*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

It's time for holiday. Hasta luego, amigos.

 

We all suspect you are doing a bios update, and if it fails, we'll see you after HP fixes it.

Just kidding.

Enjoy your time off. We will try and survive without your help.

Cheers,
Mike

 

I tried SmartDefrag and will now try Auslogic, but nothing changed with the first Defrag so far. I'll try the next steps. Thanks man!

 

Hmm I see. Do you think that could have added to the corrupted database the last time before I reformatted for the bazillionth time? I just bought a Hauppauge PVR to record from the DVR via component (assuming it survives shipping), so as soon as that happens I'm getting rid of the dual boot on two hard drives because it just sucks. Doesn't work like anywhere near as well as the single Vista Ultimate CTO install..though Windows 7 may run better/fair enough in dual boot, I think I'm going to look into a way to get OSX on here because I hear it actually runs faster if not better on an Intel PC than in Mac hardware. Windows 7 is pretty nice actually...so what I'm thinking is I'll do the single dual/triple boot on the first hard drive like you said and use the second as storage and to install stuff to.. The single hard drive triple boot should work well no?? Please God, I'm so sick of reformatting because one thing or another doesn't work correctly. Have any suggestions for me in this pursuit since I've never tried the single hard drive dual/triple OS boot scenario? I would like to aim for speed and stabillity.

 

Can you suggest a 3rd party software that can make a bootable disc to partition from? Happy Memorial Day btw!

 

Can someone give me a little insight. My HDX has the 8800m GTS and I was looking into the new 18" HDX with the GT 130M. The specs for the gpu's I found are rated different. Is the GT 130M an improvement?

Thanks,
Phinfan

 

From what I read at the HDX18 forum it doesn't really help with gaming if that's what you want it for. It just barely helps a little bit over the 8800. People are actually opting for the 2.8 Core2Xtreme because the quads run hot and slow, ddr2 because the ddr3s aren't that much different, and the 8800 or whichever the lower end GPU is. I was surprised to read it but if you go to their forum you can see for yourself.

 

Look at the number of cores; as a rule-of-thumb, double the amount of cores = 33% increase in 3D Mark 06:
130M GT = 32 cores
8800M GTS = 64 cores
280M GTX = 128 cores

 

Thank you Dominick and Dreamcast. I will keep my HDX 20. The Dragon is still the reigning champion.

 

For your information:

Acronis 2009 s/w does not have the ability to clone from a spinning disk to an Intel SSD on an HDX when windows 7 RC is involved.

The SSD will boot from an external USB or eSata enclosure. I'm on the F.39 bios. Is F.40 the answer?

 

From what's been reported in here several have had to get their HDX sent in because the BIOS fried the motherboards. Only a few have got it working..and I don't know why or how..seems to be the particular configuration of their HDXs..

 

The problem is with the boot record. Acronis is not up to date yet cloning a spinner to the SSD's using Win7. I have thrown in the towel.

 

Can anyone tell me if the ESata port on the HDX Dragon (and HDX 16 and HDX 18) is powered? Will I need to make sure that any ESata drive/drive enclosure I pick up has a A/C power adapter?

 

All external ESata drives require external power. Any ESata enclosures should be designed with one.

 

Thanks!! Now I am off to BB to see what they have. Does it matter what kind/size/speed of HD I get to put in it?

 

Win 7 RC Installers who want it all to work:

I have again reloaded Win 7 RC. I ran into a few problem areas, and here are my fixes. First, I did not load any old HP HDX video drivers, I just let Windows update do it's video thing. It found the drivers on it's own. I have an ATI video board, and this fixes the 'Catalyst' load error on boot. Next, the TV Tuner, when you load it, load it in compatabilty mode for Vista SP1. Next, the fingerprint reader. Search this site for Jakes "Win 7 BETA" link, and download the driver, and load it after you have loaded the fingerprint reader.

Note, when you are loading Win 7 RC, shutdown and load time can be really long, as Windows 7 is downloading or possibly installing critical software, so expect a lot of network and CPU activity in the background. Wait for the system to return to you on reboots. It may take 5 minutes.

Cheers and good luck with your install.

 

Hi Everyone,

I'm brand new here, but I'm hoping someone might be able to help me out with my HP HDX9494nr. I purchased this machine in October 2008 and it has been running fantastically. Up until about 2 months ago I was primarily connecting to the internet the HDX using a wireless connection to my home network. Then one day the laptop decided it wasn't able to connect to the network any longer. However, anyone else who comes over has no problem connecting to my home network. I thought I read somewhere at sometime that other people had this problem with the HDX but I'm not certain. Has anyone heard of this or can anyone help me with the problem? I've been using a hardline connection to the net since this problem started but I really need to use the HDX wirelessly now. I'd be eternally greatful if anyone could help.

Thanks so much,

Mike

 

I got a Lacie Rugged XL 1TB Hard Drive from Techonweb but this one is the same price at $137 if you want to check it out: http://www.clubmac.com/clubmac/shop...xternal+Hard+Drives&dpno=7792759#tabs_section

No complaints so far and I've had it for about a month now. It has ESATA and is the biggest rugged one I have personally seen.

