*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

This would be friggin awesome. If it is true or reasonably possible (May require hardware voltage mods) it could breath new life into the HDX Dragon. AT least 2-3 more years of good gaming use. Not holding by breath at this point, but it would be awesome.

All we would need then is an OC BIOS and we are set.

 

Damn if this works I'll be crossing my fingers there'll be someone based in the UK who can sort it for me!

(I assume it's a proper mission like when 2.0 tried it which was hench rocket science)

 

LOL @ "hench rocket science."

 

Yes, no worries about that!

 

droooool Can we do SLI too? lol


Here's notebookcheck.com comparison (Radeon currently as max) just to keep on drooling:


Notebookcheck: Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List




From the same site:






And the most important part regarding this issue:

Notebookcheck: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M



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So far everything is working well, GF 280m GTX has the same slot as a standard GF 8800M GTS (MXM 2.1, type III), so I will probably not need any changes in voltage. Tomorrow I will be tested on a few games and launching 3d mark 2003-vantage, and tomorrow I have a photographic camera, then you will do some photos or record a movie and include everything on the forum

sorry 4 my english

 

I hope all goes well, zipek_dg.


Edit: Why not the 285m? It looks like it would even run a little cooler.


Post temperatures for us also, thank you.

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Though desktop models, here's a thorough comparison between 8800 and 280 cards (even with oc'ing; 170's drivers used):

GTX 280 vs 8800 GTX - 18 Months of Innovation - GPUReview.com


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Video would be fantastic. Thanks for doing this.

 

do you need a polish translator? got one for ya. otherwise i dont know if this is april fools revisited...i really dont care, but for the record, i think it's not possible for you to get the same video card to work that 2.0 could not...so i kind don't believe this anyway. he even said you would have to physically mod stuff. did you do that, or just plug it in, because according to 2.0, you just cannot do that, period. now perhaps it's possible your european version of the dragon is different, allowing this, but i doubt it.

polish:
Musisz tłumacz polski? Inaczej i nie wiem czy jest to głupcy kwietnia ponownie ... i naprawdę nie obchodzi, ale dla porządku, myślę, że nie jest możliwe, aby uzyskać te same karty graficznej do pracy, że 2.0 nie może ... tak miły i don ' i tak w to uwierzyć. On nawet powiedział, że trzeba fizycznie mod rzeczy. Zrobiłeś, lub po prostu podłącz ją, ponieważ zgodnie z 2.0, po prostu nie da się tego zrobić, kropka. Teraz być może jest to możliwe wersji europejskiej smoka jest inny, dzięki czemu to, ale wątpliwości i to.

 

God... if this gets me all excited again and it's not true...

 

GF 285m GTX has different slot (MXM 3.0b) than 280m gtx & 8800m gts, so it is impossible physically

Please don't be so sceptic
PS. besides my laptop has been imported from the USA... i think

 

I want to believe. We've just been through this before is all.

 

Wasn't that an X-Files movie? Would definitely be "weird" for someone to have gotten this to work, then again, it's not like many have reported even trying, let alone posted video or pics or anything in that kind other than 2.0. If a BUNCH of people who are capable tried then I'd be much more dismissive, but still I understand the wary feeling. It's not April Fools so the randomness of this day to trick us I wouldn't get. Either way, I guess today is the day it will be verified to work or not..?

 

I'm thinking it might come down to revision and bios version.

Regardless, if it works, I'm doing it.

 

If the picture is to be believed though, there is no blurriness that 2.0 reported so that is already a good thing.

BIG ditto on that.

 

Imagine it just turns out that the card 2.0 got was defective.

 

RjTech confirmed that the card was working before shipping. And the person I sold it too on eBay also confirmed it was working when I asked if everything was alright. He installed it into a Sager.

 

I will wait for final results. I don't want to get my hopes up. Besides that, the card in question is averaging $600.00 on ebay.

 

Guess we'll find out soon enough..

 

It's always good to have a retest, no matter how prestigious round one was (thanks 2.0). There is just possibly far too great a benefit for far too many. I would have confirmed with 2.0 a while back if it were in my capacity.

Otherwise, we still have the most fantastic build of pc......except for modability. We can always machine a heatsink if that's the issue.

And I'm sure RJTECH had a boost in hits, regardless to the perspicacity of this situation!

=

 

ya i know...and i'm the one who started that but it WAS april fools day after all.

who knows...this could be some day or week of the year that someone somewhere christened "something day" or "something week".

anyway...just wondering how it is PHYSICALLY possible more than anything else, because 2.0 said it does not jive and the 8800gts in the HDX was proprietary.

so that is what i want to know.... HOW does it physically fit and mate with stuff properly??? did you have to mod much? i believe when 2.0 tried to make it work he encountered some issue with having to mod and stuff to make it fit proper.

or if he does not want to answer, how could you imagine it would even fit/work, physically, 2.0?

