*HP dv8 Owners Lounge*

the 500gb drive option only comes with 1 set of brackets for the one drive. You'll have to buy the second one. sorry. its sucks, i had to as well.

 

So, I just need to buy one bracketing kit for the SSD since dv8t already comees with the 500GB HDD. I'm kind of confused here. Can I just move the 500GB HDD from the first bay to the second bay easily without a need for a bracketing kit?

Thanks.

 

Yes. No problem. The brackets are the same for both drive bays.

 

Would a WD10TPVT fit in this laptop?

 

G'day mate, sorry, no it won't - that drive is 12.5mm, dv8 only takes 9mm drives, as I understand it.

 

Until I get hold of a SSD drive, can I still move the 500GB HDD from the first bay to the second bay and keep dv8t running w/ no issues?

 

Never tried that so I'm not sure but I think so. It should look for a drive in the primary bay and then if it doesn't find one, move on to the secondary bay and boot from there. Try it, if it doesn't work, it's not a big deal to move it back.

 

Unless HP changed their usual convention of only looking at drive 1 for a bootloader, it won't work. Hasn't worked on any of the dv9xxx series, dv7-xxxx or HDX series (9xxx or 18-xxxx) series.

There is a way to get it to work if it doesn't. I wrote up a tutorial which uses WinGrub on a USB drive to boot off the 2nd HDD for the HDX Dragon.

Not the best tutorial but I still use the setup:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/3933752-post2780.html

 

Btw, when making Recovery discs, can somebody confirm that it also copies the C:\swsetup and also stores the hidden partition for sure to be recreated when restoring back?

Also, if I'm getting the bracketing kit for SSD from a local store here, what do I ask for?

 

Thank you.

 

Aloha All

I'm having a problem running checkdisk on my HP dv8t. I go thru the usual procedure of scheduling checkdisk and then Start Up. I get the message advising checkdisk has been scheduled and giving me the several seconds to bypass checkdisk by hitting any key. The countdown stops at 1 second and then just goes into a halt mode. I've waited an extensive amount of time and the checkdisk never starts. Is it likely my Norton internet security/firewall is creating this problem? What other solutions are there for this issue.

Ray

 

I believe not. I believe the primary bay must contain the bootable drive. Try it and see. You can find out for sure in 5 minutes...

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Peter: I totally agree! My post on this issue may have been missed Friday night so I included it at the top.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

While I answered this a week ago, I believe, Undervolt, I'll repeat what I wrote you then. First, any drive you move from one bay to the other already is mounted in a bracket so nothing additional is needed to move existing drives from one bay to the other as the bracket fits either bay.
Second, I suggested asking the vendor from whom you buy the SSD to find out if they provide the bracket for the Dv8. Very unlikely unless you bought an SSD from HP Store. Third, you can order the bracket from HP.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

On battery calibration:

The idea that it creates meaningful wear and tear doesn't add up.

A Li-Ion battery has two limits: # of cycles and age. A Li-Ion battery has about 300-500 full cycles in it. If you were to calibrate the battery once every 3 months, you would use up 4 cycles per year.

The kicker is that the battery's useful life is only 2-3 years regardless during which time whether you use it or not will lose capacity.

So if you are a mobile user and require knowing the "true" % or time of battery charge remaining, calibration is recommended. Otherwise, you will find you computer shutting down way before anticipated.

If you use your battery as an UPS, then no worries about calibration. But it would still behoove one to do it so you'll get a near accurate reading and conditioning of the battery.

 

First, remove battery, push start button (discharges some circuits), put battery back and restart and try setting chkdsk again.

If that doesn't clear it, try booting from a standalone bootCD like Hiren's BootCD, and run chkdsk from it.

I've had this problem in the past and one of these worked in every instance. Once run, haven't had a recurrence in 2 months.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Before going to the store, and not knowing the SSD, myself, when you receive it, try to mount it in the mount that is currently holding your HDD. If it fits properly like the HDD did, go to the store, give them the make & model of your laptop, show them the drive you are trying to mount and, if possible, show them the HDD in its mount so they can see what you're looking for.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

I guess my 5 year old Li-Ion battery in my IBM T30, which I use every day and continuously up to 6 hours each day, doesn't know that it should be dead .

