*HP HDX18 Owners Lounge*

I'm a Vista "fan" and I have no issues with Windows 7. Looking forward to it as well.

Vista isn't a bad OS. It's not perfect but it's not the devil you're making it out to be.

 

Well we all have our opinions.

I was a big fan, still have my copy, of windows ME.

 

When 7100 is released Tuesday, i will of course download it.
However I ran into some problems with Build 7057 and worry about issues with the new laptop that will show up on the 12th.

Tv Tuner and PVR Software.....does it work?
Touch buttons above keyboard and onscreen notification of volume/ treble/bass, does it work?
When I loaded build 7057 on my HDX18 I did not have the TV Tuner, I also never got the touch buttons to work, I was never able to make changes to bass/treble either, and Media smart crashed all of the time.

I downloaded all Vista 64 drivers from HP and saved them to a spare drive so I could install 7 then have immediate access to all drivers as those stupid restore DVD's never worked ( You know, the ones HP sends) so I did all of the drivers myself.

Maybe someone can test and tell if all things work, I could care less about the fingerprint reader, but the infrared, SD port, TV Tuner, Mediamsart, backlit keys adjustment, etc need to work.

 

I want to share my story with HDX 18T, which I owned for 3 days, then returned. I ordered it with config Quad Q9000/4GB DDR2/320GB 7200 HD/512MB Geforce 9600M GT/Blu-Ray ROM. I am an IT pro. I wanted to use it replace my old Dell inspiron 6400 for extensive computing work which requires a good CPU. I owned 3 or 4 dell laptop before, 0 problem.

Once I got it on hand, I noticed a few problems.
With default Vista x64 OS installed by factory:
1. The volume contorl window keeps poping up on the screen even no touch on those quick touch buttons. It always happens when computer is in sleep mode. It will automatically wake the computer up, adjust volume scale like someone is operating the quick touch buttons. I called HP tech support, they let me re-install HP quick touch driver by recovery manager. It seems fix the problem. ok, I was convinced it is a software issue. Laterly after I installed Win7 RC on it, I couldn't find HP quick touch driver anywhere from HP web site or recovery disk. Wierd, but seems without quick touch software, volume touch button works just fine, bass button and eject button not work. I am not a fan of quick touch. So I left it that way.
2. After played Vista, I re-partitioned HD and installed Windows 7 RC build on it. Note, I didn't re-partition the recovery partition, only windows partition. After several hours driver finding from HP web site, I have every device properly installed in Device Manager under Win 7. It works well except booting time is taking 3 minutes. I thought it was because computer trying to join a domain everytime. But later I realized it has nothing to do with network. I dig more into it. found SMSSInit takes almost 3 minutes every boot, it means something wrong with storage initialize. Spent another day on it, google solutions, no fix at all. So be aware of this issue when you upgrade to Windows 7. I would like to know how you solve this issue.
3. Finally I wanted to go back Vista, see if it takes the same amount of time to boot. So I boot into recovery partition, let it recover. After the first recovery finished, restart, I can see it is trying to start Vista window.., but suddenly says unexpected error, then reboot. After a few times reboot, I thought it would be because I changed windows partition. So I re-partition windows partition back to one big partition, re-run recovery, recovery finished fine, and it let me restart. But after restart, it hung at HP logo screen, I can do nothing to make it go further. Even it says "Press ESC to enter start menu", it has no response to keypress. That usually means a serious hardware issue like BIOS or HD dead. I called HP support, spend a couple hours with them, no luck, they couldn't make this computer go further either. So I gave up, called custom care, return it for a full refund. To bad, it is the cheapest system has everything I need. Do you guys think I should give HP another try.

 

95% of all computer issues are due to user error. I'm not saying you're a noob to computers but I doubt this is a hardware issue. It seems to come from the installation of windows 7 and reinstall of vista.

Frankly I don't know why everyone is installing windows 7. Vista is perfectly fine. Why torture yourself installing windows 7 and searching for drivers for a week???

 

well, I do lots of software install/uninstall on all kinds of computers. That shouldn't cause a boot failure like that except virus. Win7 is actually just a cleaner and faster Vista. There should be no problem installing win7 on it. I wonder why HP drivers are hidden in recovery disk, and not all are available on their web site like fingure print software. Do they expect user never re-install OS?

