*HP dv7t Quad Edition (3XXX series) Owners Lounge*

The HF210 capture is just a file transfer, no problemo there. It's the damn HDV tape capture from my HV30 that nobody can seem to do in W7. Well, maybe not anyone, but alot of folks can't capture HDV. Might just be limited to laptops on W7. I actually have a connection to Cyberlink, but it's Chinese New Year. They are all drunk!

 

So the pitiful nature of HP customer service continues...

I went on to their web site to check to make sure the $50 coupon actually worked. I wasn't sure what I wanted to buy yet, but figured with how poorly they've been so far, I'd verify the coupon before too much time passed. I add a couple randon items to my cart, enter the coupon and it tells me the coupon is invalid. So I call HP customer service. After explaining that I don't want to actually place an order right now and just want to get the coupon working for when I am ready to make a purchase, she tells me I shouldn't worry about it because the coupon works on her end regardless of what I was seeing. Obviously I wasn't happy with that reply. She then proceeds to tell me that the problem must be that I don't have a good computer and that is somehow causing the coupon to be rejected...the same damn computer that I just bought from them.

At this point the idea of how they'll handle any real problem hat might develop with the laptop has me concerned enough that I just requested a return on the item. Regardless of the price, they simply don't deserve my money and I don't trust them. They've failed every step along the way of fulfilling this order.

Oh, and the huge problem "with my computer" that caused the coupon to be rejected...the manager I eventually talked to tested the code on thier storefront and it failed...they are having a technical problem on their site right now with accepting coupons.

Good luck everyone...I hope your laptops are perfect. If they aren't and you need HP to fix them you're just in for another round of hell.

 

That's strange. I purchased 2 items on Tuesday that were both discounted almost 40%. I went to checkout, inserted my $50 coupon code, and charged $4.30 to my card. I got both items today. Very smooth with no problems. And my dv7t is working great. Very happy so far.

 

I bought mine on February 11th. Supposed to be built by the 26th. Oddly enough the warranty will be here before the computer is even built.

Specs:
HP Pavilion dv7t Quad Edition customizable Notebook PC
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-820QM Quad Core Processor (1.73GHz, 8MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to3.06GHz
• $100 OFF! 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• FREE Upgrade to 320GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 320M - For i7-720QM and i7-820QM Processors
• 17.3" diagonal HD+ High-Definition HP LED BrightView Widescreen Display (1600 x 900)
• LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
• Webcam + Fingerprint Reader
• Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
• HP Integrated HDTV Hybrid Tuner
• HP Color Matching Keyboard
• 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• Integrated 56K Modem
• Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

I bought a caddy off a different site refusing to buy HP's outrageously priced one. I'll update you if it works. Bought it off newmodeus.com.

 

Success i have finally figured out a way to install the Nvidia 195.62 driver on my dv7. if any of you didnt realize yet HP has locked out any other driver's then the ones they put up. but to change that it is a very simple fix. you only have to add your device id of your card to the nvhm.inf, and the ListDevice.inf and rename nvhm.inf to NVHM.inf. this is what tou add.

(in ListDevice.inf)
You have to add it under the nvhm.inf list

DEV_0A28&SUBSYS_365C103C "NVIDIA GeForce GT 230M"

(in nvhm.inf)
under [NVIDIA_SetA_Devices.NTamd64.6.1]

%NVIDIA_DEV.0A28.04% = Section024, PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0A28&SUBSYS_365C103C

add that line in the third from the bottom of that specific list

save all the files and if all went well the driver should install. if not you should get the same error as before when trying to install it. you are not modifying anything in the driver, just adding your device so it will install.

and it's working perfectly for me. no crashes whatsoever.

