*HP dm3 (1XXX series) Owners Lounge*

Well I ordered mine recently, assuming they did include the G2 of the Intel X-25M. But, I would return it if I found out it was the G1. Just the TRIM command alone, and the factory the G2 is newer, would make me hesitant to keep the G1. I know in the previous orders, people got G1's. I figure the orders now should be G2....so I had to press my luck and see.

 

I posted this a while ago. It is a G1, read more info below. FYI my system was built Feb 14th...


Just in case people are wondering what SSD drive HP throws in there. It is SSDSA2MH160G1. I was rather disappointed that it is a G1 and not a G2. For G1 retails at about $449, which is still a good deal, but G2 has faster write + other upgrades in hw. Based on my latest bench, SSD performs as expected 250MB/s read and 70MB/s writes. It's beyond me why HP didn't go w/ G2, prolly just emptying stock. Finally, the all-mighty-TRIM functionality is being reported as "NO", will post back after firmware upgrade to see if that enabled it.

Just ran the update. Now I am at firmware version (045C8820). It was painless and quick. According to Intel, this version has been available since April, which means HP had these drives way before April. The TRIM still says "NO", it may be that only G2s come w/ TRIM.

According to Intel, "This firmware revision has several continuous improvement optimizations intended to provide the best possible user experience with the Intel SSD". Not seeing much difference, I guess I wasn't expecting a huge improvement. Nice to know that I am to date on my drivers tho!

As far as firmware is concerned, it does have old firmware (045C8781), the latest is (C880+). To upgrade you will need to burn a quick cd/dvd w/ Intel iso found here

Another interesting piece is that according to SMART this beast has already been restarted over 100x, i swear i contributed maybe 10 of mine, so the rest must have come from HP and their testing/OS installation.

 

2% bleed in 17 hours after the bios update again. gonna take the battery out tomorrow, and if i get 2% bleeds with battery in and 0% bleeds with battery out, then i'll know it's for sure the laptop and not the battery.

at its current rate, it should bleed 3% a day, which is not too bad but i'd rather have it be more like a normal laptop. i'll accept this imperfection and submit the rebate now.

btw anyone know what it could be on the dm3 itself (besides the bios)? maybe it's the circuitry that connects to the battery?

 

I think you did fine.
Congrats.

 

Hey Guys, i have DM3 Brand new 1110ej (intel based) and i have a slot for WWAN, i was wondering if anyone tried to install any WWAN card, and any suggestion of which to use also, my model doesn't have a built in antenna.. any solution for that if anyone found? thanks in advanced!
@psudo
Did you try that yourself did it work for you in the end?
can i get a MC8775 and make it work for mine too? i have a DM3-1110 and it has a place for a Sim+Mini-PCIe card what u think?

 

Why don't you buy a Macbook Pro or 3 cheapy DM3? BTW, I paid only $449 minus $15 Bing Cash Back for my cheapy DM3-1044nr from Microsoft Store about a month ago. It's cheap, but I love it.

 

probably because he didn't want a cheapy dm3.

 

Ahh man, i guess no one ever tried to solve this WWAN issue -_- damn...

 

Does anyone know anything about the backlited keyboard that's being offered on Ebay for DM3?, I wonder if it's like the macbook and ease of installation it will be?, I'm sure with the lights on, it will reduce the battery time, any possbility of turn the lights off when discharging?

 

OK those are very interesting upgrades: backlit keyboard and a WWAN module. I'm looking forward to see the first user experiences.

 

For those who interested in backlited keyboard.

The part number is 580687-001 and currently laptop zone has best price at 69.99. I downloaded DM3 maintaince and service guide, the instruction to replace the keyboard is pretty straight forward. I'm gonna contact HP in Taiwan see if they have the part available, if not, I'll wait til I turn to the States in May.

 

Can you post a link when you get a chance, please?

Thanks!