 

i cannot understand why any one would install W7 on a new laptop or PC at this time . W7 is not ready for prime time yet

 

Sorry, but the windows 7 7100 beta is without question a simpler, better, easier, less problematic, OS than Vista out of a box. Drivers? Using the HDX as the example, it loads with only a few missing in W7 vs near 10 in Vista. And pretty much every vista driver works in W7, the only 1 that didn't for me was fixed by using an XP driver. All my audio software runs at near half of calculated CPU usage levels than with Vista. Night and day.

 

Dear HDX18 Owners!

I have bought my HDX18 1050ef, but I can not become acquainted with Vista. I would like to downgrade to XP Prof 64-bit, but I couldn't find drivers.

Have somebody collected drivers for XP x64 or it is an impossible mission?

Best regards!
szege

 

Does anyone here know which make and model off 160 gb SSD is being installed in the HDX18t?

Thanks!

 

I think that is a hard mission.
I had to work some hours with this notebook to delete all the bloatware/uneeded services and make Vista run smooth, the notebook was unsable for me with all those HP/Norton/cyberlink software, had to use pcdecrapfier and revo uninstaller to get rid of them.
The best thing would be to use a clean Vista disc and use the driver from the site for the devices it doesn't recognize automatically, you will feel a big difference.

Can someone do a test and tell me if a fan of this notebook begins to do a strange noise when the video card reach 75-77 degree? At this temp the fan seems to reach a speed that makes it doing a strange noise (bzzz bzzz).
I think i have to call for HP assistance, but i would like to know if its normal, even if i dont think so.
You can test using a game for 30-40mins or with furmark
http://downloads.guru3d.com/FurMark-v1.4.0-download-1965.html
that is a simple benchmark i used to check if my new pc is stable.
Download, run it and select Stability mode, you can check if your new pc is ok.

 

I bought this laptop couple of months ago and I am deeply dissapointed with the graphics card performance. NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT is a below average gard for most modern day games with very low framerates and I have problems with almost every game I play on it if I even try to turn up the settings a bit.

Anyway, my question is: "Is it possible for me to upgrade the video card in the laptop?" I am willing to invest in a better one and replace it with the existing one, but is it possible for me to do that? I cant find the information online if the video card is integrated to the motherboard or if it can be easily removed and replaced with a new one? How hard/easy is it to perform this opration?

Please help me out. I cant stand this anymore.

 

The only 160GB SSD I know of is the Intel (the Kingston one is the same drive).

 

I tried to get that info from a few different HP reps, but they would not reveal it. Apparently it's a trade secret!! (they actually said that!). It's almost definitely an Intel X-25, as the 160GB size is not that common. I decided to only order a single drive (the 320GB 7200rpm) and get an 80GB X-25 from Newegg. They just dropped the price on it and 80GB is perfectly fine for an OS/apps disk. The 320 will be for all my data.

 

Ok, so my HDX18 just arrived. Got a Q9100, 4GB DDR3, GT130M, and backlit keyboard. So far, looks great. I am waiting for my 80GB X-25 SSD from NewEgg and the extra drive caddy from NewModeUS, both of which should arrive in the next two days. Will download Win7 RC when it is made public tomorrow. I booted the machine and did the Vista setup just to create the restore disks, but I plan on deleting that drive (for use as data) once the SSD is in and working.

I got the High Sierra Sherman messenger bag (from eBags). It fits the 18, it's a little snug, but it fits. Just have to be care zipping it up -- zip too fast and you can scratch the corner of the laptop as you go around.

 

I haven't been inside, yet, but from this thread early on I believe there is a picture of it being soldered on, not to mention the bios may be prohibitive here as well, i'm not sure. I have not heard of anyone doing it themselves, but the new stats for the latest release of the hdx have a GT 130M, not available when I purchased.

 

Yes, we have success. I personally am running a triple boot XP, Vista, and W7. I am running 32bit versions of everything, just because I use the machine for audio recording and production, and most applications are better behaved in the 32bit situation, but if you would like help, that is not a problem. I've been thinking about creating the XP on HDX18 thread anyway.

Edit - I have started the thread, a work in progress, and it should be complete in a week. As such, I am currently wiping the Vista partition, and putting XP64 on that one.

 

OCZ Vertex is one other model. I called HP, and they said that it could either be an Intel or a Western Digital. I can't find any WD SSD's on the internet, and I read that WD just recently purchased another company so they could enter the SSD market.

