*HP dv6t Select Edition (3XXX series) Owners Lounge*

Yeah, I know those are idle temps. Still very good.

I'm going to try updating the BIOS, but I just need to figure out the safest method. How did you do it?

 

I actually just downloaded the update from the HP support site and ran it, with everything else closed. I think there's also a link somewhere in an HP drivers/software thread around here. I think that was safe? haha

 

Okay, thanks.

 

are my temps ok, I have about 120 processes running with chrome about 60 windows open and a few adobe cs5 products open, skype etcc... you get the point. these are with out firefox open which raises them about 10C.


Hardware monitor ACPI
Temperature 0 54°C (129°F) [0xCC8] (TZ01)

Hardware monitor Intel Core i5 540M
Temperature 0 55°C (131°F) [0x32] (Core #0)
Temperature 2 50°C (122°F) [0x37] (Core #2)

Hardware monitor ST964032 0AS
Temperature 0 26°C (78°F) [0x1A] (Assembly)
Temperature 2 26°C (78°F) [0x1A] (Air Flow)

Hardware monitor Battery 1
Voltage 0 12.84 Volts [0x322A] (Current Voltage)
Capacity 0 62160 mWh [0xF2D0] (Designed Capacity)
Capacity 1 57542 mWh [0xE0C6] (Full Charge Capacity)
Capacity 2 57542 mWh [0xE0C6] (Current Capacity)
Level 0 7 pc [0x5C] (Wear Level)
Level 1 100 pc [0x64] (Charge Level)

 

these are not idle temps too...

 

I think doing all that would be a good way to start a campfire with my dv6.

Have you ever updated the BIOS? If so, did you just use the installer from within Windows?

 

haven't had the time, but do I have a lemon?

 

Considering what you were doing, looks fine to me.

 

What's the benefit of updating the bios? Why do a lot of people do it?

 

For me,
A.) I'm trying to do everything I can to lower temps, and
B.) this version fixes the issue causing the computer to take forever to hibernate.

 

I think your best bet is to get a laptop cooler first of all. Then, I would try and get an accidental warranty from somewhere- HP, Squaretrade...whoever! all you need is 1 year, 6 months, whatever is cheapest. If they dont have you prove that it's not damaged, your golden, if they want pictures, well..that can be fudged. I just think its crap that you get screwed just for one incident like that, and I completely agree with you when you said that now that the laptop is damaged, HP will say the temperature problems are from that. Total carp.

 

From memory, i used HP Update to update mine (All Programs > HP )

..

Planning on running a few vm's. Noticed temps seem to go higher overall now tho :/ (Have upgraded the ram now)

 

Has anyone tried the updated ATI 8.771 drivers? I'm having issues with my switchable graphics so I'm thinking about trying it to see if it helps. I just want to know if anyone has had issues.

 

Only minor issues but not too bad.

 

I have been lurking here for a while. I hope to get some insight and advice from this thread.

I recently received my dv6tse with an i5 580m and the usual list of additional goodies, minus the touch screen ( I hate finger prints on my screen).

I always find room for improvement. The first change that I made after receiving my laptop was to replace the single band N-wireless card with a dual band. So far no issues.

Anyone have any luck with remapping the SmartKeys on the left side of the keyboard? I would like to only activate those keys when the function key is pressed.

 

Any specific problems though?

 

It's better than their older 10.6,10.8 HP versions, I could say that.

The new possible major problem in the future is switching on 3d accelerated programs other than games and the current flash. I think we going to hit that pretty often later on as browser support 3d acceleration like firefox 4, ie9, or chrome.

I always forget to close all apps and vms before switching.

 

Congrats mate, sexy photo's too

 

So is there some kind of wand I have to wave to get this thing to play bluray discs? It plays DVDs just fine but if I try a bluray disc I just get half a thousand errors in the event viewer that say "device has a bad block."

 

Really? As much as I like my dv6tse, my wife's MacBook Pro is a 'solid' machine. Not to mention the magnetic power supply connection. Would I trade, possibly. For now enjoining the dv6tse.

BTW, nice pics.

 

You did opt for the drive with bluray, right?

Just gotta ask, ya know.

 

Can't wait for the HP parts store to be up and running in Australia, going to get a backlit keyboard and blu-ray drive straight away!

 

Yes, it's a blueray drive. If I pop-open the tray (which is tough, it gets stuck sometimes) there are two little lasers, one is blue tinted. It also shows up as BD-ROM in My Computer as well.

 

Gee the factory boot seems to be way too long....

Edit: I just read the specs, I get why...comparing apple to oranges 7200 rpm vs 5400rpm.

 

How long is your boot?

 

Cold boot with 26 secs with preload network mount and post login with fingerprint reader.
If i disable the preload, it be a bit faster.

My factory cold boot was ~40 secs.

Anyways, boot time not that important to me, since I'm mostly on standby.

 

Hi

Today I just started to get fps problems when I play games on this laptop. I've had this laptop for about 1.5 months and didn't have any problems before. Now when I play games there is a significant drop in fps. It is so bad that some games are unplayable even though they worked fine just a few days ago.

When I first got the laptop I installed the latest graphics drivers from the HP website. Today I tried to play a couple of games (TF2, Fallout New Vegas) and noticed the graphics had become worse. The textures had become lower quality and anti-aliasing seemed to be turned off even though I had not touched the in-game graphics options. I even checked and the graphics options were the same. Also, there was a big drop in fps.

