*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

i always think of lancome paris when i see that name...it's the girl in me...and the makeup on me. i dont remember cybervisions.

 

yes you both are! are you even more senior than him? yes very knowledgable.

 

Me too.. Good guys.

 

I must have added 150 hits to this thread in the last 2 days. It's worse than christmas, because atleast then you have a date to work with.

 

you're into ex's huh.

surprised you don't refer to yourself as 'former' as opposed to ex. like navy seals...they are always seals...not ex seals...former seals....unless of course you intend to denounce your navyness...and cyberpistol's for that matter.

 

Nope, once a navy senior chief, always a navy senior chief...but I'm a hunt-and-peck-er...would've taken like 5 extra minutes to write 'former' 3 times. And besides, don't they both mean the same thing, really?

 

just giving a hard time. ya i got your meaning. although technically not so technically, military people are very picky about that so saying ex very well could have meant that you were, but are denouncing your patriotism or whatever....so in that case it would.

 

Ya, I remember those days. I would login never knowing what alias or craziness was going to be posted. What the MODs would have to delete from teh previous day and then when the "aforementioned" deleted all his own post and messed up the flow of the whole forum. lol Crazy times.

 

Rumba was the name.

 

I figure another 2 weeks before getting a response from HP.

EDIT: Received a call today from HP. Wasn't home but they said that they received the letters and an executive responsible for such matters will be getting in contact with me within a few days.

EDIT 2: Received a call from HP's Director of Media Relations, Shelia Watson. She said that she is forwarding the matter to the Director of Engineering of HP's Personal System Group. She asked me a few times if there were any other concerns that she should include in the cover letter to the Engineering department. I figured that the contents of the letter were sufficient for anyone who can actually make things happen. She ended the call saying that if it happens, you may see it on the website before someone from HP contacts me to tell me it's done.

So we'll see what happens. Interesting that they call the day they received the letter considering the volume of daily mail they receive.

 

Very impressive. Lets hope it is a good sign. I know they do not call unless they consider the case as possibly valid. Of course what the engineer department thinks is another thing.

 

Excellent. This is encouraging.

[L]

 

I am so anxious that I created a macro that refreshes:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=2100&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3747924

Ever 5 min to see if there is a change.

 

Nice! Could there be a request for a possible MXM upgrade added to the letter as part of the BIOS update possibly as well, if not also a request for the HDX Dragon to be brought back? Might as well go for it all since they seem to be taking you seriously.. particularly if they ok the idea of them taking our HDXs and doing the labor necessary for CPU and BIOS updates?

 

No. Let's not get crazy. Let's see what and if they can do with something that is actually doable with a little bit of effort.

MXM upgrade is a significant undertaking since they don't use a standard MXM card format. You can't just stick a standard MXM card in the HDX. You will need a new heat sink that properly mates to a standard MXM card and dissipates the heat according to TDP. Something HP would have to spend money and time to design. You'd also need a BIOS update which would have to be specific to the MXM card you were thinking of installing. Like the 280M GTX or 3700M.

Though they make a 3700M card for their discontinued 8730 series workstations, it too would require a redesign of the heatsink.

As for bringing the Dragon back, that is a matter of market forces. The market will dictate its return. Not a letter. Unless that letter was an introduction for a potentially large contract order. Something they could factor their profit margin into. Saying people would be interested in nice, but not worth much considering the cost of development and that...

... every large notebook ever built was a commercial failure.

You might think that it doesn't hurt to ask. Well, it does. The query will appear as an unreasoned and non-researched request showing no business acumen.

In essence, a letter to Santa.

 

so the new bios will benefit extreme processor users only, is that correct?

 

Correct.

So it means, you, like me, would have to go out and buy an X9000.

An X9000 overclocked to 3.2ghz would yield a performance increase of:

~55%+ from a T8100
~30%+ From a T9300

Those who already have one installed would see almost a 20% performance boost depending on application. But would average 10%-17%. If HP doesn't cap the multiplier at 3.2Ghz, the max would be 3.4Ghz which would be a very nice performance boost over stock 2.8ghz speeds. Problem is not everyone would be stable at 3.4Ghz. Some may not even be stable at 3.2ghz. But most will.

 

I was just trying to see what we could get away with, especially if she kept asking you if you were sure that's all you wanted to request. I still see a good number of 18 inch notebooks, besides the DV8, Toshibas is another, which annoying stick figure people seem to think is TITANICALLY HUMONGOUS but 17 inches isn't. Then again if we were to listen to all comments because of their frequency I wonder how sane a person would be having to pay attention to most of the stuff people say on Youtube or threads about Apple vs Windows or iPhone vs other good Pocket PCs. I couldn't have been the only other person wondering that. Even the guy that changed his mind on selling his top specs HDX to me a few weeks ago who was not even close to tech savvy asked HP about a GPU upgrade.

 

If we got an extended warranty on a less powerful CPU, bought the X9000 and installed it ourselves, how easy is it to change it back to the original CPU to send it back for repairs.. equal to how easy it was the install in the first place? Like do you risk wearing some part down or doing something else to show that you've manipulated the hardware in a way HP could tell from looking at it once they opened your HDX up?

