*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

Why would they release such a problem producing BIOS?

 

It's somewhat true.

What triggers the defect's manifestation is not something you will see in the HDX. Specifically; temps >85-90 DegC and more importantly, wide temp range from idle to load. HDX's temp range is from warm idle to load is upper 30's to 70 DegC. That's not of the range that stresses the solder bumps that have the defect. The GPU's that have seen this defect have temp ranges from mid 40's to >90 DegC.

So no worries. Just monitor your temps periodically. If you see you full load temps >75 deg C, means time to clean out your fans. Or better yet, clean them out every 3 months if you have a relatively clean environment. If you have pets, due to dander build up, clean them out more often.

 

If you've read some of cyberVision's posts, the answer is there.

To add to them, not every HDX has the exact same BIOS Flash ROM from the same manufacturer. The variation could account for why some brick and others are successful.

 

I have dodged a bullet big time then. I have known for a while about the F.40 version...but at some time or another, I have flashed to it anyway. I was just verifying it after reading your other post. I reflashed during my DVD drive problems...must have downloaded from the wrong link and didn't pay attention. At least all is well for now.

 

Hey Guys, Quick question. I dual booted vista 64 and Win7 beta. Win 7 is on my 2nd HDD and I thought that reformatting that HDD then reinstalling a fresh copy o' Vista on my primary HDD would erase all traces, But I still get the start up OS selection screen when I power on. How do I get rid of it?

Thanks!

 

Use the following program to edit the bootloader. Nice GUI, real simple.

http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1

 

The failure rate could be as high as 20% with that BIOS update. I'm glad that it didn't have any attractive additional features otherwise we'd be reading about a lot more bricked kit.

Though I've had nothing but success with the HDX, I wasn't willing to find out if I'm among the 80% club. Especially after what happened to wwoods (poster in this thread.)

 

Amen to that! And thanks for the post, you may save some others some serious grief.

 

Thank you, 2.0 - I feel better about it now. A newbie question: how do I check the temp? Thanks again

 

A free program called Hwmonitor.

http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

 

...well i have to add that the new bios has killed my HDX. The repair center has had the HDX now for two weeks and still it wont fire up. So far there has been three new system boards, 2 video cards and a new CPU trialled to correct the problem, but still nothing on the screen this includes testing it on an external monitor. DONT UPDATE YOUR V39 BIOS!!!

 

...as of tomorrow looks like this might be the case and im getting a brand new one sent out!

 

Thanks 2.0, that's been bugging the crap out of me.

 

Hmm I see. How then would we know if ours will blow up or not if we wanted to try it..doubt I will as I don't want a replacement for my HDX Dragon but I'm just curious?

 

A brand new what is being sent out? 20 inch dragon, 18 or 16 inch?

 

Not worth the effort (which is considerable) to find out considering that F.40 is non essential providing no meaningful benefits. Ball is in HP's court to figure it out.

 

Bron, if you were a Vet you'd know that anything I said was an interservice rant to someone else claiming to be a Vet, drawing on the experience of others instead of their own. I've both given and received a lot worse in my day. When I get nasty and personal, trust me when I say you'll know the difference. But you'll likely not see it here. And Hover, don't tell me that things have become so PC in the Navy these days that you didn't do the same. If it is, I'm glad I left when I did. If it hasn't and you didn't recognize this for what it was, then I'll say you quit driving and got out a lot sooner than you should have. A good sailor never forgets how to find out who's real and who isn't.

You guys know me well enough to know that I don't normally slam that hard because I usually think before writing. But in this case when anyone claiming to be ex-military starts out by saying "I don't want to get in the middle of anything or start a "Pi$$ing" contest, BUT.... as a retired USAF member who worked a lot with AF Special Ops and spent alot of time deployed all over the world.... blah blah blah...

To an old-time Submariner like me that's nothing less than a challenge worthy of an Veteran's reply. No one starts a message like that without meaning to do exactly what they said they didn't want to in the first place. If they did they wouldn't have said anything to begin with. Again, for those of you who aren't military or ex-military I don't expect you to understand - non-Vets rarely do.

Hover, Submariners don't drink Geritol - we either suck out some diesel fuel from the bilge to get things moving right, or sit next to an unshielded TLAM-N for a nice tan to relax - you should know that. The way I heard it, you pond skimmers like flushing your internal system out with your own hi-test bilge gas they run through the turbines.

Of course with us if the bilges were dry, there was always a good poly bottle of bilge wine fermenting back in the engine room. Nuclear Power does have its "peripheral uses". Grape bilge wine will clean your system out for a month - literally. Eat your intestines too if you're not careful.

