*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

So, I have committed the ultimate crime.....I dropped my Dragon 3ft onto its back. Everything seems to be working fine, much to my surprise. Sometimes the keyboard acts weird and the mouse keeps trying to drag things. But I restart and everything is honky-dory. I assume I some how messed up my software, maybe jiggled a connector loose on the inside. Any thoughts?

 

As a previous owner of the Dell XPS M2010, I can say that I feel the Dell 2010 had more emphasis on design than the HDX. With the built in carry handle, the DVD drive that rose up from the unit to open, detachable keyboard, etc., there was a lot of thought put into the design. It was a very chic unit. There was no SLI design in it. It only ever had the ATI 1800XT (or 1800-something). Single GPU only.

I'm not sure they lost money on it, though. Like the HDX, the XPS M2010 was introduced in the $4000 price range. Towards the end, they were more like $1200, and they were probably still making a profit on them then!

But, the HDX is a more powerful unit, and also very well designed. I like them both.

 

You and notebooks! Goodness. If they repair it then cool, but if you are going to send it in make sure you DO NOT take their first options if they say they can't repair it, which will usually be to give you a piece of crap as a replacement. You'll need to respectfully decline their offer and make your case for why you should get something on par with what it cost when it was ctod, like an HDX 18 with similar specs. If you lose out on the Dragon, then at LEAST you have a new HDX18 and or a nice unit you can sell on Ebay to put towards a 2.8 Dragon you find online somewhere.

While there may be a slot loaded Blu Ray disk drive, I don't know of any that work with the HDX Dragon. The ones I saw had different technology inside, the kind used by the HDX18. I know the SJ 220 will work in the Dragon, but from what I could tell the slot loaded ones depended on using IDE...SATA..was it? I can't remember but it's different from how the Dragon is set up. The other option of course is to be able to get a newer faster Blu Ray Burner and an enclosure. If you wanted JUST a Blu Ray ROM, with no Blu Ray burning capabilities, there may be a slot loaded one you can find but I didn't research it. I hope you can get everything working so you can finally enjoy the HDX9000 man.


Dominick

 

Yeah I think I am thinking of the pre-release notes on the sli thing, something regarding dual 7900gs or something, I never read anything about if it was production or not. I know there was a big stink over the sli or lack of with that unit. That however really is a different machine than the Dragon where as the dragon is really a giant laptop/DTR I think the m2010 was really just a mainstream DTR with a handle. since it was not just one unit. It looked nice on paper.

 

Ok, this really doesn't have too much to do with laptops but it shows the awesome capabilities of SSD drives....it's simply amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96dWOEa4Djs

"We took 24 256GB Samsung MLC SSD's and put them in RAID to make this awesome computer!"

After seeing this video, I think I'll have to expedite a SSD purchase!:yes:

 

Impressive, indeed.

Here is my Vertex 120Gb HDD results:



Consider, a 320-500GB HDD can only do about a max of 65-70MB/sec transfer rate. What's more the seek time of an HDD is around 16-19msecs. An SSD ~ .1msecs.
So not only does it transfer more data faster, it finds it hundreds of times faster. You'd think some programs were loaded from RAM.

 

Has any one noticed any movies or TV shows that show the HDX being used?

....example is like Stargate Atlantis features the axim x50v in some scenes (I have one of those) but have not found anything that features the HDX or the other machine I own, the HP TX2110us tablet

 

Nope, haven't seen it anywhere. Seen Alienware notebooks and Dell XPS notebooks. Only HP's I've seen were Pavillions on Daytime TV and News.

 

I hope you get this before sending it back...I bet your battery sat in storage too long and self discharged. Li-on batteries won't smart charge after the voltage drops too low. I know that one of the problems with Lithium ion batteries is that although they have a very low rate of self discharge, once they fall below a certain voltage level it can create problems for them. I bought a camcorder with a completely dead battery and an mp3 player w/ the same problem. What was interesting was that neither battery would appear to charge in the device...same with my drill battery (although it's NiMh) I was able to manually charge the mp3 battery using two stripped leads to a universal power adapter and sure enough, it started charging in the device after a few min. on the manual charge. Didn't work on the camcorder battery though...too far gone perhaps. Anyways, if you want to give it a shot, you may want to try to manually charge the battery using just the positive and negative leads to your charger, some wire (and a nail possibly?). Be careful since the battery could overheat w/out the circuitry engaged to protect it, so the goal isn't to fully charge the battery, just to "jump start" it so that it will be recognized by the laptop.