 

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01893277.pdf

 

Hey, guys just a thought on the back lit keyboard. Based what I'm seeing in the DM3 Maintenance and Service Guide there appears to be a seperate part number 575926-001 for the original (non-back lit keyboard) and one for the replacement (back lit keyboard) 580687-001. What I gather from this is 1) All replacement keyboards are now back-lit or 2) the meaning of back lit is up to interpretation. Is it possible that HP is referring to the replacement keyboard as back lit because there are indicator lights (caps lock, volume mute, num lock) on the keyboard surround? btw....I cannot locate the original part 575926-001 on the HP Parts Store Website.

Can anyone verify that they currently own a DM3 with a back lit or replacement back lit keyboard?

 

Yes. I posted here:

I assume it's a driver issue. It doesn't worry me too much. I have a 1040us.

 

Crossposted from the HP support forum.

I assume the second issue is just a driver problem, but I would really like to know if anybody else has the first issue. If you could take a minute to look at those tests, I would really appreciate any feedback, positive or negative, especially if you have a 1040us or other SU4100 version. An example of a real-world image where I see shimmer is the left side of the banner (the pair of aces) on this webpage.

HP instantly offered to replace the system board, but I'm not sure if they know what they're talking about (especially since the first issue appears to be related to the graphics driver version).

 

Not a problem on mine. Seems fine to me, I have dm3t-1100

 

I restored the graphic driver back to the original version 8.15.10.1872, then problem 2 was fixed. My DM3-1044nr don't have the first issue.

 

Hey, thanks. Does that notebook have the optional nVidia graphics, or just the integrated Intel graphics? And if it's not too much trouble, could you check what LCD panel it has as well? (Device Manager > Monitor > Generic PnP Monitor > Hardware Ids) I have a "Monitor/AUO102C" (AU Optronics panel). I wonder if the panel is different in different versions.

I'm really sorry to bug you, but if I can get some more statistics it might save me a few weeks of trouble with HP. :-D

 

What video player are you guys using?
I'm on a DM3 1020ed and I'm having some problems playing an mp4 file video.
In VLC it doesn't run entirely smooth while the audio is totally off in BS player.
Standard windows media player does run smoothly but I can't get the subtitles to work. Three players, three different problems, just my luck..

 

Oh, that's good to know about the driver version. Thanks.

I know the 1044nr has the same graphics card as the 1040us. Could I trouble you for the panel model? (Device Manager > Monitor > Generic PnP Monitor > Hardware Ids) If you also have an AUO102C, and tests 7a and 7b look good to you, then I think my baby is going to go to the doctor for a while :-(

 

Yes, I have Intel SU 4100, 4500MHD graphics card, and AUO102C. Also, Patterns 7a and 7b do strobe violently, especially 7a can cause a seizure.

 

OK, that's what I was afraid of. I think I'm just more sensitive than most people to picking up that kind of flicker in other images. I don't think a system board replacement is going to do anything. I think it's a combination of a cheap TN panel and a careless logic board layout. Oh well. Serves me right.

 

Not a problem, the monitor version is LGD022C, runs off NVIDIA card

 

I didn't notice the flickers before I did the LCD monitor test. I still love my baby tho.

 

Thank you, onegin.

 

with the backlit keyboard. can you turn it on or off? I can't see a option to do that. is it always on?

 

Not sure on the DM3 but other HP laptops you hold the Function [Fn] key and tap the Spacebar once...that enables/disables it. That being said I don't see the keyboard light icon on the leftside of the space bar in pictures of the DM3 backlit keyboard so I'm unsure this capability really even exists for the DM3.

 

Would anyone know how to change how much RAM is shared with the Radeon HD 3200 graphics chip?

Also, according to dxdiag, my graphics chip has 1162mb shared video memory. I would think that gaming/overall performance would actually benefit from having less shared RAM (or at least a more balanced ratio) on the graphics chip and more available as system memory. Anyone care to disagree/clarify the mechanics of sharing RAM?

