*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

I wouldn't think so. But it's a good price at this time for that spec drive.

Maybe GPUs are the only thing that depreciate in price faster than harddrives. Their release cycle is fast. Technology can be an endless waiting game. I just look for the best price I can find at the time that I need something.

 

Ah haha my bad. Thanks for the clarificasheeoon.

 

I've been thinking about upgrading my cpu in the future. How hard is it to do? Has anyone posted a step by step guide to this upgrade? If not, that would be sweet if someone posted one with pics. Anyone up for it?

 

Welcome back old friend!

Again, do NOT link directly to files, especially executables! Link to the web page that has the link to the executable.

 

Yes and yes. So how've you been old chum? You've been missed.

 

It looks as though Newegg no longer has the HDX 9494NR for sale anymore.


I did manage to find one at a decent price on ebay though.
Does this pricing look good?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260297359457&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:US:1123

Trying to get my friend to buy one before they are all gone.

 

$1000 premium over Newegg's and other's price for the 9494NR.

 

Hi 2.0 i saw your answer about the tv tuner, my tuner is an A312. I'm in Australia, that means I'll be able to use the module used in Europe? The maintenance manual lists three part numbers, two are for use in America, and the other in Europe,middle East and Africa.
Cheers.

 

I've had a similar problem with both of my HDX's. (the original and replacement). When you hit the 'theater mode' button, all of the lights on the laptop appear to turn off, but under closer inspection flicker very slightly. This also goes for the illuminated HP logo on the back... Keep in mind, it's only noticeable in complete darkness, otherwise no worries.

 

Hi! Is 2X500GB 5400 faster then 2X320 7200 hard drives in HDX20? Is anyone installed SSD-s to HDX20. How do put OS and all staff to new drives? Or I mast do clean install, is clean install same good as factory installed OS and drivers? Thanks

 

Yea, its a very slight flicker, you have to look closely.. but in the dark, when 'theater mode' is expected to be used, it is noticeable. Not the biggest problem in the world though.

Can I ask why you decided to repair your HDX with HP? What was wrong? How did the repair process go, what was the condition of your replacement compared to your original?

I'm dreading a replacement screen with dead pixels, its really the only reason I'm reluctant to send out my HDX.

 

You should do a clean install, or make an image of the factory install and just copy it over to whatever drive you put in, SSD included.

2x for those drives really doesn't matter unless they are in RAID, like RAID0 would give you the most performance but is the riskiest RAID scheme. As far as I know HDX's controller does not do RAID.

Compare the throughput of each drive as a single, it's fairly close due to the 500GB's platter density but I'd say the 7.2K RPM drive will be faster, especially seek times.

See this

 

Hi everyone!

I just got my HDX16t yesterday, and the first thing I did was to do a clean install.

After reinstalling Vista(32bit), however, I found that the HP site does not provide every driver that the HDX16t needs!

Such as the finger print reader, the sound card (vista default one works, but want better driver), WebCam, etc. I got the video driver from laptopvideo2go already(version 177.92) so don't worry about that.

Sorry if this has been asked before, but where might I find these drivers?

 

This thread is for the beast HDX20, I think you want this: *OFFICIAL: HP HDX16 Owners Lounge*

Anyway it's usually a good idea to make your factory recovery disks or image the drive before doing a clean install, just in case.

 

You'll have to factory restore the HDX to original. Then save the swsetup folder to DVD or whatever. The directory contains all the drivers and support software. HP site never has everything. Then you do a clean install.

IF you deleted the recovery partition and didn't make backup disks, or you back disks fail, you'll have to order the recovery disks from HP.

 

Just out of curiosity, does the recovery partition actually reimage the drive back to factory state? If so, how is that initiated on HP notebooks? (I know how to do it on Dell's, but not HP...)

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but your system is PAL down under. A312 wouldn't work there. It only receives NTSC and ATSC signals. You need the one that does PAL/DVB-T.

 

Yeah. I used it once on me TX2500 when I was thinking of sending it back. It reformats the HDD, then copies over all the files. I don't believe it repartitions the HDD so it can put back the recovery partition. It might though.

You can initiate it at boot with a BIOS option to use the recovery partition. Or you can insert the first media into the optical drive and set BIOS to boot from it.

 

Anyone tried this on their HDX yet? I'm using 5929 right now. I have noticed with 5929 occassional skipping and "ticking" while I'm playing music. Is this new version above considered 6064?

 

I stopped using rumba's drivers awhile ago. I'm using the ones 2.0 posted earlier now, but I'd be interested if someone guinea pigs them. See if the sub actually works with the release.

 

Here is the link for the $90 Seagates
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GUY6BM

 

OK, I tried it, and updated from 5929 to this 6064 version. The good news is I have the IDT control panel now, automatically, but this version does not include the equalizer in the control panel, so the adjustments are minimal. Also, the speaker tests still do not work. That's the good news!

The bad news is, I lost my subwoofer.

I reinstalled 5929 and still did not have my subwoofer.

