*HP HDX DRAGON Owners Lounge, Part 1*

The Dragon club really is a club...threatened like the polar bear...and we're truly fortunate to have people on the forum who are not only willing to help, but who are impressive in their technical backgrounds and expertise. Thank you, gentlemen.

If HP was known in the past for its technical support, the quality of which went down under Fiorina, why don't we as a group of consumers who believed in their best hardware, remind them of their responsibility?

All of us have warranties, and many have bought extended warranties. That should mean that HP will be committed to helping us keep their designed-systems up and running for years. That is the contract.

It's in HP's interest going forward to rebuild their tech support. After all, they're selling computers to business and consumers...not gumball machines.
They should be as proactive as our forum members in helping these bios update victims. Maybe we should remind them.

Cheers

 

Well, that dident work, dident even try to access the jump drive

 

Sorry about that. I missed a period between www & HP.

Even sorrier about that.

I'm looking at pictures of the HDX I took when I disassembled it trying to identify the BIOS Flash ROM chip and its location. There may be info specific to reflashing the chip.

 

any cupons available on the HDX models? ahhhhh i want one but they are pricey for what they are

 

I appreciate all the help, I am thinking more and more this is a wash....I havent been able to find anything here either, even the techs I know how used to work at HP have no ideas about this system. This is really starting to annoy me actually. I talked to a supervisor at Best Buy and the price quote I got up front was a rough estimate of $500 for repair, and no gaurentees HP will reimburse that, even though they say they would. My options with HP seem to be wait 3 or so weeks for the box to ship unit back to HP for repair and approx aneother week to get it back, so a month out more or less , or drop $500+ on a repair and hope HP covers me.

Kinda stuck between a riock and a hard place right now and not sure what to do, I really feel burned by HP on this.

I have confirmed thata WIN + B will allow the FD to be acccessed, at least for 5 seconds, but it seems like just verifying the FD is there, I am wondering if there is some other "trigger" needed to make the FD boot ? The boot block idea seemed promising, but after reading it uses a parrallel port, which this system doesnt have...well.

 

Yeah, I'm of the sort that says it's likely a wash at this point also. Getting to the BIOS chip requires a fair bit of disassembly. I think HP would just swap out the mobo rather than try to recover the BIOS. Unfortunately, it's mostly a proprietary system with insufficient documentation. They even use revisions of components of subsystems not seen in other notebooks.

I'd opt to send it back to HP. Keep on them every other day. They log your calls and keep notes. As that screen of theirs piles up, then tend to get creative when it comes to resolving your issue. Likely if you hang tough it'll work out in your favor. Especially if you mention that it is your work computer.

Sorry that I couldn't be of more help and couldn't solve the issue. Really hoped that we could have had a break through on it.

I completely empathize with your issue. If there's anything else I could do, feel free to let me know. Drop a PM or post a reply.

 

Yea.....now I just wonderif they have a MB, considering its a discontinued system. And will I end up with a 9300 or a diff model. I am mixed, if tyhey want to replace it with a 18T or so, maby I can end up with a quad core ? but the lower end vid card pisses me off....guess we wait and see.

Again, thanks for all your help, it is much appreciated. I have had the case escalited to a Senior Customer Service Manager based in Seattle, and I have faxed them a copy of my origional invoice (price + specs) so they have a idea of my investment in this. (also so they know if they are going to replace the entire computer, the monatary value I expect in return). She seems just as appaled by the situation as me, and it sounds genuine, so I have a glimmer of hope there.

I have also taken the step of emailing the chaiman of the board of HP (its amazing the info you can find online if you look hard enough) he probably wont see it, a sectretary will, but I bet it getrs someones attention.

Will keep ya all updated on how this goes.

 

It's great that you're proactively contacting the right people. HP should take care of you...and all of us.

Great tech support helps to make a great company and a loyal customer base.

 

C'mon JF - you're smarter than to come up with just an ExpressCard. The only one out there is the X-Fi, and you need an adapter box with it anyway.

As JF says, the HDC supports 7.1 - the easiest option is to use your HDMI output to deliver the audio signal to your receiver. Naturally that would depend on whether or not your receiver has HDMI ports, but if it's a newer system it should have. If not, there are other options.

Remember with HDMI audio you need to change your default Sound settings. The same is applicable if you're using HDMI with an external monitor.

1. Open your Sound Settings in the CP.
2. Highlight the "Digital Output Device" setting
3. Regardless if yours says SPDIF or HDMI, click on "Set Default"

Because some systems have a SPDIF icon and not an HDMI icon, some users get confused thinking that the output is just for the SPDIF jack. Not so, grasshopper - it also enables audio output for your HDMI port as well.

If you don't have HDMI inputs on your receiver and all you have (or want to use) is a TOSLINK (optical) port,you can always get a D/A Converter (dual RCA - TOSLINK out) adapter, using SPDIF to RCA cables to get from the HDX to the RCA connections on the converter. Or if you can just go with SPDIF - SPDIF on your receiver.

However, if you've got the scratch, you can always get a Linksys Media Center Extender (with or without DVD). You can connect it to your HDX wirelessly, and stream any audio or video you want to your receiver or your HDTV. The unit has multiple connections for a receiver (TOSLINK, SPDIF, RCA, HDMI, CAT5, you name it) so if you can't figure a way to hook this thing up, your system is probably from the 1940's.

