*HP dv6t Quad Edition (2XXX series) Owners Lounge*

I had that error once with the hp stock driver 186, but since updating to 195.62 all has been fine.

 

I have never updated drivers for a graphics card before. Can some one point me in the direction of a good guide? Thank you.

 

Just download and install the video driver below, you are using W7 64bit?

http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/notebook_winvista_win7_x64_195.62_whql_uk.html

 

Thanks tinderbox. Yea I have 7 64bit.

 

i've owned one of these babies for about a month already.
1)Notebook cooler is probably not needed if you have a 12 cell battery but if you need get one i got the thermaltake cooler and its pretty cool
2) If you guys gets the moonlight black design, please beware, this thing is a dust collector
Has anyone bought a messenger bag/ carrying bag for this dv6t quad with a 12 cell battery?

 

ibnotrich/sab3awydaking:

actually you don't have to have any of those junk. uninstall all of them and just download and install 3RVX. Its customizable and cool!

http://matt.malensek.net/software/

cheers!

 

Hello everyone i need some serious help deciding if this notebook is right for me. I am a 16 year old in 10th grade, i need a powerful laptop that can handle what i throw at it and this seems like the one. The only thing im concerned about is that many people say hp products don't last long and im looking to also use this laptop for college in the future. I am worried about it only lasting about 2-3 years, and that wouldn't be to good. can you guys give me any tips or recommendations. Im really torn apart right now on wether to buy it or not. Thank you guys

 

Everyone should check and see if the ram that shows up in the computer properties is the same as the amount that they ordered. I ordered 4GB and I checked my properties, and it showed only 2GB. It turned out that one of the 2GB cards wasn't inserted properly, and did not show up. I opened up the laptop, took out the RAM, and placed it back in. It picked up 4GB then. (My WEI RAM score went from 5.5 to 7.4).
I hear that a lot of other people are also seeing this problem.

It matters what you're going to use your laptop for. If you're mainly going to play games, then I suggest getting an actual dedicated gaming notebook, and if you're going for reliability, then get a business-oriented laptop. They're really on two ends of a scale, and you'll always have to end up trading reliability for power, or vice versa. IMO, this laptop, although more on the "power" side, is somewhere in between, where it doesn't exactly do either perfectly right. HP laptops (or all consumer/media-oriented laptops) tend to have extremely short lifespans, poor material quality, and poor build quality in general, so I wouldn't recommend getting this one of you're going to keep it for long. I like to think of this notebook as a cheap powerhouse that would last long enough to thrive in the era in which it would be considered "strong", and by the time it breaks down, it's power would just be average and you would buy a new laptop.

My recommendation would be to get a business-oriented laptop for school, such as a ThinkPad or a Dell Latitude, or any "business" laptop for school (they may be very expensive, but they're strong as bricks and they'll last you for YEARS), and get a desktop or gaming laptop for the more "intensive" purposes.

Buying a dv6t means that you really don't care much about lifespan or build quality, and focus on performance-for-the-buck, in which the dv6t trumps all. (all of the other mobile core i7 laptops don't come as cheap as this thing)

Judging from your need of a long lifespan, I would recommend finding a laptop that is more reliable than this one. Of course, it's really your choice in the end. In fact, this laptop's not too bad for doing schoolwork on. In fact, A LOT of people in my class use this laptop (including me ) in class .

And, of course, if you have a class that requires a fast computer, then it's either this or a superextraultraexpensive notebook...

Eh, one more thing, You won't be getting that much battery life from this, if your going to take this to class. Watch out for that, too.

Good luck choosing!

Ah, try making a topic here if you want some more help: http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1052

 

Hi guys,

I just got my dv6t quad core about 2 weeks ago.

Has anyone noticed that the screen has a sort of banding to it? It's not really banding but that's the best description i could come up with.

And has anyone used verizon fios with this computer? ever since using windows 7 64 bit I am unable to get upload speeds that i should be getting. Does anyone have any idea?

thanks.

 

ok thanks a lot i've been try to decide since november on this laptop. I'll mainly be doing light gaming but extreme multitasking. I will look into dells xps 16. I did have one more question. Is the i-7 720 processor a Super good processor or just above ordianary?

