*HP dv8 Owners Lounge*

Phil

HP Tech Support is recommending that I run chkdsk /r rather than chkdsk /f. Do you have a point of view on this recommendation?

Regards

Ray

 

/r takes much longer and I believe is set to do more repairs..... I've only done it once for fun just to see what it was like...... but I've ran /F many times and many times its found issues in the past it too has fixed.

I usually run it before I ghost my system because if there is an error, ghost will find it in the middle of the ghost process and shut you down.

If you suspect some serious screwups in your system, /r should be more appropriate.

 

Thanks for your input Alan. Given the fact that I'm having multiple problems I'm leaning toward running chkdsk /r. Phil also recommended I run sfc scannow. In your opinion, should I run that before or after chkdsk /r? My current plan is to run it after.

 

I"m not sure to be honest.. running scannow fixes base system files that have been corrupted......sfc /scannow checks the authenticity of the system files and replace the files that have been "monkied" around.

Im not sure if that in turn messes up files that have been updated through windows update or not?

Maybe someone else can chime in but I would think I would run chkdsk /r first and hope it fixed everything.... seems its more likely to draw from the most recent "good" system files to fix any corruptions whereas scannow may take you back to extreme virgin basic files.

Hopefully after running chkdsk when you show clean, you can then run scannow and it will show clean too......

Maybe someone else knows a better angle but thats what I would do since I "trust" the chkdsk function more since I"ve used it more..... I'm afraid scannow may be similiar to a system restore in that it may rewrite files that are "pre-updated" via windows update.

Thats my 2 cents....

 

Thanks Alan for the quick and candid reply. Perhaps Phil or someone else can shed some light on this. I'm going to hold off on doing anything until tomorrow

 

Good idea..... but it really is a good ideal to learn how to use ghost or some other trusted backup system..... you back it up when you know everything is perfect.... when all else fails you have that.

I try to routinely backup all my personal stuff on a second drive so if I ever do have to ghost because I can't even get the system up and running, I can also get my personal files updated to a recent time.

Its very rare you have to rely on your backup.. but its golden verses days of reinstalling and reconfiguring!....

No better insurance!

 

Yes. Clearly run Chkdsk/f frist then sfc /Scannow. Chkdsk fixes and cleans up the records in the NTFS. The sfc restores the system components that were damaged and removed by chkdsk.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Absolutely, Alan! Ideally you should update a clone before any changes to your system (software installs, driver updates, security updates, etc.) but I don't have time for that. Instead, I just clone my drives with Ghost every Saturday morning. Doing it once a week probably keeps the clone drives current enough for any disaster including a hard drive failure., IMO.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

I attempted to run chdsk C: /f this morning and was unsuccessful in doing so. Upon restarting, the chkdsk counted down to 1 and then remained on screen without running this utility. I tried it again and the second time it counted down without running chkdsk and then proceeded to complete the start up process. Any suggestions on how I can correct this issue other thru a total system recovery?

 

You could obtain a windows installation disk (or repair disk if you can't obtain a copy of the former. I believe windows allows you to create the latter. Whichever you can get, boot to that and try to run chkdsk on your C drive from the installation or repair disk. It is more likely to run if done that way.

It's starting to sound like you may have serious structural issues with your hard drive(s). You might want to download a free copy of " Seatools for Windows" and run some of the disk tests in there to see if your hard drive(s) passes or not. If not, HP will send replacements under warranty.

Also, prior to doing a full system recovery which is probably going to be necessary in the end, you could attempt to do a repair install of windows which leaves your programs, data and most settings intact and see if that solves your problems. I believe, however, that a Windows installation disk is required to run a repair install. (Not sure if the repair disk you can make from w/i windows has this capability.) If you search, you can find copies of windows installation disks that can be downloaded on the internet. It's best to use a free utility such as e.g., " Hash Tab" to compare the file hashes of the downloaded iso to known hashes of original to make sure you have an unmodifed "clean" copy of the original. Again, searching can provide this information.

All (or most of) this hassle can be avoided in the future by maintaining good back up practices.

 

AFAIK, Peter, repair disks can't be used to boot to Windows. They save configuration data (likely corrupted if AlohaRay didn't make them BEFORE any of his current issues developed) for the current Windows installation, software, etc.

