*HP dv8 Owners Lounge*

You're right. Off to fix my sig.

 

Glad you understand ...

I've been busy here. I've downloaded the Seagate Disk Wizard v.11 and the trial version of Acronis True Image Home Edition 2010 to install and evaluate.

 

Aw lucky you... my dv8t-1100 came with a WD HDD instead of a Seagate one, meaning that I can't use the Disk Wizard software that comes with Seagate hard drives. Aw wells, reliability of WD HDDs is better than of Seagate HDDs

 

I hope you find one of them to be an improvement over your current solution.

There's a couple of tips I can give you regarding cloning with Acronis. First, the way Acronis works when a clone is initiated from within windows is as you expected. It reboots the machine and makes the clone before windows boots. Second, Acronis puts a little utility on the target drive (i.e., the clone) that will make the clone bootable (as the original was) the first time the clone is put in the primary drive slot. The advantage of this is that after the clone has been made, one can still put the drive in an external enclosure or dock and access files on the clone w/o messing anything up. It is only when the drive is first attempted to be booted from that Acronis' little utility will run and make it bootable exactly the way the original was.

Another thing to note about cloning with Acronis is that the cloning utility is found under the tools and utilities menu. Acronis provides two cloning "methods," "manual" and "automatic." If you ever are cloning to a drive that is a different size than the original, if you use the automatic method, Acronis will automatically proportionally resize all the partitions on the original to "fit" on the target (clone). This is rarely leads to desired results, so in this situation (different size drives), it is best, imo, to use the manual method in which you have to manually specify the sizes you want the partitions to be on the target drive. Acronis makes this pretty easy to do, however. But when the drive you are cloning to is the same size as the original, the automatic method is very convenient because it automatically keeps everything the same without you having to set anything. It is especially convenient for doing regular backup clones to a disk that is the same size as your original because you are good to go with just a few simple clicks.

Cloning is a great thing to do, but don't forget that you can also use Acronis to make compressed password protected image backups. These don't take up as much space as the original and don't have to take up an entire drive the way a clone does. Restoring the whole computer from these types of backups is very quick and easy, and doesn't involve any physical disk swapping. Although it is not as reliable as cloning, it is extremely easy and convenient especially if you have external storage attached or a second HD internally and it can be set up to occur on an unattended scheduled basis. After the first b/u image is made, the subsequent ones can be incremental which is very fast.

 

The DiscWizard Software was one option for backup and imaging that PAE77 suggested I download and try out. My Seagate drives didn't come with it but it is apparently a free download from their site. If he hadn't suggested it, I'd never have looked for it or found it.

I've heard that Seagate drives are less reliable, etc., but I've never experienced any problems with them. I have 5 or 6 of the 9500420AS laptop (2.5") drives (I do a lot of back ups and testing) and they have never let me down. In the desktop (3.5") world, I'd go with WD all the way. Let's hope we both have good luck with what we were "given'.

By the way, since you have a Dv8t-1100 with an SSD and an HDD, have you looked at what you see in the Control Panel applet for HP 3D DriveGuard? Does it show both or either drives as "supported" or "unsupported"?

 

I'm really quite impressed with the Seagate DiscWizard so far. I've read the manual cover-to-cover and had come across the "automatic" behavior you described and will try to avoid it.

Your reference to a compressed image backup is very attractive to me. The biggest reason most people, including myself, procrastinate on backups is the time they take to set up and run. Can you comment on how much compression (ratio) is typical? i would expect 2 or 3 to 1.

I gather then, that this is not done when a
"sector-by-sector" image is made?

 

If by sector by sector image, you mean "clone" than, no it is done. It's the method Acronis uses to create the MBR on the clone. Once the drive is attempted to be booted from, it will become a 100% sector by sector clone once the Acronis utility that has been embedded on the target drive runs on the first boot and creates the identical copy of the MBR for the clone and then deletes itself, all of which only takes a second or two on the first boot of the clone and then it never runs again because it has done it's job and is gone and you are left with your sector by sector clone, including the MBR.

The advantage of this approach (assuming I'm correctly understanding what is going on) is that until the clone has been booted from, the clone can be accessed as a non bootable secondary drive w/o messing up the original cloned MBR.

 

Good point... I wonder if its the extra tools partition that I deleted is the issue.... who knows what its looking for.