 

It can't fit unless the version of the card is similar to the HDX's. Meaning, the two capacitors at the end of the card are of a low height like the HDX's then it will mate with the heatspreader on the GPU. Otherwise, if it's the standrad MXM card, one end will be too high and will leave a "wedge" of about 2 mm making cooling impossible unless one makes a 1.5-2mm thick copper plate to put between the heatspreader and heatsink.

 

I hate it when people use words that make me go to dictionary.com to look up

 

For the sake of zipek_dg, hopefully his temp readings won't be a blank screen! (though undoubtedly it has a 'breaker')

If that's the only fit, then the opposite original face would likely need to be carved/etched out in some fashion---likely too much heat load if just with an insert. Or the more easily adjusted face could be reset through a cut and weld, but better just mold the layout and fabricate in order to decrease chance for error on the original. There are certain hardening sprays you can lay a mold to receive virtually perfect tolerance.

@#&%$, if only I were in a different capacity I could mass produce these for you if necessary. But here's to zipek_dg waving a wand we didn't know about and thus no need for modding.

It was the best word to my fingers that encompassed the limitations 2.0 just re-presented in light of zipek_dg's claim to our attention. Cool word though, ye?


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One difference that I can think of is that my card was brand-spanking new. His appears to be a pull. That means his was flash in the unit it was taken from. Mine was not yet flashed and was raw.

 

ww2d?

how to format the external drives i just got in enclosures.

NTFS is what i was thinking, but what size allocation unit? I tried reading up on it, but what would 2 do?

question, if i format through windows...does it actually keep or append to the mft,mbr,root, whatever other hidden sections....or does it start it as fresh.

i know a lot of wipe programs say they write every bit of the drive (except if you look into it or read the fine print) they do not touch the Host Protected Area, so i am wondering if a format through windows would touch that?

here is one link dban program that explains it
http://www.dban.org/node/35

 

Uh is it just me or the power settings don't work in Windows 7? I'd go to bed and wake up seeing the monitor is on all night and never turned off.. I also get a green bar on top of some videos that have that statically line on top from recordings I've done. Anyone know if there a way to resolve these things?

 

I've noticed that my screen stays on sometimes as well with Win 7x64, however, I Haven't had an opportunity to properly debug the issue yet. It may have started when I began adjusting screen brightness with the Win Mobility Center, but I'm not 100% sure of this. I'll keep you posted if I make any further discoveries.

Best,
Brent

 

Format through windows won't touch the HPA. Let windows handle the size allocation (default). Just partition and quick format NTFS and you're good to go. It'll wipe the MFT and MBR. If there are any partitions on them unpartition the space(s) then partition the whole drive as one partition. Then quick format NTFS.

 

I stopped that problem by turning of homegroup. It won't let the computer sleep proper. There are two homegroup services. Disable them is services.

RickiBerlin discovered another way IIRC. Will have to search for it a little later.

 

A few weeks ago I bought a new battery for my Dragon (thanks to whoever pointed out the excellent price on them).

It won't charge. Vista reports the battery is "plugged in and charging" but no matter how long it's plugged in, the battery won't hold ANY charge.

Do I need to do anything to prepare a new battery for use?

[L]

 

Do you turn it off in Services from msconfig? I'd like to know the other way to do it too if possible. Thank you 2.0.

Any idea on the green line?

 

I was mistaken about RickiBerlin. Can't find the post.

In any event, yes, just type in services in the start menu search box and siable the 2 homegroup services from there.

What green line were you referring to again? I missed it.

 

Ok thanks. Usually in Vista when I watch recordings of Smallville I'll see a thin line of static on top. Now when I watch it in Windows 7 I see a MUCH thicker green bar that is REALLY distracting and annoying. It only occurs on particular videos, so far I only see it in Smallville, as I think that is the only one with that static-y line on top.

 

Great show. They extended it for another season. Perhaps he'll finally learn to fly.

Are you watching it in SD? I've recorded a number of shows on the CW (Vampire Diaries, Smallville, Legend of the Seeker, 90210)* in HD and never had that problem. But in SD, I see a dancing zebra stripe about 1cm thick on the top or bottom of the screen.

*shutup!

 

Well that's good news and discouraging at the same time.

Aside from the cap space issue, the vga bios is located in the hdx's, so i don't get how another card can boot correctly.

 

Me neither. Stay tuned. Answers will be forthcoming.