 

Exact same procedure each time.

That mostly depends on how "neat" and careful you are with disassembly. Follow the manual and/or videos and you wouldn't have a problem. in fact, if you're better than HP's tech repair persons who from time to time leave marks and evidence of repair, then you are good to go.

There are no indicator tell-tales. Some non-tech or even mechanically inclined folk mistook the thread-locker compound (blue, red, or yellow) at the end of screws as a tell-tale. It can come off the first time or can take many times before it wears off which is why it is by no means a tell-tale.

CPU thermal compound that isn't grey might be construed as evidence of tampering.

 

Like I said, the market dictates what is good, popular, or bad. But at the end of the day, what is profitable is all that matters. Which in capitalism is the very best opinion.

It would be one thing if one were trying to impress upon HP some new and fantastic thing that no one has thought of before or attempted. Even a variation on the theme of something that sold well. Quite another to ask someone to bring back something that failed or to spend money designing parts for a long obsolete and failed product that has no guarantee of profit all things considered.

A BIOS update is just a bit of code a software engineer can do during his downtime and get approved for release in a matter of weeks. A simple draft of an article of indemnity for HP from legal would take a day or two as it's basically boilerplate. Upload to FTP and website, a few hours work. Minimal expense if any that could yield long term loyal customers and good PR for HP.

See what I mean?

I'm not knocking you. Just trying to keep it real.

 

is antarctic silver, grey?

 

Yes it is. A nice dark grey. Looks just like the thermal paste HP uses.

 

If I may ask, what would you say is your impression doing gaming on a WUXGA screen?

 

Scary..

I see what you're saying. Overclocking the X9000 would be nice in itself.

 

LOL. Yeah, so I edited that post. Would=wouldn't. <---

 

I must have missed this.

The mine's sitting in the XB3000 as I type this. Audio/Video works, usb and storage as well, the only thing I haven't tried is the composite video out. I used to sit the HDX up in the dock, and it worked awesome, but now I have a 24" LCD, so it sits closed in the dock and everything still works fine.

 

That sounds excellent! I wished I had known about this dock before I bought 7 or so of the other QuickDocks.. So you tried Component and SPDIF and they worked fine then?

 

Haha ooooh ok, that makes it less scary.. sort of.

 

Component yes, SPDIF no actually. That's not to say it doesn't work, I just don't have anything that interfaces that way.

This is what it looked like before I bought my monitor:

 

Ah ok. Wow very nice. I like the whole consistent blue light theme going on. That screen is WSXGA right? Man I surely hope this dock works with my HDX. Thanks for the photo man. Looks like it could make typing easier in some cases, and would keep it cooler as well.

 

Ya, it's the WSXGA+ screen. It's a lot easier on the neck as well, because it lifts it up so high.

 

Would we be able to get 3D working on our displays?

 

Unfortunately, no. You need a monitor capable of 120Hz and much more powerful video card.

 

You can run the Discover ( anaglyph) version on our HDX 60Hz screen unmodified, with a simple driver installation trick: 186.91+186.30_3D

No need for any 120Hz monitor or shutter glasses; works very well, including decent framerates and high graphics quality, with many (though not all) games and with our 8800M GTS:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/3D_Vision_Discover_Main.html

Note: Colors in red/cyan anaglyph are not as good as in the full, non-Discover version.

 

Again would you be so kind as to give a step by step clear explanation on how one is supposed to get this to work? You mentioned several different drivers, and a cab file, but I still don't understand exactly how to get it working other than having to install the 186.91 NVIDIA driver and the 186.30_3D driver. What is this trick you mention and how does it relate to the previous driver you mentioned originally and then the cab file you mentioned? If you could also include links to which exact drivers you're referring to that would be great as I've seen cabs and exes and I think non 3D drivers with the same numbers. Thanks.

 

I had this posted in detail on this forum as well as on LV2GO back in 2009. It seems LV2GO have deleted my post, but Google still has a cache of it-- the trick is that both the main driver and the stereoscopic 3D one must both have the same main version, e.g., 186, not different versions; also NVIDIA is no longer allowing this for drivers >186, so you have to stick with 186.91, which is excellent by the way:

http://66.102.9.132/search?q=cache:...pvideo2go.com/topic/25246-3d-vision-discover/

 

There's someone asking the same question by the end of that thread even after the clarification.. I had a friend try to get it to work, based on the info in that thread a while back and he couldn't. I'm sorry but it's just not clear just yet to me.

I went here and downloaded this driver, is this the right one to use for the regular NVIDIA driver 186.91?


Do you install that one and then install the cab file you linked to before which is supposed to be the same number 186.91...

Which you listed here?: Post #9683

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=6011815#post6011815

DIRECT LINK TO 3D DRIVER: 186.91 (works with S3D - 3D Vision anaglyph trick): http://download.windowsupdate.com/ms...6d1bf6bc47.cab

 

could the hdx then handle 3d movies, now playable with powerdvd 10 ultra 3D (just came out last week)?

