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

it was lightning fast on my envy... wish I could have kept it.

 

But the interface sucks big time. You shouldn't have to train people how to use it (like finding the option to shutdown).

I have it on a VM at work, so have used it. I don't care how cheap it is, unless I miraculously inherit a touch screen computer, I won't even consider it.

 

has anyone found a way to get the AMD/Intel Switchable graphics working on the Envy 17t2100 CTO 3D model? with Windows 8 Pro

When i install, everything install's fine but the onscreen lcd doesnt work... if i plug in an external monitor or remote in it works just fine.

I have been working closely with Lescatlabs and they have tried multiple drivers with me, and we cannot seem to get it to work.


Has anyone else come across this problem?


Cant think of anything else to try....

 

I was just reading an article that said, "if you have someone you hate, buy them Windows 8".

 

Funny stuff but i love it and feel like HP should support their products but they don't seem to want to

 

How do most people use switchable graphics with Win7? When I bought the 2290NR model it came with automatic switching so that the AMD chip ran all the time on mains power and turned to Intel low power on battery. However for most applications I find the AMD chip superfluous and things run much more acceptably (temperature on the wrist wise) using the Intel low power chip. So now I have turned off AMD completely and only turn it on occasionally when needed for graphics intensive work. I am not sure if HP intended it to be this way, they didn't ship it that way, but I found the heat issue just too silly. I am sure now things are running cooler, my fan doesn't kick in all the time and the laptop will run a few more years? What surprises me is I also have an HP g series and Pavilion series cheap notebook which have switchable graphics and has no heat issues at all. This ENVY series is the only laptop I have used to get so hot.

 

I saw someone on eBay selling an Envy 17-2110 model (6850 + HD3000). He was running Windows 8. I asked him about the switchable graphics and what driver he uses and he replied, for him everything works fine, including the switchable graphics. He used the driverupdate directly via the Windows Live update. Unfortunatly I cannot verify this as I don't have Windows 8 yet.

 

Hmm we have tried all those and others and cannot get them to work perfectly. Thanks for letting me know though.

Ebay link or username y any chance?

Thanks

 

Hello,

sorry to bother you guys, but I just received my new laptop, a HP ENVY dv7-7297sf and I love it, except for one very big problem which hopefully you can help me with: the video quality is quite appalling. 720p videos look quite blocky and generally bad, both on Youtube and VLC. 1080p videos are better but nowhere near what they should be.

Changing screen resolution from 1920*1080 to something lower did nothing to fix this. I think I have updated all relevant drivers, so I'm pretty much running out of ideas. Please tell me if you have some ideas about fixing this.

The screen itself is probably not at fault, because it's able to display photos in a superb manner.

Thanks in advance for your input, it will be extremely appreciated.

 

Oh noes....my laptop wont start up! I press the the power button and i hear the fans turn on and the LED lights come on, but withen seconds no screen and it powers off. Help!

The week week before this started to happen it was working great. The screen would turn black and seems like the laptop would freeze. I didnt see the like flicker as if it was processing anything and i hit the power button as if to put it to sleep and nothing would happen. I would have to do a had shutdown and restart it and it would be find. Happened about 4-5 times before its death. I figured it wasnt the monitor since when it started back up it would be fine. Now as im thinking of it, its almost the same time another everyonce in a while when i started it up the windows startup tone would sound a little gargle sound. Could that be another sympton? What to do, what to do!!!

 

Here's a thought for everyone with this model wanting to try Windows 8. The Acer Aspire 8950G has the same video system as the Envy 17 2xxx (AMD 6850M). Acer has posted Windows 8 drivers for the machine on their website Acer.com

Someone already using Windows 8, give them a try and see if they work....

 

I cant get the driver page to load... can you get a link for the download and I'll try it?

 

Have not tried the driver mentioned (have not upgraded yet), but direct link to the file should be:
http://global-download.acer.com/GDF....zip?acerid=634867253586288063&Step1=Notebook, Ultrabook&Step2=Aspire&Step3=Aspire 8950G&OS=8u1&LC=en&BC=Acer&SC=EMEA_19

Listed as VGA, AMD, VGA driver, 9.000.0.0000, 211.0 MB, 2012/10/25 under Windows 8 drivers.

Let us know if it works!

 

No luck with those, they don't include the Intel driver at all, an ATI signed intel driver is required to use switchable graphics with these machines.

For what it's worth I am using the driver from the Windows 7 HP package quite successfully. It does crash the machine If I try to switch to low power mode (Intel GPU) but does work well in High Peformance mode (ATI GPU) without the dual running GPU/ duplicate display issue occurring.
If I use a more recent ATI driver I lose video on the laptop display which was also an issue with Win7.

Do any of the notebook manufacturers provide frequent driver updates? I chose HP this time after having the same issue with Asus last time.

