*HP Envy 15 Owners Lounge! PART 2*

yes....crap...what a turn down..i was working well, then my Envy went to sleep, woke it up, and screen froze. Force-shut it, restarted it, and BSOD after BSOD...had to roll it back to 8.632...

 

anyone try BFBC2 on their i5 Envy yet?

 

Not sure if this is the same game your referring to or not but CatalystMaker tweeted this a bit earlier today in case it is:

"catalyst 10.3a preview driver has been slightly updated to catalyst 10.3b http://bit.ly/cvMzR8 fixes "big mouse" and "bf2:bc corruption"

 

Can you tweet back and report that the 4830's are crashing from 10.3 updates??

 

He used to be in charge of betatesters back when I was testing graphic drivers for ATI. He's not actually following me but I did a tweet and if he notices and responds I'll post it. Anyway here's all I said:

"@CatalystMaker Just an FYI. Ppl with HP Envy 15 laptops and the 4830 Mobility chip say installing any 10.3's are BSOD'ing them. "

 

I believe i have cracked it lads.
10.3b running on 1st gen Envy with 1GB GDDR3 4830:


I'll post how i achieved it in a while.

No BSOD on restart. Just played Metro 2033, and the game ran like a charm.
Will give it some more time before i get excited.

EDIT: For those of you that want to try this out this is how to do it:

BEFORE ALL THIS. You need to have driver signature enforcement disabled PERMANENTLY. If you don't know how to do this then download this file: http://rapidshare.com/files/368638490/dseo13b.exe
Run this and select "enable test mode"
Restart your computer and follow the instructions below.
WARNING: These driver files have been modified by myself to get them working. I don't guarantee they will work nor do am i to be held responsible for any damage that may happen to your graphics card through the use of these files. The likelihood of that is very very slim but nonetheless disclaimers FTW. Use at your own risk. It works for me and i want to see who else this works for.
1) Download the ATI 10.3b Mobility Catalyst drivers. You can do this from the website. I'm pretty sure they have to be the 10.3b's.
2) Run the file so that the exe extracts the necessary files to the c:\ati\support etc
3) Cancel the Catalyst installation
4) Download the following files:
http://rapidshare.com/files/368637062/C7_96986.inf
http://rapidshare.com/files/368637063/CH_96986.inf
5) Take these files and go to c:\ati\support\10-3_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc\packages\drivers\display\w761_inf\
and see if you find files that are named the same. If you do then copy the files you downloaded into here and overwrite the existing ones.
6) Go to device manager > display adapters > right click on hd4830 > properties > click the driver tab > update driver > Browse my computer for software > Let me pick from a list of devices on my computer > have disk > then point it to the folder which contains the above .inf files.
7) It will show two hd4830's and the driver will NOT be signed. This is a side effect of the modifications to the .inf file.
8) I clicked the first HD4830, but i think both should be fine.

Sit back and watch as it updates. Then restart to no BSODS!
Issues: Command and Conquer 4 froze and then crashed after about 10 minutes of play with these drivers but worked fine with the 10.2 (which i am back on)
Degraded graphics performance in some games. I dont know whether that is because of the way this driver is kind of jerry rigged or whether that is just the driver itself.
Post feed back!!

 

I play BFBC2 on my Envy (see sig).. 1080p + medium graphicssettings and all anti-aliasing and other advanced settings set to 1x. bloom set to false and directx version set to 9x in the game settings file. (perhaps paranoia).. but that combo works well for me.

Tried misc 'high' settings which work well in other games, but didn't work for BFBC2 for me.

edit: mine's an i7.. but I didn't think i5 to i7 performance delta was that different. *shrug*. Not sure. Its a data point for you anyway.

 

avg fps good sir?

 

"playable".. I'll try to measure it tomorrow. 'Right now its time for bed..

 

does any use a usb 3.0 external hd?

 

You haven't been keeping up with ATI Mobility Driver news have you? Where do you think the built in support for most of the mobility versions of GPU's in the Official ATI distributed 10.3 Catalyst Drivers came from... they didn't magically appear when they were never there in previous direct-from-ATI releases (that weren't previews or hotfixes)?

http://blogs.amd.com/play/2010/03/24/ati-catalyst™-10-3-driver-–-what’s-new/

HP was not one manufacturers that opted out (Sony, Toshiba and Panasonic opted out.)

The ATI marketing department has posted that they OFFICIALLY SUPPORT the mobility HD4000 Series. So do you still think that HP should fix problems with a driver released by ATI directly to the consumer?

 

Yet, ATI does the drivers, and the OEM has to test them apparently, therefore it lies on the OEM to release actual working drivers....(pun intended)

 

Anyone tried to see if the 10.3's i posted previously are working?

