*HP dv8 Owners Lounge*

Disable HP Media Smart or the software that is responsible for it?

 

Quick question for owners with wireless network set ups; I have ATT Uverse which allows me to download at 18Mbps, however the laptop says signal speed is 54.0 mbps.

I know that the Uverse is faster because it is fiber optic, and is not shared bandwith....my laptop was purchased in 1999, so I know that wireless should be connecting at a faster rate with the upgrades in technology since '99. What are your DV8T laptops wireless connecting speed?

 

I just wanted to thank everyone on this forum. It has been very helpfull to me. But unfortunately I have decided to return my DV8. I have been reminding people on this forum about the extended deadline of 1/15 to return your laptop if you bought it before christmas. Well tonight my laptop would not charge up and died on me. I think it has loosened up where you plug it in. Since I already exchanged my 1st dv8 because of the keyboard I don't want to go through that again.
I really don't have a gripe with HP like many others. This is my 3rd HP I have purchased because of the low price. I haven't had any other problems with them. They processed my exchange fairly. And gave me no problem with my return request tonight.
You hear alot of horror stories on a forum like this but you don't hear from the thousands of users with no problems.
Good luck to all with your Dv8. I still think it is a good product. I just don't want to take a chance with this one.

 

The high speed internet connection may allow 18mbs download speeds, but that's on the internet side before the signal gets to your router. The speed inside your home, after the router is dependent on the hardware you are running. I have a 802.11n wireless router and get 300mbps on all of my wireless connections except those that are specifically 802.11g. Those devices have 54mbps connections. The 54mbps you are receiving as a connection speed suggests you might have an 802.11g wireless router. The DV8 is capable of 300mbps connection if linked to a 802.11n router. When connected by Ethernet cable, the laptop is capable of 1gb connection.

 

It is a Wireless N router....I am guessing that the older technology in the laptop is the hinderance for faster speeds.

 

I looked up the specs for your router. It is an 802.11g not n. The laptop is not at fault for the slow speeds. The router is. Here are the specs:

Local Network Interfaces
• Ethernet 10/100 with Auto-crossover (4-port RJ-45)
• Wireless 802.11g or high powered HyperG access point
• Multi-media over coaxial (MoCA or HPNAv3)
• USB 1.1 slave, series-B port for PC and Mac connectivity
• USB 2.0 host for additional devices

 

Mine is around 47° (sometimes less) when the laptop is on his stand (rised by 15 cm) and around 60° when he's just droped on a table. When i ran many benchmarks (sometimes i left the bench running all night long) to find the good settings for my overclocked graphics card, i saw the CPU running at 75° and GPU at 65° without any problème.

After 65°, the GPU starts giving stranges things on the screen but after a reboot, everything become normal.

But even with a night of rude benchmarks, my CPU never ran more than 75° and even at 75°, he didn't suffer. I guess the CPU can go until 80-85° without any problem.

Anyway. don't forget that, even if the CPU can run at 85° and maybe more, the parts around the CPU are not designed to get high temperatures for long periods. So if you want to keep your computer long time, try to keep it as cold as you can.

Guys, sorry for my poor english, i hope you understand me.

 

WELL; That certainly rains on my parade!!!! Now I have to go deal with customer no-service to see if they have a model that uses 802.11n; it would be travesty to have such a high powered laptop only to have slow speed connections! I am sick of using Vuze and having to wait 2 -3 days in some cases to download a 1-5 GB size file!

 

Hi everyone,

I'm about to order my DV8t based on the info posted here. I was wondering if anyone knows about the following:

1) after the battery is fully charged, anyone know what the current draw is on the AC power line? IE: 60 watts. Hopefully someone here has one of those plug-in "Killawatt" power consumption meters or an ammeter.

2) Has anyone measured how long the DV8t will last when using a heavy duty battery? (12 cell?) I THINK HP offers one, but now unsure. I recall reading people getting around 1h:50minutes with general use.

3) I'm going to order it with W7 Home Premium since I have a legit copy of W7 Ultimate already. If I do an "upgrade" as in install Ultimate on top of Premium (both x64), I shouldn't lose any of the pre-existing drivers and apps, right?

Thanks guys for your help....you've so far been an invaluable resource for pre-purchase info.

