*HP dv4t (1XXX series) Owners Lounge*

update your bios, thats what i was just talking about with the stuck buttons, if yours a 1028 us then use the link i posted above, if its a different DV4 then find it on HPs site and see if theres a bios update. dont sit by and expect them to fix it for you, bios updates dont show up in health check or hp update for one reason or another

but you did a clean install, turn areo off and go through your services and turn the ones you dont need or dont want, off

other than that i can only say i get about 4-4 1/2 hours on my battery when i am browsing the net and on MSN messenger processor runs about 1500Mhz but wont ever go lower than that (odd) and i use a bluetooth USB adaptor for my mobile memory mouse alot of the time

i dont have this problem, i wouldnt assume every one has this problem but the people that do are gonna make a big fuss about it thats for sure, thats why it seems like theres so many people with the same

yea i hadnt noticed it but it is a little cooler, but only a little. WD drive here but right now i am on a pillow too so thats probally keeping alot of that heat in. its not thinkin all the time like it used too and so far my quick touch buttons are workin better and it remembers every time what i have turned on or off when i shut it down the day before.

i'm still trying to figure out the drivers for intels 4500MHD, why dont we have the power options and stuff available to us in the graphics properties?

i'm sure if we could adjust them we could get some games going on these things at decent rates. mabe get it to use more than 32 megs which i notice has a problem, even with flash alot of the times, not major but some times it slows or tears

 

actually it seems like the heat issue with the left palm area went down because the fan always on feature was turned back on. Even when I am not using the laptop the fans seems to be on or a little too loud is there anyway I could lower the fan speed. Someone mentioned in a previous thread that their dv4t fan would turn on on certain temps. mine just always seems to be on is there any solution to this or is an older bios code have a different temp setup.

 

My computer is a lil bit cooler now too. My mute button has never worked and is still not working. I guess it might be a physical problem with mine. I would like to get it fixed (under warranty), but isnt there a charge to send it back by mail? How can I find if there are any local repair centers anywhere so that I do not have to pay for postage? I remember I once returned a laptop and it cost me $40 for postage and packaging to send it in.


Where can I get a spare replacement battery for cheap? really, even if it lasts only 5 minutes, I would want it, because my laptop is super duper heavy with the 12 cell battery. I would like to have a 6 cell for just incase when the power cord gets plugged out, it can shut down my computer instead of killing my machine.

 

I believe HP is supposed to send you a pre-paid box for under warranty repairs. They have no idea what's up with the "Mute" / QuickLaunch buttons, when I got mine back in August/September I made 3 cases for that problem and each time they said they would send a pre-paid box to return my laptop and I never received it.

Work around's for the "Mute" button issue that I use are (in this order)

1) Restart the "Audio Service". (This usually fixes it for me)
2) Reinstall the audio driver.
3) Reinstall the Quick Launch driver.

Lastly I place my laptop in Hibernate vs shutting down, and I only rebooted during updates and if I just HAVE to.

 

Has anyone thought about trying the keyboard silicon skin covers? Does anyone have any reviews of them? Do they work for protecting the keyboard? Do they yellow after a time and get ugly? Is it hard to type with them?


ebay keyboard silicon skin

 

anyone order a custom dv4t lately? trying to figure out the ship time to me in california from the plant..

 

Hey folks, I'm having a weird issue. I've woken up 3 times in the last 2 weeks with my dv4t having turned itself on automatically and I don't have any programs set to "wake up upon execution." It's mostly happened at night, approximately between 2 and 4am.

Anyone else had this happen?

On another note, does anyone else have extraordinarily long wait times for it to go into hibernation in Vista 64bit?

 

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking of getting a dv4t with a Blu Ray drive and a 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9200M GS GPU.

Does anyone use their HP dv4t to output via the HDMI port to a large screen LCD HDTV? How does it look? I've been thinking about getting a Blu Ray DVD player but if I get this machine with 4G of RAM and an Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor P8400 I'm thinking I may be killing two birds with one stone...

Any input will be much appreciated!

 

Hello,

I have a dv4t-1200 that I recently bought. I want to replace my current hard drive with a better one. However, I can't seem to pull out the old hard drive. I've removed all 3 screws around the drive cage. Is it also glued to the sides and/or the bottom, or is there another screw somewhere that I can't see? I've read the HP hard drive white paper but it was of no help.

Anyone have any experience with this? I would appreciate any assistance.