I uninstalled the IDT audio driver all together and installed the stock version that was in my SWSETUP folder (5607??), and got the subwoofer back, but no control panel anymore. I also noticed I am still getting an occasional skip or static "tick" when playing back music in my Zune software.

I think I might try 5929 again, since I had the control panel with equalizer, and seems like all the versions have the skipping...

 

I tried out this driver and it sucks - subwoofer doesn't work at all. Rolled back to 6.0.6000.16386 and it works perfectly. I don't know why I ever upgrade drivers when they work fine...maybe boredom. I have a new mantra, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it".

 

Is the BIOS for different HP laptops interchangeable ?

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01087277&lc=en&cc=us

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...&dlc=en&cc=us&product=3289671&os=2100&lang=en

I find it interesting that some of the dvxxxx laptops run a BIOS with version F.39 and so does my hdx20. I also notice that BIOS version F.3D is also available.

Its interesting to note that one can update the BIOS in an hdx20 without opening the case. The machine can update itself.

How much is a new motherboard for an hdx20 and where does one buy one ?

Thanks.

 

With the 6000 driver, you have the subwoofer and the IDT control panel with equalizer controls?

Do you have a link for the 6000 driver?

Thanks.

 

Samsung Launches High-capacity Ultra-compact External Hard Drives

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/...d=news_view&newsId=20081008005065&newsLang=en

Could be why prices have been dropping.

 

Interesting. I read all related articles, and went to Samsung's site, but there's mention of rotational speed. By the way, is the HDX Pavilion port SATA 1.5 GB or SATA 3.0?

Thanks

 

SATA II, which is 3.0 Gbps.

 

Is that the fastest port for an external drive?

 

Yes it is. Its the same speed as the internal SATA port.

USB runs at 480 Mbps and has considerable packing and unpacking and signalling overhead.

The eSATA bus is 6x faster on a bitrate comparison, let alone the lack of packing and signalling overhead. eSATA hard drives run at the same speed they would if they were inside the laptop. Incredible.

I wouldn't buy a laptop today without an eSATA port.

 

Please provide us with the links to that drivers

 

I agree about e-SATA.

Are there notebooks made today without e-SATA?

 

Yes, you're right. Contacted HP and ordered the proper tuner. The rep was a bit taken by surprise because he couldn't find the model number in the database, it was made late 2008.
I gave the name of the dealer and he is an authorised HP reseller.
I don't know if it is my imagination but after installing the latest sound driver, I get less sound, every single touch button works, just the sporadic hanging of the system, the screen goes white with tiny lines running down, I know it is not the power savings because, I got it to never go to sleep and the screen saver to start after 3 hours, and it has happen twice, but only when I leave the system at idle, but overall I'm really happy with the system.

 

Amen to that.

 

New mobo costs around $500 and is available from HP. Haven't seen it anywhere else yet. But I think they only have the ATI only board. Haven't seen the ATI/NVidia compatible board listed.


As for interchangeable BIOS, if it's from the same ODM, generally yes. DVxxxx series was made by Quanta. The HDX is made by Inventec. I believe the New HDX's and new DV-x's are made by Quanta.

And BIOS updates have been via software programmable flash updates since before 2000. What makes the modern ones unique is that they can be flashed through the OS. back in the day it could only be done via boot disk and real mode DOS.

 

Ya, I've never heard of this driver version, I'd like to know as well.

 

2.0, Do you know who made the screens for the HDX? Both the WSXGA+ and WUXGA were made by the same manufacturer?

With SIW on mine I see "Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor | Monitor ID: CMO2000"

 

The only thing I know is that they are made by two different manufacturers. As to who makes them, not positive. I'll look into it though.

EDIT:

WSXGA is made by LG Philips. Runs on 7 watts. Where as the WUXGA runs on 6 watts. Which is odd. Still trying to pin down exactly who makes the WUXGA. Indications are it's made by Lite-on.

 

Hi, I just got a question, I read that the HDX in reference to sound has 5.1 system, 4 speakers + sub-woofer, when you open the volume mixer and go to speakers>properties, there are three options but only the stereo function workss, that's two speakers, am I missing something?
By the way I haven't been able to open the sound console that a member mentioned before, the Sigma console (sound).
Thanks.

 

There were a couple of minor things wrong--the hinge made a weird spring noise when you opened and closed it. Also, the screen had a few dead pixels. Last but not least, I couldn't burn any recovery disks with HP's program. Overal, the whole process of the replacement was atrocious! Among other issues, HP first built the wrong unit. Then they tried to charge me an extra $500. Also, it took a long time. Finally, when I tried to send in my rebate for a free printer, they busted and declined it, saying that I didn't purchase them at the same time...(a problem that I predicted beforehand, and that they assured me wouldn't happen). I have yet to resolve it. As for the condition of the replacement unit, it was fabulous! No dead pixels, and everything worked, and still does wonderfully. Hope this helps!

 

Hi everybody,

since a view days I got my Dragon

4GB RAM
T8300
GeForce 8800M GTS
2 x 320GB HDD

You people in the US had the luck to configure the HDX like you want it.
Here in Germany we had just the choice between some preconfigured systems.

First thing I do now is changing the HDDs to WD Scorpion Black.

