*HP HDX 9000 DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 2*

The 2nd mPCIe slot, for most here, is taken up by an upgraded Wifi card. The first slot is whitelisted. So that only leaves the expresscard slot which is likely to be x1 1.0.

 

What benefits are there to, do you see/feel when, upgrading the WiFi card (is it more of a enhancement or problem fix, primarily focused on in network file transfer speed, likely have little to no effect on internet if that is bandwidth limiter, true)? What is the corresponding spec of the 2nd mPCIe slot?

 

I understand, from reading the DIY forum, that it might be possible to use the expresscard slot and the mPCIe slot in tandem to achieve more throughput. Is that the basis of your question?

Thanks,

MA

 

Yes, higher bandwidth N and dual band cards like the Intel 5300 and 6300. Plus the 2nd mPCIe slot is not whitelisted so anything can be installed in it. The first slot only accepts a few cards that were options available during the time when the HDX was configurable. They are listed in the service manual.

As to it's actual specs, I don't know. Diagnostic software would have to be run to find out.

However, using a vidock in that port means leaving the cover off and having cables running out from it. Personally, I find that to be an inelegant solution. But it should be possible to do with the HDX.

 

Yes. If the expresscard+mPCIe or mPCIe+mPCIe are port1+port2, port3+port4 or port5+port6, then can do a x2 link. That would be the only instance where performance would improve over stock delivered levels.

Whitelisted mPCIe ports? Not a problem. The DIY ViDOck Setup 1.x software overcomes that.

 

Yeah? Because the system won't even post if there is anything other than what is on the whitelist is installed in that port.

But, the HDX has a total of 3 mPCIe ports. (2) in the comms bay and (1) which holds the TV tuner card (which is also whitelisted).

The 2nd mPCIe slot in the comms bay is not whitelisted. But many of us are using it for Intel 5300 or 6300 wifi cards.

 

The DIY ViDock is switched off during bios bootup (or can use the delayed 7/15sec switch) so it doesn't interfere with the bios PCI allocation. The Setup 1.x software is used to restore the mPCIe slot to an unclobbered state, so it actually works. Yes, HP, the saboteurs, clobber the port to try to prevent you using non-HP gear on it. No unwhitelisting is necessary if the port is the second lane in a x2 setup.

Can an owner, preferrably with an expresscard slot in use, post their Everest pci-e port layout like this? Can use it to evaluate if x1E/x2/x2E is possible.

 

Here you go...



Don't have an expresscard device.

 

I stand correceted. If your expresscard is port1, then can do a x2 link (x2E even if remove the wifi in port3). If the expresscard slot is port6, then the best you can get is a x1 1.0 link, which would be slower than the 8800xx onboard gpu, so not worth pursuing.

Can a HDX9000 owner who us using say a USB 3.0 expresscard please post their Everest port layout to identify what port the expresscard slot is?

 

Thanks for that extraordinarily helpful advice, and to 2.0 for coming up with the info. So the mPCIe and Expresscard can be combined, but can it be done with Vidock, or is it necessary to go the DIY route? I'm all thumbs with DIY.

What kind of performance can be gotten out of the 470 on a config like 2.0's, do you think?

With your DIY approach is 225 watts still the ceiling?

I agree with you about the desirability of feeding it back to the Dragon display, but.....

MobileArtist

 

Fast typists on this forum.

Hope the Expresscard is in port 1.

MA

 

OK, I found the GPU and TV Tuner in Everest. TV tuner is a USB device with an mPCIe type connector. Makes sense. The GPU is on PCI express x16 @ 16.

Just need to figure out what the expresscard port is. It's either 1 or 6.

Perhaps next week I can get my hands on an USB 3.0 expresscard to test.

 

NEW INFORMATION:

I found out that the HDX uses a ROMPAQ BIOS similar to the HP Elitebook 2510, 6910, 8510, 8710 notebooks made by Inventec.

One of the possible things with that BIOS is that the whitelist check can be deleted so that first mPCIe slot can use any mini-PCI wifi card.

So I asked an expert to modify BIOS F40E to remove the whitelist check. I have the file but haven't tested it out yet because I need to get a USB floppy drive in case things go wrong and I need to recover.