 

Technically not the case, as of 10.3's. From then on out AMD/ATI is going to handle it unless a laptop maker opts out, which HP has not chosen to do. There were lots of announcements on the matter but if I come across an old link I saved I'll post it.

 

Yeah I know that part too. 10.3 and higher are AMD's work, but so far, the 10.3b haven't worked for me...multiple bsods last night...rolled back to 10.1 IIRC...

 

Serg, I have posted a method to get the 10.3b's working on the previous page if you want to try that.

 

Yeah, I did read it. Still I'm a bit weary of tinkering those files...

Plus:

I'm not so sure about this, therefore I'll wait some time for the upgrade. Luckily my GPU sleeps most of the time...so right now graphics are not a concern...still I want the latest drivers possibles hahahaha

 

Well, I compared the .inf files from the 10.2 drivers to the 10.3b's and found they were identical.

The only difference was the SUBSYS ID line that was missing from the 10.3b drivers. I added that line to the inf's and that is the only change i made.
After that change it invalidates the signature, but it allows the 4830 to work with the drivers.
You can add the SUBSYS line yourself and try.

Also, i've heard the 10.3b's have given consistently lower 3dmark 06 scores than the 10.2's which makes me lean towards the driver being the reason behind the 1 fps drop in gaming.

The only major contention has been the c&c4 crash.
But then again that could be my copy of the game which has been cracked because i dont like EA's new DRM.

EDIT: what i posted only works if you install drivers like this. the HP 8.672.5 drivers throught catalyst. The 8.702's through device manager and then the 8.712 through device manager. Without uninstalling.

 

Well.. 1080p, ati 4830 (slower then the 5830 but I don't know by how much myself)

In multiplayer: All medium settings in advanced, 1x on pixel muxing stuff, bloom off in gamesettings.ini: ~30-40fps.

@720p same setting 60-70fps..

You can tweak it out anywhere from 20-80fps. The default game settings are pretty aggressive and to be honest I've seen lots of people complaining about performance (across the board).

Personally, I'd say,"poorly written backend" since no other game i've played has been so temperamental.

That said, its playable.

 

Have any of you 4830 owners tried the 10.3 package from www.strags.com?

I just checked there for any changes in the CCC package since the 'final' is still missing controls for Hydravision and Avivo.

Anyway, I noticed they have modded it for a firepro option for dell, and scrolling down the device list I noticed this line in the package:

"ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4830" = ati2mtag_M9x7, PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_94A0"

Not sure if that is in the ATI website version, but IIRC that is the same vender code line that Toontoontizer was working to modify....

 

The 10.3 files had that line and failed (as a note). I tried anyway and sure enough, standard bluescreen on reboot.

 

@JJB

That 10.3 package from strags.com is the one I have modified.
Adding the HP SUBSYS ID to that line should make that driver work with the 4830.

BUT I haven't got it to work from the standard VGA driver. you have to update manually, having the 10.2 driver installed already.

 

Anyone know why Synaptics took out the "tap zones" in their latest drivers??

Also, It seems like double tapping the top left corner disables the touchpad, however double tapping again DOES NOT renable it. This used to work fine. I tried rolling back to the original drivers in my SWSetup folder, doing so causes the touchpad to be completely unresponsive. Did my Touchpad just take a sh!t?

 

If your using the new 15.0.9 driver there is definately an issue with the double tap to re-enable. There are actually other versions of the driver that installed with the download (same version number) which include the Tap Zones ( more below ).

If your roll back didn't work you need to uninstall synaptics from windows uninstaller, reboot, and then to be safe go to device manager and make sure no synaptics driver is loaded, if it is uninstall the driver from device manager, reboot.

Now you should be running a basic MS driver with limited functions on the trackpad. You can now do a clean install of the driver version that was working for you OR reinstall the 15.0.9 and get the tap zones back but you will have to disable the 'tap to disable' feature first (you won't be able to disable from touchpad, only from setup menu).

To do the latter: Install 15.0.9, reboot, open touchpad device settings > select 'tap to disable' > choose to disable this option checkbox > reboot.

Now in device manager > update driver > browse computer...> Let me pick from list > Choose the 2nd or 3rd 'Synaptics PS/2 Port Compatible TouchPad' options > click next > restart.

Now you should have the Tap Zone options available as before and you cannot accidentally disable the pad and not be able to reactivate by double tapping. (Note: I do not know what the difference between the 2nd and 3rd options are, they appear identical to me)

I am using this version (and giving up the tap to disable feature) because I find the 2 finger scroll to be much more responsive ( almost perfect ) and the 3 finger 'flick' works much better aslo, and I rarely disabled the pad.

