*HP dv8 Owners Lounge*

That was me. They scheduled a call back and at one point I was Tod they were working on it. I believe little of what the say though.

 

Oh I believe they'll put a new one out, the question is...when?

 

In response to Question about which hard drives earlier


Both of mine are Seagate
Momentus 7200.4 SATA 3Gb/s 500-GB Hard Drive

 

I am having the same problem and also spent 2 hours on the phone with HP. My initial problem was that the right mouse button was not functioning. I uninstalled and synaptics and reinstalled, nothing. HP technician told me to do a bios upgrade and that may fix it. BTW, this also had a very strong and hard to understand accent and kept putting me on hold every few minutes to see what to do next. Afterwards, computer shut down due to overheat and now my fans are running at full speed. HP is sending me a new DV8T Core i7 820m w/ 8 GB Ram since the mouse problem cant be fixed. When you pay over 2g's for a computer, they better be nice to you.

 

My right mouse button also is not working.
Everything else is fine.
Is anyone else having this problem on their DV8?

 

That may be so but, of my HDDS every Hitachi has failed, my friend had a Hitachi in his laptop failed in under a month. Hitachi got their HDD technology from IBM whose hard drives were so bad a class action lawsuit was filed against them.

 

By "popular models", aren't you referring to their oem and external drive models? OEM drives (regardless of manufacturer) only come with 1-year warranties. Retail packaged WD drives carry 3 or 5-year warranties (notebook vs desktop drives, forgot which).

I go through quite a few hard drives (2.5" and 3.5"), and I'd have to say the newer generations of Seagate drives are the most unreliable--by far. In fact, I've had 3 Seagate drives fail on me this year alone... all of which were purchased in 2009. The only Maxtor drive I've ever owned failed on me right quick. They've been eaten by Seagate, so it seems somewhat fitting I suppose.

I've started using Hitachi drives quite a bit lately--and they seem very reliable. WD drives are by far my favorite--I've always had 2-3 WDs in my possession at any given time over the last decade, and they've always set the bar for everything else, in terms of reliability. I've had a grand total of one WD drive ever fail on me.

Hitachi drives still seem to get a bad rap--despite current reports to the contrary. Everyone remembers the Hitachi Deathstars.

How long has it been since your last failed Deskstar? I see mainly good reviews for Hitachi drives lately, which is more then can be said of the late-2008 Seagates. They were on the Bleeding Edge at the time--and boy did they ever make their early adopter customers bleed...

 

2 months since a failed Hitachi.

 

Thanks to the HP bios update I am now backing up files and doing a system restore.

 

NOOOO! Except for the one laptop failure, I'm referring to non-oem. Since when do all oem desktops come with 3 and 4 hard drives ... I build my own desktops and servers. In a past post I referred to buying an external eSATA enclosure and put in a non-oem drive.

Everyone to their own. I've had more WD (NON OEM) fail than any other make. Which ever make, which ever model ... they can all fail. BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP! "That's my story and I'm sticking to it.'

RT

 

Well, from my own experiences, I've had Seagate HDDs, WD HDDs, and Maxtor HDDs. Maybe I'm just lucky, but, NONE of my hard drives have failed one me so far. I just bought a Hitachi Hard drive as secondary HDD for my dv8. Hopefully this streak will continue and it will not fail. Although, I feel a bit uneasy due to the fact that some people seem to have a bad experience with Hitachi. As well, I would like to add that the lifespan and MTBF (mean time between failures) is dependent on many factors. I would say that one of the biggest factors is heat. If you keep your hard drive ventilated it will generally prolong the lifespan of your hard drive, which is what I am going to do with my hard drives (I just bought like 5 80mm fans to mount on my custom notebook cooler)
-By the way, what hard drive is given when you choose the 320GB 7200rpm hard drive when you customize the dv8?

 

So before I did a system restore I thought maybe apple software was causing the problem. I uninstalled everything apple, restarted and...nothing. Still the same condition after bios update. System restore has now started.

 

I just got this laptop a few weeks ago and love it so far. I just upgraded the BIOS and had the fan stuck on 100%. I changed the BIOS setting back to default and the fan is back to normal. Does this cause an issue with over heating? The fan at 100% was going to drive me crazy.

 

After a system restore everything seems to be working fine. now i just have to redownload some stuff and transfer some files. as for downloading the new bios again...hell no.

 

Are you referring to 'System Recovery'? If so, are you sure it reset the BIOS? Could you check your BIOS version?

RT

 

yes, i meant system recovery...my bad. i never checked the bios until you mentioned it. so i checked it and it is still F.12. damn it! now i'm paranoid. thank you.

 

Ok so tomorrow is the day some of us plan on opening up our DV8's so this is what I plan on doing.

1. Thoroughly examine the notebook (again) lol
2. Reinstall Windows
3. NOT INSTALL the New Bios
4. Download all drivers directly from HP.com

Any other suggestions please let me know

 

Merry Christmas everyone!! May your dv8 bring joy and happiness!!!

