*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

Hey Guys,
I've managed to screw up my Media Center remote. The green button still launches media center and the quick play buttons work but I have no volume control including mute. I've tried using other media center remotes that I have and no luck there either. I've scoured google and found some registry keys but no help there either. I'm running Vista x64 on the dragon. Any idea's?

DISREGARD: I finally found a fix that constituted removing the microsoft ehome transceiver device and deleting a keyboard.pnf from my windows\inf folder and rebooting.

 

Well folks, I need some help as I'm forced to type this with my wife's junk desktop. Have the same startup problem as before, but now it will not boot. I turn it on, goes to the microsoft corp with the scrolling bar above, then it disappears, and the startup process does not go any farther. I have powered it down 18 times, it went thru 11 disk checks, and each time it restarted after that it still the same thing. I'm all ears for any suggestions...

 

Seems that's it might be your HDD failing or that your OS install got corrupted.

Try to boot into safe mode. As soon as you get past the BIOS splash screen, repeatedly hit F8 until the boot option menu comes up. Then choose safe mode.

If you can boot into safe mode, then you can try a system restore. If that doesn't work, or you don't have any decent restore points to go back to then you're going to need to do a OS repair.

OS repair.

If you have win7, it's the easiest. Insert your win7 disc in the optical drive then boot up. It should boot off the optical. If it doesn't, then reboot again and hit F9 to choose the optical drive to boot from.

Once win7 setup comes up, click install now. Follow whatever it says then choose UPGRADE. This option keeps all your settings, DATA, programs, etc. It just repairs the OS installation by refreshing all the files, registry and drivers. Just follow along and enter whatever the dialogue boxes that will come up periodically ask for.

If you have Vista, it could be a little trickier to do because you may have HP's version. If you have a clean installed version, that means you have the OS install disc. Therefore, you can do the same as with win7. Only difference is instead of Upgrade, the option to choose is repair.

If you have HP's version of Vista, repairing it will mean restoring back to factory original. The alternative is to download Vista startup repair disc and burn it unto a CD/DVD.

Tutorial for Vista Startup Repair disc creation: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...ndows-vista-repair-disk-if-you-dont-have-one/

If after that, if you still have these problems, then it looks like you have a harddrive failure.

There are methods you can use to get any DATA off that HDD. We'll cross that bridge when you get there. Likely, once you get a new HDD, you can just put the old drive in the second bay and get some or all of the data off it.

 

Haha ok, fair enough. I didn't know they had mini ones.

 

I see. We'll how about dees in just a few months away for spring/summer? http://gscreen.blogspot.com/

I don't know how ones eyes will like LED, but i7 and some where around a 30 something inch screen on it (I don't think it fully goes out to 34 inches)? Last time I saw he was going to put an NVIDIA 280.

 

Yeah, they use them in oldish camcorders like the Sony DV series. They have that, special purpose spy mystique about them. The DVD+RW ones are 1.4GB each. CDRW ones are about 200MB each.

The Acronis boot disk only requires about 60-70MB worth of space.

 

Hope that company did an IPO recently so I can short that stock and buy deep out of the money puts on it. Ca-CHING!

Seriously though, that's too much a special purpose rig to market to general consumers. Traders, graphic designers, and uber geeks will dig it. But the workstation, multi-monitor crowd tends to like the ability to spec out their rigs. And upgradability is a must with this crowd.

Come to think of it, I don't even think Lenovo is selling the w700 workstation notebook anymore. The one with the small pop-out side screen. Heard it didn't sell well at all. And that was one powerful notebook.

 

Nice fix. Will have to keep that for future reference.

 

:laugh:
Very nice, exactly for this reason I have the minis.
And since they are now very cheap. 4 +1 (5) units for 3, - €.
But not this ....

..... but even the double-sided Sony DVD -RW 2.8 GB. (not DVD + RW)
How can I place on each page of a rescue environments.
For example, Win-PE + Adaptive Restore and simple DOS rescue environment.

All of this benefit does a but only if the drive works. So for me everything twice on bootable USB sticks.

Cloning is very interesting....

 

Thank you so much for the quick reply 2.0. Bad turned to worse as after several tries later before posting I now kept getting the blue screen. Before I posted this I had tried the Vista recovery disc and there was no option for a repair - just a complete restoration which is out of the question. When I got the Dragon, I upgraded to Vista Ultimate, and when I tried that disc one of the options was a repair, which I opted to do. The system did start up after that, but it kept on freezing during the start up routine at various stages and could only shut down with holding the power button down as before. I put the upgrade disc back in to try the system restore option, but I got a message saying that it was unsuccessful. I burned the Vista recovery disc from the website you directed me to, should I try using that?