A windows install disk may let him run chkdsk/f if he can locate one of those OR can make ,or find a friend who lend him, a Bart-PE disc or Hiren's BootCD. They will boot in into an XP environment and let him run Chkdsk/f.

Until AlohaRay runs Chkdsk/f somehow, I doubt that a 'repair install' will run successfully.

ABSOLUTELY! Dittoes! Dittoes!

Regards,
- - Phil

 

At any rate.... just in case you haven't already done this.... definitely time to backup all your personal data... save your bookmarks, personal files, email, and any other personal files that are attached to any programs you have and put them on another drive "and" a thumb drive and prepare for the worst.

Honestly I wouldn't pull my hair out over fixing a system thats this screwed up... if it doesn't fix with relative ease, I wouldn't trust it for future use anyway.

The way I see it.... whatever system you have now is the foundation and platform for your future system 5 years from now....... another reason I like to ghost.

While I don't mind an occasional system restore back to an earlier time, But I get suspicious of the integrity of too much patching and fixing beyond that.

Sometimes starting at scratch is less work than putting 50 bandaids on an bad boo boo!

In other words, you can try what you want.. but if your not satisfied its fixed "perfect" I wouldn't keep the system.. it will only haunt you later.

Like a fine sportscar, you want it to run perfect... not "almost perfect"... and you won't ignore a problem because you know it will haunt you if you don't fix it.

I wouldn't look at all this as a bad thing... the only way I ever learned anything about cars is having them break... its the same with computers.... just protect your valuable info now while you can and consider the rest an exercise in exploration, adventure and learning experience.
The worst that can happen is you have to start from scratch.

If you do start from scratch.. backup your system along the way and keep several copies "as you update and install" on another drive.
Normally for basic driver updates.. I just make sure I have a windows restore point done.... and its rare you actually have to use it.

Stay away from freebie programs out there that have not been proven that claim to clean up your system... stick with the ones that the veterans use.
Letting a program mess with your registry is no light thing.
Also letting a program uninstall other programs that windows could have done is not wise either.

Something no one has mentioned is bad memory.... bad memory can screw up all kind of stuff since info is kept in memory ram "cache" and then rewritten to the hardrive upon shutdown or closing of programs.

When totally weird stuff is happening to your system, especially corruption of system files, checking memory has paid off for me more than once over the years when working on friends computers.

" Memtest86+" is a good free diagnostic to check your memory sticks.

 

I followed your suggestion Peter and downloaded plus ran Seatools. I ran the SMART test, Short Drive Self Test and Long Drive Self Test and passed on all of them. I'm hesitant to run the Advanced Tests since I'm a newbie.

I have backed up my critical files in the past but have not done a ghost image as you folks have.

 

At least the drives are probably basically OK then. Still need to run Chkdsk on them though.

 

I'm trying to do so. I found the following recommended solution to my chkdsk hangup problem and I plan to try that next:

CHKDSK C: /F - Hangs @ 1 second

I was having the same issue with my Dell Studioxps 1640. This is what I found to solve the problem.


On Boot Up:
•Press F8 repetedly when you see the Dell Logo = Boot into Safe Mode
•Advanced Boot Options
•Repair your Computer
•CMD Prompt
•CHKDSK C: /F

/F Fixes errors on the disk.
/V On FAT/FAT32: Displays the full path and name of every file on the disk. On NTFS: Displays cleanup messages if any.
/R Locates bad sectors and recovers readable information (implies /F).
/L:size NTFS only only: Changes the log file size to the specified number of kilobytes. If size is not specified, displays current size.
/X Forces the volume to dismount first if necessary. All opened handles to the volume would then be invalid (implies /F).
/I NTFS only: Performs a less vigorous check of index entries.
/C NTFS only: Skips checking of cycles within the folder structure.
/B NTFS only: Re-evaluates bad clusters on the volume (implies /R)

 

There is a common denominator.
If you had this same rare problem on another computer, that makes me think there is some program you have ran on both that has corrupted your system.

Is there a utility you can think of that has the power to change/delete files that you have ran on both systems that has not been named as a trusted app on this thread?

If so, would be curious to hear about it.

