*HP Envy 15 Owners Lounge! PART 1*

Just wanted to let you know that you can now add the HDMI->VGA adapter as an accessory (+$50) when you order an Envy from HP.com.

 

Unfortunately, customer service representatives never have any clue what they're talking about... :/ If your exact question isn't in the database you might as well talk to a wall. It's pretty much the same for all companies and I would never make any important decisions based on what a CSR tells me over the phone...

 

It almost sounds as if you haven't taken off a piece of protective tape that covers the battery connector... I think I saw some people mentioning that earlier in this thread.

Regarding the overheating and clean-install problems, it sounds as if you didn't install the drivers properly and/or turned off the fans... Were the fans working properly when you had the overheating problems? I take it you don't have those problems anymore. What did you do to fix it?

The first time you turn on the Envy when it's been delivered, it does a lot of setup. I think it sets up the instant-boot software, changes BIOS settings (e.g. warranty start date), etc. I would not recommend doing a clean install without letting it start up properly first. In fact, I wouldn't recommend doing a clean install at all on a brand new machine (because the external downloadable drivers are very questionable in the beginning - they may be incomplete, beta, untested, and have all sorts of problems).

 

I just got my Envy 15 today and I see these same lines on my display!?? Everybody else check your Envy 15 display and look very close, see if you can see these horizontal lines on the upper half of the screen. It almost looks like pixels that I am seeing.

 

Has anyone done a clean OS installation of the Envy 15?

I was wonder what drivers are required to have everything work but no crap.

Cheers fellas

 

Here is an example of the Horizontal lines that I am seeing on the upper half of my screen.



Look very close.......are any of you guys seeing the same thing?

 

Yes... I am and I'm rather bothered and confused. My webcam image is also grey-blue like someone mentioned before. There any solution known for that?

 

Hi,

Like others here, I was lucky enough to get my Envy 15 today! Based on all the misinformation and frustration hp customer service caused me, I'm amazed it finally got here. I stated some of my problems before so I won't re-state here. I do want to mention that, for my troubles, I was given some money back, and I don't feel as though I should get any more than anyone else, so I hope you will ask for the same. I received a $50 coupon, then a $200 credit to my card, then free two-day shipping on a part from the store.

The machine is great and just what I was hoping...except:

Initially the optical drive (non-Blue Ray) played a CD but periodically would pause for a few seconds while playing it. After I used the machine for a while and installed the MS Windows Updates and loaded MS Security Essentials and maybe did a couple of other very basic things, the optical drive would open and close and make a few noises and light up, but wouldn't play the cd again--it appeared as though there was no drive/cd. At one point the eject button on the side didn't work. Another time it caused Media Player to hang for a long time while starting up. Windows Explorer didn't show the drive...then at one point it did, but I still couldn't get the CD to play again.

Does anyone have any recommendations? I'm not great at troubleshooting hardware since I don't do it very often. Should I try to update the driver? I've read it's best to do that at the mfg site, but when I drill down at support.hp.com, I don't believe one is shown there for the optical drive amongst the other drivers. Should I let windows do update driver automatically in properties for the device? By the way, it says it's running properly, and there's not yellow exclamation point in device manager. Or should I call hp? After my experiences with them, I'm reluctant, but I suppose technical support are different people than customer support.

Thanks very much!

Larry

 

ugh i see it now, never noticed it before. I need to really look for it and then I can see it

 

I have the same lines and I have been debating whether to send it back but I don't want to lose my bing cash back.

 

Anyone having the issue with the ATI graphics driver randomly not respond, have the screen go blank for a few seconds, and then have a notification say the ATI display driver has just failed and recovered?

I have a feeling I might need to go seek out a new driver to fix this issue, might help with my artifacting issues in some games. Any thoughts?

 

well if this happens with all your cds and dvds then may be your drive is faulty.

 

what is the 25% and the 10% discounts everyone is talking about and how do I get them?

 

so I got my envy yesterday, and love it. noticed a few minor things (a tiny rough edge that wasn't machine properly) and a few subtle scratches on the glossy black bezel (only noticed at weird angles).

I am planning on wiping the main hdd parition and reinstalling windows as I don't want any HP crapware on my system. Since I won't be touching the recovery partition, I will retain it correct?

 

Cant you just use the windows 7 backup and restore to make a full image of the drive? I do it for work computers. I make a full image that includes all partitions then we wipe it out and do a clean install.

 

Ya that's happening to me as well, every time I play the Crysis singleplayer demo, it won't let me get past the parachuting opening which is really annoying. Works fine in the L4D2 demos and Risen demo. I don't get artifacting, the Crysis demo just has the screen frozen for a few seconds with the sound still going, and then the game crashes to desktop with that message in the lower right.

