*HP dv8 Owners Lounge*

[Guide] HP DV8t 1100 10.6.4 Easy, Comprehensive Installation - InsanelyMac Forum

Two files remain in existence.

1.SuperCal_1_1.zip
2.Color_LCD_Perfect.zip

We should pay tribute to his contributions and appreciate his generosity.

Wide gamut lcds deserve better color accuracy.

 

Do you mean make the "sub-thread" of some parts of it or the entire "Dv8 Owners Lounge"?

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Yes, it is but some of it is specialized. Were you thinking of sticky-ing the entire thread or just the most instructive parts?

Regards,
- - Phil

 

I decided to make the entire thread a sticky in the Pavilion sub forum.

 

Sounds good! Certainly lots of good information here!

Thanks for clarifying ...

Regards,
- - Phil

 

I had two other people try to fool mine and neither could get in during 20 minutes of trying to access it. The High setting seems rather effective!

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Great to hear Phil!! I haven't seen my brother yet, but I think he's in for a bit of surprise w/ my changing the security to the highest setting!!

First, I might leave it on Medium just to see if he can still do it (since I just did a fresh install of W7 x64 and got newer drivers for the fingerprint reader). Then I'll bump it up.

I too, will report my results (although it may be a week or two).

Thanks again Phil!!

 

Glad it was helpful.

I didn't think to have my testers try accessing mine using the Medium level to see if they could "get in". As a result, I regret that I have no way to know if the High level was, in fact, any more effective than the Medium setting in Digital Persona. Foo!

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Yeah, that is a bummer because in my mind right now I am betting that is how my brother got into mine. Now that it's on it's highest setting I think I'll have the same success as you.

Either that or he can get in on the highest settings or maybe it was an older drivers that wasn't very good.

I am betting on the settings change though!!

 

When you guys are putting it on high setting are you finding it takes another swipe if your a bit careless in swiping?

Mine's still on medium as I'm not really worried about security on mine other than to keep people from messing around without me being aware of it.

 

Well, to be honest I haven't switched mine to the highest setting yet. I am just going to when I have my tester here.

 

AFAICT, mine seems no more precise or "touchy" since upping the level to high.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

ok.. I'll bump mine up and see if they are problematic or not.

 

So far so good... after turning up and a reboot I seem to be able to get in using the scan just as easy now as I did before.

 

I would think one could test it all by oneself without needing another "tester" simply by repeatedly swiping with one of one's own "non registered" fingers (unless you already registered all your fingers).

This is my first computer with a FP reader. I must say it has turned out to be quite a convenient feature for me (which I didn't really expect would be the case). Now I don't think I would want to get another machine w/o a FP reader.

 

Me too.. but I'm not curious enough to worry about it.

 

I certainly agree that that would be a good test. I've inadvertently tried it many times by accident and the reader has never let me in. It should be easier than for others too, since all my fingers are related. LOL!

I've never tried it for 20 minutes continuously (without remembering I was using the wrong fingers) like my testers did. Their efforts give me a lot of confidence that no one is likely to crack their way in through the finger reader IMO.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Hi guys, I'm about to get the new dv8t in a few days, i will let you know what i think soon after. I paid $950 + tax. It took me a while to decide to pull the trigger cause i have a feeling they are going to replace this model soon? anyway, should i use blank dvds or cds to make a restore disk and should it be rewritable or not? and is there a brand of blanks that are best to use? I considered the dv7t se but no one seems to be getting it and those that are seem to hate the screen and say it's not bright enough and because it's new who knows what issues there will be. Has anyone here ever used squaretrade as a way to extend there warranty?


• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-450M Dual Core processor (2.40GHz, 3MB L3 Cache)with Turbo Boost up to 2.66 GHz
• FREE Upgrade to 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 640GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Hard Drive (320GB x 2) with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 230M
• 18.4" diagonal High Definition HP Ultra BrightView Infinity Display (1920x1080p)
• SuperMulti 8X 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 Keyboard
• 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (standard)

I know most here have and recommend the i7, but i don't game as of now, so after much thought i went with the i5-450M which at the time was a $50 upgrade, but is now standard it seems. If you guys think i should really go with the i7 let me know, cause i could of went with the i7 and took off the tv tuner and it would have only cost me an extra $75, or should i have went with the dv7t select edition which would have been cheaper then what i ended up getting, though the screen and res are a bit important to me.