 

What I would try if it were me:

Reboot the modem and router, unplugging both first, waiting 30 seconds for the modem then plug it in, and then 30 seconds for the router. If that doesn't work, try automatic IP on the HDX, if that doesn't work, try manual IP then opening ports on your router. Try rebooting the modem and router again to make sure it sticks. If that doesn't work you may try uninstalling the WIFI card because maybe the driver doesnt work anymore, go to device manager delete the driver as part of that option if it comes up, right click somewhere in device manager do scan for hardware changes or else reboot..the drivers should be in your SW Folder. If that doesn't work I guess your WIFI card is dead and needs to be replaced? I'm no expert those are things I would do if I had that problem but someone more technically savvy may have a better idea.

 

Quick question: Which Avermedia TV Tuner do we have in the HDX9300?

 

Hi Mike,

First of all go to Services and check whether the Wireless Zero Configuration Service is running, if it is not make sure it is set ti start automatically.

 

HELP! I need a Nvidia driver removal tool...

At some point even I got into this useless frenzy of updating drivers every couple of weeks and (of course) finally everything got messed up:
One day by updating I found that the new driver worked perfectly except that the mouse cursos was invisible (!!)
I decided then to unisntall phisix and the Nvidia drivers and now I am stuck with a 800x600 resolution, that's right I can't even reinstall the original drivers anymore (of course I could do a system restore but when I do that I just get back to a situation where I can't update drivers anymore (I triied that)

Any suggestion? Anyone knows a good nvidia driver removal tool?

Thanks


Update: just after writing this CCleaner managed to get rid of some Nvidia "leftovers" in the registry and the system restarted with an old driver (why that one, which I only tried once and didn't like and then I updatet several times?) Anyway hopefully I will be able to update from here... Still doesn't Nvidia offer a clean up utility anymore? They use to have one...

 

Hello all,

I've got a little problem .
My HP HDX 9350EB thinks it's an HP 8510X?
That's what System Info says and I can't use the recovery discs I made :s
I hope someone can help me, but I doubt that.

 

Download and install DriverSweeper. Uninstall Nvidia ad Physx if its a separate installer in Add/Remove. Check the boxes for display and Physx and clean.

 

I don't get the recovery thing..they say you can only make one set..but I made two, then after two it wouldn't let me make any more.. There's a thing you can do to try to get it to bypass that but it didn't work for me so I doubt it would work for you:

How can I make another set of Recovery Discs? For whatever reason, you were not able to successfully create recovery discs for the first time, or you lost the ones you made. Now the software won't let you burn another set. To fix this, open an explorer window (my computer, etc..) and go into folder options. Make sure "Hide protected operating system files" is not checked, and also make sure "Show hidden files and folders" is enabled. Then do a search for the file "hpcd.sys" on all local disk drives. Delete all of the ones that you find.

If that doesn't work I guess the only recourse is to have to buy the Recover DVDs from HP.

 

That is not the problem, I will show you by printscreen what's the problem.
The problem is that my computer THINKS it's an HP 8510X, but it's an HP HDX9350EB. I succesfully created my recovery discs (2 discs), but the computer won't accept them.

 

There are A301,A312 and A321

 

Thanks, but how do you know exactly which one you have in particular?

 

Just pop the mPCI-E panel off and look at the card, that's the easiest way.

 

In control panel, TV tuner device properties are providing that information

 

anyone update to vista service pack 2? released yesterday/today.

my experience index for stock hard drive went from 5.4 to 5.5 for 9494nr, all appears to be stable otherwise as well.

btw, i updated to bios F40E the day it was reported/came out in 2008.

all working fine for me. everything stock. vista home premium 64 bit. 8800gts, 2.1 proc. 4gb ram.

 

Before you add the driver it says AVermedia, but when you add the 5607 sound drivers it goes under Sound in Device Manger and doesn't seem to say jack squat there. I guess I'll have to open the bottom to see. Thanks.

 

Ill check, thanks man.

 

You update it from a clean install or over top how you already set everything up drivers and all? I used the beta which expired a month or so ago, but is this one official?

 

Timeline:

• got my new HDX 9494NR in sept 08
• came with Vista 64-bit Home Premium SP1
• uninstalled all the trialware and software i wasn't going to use (games, burning software, etc.)
• did all windows updates
• went to hp website and did all the latest driver/firmware updates
• made recovery discs (you can only do it once) through built in recovery manager
• installed software i use (security,burning, etc) and updated it
• made an image of compy with true image
• enjoyed the wonderful hdx whilst periodically going to hp site to update drivers, etc. and nvidia site for video drivers
• in october or november i believe i did the latest firmware F40E
• continued to enjoy HDX
• never installed anything nonstock as far as drivers, etc.
• never did clean install
• made a couple more images since then
• went through windows update and it said SP2 was available, so i downloaded and installed it. i heard it came out earlier, but officially was in windows update as of a couple days ago
• still going strong.

no problems at any point.

link to VISTA SP2 for 64-bit, if you want to download the installer to your hard drive and install it when you want

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...4a-55ec-4972-a0d7-b1a6fedf51a7&displaylang=en

I would pay for someone to upgrade my processor, if i could trust someone (not sure if i trust myself with replacing it) to something other than the T8100 or whatever it is. After that, i would upgrade to 8gb ram, from 4gb.

what is rep points? anyone want to give me any

 

I had a few problems recently
I had to use CCleaner to remove some Nvidia leftovers from the registry in order to install new drivers, and maybe that is the cause of my new probs.

