*HP HDX18 Owners Lounge*

I would be interested in your temps. I don't see how yours can be "cool and quiet" (not that I'm doubting you, just that the QX9300 seems to run very hot in these units).

If you could, pickup a copy of HWMONITOR (32 or 64bit, depending on your OS), and run that to get idle temps for 10 or so minutes, then run PRIME95 (32 or 64bit, again), to stress the CPU, for about 5-10 minutes and report back your max temps for idle and stressed.

HWMONITOR can be found Here and PRIME95 can be found Here.

Thanks.

 

I just peeled off the "warning" sticker the day I got mine. No sticky residue, just grab a corner and peel.

 

About the buzzing, I can be fixed easily. The problem is with the subwoofer under the laptop, the buzzing happens on certain notes, creating some kind of resonance with the plastic. This due to the fact that HP didn't put enough rubber between the subwoofer and the plastic cover. A quick solution it to take a very small rubber band and cut 4 pieces of about 1/4 of an inche and put it around the subwoofer speaker. If you have a better material, some kind of a very thin washer, by all means use it!

 

I just measured the CPU core temps with the "Core temp" utility.
In idle it shows 48-49 C temperatures.It seems ok to me.
I have the T9400 processor.

 

Yeah, the Core2Duo chips are not known to be hot. They seemingly run cool. It's just the Quad Cores.

 

You were completely right! Awesome!

Umm isn't AnyDVD sorta illegal? I was thinking more all the lines of either Cyberlink PowerDVD 8 Ultra and ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater (the non extreme version).

 

Well, I'm not sure what the OP meant by recommending AnyDVD because it is not a viewer program, it is an unobtrusive de-protectionizer. And, yes, according to US law, it is not legal because it removes the digital copyright management. But, hey, it does work well, and if the laws weren't so one-sided here in the US (against the consumer) we wouldn't need products like this.

 

Now, without looking at the removed sticker (and be honest), what was the warning on the sticker?

This is a just a test.

 

Lol I have no clue. I was just annoyed that it was there. But it's gone now and all that remains are the energy star, intel, windows vista ( ), and nvidia stickers which I like/don't mind at all.

Now the only thing I've got to work on is Bluray playback. I want to get the best picture I can get on the laptop without it working to hard or stressing the system out. I'm leaning towards PowerDVD 8 Ultra. I may just try a trial for the 2 I mentioned and see how it goes.

 

Idle 40c
Load 75c

 

I just ran the stress test, but don't know how to post the results in the forum....can anyone give me some guidance? I tried pasting it into the message, but didn't work.

 

That is great to hear. So there must be a company out there that is providing this to many other vendors. We just have to find out who they are! Perhaps Dell is more willing to reveal this info? Do they have a service manual?

Also, why are you not worried about the caddy? Do you believe we will eventually be able to buy one?

 

FYI, it said, "WARNING: DO NOT REMOVE THIS STICKER. WARRANTY VOID IF REMOVED".

 

Just do a screenshot of the test, use the print screen button and then open up MS Paint and do a CTL+V for paste....

Crop around the test so we don't have to see the rest of your desktop and save as JPG...

 

Those are QUADCORE temps?

 

It's a hassle...there is a FAQ somewhere here, but I use imageshack.us to host the pics. I think there is a way to use thumbnails without having to host elsewhere.

Or, you could just tell us the numbers. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but I think about 20 words is all you need to tell us the temps.

 

Blacks are better after calibration, but not that great. Then again, I don't use the laptop to watch movies, just occasionally use Slingbox and video clips. Dell already has their line of LED on the cheaper Studio line up, hope it will trickle down to HP soon as well.

 

There are enough different caddies out there that something will fit in the HDX18t. It may not be exactly like the original, but it just needs to secure the drive. Plus, if it's an SSD that you are thinking of adding, no caddy needed...just some 3M double-sided foam tape will do the job!

 

No $hit

 

Hmmm...so your "stressed" temps are about 15C cooler than others (mine included). That is quite a bit.

 

I actually captured about a dozen or so screen captures of the temperatures during the stress testing cycle and then during a cooling down period. I pasted the screen captures into a WordPad document in the short term. I suppose I could just attach the WordPad document? But I WOULD like to know how to insert those screen captures directly into the message. I see the "Insert Image" icon in the toolbar, but it seems to want a URL....confused.