Keep in mind though that with this unit, you really need to have a either a standard N router or (recommended) a Dual-Band Router (stay away from the 610, it's had problems), and at least a good working knowledge of networking setups, which unfortunately most people don't. The system has a lot of bad reviews but if you read them, you can tell that they're written by idiots who are trying to hook a Ferrari engine to VW Microbus, and they're mad because it doesn't work. Other issues you can see are hangs, but it's obvious that this is due to an automatic update feature that can be switched off.

You can view the info for the Linksys MCE at http://tinyurl.com/57p6rx

There are also other Media extenders out there, but as I said you really need to have the network speeds to get good results out of whichever you use. The Linksys unit runs about $150-$199 depending on where you get it from.

 

You know, reading through some of the posts where you guys are reporting noise from your adapters, I'm curious as to the exact type of power input you're using - whether it's a regular off the wall surge protector, a UPS, battery UPS, or a UPS w/ AVR.

The reason I mention it is that one thing that can cause the kind of noise problem that you're reporting is undervoltage at the source input, or voltage fluctuations on the line. It's been a while since I encountered that because all of my electronic systems have AVR input units due to the regular power spikes and voltage fluctuations where I live.

One sure way to check is with a voltmeter - check the input line voltage to your adapter. If it's off by .5 volts either way it's going to cause problems, not just for your adapter, but ultimately for your system as well. I'd be interested to see if there's a common thread.

 

2.0,
I know you've been working the BIOS problem, but I'm curious about a few things and have a couple of questions for woods and anyone else this has affected. Although I've scanned through most of the posts, if I ask a redundant question that's already been covered, let me know.

1. Were there ANY hardware changes to your systems beyond the original configuration?
2. Were the previous BIOS updates installed prior to installing the latest update?
3. Has anyone been able to run the System Diagnostics utility (F2 key) on startup?
4. Are there any errors displayed at all on the screen?
5. Do you have any disks in your optical drive when starting up?
(I've recently encountered a startup problem where I had a data disk in my BD drive that prevented proper booting and startup)
6. Has anyone performed a full system electrical discharge? By full discharge, I mean removing all power systems,

The ROM chip in question is used in all of the HDX's the update appears on.
Usually when something like this occurs, it's due to system configuration changes, the installation procedure wasn't followed to the letter, the install notes weren't read and followed, or in some cases, the previous BIOS updates weren't installed prior to the update causing the problem. Drivers tend to be cumulative updates, including all previous information, but BIOS updates aren't always that way. Unfortunately there aren't enough notes to indicate one way or the other, even though if it were required it would normally indicate pre-installation of previous versions. Still, I've learned to assume nothing, and frankly with the kind of errors we've seen coming out of HP this year, anything's possible.

 

1. Nope, was same as I recieved it

2. Yes, Was at F.39

3. Nope, never gets that far

4. Nope, never gets that far

5. No

6. Yes I have. Removed battery, power cord and hold down power switch to fully discharge.

Generally, when doin a BIOS upodate I am REALLY carefully to follow to the letter. Same as when I do a microcode update on a Frame of P-Series systems, follow it to the letter.

There are some things ya can be sloppy with and get away with it, BIOS and Microcode updates dont fall into that catagory

 

For those of you who scratch your heads when it comes to Network Management issues, Cisco recently released a program called Network Magic that simplifies all aspects of Networking. The Pro version runs about $50, and there is a trial version you can try that has all Pro features for about a week.

http://tinyurl.com/59zydf

It reminds me a lot of Linksys' Network Manager, with more features. Since Linksys is owned by Cisco, it makes sense that it's probably an improved version.

Additionally, Cisco released another program called Speed Meter Pro, which will tell you where Network slowdowns are coming from (neighbor stealing your bandwidth, streaming, downloads, etc.) so you can adjust accordingly. It's also great for checking your speeds after port updates on your router. Of course if you're like me and the rest of the DBN world, you don't have problems like that....

Speed Meter Pro is at:

http://tinyurl.com/6noe3n

 

I had this problem too until recently. I emailed HP support several times as my adaptor had the electrical arcing sound since I got it. Finally decided to call them and the next day I got a new adaptor.
It's a different make too, slightly smaller and lighter.

As for the location and power source, it would do it regardless of whether I was at home, at a friends or using any of the University's power-points. I know all the ones in teh main computer labs were tested so It must have been a adaptor problem.

On a side note, mine would arc when it was under increased load. Like when it was charging the last 15% of the battery or while watchign a movie.

 

Hi CyberVision I was wondering if you think its worth getting a 2.8GHZ over a 2.5 for $200 more? From what I understand it doesn't provide any noticeable difference except in high intensity gaming/processing when it 100% by between 4-10% depending on if you have 7200 HDs, and it eats the battery much faster. Any thoughts? One I'm looking at also only seems to have ABG but no N WIFI, I was wondering if thats easy to change or should I just need to get an N adapter or something? Thanks.

 

$200 more? Sure! It's better than $700 Hp was charging. I'd say go for it. It's even better than what you can get an engineering sample X9000 for on Ebay which go for $350 - $600 if you were to update later.