The other think is the Ram. I got a T8300 so I need DDR2-800 PC-6400 Ram.
I can’t find some low-priced 8GB (2 x 4GB). G.Skill has just DDR2-667.

The other thing is. Do you thing we can upgrade to the Quad-Cores’s?
They have just 10W more, so maybe the cooling of the HDX is enough.

If you thing we can put in the Quad’s what DDR do they need? Because if it will be possible I need some Ram for the Quad. If not, can somebody show me some good low-priced DDR2-800 Ram. Best would be some Ram that reaches 5.9 in the Windows Experience Index.

Best regards from Germany.

 

Thanks 2.0. It seems to be a Chi Mei. SIW and Sandra didn't help but Everest showed some extra info.



"N201J4-L01" had a few hits on Google as a CMO 20.1" panel.

This page lists it at 15w, with 100% NTSC color gamut(really?). The numbers on that page seem a little suspect [ http://lcdtech.no-ip.info/en/data/laptop.lcd.panels.htm].

Looks like my unit has an old 2006 manufacture date panel, I can only hope the newer ones went through better quality control.

I'm fairly sure by now that this panel is defective, what would you call that dark strip 1-2cm up from the bottom?

 

I had a feeling that the WUXGA was made by a second tier manufacturer. Was hoping it was one of the better ones like Lite-on. As for the wattage, they are including total wattage = panel + back lights. As for color gamut, well, it's certainly an error. As for quality control, there weren't that many WUXGA's made as compared to the sheer number of WSXGA+'s. So I'm figuring that HP got a batch or two of them. It's a custom panel made specifically for the HDX. Where as the WSXGA+ is a common panel that's also used in desktop panels.

Considering your understandably high standards and keen eye for quality, I don't know if your expectations will be met with a replacement panel considering the manufacturer. It's certainly a gamble. One which may require several returns before satisfaction or capitulation. If you do decide to return it for repair, I wish you the best and hope the first time works out in your favor.

As for the dark band, I don't know what it's called but I've seen it before. In my experience, it can be considered an indicator of early panel failure or degradation. The last time I diagnosed it, a replacement of the LCD data cable fixed it in the short term only to reappear later. Not sure exactly what causes it. My suspicion is the conductive data strip in the panel that feeds the pixel matrix (it has a real name but I forget off-hand) wasn't seated correctly. It's a rubbery strip with conductive pins embedded in it that lines the top and one side of the panel to provides data to the individual pixels. I believe this because while holding a bare powered panel by hand, if i squeezed that area the line would disappear or get worse.

 

You need DD2-667 RAM, not DDR2-800. DDR2-800 will downclock to 667mhz in the HDX because of the chipset. Also, you will see virtually no performance improvement with lower latency RAM. Such as RAM with 4-4-4-12 timings. The most you'll see is a 0%-2% improvement.

You can't upgrade to quad core because of the difference in bus timings and lack of BIOS support.

You best bet is to upgrade to a T9300 (2.5ghz) CPU. You'll see the biggest jump in perfromance for a reasonable price. The X9000 of course will give you more perfromance but only 10% more on average over the T9300 but at a significant price premium. Plus you CANNOT overclock the X9000 in the HDX.

Read back in the thread to find out why you can't.

 

Can't imagine anyone buying at this price, but here is a seller on eBay that has 9 in stock...they are loaded.

http://cgi.ebay.com/NIB-Factory-Sea...hZ016QQcategoryZ177QQcmdZViewItem?refid=store

 

Wow that price is sky high. Especially for a Merom Extreme CPU and only a WSXGA+ res. And what's with the "ships in 1 to 2 weeks?" Sounds dodgy.

 

The Best Buys in Calgary have some hdxs in stock. hdx9494 for C$1600.

When the first hdx9000s came out, HP had them priced really high. I remember seeing one and looking at the price (>$3K) and thinking I couldn't justify it. I paid $1600 for my hdx9494 last week. I was surprised it was so low.

Last week there were a couple used hdx9000s for sale on the Calgary craigslist for ~$3K. The ads have now expired.

I think the sub $2K that some of us bought these things for was an inventory blowout price. I think HP wanted to sell these things as a Cadillac high end laptop with a price to match. I think their size turned people off and they ddn't sell well.

Here is one in Montreal... the guy wants $2500 for it. The one picture has the Best Buy Geek Squad car displayed on the display. I bet he bought it at Best Buy before the price dropped.
http://montreal.kijiji.ca/c-acheter...-Core-2-Duo-Processor-T8100-W0QQAdIdZ75460630

 

It is also stated, at the bottom, that the seller has WUXGA models for $100 more....

Really...where is he getting HDX20's???? That processor (X7900) is kinda old, too, isn't it? You can't buy current units with that CPU anymore....

 

$2,500 looks like a good price to me though. We may have gotten ours at low blow-out prices, but these babies sold for so much more.

Honestly I have no problem telling my friend its still a great deal, because it is. And the HDX is well worth that kind of money.

Have you seen all the other HDX's on ebay? Insane! This is the first time I've found a good deal on an HDX since I got mine off Newegg.