*HP Envy 15 (11XX / 12XX series) Owners Lounge!*

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Anyone else having issues with their brightness controls not working?

Also, the brightness controls are gone from within W7 as well

 

You have to customize your colors with Windows instead of the CCC if you want it to apply when Windows is loaded instead of when CCC is loaded. CCC has direct hardware access to the ATI card, and does things that Windows can't/won't do directly.

Do you plug in both the eSATA link and a power cable? eSATA doesn't have power integrated like USB does, unless you are using the enclosure I have linked to previously (the only one I know of available in the US specifically able to take advantage of the combined SATA/USB ports like in the Envy)

 

Your previous 4K scores were abnormal. These scores are more like it.

 

Ok, I was afraid that might be the case. That stinks because I really like my CCC color settings but can't stand to see the delay in applying them during every startup!

I'll try to match my Catalyst settings by calibrating with Windows like you recommended.

Does your Catalyst Control Center take long to load on startup too or is mine just delayed because it's trying to load those customized color settings? Literally everything on my taskbar is loaded and I have to wait at least a minute to see the ATI icon and have my color settings kick in.

 

I did a clean install as well and had no issues (brightness included) after installing the drivers in the SwSetup folder.

 

I think mine loads fairly quickly, but I don't have any color customization in it so I don't really pay attention to it.

 

The new R/W numbers are on a single drive after removing them from RAID0 configuration. To be honest I don't notice any performance difference other than benchmark numbers. Just trying to figure out why my numbers appear to be lower than others have reported in stand alone intel G2 drives.

 

Thanks for your help on that. I'll remove the customization to see if it improves load time. If not, I'll try uninstalling and reinstalling CCC/drivers.

 

I do. I installed Win7 enterprise (I guess it is about the same as ultimate), and all the SWsetup drivers.

Then the birghtness Fn keys would not work. I had to remove the HP hotkeys soft/drivers, and it started working.

However, I still have a problem that nobody answered: when I "hibernate", "sleep", "switch user"...then the brightness keys are not working anymore, and the brightness is stuck at 100% until I restart the laptop.

 

So I ordered this build. It's going to be built at Feb 22 and be shipped.
Does anyone have a similar build?
How was your experience?
How do I know if this is a 2nd gen?
Comments on my build?

Specs:
• Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-820QM Quad Core Processor (1.73GHz, 8MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to3.06GHz
• 16GB DDR3 System Memory (4 Dimm)
• 500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5830 Graphics - For i7 Processors
• 15.6" diagonal Full High Definition LED HP Ultra Brightview Widescreen Display (1920x1080)
• One 6 Cell Lithium Ion Polymer Battery + One 9 Cell HP Envy Slim Fit Extended-Life Notebook Battery
• HP Pavilion additional 120W AC Adapter

 

Clairenix, see my reply in the other thread.

Anybody else think that dual/triple-pathing these Envy threads was a bad idea?

 

Thanks bro

 

Oh coupon Oh coupon, where are thou coupon.

 

I apologize if this has been answered before - I backed up my SWSETUP folder before re-installing a clean copy of Windows.

I have been able to get everything else working the way I want, but I cannot find the Corel applications (Paint Shop and Video). Could anyone tell me which folder under SWSETUP contains these applications?

 

Well, I only have 4GB, but a similar build otherwise. You know it's a 2nd gen because of the 5830. I'm sure you must have your reasons for needing that much RAM, and if so, Windows 7 64-bit should have no problems utilizing it.

Performance feels snappy. I have a desktop i7 920 @ 3.6Ghz (before turbo) with 12GB RAM (triple channel) and this doesn't feel noticeably slower in my usage except while rendering and using Microsoft Visual Studio 2007 (plus Resharper). Gaming is another story because this mobility 5830 doesn't compare to a desktop 5870.

Apps launch faster on my desktop because I have a dual X25-M RAID 0 setup. I really considered getting a dual SSD for the laptop, but A) I wanted the extra disk space of a convention HD and B) The expense was high, given that the G3 drives coming mid-year will be faster, cheaper and larger, and will also have some interesting competition.

There are many reviews with general impressions, but I will summarize my own thus: well packaged; feels special unlike the Taiwanese / Chinese brands; overall a high quality product with some quirks.

I like the industrial design, although I wish they had left off the laser etching (or used a less 'floral' pattern). It is a little heavier and hotter than I was expecting going by the numbers (I don't expect to carry my slice with me too often, and I'm looking for lighter slimmer DC adapter), but overall it is what I expected and I'm well pleased.

The 5830 is very capable but you need to turn the settings down in some games. If you are doing any heavy duty work or gaming, you need to be plugged in.