And it's easy to swap in a wifi N. Just a few screws to remove a panel underneath... pop up the 3 mini coax connectors... drop in the new card... all good from there. All in the service manual if it's not intuitive. But it's definitely user serviceable. An N card will cost about $50 on Ebay. Could be less.

I'll let Cyb's answer the performance question since I'm not sure what you're asking. But to see the raw power difference of the respective chips, simply google wprime benchmarks for T9300 @ 2.5ghz and X9000 @ 2.8ghz. Or other CPU only tests. You'll see why it's said that there's only about a 10% difference between them. In fact there are reviews on this site that you can use as a comparison. Just remember to only compare the X9000 @ 2.8ghz. It can overclock in other notebooks (not the HDX under any circumstances) to 3.4ghz. So you need to make sure you note @ what ghz the test was run at.

 

hi there i am writing this post because although i installed the latest drivers still my quicklaunch tv and the eject button are not working from what i've read i have to disassemble and fix the problem but i don't know how can anyone give me specific details?

 

HDX Gurus:

Does anyone have been able to watch blu ray disc on your HD TV?

After digging and installing AnyDVD 6.4.7.9, WinDVD 9, I am able to watch Blu ray disc on the laptop finally.
Now, I would like to watch the blue ray disc on my Panasonic TH-50PX77U. I hook up the HDMI cable from my laptop to my Denon AVR-4806 receiver and TV HDMI port to no avail. I am able to see my destop and all the program running; however, when I launch WinDVD, the movie appears fine on the laptop but the TV show only a black screen. AFAIK, my cable, receiver and TV are HDCP compliant. Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Well, I looked at the HDX series when they first came out and drooled mightily, but I couldn't afford one at the prices they were going for then, so got a refurbished 9700t instead and very happy with it. Too late I found out about the fire sales and by the time I knew, Newegg was sold out. Kudos to all of you who scored one of those! Have been looking off and on since, but without much luck. Most I found were priced too high ($1800-$3000). Finally this weekend I was able to secure a 'baby' Dragon. I say 'baby' because it's a bit stripped down compared to what most of you here seem to have.

The config is a T5850 (2.16), 2 GB RAM, 240 GB (120x2), 8x DVD/RW/DL, 8800M GTS, TV Tuner, and so on. What sold me on this one, was that it had the 8800M GTS, most of the units I've been finding have the 2600 XT. Both good cards, but my main use for this beast will be gaming and video stuff, and the 8800M GTS is much better for gaming, so that was a biggie for me.

I'm mainly a software kinda guy, so I'm not sure I will be trying to upgrade CPU's or anything like that anytime soon, but it's good to know that it's possible. That made me feel a bit safer about getting this baby.

It should arrive in 5-7 days or so (hopefully intact and working) and until then I will be reading through this massive thread trying to pickup what I can. I've already bookmarked page 100. This thread had a lot to do with me pulling the trigger, as once I found out (to my surprise) that these had been discontinued so quickly, I worried about service and support. But I've learned that a good user support forum can go a long way, so I took the shot.

So thanks to all who have shared so much good info here and I look forward to doing the same at some point if I can.

Bron

 

hey all,
I was just wondering if anyone has had problems with the volume quicklaunch buttons. whenever I press them, the computer freezes for awhile. It doesn't happen if there aren't any programs in the background, but if anything is running, even firefox, the computer freezes for like a minute - really annoying.

I have bios f39

If anyone has a fix, please tell me. thanks!

 

I'm going to say again that we really need to put together a "What to do" and "What not to do" list for new HDX owners. I said I'd put it together if someone else will do the data mining on the thread. This is one I constantly respond to both here and on Blu-Ray.com. You would not believe how many Pavilions that HP Support has screwed up simply because they're not smart enough to figure out that all people have to do is update their **** QP to 3.7 for BD's to play correctly.

This falls in the "What Not To Do" category.

First off, you should never have used WinDVD, since it doesn't have the 3rd party customization that QuickPlay has (which is a custom version of Cyberlink's PowerDVD) to run on your HDX. Even though HP Support is stupid enough to keep telling people to use WinDVD, the main reason they started using PowerDVD/QP is because of all the problems they had with WinDVD on Pavilions in the first place.

That said-

The problem is that everything you're using IS HDCP compliant, and what you're doing ISN'T HDCP compliant. You cannot play a Blu-Ray movie with 2 active displays, either in cloned or multi-display mode as HDCP won't allow it. The only way you can get it to show on your external is if you set your external as the desktop primary display, and run it from there. If you had been using QP you would've received an Content Protection message about 15 seconds into BD playback - since you're not, that's why you're scratching your head and asking questions here.

Keep in mind also that your external display usually has its own HDMI input setup - some are automatic, some need to be set so the HDMI input is seen.

You also need to redirect your sound by opening your Sound options from your CP, clicking on the SPDIF or HDMI (Digital Output Device) then clicking on the "Set Default" button. If you don't the sound will keep playing through your speakers.

 

Something doesn't jive with this, and I can't put my finger on it.

On the previos updates, you said you were at 39 - what was your original, 36 or 37? Or was it 39?

These next questions assume you've already done certain things, and that certain things may or may not be what you've seen or experienced, so bear with me.

If you have a second primary battery, use that and then try it.

When you try and power up, which lights (if any) come on? You should be seeing the main power LED, the HD LED on the other side of the power LED, and if plugged in the AC LED at the very least. Also, you should see the Optical drive light come on for a few seconds when it power up.