So, for the non-Vets who don't understand, I was merely replying as a Vet to a person claiming to be one implying that this Vet doesn't know anything about thinking out of the box. My whole life and professional career have been exactly that, so I don't take any suggestions otherwise lightly, especially in light of the BS I've had to deal with because of it. Many areas of the government and military don't like non-conformists. And again, I don't have much respect for Vets who claim to know something because of their association with others and not because of their own experience and knowledge from actually doing something themselves.

 

Hey there!

Wow once every 3 months sounds like something that should be added to my page 100 general info post!

(It also sounds like I am about 6 months late for the first cleaning!!)

So tell me now, 2.0 since you are a fan of dismounting these things... How would you go about cleaning this baby?

 

Hey, long time no see. Hope all is well.

Most thorough way to do it is to remove the rear cover (which also requires removal of the hinge cover), use a vacuum or compressed air on the radiator grills while holding a fan blade to the respective fan so it doesn't spin from the suction of the vacuum or blast of compressed air. Then use a Q-Tip with a little alcohol to clean the caked on dust on the fan blades.

Pages 52-54 of the HDX Service guide.

One thing about a vacuum, some vacuums can produce static electricty. So make sure you watch what you are doing (stay on plastic parts or hover above vent grills using hand on underside to create better suction if attachment is metal) and only use vacuums with plastic nozzles and not metal attachments.

 

Are these temps ok?

Max is during 3damrk06.


http://www.fotosik.pl/showFullSize.php?id=37b8eb41b0cddf53

 

Hello all,

I've had my HDX Dragon since October and I'm pretty happy with it so far. Many thanks to those of you who have posted in this thread. I've gotten lots of useful information here.

A few things:

1) MEMORY
I see that some of you have upgraded your HDXes to 8 GB of RAM. I found the chips at Newegg for $199/each ( http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231202). Have any of you seen them for cheaper elsewhere?

2) DOCKING STATION
I'm happy to report that the HP docking station for the DV8000/DV9000 series is compatible with the HDX. You'll need a second power supply for the docking station, but you can find one for cheap on eBay.

3) ESD (?) ISSUES
I'm having the same issues that some of you have reported where Quickplay suddenly boots up even though there's no chance that I've hit one of those keys. Have any of you found a solution to that does not involve RMAing the unit?

4) QUICK KEYS
Is there a solution to the DVD eject quick button not working, or getting the On-Screen Display for the Quick Keys working reliably? I've disabled the OSD for now.

Thanks.

[L]

 

Yep, they're fine and within tolerance. What CPU do you have BTW?

 

BIOS Version/Date Hewlett-Packard 68DVD Ver. F.40, 29/08/2008

 

T8100 2.1ghz

BTW I am very happy because of WSXGA+ display.

PS My PSU is very loud. It sounds like working HDD. Is it ok?

 

Hello all,
I have a problem with my dvd/bluray drive. It's totally not working and doesn't even show up on "my computer" and devices menu. It was working just a few days ago, as I burned a few cd's for my wife. Does anyone know how this could happen and how I can fix it? Thanks in advance.

 

Open the tray and tap on the lens with a soft cloth...wait a minute, don't do that. Cyber will hunt me down and shove a Trident up my bilge drain.

 

Not judging you in any way, CV. As you say, I'm a civie so what do I know? LOL!

By the way, I love subs, though I have never been on one except for old WW II boats (like the one in Charleston, SC). Those would have been horrifying to serve on, I think. So small and nothing but the smell of grease and oil.

But I've always been fascinated by subs (or at least my fantasy concept of them). One of my favorite games of all time was an early WW II sub sim on the Apple II+. I forget the name of it. But I really got into that game and playing hide and seek with destroyers while attacking convoys.

Many years ago, when I met a real sub mariner (who worked at the same company I did at the time) and was talking to him about waterfall displays and 688 Attack Sub and that stuff, he just laughed and said it was nothing like what they really did. He sort of intimated that I would never understand what it was really like and I let it go, knowing he was probably right.

Anyway, I still enjoy sub sims to this day.

 

Hi guys.

For those of you following my keyboard saga, the replacement keyboard arrived on Friday. I plugged it in and it worked. No more missing keys.

I then flipped my HDX upside down to secure the keyboard with the screws. When I did that, I dropped one of the screws and it fell into one of the holes in the hard drive bay. I now have a loose screw inside my HDX. I shook it a bit trying to get the screw out and now it won't even rattle. It must be stuck tight somewhere.