 

From this description, looks like something else is up.

Try this: *requires a philips head screw driver.

1. Unplug HDX, take battery out.
2. Flip over and unscrew the RAM module cover.
Remove the first RAM module - the top most one.

Cover back on, plug in (no batt), and then Boot up. (Male sure no peripherals are connected to the HDX at this point)

Same issue?

Then steps 1 & 2 again.

Remove the remaining RAM module and replace it with the one you took out before leaving the other slot empty.

Cover back on, plug in (no batt), and then boot up.

Same issue?

Repeat steps 1&2, except now, using only the top most RAM slot to test each RAM module.

Purpose of the test is to see if a bad RAM module is the culprit. Though it is possible to get a BSOD (blue screen of death) when a HDD is on the fritz, the fact that it is happening at boot time regularly suggests it could also be RAM. A bad HDD would have issues both at boot and anytime after boot.

 

I remember one of my friends who's obsessed with airplanes/fighter planes had a few to see some sort of videos of them and I think also a flight simulator.. in the 90s. I haven't seen them since so I didn't know they were still around or even had a drive to suit them. He'd put them in the regular PCs DVD drive. They're cute little things. I guess they remain cute until an owner of these tries to make their house and everything else Hobbit sized to match it.

Speaking of Acronis based on what I'm learning about my new HP MediaSmart EX495 (which I just got yesterday yay!) is I don't need it (saving me 50 bucks) as I'm told (by Acronis users) that it apparently has an even better Imaging/backup system built in. Man this thing is sweet! I'm considering the idea of doing a backup of my Vista setup as it is before I reformat, then do one of the factory restored hp recovery Vista set ups with just the ctod drivers in case something happens to my recovery DVDs.. Hmm. Windows 7 may be pushed to a week or two in that case I figure. I have a Dlink DIR 615 Wireless N router but I think I need a 15 ft ethernet cable for major amounts of data, and 8 port GB expansion to add more things to the router. An eSata cable may do the trick as well for drag and drop. 66GBs of 1080i videos took 8-9 hours *via Wireless N, (which I think is messed up/corrupted because before system restore it was a LOT faster) so I wonder how much a wired connection via eSata or Ethernet would cut down the time. Any guesses?

 

Question...I tried doing a search but never really could find an answer...I see many people have the same notebook as I do...20.1 9494NR HDX, etc....mine came with 4 Gigs of Ram and I noticed alot of people have 8 Gigs installed...I went to hp.com and it says I can only install a maximum of 4 Gigs for this model? So I am a bit confused? Can I install up to 8 Gigs? And if so why does it only state 4 Gigs max on the hp site? Like I said confused. Will it read it and help run my system more efficiently? I have Vista 64 bit. Have 512 Meg 8800m gts for graphics.

and where could I get

8GB (2x4GB) GSkill Memory 200 pin 667

...I guess my question is mainly for Dominick_7

 

It says 4GB because that was the max available at the time the HDX was made. However, the Santa Rosa chipset is capale of addressing 8GB RAM.

Will it make your system run better? Depends on what you are doing. IF you aren't maxing out RAM now, then no, not at all. It will have zero benefit for games, office apps, web browsing, etc.

However, if you do a lot of graphic work with programs like Adobe photoshop or CAD, then it might. Also, if you do a massive amount of multitasking, then it will help.

Or like Dom7, you open 100 or so tabs in Firefox, more RAM would help. True story.

You can get any 8GB kit as long as its 200 pin 667mhz memory.

 

Wifi N = ~250mbits/sec
Gigabita Ethernet = 1000mbits/ sec
Esata = 1500-3000mbits/sec

So gigbit ethernet will be 4 times faster than wifi N.
eSATA could be 5 to 10 times faster than wifi N.

 

At last, PDF fix for Win7 x64:
http://www.pretentiousname.com/adobe_pdf_x64_fix/index.html

Fixes for 64-bit Adobe Reader preview handler and thumbnails.

 

Super THX 2; it's a x7900 w/4 Gb - didn't consider 8 Gb or a CPU upgrade since neither will have any real world impact. Appreciate your input.

 

Thank you again, 2.0

Before I left for work this morning, I tried doing another repair with the Vista Ultimate upgrade disc I had; it said to unplug anything connected to the computer (which I didn't have any) and to contact the administrator or computer manufacturer

When I got home this evening, I turned it on and it started up okay. When I clicked on an icon, it froze - when it freezes, the "thinking circle" (sorry) just goes around and around; if I click on anything else the screen goes white.