Another thought is exposure to a similar virus..... are you sure you are clean?

 

Alan

There is some confusion with my posting. The info shown regarding the Dell computer after the Chkdsk hanging statement is someone else's posting on the internet and their found solution. Its not my experience. I found it seeking a solution to my problem and was showing it here to generate any comments from the gang.

 

Well you can certainly try that method of running chkdsk. If it works and that gets it to run, great. If not, you are no worse off than you are now.

 

I don't understand the links of the inner workings of windows well enough, but it almost sounds like chkdsk.exe itself could be corrupted, hence the beauty of running it from a CD disk or some remote location other than your drive.

 

Hmmmm. I see. What did you decide to do?

 

After doing a ton of reading.. I just took mine back and exchanged it for one that is a "Rev .21". (wndr3700)

I was able to get it locally, for 149.00 minus 30.00 = 119.00
The Wndr3400 only cost 80.00 bucks but the processor is slower and I wanted the faster processor and gigabit connections even though I won't use them for now.
Seems they are the same unit after Rev .21.... with the "N" protocol locked in starting at that version and same firmware, motherboard, processor, Ram and same features.. just different boxes.

 

I previously posted a simple solution for you. Have you looked into Hiren's BootCD or the BART-PE disks to allow you to scan your disk for errors and fix them? Some reason you haven't pursued it? Any way I can help?

Also wondered if you've scanned for malware with Spybot-Search & Destroy and removed virus infections with something like Avast? Hiren's BootCD includes virus and malware removers, too.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Exactly, Alan. I had suggested he try Hiren's BootCD or BART-PE disks to remove the damaged files last week but was surprised to find when I checked in after the weekend, AlohaRay hasn't done so and is still struggling with his original issue.

Certainly is clear that he needs to boot-up from a bootable CD like one of the two I suggested and run chkdsk/F, sfc/scannow, and remove all viruses and malware from his laptop.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Sounds like you did do a lot of reading/research. I personally think you made the correct choice going with the Rev .21 board. I had to go and look at mine after reading the netgear forum link you posted earlier and I 'lucked out' on mine it appears. I had no idea at the time I purchased of the those differences. So thanks for the link and insight. Glad it worked out for you!

 

@aloharay

x2 This is spot-on. I must say I completely agree with Phil. As he proposed, is there some reason you will not pursue his advice?

 

Well I can't speak for him, but I can from my own experience...
Its quite easy to get overwhelmed with the onslaught of advice, programs to install, and things to check from so many different directions.
I usually want something that works and is simple.. maybe not the fanciest, but something I can trust, learn, and bank on in the future.

From getting to know you Phil, I think you follow the same philosophy.

You do give good advice and its always sound on the conservative side which is good for a novice to trust in.

Hiren's boot CD is a cool tool.
It does take a certain amount of guts and nerve to try some of these things with no prior experience... I think sometimes we forget how scary it was the first time we did it!!!

But you know I've PM'd you several times about questions I've had as I trust your insight.

It would be good to consider your advice!


Once a person or novice has a sound system, the among the very first things to learn is how to back up and image your whole C drive. Install all programs to C drive and no other.. then use another drive for backup and a place to toss your image files of C drive to.

Once you learn how to do that.. you can tread where angels fear to tread!

 

I think you may be right about that, Alan. I don't know his "level" but I see that he needs help with this problem. I originally suggested running chkdsk and, with his system running, it was not able to complete - clearly indicating a more pervasive problem and one that will require applying tools to access/evaluate/repair running from a bootable CD or DVD (as I believe I suggested along with you and Peter).

I didn't mean to sound critical when I posted - it just seemed that several days had passed and he hadn't tried to use any of the tools that don't require running his OS and loading problems into RAM that interfere with fixing it.

Thanks for that, Alan. I am a "first do no harm", like medical oaths require, kind of guy.
If you follow safe computing practices as reflected in making full clones before experimenting, experimenting is great!

You're preaching to the choir!

Thanks. I try to provide rational and simple advice but some problems are not simple and require "precision guesswork" and careful execution of a series of steps to get them resolved.