I attribute that life to avoiding discharging below 30% remaining ....

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Nor my 4 1/2 yr old battery in my old Dell Inspiron 8200 while using calibration method. Alas, I sold that on Ebay last year. Surprised there were still takers. Wonder what one would use it for?

 

In my case, mine is used for taxes, (2gHz 1Gb Ram, Win 7 Pro and works great) and Streets & Trips 2007 for Navigation. Occasionally for Email.

My example sounds anecdotal, but it's not - only provides an example. There are 15 others, all bought in one order in late 2004, at the company I work for, that have the same result. Not one battery failure from any of them in 5 years.

Unless you know something specific to the batteries provided with Dv8, I think we'll just have to wait and see. I know and believe those who deeply (below 5-10%) discharge like you advocate 4 times a year, will significantly shorten the life of those batteries. We can't prove the issue in less than a year or two, so I'll put my chemical engineering experience with Na-S, Li-Ion, and Fe-Air battery development against your opinion and agree to disagree... we'll know a lot more in a year.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Any text supporting the notion that a full cycle charge/discharge drastically shortens battery life? I know if the battery voltage drops below a certain threshold it does. It can ruin the battery. But you won't reach that threshold at the 5-10% level.

I ask because I haven't seen anything that supports what you are saying in as much as it pertains to periodic calibration. Especially considering Li-Ion batteries are made to withstand ~300-500 full charge/discharge cycles without drastically degrading their performance.

Also, this site has been posting articles about battery calibration for a good while now. If that information is incorrect, it would need to be updated and changed. But we would need proof that it is incorrect. Especially considering there hasn't been any complaints about the procedure and the method is supported by a number of other reputable sources.

 

You just need to set sleep and if you use hibernate to never while calibrating then set it back to whatever you had before when you're done calibrating. When the battery is drained to critical level, the computer is set to hibernate. You can change that to shutdown if you prefer. It's in advanced options of power management.

 

I'm of the persuasion that an occasional drain to reset the computers charge calibration is a good idea... simply because "if you don't".. you can't use all your battery anyway.. even if its good.

What good is a good battery if you can't use all the capacity?

Seems they need to change the firmware.

I can see why they can't just set it at the factory and forget it.. because batteries change over time... but once a month seems a bit too often....

Calibrating once every 6 months should keep up with normal battery degradation.

 

Thanks guys for all your replies.

Somebody mentioned to get the additional bracketing kit for dv8t from ebay instead of HP as it costs less. I searched in ebay and couldn't find it. Maybe, my search string is incorrect. Can somebody post a direct link to the item on ebay?

Btw, any bracketing kit should work for 2.5 inch SSD drive. Right? Phil is mentioning to let the local store (if I wanted to buy it from there) know the specific make and model. Why is it so?

Please advice.

 

You referred to my post but didn't quote it or reply to each element of it. My response was intended to simplify approaching your problem.

I said take the parts to the local store. Generally, the carrier (or bracket as you call it, or install kit as HP calls it) is easier to match and obtain. I have several different laptops and every one uses a different carrier to mount a 2.5 inch HDD. Last I knew, you don't know exactly what the SSD is ... if it's 2.5 inch, it'll fit the HO carrier and you can verify that with the carrier that came with your Dv8 to secure your HDD.

Reading over your posts, you seem to avoid the ways that are certain to get you what you want, and prefer to chase down everything BEFORE you have all the parts to know enough about it to assure the outcome. My response was how I'd approach it if I wanted to meet your objective and save $10-15. Why NOT take the pieces to the shop and let them chase it down properly?

Regards,
- - Phil

 

It was provide that assurance but, as detailed earlier, it will shorten its life. Whether that degradation is worth the information you get from the calibration is a matter for personal choice.