 

Yes. There are plenty of issues relevant to both first and second gen machines. So now I gotta comb through 2 threads.

 

Those numbers look just like mine now. I think the performance goes up with the 4k if one installs the intel ahci/raid drivers... but at the expense of loosing TRIM support.

Intel drivers with TRIM support are supposedly on their way tho.

Its so fast in use, i wouldnt really worry about it.

 

I dont have my SSDs in raid anymore, thats why i said AHCI.

 

I have the same sentiments here. HP does charge a premium for the memory upgrades which can be had for less if you shop around for a self install.

I'm not that hot on the etching either and would have preferred the look and feel of the Envy 13. The slice can also add considerable weight so I'll go with a travel adapter.

 

Will the new driver support TRIM in raid0?

 

Why did you take them out? Is the performance better with them split because of TRIM?

 

I like having 2 hard drives for various reasons, and i like being able to keep the drives at their peak performance easily (via TRIM). The performance in RAID0 is higher in all aspects, but in anything but benchmarking I think you would be hard pressed to notice a difference.

The new intel drivers (unreleased so far, we think) are rumored to pass the trim command through both ahci and raid, but i suspect the ahci support will show up first.

You can follow the thread here... might develop into something someday...

http://communities.intel.com/thread/10081?start=30&tstart=0

 

hey ive been experiencing the random black screen problem.. any consensus solution on this?

 

I got mine today! It came a day early So my initial impressions are that is a very nice laptop, well constructed, and very sleek.

It only gets slightly warm when I was surfing the web and installing programs. However I was disappointed; but I only got a little over two hours of battery life while doing the above, some programs were copied over wireless from my NAS so that probably where most of the battery went.

Now the bad; I have a minor paint & metal defect on the rear next to the LCD hinge. And i also have one dead black pixel right in the middle of the LCD.

What do you guys think I should do?

This will be my work laptop, I'll be carrying it in a back pack and it'll probably have the paint wear off after a while on the edges; like on my old D620. So the minor paint & chip defect may not be an issue, especially since its in the rear. However the dead pixel is annoying since it's right in the middle of the screen.

HP's dead pixel policy for the laptops is 8 bad pixels on WSXGA or 2 within close proximity which this doesn't fall into. I gotta say for they way this laptop is marketed it should have ZERO dead pixels and other defects.

I heard here and there that there is a a 21 day return policy where HP even pays for shipping back? I'll have to check on this unless some one can confirm it. If the return process could be used to fix these issues then I may go that route.

Edit:

Ok so I found this on their website:
"A full pixel defect is a bright white dot or very noticeable black dot on the display. No full pixel defects are allowed per HP's monitor specification."

HP Pixel Policy: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?lc=en&cc=us&docname=c00288895&dlc=en

So yeah I will be calling them for a replacement, because this is most certainly a very noticeable black dot in the center of my display.

 

That sucks to hear mate.

Call up and advise them of the paint defect and dead pixel. Don't be rude about it, and I'm sure they will send you a replacement. Just a pain in the arse because you'll be without a laptop again for a few weeks.

 

Yeah I was bummed out. I still haven't migrated from my D620 so I'll be fine in that respect.

 

Does anybody actually know when the Envy 15-1100 will actually be available in the UK? Phone HP up and same reply... 2-3 weeks mates all the time !

 

yer i've been waiting for this to come out for ages as well... hopefully once it comes to pcworld/currys they'll have a price reduction on it after a while.

 

Heavy Sigh, well got tracking number this morning for my replacement, although fedex isn't showing it yet. Anyway did a complete recovery on the one going back and just boxed it up. Hopefully the new one will be nice and quiet with no issues (crossing fingers) but if it does show up with a problem I am gonna raise Holy Heck with CS, hehe.

New memory, in case I want to swap it out is also on the way. Now I know if I do it it could void the warrenty but if I buy mem and take the laptop to say Bestbuy, although I really don't trust them, can they swap the memory without voiding the warrenty?

 

when did you order your replacement?

 

There were not any visible stickers or seals that could lead them to think otherwise. It's a pretty easy swap to do on your own.

Just remember that if you ever do decide to send it in and they see a different set of RAM than what they provided, there's a good chance they would void it.

 

I ordered mine two weeks ago, coming in on this Thursday.

 

HP is supposed to expedite my build for my troubles, i'm not holding my breath though

 

I keep seeing you and others making comments about voiding the warranty by installing memory in the internal slots. Please show me anything in writing from HP that came with your product which specifically states that your warranty will be 'voided' if you open the case. The only thing that would not be covered is if you damage something internally when the case is open (and they would have to prove this).