I did have some driver or software that when I tried to install it, it wanted to make a new partition but I can't remember which it was and I'm not gonna tear up my system trying to reinstall everything again.

 

Does anyone know if the backup software that comes with win 7 is worth trusting for making an image of your whole system on another drive?....

My last software was on XP and I used ghost version 6.0 I believe and it worked ok and could be trusted.

The last thing I want is something that seems to work fine till you need it and then it errors when you need it the most.

 

I know many folks are using the W7 backup utility successfully, however, it did not work reliably for me when I tested it with my particular external USB drives. So I went back to my usual reliable app described above.

I suggest you try the W7 backup utility and attempt to recover from it and see if it can find your backup and initiate the process w/o error. If so, perhaps it will work OK for you.

One drawback to the Windows app is that it has limited flexibility and configurability but it may be sufficient for your needs, or not . . ., only you can say after playing with it and testing it.

 

I agree that the HP Tools partition is a likely candidate for where HP might hide the "key" that tells the driver that a drive is a "retail HP HDD" so its drive protection can be "authorized".

 

Can you test it and then abort once you realize its gonna be ok?

 

Well, you can at least get to the point of seeing if the utility can find or "see" your backup. If it can't even find or see the backup file, it is pretty useless right. I made a complete system backup with it, with the backup file being stored on my external USB hard drive. When I tried to restore it, at boot, iirc, windows couldn't find or see the file, so I gave up on it.

But it might work perfectly well with your system and hardware. I have heard numerous reports from people who are satisfied with it so it must work well for some.

 

It may not play well with usb drives.

 

I just prefer to set almost everything myself!

In the range I would expect. Certainly saves a lot of space at 3:1.

It's much clearer NOW!

BTW, in reading the manual for the freeware Seagate DiscWizard, I noticed that it's usable with EITHER a Seagate HDD OR Maxtor HDD in the system - not just Seagate. For those with WD or Hitachi, maybe just plugging in a Seagate drive on USB port would allow the software to work?

 

Yes, I made reference to that in my original post on the subject. As I understand it, all you need is one Seagate drive anywhere in the system, even external, and I believe it will work with all your drives, even non Seagate ones.

But you may find the free products from Macrium Reflect and Paragon to be even better. I'm so satisfied with Acronis TIH 2010, that I haven't bothered to check them out, but some people really like them.

 

Yes, you clearly stated that in regard to Seagate drives -

My point is that it applies to Maxtor drives ALSO for some reason.

 

Because, as I understand it, Seagate now owns Maxtor.

 

I was wondering how well the integrated HDTV tuner works. Anyone care to talk a bit about that?

I've never used one with a computer. I don't even know what kind of over the air reception, if any, that we may have here (in Honolulu). Here's some of my questions:

Does the tuner provide a real nice clear HD picture quality?

What software works best with it?

Would it work overseas in foreign countries?

Is it worth getting?

 

Thanks for naming a couple of additional options to try out. Downloading 64-bit versions of each now. From quick perusal of the feature listing, Paragon Backup & Recovery looks best of the free programs.

 

Western Digital also has an Acronis version, get it at
support.wdc.com/product/downloaddetail.asp

 

Excellent reason! They'd have to support them as their own. Are Maxtor drives still made by Maxtor as a subsidiary or are they just Seagate drives in Maxtor branding and packaging. Back in the "day", Maxtor made very fast drives of variable reliability...

 

Don't know the details. Just vaguely recall hearing that Seagate acquired Maxtor at some point.

 

You've made me curious now ... I'll look into it and see what I can find out.

 

Maxtor began sliding into financial trouble in 2003. In December 2005 Seagate traded .37 sh of Seagate for each share of Maxtor and took them over. Maxtor branded products are apparently not being made anymore.

Just thought you'd want to know.

 

Sorry to bring this up again... I just noticed that back on March 26 I recieved a good ol windows update

Is it possible "yes" that windows update version is whats causing the clash?

Just wondering "since yours works" if you could go back in your history and see if you ever allows windows update to update your HP data protection sensor.

If not, that could be the issue, it wouldn't be the first time "or the last" that windows update drivers are bogus for compatibility.

 

Windstrings, do you still have the update for HP 3D DriveGuard installed? I realize it still says 'unsupported.'

Can you try this for me?