The reason that I'm thinking of getting the laptop with the SSD installed at the factory is that I'm nervous about buying an SSD later and trying to install it and set it up as the OS drive. I've read through the process for doing this, and I find it confusing, particularly the part about locating, backing up, and reinstalling the various drivers. The HP configuration has an additional 500gb HDD at 5400 rpm, which I hope would be more than adequate, speedwise, as a data drive. I guess I'd be paying a premium for not having to go through the self install potential headaches.

 

Wow, I just called HP, and the rep said that HP installs the OS on the 500gb HDD rather than on the SSD. He said that he thinks that's a silly way to do it, and he's gotten that question from customers a lot. I'm amazed that they would set it up that way.

 

Okay, finally got my HDX18 delivered today after almost 2.5 weeks...

NICE !!! But one thing I noticed right off is, out of the box, total system memory usage is a whopping 1.6 GB !!! This is per the "Physical Memory Usage" meter in the Task Manager, on an 8GB system. But based on what I saw of the process memory usage, it doesn't seem to add up.

Does that really mean that 1.6GB is already unavailable? If so, how do I fix it? My old XP system used only 1/4 of that on boot up. Is it time for the decrapifier?

 

For me I chose to install Windows 7 because I bought a Vertex 60GB SSD and Vista does not take full advantage of solid state drives. Windows 7 has special optimizations that allow it to run faster on SSD.

 

Do I really need HP SmartMedia AND Vista Media Center on my HDX18t? Won't each do what the other does? Which one's better?
I'd like to get some of the redundant stuff off this computer if possible.

Thanks!

-Andy.

 

Hi I am about to buy the hdx18t. I have a few questions about some options for the customization. I couldn't find reliable answers to them when searching. Is the gt 130m graphics card's memory gddr3 or gddr2? Also, how has everyone's experience been with the backlit keyboard? Has anyone had any problems with hardware related Bluetooth compatibility? Finally, something not related to the customization, I hear their is a driver that makes it boot slow. Is that true? If so which driver? Thanks .

 

Media center seems to have more stuff in it as I scrolled. However, SmartMedia seems to pick up more channels via antenna if you have the tv tuner.

 

I love my backlit keyboard. Others have found that they don't need it, but sitting at my kitchen table right now, I can't distinguish the characters on the keys without the backlight on.

 

Windows Media Center gives me a program guide, and I can schedule recordings from it. HP MediaSmart hasn't given me a program guide, and I can't figure out how to schedule recordings from that software.

 

i use both SmartMedia and Media Centre , SmartMedia program guide does not work in canada, Media Centre guide does work , i get more Over The Air HD Channles with Smartmedia. i also like Internet TV with SmartMedia , But where i live in Toronto i also have a TV sports option in Media Centre . Media Centre will not work with Media Smart Quick launch Buttons on my HDX18 . Media Centre does work with the supplied HDX remote and so does Media Smart. A new version of Smart Media TV does have a TV Guide for USA i aasume but not for Canada

 

If Vista isn't bad enough. HP has added a mountain of garbage on top of it, to run in the questionable Vista environment. The HP loaded Vista lasted about 20 minutes on my machine. It is laughable.

 

ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!

The SSD drive, just in the physics of how it works, destroys conventional drives as your boot up / OS drive.

For simply the best explaination of basically anything computer and the most cutting edge information on things coming, you need to check out my friend Anand over at anandtech.com. Here is a good overview of why HP is wrong if that's what they are doing.

SSD ADVANTAGES

 

Thank you!

I very appreciate your help!!!

 

The installation of Vista from the recovery or from a new HP notebook is unusable. I dont like Vista that much, but a clean Vista install pull up a solid OS fast enough on new notebooks.
Boot and apps launch time drastically improved after i uninstalled a lot of bloatware from my hdx, still isnt like a clean install, but at least is normal. As soon as it comes back from the HP center, ill put a dual boot clean Vista, Win7.
For win7 i want to try it on my new hdx cause it works so well on my old notebook (the one im using now, 512mb of ram!), compared to Vista that is unsable.

 

Actually, I've read Anand's reports on SSD's extensively.
Thank you, though!

 

Just out of curiosity.... does anyone attempted to replace regular keyboard with backlit / illuminated one?

It is pointless to replace laptop just because of that but I wouldn't mind to replace just a keyboard it if cost is reasonable.

I know that part number for regular one is: 496878-001 and price is about $150
Does anyone know price and part number for illuminated keyboard.
Any fitment / power issues?

