*HP dv8 Owners Lounge*

It does it on that version to.

 

Where do you find NVIDIA driver 8.17.11.9562?

And is there anything special you have to do to install it properly?

Thanks in advance.

 

Which NVIDIA driver is the best to use and as I asked above: where do I find it and is there any special instructions for installing it?

Thanks again.

 

Well I installed the latest BIOS and it bricked my computer. I followed all the directions when installing and let it do its thing. Powered off then turned back on to a black screen. I am so mad. HP is very very annoying and barely wants to help and blamed it on me. They had the nerve to ask me if I installed the right bios.

I'm VERY VERY upset. They put me through a long process of frustration but its going back for repair. If I was in my 21 days I'd return this and say screw it. But the price I paid was really good. But I don't think I'll ever buy another HP again. I know others who installed the F.15e bios had the exact same problem. How has the return process gone for you so far? Did they fix it? I'm worried when I get it back it won't be fixed. Guys please keep your fingers crossed for me.

This notebook isn't bad its just the drivers. I installed this BIOS update to resolve the lockup issues associated with resuming from sleep. But I installed at my own risk and new what could possibly happen. I really hope that in the next 2 years nothing else like this happens. I'm trying to be optimistic and think that this notebook isn't all that bad and once HP gets an updated video driver up there all will be good. Well, one can hope right?

 

Dude sorry to hear the news. Hopefully this sh*t gets worked out right when it comes back.

 

Thanks, I'm sure it will. I only updated the bios because I was so frustrated with the sleep issues. HP should NOT have BIOS on their site that can damage a computer. I completely followed all the directions to. Hopefully they just give me a new computer even though I doubt they will since this one is registered with my 2 year accidental warranty.

 

Taking the risk of updating the bios to F.15 thinking it will fix a graphic driver issue was just a dream.

Next time, read the release note of the bios and you'll see that it was just to fix a speaker problem and nothing else.

 

Does anyone know that a BIOS can't be updated many times?

The chip where the BIOS is installed dosn't like to be overwrighted offen.

So, unless you are sure that an update will fix an existing issue, don't touch it.

 

Let us know how the repair process goes with you. In the UK, HP have returned my laptop twice unrepaired. They didn't even look at it. One time they replaced the hard-drive when the problem was the graphics card. Idiots. The second time they said they replaced the graphics card but all the screws were still in the same orientation.

Here's my advice - orientate the rear screws in such a unique way that only you know. Then you can see when it comes back if they actually opened it. Either that or take a photo of inside or put a secret sticker somewhere or something that allow you to see if they actually worked on it.

Good luck

 

Hooray! Just received an email from HP stating my DV8T shipped 7 days earlier than expected. Looking forward to its arrival!

 

Where did you hear that?

 

I would actually believe that. It probably erased the bios because they were already erased one when I flashed to F.12E. I'm NEVER touching the bios again when I get it back.

 

Quick question about replacing the graphics cards.

I think I already know the answer, but thought I'd ask just in case anyone has some enlightening info.

I have a HDX18T with one those faulty 9600M GT graphics cards (heat sensitivity) which is only stable on the oldest driver (v179).

I'd love to put in the new 230M graphics card, but after some brief research, it looks like laptop graphics cards can't be replaced. Is that right?

Otherwise, it's a $3,500 word processor. What a waste.

 

Thats true, but the wear time is so far off that you could overwrite your bios everyday for 10 years and it would still be fine.

 

Thanks, you beat me to it. "Offen" (often) is so relative it really means nothing. It could be twice or 100000+ times, depending on its meaning.

Flash drives have a 'write' limit, also; but, like you said, I'd probably die first!

RT

 

WOOOOOT! i AM SOOO LUCKY TODAY!!!! HP shipped my exchanged laptop 2 FRIGGING WEEKS AHEAD!!! It was shipped out today, On my birthday =D. I am soo happy. My view on HP's CS has changed now =D

 

I'm so sorry to hear that Matt. I just went through the exchange process with many bumps. My laptop was expected to ship on Feb 5th, but... HP surprisingly shipped it out TODAY!!! two weeks a head of scheduled!!!
I hope your exchange process turns out as good =D (though just to warn you HP's CS suxs. There will be many avalanches to get to the top of the mountain but once your there you'll be smiling, just like me =D) Hopefully my new laptop won't be defected -_-

 

Same here!!! Except mines shipped A WHOPPING TWO WEEKS ahead!!!

 

^ most HP laptops will be in the customers hands before or on the expected 'ship date' that HP has on their site. i think that makes customers feel a lot better and gives them a positive view of the company. you get what i mean?