 

merry christmas everyone...

 

First of all: Merry Christmas!!

Second: the DV8 gave me nearly a heart attack yesterday. I got it last night as a christmas present, so when i played with it i installed the new firmware en got 100% fan power. Thank god for the solution posted here. How HP didn't find this bug is beyond my believe.

What i wanted to ask: How is the sound of the fan normally? Is it always spinning (not 100%). This because it keeps on spinning constantly eventhough it does nothing at that moment. Or is there the bios option for that.

 

The sound of the fan is normally barely noticable.

 

And what is your average cpu temperature? Mine is between 57 to 63 degrees. Only when i do nothing for more then half an hour it is about 54 degrees

 

Well I am LOVING MY DV8. I cranked the speakers up to the loudest and heard NO buzzing or distortion. My only problem so far is the stupid Windows 7 activation program from here. It didn't work but I called MS and I'm activated and all drivers are installed. The laptop is AMAZING and now I plan on loading all my stuff on it

 

Everything is fine on mine except I lost the bass/treble controls. However I do get the volume indicator window. I can't find the fingerprint SOFTWARE anywhere. I have the drivers.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=404164 en dan naar "DigitalPersona Personal Fingerprint Reader Software"

Found a small problem on mine just now. When using the adapter for power and i use a headphone, noise and high beeps are noticeable. When i use the battery, the noise and beeps are gone.

 

now that i found out the bios F.12 is still on here after the system recovery everytime i turn on my laptop i'm scared that it will start acting up. and i got to thinking that there must be an update to something else or a program that was messing everything up? i dont' know, just thinking.

maybe my iphone will sync now?!

 

Well so much for that. It's back to messed up! I am extremely frustrated. HP better resolve this!

i did ANOTHER system restore. it is working fine for now but i know at any point it will go right back to being f'd up. since the bios update i have spent 2 hours on the phone with hp. spent over 10 hours trying to fix it. took a day off work to try and fix it. exchanged many emails with hp. how i haven't taken this laptop and thrown against the wall is beyond me? i am afraid to turn it off...

 

Thanks for providing that link HALON, I really appreciate that. Anyone know how to get the treble/bass controls to show up again. I have Mediasmart installed and the volume controls show up but not the bass/treble controls.

 

There's a file on HP's Driver website called "HP Tone Control Utility". I don't know if it will help you, but may be worth a try. I'd back up the OS partition first. I'm having a problem with the treble/bass control intermittently displaying on bootup. I tried that file; it reduces the size of the displayed control to approx. half the length it originally was.

If you're using 64 bit, it's at:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=4063&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=4011375&lang=en

RT

 

That worked but do you know how to get the original length one back. That one seemed a little more easier to use. Thanks

 

No. I backed up the OS before I installed it, and then restored the backup with the larger controls because I didn't like the short ones. I may need to use it to correct the intermittent bass/treble control display on bootup; but I'm trying all of the other graphic updates before I settle for that.

Incidently, the BIOS update appears to have fixed something. I always had the 'over temp' warning display whenever I'd reboot from any program that was initialized from a bootable CD/DVD. Except for the one over temp display that showed up when exiting from the BIOS update, I haven't seen it again. Keeping my fingers crossed!

RT

 

I'm gonna play around with it. So you didn't have any problems loading the new BIOS? I'm still a little reluctant to put the latest version on my computer after all the problems everyone is having even after restoring the default settings.

 

System restore and system recovery does not get rid of the new bios. Hps last email to me was they want me to send my laptop to them. So now I have to go without for who knows how long?!

 

I had the same effects everyone else had; i.e. high fan speed and the false 'high temp' error warning. I got rid of the high fan speed by writing down the BIOS settings, do a 'restore to default settings', and then re-enter the settings I copied down. I haven't had any after-effects like some have had.

Another thing HP told me is that they can extend the return period from 21 days to 36 because of the holidays; but they asked for a support case number before they extended it.

RT

 

Yet another HP untruth. HP's Holiday return policy can be found here, and it doesn't say anything about needing a support case number to be extended. EVERYONE who buys between Nov 1 and Dec 24 gets to return up to Jan 15, 2010. That can be much more than 36 days, depending on when you buy.

" Extended holiday returns period
We've extended our normal returns policy for all products purchased between November 1, 2009 and December 24, 2009. These orders can be returned through January 15, 2010. Our standard 21-day returns policy applies, along with all other conditions, to purchases after December 24, 2009."

 

Thank you. It appears one can't believe half of what they say; and the other half needs to be verified.

RT

 

So, is the 12 bios worth installing or not? Besides the fan noise which can be corrected by setting the bios defaults, what does it do better than the 05 bios?

Is there a new bios for the New Year?

Happy Holidays Everybody and best of luck with your NEW DV8!!!

 

Hello, I like my DV8T Quad. I would like to track wireless routers and compatibility for the 5100 wireless N. Anyone getting great results with a wireless router? (Hopefully we can make this a stick-e)

Thanks for your input!!!