Any ideas on how I could get the screw out without totally disassembling my HDX ?

Thanks

 

Actually, person you talked to was either a boomer sailor (read: not a real submariner) or served when they had all analog systems. I was lucky that I got to go to advanced training for both older analog and newer digital systems. It only cost me an extra 2 years on my enlistment too, which was essentially the year in school and the second year doing sea trials out of the shipyard after overhaul.

Either that or he was knowingly blowing smoke up your a$$. Without getting specific (since I can't) I will say that 688 is developed in part by Sonalysts, which is a prime DoD contractor for Sonar Systems support. Much of the support "training" info that's in the game for Sonar is pretty accurate, as are the tactics in the game. The tools and capabilities change, but tactics pretty much haven't changed for many years. The sub sim games out there have made myself and other Submarine Sonar Techs (I was an STS1/SS when I left in '88) weren't real happy at how accurate they were. It doesn't matter that the Russians don't have a blue-water Navy anymore, you don't give that kind of information out. 25 years ago that kind of info would get you locked up. The only reason Clancy didn't get locked up after Red October was published (by the Naval Institute Press, I might add) is that he was able to show his CIA visitors all the public sources his reference material came from. While he was wrong about some things, there was enough of it that was close enough to warrant a visit from the CIA and FBI. I remember when it came out as I took it on my first Spec-Op deployment to the North Atlantic. None of use could believe what was in it or where he got the info, much less that he was allowed to publish the thing.

The best book out now on Cold War submarine operations is Blind Man's Bluff - at least one of my best friends (best man at my wedding) is referenced in the book, as he used to be one of the lead Sonarmen on the Parche. If you read it, his nickname in the book is "Buddha". It fits him. A lot of people rag about the info in the book coming from guys like me, but they forget that a lot of civilians ride boats as well and they're the ones who can't keep their mouths shut - they're not out there all the time and have nothing to lose since they won't get shot at. Pure A$$holes.

If you want to see what the old BQQ-5 systems look like, the Smithsonian (ugh) just put up a display here in DC using old systems from one of the last attack boats to be scrapped from my day. You can see them here: http://americanhistory.si.edu/subs/operating/sonar/index.html

It kills me that my disclosure doesn't end for another 10 years, which means I can't say anything about what I used to do. Yet these jerks can put it on display for the world to see.

The old PC game you're thinking of is Silent Service - it's still around. I played the hell out of that game when it first came out. The IBM tech reps had it on their systems when I went to my Squadron for shore duty my last 2 years.

Funny you should mention the boat in Charleston - my cousin, who was also a Sonar Tech but was on another boat (he was on the Sunfish, I was on USS Ray) in Charleston, recently sent me a pic of a piece of Sonar gear they had that we used to use in our day to measure sound speed in water. He's still living there, finishing up is doctorate in Electrical Engineering. The guys who rode those old WWII diesels had serious iron balls - Nuke's make it a lot more comfortable even if it is still tight quarters.

If you want to see some of the pics from my RAY days, go to http://www.cybervisions.com/Ray I've got a few pics put up there that are linked to other sites for the boat. The one I posted the other day was taken in the Arctic in 1986 when we went to the North Pole with 2 other boats. Since I was one of the only guys who could open the Weapons Shipping hatch (center of the boat, one reason I've got serious back problems today) I was always on hand for small boat transfers and anything topside when we were underway. I was also the Ship's Public Affair PO, and I always had a camera with me topside. 3 of the PA shots from Helo's I arranged and coordinated to have taken. Sounds easy until you realize that you can't tell the helo when your departure time is because it's classified. Hard to get a helo too - I used a USCG helo out of Savannah for all the shots. They charged the gas for 'training missions'. All I had to do was tell them when and where to pick up the photographer, then they'd fly out and meet us as we were clearing Charleston Harbor and could increase speed for a better shot.

God I miss the Soviet Union and the threat of complete and total Nuclear Annihilation....

 

Matsuda,
Check out this page on the HP site:

Troubleshooting Optical Drive Detection Problems

 

Nah - just use a big knife to cut a hole in your 'skirt' and let all the air out.

BTW, I was going to ask you - did you ever get a chance to ride one of the coastal Navy Hydroplanes down in Florida?

 

Disregard my plea for help with the loose screw in my HDX. I tapped it on the end and the screw came loose. A little bit of shaking and the screw fell out.

I then used a piece paint masking tape to hold the keyboard in place while I put in the attachment screws.