 

I have the Dv8t for the dual HDD bays and the 18-inch screen. I'm not a gamer but use my Dv8 for demanding video and graphics including PhotoShop photo editing. I really am glad I got the quad-core i7 since it performs better than Core2Duo processors with multithreaded apps like PhotoShop and AutoCad and MathCad. Of course when I use simple apps, it runs at up to 3.06 gHz which with the 8mb core cache is pretty snappy.

So I vote for the i7 processor.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Yes, but you have to beware that it will not make your screen much brighter than it was. Only your screen's color accuracy will improve substantially.

 

The performance depends on the model as well as the overheat thermal protection.You may need throttlestop, which is available in this forum.
Many people experience freeze issues across numerous brands of I7 laptops

 

The i5 processors also perform quite a bit better than the core 2 duo processors (at least the one's I've personally used) and have the advantage of running a lot cooler and more efficiently than the i7's.

But I'm also glad I got an i7 also because I like having the most powerful machine I can afford. However, I've used i5 machines and found them to be very snappy and cool running. I'm sure you will like it if you stick with the i5 CPU.

 

Thanks, but mine seems to run cool and I haven't had any lockups etc. in the 8 months of using it. I haven't even seen anyone reporting such issues here. Some have reported issues with heating but usually they related to obstruction of vents, etc. and most reports here show the I7 CPU in the Dv8 performs well and cooling is adequate for such a loaded machine. Sorry to hear other brands have issues with freezing etc but we were responding to someone considering an HP Dv8.

I still vote for the I7 cpu over the I5.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

I haven't used an I5.. but my I7 runs very cool.
I have it set to only ramp the fan up if needed and I can't even remember the last time the fan was running fast..... when it does its only a few seconds.

Normally, its totally quiet unless its totally quiet in the room and I stick my ear down to it.

Anyone who has heat issues I suspect has conflicting software such as AV programs running concurrently at the same time.

I run NOd32 64 bit, I have windows defender totally disabled... there has been discussion about this in past posts on this thread and while many feel it doesn't hurt, my conclusion is it doesn't help either... especially when you have a powerful AV already running that also scans for pests and malware.

True its not as complete as running 15 different AV's at once that double and triple check each other scanning the same file.... its no wonder people's systems run hot when they take the immense power of these newer computers and bog them down with tasks that would choke slower systems.

My recommendation is to not abuse your power but rather run your system lean, smart and mean like you would with windows XP and one gig of ram.

I don't turn off all the extras either...My system runs like a scalded dawg!.... I just don't try to remove bloatware of HP that runs in the background tying up ram and processor power just to turn around and install my own... what sense does that make?

 

Sorry all, but I was just getting out of the hospital when this subject was hot. When I checked for my monitor specs using SIW, I get the following for manufaturer: SEC314A. I know that SEC is the abbreviation for Seiko Epson which, according to this post, refers to the LCD driver (good) but not the monitor mfr. Nowhere is Samsung mentioned, or any other mfr. It also says the year of mfr was 2008, as I saw some had posted in surprise (I took delivery of my dv8 in December 2009!). Then I tried the CtrlPanel->DeviceManager->Monitor->Properties->Generic PnP Monitor->Details->Manufacturer->"Standard Monitor Types" !!! (lotsa clickin for nuthin).Could someone help a weary man recovering from back surgery and not hitting pay dirt on this and tell me: is it possible that I have the CMO display, not the Samsung? How do I find out? I'm sure there are various other ways to confirm the mfr, but I just used SIW and Device Manager and got the above results, which apparently mean nothing! Sorry if the answer is found in one of the many posts, but I could not find it and my eyes are getting bleary (possibly because I have the CMO display and am only seeing 70% of the color gamut, lol.

 

In SIW, under video, and then "monitor," the first entry is "model." And the model number reported there for those who have the Samsung display should be: 184HT03-001 Monitor ID SEC314A, Manufacturing Date 2008. So if yours says that model #, as I'm pretty sure it does, then you have the Samsung display.

 

also if you run "Astra 32" it will show Seiko/epson,

but then if you look lower, it shows Samsung as the "internal" vendor

 

Thanks Peter (and Alan). Neither SIW nor Devices->>>Hardware Id (thanks, Derek) give up the word Samsung or the 184HT03-001 model number, but the rest of it aligns with the Samsung (the SEC 314A, mfr date 2008), so I think that is the one I have.

Now that's settled, was anyone shocked by the incredibly low brightness measurement of this display, per the Notebookcheck.net review of the Clevo with this monitor? The average was about 135nit, as I recall, which is about the lowest reading I have seen for as long as I have read reviews of LCD screens. Great color gamut, black and contrast numbers, though.

