*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

I am trying to get XP Mode to work under Windows 7 64-bit Professional. It keeps telling me that I don't have hardware virtualization enabled, and I can't seem to figure out how to access the Bios to enable it. Can anyone point me in the right direction to get XP Mode working?

Thanks.

 

I don't recall, but did you get a new motherboard?

If you already had the proper motherboard and simply replaced the 2600XT with the 8800M, you have to reflash the BIOS. While you're at it, might as well flash to f.39.

 

When you boot up, at the boot screen "HP logo" repeatedly hit F10. Last tab in BIOS (system configuration> device configuration) will have enable hardware virtualization option.

You may have to Reboot twice.

 

I have replaced my motherboard
Before it was a 448145
Now it'a a 464591.

Do you think my bios version (F35) is OK ?

 

This is what I referred to when I asked about cleaning. Fans, vents, and heatsink fins should all be 'dust' free. It's more about airflow than anything, but if you have significant build up, then it acts as a thermal blanket as well. I would think you would have seen this/cleaned this if you had it opened before and it was significant.

nVidia driver 195.62 is latest and you can get it here: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

Also, if you download and run gpu-z, you can tell if your fans are operating at full speed when they are supposed to.

 

There is what to install new one for weekend.
Have Fun!: PhysX 9.09.1112

EDIT: no WHQL

 

idle 40-46 degrees Celsius

not sure in gaming. havn't gamed yet.

on the subject of cleaning fans. i really want to do it (have never done it yet). but considering my temps, do you guys feel i should even bother or not yet? it's been a year and a few months owning it.

only concern i have is 1 in particular, and it's not following the manual, but what the manual may not state. i rememeber someone doing this and they said their keyboard was never the same afterwards, because you had to pull it off to clean it, and it had some adhesive on it, which assuredly was not as adhesive, and i'm not sure that even if you had a certain brand, that it would be the same afterwards.

help me someone with this part. thanks.

 

Yeah, that would be someone who didn't follow the manual.

Anyway, You only need to remove the top cover. Pages 53-55. That's it.

Use you favorite methods to clean them - compressed air, vacuum, Q-tip dipped in Isopropl alcohol...

 

Might as well update to f.39. No worries with this version. Just run as administrator.

 

Well done! How does the difference feel in terms of graphics performance, now compared to before?

 

Even if it once again is complicated.
I Can someone confirm this problem for Vista and Windows 7!?:

1.max brightness with fn + f8 not reachable. (only via Mobility Center max possible)
and
2.minimale brightness does not reach through the Mobility Center. (only via Fn + f7 possible)

Based only on 195.62 and 195.55 beta !

There is a lack of 3 steps each way.

For first start after GPU driver install all ok. (including the controller is in Mobility Center shifts in the control via Fn + f7 or f8)
applicable regulations between min 46 and max 225.

After a new boot error occurs as described on. Applicable regulations then between min 76 and max 255 in Mobility Center.

See also link all of my contributions.: Sorry for this lousy English.

Answers only 195.62 and 195.55 beta !

 

well that would be nice and easy sounding. do you remember if that person actually had problem with the sticky stuff on the keyboard, or is it the top cover that needs this in fact (the source of my concern or request for best method)?

thanks.

 

Ok.

Yea that's what I was saying, more CPU intensive but ok.

Know any good legit places to get the 120GB ones cheap?

It USED to work fine before 3.0. It never crashed. I think it;s the memory leak because it'll do it after a while. I think it may also be related to TabMixPlus's session restore. I'm thinking if I could either increase the amount of data it can handle and or have the choice to clean it's closed browser history and such it would be much better. It doesn't do it for a while when I first install it. It only does it after I've used the browser a while, have had a lot of closed and opened tabs. I haven't figured out if you can clean out the history in TMP, but I know you can clean history and cache of course with the built in one. Really? Man I HATE IE.

 

They unnecessarily removed the keyboard which has the double sided tacky tape.

Removing the top cover is the only way to get to the fans. But it's not without peril. (Love that word, "peril.")

Once you remove all the screws, the top cover doesn't just lift off. It's held by plastic snaps. SO the best place to "pry" up the top cover is near the hinge in the back. You can use a fingernail, but it might be a bit too tight for that and could break it. I tried and chipped my guitar picking nail. So a small screw driver is in order. Once you get at least one snap disengaged, the rest are easy since you'll have a space to grip and lift by hand.

 

Confirmed, same issue, win7, 195.62.

