*HP dv6t Quad Edition (4XXX series) Owners Lounge*

Well you can make the recovery disks if you like (especially if you want any bloatware/extra software that came with)...I have always found that I make them, and never end up using them. I always make my own Windows ISO image slipstreamed with lastest drivers and my custom config. I drop all the partitions on the drive, then install windows fresh. Then I install linux for dual boot config. You can partition any which way you like

 

i actually did the exact same thing as you when i got my first envy 14. the dynamic disk was created because you can only have a maximum of 4 basic partitions on a basic disk, so when you shrink one to create 5 partitions, windows forces you to convert it to dynamic.

so what i did instead this time with the dv6, was i used gparted to delete the 200mb system partition and the primary C: partition, then created 1 200gb partion for windows and rest for the data partition.

in other words, you basically sacrafice the 200mb useless partition used only for bitlock encryptions (i think), and make it into a bigger data partition instead.

after deleting and recreating both partitions (now i have partition 0 - windows, partition 1 - data, partition 2 - recovery, partition 3 - hp_tools, with both partition 0 and 1 completely empty), i booted and pressed esc, and successfully booted into the recovery environment, and stopped the process at the confirmation step to restore the harddrive disk image, and installed a clean windows over the windows partition.

so rigth now, i do have a clean windows installed, have a fully functional recovery partition just in case.

 

I wiped my Recovery Partition a long time ago but if i recall correctly all you should need to do is assign the Recovery partition the correct drive letter. When you created the new partition you created a new drive letter for that partition and I assume "pushed" the recovery partition drive letter to drive letter.

Does that make sense? Are you able to re-assign the drive letters for the recovery partition and re-test?

 

So all you lucky guys that got your DV6TQE. Mine is coming in about a week. My question to you guys is what is your battery life like? What power scheme are you using?

 

I have a 9 cell and I generally get about 4 1/2 hours. I streamed an "HD quality" Netflix movie last night and streamed some 1080P you tube trailers and some other fairly intensive stuff last night and still got about 3 and 1/2 hours. I had turned down my wireless card's transmitting power and squeezed another 20 - 30 minutes out of it (about 5 hours), but then noticed that my signal got pretty weak from my bedroom. I use the "balanced" not "power save" setting because I like all the Aero extras. I would imagine with more tweaking you could get about 6 hours of battery life with the 9 cell.

 

well, here is the beasty beast...
temps are higher than what i like them to be... especially coming from an envy 14 with 2 fans (and mostly importantly a good design which keeps the battery cool even at high 80Cs). oh well, you have to pay somewhere for the performance right? if it's not from your wallet it's from the heat...

I haven't tested higher core, but higher memory, altho doesn't necessarily crash 3dmark06 (up until 960), isn't stable in games.

 

This off topic but I was wondering how you have got your task bar to have the area on the left right after the start button where chrome is? I can't figure out how to do that. Also, is there a way to get the desktop button over into that area?

Thanks

 

what space 0_o, i just turned on small icon on the taskbar because of the low resolution to get more screen space out. if that's not it i'm not sure what you are talking about.

 

I figured it out. It's the combination of small icons and combine when taskbar is full option. Wish I could get a desktop button on the left instead of all the way over on the right.

 

Touchsmart ver is:
4.0.3820.26733(4.028.0)

 

Thank you for the information.

I just found another method:

Tip & Trick: How to partition H.D.D in Preloaded Windows 7? - HP Support Forum

He convert the OS partition to Logical. Has anyone tried this approach?

 

Hi. Thank you for replying.

However it's not about drive letter. The problem is the disk is being converted to dynamic disk, rendering it useless in recovery operation.

 

I have few more questions:

1. I'm not sure how to explain this in english: My power button is somewhat difficult to press. The button "does not stick out of the device at all" I have to use my nail to press it. Is this normal? I ask because i've never seen other dv6t qe device before.

2. How to make F1-F12 button functions as F1-F12 by default and NOT volume up/down, etc. (Without pressing 'fn' button first)

 

Sorry, accidentally double posting.

 

1)yes, the power button is weird on this edition, it's very hard to press.