 

I have encoutered the first mess I can't seem to fix. Even after updating the the drivers on my new dv7t my speakers still make the loud pop when I boot up, shut down, it goes to sleep, it wakes up. etc.............. I have the newest IDT HD codec driver. I'm also running SRS audio sandbox. HP tech support has not been all that helpful. What should I try next? What setting could be causing this. From the posts I have read on her most people have the Pop go away after the driver update. Somebody please point me in the right direction. Thanks!!

 

Mess, I didn't have to do any of this. I went to the nVidia website and selected "download drivers". On the next screen I selected:

Product Type: GeForce
Product Series: GeForce 200m series (notebook)
Operating System: Win 7 - 64 bit
Language: English

On the Download screen it states "Notebook Release 195" in big letters. Downloaded the file, double clicked to install, and it loaded perfectly. I've had it on over a week and it's run flawlessly. Hope this helps if anyone needs it..

 

When did you buy your dv7? Because everytime I tried it said my system wasn't supported. Then if you let nvidia find the driver it points you to hp's site for the 186.66 driver

 

Me too, easily found at Nvidia, and installed perfectly.

 

Well I'm having all sorts of problems. After fixing the nvidia issue. I still can't get the turbo boost driver to install. It says that my computer dosent meet the requierments. Hp support didn't help. Haven't tried intel yet. But I'm getting ready to return it. I have never had driver problems like I do with this one

 

I am unaware of any Turbo Boost driver. I only know T-B is working because of a desktop widget telling me it is. It's bumping my i7 over 3 when video editing and rendering.

 

You have never seen driver problems until you have dealt with a Gateway.

 

Trust me I know about gateway. I had a m-6850fx for about 2 months I had so many problems. Looked cool. Worked like crap

 

I got my dv7t this month.

 

Any help for me? Thanks

 

For now, I'm just living with it.
It doesn't bother me that much.

 

I haven't received mine yet so I can't compare. Sounds somewhat normal, as long as it isn't ear splitting loud. Think about when you plug headphones into something and it makes a crackle as the power starts to flow through. Must just be the same effect.

Could be that this happens with most/all audio devices and manufactures disipate it by turning the device on and then normalizing the volume split seconds later.

 

Does anyone have a good cooler for this? I'm tempted to buy a couple different ones and run some tests but I don't really want to spend the money and probably don't have the time. I've previously used a Zalman NC2000 with my 17'' pavillion and it has done well. Being two years old I don't think it does quite a good enough job anymore and before I spend another $60 (yep they are pricey) it would be nice to know.

The laptop phyiscally feels cooler plus the internal fan can stay off so it is still quieter. Also I used to notice fps improvements playying wow while using it. Maybe I just need to vaccume out some of the hair and it will come back to life.

Thanks

 

Also it provides a bit of a tilt (i believe like 7 degrees) which is nice.

Disadvantage is that the fan intake is on the bottom so when you are sitting in bed it doesn't pull as much air. I somewhat fixed this by keeping it on a food service tray which has some gaps. Don't think it is quite as good as being on a desk but it is obviously better than having the air intake be completely blocked, or worse the laptop sitting directly on the bed.

 

There are lots of notebook comparison reviews, just google . The zalman nc2000 is regarded as one of the best (if not the best)

 

there is as new 250 dollar coupon online but its not as much of a discount as a few weeks ago since they changed some of the offers, they are also offering the dv7t with blu-ray again, but for an additional 350, i just ordered a drive from ebay for 102 and am ordering my dv7t tomorrow morning when i can transfer funds to my other account. It says build date will be 03-04 im so pumped. here's what im getting
win7 pro 64bit
i7-720qm
6gb mem
320gb hdd, the 500 was like another 75 bucks or something
infinity display
fingerprint reader
wireless a-b-g-n and bt
lightscribe multi drive

with taxes and everything it comes out to 1,295.18 after the coupon like i said its not much of a discount to what it was a few weeks ago but i need a laptop now and cant really hold out much longer!!

Wish me luck!