Thank you,
Paul

 

They come from Kunshan, China through Anchorage, then to Oakland, Seattle or Minneapolis. Doesn't really make any difference where you are in CONUS, the times are about what it says for the build date in the right hand window when you configure one. Sometimes it will actually arrive on that date, other times it will ship the day after the build date. You'll get an email with a tracking number as soon as it is prepared for shipment.

We ordered a dv4z on 13Feb09 and the epected build date was the 25th. It was actually built around the 20th in Kunshan, China and shipped on the 21st. It got to Anchorage, AK on the 23d and wasdelivered on the 26th.

 

This msg will give a likely solution, http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/showthread.php?p=132403#post132403 .

That entire thread will give you a look at others' experiences. HP only updates Realtec drivers once or twice a year. Going directly to Realtec to get the latest ones works fine.

 

I thought it was an IDT audio driver?

 

I have the intel 5100 AGN wireless n mini card with bluetooth, but I am unable to connect to our n-router at speeds higher than 54mbps. My roomate has the HP tx2z laptop & is connecting at speeds upwards of 130mbps. Here are my wireless settings:
802.11n Channel Width for Band 2.4: Auto
802.11n Channel Width for band 5.2: Auto
802.11n Mode: Enabled

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

- HP Pavilion dv4t Entertainment PC
- Onyx
- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
- Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26 GHz)
- 14.1" diagonal WXGA High-Definition HP LED BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
- 4GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
- 50% OFF! 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9200M GS
- 250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
- [For LED Display] Webcam + Fingerprint Reader
- HP Color Matching Keyboard
- Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N Mini-card with Bluetooth
- No Modem
- SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
- HP Integrated HDTV Hybrid Tuner
- 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

 

My friend has this laptop and the only issue we are having is when he hooks up the laptop through the hdmi port to his HDTV. We went into the display settings and set the resolution to 1920x1080 for the external display and it will only display in a window mode or in an oversized mode where the desktop screen doesn't fit correctly with the tv screen. Any ideas?

 

This ties in to the question right above by Worx....is anyone using a Blu Ray (or regular DVD drive for that matter) outputting through the HDMI cable to a large screen LCD HD TV set? I'm surprised no one is responding that they are...would think that is one of the nice features and uses of this laptop with the HDMI port...

 

I'll try it when I get my Dv4t special edition. It was supposed to be delivered today but when I check the FedEx website, there were bold red text " DELIVERY EXCEPTION" next to the tracking information. It said delivery was attempted at 10am and my dad was at home at that time! Doh! I'll be gone tomorrow through the weekends so won't be able to take the notebook with me for the trip. Gah!

Grumbles,
Gnimble

 

I regularly connect my DV4-1003tx to my FullHD 42'' LCD via HDMI to watch movies. I don't have blu-ray though.
Everything works fine, although I have set it up so that when I connect the HDMI cable, the laptop switches to using the TV as the primary screen and turns off the laptop screen. I've found that it works best this way, as when I had it setup to use the screen + TV like dual monitors the sound played on the laptop speakers, and it kept trying to go to sleep mode due to power settings .

So in conclusion connecting your laptop up to a HD TV works fine, just when connected right click on desktop, go to NVidia Control Panel. Then select Set Up Multiple Displays, choose to use only one display, and then make sure that display is the TV. It's easier and works better that way.

 

^ nice. i connect my dv7t in the same way but have a wireless mouse (logitech vx nano) and control everything with the mouse, leaving the lid of the laptop closed. in essence, my tv becomes the monitor and there is nothing like having a 42" monitor with movies/music/tv shows at your fingertips as you lay in bed drifting away to sleep...

oh man, im such a nerd =(

 

Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to give dv4t owners an update in case anyone else is having an issue connecting their intel 5100 AGN card at actual draft-n speeds.
I have the intel 5100 AGN wireless n mini card with bluetooth, but I am unable to connect to our LinksysWRT350N router at speeds higher than 54mbps. My roomate has the HP tx2z laptop (with a Broadcom card) & is connecting at speeds upwards of 130mbps. Here are my device manager settings:
802.11n Channel Width for Band 2.4: Auto
802.11n Channel Width for band 5.2: Auto
802.11n Mode: Enabled
(in addition I have turned on & off the throughput enhancement, fat channel intolerant, and toggeled through all the other options to no avail)