 

You should know very well what kind of chip is used on the DV8 because i used many kind of chips for my job (nuclear medicine research) and ordered maybe thousand of them and i can tell you that some chips are made to be rewriten 10 times, others 100 times and someones 10000, and some others 1 or 2 times max.

I don't even take the risk to play with this unless i know the specs of the chip.

Thank you to correct my poor english. i try to be understandable.

 

Did yours brick too? I don't think they'll give me a new laptop, I think they'll just fix it.

 

No actually, my keyboard was defected when I received it (pressing a key didn't do anything. I couldn't even launch the BIOS) So I was in the 21days range.

 

A few people posted on here and said the latest BIOS bricked their computers? I wonder if HP will repair it or give me a new one. I'm not in the 21 days anymore ):

 

I have never heard of a BIOS chip that could only be written to a few times. We update them at work all the time and write custom software bios configurations. I dont think the chip failed, I just think the software they use for the update failed. I was happy with the return speed. I got my computer back today! Took less than a week total time.

 

so yours bricked also... how was your experience? Did they actually fix it? What BIOS version are you using now?

 

Yep. My return experience was great except for the 2 hours of BS trouble shooting they had me do. The BIOS on my laptop after it was returned is f13 and I think I will just keep it this way The laptop worked fine when I got it back, but the fan was on high. I just set the BIOS setting back to default and it working normal again. They mentioned on the invoice they sent that the display was replaced. I really don't think that's correct, but everything works.

 

Oh you mean F.12, was it formatted or were your files intact? Well that makes me feel A LOT BETTER that you had a great experience. I'm still waiting for the box to come. Yeah they made me troubleshoot to. I said NO MORE when they wanted me to open it up to inspect the hard drive and memory.

 

BIOS is stored in EEPROMs. Quote: "Modern-day EEPROMs can be rewritten up to a million times." Unquote. Don't think I have to worry about exceeding that in my life time!

Concerning BIOS flashing, one might want to take a look at:
http://www.bioschip.com
Lot of good info there. They list reasons for 'bad BIOS flashes', none of which is "exceeded the max write times".

They also mention "about 1 out of 100 BIOS flashes goes wrong. Flashing from Windows seems to be a huge culprit of bad flashes."

RT

 

Nice. I got an email last night at 10pm saying mine shipped.
Today was the last day for it to be built, and then I paid for Two Business Day Shipping so I'll probably get it on Monday.....It feels like forever though. But I do get to sit there and stare at all of my accessories I bought and pretend I have my laptop. HAHA

If mine shows up and its defected....I'm going to be sad. lol.
Probably return it and just get the sager laptop I've been looking at...but it's ridiculously expensive, but is way better than the dv8t top specs, but don't feel like paying about 5000. lol
So I'd probably end up trying out the Envy line, or a different company altogether.

 

ohh shouldn't have gotten the 2day shipping, its not worth it. read back some odd pages.

 

lol. it was going to be like another week, and I need it now for school.
It was more so the weekend that screwed it up, and I would have cancelled it. Oh well, it was only $100 more which is not that much compared to everything else I got.

 

From your link :

Keep thinking that any chip can be updated many times. It could... ...or maybe not. Anyway, i let you guys playing with this.

 

I don't know what you're trying to say. It's utterly rediculous to think that anyone with a dv8t-1000 has exceeded their max BIOS write times. Yes, you can always have a bad chip (nothing to do with max write times); but this is true in anything electronics.

Of all of the BIOS I've updated, I've never had a bad flash. Even in the 'old days' when you couldn't write "upto a million times", I've never had a bad flash on an EEPROM, BIOS update or not.

You can stop flashing if you want. When I see a BIOS update that will fix a problem I'm having, or add a feature I need, I will flash ... even if I already flashed it 500000 times .... (but I'd be dead by then, wouldn't I?). If the update won't help me, I won't do it ...plain and simple.

RT

 

How do I disable the volume bar that pops up when I use the Quick Launch slider to adjust my volume? Is there a way to do that? It gets really annoying when your watching a movie or playing games.

 

Go to msconfig and uncheck the HP media smart software.

 

I never installed the HP media smart software to begin with. The volume button still work, but the only feedback is in the taskbar, not on screen.

 

I have never said that anyone had exceded his max write time. I just said that we have to be carefull when we update the BIOS and better to don't take the risk to update the BIOS unless the update correct a real issue, .

Matt updated the BIOS to correct a graphic driver issue, while the F.15 correct a speaker issue when the laptop is docked...

That's what i said.

Then i said that a chip has a max write times but my initial message was just to say that we have to be carefull. If you want to update your BIOS daily, just do it, i don't care. My message was just to advise people about the risk of updating the BIOS.

When we read your messages, we can think that updating the BIOS is like running windows update. Is not. Just read the messages in this tread to see that many people loose his laptop doing a BIOS update.