 

Long story short – Ordered maxed out dv8t 12/30/09, negligable coupon. Saw SSD, tried to cancel and reorder with SSD on my original ship date, 1/13/09. Two trys to cust. sevice, couldn't cancel. Email notice from HP – order running late, gave option to cancel. Called c.s. again and was permitted to cancel. Researched for two days and found – no USB 3.0 likely, no lighted keyboard retrofit possible, GT 230M is not replaceable and as big a video processor as I'm gonna get, no LED screen is forthcoming, 2 channel DDR3 memory is best that is planned, no detailed specs are easily found. I reordered hardware maxed dv8t this morning. Ship date improved from 2/2/10 to 1/25/10 overnight, while I was researching and remains 1/25 on my order confirmation, specified free shipping. Shipping time on new orders tonight is back at 2/2/10.

HP customer service did very good by me so far. Quite a change from recent Round Rock, Texas c.s. adventures. I own eight Dell's of various vintages, my first HP is this dv8t.

C.S. update 1/19/10 i7-820QM dropped in price $100us 4 days after I placed order. I called HP cs who agreed to refund the $100 to my credit card. HP cs is the best I've encountered in 30 years of dealing with various computer cs's. All I had to do was ask (nicely) for a $100 credit. No negotiating, no problems, immediate satisfaction. I hope my luck holds.

1 What SSD did I buy ?

2 Are more complete specs or review on dv8t to be found ?

3 The $19 system backup disk disappeared as an option. I get Windows 7 media, right?

4 I'll evaluate and report SSD performance about 2/1/10.

5 Please correct erronious research assumptions (above)


Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
i7-820QM Processor (1.73GHz, 8MB L2 Cache,1333MHz FSB), Turbo Boost to 3.06 GHz
8GB DDR3 Memory
SSD 256GB + 500GB 7200RPM)
1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 230M
Blu-ray +/-R/RW with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW,Double Layer Support
Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
HP Integrated HDTV Hybrid Tuner
Extra 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Logitech Anywhere Mouse MX
Estimated build date: January 25, 2010

 

I can tell you from experience that you cannot do an upgrade of Windows Ultimate over Windows Home Premium. You can only upgrade over the level of OS that you want for Win 7. For example, Windows Ultimate will upgrade over Vista Ulltimate, not any lower version of Win 7. For a lower versioned OS to go to Ultimate, Microsoft forces a custom install which means you need to reinstall all of your drivers and applications. You must also remain connected to the internet while the install takes place. The previous copy of windows is placed in a directory called windows.old, provided you don't format the drive. The factory drivers will be in that directory's system directory. Even though, you still need to reinstall them.

I just ordered a DV8T myself with the intent of getting the Home Premium OS and upgrading to Ultimate before I did anything with the laptop. After all the problems I read here with drivers after doing a clean install, I decided against it and bought the Windows Professional version. It's not worth the hassle to me of upgrading from home premium.

 

base starts at ~$1300

Did you take a look at the specs in the envy at all?
It has 4dimm memory, does the dv8 have that?
It has the exact same cpu model as yours.
It has a WAY more powerful graphics card than yours
It has an ultrabright LED screen
and its only 1" thick, you cant even begin to think that this is a mac strategy.

They crammed a bunch of extremely powerful hardware into a very small form factor and still kept it at a decent starting price. and before you go saying "its exactly what mac is doing" Go take a look at macs prices again, they are far far more expensive with far less powerful hardware.

Yes the laptop will cost ~$3000 but what do you expect with 16GB ddr3, i7 1.7ghz, dual SSDs and an ati 5830 in a case thats only 14.96" (W) x 9.60" (D) x 1.04" (H) and made out of magnesium.

 

Has anyone tried using the SD reader? Does yours work?

 

Mine works fine. This notebook is working beautifully for me

 

Not everyone is having problems after doing a clean install. I am one week into my clean install and have not noticed any problems. I don't have the oncscreen bass/treble and volume indicators, but I haven't tried anything to get those back yet. I will eventually.

 

I usually just never renenable those for hp laptops (annoying for games)

 

SD reader works well and fast, and reads the SDHC cards (up to 32GB) but not the new SDXC chards

 

Oh wow, really? I didn't know one couldn't simply overwrite Win7 Home Premium with W7 Ultimate. Having a windows.old folder means that the old files will still consume disk space. Kind of silly IMO.