I have recieved 3 envy now and in none of them has there been anything, anywhere stating that this voids the warranty! That's all that matters, not statements from CS or Tech support or posts on the NextBench.

You know how reliable and accurate CS and tech support have been with your requests so now you trust them to know the terms of the warranty? Have you even read the warranty yourself?

The worst thing you can do is take it to best buy or another service place, the warranty does state that any damage caused by a third party will void the warranty.

 

Well the replacement was ordered on Feb 3. I had to pay for a new one, which they price matched to my original order, and then once FedEx gets the one going back they will credit my account for the 1st one. My only other option was to send this one back and wait for a replacement or fix and they told me if I went that route the new one wouldn't get built/shipped until around March 3rd which was unacceptable for me.

@JJB:
I was just going by what others have said as far as voiding the warrenty. My mistaken assumption was that BB was an authorized repair provider for HP and that if I had them do it my warrenty wouldn't be at risk.

 

Do they matche the recent price increase as well?

 

What would you say is the average delivery time and around when were they ordered?


Just wondering if ~20 days from order date and still no love is normal.

 

uh-oh. shipping exceptionnnnnn!

I thought I was going to get mine on Thursday, looks like next Monday...I mean Tuesday.

OMG becky.

 

LOL, its not funny really but sounds like what happened when I had a ZuneHD shipped. Shipper goofed the paperwork so customs held up about 800 ppls orders that were on a pallet until Zune Origonals fixed the paperwork...not a fun wait

 

It is the second time they've done this.

I hope they credit me $50 for the third time.

 

Bahh, what is with HP!!! This is the 2nd time they shipped my order and ended up getting it to fedex late. Tracking is now showing my package with this info "Package received after FedEx cutoff". So much for 2 day delivery

 

I think we should start an ex-Envy owners thread.

We all seem to have similar wants for our laptops in terms of performance/aesthetics.

 

Haha.

I can't wait to get my new Envy.

I love this laptop. =D

 

same here, love my beats envy. i was at best buy today and played with the m17x and the m15x, and gotta say, don't miss the weight a single bit! and i can still play every game i want at high/fairly high settings, and it came with headphones and DJ adapter, all for under $1400? good deal. just wish i had usb 3.0.

 

I like it, since its my first one can't fairly compare with other makes/brands, so I just figure I got a few hinky things with the first one and hope the replacement doesn't have the same problems and maybe a better binned 5830 hehe

 

Found my own answer

 

Hi everyone,
I guess it's mandatory to sign up here when you've bought an Envy?

I'm having a few problems with it, and I hope you guys can help me out. When i got it yesterday I wanted to give it a proper test, and I thought I had to install the latest Catalyst drivers for best results. So I uninstalled the only ATI product I could find, and tried to install the ATI Catalyst 10.1 suite:
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=win7/windows-7-64bit

This should go fine with my Envy 1190 with the Radeon 5830, or so I thought.

After installing this I can't find the catalyst control center, it seems totally lost. Re-installing the suite doesn't do anything. Am I missing something here?
I tried to run 3Dmark06, standard settings on the free version. Ca 8000 points overall, but the CPU test gave me 0-1 fps on average! And the graphics didn't seem overwhelming either. This can't be normal?

I tried to rest everything, back to basics. System recovery back to where I got it. But when the system has tried to recover to the point I've set it just gives me an error message, saying that the operation hasn't worked. I've disabled the anti-virus, so that shouldn't play a part here. Why is this?

Also, I've noticed something really irritating about the full HD res. Firefox isn't scaling at all, which means that many webpages just look tiny and are hard to read. This isn't a problem in Internet Explorer at all, it just scales things to look normal but with crisp letters and everything. Am I missing a setting somewhere?

I'd appreciate any and all help here, because I really feel things should work better on such an expensive system. I hope this is all due to me being dumb.

 

I would do a factory reset. Just make sure to backup everything you need.

 

I actually tried/considered that, but when the system asked me for language preferences the only language listed was English.
Basically, I was afraid I'd get a different system after a factory reset through Windows than the system I was presented yesterday when I started up the laptop for the first time.
Is there no reason for me to worry about that? I have a Scandinavian edition of the Envy, if that matters.

Edit: Another thing, the CPU fan is now running constantly. I've installed a few Windows updates, seen some videos online and have two tabs going in Firefox. This doesn't add up

 

Check your c:\swsetup folder to reinstall the catalyst that comes with the Envy (the drivers are fine), and check your BIOS to turn off "Fan Always On" or whatever it is. Some people prefer having the fan always on so there's no random noise changes. Others (like you and me) want it off.