 

He/she simply didn't read carefully from the start. Useless to answer them, if they don't first do their basic homework! (and if they had done, they wouldn't have asked that question at all)

Tip: Follow how Guest_3D_Vision_Discover_* on the LV2GO thread solved his problem. Guest_3D_Vision_Discover_* is me, kindheart.

Install 186.91 mobile
Install 186.30 stereoscopic 3D Vision driver
Get the appropriate cardboard or plastic red/cyan (not red/blue or green/magenta) glasses
Enable 3D Vision Discover (there is a wizard to test that everything is OK, including a medical eye test for the user)
In games, use CTRL + T to toggle on S3D (anaglyph)--will look like the screenshot below; wear your glasses to see true 3D depth.
See more here: http://3dvision-blog.com/using-anaglyph-glasses-with-3d-vision-driver/

 

Wow I can't wait to try it. One thing I'm confused on in the directions is I thought you said the trick was to match the number of NVIDIA drivers, like if you do 186.91 NVIDIA driver, you should do the NVision 186.91.. I guess I misunderstood. When it works, and you turn on the setting in the NVIDIA Control Panel, does everything look 3d or just particular things? That pic looks really cool through my cyan glasses

 

I think he meant the 1st part of the number. like the 186 part in 186.91.

 

well it sucks if you cannot use the latest 197.13 3d vision drivers, as they include more games and more support for the games that the 186. supports and a lot of improvements.

so basically is it true you are stuck with the games the 186.xx 3d drivers plays and their unfixed/unoptimized issues?

 

how is this different than the 3d vision driver?
http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_3D_vision_winvista_win7_CD_1.23.html
it's nvidia's cd v 1.23 driver, but not sure how that is different.

 

ok so 2 things. firstly, i cannot locate this 186.91 driver that everyone keeps mentioning. the only thing listed on nvidia's site is 186.81 when you search for beta and archived drivers for 8800M series.

second thing is the 3d driver. i found the 186.18 driver which is the one we are shooting for i assume, as the next one is 190.xx series.

why won't a similar set work, let's say nvidia driver 197.xx series with 3d vision 197.xx series, or 196.xx with 3d 196.xx?

i ask, because as mentioned before. there are a lot of additions to the later drivers that would suck to miss.

has anyone actually played any games with the working combination of drivers, or played certain movies, and how did that go? if so, then please list, as i'd like to try the same.

 

latest 3d driver notes:

Version:

197.13 WHQL
Release Date:

2010.03.17
Operating System:

Windows 7, Windows 7 64-bit, Windows Vista, Windows Vista 64-bit
Language:

English (U.S.)
File Size:

16.3 MB

Download

Release Highlights
Supported products
Additional information

This is an updated NVIDIA 3D Vision driver that was included in the box.

Note: You can only install this driver if you have the installed the latest GeForce Graphics drivers v197.13.

New Features

* New 3D Vision game support
o ABP
o Alien vs. Predator 3
o Assassins Creed II
o Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Please make sure to download the latest patch for the game, which will be available on March 16 (522174).
o BioShock 2
o Blood Bowl
o Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight
o Crime Craft
o Dirt 2
o Divinity 2: Ego Draconis
o Just Cause 2
o Mass Effect 2
o Metro 2033: The Last Refuge
o Napoleon: Total War
o Rogue Warrior
o Ruse
o Saboteur, The
o Star Trek Online
o Scorpion: Disfigured (demo)
o The Princess and the Frog
o Supersonic Sled Demo
o Vancouver 2010
o WorldShift
* Updated 3D Vision game support
o Battle Forge – fixed in-game convergence
o Borderlands – fixed in-game convergence for the latest patch now available
o Command and Conquer 3 - Tiberiam Wars – fixed vapor effect
o Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – fixed glow effect
o Sacred 2: Fallen Angel – fixed water/smoke double rendering
o SAS Secure Tomorrow – fixed double rendering in windows and 2D laser sight
o Spider-Man: Web of Shadows – fixed rendering issue
o The Witcher – fixed double rendering on sword effect

 

186.91 = Original Drivers that were installed on the Dragon when you first got it. So look in your SWSETUP folder or check the driver download page for our laptops on HP.com. Should be SP38393. Hope this helps.

 

Actually the 167.xx was the driver that came with HDXs.

The 186.91 comes from Microsoft update. Kindheart first posted it late last year. Fo me, it's the best all around driver so far. I haven't had time to update to the 197.xx posted by hovercraft driver. But I hear good things about that one.

http://go.notebookreview.com/?id=52..._cb6c1aa4c251948406ee897083da9f6d1bf6bc47.cab

 

Ah ok, My bad.

 

"All" games are theoretically supported in all these versions; in other words, pressing Ctrl+T will activate S3D in any full screen DirectX game. Many non-supported games play and look (in stereo) extremely well under the default 3D Vision settings of 186, including Assassin's Creed II. What you are referring to are NVIDIA's tested games and tweaked profiles for those games (not an absolute requirement to run a game in S3D).