*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

Man that's a blessing. Wish I could have done the same.

 

Man..this guy told me he was going to get me this one in a few weeks when I'd have the money..:/ Bah. I hope he has another one.

 

What specs? I may want to take it off your hands in a few weeks if you decide to sell it depending on the specs.

 

It says its 1080p WUXGA and 64 bit Vista Ultimate right in the specs. This doodz been selling these left and right.. I've been following his listings for a while now.

 

While they used to sell the HDX with a BlueRay HD Combo burner 4-5 months ago or so, youre right this has the BlueRay ROM not the burner. For the other specs it actually says its 1080p WUXGA and 64 bit Vista Ultimate right in the spec list. This doodz been selling these left and right.. I've been following his listings for a while now.

 

RAM configuration always afffects gaming - but it depends on whether or not you're talking about online or straight up single player. With OLG, the factors are:

Networking setup (Port Forwarding/Triggering, QoS, etc.)
RAM
Graphics capability and RAM
CPU speed and architecture
Optical Drive speed

For online MP gaming, you can have the best system on the planet, but if your network isn't setup for a particular game, the lag and server drops will negate any hardware advantage you have. That goes for PC as well as console gaming.

A larger HD doesn't really make any difference - in older systems it did, because the game was run from both RAM and the HD. But today, with SP gaming, most of the game is run from RAM, the rest from the DVD. That's why more RAM will get you better response and optical drive speeds help in those games that not everything is run from RAM. But those games are fewer and far between more than the norm anymore.

 

No, HP NEVER sold it with a combo BD/HD-DVD burner. Originally it was sold with Lightscribe DVD drives, or a combination DVD/HD-DVD combination burner. When the BD ROM drives came out after the format war was won by Sony, the HD-DVD burners went away. The BD-ROM drive is a BD-ROM, combination regular DVD +-RW drive, not HD-DVD. The only company right now making combination BD/HD-DVD units is LG, and those are console units. Unless someone knows something else, to my knowledge LG hasn't started making a combo BD/HD-DVD unit because there's no market for them.

The BD-ROM drives up until this summer were Sony/Optiarc BC-5500A BD-ROM's. Recently, HP started replacing those with Matsu$hita BD-ROM drives.

 

Too add to these excellent points... a larger HD would only decrease load times. The reason is a function of density. 200GB 7200RPM HD will have better throughput than a 160GB 7200 RPM HD if they both have 2 platters. Interestingly enough, a 320GB 5400 RPM HD w/ 2 platters has as much throughput and in some cases (depending on manufacturer) more throughput than a 200GB 7200 RPM HD w 2/platters.

Plus, it holds more games.

 

I actually saw it on the site myself for a while under the HDX configuration options, it only lasted a few weeks and was $450. Many of the the techs I talked to confirmed it and kept telling me to check back when it would come back in stock. A few reps gave me this model number KT825AV, if you want to see where it was you can go to this link: http://www.partsurfer.hp.com/cgi-bi...cpric=&prodsrch=KT825AV&submit.x=0&submit.y=0 and or ask the techs and they should confirm it. Both the laptops and the desktops had them, but they said there were problems with them so they had them replaced with just the BlueRay ROM/DVD RW ones.

 

I'm not referring to the specs you scroll down to - I'm talking about the description he has listed on the top of the page. Not everyone knows to scroll down to see if there's additional info. As a I said, there never was a BD/HD-DVD combo drive. It's always been a BD-ROM, Lightscribe or HD-DVD / Super Multi DVD combo drive. After the HD-DVD/BD format war was over, those drives have all but disappeared, although you can still find them on an occasional configuration.

 

It's mislabeled - if you breakout the parts list, you'll see the SATA OD cable is for a BD drive, but actual drive listed is the HD-DVD Lightscribe drive, not a combo BD/HD-DVD player.

If you consider that HP "techs" today are BDT's, then you can understand why it being mislabeled was likely the "problem" causing it to actually be pulled from the site. Some idiot mislabeled it in the configuration, someone bought it then found it wasn't as advertised and gave HP hell about it.

If you can actually Google and find such a notebook drive I'll believe it. HP doesn't make OEM parts like that - so it would have to be an LG, Hitachi, Sony, Mat's, Toshiba(they wouldn't touch BD) or other OEM component that wouldn't be exclusive to HP.

Pretend I'm from Missouri, even though I'm from Cali and live in MD.

