HP Omen 15 (5XXX series) Gaming Notebook

Does anyone can play game with lower resolution than 1080 but still with full screen. I played COH2 and COD:AW with lower resolution to boost the effect, but the issue was really annoy!!!

 

I can play all games at 1080p at high settings. Never tried any of the games at lower then 1080p settings. However, yes there is an issue that whenever I try to play at lower resolution, I can never play in full screen at say 720p resolution. It is always a windowed box that is present. However, there is no issue in performance of game. It seems to be a software or some kind of hardware issue... But it is is actually very bad that HP has this kind of quality standards where this defect was not noticed..

 

Few more weeks away till 960M is rolled out. NVidia has purposely disabled overclocking on the new 900 series through their most recent drivers. The link below suggests further that the 960M will be just a re-branded 860M, therefore nothing to gain really graphics side of thing but just a name change and maybe a small clock bump. With that said then waiting for the 960M is kind of pointless, unless the 860M will allow overclocking with the latest NVidia drivers still.

http://wccftech.com/nvidia-geforce-...ine-complete-transition-maxwell-architecture/

Can anyone confirm that the 860M will overclock with the latest drivers from NVidia, and not the HP out of box drivers?

 

just dump the bios and unlock it. up the voltage and then overclock it. it's a beast for overclocking.. you can get a hell of a lot out of this card with a bios overclock and voltage change.

This laptop can play anything I throw at it at high settings in all the games I tried. although 30-40fps for the bleeding edge ones.

I am going to upgrade my other notebook's gpus this year. to 2x680 in sli.

2x 680's overclocked with a hexcore processor won't be too shabby.

the dual 680's meet or beat the single 980m and when i'm done with them they will really haul butt.

I am in the midst of overclocking my 860m..

I don't mess around when overclocking.. I go or broke.. bios mod and all.

back when I had a clevo with the 8800m gtx.. I overvolted it and overclocked it so hard I was near stock 8800m's in SLI at the time.

I am having problems doing a dump.. I am going to see if I can dump it raw from a Linux shell. but first I will throw nvflash on a stick and t hen boot her up and try and dump her out.

 

I often have problems doing a dump.

The real problem is HP tend to take a dump on their customers, so they cant do anything with their machine.

Good luck trying to unlock that thing at the firmware level.

 

Anyone have problems with Omen Control?

I think it startet happening after the last BIOS update..
The Omen Control just wont work in times. The programs open but any setting I set doesn't do anything.
Changes in lighting wont shift etc.

It usually happens when the pc have been in sleep mode for some time, and I need to reboot to make it function again.

Also, the shortcut keys to turn on/off touchscreen, mousepad and shifting between profiles in Omen Control doens't work at all anymore.

 

I have no issues with the omen control even after updating the bios to F09 version. It works as it was working earlier. Also, once the laptop is in sleep mode, there is no issue in using Omen control after waking it up.

 

I have had these problems since forever. It never works for me after a cold boot. It only works after a reboot. I'm on F08 BIOS.
The only thing that does work without rebooting is to disable trackpad. It's kinda annoying, I'd love the hotswitch to work (fn+1 and so on).

 

Hmm...I'm not sure when my problems started. When I got the computer the hotswitches worked perfectly and I used them alot, really handy.
Somwhere along the way they just stopped working, my only explanation is that there must be something with updates from HP...

 

The only problem I have is that the hp omen support software can't access the servers so I have to check manually for updates. Other than that the laptop has been perfect. No screen tearing, good temps, battery life around 4-5 hours on 100% not even on power saving.

 

One question to all Omen owners- are you guys using the HP recommended graphics driver or down loading the latest graphics driver from Nvidia GeForce experience? From what I read in HP forums, HP recommends using HP drivers only not Nvidia for maximum performance..

 

I download my drivers straight from Gf experience. HP offers nvidia drivers from its own app too?

 

I'm considering picking up this laptop in a couple of days.

Is the issue with the Omen not performing well when plugged into AC still around or has it been fixed?

Any other common problems with the laptop?