 

Run away from XPS 1645 it has a ton of problems and too expensive.
I returned the XPS and got the DV6t.
For the money paid for the Dv6t, it is a steal, you can regularly get it for 850-900 with a blueray.
There is no laptop or desktop that is completely future proof, but this one has the power to stay for a long time.
My previous HP lasted 5 solid years, so i can't say anything on HP reliability.
Actually most of the notebook parts are easy to replace but the motherboard, so you can replace a failing part in the future or buy an extended warranty and will still be much cheaper and worthy than the xps 1645.
As for the speed of the i7, for a mutli-threaded application, it is faster than all the previous C2D processors. Not that you will feel a significant improvement if you are surfing the net, or using office. In general it is very hard to tax out the processor.

 

The i7 720 is an extremely good processor, and it'll be hard to find a program that will even have to use up its full power.

Like khaleidseif said, the XPS is more expensive than the dv6t. If you really want a laptop that lasts long, I'd suggest looking around for a laptop that doesn't have as many problems as the dv6t and XPS. But then again, the laptops are new, the processors are new, everything's new. We can't really make any assumptions about these laptops.

IMO, if you're really going to get the XPS 16, I'd recommend that you just get the dv6t instead. Even if the video card is weaker, it's definitely better for the price.
It's all your choice and you'll have to take a gamble. I don't have that much experience with laptop shopping, so you should definitely find someone else here with more experience.

I think you'll be happy with just the dv6t. Once again, post something here and you might get better advice.

Sorry, I really don't know what I can recommend you to get. It's all up to you. Find a more experienced person to get you a good laptop. I can't help you any further with this .

 

ok thank you very much, you were still a lot of help!!!!

 

ok thank you....would you happen to know the battery life on it with the 12 cell?

 

anything between 4 - 4½ hrs.

 

4-4.5 hrs depending on my normal use multiple VC++ compilation, internet, and webmail. I bought it off market from ebay for $65- cashback from bing.

The XPS 1645 ran for 3-3.30 under the Dell extended battery for the 9 cells battery.

The GT 230M works well in comparison to the ATI 4670, it is like a 10% lower fps, so if a game that is not working well on the ATI4670 making 30fps on it, it will make 27fps on the GT230M, so it will be almost the same experience.
In other words, if a game is playable on 4670, it will be playable on the GT230M.

The catch in the XPS1645 is that its power is limited to a certain level that will result in even less performance than the GT230M. This is the case for all DELL i7 laptops in what is known as over protective throttling problem.

 

Hey guys,

Has anyone having this problem with the OSD for volume slider while playing games or anything fullscreen (movies), you touch the volume slider and it goes switch to desktop for the volume OSD.

Any way out for this one?

 

yes, Someone before suggested uninstalling the HP software and installing the intellisense from microsoft.

 

intellisense? isn't that a code view functionality that provides auto completion for functions, variable etc.

 

My bad, IntelliType.

 

Does anyone have a flex in the silver plastic part beside the trackpad in the front?

 

Got mine several weeks ago.
Mine has no flex, khaledseif.

I tried to overclock the GPU and successfully reached 7995 in 3dmark06 score using Nvidia System Tools (driver version 186.44). I don't understand if I use most recent driver from Nvidia.com (195.62), the score is lower, much lower.
any ideas?

 

hey all,

I was considering buying the dv6t Quad to use at college for the next 4 years.

I will be doing general computing, a little gaming and some drafting...is this laptop a good fit?

I think that the 230m graphics card will suit my needs just fine. All i really want to do is be able to play STarcraft 2 when it comes out. Will this laptop be able to do that?

thanks all

 

Found something here:
http://starcraft.incgamers.com/articles/comments/starcraft-2-system-requirements/

not sure about starcraft, but GTA4 runs OK even with 1080p resolution using external monitor hooked up through HDMI (setting medium).

I was thinking why PC gamemakers not consider giving minimum 3dmark score as one of the technical specification.

 

I have been able to overclock the video card to 700/948/1540 safely @5c increase in during the furmark stability test, this is faster than GT330 565/1066/1265.

 

Nice Job, Khaledseif. what software did you use?

 

Nvidia system tools, showed improve in score from 21xx to 28xx for furmark benchmark in 800x600 windowed, the avg fps was 34 jumped to 47

 

don't double post, you've posted practically the same comment in the dv8 and dv7t quad owners lounge forum as well.