EDIT: forgot to mention, this version also re-activated the 'function' of being able to start a 2 finger scroll and then remove one finger and still be able to scroll with remaning finger, youu can also 'walk' from one finger to the other to scroll long pages without having restart 2 finger scroll when you get to the edge of the pad (this feature was lost on the last 2 versions I was running).

 

@jjb still no zooming in photoshop.

CS5 should be fun.

 

....................

 

the 15.0.9 for the touchpad?

 

Ehh I was referring to 10.3 catalyst from strags, probably I was to reply in drivers thread.

 

Why yes, of course I am! Why am I, again? But from what i'm reading the experimentations that sprouted from my godly recomendations haven't yet borne fruit it seems. Any luck with the jurry rigged drivers or have you given up on this?

Never ran the 8.675 so I counldn't compare, sorry

 

Oh sorry...I was kinda lost...my apologies

 

@ Tayeule

Why you are great for getting me on a driver that isn't from god forsaken HP!

I have got the 10.3b drivers working. But i didn't have enough time to test them properly because i have an essay to do and i need my laptop!

Also, the issues I did experience with my rigged driver couldn't be sourced to the driver with any concrete accuracy.
If you want to give them a go I can help you out and would be glad to see whether you are getting the same issues that I was. Plus, there are certain features i can't test because i am not at home.

One more question, can people run games while connected to an external monitor via HDMI? With the Hp drivers i get a direct x 9/10 error when the display is set to "external monitor only" and when the screen is duplicated it only runs on my laptop screen.

 

Yep I got my rig hhoked up to a sony 46 in. Tv running in 1080p no problems. It's actually kinda smooth: sounds and video switch to the tv as soon as the hdmi jack goes in.

I can't mess around with drivers today as i have some work to complete but will doo this week and get to you on it for sure.

 

I just wanted to say thank you for this profile. The matte screen is spectacular once it's been "warmed up" a bit-- it's awfully blue by default. I wish I knew how to get the profile to stay active during games, but that's not something you've got any control over. The profile itself is substantially better than the default with the matte screen.

 

I'd like to bring back an issue I haven't heard anything about in a while:

Where do we stand with the webcam on the ENVY? Still blue-ish or anyone got a way to make it look semi-decent?

 

Thinking about getting an 80gb intel x-25 ssd, do i need to get any additional brackets or anything? or will i be able to switch it out easily with my 500gb hdd?

 

@JJB
Since you seem to know things well I wanted to ask a thing, I have been looking for HP HDMI to VGA Converter from a while but it seems to be Out of Stock all the time and its not available anywhere else so what other options I have to connect my Envy HDMI to VGA Projector of presentation hall.

 

A question...

If you guys pick up your Envy, and tilt it to one side, then to the other and back and forth, do you hear something that sounds loose?

For me it sounds like there is something that moves in there around where the CPU fan is, around upper left corner. And my fan is making an irritating noise all the time. Like some cable or so is touching it.

Actually, I first noticed this when installing the F.19 BIOS (it first sounded a bit weird when I restarted the computer afterwards), but I put back F.18 on it because 3D performance was horrid.

Just wanted to ask, to be sure, because I thinking on leaving it on service. If it is just the cable maybe it is easier to open it myself and do it, but if something is loose in there I rather turn it it.

Damn sound is annoying.

 

no, both your 500gb hdd and the x-25 are 2.5 inch form factor so youre good.

NOTE: you wont be able to fit both of them at the same time... hope thats not what you wanted to do).

 

Looks like you can order it directly from HP parts: http://h20141.www2.hp.com/Hpparts/S...27BAD05B4BABA84C00F1201E6091&SearchIn=Product EDIT: The link reverts to product ID page, Type in 'envy 15' and then select the envy 15 1100 CTO, then click the arrow to show all parts, it is on that list.

Says it is in stock and $37.99 which I think is less than the HP store price.

FYI; Part number is: 530607-001

 

I will have to use mail forwarding even if its in stock are there any alternatives ? If not thats my last option.

 

anyone else having there Envy gen2 freeze on them since updating to 10.3 final drivers?

I have had a couple of random freeze ups, 10.3 drivers are my only real change.

 

no i just wanted to switch the hdd to the ssd, i knew that they were 2.5 inch but was a bit unsure, don't wanna mess it up. Thanks for the reply.

 

I haven't faced any issues with 10.3 so far - been running it for 4-5 days now

 

Does anybody know what the stock issues are with the 15-1110 ea in the UK or where they can be actually bought ?