Besides the BIOS, did you do anything else before or after? (I know you opened it up). When you had it open did you reseat the RAM modules?
Speaking of which, are all your memory slots full, and if not, are the blanks installed and seated tightly?

Aside from the LED's, which I'll wait until you tell me about them -

Are there any sounds from the unit (like an occasional "groaning" sound) every 15 seconds or so?

That should be enough for now. What you tell me will reveal a lot either way.

 

I speculated previously that what this sounded like was an internal shorting problem inside the adapter itself. Of course the biggest evidence would've been the extremely hot adapter and that oh so great "burnt plastic" smell all tech's know.

Did you ever notice on the plug that attaches to one end whether or not the prongs just inside opening were blackened, or if the plug itself was deformed in any way?

 

Corel Ulead Video Studio 11.5 Plus might be another cheap option. If you watch Amazon they sometimes have it on sale for $40 (vs $140). Also, you can download a trial version and check it out to see if you like it. Same with Pinnacle, I think. I personally don't like Pinnacle due to their constant nickel and diming for add-ons to do things which should be already included.

My favorite is the SONY software for straight video editing. Once you get into it, everything is very logical and works well. At least that was true for the earlier verisons, I have not used the latest, cut my teeth on 6 and 7. Ulead is simple and straightforward, probably the easiest to use, just never as stable for me in the past and had a few bugs. Vegas is more reliable in my experience. (But for AVCHD it might only support Panasonic and Sony formats, think I heard of some issues with Canon and others. That's the bite with Sony, always very proprietary in their approach to everything.)

I've heard good things about Adobe, but never used it. Got a deal on Vegas years back so locked in. Got various cheap versions of Ulead in bundles and whatnot so have used it as well. It's fine when it works.

Quite a but of difference in style with all of them, so trying out the trial versions is a good idea. I find the Vegas interface to be "cleaner" but that's just me, maybe.

Good luck!

Bron

P.S. Oh, and a real "sleeper" of a tool is "ConvertXtoDVD" by VSO Software. Designed for writing DivX/Xvid files to DVD, it actually will handle almost any kind of file, including .m2ts HD files, and most others. It makes great looking DVD menus with motion loops about as easily as anything I've tried. It takes a bit of effort to learn all of it's capabilities (a lot more than apparent at first glance), but well worth it. Plus, they make a lot of other nice software and are one of the few companies I know that offer a perpetual "goldmember" license for ALL of their software at a *very* reasonable price. They have trial versions, also.

The web site is at "http://www.vso-software.fr/" and they are very nice to deal with. They currently have a 20% off sale running (use coupon VSO-BOUT-BOO) so you can get ConvertXtoDVD for just $50. You can download and pay online easily.

 

2.0's right - anytime you can get an better processor for $200 bucks more, go for it. More speed is more gooderer (yes that's an old-school technical term - along with "betterer". Usages: Much Betterer, More Gooderer, Much More Betterer, Much More Gooderer)

On the other things you've asked, it's stuff we've covered before, but we never seem to get tired of talking about it, so..

1. Gaming - Contrary to conventional wisdom (and I've been contrary to most things throughout my life) while processing speed certainly helps, in online gaming (assuming that's what you're referring to) the single biggest factor affecting your gaming isn't necessarily your processor or graphics -it's your network speed, both your incoming line, and your hardware speed within the LAN itself. You can have the fastest Voodoo or Alienware rig on the planet, but if your network is running at turtle speed, it won't make a bit of difference. You might be able to see yourself get fragged a bit faster....

So in answer to your N network adapter question, if you can't get the system you want with an N adapter (or multi-standard adapter) it's easy enough to get a USB or gaming adapter (depending on what you're doing) to make up for it.

If you're looking at online gaming, are serious about network speeds, and have got the scratch to buy stuff, I'd get a Linksys WRT600N Router (stay away from the 610's - they had problems during a recent test of different DBN routers), and either a USB adapter that's DBN, or use a WGA600N Gaming Adapter. The Gaming adapter isn't portable (you have to plug it in) but since it connects to your Ethernet port, you get much higher throughput speeds than you do with a USB or integrated adapter. Since it's connected to your Ethernet port the system believes it's connected to a wired circuit (and that's how you set it up, as a wired system). I actually have all 3, and which one I use depends on what I'm doing or where I'm at.

The reason I recommend Dual-Band units is that they can give you much higher speeds than the standard single band units. Also, Dual-Band lets you independently access both the 2.4ghz and 5ghz frequency bands, so you can setup your network to pass low-end stuff like surfing and downloads of MP3's and stuff for the family, while the important data (gaming data!) is streamed over your 5ghz band without any interference or throughput degradation from anything going over the 2.4ghz band. I love it....

Aside from my DBN network setup (all systems and devices on my network are Dual-Band capable) my Aquos HDTV has a installed gaming circuit that automatically removes the lag between the gaming console (I have a PS3) and my Aquos. If you've ever played Guitar Hero or Rock Band and used the calibration feature, you know how much lag time there can be between the console and your HDTV, sometimes as high as 60ms, more than enough time to get fragged. After getting that, and getting all of my ports setup correctly for the games I play, the difference was more than noticeable - I could actually see it in my online gaming stats as they improved regularly.