Absolutely - it's fun when you have replaced risks with confidence and can focus on learning from the experiment you're conducting.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Yea sadly that didn't work. Thanks for the effort though. I was hoping Directv2pc looked somewhere in the inf or the registry for a setting that said HDCP=Yes or something like that. Oh well!

 

I've been busy with my business consulting practice so please excuse my lack of communication. I took your advice and attempted to do a current backup. Unfortunately, my external drive is now maxed out and I need to order a larger one. My plan is to get an Iomega #34280 which is a 1 TB drive with esata unless you give me some reasons not to.

At this point, my laptop is performing OK with three exceptions: 1) I can't uninstall HP Media Smart DVD which is corrupted; 2) I can't play DVD videos and 3) chkdsk will not complete using the normal process. I've been warned to do a current backup before doing the chkdsk /f in Safe Mode so I need to get my new drive first.

As you have undoubtedly have determined, my tech knowledge is well below most of yours and this has been a fine learning experience. I appreciate all of your input. I have resisted taking any steps which require a higher level of knowledge to avoid fouling up my computer even moreso.

Meanwhile HP Tech Support has assigned me to one of their corporate case managers since I told them I would do a full System Recovery only as a last resort. I expect this will be one more learning experience. Thanks for educating the relative newbie.

 

*Double post*

 

You're welcome. Sucks that it doesn't work for you though. Your thinking is spot-on with mine though, hoping that the Directv2pc program would look to see if audio was allowed to pass. I did set it to 'always allow' in that modified driver, but to no avail apparently....

 

Sorry you have been "on hold" until you can complete a current backup. I don't recommend standalone external drives in general for cost reasons. It's cheaper and more flexible to buy an external housing for 2.5" and 3.5" (takes either one and some even take two of each for RAID) internal drives. The internal drives just drop in from the top and then the housing can be reused after the hard drives are full or worn out. I recommend getting one that offers eSata and USB connectivity and cables. Mine cost about $40 and offers USB2, eSata, and 1394 (aka Firewire 800) connections. Simple, easy, and quick. Only inconvenience is that it uses an AC adapter (some USB only units are powered from the USB port but are VERY slow). Then I buy a laptop drive (actual 4 of them in my case) that is same as what I have in my laptop (7200 rpm 500Gb Seagate Momentus) and use Ghost 11.5 on the free Hiren's BootCD (which I previously recommended for you) to clone the drives in my Dv8 (which I do every Saturday morning LOL!). I rotate to a different spare drive each Saturday and overwrite when I get back to the first one.

Others just make backup images to the HDDs till they are full and them move back to the next drive. I prefer the ease of swapping out the drives to the restoration of the backup (your problem with chkdsk illustrates why I would never use restoration backups because they will often fail to restore if the destination has bad sectors (unfixable by chkdsk). Sorry to be so long-winded on this but I've never lost a file or any data in nearly 30 years in the IT business and believe that is because of my using the method of rotating clone-backups that I described.

I find simplicity and good results when just doing incremental backups of data files in a system which is otherwise functioning perfectly and restoring them if I screw up and delete them or something.

I think you're wise to operate within your own limitations or comfort level. My suggestions posted again yesterday pose no risks to your system and permit you to repair it if you follow them. Just remember that, unless you perform a clone or backup from a bootable CD like the free Hiren's BootCD, the backup will probably fail because of the same problems that prevent successful completion of chkdsk.

While System Recovery will remove almost any issues with your laptop, it preserves NOTHING and means you will have to start from scratch installing software, data, and updates to drivers and the OS. A grim prospect to contemplate! Because HP Tech Support does not try to help you fix the problems instead of wiping out your entire HDD and starting over, we often make disparaging remarks about them here. Here, we know that almost everything but hardware problems can be fixed rather easily and, if they don't succeed, will identify what hardware is not working so it can be replaced.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

I was wondering if it's possible to hook up two external monitors to the dv8t?

 

Not directly, but I would think you could do it with a Buffalo sharing box.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

I believe you can hook one up with VGA and one via HDMI at the same time which is one way of getting two at once, although VGA is not so wonderful as a digital connection.

 

ok, thanks. I was looking as Alienware. They support two monitors, but they're very expensive.

 

Anyone know if a refresh of the dv8t (or 18" in general) is imminent? Would hate to buy one and have the refresh right around the corner!