 

Has anyone successfully used the microsoft receiver for xbox 360 controllers with the Envy 15? I have the drivers for win7 installed, and the unit appears to be working-- but it will not pair with any of the controllers I've tried. I suspect it may be not getting enough power from the USB port, but I'd love to know if anybody else has tried and what their results were.

I'm also trying to figure out how to get JJB's fantastic custom ICC color profile to "stick" when playing games. Seems like games override the windows 7 color settings, which is really annoying.

 

Just to follow up: the XBox 360 wireless gaming receiver works fine on my old laptop-- it just won't sync with a controller when plugged in to the Envy 15. Has anybody got the receiver working?

 

Hi, I've been reading this forum for like a month and I just joined to post questions, I have some problems with my Envy 15 and I hope some can help me with it.

I just got my Envy last Thursday (Mar 19, 2010), my specs are:
i7 Q720 1.6 Ghz
ATI 5830 1GB
4GB memory
500GB HDD
1920*1080 glossy screen
Bios: F.18
All dirvers are up-to-date. (CCC 10.3 installed)

Basically I have following problems:

1. Apperance: I noticed there is a lump/bulge on the right hand side of my keyboard, looks like something is sticking out from inside; and my battery lock is really loose, making noise when i move the laptop around. Anyone have or heard similar problems?

2. System: it is wired that if I try to boot up my envy with an external USB hard-drive plugged in, the system will not boot up, it will start but the screen just turns black and not even enter the very first HP bios page. I guess that is the bios problem?

3. Gaming performance, after reading lots of benchmarks and gaming reviews, I think my envy's gaming performance is worse than others' my graphic card is always on 500/800, never OC, and got only 8007 on 3dmark06 under default settings (1280*1024, SM2.0: 3088, HDR/SM3.0: 3386, cpu: 3021)
And i also ran some games test FPS with Fraps:

BattleField Bad Company 2:
1920*1080 res, Medium settings(High Texture) 1xAA 4xAF,HBAO off, Single player, it was not smooth, I get FPS various between 25 to 45, drop below 20 when intense (like buildings explode) And the graphics lag too much, kind of buggy. That is not good Comparing to the review I read (which runs very smooth)

Dirt2: with all settings on Ultra/High (Except Post process on medium) No AA, I got average 22 FPS on benchmark test, comparing to the review I read, which got average 30 FPS on above settings.

Modern Warfare 2:
1920*1080 res, all settings Ultra, all Yes. FPS from 45 to 70 when not intense, when intense it drops to around 30 or even 24 when very intense. There were times it drops to 22 FPS when I use right mouse button to zoom.

Left4Dead 2:
1920*1080 res, Maxed out everything, (8xAA 16xAF, very high, high, high)
I got normally average 35 FPS, around 40 when not intense, drops below 30 with intese environment and fights, lowest once drops to 20 FPS, which is really bad I think, compared to the review saying "normally 60 to 70 FPS and lowest 50 when intense". How mine is much worse than his on this game??

Crysis Warhead:
1920*1080 res, gamer on most and shadow, effects, particles, waters on mainstream, No AA, I got only 14 to 18 FPS, intense drop to 11 FPS.
1650*900 res, all on mainsream but textures on gamer, no AA i got average around 35, sometimes drops below 30below is some reviews I used to compared with:

http://hpfansite.com/hp-envy/hp-2010-envy-15-review-ati-mobility-radeon-5830-core-i7-quad/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmuluCS0vJA

I know I asked a lot of questions, I really hope someone can help me and give some ideas about what's going on. Why there is such a big difference in performance between mine and others? I have no clue, above results I got is after the fresh reinstall and all up to date driver installed, bios F.18. I tried to run the games without Fraps, still the same performance.

I have about 8 days left to decide wether exchange a new one or return it, could somebody help me out here? Is it possible something wrong with my video card when they assemble it? I will be really appreciate with any idea and suggestion.
Thanks!!

 

Solution found here: http://www.sevenforums.com/drivers/64905-xbox-360-pc-wireless-gaming-receiver.html

Even after you've installed the drivers, you'll have to plug the receiver in, and then go right-click on the "unknown device" in Device Manager, and then specify the driver to use. Not exactly well-designed, but at least things are working now.

 

Next question: so far, my headphone jack seems very, very picky. It only works with one particular pair of sony earbuds I have-- two other pairs of headphones and a 1/8"-to-RCA adapter don't work at all. Is my audio jack defective, or does this combo mic/headphone jack cause everybody problems like this?

 

I've been getting random black screens that last for about 4 seconds, while playing Battlefield. I'm not sure if it's a result of the 10.3 drivers though...