When both ram modules were in the lower slot, it powered up okay and could click on a icon and actually do something for about 3 minutes before it froze.

When inserting the modules in the top slot, the first attempt for each the computer froze halfway thru the startup process. Holding the power button down to restart it (had to have done this at least 30 times since last night since I can't shut it down any other way) it started up okay and worked for about 2 minutes before freezing up.

With both modules reinstalled, it starts up okay, and freezes up within a couple of minutes.

Hopefully this will shed some light as to what the problem is...

 

Sending you a PM...
... PM sent. Hopefully this will get you sorted out. The PM's kind of longish.

 

same exact thing happens to friends hp laptop. except i don't know what else to do....it's always at boot time, but i have to press and rehold power to shut down/restart after getting a blurred bsod.

the thing is, if i keep restarting, and it does boot through to windows, then it's good usually for the rest of the session. i don't hear clicking or anything as far as hard drive failing.

i would love to try new ram, but not sure if ram has a return policy when opened, so i hesitate to go spend $50 to "test" the ram. i wouldn't have said anything until i read that posters post about this, but since it's been brought up, i'd like to know a solution as well.

i tried switching ram slots as stated above, and at one time, it seems like it was good to go after leaving only 1 of 2 slots filled and a particular slot. but lo and behold i was wrong and it eventually did the same thing...so i guess it was not a slot thing. my friend would love it if i could fix this mystery thing for her. if/when it starts...the computer is good to go..very speedy, etc., until it is shut off again...then it's a roll of the dice if the bsod comes up.

wait...in fact....i believe what happens is actually not a bsod on startup (well sometimes it does)....but instead...when pressing the power button....it turns on but then stays blank forever (the screen backlight is on but stays on a black screen), as opposed to seeing the vista boot progress bar after several seconds.

THEN if the progress bar doesnt show, i have to force to shutdown and keep trying until i see the vista progress bar. most of the time it will boot to the welcome screen and into windows. only sometimes will i get the bsod before the welcome screen is supposed to pop up.

 

Not exactly an HDX related post, but since we owners enjoy more screen space than most, this might be a pretty pretty pretty awesome new gadget for playing console games on your PC over t'internet.......

http://www.spawnlabs.com/

CJ

 

Hi ,

just tried updating the bios on my HDX dragon 9430ea to F.40 E, and im screwed.

Basically it wont start up , lights turn on and everything but its stuck at the start up point with a blank screen. Please assist.

 

There is a general warning against updating to F40E since it has bricked several HDX's in the past. One poster figured out a way to get things back.

Here you go:


http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5676574&postcount=8983


Hope it works because the only other solution is a new motherboard.

 

Haha, but it does show there IS a market for those who want a large screen on a notebook no? Ala HDX, 18+ inch screen. If it does well, it seems the only issue is the marketing which I thought was crap for the HDX. While it's a whole different market, the iPhone became so well received I think because of it's excellent marketing. You'd see an iPhone ad everywhere. The Sprint marketing, while not as good, I think will help it at least I hope, as I like the Palm Pre device. Apple now calls themselves a mobile company and had enjoyed a 50% increase in sales. HDX, I never heard of till like around the 31 days of the Dragon.

The Lenovo pull out screen and the laptop was kinda ugly and I thought was also kinda stupid. It had a really small screen. I know I didn't want it. It may have had powerful components but the screen was no selling point to me at all.

 

What he said. 8GBs of ram rules. Actually I'm at 130-140 tabs right now It doesn't like 150 so I try to keep it down below that Now with my Mediasmart I have the remote console for the Windows Home Server running in the background besides everything else (Kaspersky IS, SuperAntiSpyware, HWMontray, ProcessExplorer, Synaptic, DigitalPersona, Battery icon, Wifi, Volume. The volume settings box that pops up also works with 8GBs of ram. It's a tad lagged but it works unlike with 4Gbs of ram once you install several things. It allows you to handle heavy loads better and deal with more programs at the same time primarily, but I have noticed that even with 3GBs of ram in 32 OSs it runs better I think because the GSkills are faster than the stock RAM modules and in some sense it registers it. Can't remember how that worked or why but yea.. 8GBs is nice.

 

Can anyone recommend a multi bay external hard drive enclosure? My HP Mediasmart supports multiple ports on the eSATA input so I thought that would be the best way to do back ups of the hard drives in the slots.