If I routinely got that close to running down the batteries (I don't), then that offers life issues of its own that are more serious than the calibration if it routinely discharged down near the bottom (below 30% remaining). In any case, though, the full remaining capacity is available whether the amount is displayed correctly or not. It comes back to how you manage your use ... battery vs AC.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Nothing I can add beyond that in my last post. This is generally well known in the high density battery industry. I haven't the inclination to search the technical publications to dig it out for you.. it would probably be over the head of most of the the audience here anyway. THAT is why I said I'd leave our difference of viewpoint to be resolved by reviewing the experience here a year from now.

BTW you referred to 300-500 charge cycles and that's lousy. I realized later that if you're expecting such a low figure (I routinely get over 1000), that figure may already reflect all the non-optimal abuse you're talking about. Perhaps, I should have said, "If you want o triple your battery life, DON't do these things like deep discharges and calibration cycles." I doubt I'd get three years out of 300 cycles!

Complaints, except from several posted here in the last day or two, will appear based on battery degradation when these machines have been out for a year or two. Dv8's are only 6 months old!


Regards,
- - Phil

 

For future reference, the part # and description:

483862-001

Mass Storage Device Hardware Kit (includes left and right brackets, Mylar sleeve, connector, and 4 isolators)

It is the same kit for both the mechanical hdd and the ssd hdd

It's unavailable atm on ebay...

The lowest price I've ever seen it go for on ebay is $31.99 back ~ December 2009.

Here is a direct link through Tiger Direct for $36.95 (just a bit higher):

Hewlett Packard 483862-001 Hard Drive Mounting Kit - Includes Cable With Connector, 4 Isolators, 2 Brackets, Mylar, And Monting Screws at TigerDirect Partsearch

 

It would be nice if you could "dig it out" for the benefit of the community. It's not digging out for me. As I said, this site along with numerous others have advocated battery calibration for years with good results. And since there's nothing inherently unique about the battery in the DV8, periodic battery calibration would apply.

Anyway, I've done some digging of my own to see if there's anything that supports your opinion. I can't find anything yet. That's why I asked you since you seem to know. Figured you might have this information handy or point to where it can be found. I'm very interested in this information because if it's as true as you purport, it would need to be published on this site which would help to provide a better experience for notebook owners.

Whenever you have the time to gather and post references to this information it would be greatly appreciated.

 

I explained in the part of my reply that you didn't respond too, that I have noticed that your 300-500 cycles may account for your statements. 500 cycles with the abuse of deep cycling below 5-10% may indeed be consistent with the reduced life of 3 years of less. I get at least 1000 cycles and so did a dozen others I referred to, when deep cycling is not done. I feel it is more about that difference now than the science I could dig out and post. I'm traveling and rely on my years in that industry rather than finding public domain studies. Sorry it's not enough.

While I worked with three different types of Li-Ion, LiFeSo4, and liquid anode versons, laptop batteries seem to be traditional types so I can agree various laptop battery mfrs all using the same.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

We know that's true for HP-provided Samsung SSD drives (as I noted in my first reply to him here) but how do you know that the drive he's ordered is sufficiently similar to be sure BEFORE he receives it and tries it in place of his HDD? No one seemed to know anything about the one he ordered when he asked ....

Regards,
- - Phil

 

300 to 500 is just a ballpark for full cycling. You'll find that figure in most studies on Li-ion batteries. You could get well over 2000 partial cycles if only drained down to 75%. What's more, if you did 4 full cycles a year, but normally didn't go below 30%, you'd end up with well over 500 partial cycles.

Your 1000 cycle figure is based on partial cycles(not down below 30%), not full. I suppose that's the difference you were referring to.

In any event, you made an assertion that periodic calibration (which requires a full cycle) is somehow materially detrimental to Li-ion batteries. I've never read anything that would support that notion but was interested to know if there is anything other than anecdotal evidence to support it.

It's all good though. No worries. I'll keep looking into it to see if it's true and will pass it along to the site editor if I find something concrete for him to work with. Just looking out for the public at large.

 

Not sure I follow or if I'm misinterpreting something....

1.) Undervolt is moving 500gb hdd into second slot using HP supplied bracket.