For the first time since Christmas eve, my laptop has a working keyboard.

I love my HDX again, but I am extremely suspicious of how reliable laptops are and how prone they are to significant downtime.

I forgot how great the HDX keyboard and dispaly is. I used my girlfriend's dv5 for the last couple days and it doesn't even begin to hold a candle to my HDX.

 

So I ended up just flashing the bios and it fixed it. Actually "upgraded" to the new one - OOOPS!! So far, the computer is working fine. Thanks for the advice.

 

Actually dude, non-ESD rated plastic creates a higher laminar static charge at the nozzle tip than metal does. Metal is conductive - non-ESD rated plastic isn't.

Laminar airflow at the nozzle is what builds up high static charges on non-conductive surfaces when using a non-ESD rated vacuum.

You can buy Anti-Static nozzles for a regular vacuum that will lower your static buildup, but they're not fully ESD rated. Only a completely ESD compliant vacuum system is recommended for use on internal areas or around sensitive components (forget it - you can't afford one for the amount of time you'd use it). Regardless of what you use, always make sure that your system is plugged in and your vacuum is a 3 pronged grounded type, and if you're working in it that you're grounded as well. That way it's always grounded and you lower the chance of any static damage. It doesn't take much - if you've never seen static damage done to micro circuits under an electron microscope, it looks like a bomb hit the board trace or component. There is a good PowerPoint presentation that's got some good pics, including SEM shots of static damage to micro components. Note the one shot of the transistor where one section is completely blown out. ESD control was one of the bigger things I had to audit while doing NASA work, as all it takes is one person ungrounded to destroy a million dollar black box. Or your career....

If you can't find or want to buy anti-static nozzles, you're best option for cleaning is to either have a room air filter near where you're working, or a vacuum held at a few inches from the work area while you blow dust off the system and into the suction area. Realistically, unless you've got proper ESD rated vacuum equipment, you don't want to go down that road.

If you're curious, other high static generators:

Scotch Tape - especially right after is pulled from a roll.
Plastic Wrap, Bubble Wrap and Styrofoam/Foam Peanuts - NEVER PACK electronics in a plastic bag, or wrap it in Bubble Wrap or put it in a box with peanuts unless it's first been placed in an ESD rated bag or container. Even then you shouldn't use those items.

If anyone wishes, you can go to the ESD Association website and download their current ESD standard. NASA is moving to it slowly, which is a scary thought. Glad I left before the meltdown...

 

Good info thanks.

 

Anyone know why when I unplug and or re plug in my power chord the HDX gets really lagged? I hate that the power chord just falls out sometimes..I guess I'll have to velcro it too.

 

Not sure where you are located (I'm in the USA) -- mine was doing the same thing. Call HP support. Tell them about it. I had a brand new one at my door in three days. Absolutely no charge to me.

Also, HP sent me a silk-screened set of recovery DVDs for my Dragon. Free of charge.

Just call and ask. Don't be a d!ck about anything. "Kill them with politeness".

 

a new one is better?

 

A new what..20 inch HDX of same specs or an 18 or 16 inch HDX?

 

LOL. I bet myself you'd take issue. I won but oddly enough my net worth remained the same.

Truth of the matter is, the grand majority of peeps will be using a vacuum with a long plastic accordian tube and long stiff plastic attachment. Something which would generate significantly less ESD than and old CRT screen. Not enough to fry any component, ever. Even the ones that claim to be able to lift a small safe with the suction they produce. And they are mostly of the 2 prong, non-grounded variety.

However, some of the more fancy vacuums, especially the whole house units, use a chrome or metal end attachment which can conduct static electricity especially if operated on carpets, operator wearing wool sweater or other such conductive apparel or when cleaning out pet dander.

While all the info you gave is true scientifically, it's beyond the scope of the "mission" at hand. The area of cleaning in question poses no ESD threat since the cooling system doesn't lead to any ESD sensitive components. Plus Notebooks are designed to take significantly more ESD than a desktop considering their various operating environments and lack of grounding.

I've used ordinary household vacuums with accordian extenders and plastic attachments to clean out notebooks for more than a decade and never ever had a problem knowing that they don't generate nearly enough ESD or conduct enough static electricity to harm any components. All my notebooks have lasted for more than their useful processing life.

And with the regular cleaning I do with a vacuum, no one is that lucky.