 

Bob I happen to have Win Pro that I installed on a dv7 that vista on it and gave to my brother which works great on it and I'd like to install it on my envy but there is the 3D system issue that would need to be addressed which I rarely use but its nice for the occasional movie to play.

Say have you heard of anyone getting squeaks in their key board on the downward stroke of the key, in particular the space bar... it is annoying as hell every word end squeak, squeak, squeak.... farking squeak???

 

I have gone through 4 keyboards on my Envy 17-2xxx. Seems that they are cheap membrane and don't withstand much use. I use the arrow keys pretty heavily and about every three months, the arrow up and arrow down keys just get mushy and lose the "clickiness" I am not surprised about the squeeks. Nothing mechanical about the keyboards, all membrane and no metal. Have you blown the keyboard out with compressed air?

 

My hp envy 17 3d is freezing even with the wifi card removed plz help

 

Update your BIOS.

I also had to get my keyboard replaced twice now. Some key would just end up either shorting or breaking. I am thinking of getting a warranty extension since there are no 4xxx models coming out. Kind of sad that there won't be a replacement.

I would also like to know how the business line gfx cards hold up when it comes to drivers & games.

 

I have updated my bios to the latest one with the windows 8 airplane mode fix

 

And the freezes are still happening?

Can you describe on what you are doing when they happen? .. High network traffic .. gaming?

When the Envy 17 had the freezing problem it was usually attributed to the CPU locking out when too much network traffic existed. This was fixed in a BIOS update at some point. Some people solved the issue by upgrading their wireless card (pre patch) .. with some reports of locking still happening with the Centrino 6300.

Make sure that you try to keep the power modus on High performance + coolsense off when you are checking for freezes.

 

thanx alot for ur reply. My laptop freezes randomly. sometimes on zero load and sometimes even during bios it freezes. its not due to the wifi chip as i have removed the wifi chip from my laptop and its still freezing. sometimes it freezes seconds after turning on other days it freezes once a day. plz help its completely useless for now. btw its envy 17 2090nr 3d. i paid high price for it and unfortunately hp support is not present in pakistan

 

LIke VonCrisp said, turn off HP CoolSense.

 

i started getting this error after i installed coolsense. but now i have uninstalled it and have installed a fresh windows without the coolsense and still have freezing issue. it even freezes in the bios

 

When does it freeze in the bios, when you've been using it for something cpu-intensive and then decide to boot into the bios?

If you have trouble with freezing in the bios and the computer is not hot (and fans running), I'd reflash the bios and set defaults. Otherwise you might need to clean out your vents. They might be full of belly button lint.

I assume the slow-down-your-cpu-to-keep-your-lap-cool technology would only work if CoolSense was installed, but maybe you need to install it and turn it off. I don't recall if there's a setting for it in the bios.

I don't have that problem since I always run the Intel gpu.

 

thanx for ur reply. its not a heat problem of tht i m sure. i use my intel gpu and the temperatures do not exceed above 50 degree C. i use speedfan to monitor my temp. i have also tried reflashing the bios with no help. shd i try to flash the older bios which came for the freezing fix? currently i have the latest bios with the windows 8 fix (although i m using windows 7). i have also checked my RAM and Harddisk on another laptop and have ran test on them and they have no error. I m extremely worried tht this might be a mother board problem. is it possible?

 

I'd try F1a with default settings in the bios. ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp56001-56500/sp56413.exe

 

how can i reflash the bios as my laptop freezes within seconds of turning on now

i have flashed bios F1A but its still freezing

 

Does it still freeze in the bios?

Have you tried safe mode?

Did it ever work properly since you've owned it?

Have you tried re-seating your ram (remove and reinstall 3 or 4 times to clean up the connections)?

FWIW, I flashed latest bios (F1C) and no problems here.

 

yes it still does freeze in bios. safe mode wont work either as its not a windows problem. yes i have tried re seating the ram to and even changed the slot the ram is in. and yes it did work properly for a week when i owned it.

the interesting thing is tht everytime i power it on it does power on and never has given me the black screen with no display

 

can anyone plz tell me the battery and adopter output of hp envy 17?

 

hello?????

 

AC: 18.5v, 6.5 amps.

Battery: HP MU06

 

Speak of the devil Bobmitch .. now my keyboard broke again. :|

 

Still no luch with my envy 2090nr still freezing after a few minutes of random use

 

another thing i have noticed is tht it does not freeze if i use it on diagnostic startup through msconfig

 

Diagnostic startup as in Windows Diagnostic or your UEFI "bios"?

 

Windows Diagnostic

 

but i still freeze in bios :S

 

I guess you bought your laptop in Malaysia. The Envy warranty works overseas for the first year of original purchase, 2nd year for country of origin. That is the EU at least.