Search in your sys32 folder for these EXACT files:

accelerometer.sys
hpdskflt.sys
accelerometer.dll
HPMDPCoInst.dll

Do you have all 4?

Also, search your entire cpu for this file that may or may not be in the same location:

hpservice.exe

I still dont have access to my machine, but I d/l sp47282.exe (HP 3D DriveGuard 4.0.5.1) and have extracted the contents. In the .inf it seems as though in the 64bit setup the commands aren't properly written. I want to ensure that you have ALL of the above, as all are required for HP Driveguard to function properly...

 

I have uninstalled the 3d program since it doesn't work.
I still did the seach since I do have the 4.0.6.1 driver installed and it shows "no error" in device manager.
Here are my results:

1. file:///C:/Windows/System32/drivers/Accelerometer.sys
2. file:///C:/Windows/System32/DriverS...tral_b214bb85060a08a0/amd64/Accelerometer.sys

1. file:///C:/Windows/System32/drivers/hpdskflt.sys
2. file:///C:/Windows/System32/DriverS...4_neutral_b214bb85060a08a0/amd64/hpdskflt.sys

1. file:///C:/Windows/System32/accelerometerdll.DLL
2. file:///C:/Windows/System32/DriverS...l_b214bb85060a08a0/amd64/accelerometerdll.DLL

1. file:///C:/Windows/System32/HPMDPCoInst.dll
2. file:///C:/Windows/System32/DriverS...eutral_b214bb85060a08a0/amd64/HPMDPCoInst.dll

So I have all 4 of those in System 32

Next; I also have the last file you asked for:
1. file:///C:/Windows/System32/hpservice.exe
2. file:///C:/Windows/System32/DriverStore/FileRepositoryetc etc.... the last one wouldn't copy the full length, but its there too.

so I do have all the files without the software but with the driver installed. In that present condition, if I install the software, it doesn't see my hardrive as ok.

 

Ok, thanks for checking. This is what I needed to know. I'm doing my best to figure it out, I actually think I'm very close, but I don't want to comment until I can verify it on my cpu...

 

glad to help....

 

I got that update on April 5th which is the date I first updated this machine after receiving it.

 

BTW, as the one that first raised this issue in regard to my PC, I thought I'd tell you that I have all the same files installed in the same locations as Windstrings said he had.

So, while I believe our systems are working properly (4.0.6.1 driver and 4.0.5.1 software) in reporting our drives correctly as "unsupported" under HP 3D DriveGuard, I attribute that situation to the fact that we've both reformatted our original partitions from our drives and removed whatever the driver searches for to notify the software that we have an HP-provided HDD. I believe that removing that "key" from our drives has caused our drives to be shown as "not supported" and not any deficiency in our installations.

I have one question - you originally asked about having "accelerometer.dll" in our sys32 directory but we both found "accelerometerdll.dll" instead but you didn't comment on the difference. How come? Did you not notice that difference?

 

I would have to disagree with your theory here. I didn't reformat my original HP partitions yet my drive still shows as "not supported". It was unsupported out of the box.

 

Oh darn, another wrinkle that must be accounted for.

 

1) have you been through all the other things we've been doing: a) Intel Rapid Storage Technology is up-to-date, b) insure that the driver is installed properly, c) the latest version of software is installed - in that sequence?

2)Then, after that, the other part of the theory is that the HDD must have been the primary drive. In your system, as in mine, the HDD is secondary not primary.

However, before he reformatted it, Windsprings' HDD drive was primary....

Are we having fun, yet?

 

not really- See earlier post below this one.

 

Just had a thought on why some people's drives are showing as supported and others unsupported. Could it be related to the Bios version that's installed? My version is F. 15. Could there be a setting in there that changed between versions?

 

I may be able to provide some info on that - it's all over the map.

PMorgan - F.06 (original)
Windstrings - F.17 (original=F.15)

Others may chime in but I don't know that there's any pointer to BIOS version.

Any thoughts after my review of what we know so far (in prior post a couple below this)??

 

I haven't had this much fun since my last root canal
For #1, yes, those drivers are up to date and were installed in the correct sequence. For #2 my HDD was always the secondary. So many variables my head is spinning!

 

May not actually be THAT many.... Sure looks like the drive must be primary AND not reformatted since receipt from HP to have any chance of being "supported" under HP 3D DriveGuard.

What partitions do you have on your SSD? What partitions do you have on your Hitachi HDD?

