*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

There are manufacturers of bezel type devices that allow you to add touch screen function to a standard LCD

 

Wow nice thank you. Lightweight too.

 

Would it go on top of the current LCD screen or would you have to replace it entirely? Also is it any good? The HP Touchsmart functionality looks pretty cool but it also looks very expensive.

 

Today's ATITool test maxxed out at 70 degrees?!? All that huffing and puffing into the GPU vent seems to have fixed my problem? Now all I need to do is fix my marriage after the wife caught me bent over my laptop red faced and out of breath!

Thanks HCD!

CJ

 

Thanks for the advice CyberVisions. I was already running GPU-Z alongside ATITool, and they agreed with the quoted temperatures.
The GPU started at 42 degrees (cold) and went to 90 degrees (hot) in less than 7 minutes. GPU-Z and ATITool agreed all the way.
I'd already tried stopping all essential services and processes to give the test the best shot.
I've installed HWMonitor and ran the same test alongside ATITool and bizarrely the temperature maxxed out at 70 degrees! (Exactly the same on both apps).



Maybe all that huffing and puffing into the fan vent yesterday did the trick!?
I'll be sure to buy a can of compressed air now.
Thanks hover man!

CJ

CJ

 

No, you're right, but I wasn't wrong either - I just didn't feel the need to specify the min/max values as the minimum/maximum RECORDED values as most of use here use HWMonitor and already know that. 49c/120f is about the average for mine, and as I recall pretty close to what a lot of us here have when we were doing the rounds of CPU temps a "few" pages back. 92c, as I said, is almost twice the normal average for our systems, even when using multiple graphics intense programs. I don't trust any one measurement tool when a value is that high until verified by another.

 

I don't recall anymore if my Dragon went down 0.1 or not. I do know that the WEI score is not consistent or even accurate sometimes, but is to be used as a general gague of speed. It's possible the memory you had in there had a lower latency than the G.SKILL stuff, but as long as YOU notice an improvement in speed, that is all that matters! Enjoy, and welcome to the 8GB CLUB!

 

OK, I'll compromise, you contradicted yourself. You first stated his temp was max in one part of the post, and stated it was normal in another. No matter what you meant, it was confusing and I was simply trying to make it not confusing to CJ, who you were trying to help.

Alrighty then, sounds like some good spin to me, but I ain't drinkin the cool-aid. You've been around too many high level programs to know better than to assume anything, especially if someone seeking help gives the appearance of not being as savvy.


It's all good...I'm just sayin

 

Hey bud, I'm really glad that seems to have worked, but I have worries. If the vents were that clogged that they were causing the heat, you may have to get brave and at least get the case open to clean better. I'm afraid the dust bunnies you blew went back into the machine. This probably means it will only happen again, and worse, affect something else. I have never taken mine apart, and I know I need to so I can do some cleaning, since mine is almost a year old now. But several have, and someone (2.0) might be able to say if you can get at least to the vents and fans with minimal effort or not. The manual tells you how to do it as well. If nothing else, a reputable PC shop in town should be able to do it without charging too terribly much, I would hope. Anyway, enjoy the machine since it's cooled down.

 

I have picked up a used HPX9000 that is missing a few of the accessories. I finally figured out the the antenna utilizes a PAL connector and can probably find one of these local. Any ideas on where I can find the IR emitter unit and suggestions for a compact HD antenna?
Thanks

 

Thanks HCD. Maybe I'll have a look inside after all.

My other issue is with drivers for the GPU. It seems that any driver (I really have tried them ALL), other than the original HP driver from Dec 2007 gives me bad artifcacts during gameplay, so I seem stuck with the original driver which, on the whole, plays most games without any artifacts. One notable exception being Far Cry 2 which, no matter what I tinker with, I can't get to play without artifacts.

Has anyone shared this experience, or can anyone shed any light on why this is happening?

CJ

 

If I recall correctly I think you're the only other one to announce having 8GBs of ram and I thought your WEI went down..at least someone reported it doing that with GSkills, isn't your WEI 5.0 now? Mine started at 5.1.

 

The actual technical name of the adapter is called a PAL MALE to F-TYPE FEMALE.

See here for an example of what it looks like and where to get one:

http://shop.vetcosurplus.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=767

You can google the term to find other suppliers.

As for the IR emitter cable, here's an example of what they look like and where to get them:

http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=2708&sku=40432

http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=2708&sku=37033&relatedItem=true

Lastly, on the Antenna type to use for HDTV, your best bet is an adjustable amplified UHF/VHF antenna if you are within about a 30 -35 mile radius from transmission towers. Under 20 miles a simple UHF bowtie antenna works well. Otherwise, a chimney or roof mounted antenna is the way to go.