2.) Plans on ordering new Crucial ssd to put into primary slot - this drive may or may not include a mounting kit, I have no idea. But according to the specs it is a standard 2.5" form factor thus requiring the 'special' HP mounting bracket. If the crucial DOES include a bracket it won't fit in the HP...

I think Peter expressed the same:

 

I'm being a bit more conservative (as I am wont to be).

I answered the same message with a similar response. I pointed out that he needs nothing additional to "move" the HDD to the secondary bay but it wouldn't be bootable from that bay.

As far as what drive he's getting, I found that his replies/questions confusing (I didn't see every response from him, etc.,) and several times he seemed to ask the same questions I had answered before I left on a weekend trip. So I repeated my previous advice - simply suggesting that he BE SURE that whatever SSD he receives be tested using the carrier that came with the HDD. Then he'd be sure it fits before he buys anything.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

But you seem to acknowledge it... I am certain that deep discharging (like in calibration unless you now think calibration will work with levels down only to 30%, etc.) will reduce the number of total cycles down to 300-500 available from my experience with 1000 (not all were above 30% but NONE were down to 0%!!!). So I think the principle is now agreed to and it's just a matter of degree.

The deep discharging including the calibration procedure WILL reduce the lifetime and number of cycles available and the folks can decide whether they want to pay that price. That was all I was suggesting. If you reoutinely deep discharge your battery to less than 5-10%, it will have significant effects on when you'll need to buy a new one!

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Ah I see what you mean now. It does make sense to test the fitment of the new ssd with the carrier (HP bracket) that he currently has and ordering the additional carrier afterward.

My point was simply that the Crucial drive as well as the HP provided Samsung drives are identical in form factor (2.5" industry standard) - he will need two carriers to have them installed simultaneously. But as you say Phil, can't hurt to try it out first...

 

I don't disagree. I felt it was unclear what his SSD will ultimately be (maybe he changed his mind and ordered a 1-1/8th inch one or a thicker-than-standard 2.5 inch). If he ends up with a standard 2.5 inch, he should have no problem fitting it with a standard Dv8 carrier.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Has anybody experienced random screen freezes while doing normal things like browsing the internet? I've had the computer for about a month and this just started happening today. The screen just freezes and doesn't respond to any keyboard, mouse or LED buttons (e.g. the eject button).

I have the latest BIOS (F.24), chipset drivers (9.1.1.1022), and video drivers (8.17.11.9745), and all the rest of them from Justin's driver thread.

Any ideas?

On the bright side, I did the fresh Win7 install and managed to get all the LED keyboard buttons to work (by installing an older MediaSmart).

Thanks,
-Falesi

 

Humm.. I'm running all of those and I never have lockups.

Have you reviews event manager or attempted to see what was active during the lockup?

I also have the latest windows updates "except I don't load their video".

 

Hello, everyone...

So, guys, it's vacation time for me and I started gaming a little using this laptop. Then I noticed that, after some time, some games would behave like decreasing their FPS or something. So I decided to check the CPU temperature because I read somewhere that if the CPU is too much hot, Turbo Boost won't kick in, any of you know if this is true?

And the main question is: since I have no cooling pads to buy here in my city, what do you recommend doing to increase ventilation or cooling down the system? And last but not least, what is considered an "over the healthy state" temperature for the DV8? Last time I checked mine while gaming, the cores were floating between 87 -92 Celsius. Believing that 100 C is an absurd temp for a processor to be reaching, I think I'm pretty close and, sadly, looks like I'm minimizing the life span of my CPU.

Any recommendations?

Thanks

 

Besides the obvious clean out the vents and fan of dust, raising the back end of the DV8 up should allow for much more airflow under the unit (assuming its pretty much the same as the HDX 18).

If you're looking into a cooling pad, I only think the Cryo LX would actually drop temps more than 2-3c, as the few cooling pads I've tried either didn't work well, or couldn't help anymore than adding my own thermal paste to my CPU/GPU. (AS5'd both and now working temps never go over 45/55c).