 

If you unplug it, it'll default to battery power plan mode. It reduces processor and GPU processing power. You can adjust what it does on battery mode by right clicking the battery icon in your tray, select change plan settings and selecting more power options. Then go to change advanced power settings. Check CPU on batt, it probably says min 5%/max 50%. GPU will say something like when on battery max batt. Adjust it to your liking.

 

Interesting you should ask. I graduated GSM "A" school in Jan, 88 and actually requested to be sent to the Hydro foil program or the new Tyconderoga class cruiser program. Instead, I got to go to Norfolk, Va to work with LCAC. Just as well, as the Pegasus class hydrofoil program closed down in 1993. There were a few that migrated to the Chesapeake bay area from time to time for various reasons, so I saw a few but never rode on one. We raced the Taurus a few times. Their top speed was 50+ knots...man, were they slow!

 

how to wake computer up when it sleeps and after hibernate

EDIT
key "fn"

 

I keep it on the high performance one, with processor at 100%, but I don't see anything for GPU anywhere. Am I missing it somewhere?

 

Nope, my bad. You must be using a higher Nvidia driver than the 167.xx that comes standard with the HDX. IIRC, that one had the ability to set the GPU performance on Batt or AC.

No worries.

 

I'm kinda perplexed about something, hopefully someone has a solution. My prior computer was a HP zd7030, P4 3.0ghz, 512mb ram, Nvidia 5600. I am mostly an "old gamer", the programs I mainly use is Mame, Pinmame, and Mess emulators. All three played flawlessly on the zd7030, yet on my Dragon (HDX9494nr) I have problems with all of them. They seem to work for about a minute, then the video and audio get very choppy. On Pinmame, which I play the most, the tables are unplayable. I am running everything as administrator, and had tried all the compatability modes without success. I updated my Nvidia driver to the 179.28, no difference. The forums weren't much help; one person said my computer wasn't powerful enough someone else recommended I turn down the hardware acceleration, but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that. There has to be a way to get these programs working! The Dragon is superior to the zd7030 in every way; does anyone have any suggestions? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

 

Hey, thanks for the great reply! I always thought some of the sims were pretty good and 688 Attack Sub was one of my favorites. Yea, Silent Service - that was a great game. I think you really got a feel for what it was like in a way. Certainly the cat and mouse aspect of it.

I heard about Blind Man's Bluff a couple of years back, I will check it out. I went to the Smithsonian site, some nice info there. I also checked out all your photos and links. Good stuff, I especially liked the Hull 572 test shot and the coming into Charleston, SC at sunrise, lots of good ones though. Oh, yea, like the one in the artic dropping off spare parts. Pretty cool. I also read the various programs. Interesting, especially the Launch Program.

Re: Charleston I toured the sub (odd name like clagamore or something) and the Carrier Yorktown with my wife back in '84. We did the entire Yorktown, not just the air conditioned upper decks, but all the other decks as well (that were open) taking in all the little exhibits scattered throughout. This took several hours and it was a bit warm as this was in August. My poor wife trailed along with me without complaint. And the punchline to all of this is that we were there (in Charleston, SC) on our honeymoon!

She'll never let me forget it. I think she hated every minute of it (the tour, not the honeymoon, LOL!). But she did it. Of course, we also toured Charleston, Ft. Sumter, the plantations, the islands, and so on. Charleston was a very nice place and we had a grand time. Still have one of the baskets we bought there which we use to this day.

Yea, we all miss Kruschev! <ha ha> On a more serious note, have you been watching the Chinese? Someone I know told me they now have more subs deployed than we do. Probably not as good, but most are new.

Anyway, great post and lots of fun looking through all the stuff. It must have been great duty indeed!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
P.S. Apologies to everyone for the long OT posts. I'll shut up now.

 

Yea I'm using the driver for notebooks, the latest one, but...is there something that can get it to not get laggy when I unplug and or re plug in the power chord?

 

I did several tests concerning my PSU.
Until the battery reaches level of charge about 80% PSU is VERY quiet but when is more than 80% it becomes VERY loud. It sounds like working HDD.
Is it normal situation?
Do you have the same?

 

HDX 20 INCH UPDATE: I don't know how solid this info is but...I talked to a tech and he said that higher level techs were mentioning there are talks about bringing back a 20 inch notebook again, very likely with nice specs..aka quad core, ddr3, 1GB GPU, etc this year. Anyone else hear anything else?

OH and is it just me or did anyone else notice that the HDX18 has a 1GB 9600 GPU and DDR3 memory as current choices, as well as a BLU-RAY WRITER? Anyone have an idea on whether the Blu-Ray WRITER can work in the HDX 20 inch Dragon?