The Aquos circuit does it for any gaming, PC, console whatever. I assume it knows it by the type of data being streamed, but that's just a gues..

2. Hard Drive Speed Effect - I have the 2 5400 rpm 320 SATA drive setup in my HDX and don't really notice any difference, but then again my CPU makes up for any lower RPM speed.

2.0 and I have talked about HD speed as well before, and it's just not a factor in gaming today. Remember that with older games (in the '90's) and even a few years ago, RAM capability wasn't that great, so games were run by both loading into RAM, and executing the game between the HD and the RAM installed part of the game. In those instances, HD speed was a factor. As an example, if you've ever had a system with a minimal RAM configuration, one HD, and a RAM intensive application, you might remember that the application used free HD space as scratch RAM to make up for the lack of total system RAM available, and it's the same thing with games. Since systems today use much more system and GPU RAM, HD speed really isn't that much of a factor since games are run from RAM and from your optical drives, which can access data much faster.

As another example to illustrate my point, think about a PS3 or Xbox - they run games strictly from RAM and Optical Disk - the HD is only used for game saving data. Yet I'd say you'd have to agree that gaming speeds are pretty fast.

The paradigm concerning HD speeds and other things related to gaming are really just holdovers from older technology days when it did make a difference, but that time is past. Unless you're using a Pentium 4....

3. Processor speed and battery drainage - There's no question that a processor running full bore will eat your battery juice fast. But, the good folks at HP have given you a tool to take care of that problem - it's called Power Plans. When your system is on the battery, it knows that and automatically will lower your CPU speed. You can lower it further by shutting down non-critical processes, lowering your display brightness, and other such things. If you look under the Windows Help & Support section, there's a section called "Troubleshooting Short Battery life" - in it is all the things (that coincidentally are tied with the CPU) that drain your battery fast. The trick is to drop as many from the list as possible. Processes, applications, wireless (if you're playing single player), as well as the things I mentioned.

Changing your Power Plan to conserve battery power over performance will gain your more battery time as well.

I've got the max configuration for the HDX 9300 system - X9000, 4gb RAM, 2.8ghz CPU, bla bla bla. If I conserve power per the instructions, I can get at least an hour and that's using at least one or two graphics intensive programs. You just have to know what to turn off, and that comes with experience, trial and error.

 

I actually have Ulead and Vegas, and used those before I got Adobe's video and film production software programs.

The thing to remember about Vegas is that it's not an original Sony program - it was originally designed and developed by Sonic Foundry, and Vegas was their first foray into the video editing market, having already conquered the Sound Editing market with Sound Forge and CD Architect, used by many musicians and professional studios for editing and final mastering. Sony, wanting to obtain a company and/or programs that would get them into the Video and Sound Editing market, bought out what was really the guts of Sonic Foundry - Vegas, Sound Forge, Acid, Noise Reduction, CD Architect, and the loop libraries that had so far been produced up until that time. Still, while Sony brought the resources of the company to the table, they still were novices in the Video Editing market, and that has shown over the years. But their intent was never to try and capture a significant portion of the major Video / Film Editing market that Adobe has had for years - they bought Sonic Foundry's best programs because they had shown that they sold well as "home studio" versions (Sound Forge Express, Vegas LE, Acid Music, etc.) and the home studio market is where they were interested in making a bang. In that regard, Adobe is playing catch up - since Sony bought Sonic Foundry's flagship programs and turned them into home studio juggernauts, Adobe has finally come out with home studio versions of their flagship programs (Photoshop Elements, etc.).

Still, Adobe Premiere and After Effects were used for many years before Vegas was even considered as a program - remember it's only been around for about 6 or 7 years. And that goes back to my original statement - it depends on what the user's project is and what kind of result they're looking for, and what their expertise level is. Adobe's full versions of Premiere and After Effects are not for the casual home studio user, or the small budget editor, but if you want professional programs that give professional results, they're the programs to get.

I personally don't like Pinnacle either - as you say they don't give you enough. I wanted to get Premiere and After Effects for years but they were always just a little too much after updating my Adobe and Macromedia Suites. When Adobe bought out Macromedia a few years ago, they offered the CS Master Collection (all of their major programs) to users with at least 2 Adobe or Macromedia suites for $1399 - that's a steal in any part of the planet, and one I couldn't turn away from. So I finally got them, and they're every bit as good as I expected, and then some.

I still use Sound Forge for Sound Editing and Analysis though.... Some old habits are hard to break.

 

What's the HP Product number (PRODUCT, Not Model) on the label under your system?

Or, if you want, go to this URL and enter your Product number in the field:
http://tinyurl.com/4bwrat

When you get to the menu selections, you'll see one for Manuals. Click on that and you'll get another list - go down it until you see the one that says "Maintenance and Service Guide". That's the one you want.

However, before just tearing it apart - did all of the QL buttons work prior to the driver update? If so, you should be going back to your original driver and not tearing apart your system.

 

Cool but I just realized its wsxga not wuxga like he listed. Oh well. It's on Ebay in case anyones interested. Good to know about the wifi card though I didnt know that was accessible via the bottom panel. I was actually just wondering how the 2.8GHZ processor was on battery life vs the 2.5GHZ processor. I heard it sucks the life from it with the 2.8 more significantly.