 

The issue has not been fixed, but it seems like it occurs with some unlucky buyers.
It happened to me, and my dealer swapped it for a new one right away.

I also had some serious temperature issues when AC plugged in, which was partly the reason mine got swapped.

If you are wiling to use this amount of money on a computer, I wouldn't hesitate of buying the Omen.
You can compare it to any gaming pc you want, but you won't find on that is this sleek and pretty.
Any other gaming pc looks like a god damn spaceship. Go wild, Go buy it

 

What are the temps like on your replacement? And I'm assuming your replacement doesn't have the same problem?

 

Has anyone installed Windows 7 on their Omen?

 

If they update the Omen with a 965m I would buy in a jiffy!

 

My new one have no serious issues. Only thing is that the Omen Controll - the controllpanel for keyboard settings ins't working 100%, but this is software, so it doesn't bother me that much.

Under heavy load my old one peaked at about 95 degrees celsius on GPU and about 80 on the CPU.
My new one never exceeds 74 on both. Mostly it stabilize at about 65

 

My Omen peaks at 95 degrees for GPU and about 60ish for CPU. HP refused to swap it (only look at it and maybe repair it), but I don't game much so it doesn't bother me too much. I'm still suspecting bad paste job.

Either way, if you buy one now, most production problems have been solved. I also have the Omen Control issue, but that's software.

The new 960M is basically a 860M (maxwell, like the one in the HP) rebranded. It's not top-notch, but it's definitely good.

 

When I got problems i got in contact with the store I got the pc from, not HP directly.
My contactperson then contacted HP and got it solved. Maybe the stores stands "stronger" than us users, and thats the way to go.

The answer I got was that there was definately some serious issues with my computer.
I also had major framedrops too, in relation to the temperature though

 

HP has its own drivers of omen on their website where driver support is present. I checked out a few forums where HP representative said that for max performance, one has to use HP drivers ( these are not GeForce drivers but HP has modified them specific to omen hardware)

 

Just pulled the trigger on a 256 GB Omen for $1200. That seemed like too good of a deal to pass up.

 

Are there any deals going on for the Omen? My old Acer is dead and I'm probably going to buy the 16gb/256gb sometime next week. A bit worried if 256gb is enough, but they don't offer the 512gb version here in Italy

 

I've overclocked the 860m,
It's Beast alright!

in Frames per second and real world tests..
It beats the 960m, 965m, 870m, and is just about 10%.. if that under the 780m

I am super happy.. I was concerned with having the future nailed down because of other graphics cards.

Now.. This System Bios I've modified is in alpha if you will.

You cannot have the gpu enabled on battery.. because it doesn't have enough juice to power it.. not in the least demanding things.

I got rid of boost.. and the stepping clocks..

it's wide open all the time.. it's forced optimus lolol

so just go into the Device Manager and disable the 860m

it will turn itself off and you can use the lappy on batteries..

I am willing to work with someone who is willing to make a script that turns off the gpu outright when unplugged.

The temps are super stable too.. about 8-10% higher temps.. at the worst of times..

mostly it's like 5%

I am glad it's working so far with the 120w adapter.. but I think that it will blow up or meltdown.. on my old m1710 xps with 7950gtx I modded the everliving junk out of it.

and I had to upgrade to a 150w psu because the load was too great.

But right now.. it's running very nice.. and adapter is fine.






I found that the NVidia Maxwell bios was located within the system's main bios.. rather than separately on the card itself..

So.. the work began..

I dumped the bios.. then spent 30 hours straight parsing the system bios in a hex editor going byte by byte.. until I noticed patterns..

I won't go into too much detail on how I did this.. but suffice to say.. I did.. and it is 100% Stable. and I can run Dragon Age inquisiton @ all high settings 1080p and get 37-48 fps.

I was getting way less before.. There was been much in the way of real world benchmarks.. that's the proof.. I hate 3dmark etc.

So.. I spent 30 hours reading the bios byte by byte..

found the NVidia bios

then mapped out.. there is a few more things in the system bios I could unlock too.. but that is for another time.