I'll let you know how it works or if a brave soul wants to try it out before me, here is the modified F40E BIOS: Download HP HDX 93xx_sp41251_SLIC21_no_whitelist.zip from Sendspace.com - send big files the easy way

WARNING:
Install as administrator.

Extract all the files into a directory and run update.exe


Make sure you have a USB floppy drive handy in case it fails and bricks your computer. Follow the recovery method linked on page 1 of the thread (which has been tested to work) to recover in case something goes wrong.

SIDEBAR:

I'm going to see if something can be done about the GPU section to allow for the use of the 280M GTX. So far it doesn't look good because of the encryption in that section of the BIOS.

 

Success!!!

It updated with no issue. I verified I could still access the BIOS and boot into windows. All devices still worked. I shut down the HDX, moved the Intel 5300 over to the white-listed PCI slot, booted up, Windows loaded ,found the new hardware, installed the driver, and here I am on the Dragon posting.

Worked flawlessly. Great work 2.0!

 

Hi. I have a HDX9494nr. Its been great but I feel its about time for an upgrade. I was wondering if someone could post a quick summery of what CPUs work with this. I know there are the specfic models (eg x9000) but from what I've read on here there seems to be different series, models, and sockets that this comes in and some are better than others, while some don't work at all. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

Yep, great work both you guys!

MobileArtist

 

Good work CompT. And the wifi button on the top panel works correct?

 

First post of this thread pretty much has all the info you need. If there is something more specific, ask away.

 

I was just concerned there were multiple sockets or series under the x9000 banner. I apologize I havent had much experience upgrading procs so some of this is new to me. I guess my question is does every x9000 (or any of the other procs listed on the Intel spec guide) work for the laptop. Or are there variations that are not compatible? For example this is what I'm seeing on ebay right now

x9000 items - Get great deals on Business Industrial, Computers Networking items on eBay.com!

I see one listed as ES others as SLAZ3.

Thanks for the help.

 

HDX9000 bios can be easily modded to allow dualIDA overclock with a C2D cpu

I just did a quick decompression of the bios you provided using ADDCCV3, finding it has the same EIST-locking bit as on my 2510P shown here. Meaning if you apply the same mod, any HDX9000 users will a Core2Duo CPU will gain an extra multiplier (8-13% overclock) by running a dualIDA overclock using Throttlestop as described in http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...0-6910-6710-6510-2710p-2510p.html#post6654683 .

 

OK, I tried it out (non-whitelisted BIOS) and it does indeed work. Restores use of the wifi button on the touch panel.

I'll add this to the first post later today with props to the creator.

 

Really? That would be very nice!

 

I'd like to try this, as I'm running a T8300 and 200Mhz extra would certainly be boosting my system!

 

OK, gotta ask: what's the big upside to the Intel 5300 wifi card over the delivered item?

 

I also confirm 2.0's results above. I went from F40E (w/whitelist) to F40E (w/o whitelist). It's a beautiful thing.

 

The difference between ES Q174 and SLAZ3 is that the ES is like a beta. ES stands for engineering sample. However the ES Q174 would be a beta gold. The last version before going to full production. The Q174 is the best of the ES and is as good as the retail (SLAZ3) version.

There are no other sockets as all Meroms and 800mhz FSB Penryns are socket P and are compatible with the HDX. 1066mhz Penryns are not compatible with the HDX (such as T9600,X9100, etc).

 

It can do 450Mbps because it is dual band simultaneous. But you'll need a compatible router to achieve this. Otherwise it does 300Mbps on either 2.4 or 5ghz.

 

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

First post has been updated with BIOS whitelist removal. Tell your friends.

 

That would be a very good thing. Would the compatable router be labeled as dual band simultaneous?

 

Yes it would. Also, I found the 5300 to be more stable than the 4965. Bought mine off eBay. Make sure you get one made for HP. The Dell ones don't work.

 

Thanks for the explanation. Looking forward to upgrading this beast. So glad this forum is out there.

 

All hail to the Great Father! I'm gonna' start my search for a USB diskette drive for my toolchest, suggestions?

 

Ditto! and since the post has to have at least 10 characters ...

 

As if you didn't know - UDAMAN! REP POWER!

 

Is that a whitelisting issue? If so, could that port also be unlocked? I only ask because none of the many on eBay are for HPs.

 

Holy moley! Wow good news in the forum! Thanks for posting and trying this!