 

I've heard nothing credible nor read any rumors that DV8 would be refreshed to add greater capability or more performance.
There was discussion here about a month ago that the DV8 would be dropped. Nothing since has supported that supposition, either.

There have been posts here about what the folks would like most for HP to improve in the DV8 but nothing from HP confirming that they have any thoughts of implementing a "peoples choice" version.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

Peoples choice?... Imagine that!.. what a novelty......

"Have it your way!"

Can't imagine.... they always err to the side of starting a new version that requires another hardware purchase.

They aren't into doing things out of the goodness of their heart..... all about money... if you can remember that....
Things become clear and simple!

 

Certainly no conflict between upgrading the capabilities of the DV8 and making money. People's choice would be a good marketing approach and they basically do that on the DV8 now... the problem seems to be where they don't offer options - as with video card and keyboard backlighting. Offering variety seems to be working well for them, Alan.

Regards,
- - Phil

 

I have a quick question I thought someone could help me with before I decide to return my dv8t that I just got last week (I can list its specs, but it's nothing out of the ordinary, default specs except with a bigger HD). Within the first 5 minutes out of the box it froze when I went to youtube with IE. From then it's frozen about 10 times, I've reformatted it, did a clean install of Windows 7 with the newest drivers (as of two days ago.) It still freezes periodically, and I can't figure out why. It has frozen when I'm playing music with winamp, it's frozen when I'm not doing ANYTHING. Everything just stops working and there's no error reports or anything like that. If music is playing it studders the last note that it played infinitely when it freezes until you manually power it down. Anyone else have this problem? I really like the laptop, but anything that starts off with problems I'm very weary of keeping...

Also the HP webcam program seemed to work fine before the clean install, but afterwards when I record a video, a large percentage of the time it's jerky and seems to only have like 1 frame per second, but the audio is just fine.

 

Sounds likely to be a hardware issue would be my guess. Could be faulty memory, or a problem somewhere on the system board. You could try running various diagnostics to see if you can isolate the problem, but since you are within the 20 or 21 day return period, I would probably just return it to HP and order another one and chalk it up to bad luck.

Perhaps someone else will have some other suggestions but that's what I would recommend.

 

i know the dv8 does hdmi out but how would i configure it to do hdmi in?

id like to play my xbox games using the screen

if thats even possible

 

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Sorry. Rookie trying to make a buying decision. Read some great posts from late July regarding the longevity of the dv8 line. Any new news now that its September, or is this still a great deal? Looking to pull the trigger in the next 30 days or so. (Or would I be better off at this point waiting for Black Friday sales?)

dv8t - i7 Q 720 - 6 GB RAM - 640 dual HD - GeForce GT 230M 1 GB -

logic buy coupon next two days for additional $200 ($370 total) off to make it $1079. No free blu ray this time.

Would everyone still pull the trigger, or wait for better coupons or new releases the next few months? This price seems to trump most laptops with similar specs.

Thanks for the help/feedback.

 

Sounds like it's still a pretty good value to me compared to the competition.

Unfortunately, there's no way to know when the DV8 is going to be refreshed/replaced though so you just have to take your chances in that regard.

 

Thats why I bought mine. Usually there is a negative if your getting great specs for the price. I believe that is the fact that is heavy, big and the battery has a bit to be desired.....
If you want to travel allot it may not be your best bet.

However if your plugged in most of the time and use it as a desktop replacement, its an awesome deal IMO.

I highly recommend a solid state hardrive.
Even if your tight on the bucks... you won't regret the little extra bucks as it will vastly increase your speed.

 

Unfortunately it's not possible. The hdmi port is for output only.

 

anyone know what version of HDMI this supports? I'm looking to get an HDMI splitter and I just want to make sure it will work. The splitter I'm looking to get is HDMI v1.2a.

I have a first generation DV8. Do you think this splitter will work? For reference...
Micro Center - QVS 2 Port HDMI HDTV/HDCP Splitter/Distribution Amplifier HDMI-12C

well, actually, i'm getting it on Meritline, but it looks like the same one.

 

nevermind... i wound up going with a different model that supports HDMI version 1.3, so it won't be an issue.