But I don't adjust my brightness. It's "set and forget." So I'm not concerned. Or I should say, I can live with it.

 

Price has gone up a lot since I bought mine in June. Best person to ask is Lancorp. He's exceptional at finding the best deals on things tech.

Hey I ran into the same issue. My remedy? Adjusted the way I use Firefox*.

Now I'm issue free.

Can't say I hate IE. I just don't use it much. But it is better than Firefox in Some respects.

*So how'd I do it then? I use cutePDF to save pages in PDF format. Keep my PDFs in organized folders. And I temp bookmark sites of interest that haven't earned keeper status, then get them sorted out later. No more 10-15 tabs. Just 1-8 max. On rare occasion, I'll open up another instance of Firefox for a few more tabs. I mean, honestly, if I can't read the proper heading on the tab, what good is the tab? BY keeping only a few tabs up, reading the heading is easy.

 

@ 2.0
I was heard.
I feel the same way. Outweigh the advantages of this driver.
Thank you very much. Now I finally know it's not Vista dependent.

Just for info:
Intel Pro Wireless and WiFi Link 13. 0. 0. 107 of 21.10.2009 ok, running.
Marvell Lan v11.22.5.3 ok, running.
Intel Chipset Identification Utility 3.24 new and ok. (Now showing on PM965 Express Chipset)
Intel (R) Matrix Storage Manager GM / PM 965 8.9.0.1023 nothing new, ok running.
Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility GM / PM 965 9.1.1.1019 not new, is running ok.

 

I have the same drivers except I can't use Intel chipset and Matrix because they block TRIM support on the SSD.

 

thanks much for the advice and tip.

 

same here for me on vista (yes still), in case you are all wondering if it's just a win7 issue.

no big deal but just so you know when you recover the computer from sleep, it does not go to full brightness as set. i have to unplug and plug the power cable for it to go to full brightness, or i guess adjust it via windows key + X

 

just wanted to share the link for the hdx20 battery at the hpstore.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/computer/categories/notebook_batteries/1/accessories/GJ114AA

my new batteries are still going strong as expected, despited probably sitting on the shelf for over a year until i bought them. still a good deal at 69.99 but better if you can find a coupon code as i did, which i'm not sure is valid anymore.

 

It's $199 on Ebay for the $120. What did you originally pay for it? Also is there a better brand you can update AND have no problems with the matrix storage manager and such in Windows 7?

Yea I'll bet Mhmm I'll keep that in mind.

I love the addons, and IE doesn't compare in that regard..besides also in speed, but yea I guess it may be more stable and have an easier time viewing some pages over others.

Scrolling through a bunch of tabs can suck, though I use the right side scroll of the touch pad to make it quicker, what are you talking about with regard to bookmarks? I use XMarks to save/sync my bookmarks.

 

$360 each for the 120GB from Zipzoomfly in June. Less rebate of $30.

I wouldn't trust the one's off ebay @ that price ($199). If you do get one off ebay at a normal price of around $370+, you will need access to a Desktop computer with SATA so you can update the firmware to 1.40. THat update is Win7 TRIM compliant. However, if you buy the drive new from a retailer, it will come with 1.40 pre-installed.

You don't need the Matrix Storage Manager nor Intel Chipset driver with windows7 and SSD. It blocks Trim commands to the drive. Vertex in win7 is trouble free. Just set it up (disable defrag and indexing) and forget.

It'll work fine in Vista with Matrix Storage Manager since there's no TRIM in Vista. To Trim you run wiper.exe. You can get that program off OCZ's forum.

You haven't played with IE8 on win7. BTW, IE8 has addons too.

I'm saying, instead of opening up so many webpages, just bookmark them and call them up when you really need to. When done, close them down. There's really no need to have so many webpages up all the time.

 

Unless you want to of course.

 

Indeed. That is, if you don't mind Firefox crashing all the time.

 

i guess they must be certain kind of intensive tabs like video or what not. are you using firefox portable or regular firefox, Dominoes?

 

I don't use Firefox, I use IE 8 and have no issues with crashing. I thought Firefox was the end all be all? I support users that swear by it yet I keep hearing about issues with it and when they complain I tell them stop using something that causes you so much pain, they don't listen, they're like OS X users that way.

Use IE 8, all is well, now prior to IE 8, whole different ball game but I find IE 8 works very well and on my machines at least very snappy.

 

Agreed. IE8 is at the top of its game. I've been exploring it more now that I have win7 installed. Only option I wish existed was for the ability to not use a cache. So, I simply had to move the cache off the SSD and onto the 2nd HDD.