 

Unfortunately that went away with the last Engineers who retired on the original HP Retirement system about 4 or 5 years ago. My friend was in that group.

Even though it's been 20 years since I actively worked as an HP tech, their support only got bad as a result of the previous wench CEO that literally gutted the company. There should be laws against that kind of crap - letting these people literally destroy a company and then get away with millions in stock options and other things is ridiculous. In most countries (even this one about 120 years ago) someone like that would be hunted down and strung up and shot. And not necessarily in that order.

 

I agree with you. It's amazing that a company like AIG could flaunt their greed in front of the whole nation...getting bailed out by us and then throwing a $400,000 plus party.

And you'd think that someone would figure out that we need a manufacturing base in this country, and companies that understand the virtue in loyalty to their workers.

I was stunned that Fiorina was trotted out during the campaign as a symbol of competency and success. Truly, the Emperor has no clothes.

But back to HP. You don't think they could rebuld a good tech department? It would make their life easier...and ours. They want to do business and grow. Lousy tech support will catch up with them, don't you think?

 

If you need any sort of cables, check out www.monoprice.com. Not all of their stuff is of the highest quality, but you can certainly find lots of good items, and for a fraction of the price you'd pay elsewhere. I purchased a 10 foot HDMI cable from them a couple months ago for my HP 22'' monitor for around 3.50, and it works fabulously.

 

Ha ha, that's probably why I like it, since I'm not a big fan of Sony Corp. I forget which revision but it got substantially better somewhere around 5-6-7, I think. Or maybe I just finally caught on. Anyway, it seemed to click and from then on I found myself comfortable with it.

Yes, I have SoundForge and CD Architect around here somewhere.

Agreed! I'm guessing he mainly wanted to do casual movie editing, trim and combine clips, some titles and transitions, and so on. I agree Adobe is king, but most average people can't justify the expense. So I usually recommend they try Ulead first, then Sony if they need more capability. Or some of the freeware tools around, depending on their tech savvy and patience. But usually they want a consumer-friendly package like Video Studio or Cyberlink Producer or whatever.

A deal for a Pro, but not so much for the guy with a $200 video cam, or even maybe an $800 HD cam. But you get what you pay for and they are the cat's meow. And if you've got those tools at hand, these others are toys, really. (Although I do think Vegas puts out some pretty good video.)

I'm no pro, I just fool around. But for home use, I've found I can use some cheap tools and make a decent DVD I don't have to be ashamed of. However, I prefer to edit my A/V files and produce the movie(s) and then treat authoring the dvd separately. Sometimes I can do it all in Ulead, but usually I can get better looking menus using another tool like ConvertXtoDVD, or DVD Author, or whatever. So I was just trying to throw some ideas out for the OP. (Oh, another good program for AVCHD and regular video editing is TMPGEnc 4.0 XPress. Simple, quick, and easy to use.)

Thanks for the reply and info. I had forgotten all about Sonic Foundry. I bought most of their stuff when it was out. Usually in the bargain bin <ha ha> because I'm a cheap SOB. Good stuff, though.

 

Whew...have waded through about 3/4 of this long, long thread this weekend. Lots of good info. But man...it's long.

 

Sensei Elvis say, "Bogus Information, Grasshopper".

"If battery user not learn true meaning of battery life, battery user cannot then discover ancient Martial Arts Secrets of how to make battery life longer."

Fortunately, Sensei Elvis is wise and is willing to pass on said Ancient knowledge to venerable student. No charge even.

"Sensei Elvis' Ancient Martial Arts Secrets to Longer Battery Life"

1. More Processes + More Hardware Options Running + More Programs Running + Increased Graphics = Less Battery Time

2. Less Processes + Less Hardware Options Running + Less Programs Running + Decreased Graphics = More Battery Time

 

Haha ok sifu/sensei Elvis, I gots it. If the battery life is equal with either processors in that it depends more so on the work load, then what would you say lead you to get the 2.8 over the 2.5 for $800 (or whatever the price was especially considering some peeps used the last minute reduction blitz coupon/instant rebate/free BR or what not)?

 

I think it was 37 before 39, I do remember I have upgraded the BIOS as they came out via the HP support page.

I dont have a second battery.

When it powers on, the lights are, the blue led's up top (quick play ones), I do see the optical drive access for a few seconds or so, also I see the CAPS LOCK light blink on and off

Only thing I "opened up" was the memory compartment at the direction of HP support to make sure the memory was seated correctly. Both slots are full, it has 4gigs in it.

Cant say I hear a groaning sound, or any sound at all actually, unless I am doiung a WIN + B key and have a USB floppy attached, then I hear the floppy being tried to access for approx 5 seconds.

What ya getting at here ?

 

Vegas is a good program, don't get me wrong - I seriously considered getting the latest full version when the Adobe offer came out for $600 more and it was a no brainer. Vegas is great editor - where they had serious problems early on is when they had the desktop DVD unit packaged with Vegas Pro and DVD Architect - it was disaster as no one could get the drive they packaged to work with DVD Architect.

It reminded me of when Sonic Foundry, in a great display of corporate stupidity, integrated CD Architect into Sound Forge 5.0, which rendered it an all but useless program. Myself, including a lot of other people who got SF 5, went back to using Sound Forge 4.5 and CD Architect 4. Eventually they wised up (after huge losses and massive criticism from SF users) and separated the 2 programs again. There have been few instances in my career where I have seen a company screw up so badly. HP hiring "the wench" was one, Sonic Foundry integrating CDA is another.