There is no simple solution to your issue it seems. I faintly remember that there used to be an issue with the Intel chipsets within the motherboards of that particular year. I cannot remember if it affected the Envy but there was a recall by HP. (Maybe you can mention that when talking to support).

I cannot think of anything else. Personally I would try to see if the RAM might be corrupted by either running it through diag or simply removing 1 out of the 2 (if you have 2) and just doing the elimination game. Harddrive shouldn't be a factor unless your UEFI diag freezes whilst checking the HDD.

It could simply be a faulty CPU... in either case you will need HP support.

Does this also happen when it is just running on its battery?

Sorry I must have skipped a page when reading your replies. My bad!

 

is there anything like a bios virus?

 

and whts the cost of replacing a faulty CPU?

 

i am running CPU stress test for the last 4 hours and its going solid with temp of 75 degree with no freezing. i dont think its the cpu at fault. all symptoms point towards a faulty RAM but i have only 1 module so cant do the elimination game and my RAM works fine on my hp elitebook with 2GB internal RAM working with this one

 

Not all rams works on all computers. The fact it runs on one is nice, but not definitive.

Diagnosing memory problems on your computer

 

Anyone had any luck with Windows 8 and GPU drivers?

I have found one source that throws together drivers which can be installed by switching the driver signature checks off. leshcatlabs.net ← Keeping it Simple.

Has anyone tried running the Windows 7 drivers under compatibility mode in Windows 8 and then throwing the newest Catalysts Mobility over them?

According to HP support a driver can be tailored for 200$ (source: some guy on HP forums)

 

ok i will change my ram then keep u updated btw thanx a lot for ur help

 

Change it? Why not just test it?

 

So today I updated my bios from F1A to F1C in windows 8 x64, and now my wireless button doesn't do anything and is stuck on ... does anyone else have this problem?

 

F1C works fine in Windows 7. I updated it a week ago.

 

Hey guys, I have a question for you all. After owning your ENVY 17 3D sandybridge PC for however long you've had it. Would you recomend it to some one else. I plan on meeting up with a fellow on the forum who lives right by me to do a trade. I have a gaming desktop that I built and he has a ENVY 17 from this link

http://forum.notebookreview.com/not...gb-gddr5-vga-mini-displayport-hdmi-1080p.html

I understand these computers suffer from heat issues, I'm OK with that, I figure a repaste and maybe a little modification will do it just fine, so I'm not worried about that. But in terms of being able to play games or watch bluerays are they a good PC? I don't do heavy gaming but I do play ARMA2 Mod DayZ and also borderlands 2, Hitman Absolution, pretty much a bunch of different games.

The graphics performance will be on par with my GTS 450 I've been using and the CPU should actually be faster. So besides it being a laptop, not much will change for me. But I'd like to know what you all think of the laptop.

For those interested the PC i'd be trading would be:

Asus P8P67 Deluxe Motherboard
Intel i5 2500K CPU
Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz DDR3 4GB x 4 (16 GB)
Corsair H80 CPU Cooler
Cooler Master Blade Master 120mm Fan x 2
Kingwin 120mm Fan x 2
Logisys Cold Cathode Light Kit
Corsair 600T Special Edition Case
750W Toughpower Grand Power Supply
HIS IceQ HD 7870 2GB
500GB Hard Drive
DVD RW Drive


Thanks for any suggestions or comments.

 

First off...the Sandy Bridge models are not as bad with heat! The first gen Envy's were Hot houses, for sure. Sandy Bridge has been a big step forward and now the Ivy Bridge are even cooler. Each generation gets better. I have had my Sandy Bridge for 17 months. Hardware wise, my Envy 17 3D is a superb machine. The 3D display, the AMD 6850M is a very nice card. All the hardware is top shelf. Intel Wireless. Realtek Gigabit LAN, the whole machine was well designed. With that said, it is very disappointing to see HP shove the Envy line, to the sidelines. Example...drivers for this model have not been updated In a very long time. Windows 8 drivers are non existent for some of the hardware like Video drivers. I went to the HP website, where you can input your model number, to see if the machine has been updated in any way for Win 8, and the Envy 17 / 3D Sandy Bridge and first gen are NOT on the list. Odd to see that even the $199 Pavillions now have updated drivers and drivers for Windows 8. My son's Pavillion dv7t-6100 has ALL updated Win 7 drivers and even Windows 8 drivers. For machines that cost what these originally did (avg $2000) after discounts, the "Top Shelf" is largely ignored.

Would I recommend the machine...If you want 18 month old drivers for most of your hardware, and are not phased by that....Yes. I will say this...and maybe that will speak my position. At present, I will NEVER purchase another HP product, because of the neglect that this machine has received. Grade A hardware with F grade support....does that help?