I might just have to experiment with inserting a new HD and doing a clean install to see if I run into the issues some others have posted here. Has anyone seen any instructions/video on how to acces and replace the 1st hard drive?

Anyone know about the "idle" power consumption of the dv8t after the battery is fully charged? We're trying to go a little more "green" nowadays, so curious how many watts this laptop will consume 24x7 when sitting idle.

Thanks!

 

For those interested in USB 3.0, you can buy an Expresscard with USB 3.0 for $35 so it's probably not worrying about it.

 

really? That's awesome.... though we then cannot store our media remotes =(. On the other hand, when do you think USB 3.0 Expresscards are going to be released to online sellers (Newegg).?

 

There are already a few released, not on Newegg though from what I have seen.

 

Here's one on newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16839229010&cm_re=usb_3.0-_-39-229-010-_-Product

Personally, I'm going to wait for someone to make one that's got USB 3.0 and an eSATA on the same expresscard. That way, I can occasionally use it on my older laptops too when I'm creating images of the internal HDs. Best of both worlds!

Tae

 

NewEgg shows the 'BYTECC BTU3-EC200 2 Ports USB 3.0 ExpressCard' at:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...re=expresscard_usb_3.0-_-39-229-010-_-Product

RT

 

Price drop on the dv8

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-720QM Processor (1.6GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB) w/Turbo Boost up to 2.8 GHz
Included in price
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-820QM Processor (1.73GHz, 8MB L2 Cache,1333MHz FSB)w/Turbo Boost up to 3.06 GHz
+$300.00

 

thanks for the details of making the DV8 usb3 compatible. I'm sure this will be handy in a year when all devices are usb3.

 

I was able to update my Windows 7 Home Premium to Windows 7 Ultimate just by entering in my key. I just downloaded a few small updates and rebooted. Works great.

 

Really? Please elaborate because I thought the only way to do that was with the Windows Anytime Upgrade, which is only available via Microsoft and extra $$$.

If you found another way, can you specify details?

 

ahhh I just bricked mine! Just spoke with HP and they are going to have me send it in for a repair. I would stay away from this update.

 

I have a technet subscription from Microsoft and used one of my Windows 7 Ultimate keys from that. Since that comes with 10 keys, I had an extra to use

 

If I understand this price drop correctly, it's a $100 price drop of the 820QM processor from $400 upgrade to $300 upgrade now, right?

Thanks,
Tae

 

Just ordered this configuration on the 14th, last day it should be built by is the 22nd and should get it no later than the 26th (Paid for 2 business day shipping but the weekend kinda screwed that up.) Still can't wait for this.

HP Pavilion DV8T Quad Edition

• Windows7 Professional (Will upgrade to ultimate eventually)
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-820QM Processor (1.73GHz, 8MB L2 Cache,1333MHz FSB)w/Turbo Boost up to 3.06 GHz
• 8GB DDR3
• 1TB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (500GB x 2) with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 230M
• 18.4" diagonal High Definition HP Ultra BrightView Infinity Display (1920x1080p)
• Blu-ray +/-R/RW with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• Webcam + Fingerprint Reader with HP Imprint Finish (Espresso Black)
• Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
• Extra 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
• 2-year HP Care Pack Accidental Damage Protection Service​

Accessories:

• Carrying Case (Not the rolling backpack. haha)
• HP 90W Smart AC/Auto/Air Combo Adapter
• HP Essential USB Port Replicator
• HP Universal Notebook Stand
• HP 2709m 27-inch Diagonal 16:9 Full HD Widescreen Monitor
• HP 2TB Personal Media Drive
• HP Officejet J4680
• Logitech X-540 5.1 speakers
• Deluxe Microfibre Cleaning Cloth
• HP Officejet J4680 All-in-One Printer, Fax, Scanner, Copier ​

 

A few things need to be mentioned about flashing the BIOS:
1. As with any firmware update, flashing the BIOS is a "do it with risk of bricking" ... all that's needed is a glitch or power interruption. I always make sure the battery is installed and the ac power is plugged into a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). I also disable all antivirus and firewalls.
2. Just because it worked ok for the next person doesn't mean it's going to work ok for you.
3. Usually the BIOS update cannot be reversed to an older version.
4. Doing a system recovery will do nothing for recovering the old BIOS.
5. Unless you have a problem you're trying to correct or unless the BIOS update adds a feature you want, it's probably best not to run the risk.