 

Sure, but there's nearly a market for everything. But not a PROFITABLE market for nearly everything.

And therein lies the rub. Large notebooks have do not have a consistent history of being profitable. The larger the less likely they will produce a profit.

Marketing won't help that because a large notebook has sensible competition - a desktop. When the HDX first came out, it was around $4000+ fully loaded. You could buy a desktop for half that that was significantly more powerful. And if you read the blogs and review comments back then, that was one of the main cons against it. That and calling a 20" portable computer a notebook. Dell, Asus, Sager all suffered the same criticism for their flagship big 20" notebooks. All have failed.

After the 31days of Dragon contest, the price was about $2000+ fully loaded. You could still buy a desktop with significantly more power, 24" screen, and have the ability to upgrade for less than that. I know, I was contemplating it. I was even looking at the iMac 24" back then. Only reason I didn't get a desktop was because of the form factor and power consumption.

Will I consider a desktop for my next main computer? You bet. As the nanometers have come down, the power consumption has come down as well as the form factor. This way, I can upgrade it with better graphics, a different monitor, or an entirely new mobo. Might even consider an AIO if computer gaming dies down or if they become mere ports of console games.

As for the iPhone, it's not the same type of comparison because it actually adds features and capability in the same form factor as other handheld communications devices. Which justifies the price for most people. Let alone the Apple name.

 

***EDIT***

Helps if I read the original post thoroughly before posting...

oops.

 

How do I know if my HDX has the Santa Rosa chipset? Also I am using it to mix videos via Serato VSL...it seems to lag and I am faily certain the 8 Gigs will help it but I guess I need to find out if I have this Santa Rosa chipset. How do I find this out? Open it up or?

Thanks for all your help.

 

All HDX Dragon's are Santa Rosa. PM965, ICH8M. (Northbridge, Southbridge). Santa Rosa can use Merom or Penyrn CPU's with 800Mhz FSB and up to 8GB RAM.

You can look in device manager under system devices and you'll see ICH8 components.

Will more RAM help for what you are doing? Perhaps. What CPU do you have again?

 

Well I see the ICH8M listed so I guess I do. Cool!

And also I have a T8100 @ 2.1 GHz Intel Core Duo...
Vista 64 bit Operating System

 

Not sure RAM is going to help you out considering Serato VSL's minimum specs are more than met. Only one way to find out.

But look at your settings with the program. There must be a video buffer of some kind. You should be able to set it to 1 to 2 GB and that should help with lag.

 

Nice. eSata isn't supported for transfer, only Ethernet is, and I don't really want to mess with the server like other Mediasmart enthusiasts (insane what they're doing), so Ethernet it is until I get Windows 7 installed, then the 5300 Wifi transfers will be fine except for major data transfers. Can I use the ethernet simultaneously with wifi..as in using wifi for internet/browsing, and ethernet for transfers to the server from the HDX?

 

Yep. Because the mediasmart will be accessed via an IP addy. Just a simple matter of selecting which network interface to use to access that IP addy.

 

Definitely. you need to go into the ehternet adapter's configuration. Where it says to let it assign an IP address automatically, change that to manual and assign it one from your router's IP range. leave the subnet mask at 255.255.255.0. and leave the default gateway blank. That will let you use the ethernet for file transfers only while the wi-fi is used for internet access.

 

Sweet! Thanks doodz.

 

Hi Folks,

I have recently developed a problem with my Dragon (HP Pavilion HDX9402TX Intel Core 2 Duo T5850 (2.16GHz/2MB L2 Cache/667MHz FSB 2GB DDR2 RAM 320GB 5400RPM HDD20.1 inch WSXGA+ 1680 x 1050 display DVD+/-RW dual layer with lightscribe drive, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 2600 XT with 256MB dedicated video memory). W7 Home Premium.

When using Windows Speech Recognition, the text usually appears on the screen relatively quickly. Now, it sometimes works OK however every secind sentence or so, it lays down "blank" text. The cursor moves exactly as it should, however the text is missing. Then, if I scroll that section off the screen either upwards or downwards, and then return to where i was "typing", the text appears. It's driving me nuts. Any help is very much appreciated as usual. I hope I've explained this accurately, however it's a little hard in words.

I went to "Monitor" in Device Manager and it is identified as a Generic PNP monitor.

Thanx in advance.