2.0, Lan - either of you ever come across such a drive? A BD/HD-DVD notebook WRITER?

 

AMEN, Brother....

On the PM concerning the display thermal temp - I looked but couldn't find it myself. I could've sworn I posted it - it may have been lost the other day when my battery went to fumes without me noticing and my system crashed with my scratching my head like a DA wondering why it shut down... DUH.

I'll rewrite it here from memory as best I can.

Concerning the backlight issue on the bottom of the HDX display:

I noticed the other day when handling the bottom of the display lid that the thermal temperature around the speaker area where the problem appears to be is *much* hotter than the other 3 sides. Given the temperature difference, I find it hard not to consider this as a possible contributor to the backlight problem. The question is what's causing it. The only thing indicated is the Inverter and the speakers themselves.

Although normally warm in the center (where the inverter assembly is) I've noticed an increase in temp across the bottom when playing back BD with audio at the speakers, not externally through the HDMI.

2.0, I was wondering if you had noticed this before or know what effect increased thermal would have on that area relevant to the problem, if any.

 

MA, are you insane??? Depending on the game, millisecond lags can mean the difference between Victory and getting fragged by some 10 year old dipstick with faster reflexes. And with display lags between the PS3 and a display, it's not just a couple of ms's - I've run the GH calibration on display units in Best Buy when screwing around and found 30 - 60 ms delays between the PS3 and both large and small HDTV units. Even on my previous display before I got my Aquos, the lag was an average 20ms.

The biggest change I saw was playing COD4 when I actually saw my stats/hit percentages start to go up significantly in all recorded areas. The only changes to my gameplay were a new display with a gaming circuit that negates the lag, and spending a lot of time getting my router/gaming adapter setup correctly for the particular games.

With GH, you can actually witness the lag if the game isn't calibrated to the delay because you're timing your input to the note display pattern coming at you. It's amazing how much it affects the game even at 20ms lags. When you start adding display lag to any network lag due to incorrect port settings, other network factors like wireless standards (which standard you use can affect your max throughput level) and server usage, any way you can negate any lag source is a step toward winning or losing. Of course if you don't worry about whether you win or lose, then it's not a big deal. But then there's the old saying - "Why do the keep Score?"

 

This tuner/card, the AVerTV Hybrid NanoExpress
HC82U, works with current Expresscard slots in notebooks, but delivers HD TV content to the display even though Expresscard 1.0 is limited in speed and bandwith. What's happening here? Is it due to compression? Or would a PS3 HD output exceed that of HDTV content?

Thanks

 

- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
- Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo Processor T9500 (2.60GHz)
- 20.1" diagonal WUXGA High-Definition HP Ultra Brightview Widescreen (1920x1200)-"True HD" 1080p res
- 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
- 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTS
- 400GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (200GB x 2)
- Webcam + Fingerprint Reader
- Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 4965AGN Network Connection and Bluetooth(TM)
- Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer
- Integrated HP HDTV Hybrid TV Tuner and 4 Altec Lansing speakers +the HP Triple Bass Reflex subwoofer
- 9 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
- Power Pack software - muvee autoProducer Premium, Cyberlink DVD Suite Premium and Serif Web Plus
- Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
- HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

 

Anyone know if HDX will read SDHC flash? TKS

 

Nope. Only heard of one for a desktop.

Sufficient heat would deform the LCD substrate. The diffuser, a 3-4mil thick semi-translucent sheet that diffuses the light of the CCFL, I think is made of polycarbonate or mylar. Could be straight up plastic. Behind it are 3-4 more razor thin opaque sheets that also help to disperse the light. All against a white plastic background.

Only thing I can think of looking at a picture of the screen disassembly diagram is that the speaker housing would act as an conductor of the heat given off by the CCFL lamp.

"Know thy ping and thy enemy's. If thy ping is lower, you will not fear the result of 100 battles." ~ Sun Tzu, Art of War.

 

Looking into it...

EDIT:

Yes it does.

According to this review: http://www.bostonpocketpc.com/Revie...DX+Entertainment+Notebook+Aka+The+Dragon.aspx

Look 1/3 the way down.

 

No it won't adversely affect support. Consider this, the Dv6000, 9000, etc. have been discontinued since the DV5,7, etc. came out. But HP is aware that they will have to in some cases, support the unit for 4 years since their introduction because of a 3 year warranty plan which can be bought before the end of the 1st year's warranty.

Same would hold true for the HDX.