Personally, I have always loved this display, always considered it brighter than "average" (whatever that means!), and always found it helpful to go into nVidia Color Management control panel (thank goodness, that one doesn't hand me a BSOD when I click on it, as several other NV CP links do) and adjust by eye for different video source material. Must say, always found the display to have a "natural" yellow-ish/green-ish bias that I sometimes try to fix by increasing blue levels.

Last point/question (again, sorry I am just entering this discussion after you all had worked it through ):

With all that I read about calibration and all the stuff I followed links to, especially the cool Digital-Image Color Spaces, Page 2: Test Images Jeffrey Friedl's Blog Digital-Image Color Spaces, Page 2: Test Images ...Is the verdict that using Windows 7 color calibration method is sufficient, or that for optimal display color, you need to make all those alterations to the "Color Management" defaults or do some other calibration method?

Always nice to hear your baby scores high on some tests One thing that continues to bug me about the dv8: I have yet to find a comprehensive review of it. Anybody have one bookmarked?

Nice to be back on NBR

 

Nice to have you back.

 

Glad you are back on it, too.

BTW, downloaded the Win 7 SP1 beta tonight from MS and installed it on my Dv8 without any issues. Works well.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

That sounds very bold of you.

I'll be interested to hear what you think of it after you have had some time to get to know it and see what, if anything, is noticeably different.

 

Bold - hardly... performed my usual full sector-by-sector image clone before starting the update, Peter.

In addition, this is the second SP1 beta I've downloaded for Win 7 (but it was not installed on my Dv8) and I installed it on one of my other laptops.. I've run that one for 2 months now and seen no effect on normal operation.

Now that I've downloaded it through conventional sources (MS) and put it on the Dv8, I expect nothing discernible but it may have smoother, better integrated, security patches, and that;s why I went ahead and installed it.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Just out of curiosity, what cloning program do you use?

 

If you want lovelaps you can try Astra 32 "its free" and after running it, go to monitors and see what it says... mine says the Epson/seiko thing at top and then at the bottom does say the internal vendor is Samsung.

 

I"m thrilled with the speed and quickness of my DV8t... it makes me wonder what must be around the corner.

I wonder if in two years there will be any appreciable speed with would give me an excuse to upgrade and pass this down to a family member or whether the DV8T will still be the "cats meow".

Anyone been digging looking forward?

 

My HDX18 is about a year and a half old now. I still love it. I wouldn't trade it for a DV8 right now because of the Backlit Keyboard. Also, this is plenty fast enough right now and I haven't even gone past 4 gigs of RAM and SSD's.

The question is, how long will this laptop's motherboard hold up.

 

One of the things I like about my DV8t is that because of the great deal I got on it, it didn't cost all that much, especially compared to what most, if not all, other i7 based notebooks with 1080p displays cost. So I won't mind it so much if I want to upgrade to something newer and faster in a year or two's time. But I'm hoping that it will continue to satisfy me (and keep on working) for at least two years or so. That would be nice. But I feel I saved about $1k over what I would have spent on a Thinkpad so I won't be too upset if it turns out that I have/want to upgrade a bit sooner than that.

But so far, I'm totally satisfied with the speed and I also haven't even moved up to an SSD yet. And I do eventually intend to do that, so I still have a whole 'nother level of performance to look forward to just from this machine.

 

Thanks Alan. I will try that. BTW, is there any compelling reason to keep Astra after I've used it to confirm my screen (not that I can do anything about it if mine is CMO, but I am curious; either way, I'm very happy with my display overall)

The reason I ask is that I have been lately trying to limit the number of overlapping "handy" utility programs I install, as so many do pretty much the same thing and I'm literally confused when to use Glary vs. CC Cleaner or SIW vs Everest; in a few cases I have 3 that seem to do the same essential things, equally well. It's kinda like my anti-clutter rule of late: don't buy anything that takes up significant space in the house without getting rid of something of equal mass. Hard for this pack rat to do, but at least I can maintain some discipline at the level of computer software.

Thanks again,

Jeff

 

Oh no, not the cloning program debate all over again!

If you check about 1-2 weeks back, you'll learn what Phil and everyone else uses, and why, with some passionate defenses for personal favorites.

I can give you a great piece of advice (learned the hard way!): don't try a program called "Bounceback."