 

Your problem (lag) is certainly not on the memory size.
Unfortunately, I do not know the exact delay behavior of your HDX.
1. Is it a new error (lag)?
2. Sound and image?
3. Rhythmically or permanently?
4. Immediately when playing, or after a certain time?
5. What is more ..... Disturbance storm, dropout, or slow motion?
6. There you have T8100, you've certainly GF8800M GTS. - Right!?
7. Which graphics driver do you use?

The GPU could be responsible for the delay.

If you know a little bit, then try to narrow down the problem with these two tools! (these programs are running without installation)

I. GPU-Z 0.3.8 - Observe the sensors in the "GPU CORE CLOCK" during the disturbances!
8. Up and down clocking is "normal", but the disorders are exactly on the change?
9. If the GPU found after 1min a clock, in which you permanently retained?

II.DPC Latency Checker V1.2.0 (new version) - Observe with this tool, the relationship between peaks and your mistakes!
Under Vista, the average is in idle at around 800μs. Occasional peaks up to about 2500μs are unfortunately normal.
If you and others (Powermizer on) the tips of the automatic GPU clocking up and down should be even higher.
(sometimes up to 200000μs)
Interestingly, however, is the ONLY connection between the disturbances and the spikes!

For this purpose, there would be a solution. This requires a deep intrusion into the system and some computer knowledge must be present.
(no hardware change)

You can you read the page from DPC Latency Checker. Attempts to fruition, but not the local solution!
If the cause is due to the GPU clocking up and down, there is only one solution. Make no attempts in the device manager!

If I have misunderstood your problem, then forget this letter!
Sorry for my bad English!
@ 2.0 and others .... Sorry for ever and ever have to read the same thing! :wink:

PS: Latency spikes can always be produced with the Quick Launch Buttons.
For example: Press the "Mute" (sound on or off) for about 3500μs. This, however, no real cause dropouts.
Just as info for those who want the views themselves produce red beams.

 

Oh snap

http://www.eurocom.com/products/future/specselectfuture.cfm?model_id=212

 

Yes, very nice, but how do we get the chassis built in the HDX.

 

Haha that's what I'm saying..!

 

Have you ever configured?
If one is fast at about 9000, - € (12.000, - USD), with 4x512 GB SSD
Base 1533, - € (2017, - USD)

EDIT:16GB of RAM and GDDR5 are not configurable.
However, this is in the data sheet.

 

Raw power, no finesse. Probably nothing but loud fan noise like other Sager notebooks. Even at idle. With a batt that lasts for ~45 mins. That Clevo/Sager chassis has been out for a while now. They just bumped the core 2 to i7 and the dual 280Ms to 285Ms.

New model designation will be X8100. Will start shipping in May.

See the Sager NP9850/Clevo M980NU. For an idea of price, see xoticpc website. I wouldn't buy from Eurocom.

 

A Dom7 approved configuration would be >$5000.

As for 16GB and GDDR5, it will be configurable in about 2 months.

 

Just as well that I am with the two HDX fully satisfied. I only think about it, buy me a third with WUXGA resolution.
The disadvantages I know, but would gere see them.
The existence i7 make this decision, however difficult.

 

No stereoscopic 3D Vision (120Hz LCD) and no multi-touch screen options, so not worth it IMHO.

 

I have Norton Ghost image on my secondary hard drive. It takes up about 65 GB. I still haven't used it since I originally purchased my Dragon back in 2008. Now, I know I'm going to have to get an SSD (I've been claiming I'm going to get one for months... ), but I'm finally going to get one soon. I'm going to try out the Ghost image I originally saved to see how effective it is.

 

I've been talking to people with Sagers and they tell me like the last 18 inch Sager isn't loud.. maybe I should have asked in comparison to what. but I don't care much about that if the things powerful. I WOULD like it to be beautiful, but the Clevo they have up there at Eurocom doesn't look too bad.. nothing like the HDX of course, but I'd a trade off. Weren't you just saying the HDX is being beaten out by i7s and better specs? Here's an i7 with crazy horsepower. It's SLI, which will run down the battery but how's it much different from the HDX really, what 2-3 hours. Why not buy from Eurocom? Xotic usually has better pricing but the options are many times limited I think.

 

Haha mine are usually more but you're close And get it right, it's the Dominick Cybervisions approved configuration. In REAL LIFE/not window shopping though I'd have to shed some accessories and made it so that JUST the notebook was top specs alone. The DV8 with a 250GB SSD and 500GB HD is only 400 something.. not bad. But no super duper GPU too though..

 

Ditto But I'm wondering if I should get an extra HDX OR wait..