I installed the latest intel software & drivers for my 64 bit version of vista, and I now have the ‘configure’ option under wireless settings (which was missing with the factory install). The unfortunate news, however, is that I've played around with almost every configuration (combination of the wireless settings from mixed, 2.4, & 5.2 as well as the device manager advanced settings) and I can still only get 54mbps. In fact, when I switch to strictly 5.2GHz I cannot connect at all. Encryption is set to WPA & AES which boosted the speed of my roommate’s connection from 130mbps up to 270mbps (once again his HP tx2z series has a Broadcom card). It seems many users have had this problem with the 5100AGN card. HP Tech support was unable to fix the problem and suggested that it was likely a compatibility issue with the router, however, many people report the problem with a variety of other routers. Another thread (WRT300n (600n?)) talks about some possible fixes, but most seem to be temporary fixes. Perhaps Intel or Linksys will come out with an update to resolve this issue.

 

I returned home after a trip and got to play with the Dv4t for 10 minutes before heading to bed. In that short period, I have the following impression:

1) What's up with the 12-cell battery protruding only on 2/3 the length of the laptop in the back. Had it span across the laptop, I would not mind, but it spans only 2/3 the laptop and starts from one side. I can understand it was done that way to not cover the fan; but with that battery, this laptop can no longer be place on the lap unless you bring two knees together. I guessed I should plan on getting a cooler.

2) The fan was obnoxiously loud and stayed loud the entire time. It is louder than the dual fans on my desktop!

3) Even with the short 10 mins usage, the area under the hard drive was starting to get hot. Maybe I should invest in an SSD instead...

Other than that, the laptop looks amazing. It is one of the most beautiful laptop I've seen. At first I thought the Special Edition patterns would clutter up the desktop; causing it to look messy. But having it in front of me, I really appreciate the design.

Cheers,
Gnimble

 

Glad that I found this Forum

I have been using this laptop for a little more then 5 months, but I am pretty unsatisfied with it for many reasons.
Three most important being : Noise, Heat and the Screen...

but now I suddenly have another problem...
I replaced the windows vista home premium with vista business,
and installed all the drivers once again.

one of the problems that got corrected was that of the mute button not working properly...

but now I am having trouble with the bluetooth adapter ... according to me I have installed all the drivers, including the HP wireless assistant , but it doesnt seem to recognize any device
though it did recognize my phone b4 I installed the wireless assistant....at that point it didnt find my (Microsoft wireless bluetooth 5000) mouse ...

I tried un/re-installing the wireless assistant

Any clue as to what should I do ?

Cheers,
Rohit

 

I also tried looking for broadcom driver, but couldnt find one on their site ...

 

Nahar,

Have you tried contacting HP support? You still have warranty on your system and they do provide a business edition of Vista for the DV4 so I'm sure they can point you to the drivers.

Good luck!
-Gnimble

 

Well, I called HP and got a return authorization for my DV4t Special Edition. After reading the problems with the infinity display, on how dust can get in but not out and its mirror like effects, I thought I would be better safe than sorry.

I got it exchanged with a normal DV4T with LED display and a slightly faster processor. It has less RAM (which is easily upgradable) and also no BD drive. But I guessed I got the peace of mind... although I wished I can get the same special design on the Onyx DV4T.

Cheers,
-Gnimble

 

@Gnimble

Do you really think that my warranty will not be void ? since I installed another OS by myself ...

I called them up with the heat problem to return it ... but they simply passed me on from one person to another .... felt pathetic .... So i would avoid calling them unless extremely necessary ...

cheers,
rohit

 

i'm kinda having an odd probelm.
my 1028us seems to be getting a shorter and shorter battery life.
i used to get about 4 hours out of a battery with the battery that comes with it and now its down quite a bit to 2 and 45 minutes before it kicks on the 25% warning

i've disabled not needed services and am not using areo. only extras i am using is a bluetooth dongle so i can use my mouse

battery check says its good and i have changed the power settings but only to the screen all the way dim and the processor to a max of 50% on battery which it doesent it does a max of 1597mhz or something like that

is there a magical service i may have disabled that magicly gives more battery life

 

I don't think calling support to get information regarding drivers would void your warranty. If you need to send it in for repair, then you probably need to reinstall the original OS.