 

My original post/problem is starting to get buried.... i want to avoid having to send the quad back to HP for a fix.
anyone know how to fix my problem with the Optiarc BC-5500s DVD drive?
my system won't recognize it...
i can't find any drivers or any help at hp site..
please help if at all possible.
thanks

 

R u serious?

 

That is what I recommended imageshack.us image hosting for. You upload to them, then they give you a URL to your uploads. Like I said, it's in a FAQ somewhere here...

 

No that's not going to work for you because in order to INSERT the image, you have to host that image on a server somewhere and provide the URL.

What you have to do is ATTACH the image, then it will be uploaded to this forum and we'll be able to see it that way too....

 

no I'm not that venturous yet to go with SSD. I just want to get a 650gig HDD for my spare...or possibly even higher in the next couple of months whatever the latest and greatest is.....

 

More than likely, that is what happens when you uninstall a program that uses the DVD (burning software, player software, etc.). There are CD/DVD "filters" that get installed with those, and when you uninstall them, occasionally, it gets screwed up, and windows thinks the filters are still installed, but they aren't, so it can't find the hardware.

Here is a MS KB article on how to fix it (if, indeed, you think you uninstalled a program or utility related to the DVD):

MS KB Article to fix DVD

 

Is there a 650GB drive now in 2.5" form factor?

 

Did I really void my warranty? Cuz I honestly don't know what was on the sticker besides warning. I just thought it was a dumb warning sticker like the "warning this coffee is hot" crap that you see everywhere.

So once again lancorp are you serious or was that a joke?

 

Just having a bit of fun...I think it was really a sticker saying they're not responsible if you get carpal tunnel syndrome or something...to be honest, I don't really remember myself!

 

No, I think 500GB is the biggest? What I meant was I just want the latest and greatest when the caddy finally comes out. I assume an aftermarket caddy/cable kit won't be available till probably spring 2009???

And if so, we'll probably have 650GB by then?

 

The heck with it, I'll just post the values. If anyone needs more details, let me know.

Quad-core, 64-bit Vista Home Premium, 7200RPM 320GB HDD, 4GB RAM
Ran Stress Testing, default settings.
Temps in C:
Idle:
TZ01 = 36
Core1 = 38
Core 2 = 38
Core 3 = 34
Core4 = 34
GPU Core = 37
HDD = 35

After 1 minute Stress Testing:
TZ01 = 68
Core1 = 58
Core 2 = 59
Core 3 = 58
Core4 = 54
GPU Core = 37
HDD = 39

After 5 minutes Stress Testing:
TZ01 = 77
Core1 = 68
Core2 = 67
Core3 = 69
Core4 = 65
GPU Core = 39
HDD = 40

After 10 minutes Stress Testing:
TZ01 = 78
Core1 = 69
Core 2 = 68
Core 3 = 69
Core4 = 67
GPU Core = 40
HDD = 41

 

I've just double checked it for you, and it's the same. I do have my laptop proped up off the desk.

 

What is your Vista power scheme (High Performance, Balanced, Power Saver)??

Interestingly, mine is now showing idle at 43-44C and stress test using PRIME95 for 15 minutes is only 74C. !!!????

I did a complete reload a while back, but when I ran the stress test after that, it was the same (90C). Now, for some reason, it's reasonable temps.

Arrrgghhh! (Not that I mind that the temps are MUCH lower, but it puzzles me as to why!)

 

Thanks! What would you say your ambient room temperature is? Ours is pretty cold (I rely on the computers in the house to heat the rooms!), and maybe that is why my stressed temps are lower, but 15C lower seems a bit much for just cooler room temps....

 

My room temps is 65F. Running on HP recommended plan. It really doesn't matter because under prime, it's at full speed.

You know, all you have to do is take your quad and polish the top, and do the same for the heatsink, and put on AS5. Oh, and only you Lancorp, do the shuffle before working on them

 

I was curious about your power scheme only regarding your idle temps. Obviously, stress tests are running at MAX.

I've seriously thought about redoing the heatsink and using AS5, but I cannot figure out how to get that darn bottom off. HP teases us by putting the CPU right there for us to get to, then runs the HS and pipes god-knows-where so we can't get it off without removing the entire bottom!

Dell has it right, now. Almost all their new models, the whole bottom just pops off like one big cover. You can get to everything with just a few screws.