 

Ah, yes, I remember the floppy shuffle quite well. Man, I don't miss those things! "Will it read today?"

Did you ever work for Silicon Graphics? I would bet building graphics engines was a lot of fun. Graphics "anything" has always been a fun area.

Cool! I never built a PC until way, way later when it got easy. And then it was really more like I just bought and plugged everything in. Not like what you had to do.

 

Yea, I hear the head guy finally gave up on the computer software business and went into charity work. I guess he just couldn't hack it.

 

Hallelujah!

Now that's the kind of happy ending we need to see more of!

Congrats, man!

 

I have a Toshiba S9800 with a 1440x900 display and a 8700M GT GPU and I get pretty good frame rates gaming because the GPU and the display resolution are a pretty good match. The 8700M has a 128 bit memory bus and when the resolution gets much higher it bogs down, so a happy marriage.

The 8800M GTS and the 1680x1050 display seem to be an equally happy match, it has a 256 bit bus and can handle the higher resolution (or so my reading tells me - I'm no GPU expert by a long shot). Reports here confirm excellent gaming performance. This combo seems like the best choice to me if you're gaming oriented. The higher resolution display may be better for HD video, I'm guessing.

Anyway, fwiw, I have found that it is important to properly match your GPU and display resolution for best gaming performance -- which is only common sense when you think about it, but it's not mentioned too often in reviews and such. It was pointed out here by 2.0 and others earlier in the thread, but I think it's worth repeating as there seem to be many "late comers" like me still shopping for these beasts.

Probably a minor thing for most, as you can certainly run your game in various resolutions no matter what your display res, but gamers are always looking for an edge, so for some it might matter.

If you're heavy into Blu-Ray, then by the same token, I'd go for the higher res display to support the 1080p Blu-Ray output. Different strokes for different folks.

 

I am hoping Microsoft & HP will provide us with all the drivers and compatibility required for Windows 7 as MS seems to hit the nail on the head with this version of Windows. I want to create a single post in this thread to collate everyone's problems associated with Windows 7. My current install on my HP HDX is Windows 7 Beta 1 (Build 7000) 64-Bit Edition.

Things I have tested working:
* Sound - with bass (default drivers from Win7)
* FM Radio
* GeForce 8800m GTS
* Quicktouch buttons partially working, only Wifi, Mute & Sound volume bar.
* Fingerprint Scanner
* Remote Control - partially working - Mute, Media Centre, Quickplay

Things I could not get working:
* Quicktouch - Quickplay buttons, DVD Eject button, Bass/Treble
* Remote control - dim lights button
* FN keys combination (i.e. brightness, etc.)

I will tinker some more to make the list above more precise. Anyone with other problems getting their HDX to work properly with Windows 7 Beta 1 (64-Bit), do pl PM me or post your problems in this forum.

Many thanks.

 

I just had the second and third existence of a problem I have experienced earlier. I bought the Witcher Enhanced Edition and can't get it to load. It's on a DVD ROM disc. I had this problem earlier with Rise of the Argonauts and never resolved the issue. The third instance is trying to install the original Witcher that I had before. It now won't install.

Install is not the correct word...the drive won't even read the discs. If I click explore or open in 'my computer', the disc ejects. All other DVD ROM games I have work in this drive, as well as DVD movies. The discs that don't read in my drive, work in my wife's dv9640us. I have the LG Super-Multi Lightscribe(GSA-T20L) in my lappie...not sure what she has in hers.

I have tried CDCheck and DVDInfoPro...they read nothing in the drive. There is no firmware upgrade for the drive on the HP site, save for a lightscribe update for an entirely different laptop. LG doesn't seem to have a firmware upgrade newer than what I have, but I have reflashed it twice just to exhaust possibilities.

Some sites have suggested that if I have any ISO or virtual drive mounting software to uninstall, but I have done this(had Alcohol 120) and cleaned the registry of any entries as well. Although I am thinking this still might be an issue, as the original Witcher worked on this machine, before I installed Alcohol on it. There is also the outside chance that TAGES (security software on the disc) is not compatible with my drive.

If no one has any ideas, then what is a suitable DVD drive (besides Bluray if possible, too expensive and I don't need it) to order and put in this thing? These types of discs are here to stay for a while, and I don't want to keep having this problem.

Anyway, thanks for any help that can be provided.