2)press esc when booting, then press f10 to go to bios setting. change action keys to disabled.

 

Thanks for the reply. The Version seems to be the latest as advertised by HP for the Touchsmart Desktops and Convertibles. But are there any differences in the Touchsmart software on the DV6 and TMz series? Does your Touchsmart look like,
YouTube - HP TouchSmart 4.0 - Creating Shortcut Magnets

 

Yeah! It seems just like what I have. I like Touchsmart for fun and games but not for serious work. I do like the touchscreen and use it. That's nice since the trackpad is atrocious. Other touchscreen apps such as handwriting recognition and onscreen keyboard work well, too. On the whole, I get more out of touch screen flexibility rather than from Touchsmart suite of apps. Touchsmart does give it a Mac-like look.

 

Does anyone know how to increase the sensitivity of the touchpad for moving the pointer without increasing the sensitivity of the mouse at the same time? Right now I'm going to Mouse Properites from the control panel and changing the pointer speed in pointer options. I have a Microsoft Mobile Mouse 4000.

Thanks

 

I received my QE a few days but I had a question concerning the battery. Is it better to leave the computer plugged in even when its fully charged or it is better to unplug it when its fully charged?

 

what kind of fps could this pull on a 1080p resolution with games like sc2, just cause 2, black ops, nfs hot pursuit? how much better are the graphics on this compared to an envy 14? thanks

 

at identical settings/resolutions, this gets about 50% more fps than the envy 14, both stock or both overclocked.

 

The computer should know to stop charging the battery when fully charged.

If you intend to run the laptop plugged in to the mains for extended periods of time, weeks to months without moving it anywhere. In that case run down your battery to 50% remaining, and put the battery it in to cold storage to extended it life.
It does not hurt to run your laptop without the battery.

I seem to unplug all my laptops when charged, but the choice is yours really.

 

Thanks for your help. I also see there is an option in the BIOS that states to disable the fan. Will the fan always be disabled, or will it automatically turn on when the computer needs it?

 

hi everyone, i need a new laptop and i think this is the perfect choice... but i have a question about the quality of the screen, i read somwhere that the screen sucks and the colors are washed out and it gets worst if you try to see at the screen in other angles, and in other thread i read that the screen doesn't show real blacks instead of that it shows some type of gray... Is this true?, because i don't want a laptop with a poor screen, that's the reason why i sold my vaio f11, and another question... i want to know about the trackpad, because a lot of people are complaining about that. Thanks in advance for your answers.

 

My colors were absolutely fine, but the resolution sucks for me, but its just an average screen, can get nice and bright though.

 

Thats awesome! I guess an upcoming release of bumptop will make it more useful for us. I just can't wait to have my hands on it.
BTW, any suggestions on what should i prefer? A 640Gb 7200RPM or 750Gb 5400RPM. Will it impact on overall performance if i go for the slower one? I can't go for SSD for the price and non availability of 2nd HDD bay in DV6 as in Dv7.
And does this have Wi-di?( Dv7-4290us seems to have it ) I was choosing not to get the Bluetooth with LAN as i mostly don't use it and find it stupidly priced at $25usd. But i heard someone say that Wi-di is attached to the Bluetooth Module? Is it true?

 

Arrived today with a bonus! Fingerprint reader... I thought that was only if you ordered the backlit keyboard... ( ? )

dv6t Quad Ed
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• 2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2720QM (2.2 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.3 GHz
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 6570 graphics [HDMI, VGA]
• 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 640GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• No Additional Office Software
• No additional security software
• 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 6.0 hours of battery life +++
• 15.6" diagonal High Definition HP BrightView LED Display (1366x768)
• No TouchScreen (includes HP TrueVision Webcam)
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN
• Standard Keyboard

 

In the current offering Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN comes as stock item. It costs US$25 extra for Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R) which seem to be integrated together. None of the documentation says anything about wi-di although intel is really pushing it. I've heard about but not actually seen external devices that attach to display system and use your wi-fi for wireless display delivery. In the previous version of Intel I7 cpu there had been compatibility issues with those external devices. I've not seen any data regarding 2nd gen quads and wi-di.