So I decided to try and fix the problem. I got the latest drivers from this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...3-dv7-gen-4-select-edition-envy-17-intel.html . I uninstalled the old ones and installed the new ones. After restarting, the graphics in the games seemed to have gone back to normal but the fps is still very low. I'm not sure what to do at this point. I even changed the power setting from HP Recommended to High Performance (even though HP Recommended seemed to work fine for me before) and still nothing happened.

My laptop has the 1gb ATI 5650 and the Intel 450 m. I have the ATI card enabled (not using Intel graphics).

Does anyone have any ideas for me to fix this problem?

 

Record your temps during gameplay. The first thing we need to see is if it's throttling.

 

Well I just tried a system restore and it worked!

I'm still afraid I might run into this problem again in the future. What do you use to record temps? How long should I play until I record the temps?

 

I use HWMonitor. As fpr length of time... At least 25 minutes of near-continuous 3D play. An hour would be ideal.

 

Just checked and this is how i installed the bios update, aswell as other's (date is wrong.. updated everything when i first used the laptop, before i bothered to fix the date etc

Do you know when that is/what the price's for the keyboard would be?

 

The US pricing is $110 for the backlit keyboard and no word as yet when the parts store will be online. Pricey for a keyboard but we'll see what happens.

 

:/ that's crazy.. i could have spend 20-40USD more & got the same laptop with a backlit keyboard..

Might sell the current one i have & get the version with a backlit keyboard

 

What program are you trying to use? Windows Media Player doesn't have the necessary licensing to play back Blu-Ray disks.

I found that out from this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...58-bluray-media-player-issue.html#post6881618

 

I tried WMP, the HP Mediasmart DVD thing, and MPCHC. WMP says it can't read the disc, MSDVD just locks up until I pop the disc out (it's during this that I get those errors showing up in eventviewer) and MPCHC couldn't read the disc.

 

I am also noticing poor wireless signal. It seems to jump around quite a bit. I'll be connected at 150 mbps and then it will drop to 54 mbps. When I sit in my basement it drops to 1 mbps and then I totally lose the connection all together. However, on my other laptop I can sit in the same location in the basement and still receive a decent signal. Dude, have you found a solution? Is anyone else experiencing similar problems?

 

For Blu-ray discs, I use PowerDVD 10. Though if you're looking for a free solution, I don't know what else there is besides the Mediasmart Player.

According to some searches, some people updated the Mediasmart Software which remedied some of the bugs. Though, to be honest, I just insta-deleted it upon receiving the PC so your mileage may vary.

 

The problem isn't the software per se. I'm more worried about the fact that any blu ray disc barely spins in the drive, makes a clicky sound, and creates around 20 errors in the event viewer that say: The device, \Device\CdRom0, has a bad block.

 

Well..I just have to say that if you believe in God, start praying you don't have to deal with HP Customer service. Sorry, I'm sure hoping you don't.

Anyways, I've determined that my temperatures are significantly lower on battery than on AC power, which is what I'm on 90% of the time. Significant is around 10 degrees. My laptop is being used on my bed(!) right now, and I know I know...but its around 40 and 38 degrees for the CPU and 45 for the GPU under use as I type. A solid 10 degrees cooler than on AC power when on my desk.

 

I played a Blu-Ray movie in my dv6 a few days after I received it. Using the HP mediasmart, it worked flawlessly. WMP worked too, but image quality didn't seem as good.

Try another Blu-Ray disc. Could be a faulty player, or a faulty disk?

 

I ran my first battery test today, using the standard battery. Streaming a Netflix movie via WiFi and output to HDMI, I got 2:15 h:mm before shutdown for low battery. Laptop screen was black throughout this test.

Realistically, if I am using HDMI output I've going to have a power outlet nearby, so this test doesn't reflect a way I would actually use the machine.

My next test will be to stream a Netflix movie to the laptop's screen and see what I get. Then I'll test DVD playback duration, which will simulate watching a movie while traveling.

 

I installed the update but I still get the errors in the event log and HP MSDVD still locks up.

 

Have you tried searching for updates using HP Support Assistant?

 

Hey guys, wondering if anyone has tried Browsing deviantART and if it works with fingerprint reaader? Thanks

 

Does anyone know's if HP DV6 series can be upgraded to more RAM from standart 4GB? Any empty slots available? Thanks

 

Pretty sure there's no available slots, but you could upgrade to 2x3GB or 2x4GB

 

I don't think there are any 3GB sticks.

Anyway, of course the RAM can be upgraded! In fact, I think the CTO now allows you to configure it with a 4GB stick in one slot and leave the other slot empty.

 

Thanks for reply. But there are some DV6 models with 6 or 8 GB RAM. So that means I can install 2 x 3GB modules.. I really don't think I will ever need more that 4GB RAM. I just wanted to know if this laptop's are upgradable and ready for future...

 

I'm pretty sure the ones with 6GB have one 2GB stick and one 4GB stick. I could check for myself if I had a screwdriver...

Also, note how you haven't seen any with 7GB.

EDIT: Yeah, I was right. It's 1x2GB + 1x4GB.

 

City Pig, based on your experience on the heating issues with your
Intel model, should a prospective buyer consider the DV6-3160US that is equipped with an AMD N950?

Or just take a chance with an I5/I7 version,
and just hope the heating problem is a random defect?

I'm contemplating on purchasing a DV6 since it has a backlit keyboard, but the
heating issues you've mentioned has me concerned.

I'm currently using/testing an Acer TimelineX 4820TG-7805
(a week left before the return period expires), everything about it,
I'm completely satisfied with, but the lack of a backlit keyboard is
bothering me.