 

vlc is software decoding, which is fine when you have enough cpu power but certain chip options in the dm3 are not that fast.


try media player classic

http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/

like the standard media player, it supports hardware acceleration for video playback that taps into your graphics cards power. With any video player on my dm3 with the amd neo chip, I can play back 1080p video as long as the player supports hardware acceleration.

vlc player, as far as I understand it, does not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DirectX_Video_Acceleration

 

hi there, does anyone know where I can get the su7300 version of the dm3 without going to customize at hp? Cos I really need this notebook urgently to be shipped within like a week and I know hp.com will take longer than that. It seems the only config in the stores are the su4100 version. thanks

 

I am looking to sell my DM3 SU7300 ...

 

Just like many of you, I'm very disppointed in the performance of the DM3 battery. I have the 1044nr and the 4.5 hours of the battery life after discharge just unacceptable. One of the main reason for me to buy the dm3 was the 10 hr battery advertised by HP and MS store and the price was right. After series of testing and soul searching, I've concluded to get 7~8 hour of real life usage after discharge just impossible with this machine. Even MS store has drop the 10hr to 4.5hr on the website while they had the 1044nr. I felt I was cheated and frustrated by the BS marketing of HP and swear to myself never to buy HP again. As few of you might have read my report few weeks back that I've manage to drop my laptop from 5 feet up to a concrete floor(the damage was minimal). I thought maybe it's a sign for me to look into Asus UL30. Clumsy me today, I've manage to repeat the drop again, and this time the laptop felt on the face flat, after the laptop hit the ground I heard a lose part flew out, for sure this time I thought this laptop is done. I quickly pick up the laptop and inspect the casing, and found a small piece of plastic few feet away, the cover for LCD hinge has come off and I thought to myself great, the LCD most likely has shattered, and maybe some internal parts must have broken off. As my heart was pounding when I open my dm3, to my suprise the LCD was perfect, after a bit more of inspection I turn on the laptop just to see if it will boot up. And holy molly, the laptop booted up just fine and I've done all the testing to ensure the functionality of the dm3. It's perfect, besides the hinge cover broken off and few tiny dents on the cover, the laptop is OK(cross my finger). After the incident, suddenly my thought of the dm3 and HP has changed, I've worked at Bestbuy 7 years and handled a lot of laptop and never encounter any laptop can withhold this type of drops. I've got to say this is one tough laptop, and no longer the 4.5 hr and the faults advertising bother me, for now, I'm ok with the 4.5 hr battery and forgive HP's faults advertising. However, I personally think it would be nice of HP if they can offer dm3 owners a great discount on a second battery.

 

^^^
Thanks for the update. Very good to know, thanks for taking the time!

 

More info on the battery performance. Literally minutes after unplugging from the power, I am at 91%. I ran a report on PC Wizard 2010 for the battery:

Charge : High (91%)
Manufacturer : STL-SA26
Place : Primary
Chemistry : Li
Product Name : 5160
Technology : Rechargeable
Designed Capacity : 57276 mWh
Full Charge Capacity : 55788 mWh
Capacity : 50768 mWh (91.0%)
Level : 3%
Voltage : 12.1 V


I got a replacement battery too (it was cheaper to add that in -> it enabled use of better coupon). Rated 11.1V at 57mWh

Details:
HSTNN-OB0L
STL-CHA-SAY
STL P/N: NBP6C22

I googled around, but couldn't find any technical specs around the battery. This tends to be the case with Chinese manufacturers.

I can't believe that literally after only 3 charge/discharge cycles I am already at 55mWh from 57mWh. I will keep monitoring this number and see if we can make out decay for this battery, because clearly HP doesn't know what the heck they are doing. One thing that comes to mind is: is this battery simply being used outside of it's specs? If it's rated at 11.1V, and I am running this baby at 12.1V, it won't live up to it's promised battery life... any thoughts on all of this? Should we try to find ways to reduce that voltage?