Now regarding hard drive spin speed, I've been only using 7200 drives in my laptops for the last 4 years and have no comparative data with 5400 except for external drives.

For internal drives, I've been told by a Microsoft engineer that their software can take better advantage of a 7200 drive but it would only be perceptible to users with huge file i/o operations. I've noticed faster i/o with PhotoShop in accessing virtual memory that PhotoShop creates when several huge files are open and you are going back and forth between those files.

For external drives the spin speed makes no difference because your access speed is dependent on your interface (e-sata, usb etc.) which is way slower than the drive's capability.

An SSD definitely makes a huge difference with almost instant file access. The boot times are extremely fast.

I've seen some advertising from drive-makers about what is being called hybrid drives that claim to offer a combination that supposedly results in quick i/o and large capacity.

One note, however, this notebook does not come with a Firewire connection so the higher i/o that is possible through Firewire is unavailable. For external connections you only have e-sata and USB (as well as through LAN/WLAN).

 

Intel Sandy Bridge SATA chip defect. If you have not heard the news there is a chip defect. It is unclear at this point what exactly is affected, meaning desktops, laptops, or both. The news articles I have read so far seem to be conflicting...

http://www.electronista.com/articles/11/01/31/intel.cougar.point.desktop.chipset.has.sata.bug
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/551892-intel-recall-sandy-bridge-cpus-2.html#post7112914

 

At least for now, says Intel, the notebooks with i5/i7 are unaffected. However the speculation is that the bug affects your system over longer term eventually slowing down your sata/e-sata and optical drives. That means when these defects become more obvious, you might get a recall notice. But then, who knows, it may be tied up in class-action lawsuits for forseable future.

 

So, theres no point in getting the Integrated one, it would eat up more battery as well? Right?

And I guess i will go with 7200RPM, as i have loads of work on Photoshop and AE. Btw, considering my work( PS, AE, lot of Multi-tasking and Web Designing ) do you think i should invest in 2720QM? Is it worth the extra 200USD? And will it actually prove distinctively better than 2630QM?

 

I'm seeing a lot of posts stating that all Sandy Bridge chipsets are affected. I am, however, waiting for an in-depth post from somewhere like Ars Technica with all the final information before I return the laptop.

 

For the people that cannot return their laptop, due to the way they may of purchased it.

What does it mean?

Full replacement, or tear down with motherboard only replacement?

 

I'm not a dv7t buyer or owner, but I thought I would post this for informational purposes. I think the notebook SB are affected as well. I don't know how probative this is, but out of curiosity, I was going to other company websites to see how they are handling the recall. Well, Toshiba has completely yanked off their Sandy Bridge laptops to order from their website, and when I used the Chat option to talk to a CSR, they indicated that they were being pulled for "an update from Intel." I asked for time frame and they said it should be within the month. I can only assume that means that the OEMs are being told that the NB chipsets are affected as well, since I can't imagine the company would stop selling them if they weren't. Mine is supposed to be due on Feb. 14th and was just sent to the factory for production today, so I'm waiting for HP's response to this and see what they do.

 

WOW! Just when I was really starting to like this laptop and thinking that I wasn't going to return it.

Probably better off returning it now and waiting for Intel to get their SH!T straight before getting another laptop.

 

7200 is a good choice for your kind of work. On this machine you only have the choice of native Intel(R) HD Graphics 3000 [HDMI, VGA] or 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 6570 graphics [HDMI, VGA]. 2650 is not available. The 6570 costs US$100 more but it gives you another gig of discrete graphics memory. If the board needs more memory, it shares the RAM. I went for the 6570 for the extra gig of memory.

As for the extra $US25 for BlueTooth...It's nice to have BlueTooth but if you don't have a use for it then put the extra US$25 on backlit keyboard which you'll like, especially when working at night.

 

The bluetooth is not integrated together with the wifi module

I order and got Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth.....
The wifi module that it came with was the Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000 single band (2.4 GHz) 802.11b/g/n...

Oddly the part list also show they also have the better Intel Centrino Advanced-N + WiMax 6250 WLAN module that supports WiMax, Dual band (2.4 & 5 GHz) Intel Wireless Display & My WiFi Technology, but it is not an option in ording on line

 

1) not sure if hm65 chipset is affected, *seems* like only the 67s are hit.