Looking forward to IE9 with graphics acceleration.

 

I was one of those who defended Vista, I honestly didn't have that many issues with it, mostly it just didn't like to run for more than a few days without a reboot for my laptops. But switching to Windows 7 has been a very nice change, much better response from the system, much better memory management... I digress this was about IE, agreed, I hope they continue the trend with IE 9, we'll see how it goes!

 

2.0 or anyone...has anyone successfully installed an Atheros based wireless card in the HDX? How is the Intel 5300 working with Win7? Is it worth upgrading the 4965? I'm converting part of my garage to an office get-away and I'm exploring range issues/fixes in advance. Thanks all.

 

Sorry, STARTING price of $199. I can't update it via the HDX? I don't have a desktop with SATA:/ Bah. I guess I'll have to get retail or newest firmware out of the box.

Hmm ok. Thanks.

No I haven't. I'm still trying to decide if I want to get Windows 7 Ultimate from that site or not.

I hear what you're saying. BTW I guess last time I did 3dmark it was corrupted database that prevented it from going above the 610 settings. I'm able to go 2 up from it without problems. The 3rd settings above the recommended in green I start losing frames on the third or so benchmark thingy. I'll see how far I can push it but that probably means it's too much I take it.

 

Hmm so far no crashes..weird. AND I've been running 3dMark.

 

Haha Yes Firefox kicks butt. I'm no fan boy but I do like Firefox. I'll check out IE on Windows 7 though. The thing that lags it in Vista at least is the phishing protection service I think. Pretty annoying, maybe I shouldn't use it but still..I do a bit of online shopping, and don't click on links from within my email unless I know for sure it's legit..but even so, it's slow in that case. I guess Windows 7 takes advantage of hardware better than Vista.

 

I have lots of stuff opened. Like for one thing if I'm shopping for somethings I like to have many instances of auctions for a product opened so I can keep track of them. Or if I'm researching something I like to keep all the search results opened. I have several YouTube thingies opened yea which I keep wanting to watch but it takes me a while to get around to doing it. That's the most annoying part. If it crashes with those videos up I have to bring them all back up, scroll to each to turn them off. What's weird is I found the youtube video with Flash 10.1 acceleration to work wonderfully like the first week, now it's not as good. Hmm. It looks like services are continuing to check something or update or something while video plays back because it stalls like it used to, less yea, but it stalls again. Maybe if I push the overclocking I can get it to run smoothly again? Wow what a tangent sorry. Lol. I just woke up.

EDIT: Oh I'm using Firefox for the HDX desktop. Haven't tried portable yet have you? Wait by portable are you talking about for Pocket PC or to run from a USB drive? Haha no I saw you calling me Dominoes. I think only one other person tried that one.

 

no problem. you'll realize i called you Dominoes when you're fully awake

 

Haven't tried Atheros based cards. Only the 5300. Range on 2.4ghz, be it on N or B/G, is exceptional. That's based on an Actiontec (FIOS) and D-link gaming router.

5 ghz's range is short though, which is to be expected. The 5 ghz range is about the same as the 4965. It seems though that the 4965 had some annoying signal drops from what I can remember.

I haven't had any drops or lost connections on N or B/G feeding FIOS to the router. Uptime has been 100%.

5300's biggest advantage is to be had with simultaneous dual band routers. Up to 450 m/bits.

As always, YMMV.

 

Nope, you can't update via the HDX since you can't access IDE mode in BIOS.

You're welcome, Dominoes.

Every GPU is different. I can't push past 610/975/1525 on one HDx while the other can. You've seen comptrekkie's? I think he has the highest overclock.

 

Hey 2.0,
What is the best way to do a fresh install of vista. Should I get the windows updates first then the video drivers, net work and other critical HP optional add ons.....there are approx. 60 to 70 updates just for vista..Any ideas?

Best Jesse

 

Audio, video, chipset... all the rest thereafter.

 

I JUST bought the 5300 card..today in fact.. you saying there's a better one?
Wasn't there a way to install it where it didn't have the limitations or problems I thought I remembered you or someone listing? I guess I'm asking what the correct way to install it so you can have maximum use of the quicktouch buttons?

 

Crap. My desktop is from like 4-5 years ago and I don't THINK it has SATA, but I guess I can check. Unless I get the retail. I think the ones on Ebay are ok, since the buy it now is $299. You thinking they're copies or something?