 

I have just received my HDX18T and all seems well except for one thing.
When I plug in a pair of headphones it does not cut off the pc speakers.
All other systems that I have owned worked this way. If I select the "Independent Dual Headphones" drive and make that default only the headphones play but I have to go back to the "Speakers and Dual Headphones" in order to get PC sound again. Is this the way it's supposed to work? It's not a huge inconvience but I want to make sure that it is "as designed" and not "broke". Ideas?

TIA
Darrell

 

Thanks for the replies!

I don't have a TV tuner and have no plans to use that, so I think I'll try uninstalling Media Center.

If I uninstall that, will the quickbuttons above the keyboard still work?

Hey - I just checked - the Bass/Treble controls don't work and I haven't uninstalled ANYTHING yet!

The OSD comes up, the bass and treble bars go up and down, but there's no change to the sound.

-Andy.

 

Has anyone had any issues with the wireless-N device connecting to an existing wireless-g (Linksys WRT54G) network? I've got "excellent" signal strength, and I'm using my HDX18t at the exact same location I was using my old laptop with wireless G adapter, but the HDX18t seems to have problems getting and maintaining a wireless connection. I never had any difficulties with the old laptop. Maybe I need to change channels or something in the WRT54G??

 

Also check control panel power options. Make sure the advanced wireless setting is set to maximum performance.

 

Just dont use Media Centre , some parts of media center is part of the Vista OS if u do uninstall media centre the touch buttons will still work , update your Bios HP support said the latest bios should fix bass, treble issues latest bios is F21A released 4/2009
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&os=2100&product=3827799 actually u should go to the driver page for your Unit there have been some recent updates on some drivers

 

I too have issues connecting to wireless N on my HDX16. I've got a Dlink DIR-825 router. It would connect but then lose connection at least once a day. I've tried everything including updating the driver etc. Still has issues. I think the Intel 5100AGN is at fault. However, I have a stable connection with G.

 

Can someone please tell me if their HDX-18T headphones shut off the internal pc speakers when plugged in - while using the "Speakers and Dual Headphones" drive as default?

I really need to know if this is normal or not.

Thanks
Darrell

 

Yes. My speakers turn off when the headphones are plugged in.

 

Have you tried the latest drivers for the 5100. Version 12.4.0.21
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...dows Vista* Ultimate, 64-bit version&lang=eng

 

Sorry - I meant I will uninstall the HP software - MediaSmart? VMC looks to be a better piece of software and I don't need both since they do the same thing, basically.

I have updated the BIOS. Still the bass/treble does not work. In fact, I THINK that it did work when I first got the notebook, and either after I updated the BIOS OR when I did a recovery (from the hidden partition) the bass/treble stopped affecting the sound.

Any ideas?

 

Thank BADWOLF

Now I can call HP about this

 

Sorry, one more question

BADWOLF, are you running Vista 64 bit?

Thanks again
Darrell

 

QX9300 and intel x-25M 80gb arrived today.

I pulled all the screws out of the backside but couldn't see the trick for cracking here open.

Can someone point me to the dissambly instructions for this beast?

Thanks,
Robert

 

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01705400.pdf

 

I changed the channel of my WRT54G router from CH 11 to CH 6, after using NetStumbler (on my old laptop) to make sure there were no conflicting signals in the neighborhood. Seems to have made things much better. You might try that...

Also, speaking of Net Stumbler, it apparently doesn't work with the Intel wireless adapter in the HDX18t. Has anyone found otherwise?

 

Thanks.

BTW, I have to give Intel credit for how they implemented these drivers. I double click to start the installation, I get a message that the WLAN was turned off, the drivers get installed, and another message comes up that the WLAN is on, and it automatically re-connects to the same wireless network. Smooth....

 

BTW, I also have to give credit to HP for this computer. DANG !! it's nice. Especially with the 8GB memory, huge screen, huge hard drives...they really did an incredible job. And just about everything seems to work seamlessly out of the box. Of course the first thing I did was to delete all the Norton nonsense...

And I know lots of folks like to complain about Vista, but this is my first Vista machine, and to be honest, I love it. Fast (of course the 8GB helps I'm sure...), pretty straightforward to use, and I haven't encountered any real issues. I'm a bit surprised over the huge amount of RAM it sucks up, just on startup (about 1.6 GB), but I suppose that's a good thing. I'm sure it's putting a lot of stuff in RAM to make it faster to use.