 

yes, i just wanted people to be aware of the possibility of overclocking the GPU, and there is a small chance that Dv7t owners are following the DV6t owners and vice verse.
Nvidia launched the new GT3xx series which is exactly the same as GT2xx but overclocked, so i thought it is a good idea to tell people instead of just feeling upset of our new purchase.

 

O wow thats an awesome achievement, never read that one before.

I run Fallout 3 @ 1280x900 maxed out.. and it get 70°C max.

So youre saying overclocked I can a better resolution @ 75°C max. ?

Dont know which area youre referring to? I own a moonlight white DV6

 

Just got one earlier this week. Now I am having issue with random BSOD . I unstalled Norton that came with the laptop. I have installed ZoneAlarm Security Suite 2010 and Firefox 3.5. I got my first BSOD while watching video for Fox network site. First I thought it would be just the plugin that causes the BSOD. But BSOD also happen when I was using IE8 and somtimes not having any browser running at all. Last night I updated Nvidia driver from Nvidia (not form HP site). I also re-applied F13 firmware. I also ran HP memory test and run-in test and everything passes.Next would be to reinstall windows.
Got a few questions if someone can help me with. Have anyone experiencing BSOD at all? Do you need the HP DVD software, the one that comes with the laptop, to play Blu-Ray movies or there is a better program for that? Also anyone running Firefox 64 bit version? My spec is blow. Thanks in advance.

HP Pavilion dv6t Entertainment Quad Edit
• Espresso Black
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-720QM Processor (1.6GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB)
• FREE Upgrade to 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm) from 2GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 320GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 230M
• 15.6" diagonal High Definition LED HP Brightview Widescreen Display (1366x768)
• Lightscribe Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer
• Webcam Only
• Wireless-G Card
• No TV Tuner w/remote control
• HP Color Matching Keyboard
• 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• No Modem
• Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

 

yes

The silver plastic trim at the front edge.

 

For the BSOD's - have you done a clean install?

That may clear it up...

 

How did You get BSOD? did it occur soon after you received the laptop or just happened after you installed something?
maybe you need to restore the laptop into factory condition first and see what happen after that.

 

Funny! Just got another BSOD while trying to post. I started getting BSOD the second day. I installed Zone alarm and Fire fox the first day I got the laptop. I didn' have any issue that day at all. The next day i start getting BSOD and everyday since then. I might just go ahead and do the clean install this weekend.

 

I installed firefox and nothing happened. my suspect is the Zone Alarm? you might need to uninstall ZoneAlarm and see if it works.

http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windows/t-49453-Blue-Screen-After-install-of-Zone-Alarm.html

http://forums.zonealarm.com/showthread.php?t=71721

 

Actually, I'm getting BSODs too. Before the clean install and after as well...

By now, I think I've seen at least 30.

I've seen it occur more often on battery (Once/twice and hour), and even more on power save mode. It still happens on A/C power though. But I think that's just by chance and has nothing to do with it.

I don't know what the problem is. It might be my USB mouse. I'm seeing BSODs more often when it's plugged in. Something about POINTER_SOMETHING_INVALID, or something like that. But then I'm also getting messages about something about memory (?), so I really don't know. I checked up everything in the event viewer and I haven't found anything useful. They all just say:
Source: Kernel-Power
Event ID: 41
"The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."

I don't really know what's going on. I'm trying to find out what's wrong but right now I'm incredibly busy with homework and all. I hope there's a solution soon...

Oh, and I don't have ZoneAlarm, so I don't think that's the problem.

 

Right click on compter in the start menu and select manage, in the left tab of the program select computer management-system tools-Event viewer-custom views- Administrative events, then look for a common error and report it here.

Meanwhile you can do the following steps
run the computer in safe mode, if it fails then there is a hardware error, if not then it is a software/driver problem.

If it ran ok , then restart normal and go to start and type msconfig in the bar and press enter.
select diagnostic startup click ok and restart and see if the problem remains or not. If it remains, then there is a windows installation problem, if the clean installation doesn't fix it then contact customer support.

if it is stable, select selective startup and choose load system services, restart and test it.
If the problem appeared then right click on compter in the start menu and select manage, in the left tab of the program select computer management-system viewer-custom views- Administrative events, then look for a common error and report it here.

if it ran fine, then in the msconfig click on the startup tab, check for several programes and restart and test, if the problem appeared then it is a result of one of the selected programs, disable them and enable them in turns until you find which program.