Have to disagree on the Sony issue - there are some things Sony I don't like or won't buy, but all in all their stuff is good and lasts a long time. My parents have Sony products they bought in 1968 that works and they still use.

I have a saying about Microsoft and Sony - We buy Microsoft products because we have to; But we buy Sony products because we WANT to.

Well, MOST of us anyway...

 

There's one other reason you could be having the problems you're having, but I'll touch on that below.

One other quick question - did you use the F.40 or F.40 E update?

The overwhelming propensity with troubleshooting today is to automatically assume that whatever you did prior to a problem happening must be responsible for causing the problem - that's a really bad thing to do, because that's not always the case. When you automatically assume that a problem MUST be caused by a certain reason, you completely blind yourself to all other causes, and don't look objectively at the problem. This is one big reason HP and other 3rd party vendors have support that's worse than anything I've dealt with in my career - and I've been doing this longer than many of you have been alive. The state of the industry is really bad because of digital troubleshooting practices that don't teach common sense approaches.

Also, because of the initial assumption of what must be the cause of the problem, either the 3rd party support or the user wind up making changes or doing things that cause further problems, without ever getting to the initial problem cause.

Reason for my previous questions:

Having a second battery would enable you to verify whether or not your power up process was in fact good - a bad battery would stop your system from starting properly.

The LED verification tells how far into the boot / startup process your system is getting. If you're actually getting to the point where the QL drivers are loading and the LED's are on, your CAPS on/off light cycles, and it accesses your Optical Drive, it means your system is getting through either most or all of the Boot/Startup process and that your problem might not be in the BIOS at all, or at least not exclusively.

You didn't mention anything about your HD access LED on the left front edge of your system - is it cycling on and off (accessing)? Yes/No? If I had to make a guess, I'd guess probably not, but you tell me.

Your BIOS controls much of the startup process - if it were truly corrupted, your Optical Drive wouldn't even be accessed, nor would your LED's even be on to the extent that they are. It shouldn't even be trying to access an external floppy drive.

Out of curiosity, did you verify the internal battery voltage when you pulled it? (the RTC battery that you pull to reset everything). At least I think I remember you pulling it at 2.0's request to reset the system. Problem with that is that it only works when you've got a good battery to begin with, and no one ever thinks to check the voltage - they assume the battery's good.

One thing that many people forget is that even though the system might be new to you, the actual system itself (core system) may have been sitting on a shelf for a long time, letting battery voltage drain. HDX's didn't exactly fly off the shelf. Remember those aren't NICAD or LI batteries - if you pulled and reseated a battery with bad voltage, you're going to have the kinds of problems you're having. I'm not saying that's the only possible cause, but it's at least a good place to start.

Memory slots - The reason for checking all memory slots is that they must either have an actual module or a blank in the slot, or a system won't do anything at all when you power it up. Since you're getting through power up verification, it's not that.

The reason for asking about a groaning sound and disk in your optical drive is due to a recent problem I encountered last week - I had an old data disk that was made on a Win98 system, and it was in my optical drive when I restarted. The system got stuck in the reboot process, and the drive kept groaning every time it tried to access. Since it was only data files (no executables) it shouldn't have made any difference.

That "other reason" I mentioned at the top -

My counterpart in California that takes care of all local hardware problems (he's my friend that I've mentioned is a retired HP Engineer after 35 years with HP) has recently come across a virus in one of our clients' computers (we share the same client - I do all online services - hosting, design, Ecommerce, etc., he does all local stuff), although I can connect remotely and do troubleshooting and maintenance on client systems that are manned (I use Cisco WEBEX) and is the second system that he's found it in. Apparently it's downloaded through a particular website that we have yet to ID, but the results are clear - you cannot boot your system past a certain point. One of the HD's in the affected system was also completely corrupted.

I haven't had a chance to investigate or research it further, but it apparently is able to get past any A/V software, and there's only one type of virus I know of that can do that (it resides in the core kernel), and it has the Security community scared because they haven't been able to fix it yet. However, I'm not convinced yet that it's what your problem is. But you should at least be aware of it.

One way to determine if it's a problem with just your system or if it's actually a BIOS problem with the update is to call the HP people you talked to and ask them if they have any more reports if this happening. If it's a problem with the update itself they should have a lot of reports by now. However, with as much as has been done here on this thread, it should be a Google
magnet for anyone else having the same problem, but we haven't seen anyone else.

Let me know about the other indications.

 

Most easy answer, Grasshopper - Sensei Elvis have revered Master with HP Employee Discount, who let me use to get most impressive HDX system.

Still, Sensei pay $4300 bucks for HDX max configuration. Worth everything though.

Sensei's Avatar show how Sensei Elvis react to evil HP Empire's reduction in HDX price 4 weeks after receiving his unit....

Sensei Elvis also says that many new HDX students never calibrate their battery meters, which can also lead to bogus information concerning battery discharge rates referred to in Grasshopper's previous post. In fact most don't even know that they CAN calibrate their meters to the battery discharge rate.

To access Ancient Well of Knowledge at Evil Empire's site containing meter calibration procedure, venerable student must go to: http://tinyurl.com/6o6odq

 

Turn on your gadgets, and keep your CPU meter on. Check it when you see the problem and note where it is on the meter.