 

dugsterfresh

 

Being the owner of both a G.SKILL Falcon, and an earlier generation G.SKILL Titan, and having tried them both in the HDX, I can mirror the above advice.

SSDs without the newer controllers are of course, still speedy, but the associated 'jitters' that you will notice from time to time make the products overpriced for what you'll get from it, even if it's a fair price for the actual technology. I have to assume as you're even considering this upgrade that you are somewhat of an enthusiast, and with that in mind I would suggest that you'll probably find the performance boost is not worth the annoyance (anyone paying hundreds for a hard drive is bound to be a bit particular ).

Absolute bottom line: get one of the second generation SSDs mentioned above, or be patient and wait. Don't be suckered in to going for the cheaper option because they appear to be better value for money.

Oh - same thing with storage capacity too. Sure, you could get a 30GB drive and get a nice boost in load times for whatever you manage to fit on it - and a general OS responsiveness will increase - but for that little bit extra you can get the same if not a bigger performance boost without the annoyance of having to worry about allocating hard drive space only to the things you need - in time you will wish you spent the extra few notes for it.

Even if that wern't the case, my PERSONAL experience has been that the clearer a drive is, the better the performance you'll get from it, even from an SSD. Better to have a 128GB and only use 30GB, than to cram a 30GB.

To summarise my entire post: don't skimp!

 

Hello,

1)What is the spec for the panel 1060x1080? I assume 60hz and ? ms

2)Anybody successfully upgrade to Window 7, did everything run faster since tapping in on GPU.

Thx,

 

Hardware specs are best to get from the source you are buying from. There are many different configurations for this model.

 

There is a comedy quiz show in Australia called "Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation" that I believe has the HDX. When they go to an ad break, the screen shows the HDX.
Not as good as seeing my old laptop on The Italian Job or Stargate but you take whatever you can get.

 

You may also want to check out the Intel X25. I know they have a second version of those drives that are faster. I'm still quite happy with the original.

 

Yep. They're pretty decent drives. Though they (MLC and SLC versions) cost a bit more than the OCZ and G.Skill MLC drives and have slower write speeds. The OCZ and G.Skill drives write twice as fast.

But you can get 80GB & 160GB capacity with the Intel drives.

 

Err...look at post #3121 (pg 313) and the subsequent replies. How is that still there then? And there was clearly discussion about it. Or did people have different attitudes towards this back then? If this is a banned topic then you guys should clean up those posts too.

***EDIT***
Nevermind...eto1976's original post got pulled. Funny though how his full post is still in someone's reply. I'm deleting my post as well but looks like it's still going to show up in your reply like his did.

 

I've just noticed something strange on my HDX. Every time I enter into hibernation mode the computer shuts down and then after a while, the screen suddenly flickers a few times. Usually this goes on periodically for around half an hour or so. Anyone else experience this or have an explanation?

 

I have noticed a change in my Dragon lately. I have owned my 9494nr for about a year and after shutting down the computer my screen as well flickers. This is mostly unnoticeable during the day, but i've left my screen up at night, and its freaky. Also, another symptom here is that when i open or lose the lid while the computer is on, it flickers vigorously in and out of a conceivable image. I am inclined to assume that it is from daily use of the screen, such as opening and closing the lid. (correctly mind you) But i believe that this may be a design flaw due to the large, heavy screen/ arm and wiring through it.

I also have another question for someone with this experience:
Can someone give me some advice on disassembling the case to clean/ clear out dust and junk. As well as replace processor and maybe take a look at the screen assembly to find out whats wrong.