 

Holy crap, Roni. Thank you for "taking one for the team" (albeit unintentionally) by putting your dm3 through hell and reporting back. It makes me happy to know that I too own one tough toy.

 

Anyone notice that crucial.com lists 8GB as the maximum amount of memory for the dm3-1035dx? I took their advice since it has never steered me wrong in the past and bought two 4GB sticks of PC2 6400. Guess what, crucial.com was wrong, after e-mailing them for support they say I should call, when I call and they find out I didn't buy the memory from them, they promptly deny me any service and hang up. Anyone know how I can get my dm3-1035dx to work with 8GB of RAM?

If anyone from crucial.com reads this and would like to provide an answer for me other than "You didn't buy it from us, and we can't be held responsible for the information on our website, so go pound sand." please contact me at [email protected]

 

Mine will do the same thing. If I unplug it for TEN minutes it goes down to like 92%... If I hibernate at full power, unplug it then resume the laptop w/o the power It'll drop by like 6% which is totally unacceptable.

However, I think the big issue is the USB ports. The ports on the DM3 are powered and when the laptop is plugged in, the USB ports feed power to any connected devices. Many people call this 'sleep-n-charge.' The Toshiba nb205 series had this option enabled by default and it did indeed cause excessive battery drain. I'm thinking thats what may be happening here on the HP, but HP's crappy BIOS don't let you disable this feature.

Can anyone else look into this?

 

I tried switching to different power options. The default HP Recommended power scheme (this one is on Intel chipset, and turns Nvidia off) comes in at 11.44V. After plugging in my iPhone through USB, it actually drops (tried many times), to 11.40V.

I understand voltage is only half the story, but at least it is a one indicator of where on this battery may be operating.

 

I'm trying to decide between the Toshiba T135D on sale at Office Depot for $529 and the HP dm3-1130us at Staples for $549 (Not including $50 MIR). The differences I see:

Pro HP:
7200rpm drive
Display Cache

Pro Toshiba:
Turion 1MB cache vs 512k Cache
eSATA
No Mail in Rebate

I see people mentioning battery issues - are these with the AMD dm3, Intel dm3, or both? Are there any other things I should be looking out for?

Thanks!

 

Do yourself a favor and get Intel.

The battery life issues and heat are almost always AMD based.

 

On my SU4100 dm3: screen is poor, touchpad and touchpad buttons are awful. Build quality is good, keyboard is good, thermals are good, speed is good.

No idea how Toshiba does on these counts.

 

HP needs to just use the same touchpad they use on their elitebooks. No one complains about those, save teh size of the pad itself. If it costs an extra 30 dollars per unit to add it, charge an extra 50 down the line, but for gods sakes, do something to shut down the cries against the pad choices.

 

I've got my trackpad working fairly decently now.

I got a skinstyler, reinstalled windows 7 (so it uses a non ALPS driver I think) and set the sensitivity to high. Somewhere along the line those things made it a lot better.

 

yea i'll join tybert7 point,
i'm using the usual Media player, no need for anything more, the only addition i added was the CCCP Codec pack, i make one full install, (clicking next all the way) and voila! good to go see any movie i want. DIVX,XVID,AVI,HD quality(MKV) etc.. all works great
i suggest that also.

 

I've had the same experience: the standard Windows driver works much better than the Alps driver. It doesn't support multi touch though.

 

Wow, yea, I second that! It shouldn't be, but msft's driver is def much better. Good tip!

 

+1

Got my 9300 equipped DM3 yesterday and did a fresh install of Win7 Home Premium (thanks notebookreview.com!).

I dont really have an issue with the pad at all.

 

Do you know how to roll back the driver?

I tried deinstalling the Alps driver but Windows did not automatically install the default touchpad driver.

 

I uninstalled my Alps driver and it required two restarts. The first restart was to reset the touchpad recognition so that Win 7 would recognize that the touch pad doesn't have drivers -- then it installed its own drivers. Then prompted the second restart.

Works great.