 

I have been dealing with the treble/bass/wireless issue since I received my DV8T in December. Been back and forth with HP support. I suggested today that they need to acknowledge these obvious product defects. This is the legal-ese response I got back from them:

Thank you for writing back.

I have reviewed your pervious interactions you had with us and I understand the issue completely.

David, please be informed that there is no known issue with this notebook series. If we receive the emails or complaints from substantial count of people, the HP researches on that particular issue and if it is really a design flaw then only it will be declared as a defect. As we have not received large number of complaints regarding this issue, at this point of time it would not be possible to declare it as a defect.


If you haven't already done so, please submit you complaint to HP if you are having this issue. I am not a litigious person, but I feel we are nearing a point at which a class action lawsuit must be filed. HP needs to take responsibility and accept that they built a faulty product.

 

What issue is that?

Have you tried updating everything to the latest drivers (and Bios)? So far I haven't experienced any issue related to the tone controls and wireless but I have everything as up to date as I can get it. The only thing I see is that the tone touch controls don't work reliably, but at least they are not messing anything else up, so far anyway.

I would suggest not relying solely on the HP driver download page to get the latest updates. There is a driver update page maintained at this site that has many newer drivers than are listed on the "official HP" site. See http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=426674

 

pae77,

I have everything up to date. Like I said been dealing with issue since December. You merely need to google DV8T-1000 + treble + bass, or just page through this thread to get idea.

 

yes, you weren't specific on your issue and you included wireless... must be a separate issue.

I did a clean install and also had trouble with my volume bass and volume.
I now have everything working with the exception of there is no "on screen" display of the bar when I touch the volume slider 'even though it works" but there is for the bass/treble.

If it helps.. heres what I did:

1. Make sure you have the latest HP Mediasmart Smartmenu v3.1 C 1-2010 loaded "sp46762.exe" from HPs website for the DV8T.

2. Next you need the driver called "sp45617.exe" Version 2.00A 2009-09-28
This driver is not under the list drivers for the DV8T, but rather the "HP HDX16-1360es Premium Notebook PC" located Here: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...&dlc=en&cc=us&product=4000060&os=4063&lang=en
Note this driver is labeled for the "HP HDX X16-1360ES Premium" however if you look at the notes it says near the bottom

Fix/Enhancement:

Provides support for Beats Bass Boost switching for HP ENVY Products. Provides support for the Bass/Treble capacitive button for HP Pavilion dv8 Notebook PCs.

Wasn't it nice and crappy they hid it so well?

3. It will appear to install but no indication it installed will be noted... it really just expanded the files and you have to install it manually.... heres how:

4. Open Device manager (Right click on computer and to to properties, choose at top left)

5. Now highlight anything in the list and go to "Action"

6. Choose Add legacy hardware and hit next

7. Pick "install the hardware that I manually select from a list (Advanced), then hit next

8. Scroll down to "Media Center Extender" and hit next

9. Highlight it and Hit next again and ok to get out.

10. Reboot... your Treble/Bass slider should now work!

 

Before and after reformat, my SSD is primary, my HDD is secondary as backup.

 

Hey,,, Youuu prety smaate!

No I did not notice that!

Funny if all it would take is a name change to take off the "accelerometerdll.dll to leave it simply "accelerometer.dll

I'll have to take a look and see if they are even different files or in fact the exact same file with different names.

 

Wireless is not a separate issue, as it seems the entire right side of the touch sensitive pad is affected. There is much speculation that it is related to static electricity and poorly insulated wires or connections. This appears to be a hardware issue, not bios or driver related.

 

I don't want to get away from my original point. If you are experiencing issues with the treble/bass/wireless touch sensitive controls, please put it on record with HP. They are trying to avoid acknowledging this defect and they need to accept accountability.

 

Most Interesting!... the plot thickens!

My accelerometerdll.dll is 18.8Kb (19,256bytes)

I don't even actually have the "accelerometer.dll" file at all!....

Can someone with the accelerometer.dll file see if its the same size as my accelerometerdll.dll file?

I suppose its possible some tech gave it the wrong filename and now it can't be found because the .inf file is looking for accelerometer.dll.

 

I was blown away! It's the first "weird" thing I've seen. Maybe the driver program simply changes the name of this file to disable "support" in the DriveGuard app???

That would be so simple to correct!