Lol. Shyedap

Hmm ok I got it to go up to the 4th setting above the 610 recommended. Do you go by how high the numbers are in the scores or by how it looks and performs as in little to no wavy lines or frame dropping while overclocked?

There are my scores:

2ND SETTING ABOVE RECOMMENDED

3DMark Score
8314 3DMarks

SM 2.0 Score
3943

SM 3.0 Score
3914

CPU Score
1779


3RD SETTING

3DMark Score
7816 3DMarks

SM 2.0 Score
3376

SM 3.0 Score
3937

CPU Score
1717


4TH SETTING

3DMark Score
8699 3DMarks

SM 2.0 Score
4076

SM 3.0 Score
4126

CPU Score
1872


5TH SETTINGS

3DMark Score
8583 3DMarks

SM 2.0 Score
3905

SM 3.0 Score
4153

CPU Score
1868



6TH SETTINGS

3DMark Score
8554 3DMarks

SM 2.0 Score
4068

SM 3.0 Score
4115

CPU Score
1775


7TH SETTINGS

3DMark Score
8617 3DMarks

SM 2.0 Score
4028

SM 3.0 Score
4130

CPU Score
1835



8TH SETTINGS

3DMark Score
4983 3DMarks

SM 2.0 Score
2153

SM 3.0 Score
1927

CPU Score
1763




9TH SETTINGS

3DMark Score
5001 3DMarks

SM 2.0 Score
2154

SM 3.0 Score
1932

CPU Score
1791

I need to look at Comptrekkies again, I can't remember how high his got.

 

What about if you want to install service pack 2? Do service pack 1, then service pack 2 and then..? Or something else?

 

anyone here have experience with gaming on the hdx? i think i've asked this a long time ago, but didn't get very clear answers for some strange reason so i will try and ask again:

mind you i have the T8100 processor with 8800M GTS card.

what are some games that i can play on med.high-high with good framerates (i'd say maybe 24fps-30fps minimum) that also uses physX?

hopefully this is a pretty straightforward question and it seems like a lot of you game, so hopefully i can get a good answer.

also, 2.0, how did you check your gpu temp WHILE you were gaming in fullscreen mode(presumably in full screen mode)?

 

The way I do it is with a second monitor. I put all the info like HWMonitor on the second screen.

 

Hwmonitor keeps memory of min. and max. temps, so you can keep it running in the background and check max. temp after exiting the game, without the need for a second monitor. GPU-Z also has similar logging features.

 

thanks guys. you're right about that kindheart. forgot about that. thanks.


now.....again.....whenever you guys decide to make up your minds if you actually played games or if it was just a dream, despite it being implicit and explicit in the past that you indeed have playing games, could ya report back and answer the games question when you have a chance? thanks.

as well, if you have the 8800, but not the t8100 but instead some other processor, could you state what other config. you have and THEN state what games with phyX, if any, and framerates (approx. ...just trying to see if it meets minimum acceptable) or conversely if you don't measure that stuff, then tell me what games are playable on med-high to high...that's the ultimate goal.

 

Your question got me thinking, have I ever gamed on my HDX and I honestly can't remember. I need to get a life! I think the newest game I have is.... oh great, can't remember that either!

I'm going to now make it a goal to try whatever game I have on my HDX, might as well see how it looks on that display at least once! I just hope it's a newer game than Doom3!

 

now doom 3 is a great game. played it on computer over 4 years ago. not sure if they ever came out with a doom4. i know i got to the end of doom3 but could not figure out what to do at the end..the very last part was..shoot i cannot even remember, but something with pods??? i just know that whatever keys i pressed did nothing...was kind of stuck.

 

another separate question: is there a way to disable the blue led light that comes on when the camera is on?

question is above..not ways to cover it up with paper or what not...but how to disable it.

 

OK, for starters, the CPU you have won't make much of a difference, if any, for gaming. It's moreso the GPU (8800M) that will determine how well your machine can handle games. 2.0 mentioned this about 3-4 pages back I believe.
Now, I have only played one game on my HDX, and that is a game called Secondlife (3-D game in which you simulate life, something like the Sims, but a lot more to it.). I have had no problems running it on high with all graphics options set. No slowdowns or phantom objects on screen either.
Now, compared to some of the other games (Call of Duty, World of WarCraft, etc.) Secondlife isn't exactly as demanding, but it comes close. I know there has been mention of other games like the ones I've mentioned played on the Dragon, specifically the 9494nr. All of them were positive in that the gaming was at least above average on med/high settings. I hope that helps.