Though they won't update drivers unless some security or liability concern is identified. And they certainly won't offer any sort of upgrade package like a new GPU.

 

Thanks 2.0

 

Yea I don't know why he lists it that way, but I think he just keeps doing the sell another like it option and doesn't change anything. He told me it's Blueray ROM like you stated so that does cause some confusion. I forgot to change some basic things in my listing for a Samsung i730 Pocket PC that I could have and wanted to change easily, but I forgot about those things when I did it and was half past out.

 

power consumption

Running - .67 PF
Idle or Off - .56 PF

1 hour used about .05 KWH
47 watt

no battery in laptop, weird that it draws power even when off. i wonder if im reading the P4400 Kill-A-Watt right. i usually unplug my appliances when not in use. I havn't installed any games yet, im sure that would increase power usage.

 

Hi

I have an older HDX (HDX 9312TX) and it has the stock ATI VC in it - I was wondering if it would be possible to successfully upgrade this to the newer 8800GTS (HP spare part # 454311-001) and if anyone has successfully done this as i am seriously considering upgrading

Thanks in advance
Kris Bennett

 

Good One 2.0.

Somehow I thought it was a bit different when I read it though...

Sun Tzu translates to any generation.

 

Kris, from what I've read, probably not. 2.0 has made some posts about the differences in mobo's:

"Without a supported BIOS upgrade, it's impossible to upgrade the HDX's MXM graphics. And very low likelihood that someone would be able to hack the BIOS. Besides who would want to use a hacked BIOS?

I've upgraded notebook graphics before. And generally speaking it's possible under the following conditions:

1. The notebook manufacturer updates the target model with a better graphics card while maintaining the same motherboard and issues a BIOS update to support it.

2. The BIOS is generic enough to allow an upgrade from the same GPU series or MXM Type from the same manufacturer without need of a BIOS update.

3. The BIOS on the graphics card can be flashed.

The HDX fails all three.

Plus heatsink may need modification, mounting holes may not line up, etc.

Also consider that when the HDX went from ATI to Nvidia, not only was a BIOS update issued, there was a new motherboard designed to support it. The original HDX 9000's with ATI cannot be upgraded to the Nvidia 8800M GTS. The motherboard (448145-001) will not support it. Yet, the ATI card is MXM. The new motherboard ( 464591-001) supports both the ATI and Nvidia cards that HP sold as an option.

The New HDX's use a totally different motherboard made by a totally different ODM. I believe the new HDX's are made by Quanta. The HDX 9000 is made by Inventec. Another hurdle in the "upgrade" path.

Lastly, like Clevo and DELL, HP's MXM's are proprietary.

So your only place to get another MXM card for the HDX is HP. Which means it's not going to happen. The HDX is a failed product in HP's mind. There will be no further support in terms of improvements. It has reached its end of life.

Had it been made by one of their main ODMs like Quanta or Compal, maybe - though very unlikely. But Inventec is a one-off for HP. The HDX AFAIK is the only product made by Inventec for HP since 2006. "


ok, so i just read this again...maybe it is possible if you have the newer mobo...but definitely not with the older one.

 

It's doable if you have motherboard 464591-001. Otherwise it's not.

You have to disassemble the HDX to find out. Part number is on the board itself. But it's highly likely that a 9300 would use the dual VC system board listed above. 90xx's and 91xx's were ATI only. What month did you buy your HDX and what CPU is in it?

On the bottom, what PN is listed? starts with a "K."

 

It's going to draw power when off, but it shouldn't be more than a watt or two. The ACPI is on even when off to sense a remote power on request, LAN wake request, and Power button/QT Panel request.

I wonder what's up?

 

FWIW, I've actually read an 8GB SDHC card in my HDX without problems.

It definitely works.

 

Just out of curiosity, is anyone else having issues with this forum when navigating? For the past couple of weeks, randomly, but at least once a day, usually more, when going from page to page, the site just stops responding, like it is down. IE gives me a "page not found" after trying for a couple of minutes. Usually, after a couple of retries, it comes back, almost like the webserver was rebooted or something.

Is it just me, or is anyone else experiencing this? It's very annoying. I'm not having problems with any other website, and I have 20mbps COX high speed.

 

Yep, you're not the only one. I think there was a thread about it.

I'm Having the same issue with multiple computers, different routers, and different locations.

 

You said that the part number is on the board - i have the Service manual and was wondering where abouts on the board i will find it before taking the laptop apart.