And, thanks for the advice on the shuffle. I would have forgotten to do my lucky dance on the carpet before working on my CPU!

 

My ambient room temp is about 62F and with the back of my HDX18t propped up a half inch, my idle temps are 39-40C (on Power Saver scheme).

I'm liking this, but cannot figure out why they are now so much lower.

BTW, in reloading my HDX18t, my volume/bass/treble/DVD Eject soft touch buttons no longer work. I installed the HP Quick Launch Buttons software. Is that the right thing or is there something else I need for those to work and display on-screen?

 

The sticker says:

WARNING

To reduce risk of serious injury, read Safety and Comfort Guide provided with product and at www.hp.com/ergo.

In other words, totally removable, and basically what lancorp remembered.

 

I've disabled about 20 services and I'm running into problems with the buttons as well. They still work, but my mute icon stays red but still work, the trebel and bass keys don't work. Volume keys work and show up. This is with the HP services all off, and the quick launch buttons disabled. I might have to re enable most of those services and do a slow one by one and see what is controlling those touch keys. Will report back if I find out.

 

Cool. What, exactly, are the Quick Launch Buttons? If you have them disabled, but the soft-touch buttons still work, then I don't think those are called the Quick Launch Buttons.

 

Room temperature = 21.1C (70F) in chilly Wisconsin today.

 

I've just noticed that sometimes the Volume/Bass/Treble soft-touch slider controls are not working........oops, let me correct that.......the controls are not showing up on the display when I touch the controls. The volume may still go up/down when I slide the control, but I don't think the treble/bass controls are making any changes (it's hard to tell). Not sure when this happens.......it might have been after I was trying to play Crysis. But now they are working again. So, it could be confusing trying to figure out if your controls aren't working because you disabled something, or whether it's happening because of "random non-functionality".

 

OK. Here are my readings. The first screen is with the thing just sitting there doing nothing, 5 minutes after booting. The second one is after about 9 minutes of the stress test. It kinda freaked me out, as my gadget for CPU processing maxed out on all four processor displays, 100%, and the fan did come on the laptop and was pretty noticable.

Interesting test. Are these about the values you expected?

 

Yes, and those are about what I am getting now, on mine. Completely different than what I was getting last go 'round. Go figure.

I do have a problem coming out of sleep mode, though. When I do, the Cores 0 and 1 are running in the 70C's range and core 2 and 3 are in the 30's. I'm not sure if it is a HWMONITOR problem or a temperature sensor problem, but I don't see how it could go from COLD SLEEP to ON and at 70C+ instantly. The fans are running faster too, so either the sensor is messing up when awaken from sleep or something else is wrong. If I reboot, the temps are correct again.

 

The bass/trebel is very funky. It doesn't work all that well, sometimes you press it it will work, sometimes it will not, sometimes it is delayed. This is on first boot up of the laptop when shipped to me without modification. I don't know if it works all that well, since there is the IDT sound with a equalizer which would work just the same.

 

Hi, this is my first time talking on the forums and i have a question about the heat. Which part of the laptop is usually the "hot spot", also what cooler would you guys suggest? The zalman 2000 or the nzxt cryo?

 

Ok, I've started from scratch via good ol system restore. I have disabled the 3 HP services, since that is all that I can see. I've disabled 1 cyber link related service as well. Under msconfig, I have unchecked hpqsrmon and hpquickplay. And the buttons still function fine. The only ones left I can test are HP Quick Launch Button,, and HP mediasmart. I believe the quick launch buttons are you answer. Sorry, I didn't finish testing this, but I'm done for the day rebooting <10 times.

 

lancorp I could kiss you! fixed the problem!
okay, maybe a firm handshake will do!!

THANKS!

 

Now that 've got this thing going well with the clean install and adding the programs that I need, I am finding that the display quality is not that great. It's too bright, and just does not have the detail I would expect from this thing.

Yes, I am in High Color and 1920x1080. I tried installing the .ICM files listed in previous posts, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I also went into the NVIDIA CP and played around with the Gamma, Brightness and Contrast, but doing it "by eye" is hit or miss.

Is there a preferred way to set up the screen? I've owned many laptops and have never had to do this. When I look over at my old dv9000, the display quality over there blows this thing away, but I'm sure it's just calibration.

THANKS