 

I got the quick-ship model with the green backpack for 1358.00 shipped. Once I got everthing right it runs great.
- core i7 720qm
- 6 gb ram
- 640 gb hdd
- regular brightview display
- blue-Ray

I'll tell you what though It blows my other dv7 with the p8600 and 9600gt out of the water I was able to play crisis on high settings for the first time. Still haven't got to very high yet. Mabey after I overclock the 230m to the 240m's clock speeds

 

Mine was $1,800 based on 3 key changes. 820 processor. 8GB ram (might as well buy it now instead of buying it twice in a year when i decide i want 8), and the 3 year total care accident thingamajig.

I bought it about 2 weeks ago and now as im nearing the ship date I see I could have saved myself $35 and got the 500gb instead of the 320 hdd. Doesn't really matter as the second i get the pc im pulling out the hdd and sticking a ssd in to install 7 professional on.

 

How come every post I read on here says they got a NVIDIA 230m but HP says I'm getting a 320m? Is HP's website a lie due to a typo? It's been in several places including on my receipt.

I guess I'll find out what I really get next week but if someone could explain this that would be great.

 

they used to ship with the 230m and the quick ships still do i think but the customized come with a 320m (from everything ive heard) and cant find specs for it anywhere. Ive also heard its not as good as the 230m??? Not sure but ill find out as soon as i get mine.

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-320M.25099.0.html

They dont know much about it either but they do give it an approximate respective rating ( it has less shader cores than the 230m)

 

How do you overclock, does it void the warranty, and how much will it help going from the 230m to 240m speeds?

 

I don't know about voiding the warranty but you can download nvtune from nvidia. It's basicly a unlocked control panels that will let you overclock your card.

 

Is it safe to overclock to 240m? Will it cause too heat or unstable?

 

I was wondering if anyone could tell me if I am having a heat problem. Using cpu-z I am finding that just by doing a lot of web surfing, then watching, say 1 hr of streamed or dvd movie, my cpu temps go from 37C to 60-65C. GPU doesn't get higher than 48C. The keyboard an palm rests never get hot and the bottom at it's hottest is (using my hand as thermometer!) no more than 90 F. Is this normal? I have a really bad cooling pad - one of those Targus "passive" things, and I don't believe the fans in it ever spin. Any advice appreciated.

 

Should be. The 240m is only a slightly overclocked 230m 500mhz(230m)-550mhz(240m) & 1100mhz(230m)-1210mhz(240m). Nvtune has a safty feature that if your temps go too high that it will switch back to the default clock speeds. You can set this feature to what you want. If you don't want the gpu to get to hot set it to what u feel comfortable with. The best thing to do is overclock it to half of your target and then benchmark the system. Keeping a eye on the temps. If everything goes well no errors and temps are good repeat. With those slightly higher clock speeds shouldn't raise the temps much higher. Just make sure not to touch the memory clock speeds.

 

Your GPU is real good and if your CPU is 37* idle, thats also real good. Try playing a blue ray or a video game or google some benchmarking software that puts a load on the system and see how your system reacts when its working harder.Unless your in an igloo somewhere in Alaska, you dont have a tempature problem.

 

Don't double post. You posted the same question in the dv8t's owners lounge

 

Specs:
i7 720QM Quad (1.6Ghz)
nVidia320M
4GB RAM

According to SpeedFan, my GFX is hitting 70C after about 3 hours of MMOs, and my CPUs are somewhere in the vicinity of 70C give or take 5C, peaks 80C once every hour of regular play. Ambient is about 23C or so. This is with a wireframe laptop riser at 15 degrees off horizontal and a Thermaltake USB fan blowing directly on the intakes on the back left bottom of the laptop. Not sure if this is in the saferange for the laptop or if I should kludge together a more invasive cooling solution. Haven't looked at the BIOS to see if there are any fan speed settings available. I'd love a throttling solution if available.