If you don't believe that some chips has a max write limit and think that any chips has a millions times write guaranteed, nice for you.

Can you tell me the brand and SN of the chip used in the DV8?

Once we get the spec of the chip we can discuss about your millions times rewrite.

 

Wikipedia :

During rewrites, the gate oxide in the floating-gate transistors gradually accumulates trapped electrons. The electric field of the trapped electrons adds to the electrons in the floating gate, lowering the window between threshold voltages for zeros vs ones. After sufficient number of rewrite cycles, the difference becomes too small to be recognizable, the cell is stuck in programmed state, and endurance failure occurs. The manufacturers usually specify the maximum number of rewrites being 10 or more.

 

You are something like god in computers if you updated thousand of BIOS and never had a failure.

It remember me a guy in a forum saying that he has 1000 Samsung monitors in his network and no one had a dead pixel...

Can we start to be serious?

 

Hello everyone. I've been lurking around here for a few weeks and thought it was time to post after I received my laptop(s).

Just got my dv8t i7 720, 8gb ddr3, blu-ray burner, 500gb hdd, tuner, etc

I've been trying to verify some specs but have had a hard time doing so. The rep on the phone told me the ddr3 was 1333, not 1066. I read on pg 57 (i believe) that the speed is actually 1066. If so, that's kind of a dealbreaker for me.

Also, does anyone know who makes the CTO ssd?

Thanks!

 

I've heard the 1066 speed is just something to do with the i7 CPU. In any case, there's little tangible real-world difference in benchmarks between 1066 and 1333 memory.
As to the manufacturer of the SSD, just open up the back cover and take a peek. But the Device Manager should tell you

 

What exactly does that mean, "just something to do with the i7"?

I didn't order my dv8t with the ssd, just a hdd. I ask because if it's a decent brand with a decent speed, I'd consider buying it with one so that it would also be covered by the warranty. If it's a crappier brand and doesn't even come close to an intel - I'd just buy the intel and get a square trade warranty on it.

 

My DDR runs @ 1066...

 

Hello everyone!

Can anyone recommend a reliable and cheap place to get an extra charger brick for the DV8t?

Thanks!

 

For anybody else, are you having trouble getting the battery to display the time remaining, and not just the percentage?

Anyone know the ssd manufacturer or specs for those that ordered it built with one?

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/AC-Adapter-for-...ZLaptop_Adapters_Chargers?hash=item518fa80864

eBay is probably the best place, as you'll save a lot of $$$. Good Luck!!!

 

I believe HP never uses the time remaining, only the percentage. With my previous two HP notebooks, time was never visible

 

Thanks for the input. It was driving me crazy, I thought I messed something up

 

If you read what you quoted, you will find that I never said I updated BIOS thousands of times; in fact I never even said I programmed "thousands of times". What you quoted is "I've never had a bad flash on an EEPROM, BIOS update or not." (Did you get that, 'BIOS update or not'?) Part of my job for 34 years as an Electronic Test Technician was programming chips for Aviation and Communication Equipments. So, yes, I did program 'thousands of times'.

If you read the posts in this thread, you will find that I've been preaching that BIOS updates are not like other updates, and should be done carefully and with precautions. (#1932 and #1979 for two)

Again, if you read what I said, you will find I know chips have a max write times. I said no one with a dv8t-1000 has to worry about exceeding the max write times of the chips ... they haven't had the computer long enough. Even if the max write time is only 100 (which isn't true), there aren't that many different BIOSs out for the dv8t-1000.

Where did I say I was going to 'update your BIOS daily"? If you want to comment on a post, please READ it first!

RT

 

I waited as long as I could to see if any better coupons came out for the dv8t, but I'm up against my 90-day return window to return my current laptop to Costco and decided to bite the bullet this morning and order the dv8t with the following specs:

HP Pavilion dv8t Quad Edition customizable Notebook PC
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-720QM Processor (1.6GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB) w/Turbo Boost up to 2.8 GHz
• $100 OFF! 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 230M
• 18.4" diagonal High Definition HP Ultra BrightView Infinity Display (1920x1080p)
• Lightscribe Blu-ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• Webcam + Fingerprint Reader with HP Imprint Finish (Espresso Black)
• Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
• HP Integrated HDTV Hybrid Tuner
• HP Color Matching Keyboard
• HP Long Life Notebook Battery with support for Extended Lifecycles
• Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope​

It's scheduled to be built by February 9th, and with the APP discount and additional $10 off coupon, it came to $1,528.62. It's a little more than I wanted to spend, but I'll probably have it for 6-8 years, so I won't complain too much. Knowing my luck there will be a huge discount announced tomorrow.

I can't wait to get my new beast! At least I'll keep myself busy preparing my current laptop for its journey back to Costco.