 

Could someone clarify what this means exactly please? Does this mean any dual core CPUs (not JUST the Xtreme, say, X9000 for example) can be overclocked now? If so, how exactly does this work? We just flash the BIOS with the modded F40 with no whitelist, and then run Throttlestop? If I am understanding this correctly, I have no idea how to use it yet. Any tips would be appreciated. This also possibly opens up the GPU upgrade even more so I take it yes?

 

It means that any Merom or Penyrn would be able to add 1 more multiplier. The current non-whitelisted BIOS does not have the capability. Another BIOS mod would be needed. So I'll go back and ask the creator of the non-whitelisted BIOS to add the Dual-IDA capability.

So what it will mean is that, say, a T9300 would add an extra multiplier @ 13.5x which would result in a 2.7 Ghz top speed. An 8% increase over it's current top of 2.5Ghz.

You'd have to use ThrottleStop to gain access to the new multiplier.

No, not at all. Has nothing to do with the GPU nor does it lend itself to possible GPU upgrade. That's a whole 'nuther ball of wax.

 

Ah ok. So he needs to add the dual ida to the non white listed bios modded flasher then people like you and. I with a 2.5ghz cpu will almost have a 2.8ghz powered cpu? Would it be difficult for him to add it to the bios? I just flashed the new bios and it seems to be working fine.. no brick thank God. So now I can put the 5300 wifi card in the first slot and all the buttons will work again?

Hmm ok, what were you saying about white listing the Nvidia 280? Wouldn't that ability to not have it become blacklisted be one step towards seeing a possible going upgrade?

 

You can only use this external kit (and a suitable PSU), if you want to add a desktop NVIDIA GTX 280 card or better:
PE4H + EC2C ExpressCard to PCI-E Adapter Ver 2.0a - eBay (item 180587062857 end time Dec-13-10 08:56:57 PST)

 

HDX9000 dualIDA mod done - 8-13% CPU overclock using Throttlestop with core2duos

Download from http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...0-6910-6710-6510-2710p-2510p.html#post6654683 . The single-byte mod was applied to TTAV134's SLIC21_nowhitelist bios which was just released like yesterday.

Could someone with USB floppy available, so can do a recovery *just in case*, please test and advise. It *should* be fine, but I don't have a HDX9000 to say that with 100% confidence.

 

Just flashed here, even though I don't have a USB floppy available. Everything went fine, flashing was successful.
Sometimes it's worth the risk .



Throttlestop working fine, multiplier running at 13 instead of 12 with EIST disabled! Giving me an extra 200Mhz. T8300 now running at 2.6Ghz instead of 2.4Ghz.

Edit: What voltage should I use @ 2.6Ghz? I've set it at 1.138 now. Could I go any lower?
Temps are ok => 100% load = 55°C

 

You'v found out, that's great!
here is the original publication place of this mod

 

Cool beans, PSU is power source unit I guess? How more of an increase would there by over the 8800 do you think it would have if it's done through the expresscard?

 

I downloaded it last night and flashed it.. How do I know if it' the same one you're talking about?

NOTE TO ANYONE WANTING TO FLASH THE BIOS: I had my 5300 Wifi Card in the second slot while flashing and I believe it fried it because it doesn't seem to be working.. I guess I should have taken it out before doing it...:/ Maybe this will be an excuse to get a 6300 Wifi Card then?

 

You can also use a 150W universal laptop adapter with non-OC'ed GTS 450 1gb or GTX 460 768mb cards. Both add support for DirectX11 and 120Hz 3D Vision monitors (Dual-link DVI). Compared to an HDX Dragon with OC'ed X8000 (3.4GHz) + max. OC'ed 8800M GTS* you can expect only an extra 1000-2500 3DMark06 with above cards when connected to the Dragon.

* OC'ed X8000 (3.4GHz) + max. OC'ed 8800M GTS (very stable and reliable combination) = 10500 3DMark06
** OC'ed X8000 (3.4GHz) with PE4H + EC2C + GTS 460 768mb = 12500-13000 3DMark06

 

Nope, not related.

 

Very nice Nando! Thanks! I'll give it a test later today.

 

We probably all had it in the 2nd slot when flashing (I know I did) and it works fine. You might need to install HP wireless Assistant to turn it on.

 

Welcome aboard! Hope you stick around.

Regards,

DmanX/2.0