 

I find it odd that a search for the term "router" does not bring back a hit on a 140+ thread... Does the search work?

 

I am going to try the Linksys WRT310N - Wireless-N Gigabit Router
Will post my results later

 

I guess it fixes the iPod/iPhone syncing issue which some still say it doesn't. I am on my DV8t right now and I am loving this computer. I wouldn't update your bios until HP releases another BIOS then wait and see if people are having any problems with it then you install.

I don't have any reason to update mine as I use my desktop for my iPod lol. I do have a question for some experts though. In the BIOS, the F.05 I think which is what I'm using it is set to fan Always on. Would it hurt if I disabled that because the fan is always on and its kinda annoying. I would only like it to run when it needs to??? Thanks

 

I'm using that right now with dd-wrt firmware , I get better results , I don't have my DV8T yet , but I've been using the linksys with other N cards with no problems .

 

I too have a new dv8t (like anyone has an old one?) and love it! This puppy flat screams. I must say I've had zero problems so far with the hardware, and I've had it running two weeks now. That may be in part because I didn't reinstall the OS. Thought about it, but figured I'd leave well enough alone for the present. Too many drivers on laptops.

I did put the f.12 bios on, got the runaway fan, and immediately reset to defaults in bios. It's worked fine and I get no overheating messages. I've been running RealTemp to keep an eye on core temps and TurboBoost speeds and temps seem very stable. The speeds throttle anywhere from 900 MHz when basically idle to 2.6 GHz when running a single core hard.

I do still have a sync problem with my iPhone. It was the classic and is now a 3GS (thanks Santa). I've found however that it only has trouble syncing the PHOTOs, so if you turn off photo syncing it will sync fine. I didn't try that with F.5, so I can't tell you if it made a difference. I loaded 16GB of songs no problem, but it chokes on even one photo.

Has anyone used a Spyder to calibrate the monitor yet? How far off was it? Seems a bit saturated to me, but I haven't tried to adjust it yet.

David Anderson

 

I hear ya. Its truly amazing. I did do a reinstall of Windows then I did a factory restore and uninstalled some of the bloatware and then cleaned my registry. I see no difference in boot vs. my clean install and the hp factory settings. I did have a problem with the treble/bass controls on my clean install. Now everything works flawlessly.

I am a little reluctant on putting the new bios on here as I don't need this pc for my iPod. One thing I noticed is while transferring data on here I plugged my flash drive into the eSata port which serves as a USB port and its much faster.

But yeah the speakers sound AMAZING, guys I don't know what you were talking about saying at high levels there is a buzzing noise.

Build quality is awesome. No flex, no scratches. Runs cool. The screen has amazing viewing angles. Some said the screen was a little too bright well its fine for me. I can't say enough good things about this computer.

 

I'm thinking of buying a DV8T but I'm struggling between it and a Asus g51j-a1. What do you guys think? Thanks for your time.

 

The Asus you mentioned has a little better GPU however they could of given it a better one. Do you plan on gaming if so, then go with the Asus. The Nvidia GT 230M will give you decent performance on older games but I didn't buy it to game. The Pavilion dv8 will also give you much better battery life. You also get a bluray drive on the dv8t. Not to mention 18.4" LOL I'd go for the DV8t.

 

Thanks for replying. So you think other than hard core gaming the dv8t is superior? One concern I have is that on a reliability chart I looked at today HP came in last and Asus came in first. What is your experience.

Thanks for your time.

 

I have the possibility of either getting a rig with the 720 processor and 500g hd or for $200 more a 820 processor and 320g hd but no bluetooth. Which is the best option?

 

Well so far my experience has been great. I understand that their is NO SUCH THING as the perfect laptop. No matter how much you spend their is going to be some little flaw with it regardless. For example I read all these horrible things about the Pavilion Dv8t like the speakers are awful and there are beeping noises. Those are just some and on my notebook I didn't notice any problem. Doesn't mean its not their its just that some people are looking for every little tiny defect if you get what I mean.

I have not gamed on the pavilion dv8t yet or used the battery but it runs extremely smooth and provides an amazing screen with excellent viewing angles. The 1080p screen makes text sharp and crisp and colors are full and bright and popping off the screen. Some also said the keyboard flexes, my keyboard is firm and sturdy and very comfortable to type on.

Now HEAT, what desktop replacement isn't going to get a little hot? This notebook's cooling fan does blow hot air out of the back left vent when doing some heavy multitasking but thats understandable. Still very comfortable to use on your lap and type on. The palm rests remain cool.

Now as far as the reliability chart goes, don't believe everything you read on the internet. HP & DELL are like the 2 largest computer companies and sell probably close to a thousand computers everyday. So obviously they're doing something right. Of course there is always going to be the guy who claims he got screwed and says don't buy from HP they suck. IMO HP has amazing customer service, far better than Dell's. I don't know about Asus, as I've never owned one. Just keep in mind no matter what you choose there is no perfect laptop.

 

how did u guys fix the bass/treble settings going crazy all of a sudden ?