 

Just installed an OCZ 128Gb SSD on my HDX X18-1180US. Ran dog slow out of the box. Painfully slow. However tweaked the OS settings as recommended by OCZ and holy cr*apolla, what a performance boost. Used to take 20 seconds to start Adobe Flash, now it's 3 seconds. Absolute barn stormer now.

Next upgrade is to upgrade to 8Gb RAM.

 

Next upgrade will be installing a second hard-drive using the following drive-bay for $40.

http://newmodeus.com/shop/index.php?...roducts_id=213

 

Gratz! But I think the HDX lounge that would be more appropriate is this one:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=300221

 

Cool. What OS settings did you do?

 

This was a reply a long time ago to a problem I posted weeks ago about squeaky keyboard keys.

I am comfortable taking the keyboard out to clean it or cleaning the keyboard in place. However, I don't want to do anything that will affect my warranty since this is a new computer, so if taking the keyboard out involves braking any seals that will make it obvious the keyboard has been removed or the case has been opened then I'd rather do that.

If I clean the spring mechanisms with the keys in place as you described would I just shoot some compressed air into there? Use a brush? What?

Sorry to revisit this problem after such a long delay on the forum (life got busy) but I wasn't able to PM you; either this site doesn't allow PMs or I don't have permission to PM yet (or sending PMs on this website is in a very unusual place that I haven't found).

Thanks in advnace!

I noticed they finally changed the titles. Now this thread is the *OFFICIAL: HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge* and the other is the *OFFICIAL: HP HDX16 Owners Lounge*

 

The idea about uninstalling burning software got me thinking...

As an experiement, disable Vista's CD burning features. Might have been corrupted. Give the following a shot:

1. type regedit in start menu search box.
2. navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Policies\Explorer

3. right click and select new dword 32
4. name it: NoCDBurning
5. give it a value of 1.

reboot.

If that doesn't work out for you, you can go back and delete the key or just change its value to 0. Actually, you'll need to change it back to zero in order to burn disks using Vista's built in burning capability. Not only that but it might rebuild any corruption that occurred. But if you use 3rd party software to burn, then it likely won't matter if it's still disabled.

As for where to get a new drive for it, not sure but I'll look into that see what I can find. Ebay comes to mind for the same drive. Otherwise if you want something else, the sloping bezel is just an attachment that should fit several brands of internal notebook DVD drives provide that they have the same tab slots and position for eject button.

 

Hello All,
I have recently bought an HDX 9001TX on the Dec 24 2008...
Was looking for a support/discussion forum.. and have found this an exellent one here at NBR..

No hardware problems with the machine uptill now.. and am falling in love with it over and over again..

2.0,
I have read some where in the post that you use VMware on the HDX..
So may be you can help me out with the below problem.

My HDX runs on VU 64. I have installed VMware, the latest version, to run XP, and there has been some sort of conflict with the quick launch buttons.
All the buttons work fine, except the optical drive eject button.
I uninstalled the VM ware and it came back to normal. But now since I have to keep using VM for official purposes, I have started to live with the button not working.
Have you encountered any such issues and have a work around for it.

Also, another separate question, Is there any utility from HP which will scan the drivers and provide updates. I have tried the HP update utility, that came preinstalled but it always says that the system is up to date, which was definitely not the case when I visited the HP driver website and found lotta new drivers.

Regards,
Mansoor

 

Thanks for the reply. I'll give it a shot tonite when I get home. However, I did a complete restore last night, in hopes that any corrupted entries would get fixed, so I don't know if your idea will matter now. Willing to try anything. I really don't care about the burning. Haven't burned anything since I my back-up discs when I bought the thing.

I figured any slim/notebook drive would work, was more looking for suggestions or recommended (read: good performing) drives.

Mobilenvidia over at LV2go says he got a external USB slim-drive, LG GSA-E50L (mine is T20L) that actually uses the T20L as it's guts with a different firmware. So he took it apart, installed it in his lappie because it has features that his didn't. Then he flashed the E50L firmware and he is up and running. I think I'm going to give it a shot, if I can verify it reads my discs first. It's powered only by USB, and weighs like 2 ounces. He and others give it very favorable reviews for those looking for that sort of thing. I guess for tablet PC's that don't have cd/dvd drives and don't need blazing speed.

Anyway, can I get a few samples of what drives other folks have in their Dragon(other than Blu-ray). HP rep yesterday says only a limited few HDX's came with the one I have. Lucky me. And has anyone had problems using DVD-Rom game discs at all?