I am running at 1450 -1490 base core

and 5900 memory.

I can give a bios to someone if they would like to try it.

It's safe. but I am not responsible .. etc... we all understand the disclamer ok?

I never used any tool other than a hex editor.

I disassembled the bios completely. then went through the bytes after I found the patterns for the star and end of each module that I decompiled.

It is pretty low level that I did this... It doesn't show up in gpuz..

but I digress..

it works very very good.

I would say 20% more than a 870m keppler.. and maybe more.. I need to map it out some more and see what I can change.

Basically..

download any bios update from HP's site.

Then download from me the system bios rom.

put the ROM inside the folder with the inside bios...

You may have to force it.. by starting inside and just before you start... swap the bios that came with the upgrade in the folder with the modified one.. then run it.

Whats very cool is.. I found the way to downgrade the bios.. and force any bios you want..

so if you want to revert.. it's very very easy.

cheers

-dex

 

I be keen on giving the BIOS a go, PM me a link or just post link up here

 

Posted this on another thread thats gone quiet

I have been reading up on bios modding to overclock my GPU and think im ready to flash but would like some advice on what i have done so far.

I have the system bios from hp update XXXX.bin
I have opened this with PhoenixTool, which creates a DUMP folder.
I have located the correct .ROM file which holds my vBios.
I have opened this vBios with Maxwell Bios Tweaker and can modify some settings although a few are greyed out, unavailable to me.

Using PhoenixTool i can change the advanced option to allow editing of the bios directly.

So...

Using PhoenixTool i enable live editing of the bios, make changes to correct .ROM package with Maxwell Bios Tweaker, save bios, exit PhoenixTool.

I then recheck new bios i have just created all changes i made are there, main file size is exactly the same, all seems good.

I could use HP built in bios update software and it would update the bios as if its just an update from HP like i have done afew times already for HP updates.

Does anyone see any problems with what i have done.

Once i know im on the right track i need to decide on which options to changes in the vBios, mainly i just want to remove the core limits so i can go past 135 using Nvidia Inspector.

Also talk about RSA bios signing around the net has me worried? Should i be?

Has anybody modding there bios figured out the correct was to recover on the Omen if all goes wrong?

 

I contacted both the provider (Elgiganten) and they told me it was normal but I should contact HP to make sure.
So I contacted HP and they told me that as long as the GPU temp hadn't reached 100C I shouldn't be worried. I told him that it once peaked at 98 degrees. Then he offered me to send it in for a REPAIR - not replacement, since it was more than 14 days old when I contacted them.

Wow that's pretty sick! I read somewhere else that it's a beast, but that OVERCLOCK DOE! It's a 50% overclock! It's a shame my GPU runs hot at 405 Mhz

 

hey bud,

I wrote to you on the other forum you posted.

you got it almost on the right track.

just so you know we are dealing with RSA.

and you have to actually decompile *the real deal* the insyde files or *file rather.. .dll and you have to parse it and take it down to raw... and parse it some more.. until you find the checksum checker then you have to remove it.

you won't be writing the bios to your gpu/system bios any other way!

unless you know something I don't.

heh.. nice with the ptools... lol..

why do I gotta do everything the hard way..

anyways.. then I was parsing for the lock byte, start byte and end byte per modules.. I uncovered a lot of other cool options that we can do to our omens.. and I found a bunch of disabled items of interest... anyways.. for another day.

the encryption is a doozy.

again. unless you know something I don't.

you won't be straight burning that bios to the flash.

I tried straight.. even starting with normal bios then after the top *update* is not grey switching out the bios for modded one.

and then it flashes.. or so it seems to.. but nada.

checksum...internal if error go to.. ugh town

so.. 8.12mb taken down... stripped and reassembled. (I tried your tool) pretty nifty. saves time no doubt.. but I am a masochist .. I installed Gentoo Linux one time.. then gave myself a blackbox gui system.
s
basically.. it was a black screen... no desktop enviro.

and you can right click.. when you right click the only option you have is "gnome-terminal" hehe I like the terminal from gnome.. had cool transparency.. waybackwhen.. anyways.. I liked compiling from scratch every piece of software down to the bottom core.. for my box.. at the time.. that was a while ago.

forcing myself to do these hard things.. helped me be a better problem solver.. sink or swim

so... tell me where your at.

and we can swap notes.

check donovans blog.. for the insyde decompiling..

or if you know something I don't please let me know.