2) even if the hm 65 chipset IS affected, the dv6 (unlike the dv7) has only 1 harddrive bay, therefore the only thing that would be using the sata connections are your primary and only harddrive, and your dvd drive. given that the first 2 ports are also not affected by the defect, the dv6 should not be affected by this whole thing at all.

 

I hope you are right! I'll give HP a call tomorrow just see what their official word is. Probably too early for them have any info and the CS reps probably won't know what I'm talking about but it's worth a try.

 

I chatted with a rep.. an here is her reply:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"HP is now closely looking into this matter. So far, there has been no updates yet that recent orders with this processor are impacted."
"Do not worry though, HP provides full warranty support for all products is sells, in the event of a problem with the product, HP will provide remedy to the customer according to the terms of warranty."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
My laptop is supposed to ship on Feb21.. so I have enough time to make my decision.

Btw, Is there any update about Switchable Graphics?

 

It does look like the HM65 is affected. It affects the SATA ports beyond 0/1 - so anyone who installed a 2nd HDD on a SB laptop would potentially be affected.

 

You forgot about the eSATA port. That's affected.

 

Great, my new DV6TQE arrived today...
Looks like I might be sending both of my DV6's back....

 

Yeah I might return mine as well......I have some time though and want to see what the response from HP is...

The problem is with all of the 3 Gb/s ports on the SATA controller (aka ports 2 - 5) Ports 0 and 1 are okay, which happen to be capable of up to 6 Gb/s. I checked the data sheet for the HM65 chipset.

I checked the ports that are used and the 7200 rpm drive (HM640JJ) is on port 0 (even though the Samsung HD is only capable of 3 Gb/s). The optical drive is on port 4 (connected at 1.5 Gb/s). So technically the optical drive comm link could eventually fail over time.

One thing to note is that the problem occurs slowly over time, and only 5% to 15% of the chips will be affected. So there is a good chance that your notebook may not even have an issue. What would be nice is if there was a utility to check the bit error rate on the bus, which may indicate if a particular chip is affected or not.

 

Look under device manager then IDE ATA... then right click to go to properties. Click the details tab then scroll down to children. I have two SATA devices listed HDD and blu-ray which are on ports 0 and 1, respectively. There is no mention of an eSATA port. So does this mean that my laptop is not impacted?

Also, it looks like an upcoming driver update may give switchable graphics. See the following link and look at the last post.
Re: Switchable graphics supported on dv6t qe with ATI 6570? - HP Support Forum

 

The dv7 has this config

port 0 - Primary (my SSD in my case, stock would be the 1Tb hdd)
port 1 - Secondary (Tb HDD in my case)
port 2 - <none>
port 3 - <none>
port 4 - Blu-ray
port 5 - E-Sata

 

Hi.

I've few question about the AMD 6570 card in this dv6t qe model.

I use GPU-Z and found this info:
GPU name: Madison
GPU Clock: 600
MEM Clock: 800

But according to Notebookcheck.net

AMD Radeon HD 6570M - Notebookcheck.net Tech

should the 6570 be:
GPU Name: Capilano
GPU Clock: 650
MEM Clock: 900

?

I can understand that HP lower the core/mem clock. But the GPU name is incorrect here. "Madison" is the Radeon HD 5730M.

Is it normal for GPU name to be incorrect like this?

 

How is it that only ports 2-5 are effected and where as 0/1 are ok?
Doesn't add up, all 6 ports are part of the same chipset.

Anyway looks like ALL owners of the newest DV6 are screwed, with ports 4/5 in use.

In my DV6's, ports are as follows.
I think this will be the same for all DV6 owners of this edition, in regards to port usage:

port 0 - Hard disk
port 1 -
port 2 -
port 3 -
port 4 - DVD optical drive
port 5 - eSATA

 

How to view this information on my device?

 

lgmcben, The easiest way is to start Intel iastor. You can find under Intel in the Start>All Programs>Intel. Click on iastor program this will give you all your SATA port info.