What games are you seeing it in?

 

Genryu, it sounds like something to do with the drivers, i remember on my old laptop when i installed a driver that kept happening when i was playing CS, I had to roll back the driver to fix the problem. Is it only happening in certain games?

 

Finally! Someone who has the same webcam problem as me! I can’t seem to get the color to balance properly. I’ve tinkered with the damn thing for an hour and its either too grey, too blue or too purple! Can ANYONE please tell me how to fix this. I should also mention that I’m primarily using the webcam on MSN Live messenger.

 

Mine was like that too until I turned off low light compensation. Did you try that?

 

Anyone spotted this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACm9yECwSso#t=163

And no, I don't mean man bits

 

the 25% was a one day deal back on windows 7 launch day and is no longer available and the 10% is being offered by HP to those who have had multiple delays in the shipment of their envy.

 

Thanks for the response. I am so close to buying one since there is the 21 day return policy. I am not super tall so I do not think the max angle of the screen will be a problem. When the Macbook Pros came out there was people complaining of the heat on the hand rests but i never had an issue with it being to hot. Does anyone know if the heat people are feeling with the envy is comparable to that?

 

Still bad...

 

anyone that has freshed installed windows 7. what software from hp did you put back on? will i miss anything if I just do a fresh win 7 install? and can i just re download it if needed?

 

As an update to mine. I just got an external DVD drive for my Envy. Will get it in december though...

 

Yes, it's happened with every disk tried, and very erratic. Just off the phone with HP. We removed all usb drivers and the optical driver and let Win7 reboot and replace them; same problem.

I thought to try an external usb disk drive to make sure *it* worked ok (hadn't used other usb connections yet) and it was fine.

HP is sending a new optical drive next business day, though they only guarantee next Wednesday. Still, I had a far better experience with this tech support person than with customer service on multiple occasions. For tech support I called 866 408-5408, the number that came with the envy on a black card. The card, by the way, offers real-time online chat. I tried that while I was on hold. First, you drill down for your product--there's no Envy in the list at all!!! Second, any of the other notebook links I tried all gave:

Nice!

Serg, did you mean that it's out of stock? Supposedly mine (bronze, non BR) is shipping today.

Thanks,

Larry

 

Hi Larry.
I got one from newegg for 50 bucks. That will do the trick, considering I dont really use the OD, it is fine with me.

 

what is OD?

 

optical drive

 

The important parts you will miss are all the drivers and the insta-boot configuration utility.

I'd like to ask you what specific "crap ware" you are so worried about that you're willing to mess up your machine for?

 

Whenever I buy a machine I fresh install so i control what goes into it. Just seeing skype and slingbox and various toolbars... made me want to format and reinstall. Another thing is the tons of system tray apps running. i know i can uninstall and clean the reg, but it's faster and easier to format the main partition. especially since the backup partition wouldn't be touched.

i'm not sure why you think formatting messes up a machine.

 

Can I ask owners:

What bloatware have you deleted from your laptop?
How did you manage the clean install with no Win7 DVDs? (kinda noobish my question I know)
Did that give a performance boost?
Is it actually noticeable?

Thanks!

 

I have installed my own Windows 7 that i bought last week onto my SSD, You just have to install all the drivers back on and your good to go. dont forget the harddisk driver that parks the heads in case of a drop.

You can get everything on HPs site even the stuff that people like removing.

Mine wasnt so much the crapware that i reinstalled for. It was more the feeling of a having a clean OS and being fully in charge and in control of what i put on it and not what HP thinks i should have on.

 

1 - The whole lot!!
2 - Had my own retail DVD
3 - The performance boost was the change of original HDD to an SSD
4 - Oh Yes!

 

Personally I'm using Skype anyway, but I agree things like that are personal preferences. However, I would highly recommend simply uninstalling whatever you don't like. E.g. Norton, Skype, Stardock.

I wouldn't worry so much about the registry. In 6 months your registry will be more messed up than the factory install anyway, even if you did a clean install on day 1.

What does matter is what I mentioned in my post: drivers and configuration utilities. With new products like the Envy, I wouldn't trust downloaded drivers or software at all. It's quite possible that you wouldn't be able to install all important manufacturer software on your own in a clean install. The software setup from the manufacturer has gone through extensive QA. The software you tinker together on your own has not and increases the risk of driver conflicts, user error, drivers and other software that are simply not available from the manufacturer web site yet. Downloaded drivers may also be a different version than the one that was pre-installed and may not have gone through full QA-testing yet and certainly not "tested" by all customers.

Basically: "If it isn't broken, don't fix it".

I would be more trusting of clean installs after the Envy has been out for a while.