I have managed to flash.. but it's tedious

I can for surely help you... with knowledge of downgrading and fixing.. etc.


failsafe bios key.. etc... so you can not be fackored.. heheh

 

haha yeah thats sounds way more complicated than i was hoping for ...
when you use the insyde bios tool it gives you 3 options install, make a usb installer or save to location, when you save to location it gives you 2 files the bios and another file which i thought might be some kind of authentication key? im not that good at sifting through hex code, it makes my brain hurt. i dont mind difficult i myself like linux, i run arch on my home media server and most likely when windows does my head in for some reason i will prob install it on my omen, aslong as driver supports there.
i thought it was too easy just to edit and flash with hp software , they wouldnt make it that easy for us, shame though!
as for what i know? nothing new really was waiting for a reply on these posts incase i was wasting my time, and i wasnt brave enough to risk flashing although i really, really wanted too.

 

I would absolutely love for some help with this. I have the bios fully done I am just finding it very difficult to get the insydeflash to work correctly. I am also very interested in a softmod.

Thanks

 

Hi Auduno,
I see your post about “Maybe the stores stands "stronger" than us users, and thats the way to go.”
I am here to tell you that as an HP customer you stand as Strong as any store.
HP has a variety of ways for customers to contact HP. Just bop on over to HP.com > ‘Support tab’ pull down and you will see choices… Or scroll to the bottom of the HP.com page for ‘Contact us’ for even more choices. Also as Social Media Ambassador for HP you can always send me an email.
You mentioned your Omen had some serious issues, let me know if I can assist you.
In order to review or escalate your issue, please send me an email with the following info:

your product serial number
your contact information
your case number

Send the above info to [email protected]

Please include your CNET username in the subject line of email.

Cheers,

Cheron Z.
Executive Customer Relations
Hewlett-Packard Company
[email protected]
The views expressed in my contributions are my own and do not necessarily reflect
the views and strategy of HP Please review the HP Privacy statement at the link below
http://www8.hp.com/us/en/hp-information/summary/ww-privacy.html

 

Hi, can anyone let me know what are the frame rates one if getting for far cry 4 and crysis 3? Also, does the area near the hinge (in between keyboard & screen) get quite hot after sometime of intense gaming session?

 

I got my HP OMEN Thursday, it crashed during the initial Windows set up. After two restarts it completed. I've been having problems with the wi-fi cutting out a lot and then laptop freezes. I haven't noticed any temp problems nor battery but I haven't played any games yet.
Has anyone else noticed these issues? If so is there a fix?

 

you could recover to factory and start a fresh, just find the hp recovery tools in start menu. i had problems doing windows updates when i first turned it on and that is what i did, just because i didnt want a glitchy system.

 

I found a way to get the bios that is hacked so to speak.. to flash.

It's a harder route than most and you have to boot on a flash key and in pure dos mode essentially force flash it.

I am also working on reverse engineering the inside bios flasher. Not the common route that Donovan does on his site.

I took it right down to machine code with a disassembler and I am working through it.
I also found that we can change the actual checksum inside the bios so that the regular flasher will work.

once I find the best route I will post it for everyone to use. I am trying to make it easy and if something goes wrong I want to be able to just put the flash key in and reboot the computer in legacy U mode and then it will return it to basic.

Since I parsed the Bios in hex.. and found the start and end bytes of each so called modules.. I know exactly where it is. I used the Maxwell tweaker and kepler tools and a hex editor and other disassembler / decompiler etc..

once I compared the part of the system bios in hex to the altered changed made by the tools kepler/Maxwell tweakers.. I found the exact addresses that apply to each vid maps voltage maps clock maps etc.

so it's going to cake to change .