 

Hi there l'm new to the site and looking for advice.
I would like to know why the HP HDX with a 20" screen has ben discontinued, is there a major problem with this series or has it just been upgraded. I look forwards to your replies as l have saved long and hard only to find out its discontinued Appologies if this thread has already been asked

 

It's been discontinued for about a year now. No problems with it other than it didn't sell well. You can find new, used or refurbished models on eBay.

In any event, here is the official HDX Dragon lounge:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=169232

 

Just wanting to clarify the whole "replacing the wireless card" issue. Can someone tell me which Intel card I can definitely use? And, just to clarify, I have to leave the old one in there, "disable" it (I guess), install the new one in a different slot on the bottom (I'll have to look for that cause I haven't noticed where that "spare" slot is yet), then take it out if I ever send it in for warranty work? Also, my network is set up to run on the dual band (which my current card in the Dragon - a/b/g band only- is spoiling for me....), so this new card will allow this? Thanks! You guys are a bunch of geniuses!

One last thing, I just forgot..... Is there a simple post/instruction somewhere on opening/closing the laptop? I always feel like I'm not doing something right and I don't want to break the hinge, scratch/mar the finish all up where it rubs on the hinge, etc. Just wanna make sure I'm doing it right!

 

Hi 2.0
Many thanks for your swift reply, what a shame that it is discontinued as the repords l've read regard it as being the rolls royce of laptops. It seens that they are still carring on with the 16 to 18" versions, any coments on the 18" would be happiiy recieved

 

Flashing issue is normal. All HDX Dragon's do it. Inverter capacitor discharging.

either cable needs to be reseated or replaced.

See the service manual (link to it on page 100, Blacknight's post). It has fairly detailed disassembly instructions. To clear out fans, remove the rear cover.

 

Two cards will work. Intel 5300(abgn) or 4365. The 4965(abgn) is whitelisted in the BIOS so you can simply replace the card you have with it in the same slot. The 5300 is not on the whitelist so you have to use the 2nd slot for it.

You have to get a 5300 that is compatible with HP and IBM. The Dell ones don't work in HP computers. ebay listings tend to denote the version of the card.

If you get the 5300, the wifi switch on the top panel will not work with this card. You would have to use win+x or control panel to turn the card off.

Simple rule is not to lift it at the point where the webcam is or you may develop a crack at that point in the bezel. try to straddle that area with two finger - one on each side of the webcam area.

 

HDX 18 is a fine machine. Though it's GPU is half as powerful as the Dragon's.

See the Official HDX 18 Owner's lounge for more. Good folks like Lancorp can give you a wealth of info.

 

Think you meant 4965 abgn. I'd give you crap about it, but even God was wrong a time or two.

 

IDT 6225 available from MS Update and downloadable here at LV2Go: http://forums.laptopvideo2go.com/topic/23793-sigmatel-idt-latest-drivers/

I'm at work, so can't load them until tonite, but driver setup files look to have differences and some added SRS stuff. Hopefully THESE will offer full functionality for the HDX. Even loading fully without error would be nice. Then I could tinker with them a bit to see if I can bass to work with the driver.

BTW, there are Win7, Vista and XP versions.

 

Whoops.

Good lookin' out. I lay down, corrected!

 

If you are still looking to get a Dragon, here is the link to the company I got mine from. I used their auction on ebay, but I cannot find it anymore. I believe it's because they are running low on inventory.

It's factory refurb from HP, but I can vouch for it looking brand new and it comes with all the accessories.



Discontinued, it's still the best laptop IMO.

 

Ok guys. I have been a little busy, but I said that I would post my experiences with installing XP x64 edition on the Dragon.

Well, you need to slipstream Intel Drivers into the DVD. After that, you should be able to install it without any issues. The drivers were a bit of a problem, but I expected that. I ended up cheating and using the Vista drivers (made a backup of my drivers using Driver Genius Pro. If you have this program and decide to do the backup on the Dragon, do the Folder backup AND the .exe backup. You can use the .exe backup for a Vista reinstall and you can use the folder backup for XP.) The only driver that I couldn't get to work was the IR device. While I found a driver for it, the remote still did not work. Otherwise everything else worked ok, even the fingerprint reader.
Also, you can have Driver Genius Pro search for updated drivers once you have all of them installed. Just make sure you have it search for XP x64 and not Vista. The Vista drivers are just to get things up and running. I hope this helps anyone that is looking to try XP x64 on the Dragon.