 

Can you please describe the OS settings tweaks?

 

I have the exact same issue. Well, I haven't gone to the trouble of uninstalling VMWare, however, the only button I have an issue with is the eject button and the button physically works (pressing it when the machine is off will power the machine on).

I'd love to get this working but searching hasn't yielded any results.

 

Ditto - I've just put a SSD in and would love to apply these tweaks to maximize the performance.

 

Hello all.

I'm another *NEW* member to this forum. I've had a Dragon since they first came out. I had NO idea there was a user forum of Dragon afficianados! I just found this place when I was Googling for any Dragon SSD experiences.

I'm running Vista X64 and Windows 7 x64 on mine. I've ordered a pair of G.Skill Titan 128 GB SSD's that should arrive tomorrow. Looking forward to this upgrade.

I understand from the 200+ threads I've read that there is an 8GB memory upgrade available from some source. I'll search the forum to see if I can find the details.

Anyone else have problems with the more recent versions of HP QuickPlay regarding use of the Dragon remote? In my case, trying to use the Volume Up/Down on the remote doesn't work and causes the screen Volume/Treble/Bass overlay to continually flash. I had to "downgrade" to QP 3.5 I believe to stop this behavior. These newer releases also tended to crash which I never experienced on 3.5. I finally gave up and started using Media Center (which doesn't support the soft eject button).

Enough for now.

Cheers,

Stuart.

 

Try the solution by kindheart at the bottom of this thread:
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/board/message?board.id=General&message.id=1269

 

Man, are you kiddin me???????? It freakin worked!!! I have used disc type lense cleaners, I have had the drive out and in 3-4 times. But simply "re-seating" the lense in place fixed my problem. All 3 discs/games loaded without a hitch. Go figure. Thank you very much!

 

Quick question..I just got my brand new 500GB 7200.4 Seagate Hard Drives, and was wondering how I can reformat them? I tried just putting them in and using the Windows XP disk but it couldn't detect it. So I'm thought I first needed to reformat it/them, so using the external enclosure via USB how do I reformat it? I thought it would come up when I click My Computer, but it only comes up via Device Manager and such. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


EDIT: Also do these directions account for the problems of installing an XP Vista dual boot? Particularly if you want to first get Vista then XP on the hard drive? I noticed doing a full format via Computer Management takes a REALLY LONG TIME..is it ok to just do a quick format? And what of File and Folder Compression? Thanks.

 

Welcome to the forum! An awesome member named 2.0 helped me with this earlier...if you type msconfig in the search/run of the windows start menu, it'll bring up the system configuration utility. Go the startup tab and uncheck the "HP quicktouch on screen display" . This should solve your problem.

 

Wow, right?! Props to Kindheart. I have the same DVD drive as you, BTW. So should anything go wrong, I'll file this under solution.

 

Hello and welcome.

Unfortunately, it don't use VM Ware with XP guest any longer since the one program I was using it for has been updated to work in Vista. I had a clean Vista x64 install at the time and didn't encounter that problem with the eject.

There was another member who reported the same issue with VMware and the eject button.

Not sure why VM6 would cause that problem. There must be a conflict between quickplay service and VM's hypervisor service.

 

XP won't detect it because it needs a SATA driver.

It's OK to do a quick format on new drive. Full format only check for errors. That's what accounts for the long time. If you are sure there are no errors on the disk, do quick format. I don't know about file and folder compression, never used it since having problems in the past with it.

As for why it doesn't come up with USB, you have to...

Control panel/ administrative tools/ computer management/ storage/ disk management

Partition it, format it, then assign it a letter if it doesn't automatically do that.

 

Sweet thanks. I stopped the full format at 68% is it ok to just do that and do a quick format? Nothing messed up right? Oh and I guess formatting it won't help to have it recognize it? I'll need to create a new XP disk with SATA drivers huh..Even if I do it on a completely blank new hard drive with no OS on it at all?

 

Guess, will have to live with it. till some solution comes up..
thanks ne ways..

 

I just realised that my HDX BIOS is not detecting the built in Lightscribe DVDRW as a boot option anymore - although it has been set up correctly in the BIOS to boot before the HDD.

What I find strange, is - I can clearly recall that it did work early on when I got the laptop and for some odd reason it doesn't boot to CD/DVD anymore. The DVD/RW works fine though, it reads, writes normally in Windows.