 

I would rather borrow the Eye-one Pro Photo from the photoshop store to complete least two different settings( Daylight/Midnight) for ICC Profiles, but many of them demand cash for mere hardware usages in just a few hours.

So far, I am still doing the weekly online searching for the calibration profiles from the identical samsung screen with the "2-CCFL" backlighting. But the laptops with similar configurations are far less than what I could imagine.

Similar laptop configurations with 18.4 samsung laptop screen ( Same backlightings: Dual Lamp CCFL ) :

Acer Aspire 8920~ 8930G
Asus W90VP
Fujitsu Xi3650
HP DV8000/HDX 18
Medion Akoya P8610
Sager/Clevo X8100/M980NU
Sony AW ( Non-Premium)
Toshiba Qosmio X505

It's hard to find the photoshop store with transparent pricing policy for color calibrations in different settings.

Sorry guys.

This is the best I can do.

 

Hi
Where is the web site for (Hiren's BootCD (HBCD) is a completely free bootable CD ) the only ones I can find have it for sale.
Thanks

 

Google Hirens.BootCD.10.6.zip and a list of places to D/L will come up (Megaupload, torrents, etc). Apparently it's no longer available to D/L off Hiren's site.

Checksum and MD5 found here: Download Hiren's BootCD

 

Hiren's home site never offers the CD for download from there. They provide information on its updates which I previously posted. The distribute it through hosting sites.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

The best time to find Hiren's BootCD is in the first week or two after Hiren's releases it.

There are three types of sites - distribution sites that require registration to download and hope you'll sign up for premium speed downloads after you find all the neat stuff they have available, commercial sites that charge by the individual download (avoid these), and non-commercial ones that are supported by their advertisers that just let you download what you want (my first choice).

I posted a link to a free download site a few weeks ago and will do so again when the next version comes out. One reason to get it when it first is released is because some of the software it contains is "perishable" and is 30-day trial versions etc.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

This is my first HP DV8T Quad. I've been using mostly Dell laptops. I tried this HP since my Dell's has so much issues, fan running every 2 minutes even idling and cooling pads. The only good thing about my Dell's is RGB LED. Wonder if HP will be coming out with this type of panel soon.
I VOTE HP also. Will not buy Dell till thier problems are fix. The Studio 1745-1749 series does not even have any status LED indicator. No HD, WIFI, Bluetooth status light.

 

Sorry I didn't reply sooner - I have been out of town over the weekend on a pleasure trip.

I use Ghost 11.5 on the Hiren's BootCD. The BootCD is a free download, boots from the CD into an XP SP3 environment, and Ghost is one of the programs in the Backup Utilities grouping under HBCD folder.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Why are you worried about your motherboard?...

I would expect it to last several generations of "handmedowns".....

why not?

 

Jeff.. I too just pick my favorites and toss the rest....
I do run both ccleaner and glarys. I usually run glarys, then ccleaner afterwards.. but one or the other should suffice just fine as they both do 99% of what the other does.

Just that Glarys has lots of other cool tools you can use and utilize.. but ccleaner is so slick, simple, and effective, I refuse to toss it.

 

Hi,

Thanks to all for the support I'm getting here. It is way better than HP tech support

I was able sort out my bluetooth issues myself. Just to let you know guys that I'm using Clonezilla open source cloning Bootable CD tool which works extremely well. I now have dual partitions (Windows 7 and Ubuntu) and I'm able to clone the entire hard drive (only used sectors) to my second HDD and was able to restore it completely. I was also able to restore individual partitions on one instance. So, all in all, best of its kind.

Now to my questions:

I have dv8t-1200 with 8GB RAM. What kind of temperature readings are you guys getting?

1. I did 4 brand new recovery DVD-R discs and was trying to recover to see if it works and when loading the first DVD-R, I got a nasty error message:

RecoveryMgr.EXE:
The memory location at <............> at <............> could not be read. Press OK to quit the program.

I didn't change any hardware stuff. It is always a problem with HP Recovery tool. Why on Earth they are not allowing us to burn Recovery DVDs to rewritable DVDs? Luckily, I did a complete HDD backup using Clonezilla and was able to restore everything back. Do you guys know if I can call HP to let them know about this and get those 4 recovery DVDs at no charge to be shipped to me?

2. I ran GPU-Z and found couple of issues:

a. The OpenCL and PhysX is not checked. As per notebookcheck.net, these are available on this card (GT 230M).

b. Under the Nvidia SLI ==> it says "Disabled". Does this mean, I do have SLI and is disabled in BIOS?


Please help.


Thanks.