Other thing is, if one flashes the HDX BIOS with a card other than the 8800M GTS, the HDX will likely brick.

 

Definitely one of my favorites, along with Lost and 24 .. I'm glad they're coming back for another season.. their cliffhangars leave you wanting to break something though lol. Or maybe that's just me. My family watches Legend, I haven't seen it yet, don't know about the other two. SD? You mean Standard Def? No way man, I watch it in HD and record it all in 1080i. Hmm.. So you only see the stripe in SD? I KNOW its HD because I'm doing the recording on the Comcast HD channels and it says HD in the channel icon.. also because it looks amazing and I can see their pores You see the gift his mom gave him right?

Oh what's weird is the green bar flickering doesn't pop up in the beginning, like only on the part before the series soundtrack starts. Also with the Homegroup I turn off both or just the Homegroup listener? I guess that means I can't use streaming via Media Center/Player then?

 

Are you working with him on this now?

 

weird i posted a bit ago and that post disappeared.

to repeat...i said thanks 2.0. can you tell me what the hpa holds or what kind of info it can hold, and how to clear/wipe/write to it?

 

No GPU news huh

 

gotta query

I'm probably not as comptech as you, but isn't the BIOS autonomous? The gpu swap may not work but then the 280m would be just a misunderstanding of the BIOS. If the case is bidirectional, then why isn't there a generic BIOS updater (i.e. HP) that would work componentially without creating bricking? Apologies for anything rhetorical.

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ditto on that, Dominick 7

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Hey guys,
I've been registered here for a while now and posted occasionally in the MSI 1722 topic as I currently have one and an MSI X340, an iPad and a Samsung XL2370 23" LED backlit monitor... and about a week ago I said enough, I need more mobility and only ONE pc and decided to buy a HDX9k and sell everything else. In about 4 hours I will receive my new precious, a 9350.

I also bought a new OCZ Vertex 2 50GB for this great (literally, huh?) laptop and if you'd like I will post some benchmarks.

Anyways just wanted to say hi from Central Europe and thank you all for your contribution to this thread I've been reading it for a week now but only done with like 20%

Cheers,
Mark

PS: I'd like to get out the max of this Beast asap so could you guys tell me which is the highest performance processor and memory that I can fit into it without running into incompatibility problems etc., please? Thanks in advance.

 

Welcome!

Max RAM is 8GB of 667mhz RAM.

CPU max is X9000. But it can't be overclocked in the HDX.

I'm assuming that since you asked about what processors, you must have a T8100. Best bang for your buck processors are the T9300(2.5ghz) & T9500(2.6ghz). From a T8100 you will see a >25% improvement in performance. You can get the X9000 but it will cost about twice as much as a T9300 or T9500 and only give a 10% - 4% increase in performance, respectively.

 

A large percentage of the HDX's BIOS is encrypted. They do this because they whitelist components. For instance, if you add a non-whitelisted wifi card to the HDX in PCI slot 1, the computer will fail to boot.

If you hot-swap the wifi card in, flash the BIOS, the computer will brick. Learned of that from one case of someone wanting to get it to work in slot 1 so that the wifi touch button would work with a non-whitelisted card.

Same goes for video card as I've learned of it happening with someone trying to get a Quadro card to work in the HDX. It bricked when they attempted a BIOS flash.

MY theory is that the component is the decryption key. Without the right component, the BIOS will not decrypt properly and render the BIOS inoperable.

There is a way to recover which involves putting back the original components then using an external floppy drive with the BIOS on it and hitting a key combo at boot. It worked in one case at least.

 

No. But he said he'd be back with video and other pertinent details. That will take time especially considering that English is not his first language.

 

Sometimes useful ATA data and a bunch of other things. How large of a space are we talking about?

 

Yesterday evening after running 3D Mark 2003 after a few moments hangs up the computer, after a reboot would not run properly, no image , temp on GPU is very high on standard cooling from 8800gts, about 95* and higher, in stress. Today launched a laptop without any problem, yesterday may be just overheating electronics. Probably 280GTX need a higher voltage because power consumption is higher here than in 8800GTS. I hope that by these tests does not burn slot, the card itself, or worse . I will continue testing for now . I'll try to post some pics as soon as possible

 

Are you sure the heatsink is touching the card correctly?

 

i know the biggest thing for most here to figure out would be bios and all that regarding video card...but to me it's that it physically fits properly.

regarding your high temps....did you actually read 2.0's attempt or comment about it on the other page?

how does the 280M you have fit? he said it will not be cooled properly because the heatsink will not touch the graphics card. is this the case with you?

lastly, WHERE did you get the 280M? i'm sure everyone else wants to know, and should be quick enough to answer. the store, another laptop, etc.?