I also noticed when the BIOS screen pops up (ie. press F10 for X, F11 for y), I also recalled it used to be 1 second or less before the options go away. Now it stays there for 12 seconds or so before it starts booting. At this time, the DVD/RW drive undergoes a cycle of 4 quick read light flashes which I never quite noticed early on.

The only change I could have done was to wipe the first HDD clean of the 12GB HP partition and did a restore straight to a smaller primary partition using the restore DVDs.

Has anyone experienced something like the above and maybe found a cure?

P.S. I have a USB DVDRW which did boot, but its kind of pointless not having the DVD to boot.

 

Ditto. +1!

Such a simple solution to such a vexing problem!

 

Aloha all-

Hey 2,

Whats your take on graphical artifacts that flashes on the screen for a second at the log in screen? I've researched and googled- some say graphic buffers other say possible graphic card failure.

This is on my HDX 16t which I use mainly for browsing and the occasional 1hour of World of Warcraft when the kids are sleeping. I started seeing it for a week now, no changes with drivers nor have I installed anything new.

I could have posted at the 16t thread but I rather post it here because this is more my 'family'.

Comment?

Aloha

 

I have that too, but disappears after 0.5 seconds . In my case it are bars that I see.
From top to bottom: Black bar, "part of login screen", black bar, "part of login screen"
I don't know if you're having the same issue, but it's certainly not my graphics card failing
Grtz

 

Yeah jaggedly lines sometimes on one side of the screen. Then the next time its on the other side. Almost like a sideward bar graph or something.

 

Well, I've had that for some months now and I don't think it's my graphics card failing, because I would've known that by now.
What I think the cause is, is some update by windows. When I did a full restore, I didn't have it anymore but when I installed all windows updates, I did have it again.
Imo, it's not a problem as it goes away in 0.5secs
The bars are ALWAYS perfectly horizontal in my case xD

Grtz

 

In addition to the SSD tweaks mentioned elsewhere, here's another one. There's a known Vista SP1 bug with the MSAHCI SATA driver that erroneously disables NCQ (Native Command Queuing) support. Here's the MS KB article that discusses this issue and shows you how to obtain the private hotfix:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/960735/en-us

Another (easier) way to fix this is to use the Intel Matrix Storage software (which includes Intel's own SATA driver):

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2101

I reloaded my Dragon from scratch when I got it so I frankly don't remember if the stock Vista OS that came with it used the Intel Matrix software suite. If so (and you've kept it current), you should already be ok here.

 

The answer to your question is simple - people continue to use and try different drivers and updates just because they're new, and not because they're certified and released for their system, which should be one of the only real criteria for updating them. The only other one is if you've got a bad one and are replacing it with the same or a newer certified release you don't have.

Drivers fall under several categories - Generic (e.g., Intel CPU drivers, Windows, etc.), Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM)(e.g. NVIDIA), and 3rd party vendor (e.g., HP). Generic Drivers can be used on any system, and the update notes will tell you that. OEM drivers are the drivers that are released by the OEM (the manufacturer that makes the component assembly, NOT the entire system) for use with new components/assemblies direct from them as replacement units. 3rd party drivers are for components/assemblies that are used in 3rd party systems like the HDX (HP is a 3rd party vendor, like many) and are specifically coded to work in concert with the unique engineering of the system.

Now, before the rest of you start arguing with me about the definition of OEM and the driver process, you should know 2 things first if you don't already know - one, I used to manage an HP OEM Assembly (I/T), Maintenance & Repair Depot and two, part of my responsibility was the assembly, integration and testing and delivery of new systems. Customizing firmware was part of that process - I've even done my share of PROM burning over the years. Driver modification was one of the particular responsibilities of some of our programmers even though they didn't call them drivers back then. I and many others who've been around a while have seen the definition of OEM become so transposed and convoluted over the years and used incorrectly so often that even OEM's themselves don't use the term properly. Then again, 99% of the them can't even spell correctly or use proper grammar in official documents and notes and Advertising, not to mention a product package. Computers are making corporations illiterate. The term OEM is rarely used today in its proper context and definition.

The definition of OEM is: "The Original Manufacturer of a component for a product, which may be resold by another company"

The OEM moniker can technically be applied to assembled systems like the HDX, but that's where the industry has led the way to confusion across the planet. While HP is technically the OEM for the fully assembled HDX system, it is not the OEM for the HDX's individual subassemblies. This is where users get confused and get into trouble. That and they don't read anything.