 

When I first got my laptop I emailed Nvidea customer service and asked them what the max temp for the 230m was and they replied either *70 or *75 ( It was a while back and I dont remember 4 sure which one ,but I think it was 75)I think a good laptop cooler is good investment for this combo( HP, NVIDEA and i7) I had a new zalman NC-2000 before my laptop arrived.

 

Does anybody know what the difference is? Which one is better?

Thanks

Also, My pc shipped today. Was said to be ready by Friday and now it is supposed to be here by Friday. Woot

 

I've been looking around for the 720QM temps, seems peak 80C is a good number for heavy loads (which, praise the Korean MMO scene and its bad optimizations, is normal) but the fact that I peak out at 70C on the 320M (or was it 230M, I don't remember) after a few hours is telling me I need to back down a bit from the grinding I should get RealTemp and CPU-Z to keep an eye on them too, see what they say.

Overall, it's a good system, can't wait to get a HDTV to hook this baby up to for some delicious HD fun and games. Still giving me tons of worries about heat though, especially after my last Pavilion...

 

HP's Total care plus accidental damage warranty should fix a heat related issue, right?

 

"If it ain't broke," etc.

But seriously, although I have some degree of faith in HP hardware, I have minimal faith in their ability to assess and repair. Customer service turned me away one time for my first HP laptop because I wasn't able to reliably reproduce an overheating GFX card problem, and replacing/repairing it took them at least 2 weeks.

That being said, I do have 2 years Total Care, but I don't want to cash in on it just yet. I'm still tuning the fan position and ride height to see if there's any advantage to raising the laptop to 30+ degrees off horizontal and adjusting the fan angle accordingly.

 

But what I'm saying is that if it would overheat and then no longer work they should fix it. In that scenario they have no choice as the computer won't turn on. There is a clear problem.

I was just wondering if that is going to be covered or if they are going to try and push the blame to you.

 

but please do fully quote a post that's fully quoted just one post above yours.

 

First and foremost, might you be a little more courteous and informative if you note a relatively new member's mistake?

I received an almost immediate PM from a forum leader explaining that "cross-posting is not permitted. The major differences between his message and yours were:

1) His was a discreet PM, not a public derision

2) His was informative with respect to rules, explaining the reasons for the cross-posting rule and consequences of violating it. (believe it or not, everyone does not commit all forum rules to memory when they are newbs on the forum, and to computer-specific forums in general)

3) His tone was pleasant and understanding. He had the authority to take punitive action for my violation, but when I wrote back explaining my naivete and basis for thinking cross-posting made eminently great sense, he kindly "forgave" the trespass and himself offered feedback as to my question, as well as re-posting it to this forum as a courtesey, or else you would not even have seen it here to slam me for cross-posting.

I would also point out that it would probably be far more logical to combine the dv7/corei7 and dv8/corei7 owners' lounges into one, since the machines are so similar and it would simply increase the reach of all owner/members to a wider audience of people seeking or offering help. Note, for example, " The Official Studio XPS 1647 Intel Core i5/i7 "Owners' Lounge," which intelligently recognizes the common interests of owners of "similar" computers even though their cpus, gpus and displays are far more diverse than the minimal differences between the HP dv7 and dv8. I wonder if owners of Studio XPS 16's with corei7's and RGBLED displays resent reading repeated questions posted by lowly owners of SXPS 16's with Ci5-520's and non-1080p displays!

Out of curiosity, do you know the answer to my question, but withheld it because I "broke the rules?"

Please lighten up a bit; the purpose of these forums is for help and community, and neither are fostered by slamming. Thanks.

 

Thanks much for the feedback. Couple of self-corrections: I used CPU-HWMonitor, not cpu-z in checking temps (duh!). Also, I found I had saved some earlier logs and that my CPU's (Core i7) maxxed out at 75*C and GPU maxxed out at 65*C. Even at these levels, do you think I should get an active cooling pad, such as the Zalman, or will my computer live it's natural life expectancy with core components spending 8-12 hours/day cooking at around 150*F?