There are many flavors of the Dv4t, and each may require different drivers for slightly different OEM parts. I suggest you go to the hp.com website, then search "Pavilion dv4t" in the Drivers and Support page. You will then see three models of the dv4t: Dv4-1000, Dv4-1100, Dv4-1200 (and Dv4-1200sp). I'm not sure which is your model, but try installing drivers for each system if you don't know, starting from the latest to the oldest.

May I also suggest you join the hp.com support forum? You'll get more refined information there regarding your model:
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/?category.id=Notebook

Good luck!
-Gnimble

 

does anyone know how to tone down the fan when the always on fan mode is activated in the bios?

 

I would like to know this too. When turning on the system, the fan is on and noisy even though the entire system is cool to the touch. Maybe overheating issues made HP turn them on indefinitely.

Warmest regards,
Gnimble

 

i have a strange issue with the sound.
whenever something is played on the MediaPlayer/winamp, the sound gets paused for a second when somebody pings me in gtalk
the sound gets paused for a split second for playing the gtalk ping sound
any idea ???

 

Does anyone have problems with the 12 cell battery falling out of the dv4? Mine has fell out at leat 6 times now since I have owned my laptop in December. Should I call this in to warranty? I had bought 2 laptops, and I kept the second one, but took the battery from the first. Do you think they will still honor my warranty? I do have the paperwork for both.

 

Coolsaju,

Could it be that the gtalk program is using the same channel for sound as your audio player. I suggest you play a song with winamp, and then go to youtube or view some online movie. Both audios should be playing simultaneously. If it is, then there is a channel conflict between your audio programs.

Cheers,
Gnimble

 

That doesn't sound natural. With the little time I had with my Dv4t special edition, the battery is in pretty tight. It should lock (making a clicking sound) when you insert it in, holding the battery tight in place. Check the laptop battery latch for damage.

Since the battery sticks out like a sore thumb, there is a chance for you to hit on it as you move or carry the laptop. Or if you latch/unlatch the battery so many times, the mechanism just get worn out. As you got the laptop in less than 4 months, I think it may be a defect in the latching mechanism. I would call hp and ship it back for repair.

Good luck!
Gnimble

 

hi people... i want to buy the DV4t but the heat and noise issues are creating inhibitions in my mind. How serious are the problems actually? Im a casual user with the occasional game of counterstrike etc. Anything else I should be aware of before buying it?

Thanks very much

 

this is the config im looking at:
P7450 - 2.13 GHz
3 GB RAM
320 GB HDD
Dedicated graphics
No blue ray
BlueTooth/Cam

Its available at a local store for $950. Is the config alright?

 

The P-series processor you chose runs cooler than it's T-series bro. The dedicated graphic and your hard drive will definitely heat up your laptop. I got my Dv4T yesterday and played with it for an hour. The area where the hard drive sits feels semi-hot, but I can still touch it comfortably. Maybe a few more hours and it will be hotter to the touch. I'm going to replace the hard drive with a lower power SSD so heat won't be much of a problem there... I can only hope. I played around with my brother's Fujitsu that he bought for over $2k and the area where the hard drive resides can probably fry an egg. Almost every laptop you read out there has heat problems.

Invest in a cooler and you'll be fine. I love the Dv4t... it looks awesome and has some of the best specs out of all laptops. I would go for the Dell XPS 13 but it costs several hundred more for the same configuration.

Good luck!
Gnimble

 

I received the DV4t yesterday when I got home late from work. The box looked beaten up a bit. I was a little bit worried until I was able to power on the laptop. Immediately, I was shown the boot up recovery screen. "Windows failed to boot up, would you like to boot up in safe mode, safe mode with networking, etc..." The first thing that come to mind was that I got a used unit.

Fortunately, I was able to go through all the configuration screen. Unfortunately, there were no sound at all. I can hear nothing but the loud fan, which seems to run at medium power. I don't recall being that quiet before. After getting into the system, I tried playing some sample songs and movies that come with the laptop. No sound at all, although the sound bar indicator is jumping up and down. I plugged on a headphone and I can hear the music; unplug the headphone and nothing. At this moment, I dread returning a brand new laptop... until I saw that Microsoft Office was installed on the system. Cool... I do have a used unit, and someone forgot to remove Office. I started office and found out that it is just a trial version.

This laptop has so many trial software that you can actually see it bloat out the ports. Tonight, I will install my 60GB SSD and re-install Vista. Hopefully there I can get everything working without all the extra software.