Thanks in adv,
Kris

 

9300 or 9400?

 

What I mean is that there's a PN for the entire unit on the bottom of the HDX where the serial number is. I think it's also in BIOS.

The part number for the mobo is on the side with the CPU on it IIRC. Which would mean that you would have to disassemble the entire HDX just to find it.

But if you give me the other requested info, I can tell you the probability of you having the right mobo or not. If the information you give clearly points to an ATI only mobo, you won't have to bother opening it up.

 

Me too - I PM'd 2.0 about our post numbers - have you noticed that they stopped advancing for a day or two, and they just started again yesterday afternoon? Go back a few pages and check, or bring up all your own posts and look at the numbers.

 

The number 2.0 is referring to is the HP Product number on the label under your system - it usually has a #ABA at the end of it.

 

Does anyone know of a newer 8800GTS driver that will still enable me to watch Blu-Ray? I’ve been using laptop2go’s modified inf. drivers which help game quality but give an RGB error with Blu-Ray disks. Currently, I’ve been switching my driver between the original and the modded driver to get around this but there has to be a better way.

 

175.97


http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...&dlc=en&cc=us&product=3743954&os=2100&lang=en

Don't worry, the .inf has 8800M GTS.

 

A couple of days ago my CPU was running at high percentages for extended periods, so I took the opportunity to take snips of the thermal data along with extended CPU Performance graph data - you might find the results interesting. To bring anyone new up to speed, this is for an X9000 Core 2 Xtreme CPU. My system specs are in my sig.

This is the original HDM snip from the last post on 9/10. The ambient temperature I reported was 82 degrees:



This is the snip taken yesterday when my system was under heavier load - the biggest difference besides overall system load is the ambient temperature, which was 75 degrees, or 7 degrees cooler than the previous measurement:



I had the graph scan rate set to fast, so you're looking at approximately 2 minutes worth of CPU Performance data in 1 graph, all CPU's view. Even though the HDM snip was taken just after the scan pic was snipped, it's obvious there's not much change , or at least not enough to affect thermal levels fast enough to change the readings. The 2nd graph is just after the first graph snip, changing views to 1 graph per CPU view, after about a minute or two has already passed after the first graph snip.

It's interesting to note the temperature differences in both the GPU, the CPU cores, and the HD's. I was running several different Adobe programs simultaneously (DW, PS, Illustrator, FW, Acrobat Pro and ID), as well as having about 20 tabs open on Netscape 9 and on IE (64bit version), and running Excel also. I was also in a multi-display configuration, using cloned display and outputting to my 32" Aquos.

 

Hmm... Ok now take temp reading when the system is idling. CPU usage <20%.

But it debunks notion that GPU would run cooler because of X9000. And Naturally since the processes that affect GPU and CPU are unrelated.

 

Thanks 2.0, I'll try it tonight.

 

@ cybervision.

I've tried to duplicate your setup but I can't attain 100% CPU usage. I even set power profile to performance mode.

Here's a list of programs I have up.

IE7 w/9 tabs and a shockwave video on one.
Excel 2007 with a large report up.
Publisher with a 90 page graphical report
Onenote 2007 with 35 pages of hand drawn notes and graphics
Word 2007 with a 200 page user guide
Corel Painter X
Acrobat 9 pro
Acrobat reader 9 with HDX manual up.
Adobe photoshop CS3
Trade Station 2000i

And I can't break 40% CPU usage. Wonder what I'm missing?

Only way I can get 100% CPU usage is to run wprime. But that's a different type of "100%."

 

Hi everyone,
Today I discovered why my Soft Eject button wasn't working and I know who to blame for...and the winner is: a 14 yrs old Chinese boy/girl. Since I'm a oral surgeon in my "other" life and I don't lack fingers control I completely disassembled my HDX in order to get to the LED/QLB panel ( following the instructions on HP manual).
WHAT I FOUND [apologies for not taking pictures of the process]:
1. The build quality is good overall for ''made in china'' product.
2. The assembling quality is poor - for HP's initial price (lots of conductive strips torn or bended -but functional - inside ).
3. THERE IS A LONG, NARROW BOARD UNDER THE SURFACE OF THE FRONT PANEL( ACTUALLY TWO: RIGHT AND LEFT OF FINGERPRINT READER). THAT'S THE BOARD WITH THE BLUE LEDS AND QUICK TOUCH/LAUNCH BUTTONS. THE RIGHT END SIDE, WHERE IS THE EJECT BUTTON WAS NOT PRESSED AGAINST THE DOUBLE ADHESIVE TAPE THAT HOLDS THE LED BOARD UP.
4.All I had to do: FINISH THE CHINESE WORK and fix it properly/ a finger's push at the boards end.
5. Put it all back and IT WORKS.
6.Repeated the same procedure for a friend of mine who has a 6 months old HDX with the same ''clinical signs''- 37 screws and problem solved, the situation was almost exactly the same, his LED board was 2/16 away from surface, mine was a good 1/4 inch away.
7 NO STATIC electricity trick ( I guess that when you turn it over to remove the battery the board drops in its place) just sloppy work.