I will write a VB program to essentially patch the addresses in hexadecimal. it will just change the bytes that need changing.
you will just enter the clocks you desire and voltages and also memory/core.. and then it will patch directly to the bios.

you wont have to disassemble .. down to individual modules.. for lack of a better term. and then find the module .. change it.. and then re-assemble the rom.. ..

the patch will just patch the changes immediately.. no harm no foul.. no fuss.

time will tell.

peace

dex

 

Soft driver mod. enables access to change full core and mem clocks.. including voltage. **This is just a theory... and I did not come up with the original theory.*** I also take no credit for this soft mod.

Disclaimer:
Anyone who uses this or spreads it to someone else down the chain... is responsible for their own doings.. pertaining to the instructions here. If something breaks due to messing with result of following the instructions below.. again. it's the users responsibility. The user of the result of the text below takes on all problems including damage caused by the result of the text below. I the writer... take on no obligation to the result of the text below. if any bad things happen in my stead.. It's the Users fault.
User as defined. Is the person he or she... that follows the text below.. and executes it.
This still requires some skill (no offense) i'm sure you all who try this will be fine.

WARNING! this mod unlocks max which will let you go as high as the oc software will let you.
use your head


I take no responsibility for anyone who attempts this. It's the users choice.

Plus. You are encouraged to try different versions of each. until you find the sweet spot.

There are Also NO guarantees on this.. one way or the other. Nvidia may have patched this out.

download 346.87 from a reputable site of your choosing. make a new folder on desktop and extract the driver into it. Go into the new folder on your desktop and navigate to the display driver directory. find the file nvlddmkm.sy_ and drag it and drop it on your desktop.

delete the new folder that contains the 346.87 driver.

make sure that the file nvlddmkm.sy_ is still on your desktop where you put it.

it is good make a copy for safe keeping. but that's up to you.


download any 347.xx

make a new folder on your desktop and extract the 347.xx driver into it.


copy cut or drag n drop nvlddmkm.sy_ file into the display driver directory of 347.xx that's in the new folder on your desktop.

uninstall current driver for your 860m. may want to use driver cleaner.

now install the modified version 347.xx

now you should be able to have full control of max clock and max mem values... and voltage if you so desire .depending on you.. be careful.

download ntune (yes it's discontinued. but it works)
download afterburn, NVidia inspectior, asus gpu tweaker. and any other program that can overclock NVidia cards. or dual amd/ati..

try each one in consort with the drivers of your choosing.

remember your need 346.87 or older.. (try other ones too) and get the file nvlddmkm.sy_

you could just download like the last 5 drivers before 346.87 . and put all the nvlddmkm.sy_ in a folder containing 5 separate folders.

Now. you can mix and match.. an older nvlddmkm.sy_ with any driver that is in the 347 range.

now.. the easy way.


First and foremost have show hidden files and show extensions turned on in the folder options.

get ahold of proper nvlddmkm.sy_ ones that have the full extension .sys not sy_ this is optional you can figure out how to turn the sy_ into sys.

if you have the nvlddmkm.sys just navigate to root drive\windows\system32\drivers.

find nvlddmkm.sys in system32\drivers directory. change the extension from .sys to .bak.

now find wherever you stored your single or multiple 346.87 or older nvldmkm.sys file(s)

choose the one you want to test. now copy and paste the file into the system32\drivers directory. reboot.. and see what's what.. be sure to check more than one OC APP.

this way is the best way. you can quickly test to see if all is good.

be sure to make a baseline. use Unigine Heaven or Valley. use fraps too. note temps from baseline stock...

real world benches are far better than other ones.. find what works for you.

Mix and match one of the older nvldmkm.sys versions. with other 347.xx drivers you have installed.

this way you will find the best combination of the two.

test tweak.. no spoon feeding here. .

good luck.
I tried it on a few and had good enough results..