Oh and one more thing..... DO NOT USE THE .EXE BACKUP TO INSTALL THE DRIVERS IN XP X64!!! It will give you a BSOD of 0x0000007B and corrupt a file in Windows. You will have to start over from the beginning. Learned that one the hard way (I THINK it was the Consumer IR devices driver that caused the error, but it only happened when I used the .exe backup to install said drivers. Wasn't sure so I didn't use it again.).

 

Huh, thanks 2.0. I guess I have a lot of pent up power then. It feels like being in the middle of a lightning storm sitting in front of it.

 

Latest official, universal, nVidia notebook driver 186.81, dated today, are here:

http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

Have to select your specific operating system.

 

Be interesting to see what DOX does with it.

 

He'll probably add a Dr. Pepper machine.

 

Did you get a chance to update your audio drivers with this, and if so, what features are included and/or missing? (IDT control panel , etc.)? Also, do you notice any skips or hiccups when playing music? Does the subwoofer work? What is the air speed velocity of an unlaiden swallow?

 

Since I've been volunteered (thanks, 2.0) to offer a wealth of information, here's what I think about the HDX18t...

The HDX18t is a fine machine. Top quality build (like the Dragon). Configurable with some of the fastest CPU's on the market, unlike the Dragon. Infinitely more portable than the Dragon. Beautiful screen. Dual drives (like the Dragon). Not as rich and powerful audio as the Dragon. Runs hotter and makes more fan noise than the Dragon (which, from what I can tell is almost completely silent and very cool running).

It really comes down to portability. If you need a 95% desktop and 5% portable, the Dragon is the best. If you need more portability, the HDX18 would make an excellent machine. There are plenty of discounts to be had on the HDX18, you just need to search them out. Anywhere from 25-30% off can be had if you are patient.

Maybe others here can chime in and add their opinions?

 

Did load it. Had to use update driver method as there is no 'setup' in the driver. Loaded without a hitch. That was good. Didn't get too play much with it as momma was sleeping already, but even though it has a list of output devices, the speakers and headphones combo only outputs through headphones. There is no dedicated speaker output for selction. The headphones sound was much improved for me though.

However, I did pull the phones, and unfortunately, the available device icon went away on this option (didn't disappear, but couldn't select as default). Instead, there was no sound output from my internal speakers, but the volume bar was indicating that sound was being played through my SPDIF/HDMI output, where I had nothing plugged in.

One cool thing, I guess, if you can use it, is there is now a selection for Bluetooth audio device as default output. This is worth noting, because I have seen a couple of nice sound systems lately that are Bluetooth compatible that I am lookin at getting for my bedroom. Namely this:

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_305HBD8200/Samsung-HT-BD8200.html?tp=6485

I didn't try to get the IDT control panel open, and really didn't get to tinker with the driver too much. I am going to mess with it this weekend and see if I can get the internal speakers to be recognized properly and work.

trivia answer: I had a girlfriend once who could...oh sorry, wrong kind of swallow. 2.3 m/s maybe?

 

The second generation (G2) versions of the Intel X-25M SSD's supposedly have firmware that suports Delete Notify (commonly known as TRIM) in Windows 7. To use this you must use the default Microsoft W7 SATA driver (rather than the Intel Matrix driver) as the Intel driver doesn't yet pass the TRIM command to the drive. I admit I haven't seen ANY official Intel documentation about any of this - but got this info from a recent AnandTech review. The G2 drives are in limited supply and high demand, having twice sold out the day they reached the "shelves" at NewEgg.

*UPDATE*
Well it looks like the G2 versions of the X-25M SSD's don't YET have TRIM-enabled firmware. Here's the info from AnandTech:

"The new drives come with TRIM support, albeit not out of the box. Sometime in Q4 of this year, Intel will offer a downloadable firmware that enables TRIM on only the 34nm drives. TRIM on these drives will perform much like TRIM does on the OCZ drives using Indilinx' manual TRIM tool - in other words, restoring performance to almost new."