Now things seem better but the list of programs in the "Program and Features" list is a bit messed up: wrong icons, wrong file size, wrong date: several program are listed as having been installed on year 2042

Anyone knows what's going on and what I can do to fix it?

Thanks

(I am running Vista 64)

 

Coolbeans, thanks. I repped you. Have no idea what it does but you got some.

 

Isn't it ALWAYS SOMETHING with Windows..? Did you back up your registry before you did the Reg clean? I had to learn the hard way to do that, but many times I forget and who knows if a restore would even fix something like that.. Sounds like CCleaner took somethings away that should have been there perhaps.

 

just have a sec...for whatever it's worth, I use Ultimate Defrag to defrag hard drive, whenever i do...works great. I don't use a regcleaner as i didn't find a suitable one yet.

 

The 8800m GTS is much better. The 130 is a rebranded 9300 which was a rebranded 8400. U will be much better off with the 8800 IMO

 

To tell you the truth if I really have to mess with the registry I prefer to do it manually, at least I know what I touch. CCleaner for once fixed my problem removing the nvida leftovers, regardin the file size problem I found an (old) article somewhere that explains how windows sometimes tries to "guess" the file size since apparently certain programs are not friendly that way. What still puzzles me is that a (very) few programs in the list are reported as last used in 2071 or 2072!!! Oh well I guess it's not a very big deal...

Weird can you guys take a look in your PC and see if by any chance that also is a common problem?

 

Phinman or whomever, here is a link

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-130M.13789.0.html

as you can see, the 130M is 18 cards down in class 2, from the 8800M GTS, which is number 2 in Class2

 

Looking to get into gaming with my 9494NR.

I need to know for a fact, whoever has the same configuration (or less), basically 4gb ram, 8800M GTS, and T8100 processor...

what games will play well in high settings (whatever that is exactly),
and perhaps less than high (medium settings).

Looking at world in Conflict complete edition.

 

Sorry to disappoint you, Kumar, but the 9300M is half the power of the 130M, half the cores (16 vs. 32) and 1/3 the 3DMark06 score (2200 vs. 6400).
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-130M.13789.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9300M-G.11359.0.html

 

Not quite sure what the point to this post was...the bottom line is that UMAR(no K) pointed out accurately tthat the 8800 GTS is the superior card. I think the 130 is actually rebranded 9600 GT, which is still far less powerful than ours.

The tone of your post, though, was na-nah-nah-nah, I'm smarter than you...which isn't cool in this forum, especially towards someone that has contributed greatly. On the other hand, I can't remember significant inputs from you.

 

I have the same config as you (except my processor is T8300)

All games, except GTA4, Crysis and World in Conflict run on Maximum settings on this specs. Crysis i played in DX10 mode at 1280x720 at some settings high and some ultra without anti aliasing. World in conflict also i played in DX10 mode with a mixture or ultra and high settings. I average abt 28f fps in these

Other than these two games, i have run all games at maximum settings at 1680x1050 resolution with 2x anti aliasing.
Examples are: Bioshock, Mass effect, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six Vegas 1 and 2, Riddick Dark Athena, Mirros's Edge, Prince of Persia, Godfather 2. I averaged at almost all times more than 40fps in these games. \

So start gaming !!!

 

Yup i agree. My friend has an Acer with the same processor as mine and same 4GB ram. He has a 9600m GT DDR3. I can max all the games he cant and his avg fps is abt half of mine. So even if the 130 is a re branded version of the 9600m, u will be better off with a 8800m GTS.

You can ask in the gaming section what fps ppl with 9600 get and compare it with the 8800m GTS


On another note, do u guys think that we can swap out our 8800m GTS for the GTX 280? i know that GPUs in notebooks cant generally be changed but in a very small fraction of laptops, they can be changed. Is the HDX amongst those whose cards can be changed?

 

thanks umar for the list of games. i was looking at bioshock and mirrors edge as well. you have a 2.4 processor...not fair. next thing i want to do is change that, but holding out.

if they do come out with a new hdx dragon (read 20+ inch) line again, it will kick and be priced to match. maybe in 2010.





is it just me or has the board here been experiencing problems this week. i know it is not my computer or connection, but i kept getting 404 server error when trying to even load the site in the middle of the night. no maintenance message, no nothing.