 

lol! Thanks for that tacit vote of support Your comment may be misunderstood by readers because just after that gentleman so kindly reminded me of forum rules, the moderator removed my posting - which he later most decently re-posted for me after receiving my note of contrition, but it is no longer posted just above the flamer's "nah-nah - you are a rule-breaker" post. No good deed goes unrewarded - have a nice day!

 

I'm not an expert on the subject but from what I know colder is always better. With my previos laptop (HP dv9620) I can notice much of a difference. One being that my keyboard won't get warm. Another that fps in games are higher. I think this is even more true with the i7 as it is the first (if not one of the first) that will automatically overclock itself if the temperature permits. So while your laptop isn't likely to burn up and die anytime soon there are still benefits.

There are also other benefits (to at least my Zalman). There is a tilt which a lot of people find makes typing easier. The fan in my zalman runs quieter than the one in my laptop and almost all the time that its on the pad my laptop fan doesn't need to run. And lastly it also allows me to use my laptop in bed without the vents getting completely blocked. (As I have previously stated I use a food service tray underneath the zalman to keep those vents from being blocked too but that is just for more air movement.) You could just use it as a hard surface to use your laptop, the fans are just an added bonus.

I have read 20+ degrees difference between using my laptop (again the dv9620 since my dv7t arrives friday) on a pad and not on one.

Sumerizing I would say get one, but you don't need the Zalman. I love it but it is a bit expensive and I'm sure you could buy the cheaper $20 (versus $60 or $70) and it would still provide better cooling.

 

Most laptop failures are directly related to excessive heat and this is usually due to faulty heat sink compound application or heat sink application when it was built.Hp isnt very strong in this area.If your running all day at the temps you have stated you are well within mfg specifications, BUT If you keep your laptop running cooler , its going to last longer than if you hadent.Run an application that stresses the cpu and gpu and see what those temps are.

 

As far as the zalmans cost...you get what you pay for, Those $20 coolers arnt very good.

The effects of excessive heat is kind of like smoking , it wont kill you today but the odds of you getting cancer down the road are greatly increased.The i7 runs warm and nvidea always runs hot. The zalman is an investment in your laptops longetivity.

 

Would anyone recommend a rugged and sporty bag for this machine?

 

Just ordered my dv7t a few days ago after having my last pavillion for just under 2 years (fried because of overheating) Just wondering what are some tips for the dv7t to keep it living longer. I will probably invest in a fan, as to fix the heat problem which it will eventually have. which is going to be the best at cooling for my money? And any other tips and or tricks to this laptop?

 

Catch is, I don't think Zalmans aren't very compatible with a dv7t's design; the problem area for all recent media HPs has been the back left corner, which the Zalman isn't designed for. I mean, the other 3/4 of the laptop are cold to the touch right now because of Thermaltake I'm using, but the problem 1/4 is ambiently warm, and the left grille is hot to the touch. The Zalman will be venting to the bottom 2/3 of laptop, not where I need the cooling to be.

Can't vouch for how it feels to the touch after a long night playing; I usually use this rig as a portable tower/monitor combo, and use my own collapsible keyboard. This allows me to basically tilt the laptop so much I'm exposing the entire bottom to ambient air, which is the modus for my cooling method. Still, having a 75 average CPU and 60 GPU average under load even with this system is worrying, so perhaps I'll grab a Zalman.

I use an old Targus messenger bag that I bought for my previous Pavilion; since it's designed for 17" laptops, it fits this one snugly and has enough room for a few (paper) notebooks, a mouse, and my cooling system (riser and fan). It's about 2-3 years old and still kicking, although I should cut off the water bottle holder soon, it's made of cheap nylon and was half-ripped half a year in. Considering getting one of the new Case Logic canvas bags, since they look significantly bigger, which means they might just be able to hold more of my peripherals.