joe

Go and run Windows Update again. Choose "View Update History" and see if AMD Radeon drivers are there. If so...UNINSTALL them. That will restore your drivers back to the ones that came with the machine...Those could make the machine seem slow and also create bootup issues if CCC isn't installed properly

 

Oh boy...I'm currently on the phone on hold with HP. I called Envy support again today. After explaining to Phil that the rep last night had me go into F10 to do a hard disk test...which normally takes 1 to 1 and half hours...I told him mine took over 5 hours..he said OH NO!! Not good.

He told me even sending me a hard drive is not going to fix it. Its some kind of Bios Pathway issue on the motherboard...so she's a gonner. I was transfered to Home and office....and well, my request was a bit unusual, so they escalated it and put me through resolutions, (which I guess I could have called myself). I will post as soon as this I resolve it... wish me luck.

KJ

 

I'm not aware of anyone who ships the HP Envy 17 3d 2nd Gen to Canada, but you can order it on the Costco (US) web site:

Costco HP Configurator

I don't believe it's actually available for purchase in Costco stores, however. You might also find someone on eBay who will ship to Canada with PayPal or some other secure form of payment. The only other suggestion would be to have one of your American friends (a trustworthy one!) order it for you to come and pick up in the States. Good luck to you - it's worth buying one.

 

I am really sorry to hear that. I guess you re-order a new machine. How is it that Phil figured out that it was the motherboard????

Wow...I was hoping you would not have to experience my fate. My original Envy sent back and now waiting for the new one, hopefully in the first week of April. I am so bummed for you!!!

 

WOW!! Another Envy 17 3D bites the dust. I wonder how many that have been received remain sold. Did we unknowingly sign on to be HP's beta testers?

 

Ugh! That's a killer Killa Joe! I downloaded a TON of updates for Windows, the 2007 and 2010 versions of MS Office Pro, all 14 of the Adobe CS5 Master Collection programs, etc., etc. I had two problems throughout 3 nights of downloading - a crash when burning recovery DVD's on the first night, and a glitch after loading a game last night when the computer wouldn't shutdown after I waited 20 minutes while watching the words "Shutting Down." I finally shut it down with the power button.

 

Well, when I told him the hard drive test took over 5 hours, and I mentioned how my Pavillion dv7-4283cl ourperforms my Envy... he realized that is very very wrong. I'd like to think he is the expert and knows what he is saying...either way, I was not going to ask for a new hard drive and risk him being right.

He wanted me to "return it for repair!" I quickly pointed out my Envy was with me for a short 3 days, well below the 21 day window for returns/exhange...then he was like, oh yeah.....

So he transfered me to home and office....I wanted the same Envy and what worried me was HP gonna honor my $400 in total coupons?

To make the matter worse, I honestly forgot for a brief moment that HP took the 640GB 7200rpm option away! Home and office mentioned they will try to honor my coupons, but the config was different, that's when it hit me!!! What was I gonna do?

This is where being on NBR for 7 months payed off...well, I have a family dinner now and I'm in a bit of a haze to be honest. I was with HP on the phone for a total of....almost an hour and half...crazy. So....I think you guys kinda know me ....and what I was gonna ask for! I'll spill it after dinner....

KJ

 

KJ, as misterious as usual
I take a one dollat bet that you asked for the SSD 7200 combo . And I have a feeling that in your charming way with the rep.....you actually got it!!!! That would be sooooo awesome. I hope you got lucky.

 

See below for updated post.

 

where are you seeing this? its still 1599?

 

This is what I see, same as usual:

 

Am I seeing things ??

The price of the Envy 17 3D took about a $350.00 price hike !!

WTMF !! looks like I logged in on my standard account at HP.. False Alarm

Out for hardly a month and wham bam lets jack up the price?

I wonder if they are going to blame this on the Japanese earthquake and tsunami ?


Price $2,474.98*
Instant rebate
-$10.00
Total:
$2,464.98
You saved
0.4%


Starting price $2,264.99*
Price HPA $2,038.49*
Instant rebate
-$0.00
Mail-in rebate
-$0.00
Total:
$2,038.49
You saved
10.0%

 

What is weird these are configured exactly the same and $425 difference in price; sure was nice to see the $10 rebate on the standard rate.... Mighty Big of HP !!


Anybody have any luck getting additional discounts on the HPA pricing or coupons

 

Here's what I'd probably do: ask them to let me keep the 640 from the broken laptop, and send the new one with either the single 5400 or simply no drive. I'd check the 640's health elsewhere first, though.