I hope this would help a lot (maybe the guys @ HP also)

PS HP released a new soft for QLB SP40139 that work great (is at the support page for the new HDX line) . Download here: ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp40001-40500/sp40139.exe

 

Good show! Well done. +rep for that!

And thanks for the heads up about the new QLB software.

 

Hi Everyone,

While installing the newest release of Quick Launch Buttons I read that they introduce the ability to customize the buttons.

I found no application or setting to do that.

Has anyone tried? Done it?

 

Hi!
Does anybody knows is it possible replace HP HDX Bluray ROM with some internal Bluray writer. Thanks

 

Good question. Can't see why not other than the plastic bezel not lining up. The HDX's bezel slopes to conform to the body outline. The bezel is removable but bezels aren't standardized. So its mounting position may not line up with mounting hardware of a different drive.

Nothing a dremel or file and some crazy glue couldn't fix.

 

Ok...newbie to forum..have enjoyed reading discussions. Been looking at an HDX as a possible purchase. Started looking at the HDX9494NR and was impressed with price for specs I read. Found it hard to find an actual place to purchase. Newegg was last place where it was in stock and it went out of stock this afternoon there. I understand that these have been discontinued by HP which may be the reason its so hard to find one in stock. Spent all evening looking but gave up. Started looking at another model (HDX9010NR). Ok..now to the meet of my question. The 9494NR was listed at $1599 everywhere I saw that it had been in stock at one time (including NewEgg). The 9010NR is listed MUCH higher in price for what looks to be a lesser spec. What gives? The only differences I see in the 2 are the 9494NR has a 2.1 g processor, the 9010NR has 2.2 g. The 9494 has 4 GB RAM to the 2 the 9010 has. 9494 has BluRay drive..9010 doesn't. Can anyone tell me what I'm missing here for such a price difference??? Maybe Im just out of touch as I havent bought a new computer in quite sometime but side by side comparisons appear misleading for the price differences... Any insight would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

Price gouging. They know this is it and inventories will soon be at zero everywhere. 9010 is the older model that uses 65nm Merom CPUs. It also uses the less powerful ATI Radeon Mobility 2600 XT. It's half as powerful as the 8800M GTS.

Anyway, check back about 20 pages for links to additional retailers of the HDX 9494 NR. Last time I checked today they were in stock at two of them.

EDIT: here's the page: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=169232&page=294

 

Yea if it comes back in stock. They sold it with a BlueRay RW writer/HD Combo dvd RW drive a while back but I don't see it in stock "yet".

 

Someone before was asking for a protocol for how to set up their HDX when they get it brand new. I don't remember seeing a reply, does anyone have one or a few to share as far as what you do to get it going working like you want it when you reformat or got it in the very beginning?

The only things I've done with my laptops have been to do most/all the Windows Updates, then the HP updates, uninstall the bloatware, install Kaspersky Antivirus, turn on Windows XP (or Zonealarm Pro) and install SuperAntiSpyware. Are the updates ok to do because I hear that Microsoft puts something into your PC/Laptop that will ruin it if it doesn't like some software on it or something?

I then do all the settings like Power settings (custom), mouse settings etc, and I believe that's it..but you guys are talking about cloning the Hard Drive and a bunch of other stuff. Could you explain the purpose in doing all that when it comes with a factory partition there for restoring it to factory presets?

One thing I think I'd like to do if/when I get mine is use not just the Windows Vista Ultimate (but uninstalling the crapware) but partition it so I can use Windows XP Pro which I bought a while ago when they announced it was discontinued, and want to get OSX on another partition. I did see 2.0s way of doing that boot trick which looks sweet (thanks!) but could anyone share some input on this stuff? Thanks.