As long as everything idles under 60c once you're done cleaning everything out, you probably shouldn't worry.

 

At 85C+, you are certainly running too hot!

Have you checked whether the fan is running at all? If not, you may have a defective or failed fan or temp control unit and that should be repaired.

You should be sure that the unit is running below 70C or you will begin to shorten the life of the CPU and other components in proximity. Remove anything that prevents or restricts free circulation of air into the vents on the bottom of the Dv8 and/or prevents the fans from pushing the warm air exhaust from leaving freely from the left rear and bottom left rear areas. That should get you down below 60C for most purposes. Heavy gaming may drive the frequency of the GPU up and add GPU heat load and increase overall temps but they shouldn't reach 85C. Others may chime in and recommend a cooling pad which you should consider if you can't keep temps lower.

Regards
- - Phil

 

Yes, the fan is running fine. Sometimes it even kicks in full speed, I can really see it working. When it's idle, the cores get below 60, for sure.
The additional thing I must remember all of you is that I live in Brazil. So, here, the temperature is 30-32 C all year long. It's a hot city. Certainly this isn't going to help my computer cooling down.

And as far as I'm aware of, there is not a single cooling pad on sale here in my city. But as Kanako said, seems like a cooling pad wouldn't be a great solution, right? 2-3 degrees Celsius can make that big difference for one to buy a cooling pad? Doesn't make much sense to me.

And about the thermal paste, if I open my case it will void my warranty. So it is really worth it losing my warranty to keep my CPU alive? Even though my warranty is valid only in U.S, meaning any problems shall happen, I have to ship my notebook there (not a good thing). It is valid until november, 16.

I'm kinda lost. And I really don't want to see it burning. I'm not even gaming anymore. :/

 

That's really HOT! I operate below 20C ambient where I live so there's a 10-12C difference! Plus the flow and venting will be less effective at higher ambient temps. How about an ice-box like device to set the laptop on that will pull cooler air into the laptop?

Regards,
- - Phil

 

And that would be...?

Really, I don't know what to do. I was hoping the thermal paste could help me. I don't know how much temperature thermal paste can reduce, but I believe it's something around 3-10, right?

For now, I think I'm gonna elevate my DV8 a little.

Any more detailed suggestions will be very appreciated.

I just did some tests here and the lowest temperature I get (using air conditioner on the room and a fan blowing directly towards DV8 is 52 C - idle)

 

Haven't heard of that.. that would defeat the purpose for using and needing turbo... turbo prevents heat by spreading out the punishment among the other cores.

I'm encoding DVD right now and my fan kicked into "second" gear.. I can actually hear it now.. but its not on high.. my processor is running about 2.13gHz right now.

No pain, no strain.

 

No but I will check event mangler. What do you mean that you don't load Windows' video - do some automatic updates mess with the video driver?

 

a suitable container holding frozen liquid like a refreezable block.

That should do the first item I mentioned-i.e., clearing intake and exhaust vents.

Seems quite reasonable. Mine runs 53-56C at idle.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Yeah...the heating problem is not my biggest problem in the moment, unless you guys can elucidate this question: the computer just gave me a BSOD screen right now and pointed out an event called BAD_POOL_CALLER.
It said something in the end about dumping something to the memory, when it reached 100% was automatically restarted. I chose the option "start Windows normally" and Check Disk kicked in. 0kb in bad sectors, everything seemed to be just fine. After a loooong reboot, "the audio controller was not initiated". I rebooted again. This time was a lot faster and everything seems to be working fine.

But, seriously, BSODs scares me like hell! Could this be related to the heat problem?

I guess it's about time I start being the whiny/weepy guy saying "why these things keep happening with me?!".

Edit: oh, if it helps, it happened after the computer coming back from sleep mode for about 5 hours. Before going into sleep mode, it was downloading a movie (torrent). I guess that's all.

 

Can anyone share with me the best two or three 500 GB portable external hard drive for lap tops? Please tell me why you think they are the best. I am considering Seagate, Western Digital, and Ultra Speed. Has anyone heard fo this brand Ultraspeed?

Larry