 

I'll wait to hear all the gory details once you get a chance to really get into it!

And, the correct trivia answer was: "What do you mean? An African or European swallow?"

 

The Universe must have just shifted: My Dragon just got showed up by a crappy sub $400 Toshiba with a lower spec processor and a crappy Intel 4500M (not HD) IGP graphics card. I've had some stuttering on Hulu.com for some time now on 480p selected. I tried the Powermizer switch and maximum performance power setting, I think it helped, but to my disappointment, it didn't completely cure it. I thought that maybe, just maybe it was my dsl connection causing problems, but today my roommate was able to play 480p on his crappy lappy w/ no issues that I could see....I was so ticked! Has anyone experienced this and gotten any resolution...the hardware should be able to do this w/ one hand tied behind it's back!

 

Sounds more like an internet connection settings issue. The video isn't skipping because of the hardware, it's skipping because of the source. Try watching the same video from a different source or try downloading it your Dragon and watching it from the hard drive.

 

I'm desperately trying to find the older version of the Quicklaunch buttons software, specifically version 6.2. The file is called sp35581.exe and it has been removed from the HP site. After looking all over for a solution to my problem with the Quicklaunch buttons under Windows 7 the only solution others have found is to use this slightly older version of Quick Launch. If anyone could give me this I would be really grateful.
Thanks.

 

Make that me too - anyone has sp35581?

 

Great Stuff! I was thinking about doing some kind of testing before I get the SSD to compare the difference between the two. Your data is quite impressive indeed.

 

yes I have this version downloaded and saved. I will go dig it up and send you a pm. I will have to look it up. I am not sure why HP removed it from their site, if you browse the ftp servers you can only find the HTML doc that references it but not the actual sp35581.exe file itself. I will have to dig around but I am pretty sure I should have it.

When I was doing the win7 upgrade I ran into the same stuff you guys did so =)

 

Although my previous post above is noted, I posted the install order I orginally did with my win7 install and I did not use that version, whats wrong with your buttons btw?

Here is my previous post on this..

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5028117#post5028117

 

If you don't mind, can you send it my way as well. I used to have it as i needed it for an earlier laptop. In any event, thanks.

 

Just a sort of quick note..something weird. On my Vista 32 bit OS boot whats strange is even though it registers under Windows Experience as 8GBs of ram, when I look under Task Manager, which I rarely ever use since I use Process Explorer instead, but under it I see only 3GBs of ram being used..which is strange, because I STILL see a difference in performance, as far as things I can do with 8GBs of ram vs with just 4GBs..so I don't really get what is the case here and I can't seem to explain the boost in being able to handle heavy loads more with 8GBs, yet it not register it under Task Manager.. Either way I could clearly notice 8GBs works much better in 64 bit..so if anyone knows what's up and how that works, that would be cool if you could explain it.. I Thought the service packs said in their release notes that they allowed use of 8GBs in 32 bit..and it reflects this as I said in Windows Experience (not just that it SAYS 8GBS but the score goes up to 5.0 or 5.1 depending) so I'm confused. Any help appreciated. Thanks.

 

Me thinks you are experiencing a placebo effect! 32 bit systems cannot address anything over 4GB. Period. Windows Server Database Edition can using something called Address Extension, but normal OS's, only 4GB is in the memory map. Of that 4GB, some of your hardware uses memory there, like your video card, and a reserved memory map for hardware. So, in essence, you will only have about 3.25-3.5GB usable (less if you have a 1GB video card, etc.). Why does Windows see 8GB? Because MS got tired of people complaining that they had 4GB or 8GB but Windows only showed 3GB, so one of the service packs they released for Vista fixed the Windows Experience so it show the amount of RAM INSTALLED, not RAM AVAILABLE.

You definitely need a 64bit OS to use anything over 4GB.

So, why do you think your system acts differently with 8GB? The mind can play tricks, eh?