 

I Envy you! hahahahaha

Dang, I dont have a Win7 retail version...hmmm

Nor an SSD...double hmmm

 

Hey deathbyfugu. I had the same thing happen while I was tinkering with my machine before I returned it. Try turning off the low light compensation and turn on a light in the room you are in and have the light directly behind you, like you can see it in your webcam. Exit out of the camera program and restart it with the light still on behind you.

I messed with the settings, advanced settings for a good hour before I postitioned the webcam directly at a light then color actually appeared on the screen. I know it sounds retarded but this is what I did and it worked!
Not very scientific but you should give it try.

 

in the case where I run into issues, that's what the system restore partition is for...

 

I initiated an RMA with HP. I don't have the patience to go over the details, but the computer does just not meet the expectations I have had for it. The slice is terrible (disconnects randomly and turns off my laptop), the external drive is a waste of space and is slow, the screen has horizontal lines going across the length of it every mm, the webcam is a piece of junk and the battery life just isn't that great for 15 cells worth of power when the slice does manage to work and after it has been charged for the many hours it takes to get both to 100%. Best of luck to the rest of you. I'm going with Sager after I receive my refund.

 

i'm sorry to hear about your experience. luckily in my limited use i haven't experienced any of those issues, so maybe it was an isolated situation. i'll give my machine a good weekend or so before I make any decisions.

 

This is terrible to hear deathbfugu! I hope you get a good laptop with your money, and this is such a terrible thing to hear, seriously.

If you want to vent, use the Tell Us your HP Experience Thread, the link is in my sig.

 

Sure, but let me quote Mickbt26 as well: "dont forget the harddisk driver that parks the heads in case of a drop". This just shows how high the risk for user error is and how easy it is to damage your machine if you don't set everything up exactly right. And you may not even notice that you missed something important until it's too late. Or how deathbyfugu had his machine overheat after a clean install (I think that was user error rather than defect).

And for what? A "clean" registry file? (As I mentioned earlier, it won't stay "clean" for very long.)
Just uninstall what you don't want. I don't think it's a good idea to tell normal users that a "clean install" is a good thing and something you should do when you buy a new machine. They might actually take your word for it...

Just a personal note - I do clean installs all the time myself, but I normally build my machines from scratch too. I would just very strongly advice against doing clean installs for almost all people.

 

I'm sending mine back. I'll reorder on black Friday with 40% off.

Hopefully the next one is better. This one has scratches, a broken key, no E2E, no dual HDD.

 

EDIT - Nvm...

 

Well as an update I've decided not to go for Sager, and I'm attempting to rethink my priorities (gaming vs. productivity and battery-life). I'm sorry to say this but I'm leaning towards a 17" MBP Unibody - I'm going back to school next semester and shouldn't be worried about gaming as much. I think I need a bright, clear display with high resolution, low chassis weight, easy portability, and long battery life with enough power for the occasional game.

 

Erm.... isn't this a function of the HDD, i.e. it doesn't actually require a driver, it is a sensor within the HDD that detects a fall and parks the heads.... no software required I'm afraid.

If you know how to install windows and how to find and install drivers, then there should be no need to worry about doing a clean install at all. If you don't know much about computers, you likely wont even know what clean install means.

I've clean installed every single machine I've ever owned - mainly because I have my own retail versions of whatever the OS at that time is, so that I can transfer it between machines as and when I upgrade; but mainly because I like to partition the HDD so my OS is on a small partition and my data is on a different partition. I have never ever had problems doing a clean install. Never.

 

How do you know that there is 40% off for Black Friday; if that's the case, then it solves a major dilemma for me.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=432564 (which is the link you posted here )

You should be able to use your Win7 keys to reactivate? not sure about that bit.

I dont believe the Envy has that much bloatware (from reviews, have not recieved mine yet) getting rid of the obvious Nortans, and additional toolbars and trial software should be all you need to do.

Again, with since the Envy does not have as much bloatware as other HP laptops, performance difference is debatable, without proper benchmarks i would not expect a lot of performance boost, but would expect a shorter start up time. This is benchmarks comparing a system where you removed the bloatware and a system with a clean install, The original HP install with no clean up at all, will be slow.

with a i7 would you really notice a few extra apps running in the background? Ok in benchmarks and games you might have 2 fps extra, and that could make a difference to you, but in office use, i dont believe so. Again startup time should be noticeable.

 

I don't know 100% for sure, but I'm 80% sure it will. If they don't they're losing a lot of business for sure. I won't make a purchase if they don't.

 

For people having issues with the trackpad, and even for those that don't, I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend going into the Synaptics device settings. It honestly makes a world of difference when you have it configured properly. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it makes it on-par or even better than the Macbook Pros.

Tap-Zones, circular scrolling, momentum... etc. Just tons of great features to customize. Can't believe so many features are turned off by default.