RT

 

I do understand the risk of a firmware update, but I put this one to suspect since it happened to me and another user on this forum. When I did my update I did no have any issues with power, but the computer does not see any bios now. I just get a black screen when I try to boot the computer, no HP splash screen. I would be willing to guess there is some problem with the software that upgrades it. To bad you just cant reset it like you can a desktop. At least I could not find out how.

 

Yeah I'm definitely holding back on updating the BIOS to F.15E. F.12 is working fine so why fix it right?

 

If only I would have been thinking like that I was on the phone with HP for about 2 hours. They had me pull off the back cover re-seat the memory about 4 times, remove and re-seat the hard drive, and a bunch of other stuff. I'm not really sure how that would fix anything. I explained how it was running fine until after the reboot for the BIOS upgrade. When I reboot the laptop now all I see is a black screen.....so sad. Guess I will have it back in a couple weeks.

 

Of course why they ever put new bios out that fix supposedly nothing??? F.12 is FINE once you change the settings to default. What they need to do is update the video driver and TEST THE THE UPDATE once they do it.

 

One thing that I have noticed is the audio occasionally will skip. It didn't do this when I was using the latest Nvidia driver. This doesn't occur to often but when it does its really annoying. Sometimes it happens during multitasking and sometimes no other window will be open and it will skip. Any ideas how to fix this? It always seems to do it when you hold the window key plus tab to do the flip 3D. maybe someone can try that. Have several windows open and do the flip 3D while listening to music and listen for it to skip.

 

You can update the Nvidia audio codecs without updating the graphics drivers. So, if you had better results with the last audio drivers, just install them.

 

how do you do that?

EDIT: I GOT IT thanks

EDIT: ugh i updated the nvidia audio codecs and it still skips. Not bad though.

 

That sounds like a great laptop - may I ask how much was just the laptop, or did it come with the whole package? In the UK, a medium-specced dv8 (i.e. 2 x 320GB & i7 720) is about £1200 or close to $2000​

 

The whole package was right around $3,800 (includes laptop + accessories + about $120 for tax and $110 for 2 business day shipping).

The laptop itself was right around 2,300 dollars I believe.


And thanks, I had a dell laptop (inpirion 1536) before this, and the screen shattered. I didn't want to deal with it and said when I bought that one that I would get a really nice one that will last me for a little while. My friend had just recently gotten a stock dv6t, and I liked it, so I decided to go with a HP laptop and I saw the dv8t and was certain it was the laptop for me. It was either this one or a Sager laptop. But the sager laptop I wanted was about $5,400 alone for close to the same setup as this one except the graphics card was amazingly awesome and the processor was almost twice this one, but I figured I don't really need something that powerful.

 

anyone know anything about JUCHECK.EXE? it keeps popping up every so often to download.

 

Simple google search for JUCHECK.EXE pulls up this link:
http://www.processlibrary.com/directory/files/jucheck/

But yet another link like this one:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4406487_remove-jucheckexe.html
Says it's a hidden trojan....So I guess you're back to square one. LOL

 

java update checker. Checks for updates for java. Download the latest version from sun and disable the startup in msconfig.

 

Thanks for this.....

I am very happy with my fresh install on an Intel x25 80gb G2 SSD.
I am also happy to say I have not had near the problems I see others reporting. I love this thing!

 

Glad to hear, try putting your computer in sleep mode and leave it in it for several hours. Hopefully when you resume it won't lock up.

 

What is the item in device manager just below the network adapters? That is my only missing driver....it's killing me!

EDIT: device manager is in a.b.c. order.....just below Network adapter is the missing item .... Other device. I guess location on the tree doesn't help since their in a.b.c order?

 

I don't think mine came with bluetooth...that was an option wasn't it?

Between Network and Processor I have Other Device (my missing item).

Other than that mine looks just like yours.

 

Yes it was. Did you download the ENE CIR Receiver Driver?