 

Thx for ur work, dexgo

Can you help to check if it's possible to change its fan curve? Or is there any way to change its speed?

My main complaint about Omen is the fan noise, since there are no tools can check the fan speed and even adjust it, it becomes extremely hard to customize its EC file to change its fan curve. I'm thinking to return it as it's really annoying when you use it in a quiet room.

And mine got a dead pixel at the top right corner, is that quiet common? I can't believe it happens to a premium laptop like this.

 

No, it's not common But HP has a ridiculous Quality Control. Overheating GPUs, ****ty PSUs, dead pixels - the list is long...

 

Yes, especially this is my first HP laptop, hard to imagine this happened. I went to the store and got a new one, and here I find something interesting.

The new one I got probably is with the earliest stock in Australia, since I checked its logic board and it's made in Last Sep with F05 bios (my previous one is last Dec), this one comes with track pad which gets worse response and build quality (u can hear “some” sounds when u tap on it). But the older bios produce less noise compared with the F08 OR F09. When I turn on it, it surprised me with very lower fan rpm, even when the cpu gets above 50°C, its rpm is still lower than what F08 made.

So obviously, the updates changed the fan curve, which makes it worse. Did anyone find the same point?

 

Hi Amazer,
Here is an HP link with symptoms/information about Reducing Heat Inside to prevent overheating:

http://h20566.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/public/display?docLocale=null&docId=emr_na-c01657439&jumpid=reg_r1002_usen_c-001_title_r0001

But if your unit is having heat issues beyond the preventative measures above I suggest you contact HP Tech support 800 474 6836. Have your serial number handy when you call.

Cheers,

Cheron

 

If anyone's been thinking about ordering an Omen, now's a good time to order. Save 30% by using the coupon code: CPC30 (only on the configurable models, not the pre-built model).

 

Does anyone know if the GTX 860m will support DirectX 12?

 

860m has support for 11.2.. But even when 12 is available I believe gaming applications will be utilising both 11 & 12.

 

Can anybody please check whether there's a cover/plastic card for the SD card slot or not?

My SD slot is open, there's nothing protecting it, is it just me?

 

There is no covering for the ad card slot provided. It's on the side of the laptop, but honestly, I have not seen a laptop till date with a sd card slot cover.
However, on another note, my omen control is behaving a little wierd for last couple of days. Whether I slide the lighting to 100% or below, the lighting on keyboard remains same and does not change. This was not the case earlier...

 

Thank you. Try rebooting. For me it never works after a cold start, I have to reboot to make it work.

 

The cooling system on the Omen is amazing...

Running Fire Strike with max fans and a Cooler Master Notepal U2, my max CPU temp is 64 degrees Celsius and my max GPU temp is 48 degrees Celsius.

I couldn't be happier with this thing. So far it's perfect.

 

Hmmm....Is it supposed to be possible to dim the light of the keyboard? Mine have never had that option, only on/of. Screen lighting have never affected the keyboard lighting.
I also have lots of trouble with omen control, which wasnt there when the computer was new.
Hotkeys for switching between profiles does not work
Hotkeys for toggle on/off mousepad and touchscreen
Omen Control doesnt work after cold boot, have to reboot computer
After waking up omen control does not work when waking up, have to go in to the program and switch to another profile manually to activate it.

Have tried to uninstall the program, deleting the registry files for the program, reboot, reinstall (both current and previous version of the software)--> no effect, still not functioning as it should.

BIOS problem?

 

There's an option to dim the keyboard lights in Omen Control (pick a value between 0% - 100%).

 

Am also happy with Omen's performance except for slight quirky issues that keep on propping up time and again

- even while doing normal productivity work, sometimes the fans ramp up for no reason( I don't know if there is some default program running in background as the task manager generally show cup utilisation below 15%)
- the fans are a little bit on noisy side when doing productivity work
- omen control has a mind of its own when it comes to lighting intensity
Apart from this, have no issues at all. Have played some graphic intensive games like far cry4, crysis 3, splinter cell blacklist etc on laptop,& cooling and hardware performance has been really good.