 

I think its a perfect section to ask owners of dv6t quad ed.

One thing surprised me, WHY the price of this model is so low as compared to other brand/models with same(*, see below) configuration ??? During BlackFriday it was available for $799 and now its available for $899 with 8GB RAM !!!

*
500GB @7200 rpm HDD
i7 processor
4GB DDR3 RAM
16" HD screen

So, WHY this model costs less ???

 

Economy of scale, in other words they made Dv6t, Dv7t, and Dv8t use almost the same components, they offer coupons at certain times to get huge orders, as a result they get discounts on the components as well as on shipping.
If you are wondering about the performance, i know it outperforms the xps1645 due to the throttling problem.

 

For those interested... the HP bluetooth mouse works great and matches the dv6t Quad (at least the black version) quite nice. My daughter loves it. I did not install the included software and just connected it through the bluetooth control panel. I got it for $42 shipped off amazon.

Heres a pic of it with the graphic cover on. It comes with a blank cover as well and carry pouch.

 

No, no flex there. The screen edges do flex a little though.
And the edge above the dvd-drive has put there awkward. It sticks out.

Nice mouse btw, too bad I cant stand batteries.

Weird that everyone is experiencing BSOD's.. you should do a drivercheck with DriverMAX, its excellent.

 

Yeah seems like ZoneAlarm. I did a clean install then run the laptop over night. No BSOD. I installed Zonealarm and got a BSOD while running a scan. After the reboot I get another BSOD again. So now I have Zonealarm uninstalled.

 

I checked out my battery times when the laptop is off. The laptop seems to be sapping power out of the battery even when it's off. Overnight, the laptop's losing about 5% battery each night. I took out the battery last night, and it had 100% when I put it back in today. Is there any way to fix this? I mean, other than taking out the battery each night?

Also, I am still experiencing BSOD, and I don't have ZoneAlarm. After the clean install, with nothing on the computer except for Windows 7, It got a BSOD. I'm gonna go over everything one more time tonight and see if I can fix it. If not, I'm just gonna call HP and see what they can do about it. I get an average of 2-3 BSODs a day, usually when I'm in the middle of doing something (from just browsing the internet to playing video games).

Black mice go really well with the dv6t black ver. XD. I'm using a Razer Habu mouse with mine and it is just BEAUTIFUL. socalsurfs, I like how the color schemes match each other perfectly

 

I loose about 7% overnight , but it only happens every couple of days, I check the battery is 100% charged before i turn the notebook off during the night, and i make certain it is fully shut down.

 

Maybe you got different BSOD message. perhaps removing one of the memory module would solve?

 

Nice to hear that, it outperforms dell sxps 1645, but by reading the threads here, i found many of dv6t quad owners have the BSOD problem. Apart from BSOD what are the other problems with this model? Will you recommend others to buy this model ?

 

Well, it depends on what you want. For the price, you will not beat it as a performance/cost basis (best value for the money). It is not the top notch in regards for the build quality in comparison to the Envy or the XPS, but a lot cheaper at a very comparable performance to the Envy and better performance than than the XPS due to the current throttling problem.
Keep in mind that you can get i7-720QM, 500 GB hard, 4 GB ram, blue ray for $900 with a blue ray DVD, at least $1400 for the XPS, and $1500 for the Envy.

Quick comparison
(XPS, HPDv6t, Envy)
Build Quality (2, 3, 1)
Performance (3 2 1 )
Video card (2 2 1)
Cost (2 1 3)
Blue Ray cost (2 1 3)
Number of Problems (1 2 2)
Screen Quality (1 3 2)

As for the BSOD, i think it is discrete and not affecting the majority. It is either software or old driver issue.

 

one BSOD problem was caused by outside software installed. waiting for bbeaverkid's case.

 

I really want to buy this laptop for school but i think that the battery may be too short...i love everything else about it tho...any thoughts on battery life? should i buy a couple extra to take to classes, library etc?

my "what notebook should i buy?" is here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5703184#post5703184

hopefully this laptop will suite my needs but if anyone thinks otherwise plz let me know