However, applying the OEM term to 3rd party vendors like HP is still incorrect since they don't really manufacture anything. They assemble OEM components and assemblies into their own unique product. In this case "Manufacture" is a relative term - using the HDX as an example, one could argue that since it's a uniquely designed system, it's been "made" or manufactured by HP. However, the literal definition of "Manufacture" means "To build something made from raw materials by hand or by machinery." Using that definition, the term doesn't apply.

When OEM components are sent to 3rd party assembly contractors the units in question usually are required to have the base OEM drivers modified to work within the unique system parameters and design engineered by the 3rd party vendor. This is what makes each system unique - if it wasn't that way, the industry would be dull indeed as all systems would be pretty much the same.

This is also why HP and other vendors tell their customers to only use drivers approved for use on their particular systems, and OEM's tell their customers that any updated drivers should only be installed if the 3rd party vendor has approved it for use on the customer's system. Nevertheless, millions of people continue to ignore what the OEM's and Vendors say.

As an example, when you go to NVIDIA or other OEM component site for a driver update, actually take the time to READ what the information tells you. The same goes for any driver update service like RadarSync. Here is a typical NVIDIA Driver Update with notes - I have highlighted key areas to show my point:

NVIDIA Driver Downloads
GeForce Release 179 for Notebooks BETA
Version: 179.28
Release Date: December 18, 2008
Operating System: Windows Vista 64-bit
Language: U.S. English
File Size: 140 MB

"This is a reference driver that can be installed on supported NVIDIA GeForce notebook GPUs. However, please note that your notebook original equipment manufacturer (OEM) provides certified drivers for your specific notebook on their website. NVIDIA recommends that you check with your notebook OEM about recommended software updates for your notebook. OEMs may not provide technical support for issues that arise from the use of this driver. "

While in most cases a newer driver will probably work, if it hasn't been approved for release on the system vendor site, that means it hasn't been certified for use specifically with a particular system or base system series. If it's not certified that means that the OEM driver may cause problems on the system it's installed on. It is this single detail that gets most people into trouble along with not following the instructions to begin with - if they had, they wouldn't have installed the driver to begin with.

In some cases a new OEM driver release may not appear to affect the system at all, at least for primary operation. But somewhere a bug is just waiting to bite you when you least expect it.

Most systems will have useful driver updates for about 2 or 3 years before the vendor will discontinue any further driver updates for it.

Generic Drivers - Intel and Microsoft are the biggest distributors of Generic Drivers; they work on the product in question regardless of system, but that's common sense since systems are built around Microsoft and Intel products or others at the base level. Regardless, each driver update will tell you that the driver is generic.

Some drivers like Sony's will have an OEM assembly driver code check within the update - if the update is for the OEM assembly and not an assembly that has been installed in a 3rd party system, the update will halt and an error message stating that the update can't continue (and why) will appear.

Bottom line - if you install a driver from the OEM of the assembly or component and not your system vendor, or from an update site like RadarSync, and that driver isn't certified for your system, then the odds are about 90% you'll have some issues after the install. Just because a driver for a component or assembly may be a new update from the OEM, does NOT mean that it's necessarily an updated driver that will work correctly in your particular system. If it is, it will be released on the 3rd party vendor site (HP) as well. The other area users get in trouble? Complete and utter lack of patience. People are so impatient that they can't wait to try out that shiny new update that was just released. Who cares if it's certified for their system or not. Hell, everyone knows better than the Engineers who designed the thing anyway, right? As long as there are idiots out there who think that, I'll always be able to make a buck - and I don't see it happening anytime soon.

 

Like it looks like it's tearing away? Not a problem. Common with Nvidia chips. Used to be a series of flashes to a black screen during or just post log in screen with their earlier models starting with geforce 2 go. And it's sometimes driver specific.

A lot is going on during boot including driver initializations and memory allocations. Graphics card is competing for resources at that time. I notced that the less services you have at boot time the less likely you'll see it.

 

If you have one of the original HDX's, they had specific issues that were fixed in later models. 2.0's the only one around who would know about the any specific remote issue.

Of course the first thing that comes to mind is - Have you changed the batteries in your Remote and cleaned the the BT transmit/receive lenses on the Remote and HDX? I'd suspect your battery juice in the remote first - the symptoms you're describing are usually what happens when the batteries get low, and if you've never changed them and you have one of the original HDX's, you should replace them anyway. You need 2 CR 2016's - turn the Remote over and you'll see the battery compartment access that slides down.

As far as the RAM upgrade, it's not an 8gb RAM upgrade from a specific source or anything like that - the HDX will take and use up to 8gb of RAM on a 64 bit system. You just need to add enough RAM to your system to make 8g's.