 

slotti, only one dollar? You know me all too well, yes I asked for the SSD. I will be joining the SSD people sooner than I thought. When I spoke to Home & Office, he was going to configure my exact order, but with the 1TB 5400rpm. I explained to the sales rep keeping my cool and a straight head, although it was not easy.

I said there is no way I was going to downgrade to a 5400rpm when I clearly ordered the 640GB 7200rpm for a darn good reason, speed! I said the only other option is to UPGRADE me to the 160GB SSD + 640GB 7200rpm drive. He said he doesn't understand, where is it? What? He asked me where? Ok, so I went through the configuration with him step by step (maybe I should work for HP? NOT! lol) When we got to the part with the Hard Drive config...he was like, oh...its $580 more.

I quickly said, I know...calmly as I could, adding that I did not want a freebee. Within reason I would add cash to the pot to get the upgrade. He said its beyond his authority, he will have to speak to the Resolutions Department, then connect me to them. As we already know, the Resolutions Dept. at HP have "God Like" powers to make crazy good deals. (I was hoping....hoping..and keeping cool)...

Donna from Resolutions gets on the phone with me. She is polite and understanding. She apologized for receiving my Envy with a shot motherboard, and that my time has been wasted... I told her I needed the speed and was willing to pay for the SSD combo, but within reason, since HP sent me a defective laptop..and she understood. I offered to pay an extra $300 for the combo knowing that if I did not, she had every reason to say, sorry, but just return and get your money back. I most def. did not want to hear it, I love the Envy 17 3D, and tolerated a 7 month wait. I can wait a few more weeks.

I mentioned that I already paid for the 7200rpm, in essence I would only be paying for the SSD, not the 640GB drive.... smart thinking no? I basically wanted to take the reins. She asked me what I wanted to pay...and I told her the bottom line. The bottom line was low compared to retail of my config...so Donna had to go talk to her supervisor!!! Yeah, even resolution center gods, have supervisors, ha! They agreed upon the terms....and this will be official once I hand over my Envy to FEDEX. I mentioned that will be done first thing tomorrow. No way will I let HP take back this sweet deal.

Not to jinx myself, I will wait to post the final price with the "coupons" offered to me and how they work, as soon as I have finished with FEDEX and my order is sent for production. I was thinking it would be 3-4 years before I'd have a chance to experience an SSD, guess its gonna be sooner.

P.S. If you guys need to speak with resolutions talk to DONNA! She's a sweetheart.

KJ

 

I'm really regretting the idea I had to forgo the 7200 640 GB drive for the twin 1TB's.

I'm also glad one of you pointed out the folly of this in the name of speed.

Costco is already selling 1.5 TB usb3 external drives here on Kauai for like $120.

I wish now I'd ordered the 640 and p/u the usb 3 external drive!!

 

KJ, sounds like you are getting an insane deal!!! $400 off from your original deal, plus somwhere around another $300 off for your SSD. Total of $700, I think we can crown you the king of all deals. I would bet another dollar that nobody is going to match that ;-). Congrats.

 

mrgod2u, yeah I know. NBR helps a lot...I've been here for over 7 months getting great feedback/knowledge from all the users. Even on the Alienware side of NBR I sneak in sometimes reading on how to get good deals. Of course HP is where I'm set on, and so I roam here the most.

If you see some posts back I also posted the pic about the 1.5TB external Costco is selling it for $120, fantastic deal.

mrgod2u, at least for your next laptop you will know where to find knowledge about deals/coupons/negotiating tactics from fellow users. NBR +1.

Of course if I can help with any questions, please ask.

KJ

 

Shhhhhhhhh!!! And the boy is good at math! I promise to explain the whole deal shortly...

from seeing other posters here and from tonight, I kinda know what the "max" coupon they can create is....and there is other extra savings that we have come to learn that resolutions reps can do....and that is once the laptop ships they refund you that promised amount. Gods indeed!

KJ

 

Not to be a snot, but if I'm able to pull off what another user on here was, with combining that $500 coupon for the defective dv6/dv7s with the HPA discount, I should be looking at about $720 off and I'm gonna shoot for a free RAM upgrade for my "inconvenience" (why not ) so if I get that, the total discount will be a ridiculous $780 off!!!! Thats 41.6%!!! I almost feel bad lol. Wish I could somehow share it with you guys :/ Anyways, I hope to be joining you official owners as soon as possible!

 

I believe that was me, got a total of $640 off . Got the Envy 17 3D in my sig for $1005.79!