Cheers,
Gnimble

 

I just purchased a dv4 and I'm looking for an adequate slip case. Any suggestions on which one will fit?

This Case Logic slip apparently does not fit the dv4.
http://www.amazon.com/Caselogic-ENS...5?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1237404605&sr=8-5

Are there other options that people have used effectively?

 

i've become the proud owner of a dv4tse, P8600 2.4 GHz, 4GB RAM, Blue Ray, 512 nVidea, Infinity screen, high capacity 6 cell, 250 GB HDD

 

Congrats! What sort of temps are you getting?

 

I just got a Dv4 too (but amd not intel) and like it so far. Do they sell larger then 6 cell batteries for it though?

 

the CPU cores are around 55-57C, the GPU at 65C and the HDD at 52C after about 45 mins of moderate usage. How bad are these?

 

update: after placing the laptop on my desk with about 3 inches off the edge, the temps are much better: CPU cores - 41C, GPU - 53C, HDD - 45C

 

Does anyone know if I can buy one of these in the US (where I can configure it with a bluray drive) and then use it in the UK (with a new power adapter) and connect to a UK 3G network? Does the laptop just take SIM cards so I can insert a 3G card from Vodafone for example?

Thanks

 

Yes, there is a 12 cell battery for the DV4. Check out the following link:

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...ze&v1=12-cell&product_code=KS526AA&catLevel=2

It sticks out quite a bit in the back of the laptop. You can go to eBay and get them for around $100 with shipping.

Cheers,
Gnimble

 

I just got my dv4-1220us with specs in my sig, haven't played with it too much yet. I think I got a good deal for it, $599 + tax, $50 MIR. The MIR covers the tax on it +around 10 bucks. It's not a dv4t, because i picked it up from Circuit City before they went out of business. I'm diggin the copper-bronze color and the pattern...
Only question I got so far is, if i don't want to try to do a fresh install, what bloatware can i get rid of and what should I keep? Should i hang on to the HP media stuff?

 

Congratulation on getting your Dv4. I love the bronze color too but didn't want to pay an additional $25 for it, so I got the silver one. I suggest you download the PC Decrapifier (just google it for the site address) and remove all the crapware that comes with the system. I did a clean install of my system using the guide mentioned in this forum, but decided to install the HP MediaSmart software. This enables me to use the quick launch button and quickly go through my pictures, videos, or to record from webcam. I don't like to have buttons that does not do anything. Everything else I removed.

When I got the system, around 34GB were used. Installing Vista from scratch takes it down to 12GB with just the basic drivers installed. Once I install the video card driver, HP MediaSmart set of software, a bunch of sidebar gadgets, Firefox, Open Office 3.0, etc... the size came to a total of 30GB. I've traded the 250GB hard drive for a 60GB SSD so saving disk space is my number one priority.

Cheers,
Gnimble

 

I got pretty much that exact same model, cept mine was from Staples for $550 w/o MIR. I uninstalled all the trial crap, but didn't wanna deal with a fresh install and worry about maybe not getting the best drivers etc.

As for the HP media software, rather then uninstall it, i ran msconfig in the start menu. Then go to the "start up" tab, and uncheck all the HP media software. That'll stop it from opening those programs on start-up and slowing down ur comp. They're still there if you want or need em, but don't hafta worry bout them using system resources unless you need them.

 

sorta bumping it, but is mine the only dv4 that has speaker crackling problems?

Additionaly, does the dv4 just have a horrible battery life? i think i have a dv4-1012 (or something, i'll check when i get home). I only got it around 3 months ago, now it holds only 1:15. most of the time less.

 

While I don't hear the internal speaker crackling when used, I do hear some high pitch static that sounds like an alarm beeping when connecting to an external speaker that I got many years ago. The same speakers sound fine with connected to my Dell PC. I should try headphones to see if I can hear the same static.

I get around 4-5 hours with the 12-cell battery but if I were to watch a movie, that time is reduced to around 3 hours. I can imagine a 1.5 hour battery life if I were to have the 6-cell battery. Also, battery life depends on if you're using wifi, screen brightness, reading constantly from an optical drive (DVD playback), have external peripherals that draws power, etc.

The laptop do get hot so I have a laptop cooler attached that draw power for the two fans constantly. That may reduce my usage time by around half an hour.

If you worry about battery life, I think you should invest in the 12-cell if you don't mind it raising the back of the laptop by an inch.

Cheers,
Gnimble