Usually the kind of problem you're describing happens when there's a lot of system processes running and the CPU is being taxed. I run into this occasionally myself, usually after my system has been in sleep mode for a while. I use Memory Boost to clear and reclaim RAM on my older systems, but they haven't come out with a 64bit version yet so I keep having to deal with it on my HDX.

What's your RAM configuration/OS edition?

 

The one that is avaliable on the site right now, F.40E, as far as I know there is no F40

Right, In undferstand the reason for the batter question.

Right, I also understand the question about the lights, also, Yea Its trying to acess the HD, blinking.

I never pulled the RTC battery, 2.0 mentioned it but I never took the system apart.

Yea, I undertstand the question abiout the memory slots also.

I have pretty much written this system off actually, virus, bios or other hardware...I dont care what the problem is really now, I want it fixed or replaced.

What is has come down to now is simple negotations with me and HP and how we are going toi rectify the situation, I am either getting this repaired in a timely manner or they are going to replace it with one of equal (at the time of purchase) or better value. I have already faxed to management there a copy of the invoice showing specs and what I paid for this.

I honestly expect a answer from HP tommarrow on how they are going to proceede.

I have a verry low threshold for bad customer service, and I do a verry good job of running complaints up the chain untill there is a resolution.

Again, thank you all for your help. I will let ya all know the outcome

 

i have similar problem.
i upgraded to f.39 and since that i cant install video driver anymore. (only original drivers works)
i want downgrade to f.06 but i'm scared now with all this problems.

 

Cool. Hmm while I definitely want wuxga just to get your perspective on it do you think you'd have equally bought the 2.5 ie do you think there's that much of a difference? I was planning on paying around $3600-$3900 for the top specs myself but it got discontinued before that.

While I believe I have done that for a troubleshooting purposes I didn't know its good to do apart from problems. Thanks.


EDIT Got your PM thanks

 

Woo page 400!

So I was wondering, those of you that bother to overclock your 8800M GTS, what frequencies have you managed to reach safely, and at what temperatures? I know this has likely been discussed in this thread numerous times already but it's kinda difficult to locate those discusssions so... here's me asking again

I'm currently running at 650/950/1600, with no graphical problems or artifacts as of yet (and I've been playing pretty constantly recently : RA3, Fallout 3, Dead Space as well as a few others, for hours at a time ), and at that clock speed my peak temperature has been 76 degrees. Do you think I should turn things down a notch to get that little bit more longevity out of my system? I really am noticing the difference between clock speeds and this setting - I'm just not sure where the safety boundaries are. The temperatures seem to be within a tolerable range to me, but I don't really have anything to compare it with to determine that for sure.

 

Have you played these at native resolution on your WUXGA? Have you tried Far Cry 2 or Crysis?

Thanks

 

Oh, I like some Sony products fine, I have a few including a Sony HX-900 which I consider one of the best consumer DVD recorders ever built. It's just the company I don't like. One reason is their incredibly draconian DRM and anti-consumer approach on many things. And back when Japan was at it's summit, their CEO at the time, feeling ****y, I guess, made some awfully nasty comments about America and Americans that I found offensive. But, yeah, they have made some great gear.

I vaguely remember Sonic Foundry cratering...but never realized why. Agree with you about Fiorina, by the way. I had some friends who worked at HP many years back and always admired the company...but a mere shadow of its former self now.

 

Funny you should mention this. At the company where I work, a whole slew of people had their laptops die and refuse to boot. There were long lines at the drop-off repair depots. I heard it was a nasty virus and they pushed an urgent patch out last week which I assumed was aimed at blocking it.

It got past the Symantic Anti-virus software with ease, apparently. Not sure if it's the same thing, of course, but sounds familiar. It did not hit me, thank goodness, but I did hear the 'laptop won't boot' comment a few times from those it did hit. So maybe?

 

There is an F.40 BIOS update - but it's for an AMD CPU. Just wanted to make sure it was the correct update you used.

You have a low tolerance? Buddy, I was Gov't QA Rep for 9 years, and before that I used to run an HP OEM Support Center. All it takes is one bad customer service problem for me to go to another company. You should've seen some of the nasty emails I sent to HP when I had a small problem with BD playback, and I got 6 incorrect responses to what I needed for a solution. The problem with PC's though is that the current problems with Customer Support is industry wide, and not just with HP. Believe it or not, HP is one of the BETTER companies for CS, which doesn't say much.

If your system is getting to the HD access point, the problem likely isn't your BIOS, but if you really want to let HP deal with it, then good luck. Hope your patience is better than your tolerance level, because you're going to be waiting a while to get it back if you don't have an extended warranty.

It really hurts for those of us who used to (and still) work to a very high CS standard in the industry to see what it's become today.

 

Crysis runs like crap on my machine because... well, it's just crysis. I play with a custom config to compensate - which I believe is something along the lines of a medium/high hybrid, at 1680x1050, with fluid frames (30+ even in very busy scenes - 40-50 when nothing much is going on).

Farcry 2 runs at similar frames when maxxed (and @ native)... shame I abandoned the game already on account of the fact it's utter toss. Too sandboxy for my tastes.

 

How does Crysis look with your display at non native res?

Cheers