On screen volume meter for HP/Compaq laptops

Does anyone know if there is anyway to get an on screen volume meter just for like when you change the volume it pops up. For example how Dell's do. I seen this on my friends computer, is it just Dell or is it sometime I can enable or download too?

 

there is always the little volume shortcut in the bottom right corner. i think all computers with windows has that.

 

I have external buttons on my computer.

I just wish I knew if there were a keystroke for the WIFI to turn on and off other than using Quickset.

 

I realize that shortcut is there. But I'm talking about when your hit the little volume up or volume down on your computer it makes a little meter pop up. Any way to get one?

 

Hi JDParker,
I have Media Center on a DV5030Z and the Volume meter pops up in flourescent green when I adjust it. I didn't do anything to "cause" this. It has always done so. Same thing if I mute it, the word Mute pops up.

 

We should have a FAQ on this. HP has removed this feature in most laptop. You'll need to install either the Microsoft Intellitype or Logitech iTouch to add back volume OSD.

 

preachp, Can you tell what software causes that? We might give it a try on our models

 

Thanks. Is there either one you prefer or should both do just fine? Do I just need to install one and I'm good to go or will I have to remove something else?

 

Yeah mine works too...I guess they left if for all the dv5000z with MCE...

I would like a brightness meter...

 

like i said you can always use the little volume nob that windows provides. its nothing special but it works

 

http://www.softwarepatch.com/utilities/itouch.html

Works like a charm.

 

You just need to install one of the two and you are good to go. The MS one shows a small scale bar on the lower right corner. The Logitech one shows a ruler bar on the bottom across the screen. The Logitech one also shows Cap Lock, etc. I've tried both and I finally settled with MS. It is really up to your personal choice.
Here is the link for Intellitype 5.5

 

When I go to install it asks for what kind of keyboard I am setting up and I have no clue. I have even looked in the device manager but it only shows some quick launch buttons or something under keyboards.

 

Just pick the "Internet Keyboard" or "Multimedia keyboard". It'll work. I remember I did re-install QLB after trying one of these 2 programs to reactivate the QuickLaunch buttons though. It is not a problem for those who have no QuickLaunch DVD/Music buttons on their laptop.

 

I didn't know that HP has that feature since my dv5020us lappy came with windows home! but my friend brought his hp lappy that has the windows media center in it to reinstall windows for him and I saw that feature. So I called HP technical support and asked em about wether I can add it in my lappy by enabling something in the bios or something, but they were like your laptop doesn't come with that feature for some reason that they as usual don't know. So, I did a quick search on my friends lappy and found a file in the windows directory that enables this feaure, I found it by looking @ his startup items. So i coppied it to my lappy's windows directory and violla.
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In order to show the volume meter in your HP lappy follow these steps:
- you need winrar programe, google for it

-Extract the two files, ehres.dll and ehtray to

C:\WINDOWS\ehome
Dont close winrar yet
C:\ is where my OS is installed, change that in your lappy if windows is installed in D, E
.. etc

-extract ehtray file to this directory too
C:\Documents and Settings\ Your User Name \Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Restart your lappy and wait till all start up programs load then try to increase, decrease volume , and you should see it on the screen


download the file HERE or HERE

 

I verified zolo's way works on DV4000 too. However, to create less clutter in the user profile, one should create a shortcut in the Startup menu instead of coping the exe file there. To create the shortcut in Startup menu, follow the instruction below after you've extracted the files to \Windows\ehome\:
1. Click on Start\All Programs
2. Right click on Startup and choose open
3. In the Startup window, click on File\New\Shortcut
4. Click "browse" and point to the ehtray.exe file in \Windows\ehome
5. Click "Next" and then "Finish"

You can start using it immediately by clicking the link in Startup menu. No restarting requires.

Thanks again zolo. Now I can remove the MS iType.

 

I have a DV1000t and there is no "ehome" folder in C:\Windows. I created the folder and it didn't work.

So I used the Intellitype software, reinstalled the QLB software and it works.

 

Anyone here have any complaints about the intellitype pro 5.5???
What are the advantages in installing this besides the volume meter that pops up?

 

The on screen volume meter is the reason most people install the MS or logitech keyboard software. The only disadvantage I can think of is that both software have to load at startup run in the background and will take little bit of memory. In some models it might disable some buttons or some functionality, so use it with caution and uninstall if it causes some issues.

On my laptop(R3000z) I havent seen any loss of functionality or disruptions from either software. I am pretty happy with it.

 

NP billcsho. but for some reason when I had windows media center installed, it used to show " MUTE " for a second when I hit the mute button, but it doesn't show it in my wid xp pro sp2 for some reason... I can only see the bar when increasing/decreasing volume, but not "mute" when hitting the mute button, oh well, it's all good.

 

hmm... I didnt test it on dv1000, just the dv5000 series,, and I didn't have to create that ehome file, since it's allready there, just had to add those 2 files to it. but what I would do is to go to best buy or circuit city and look @ the dv1000t series there, one that has windows media center, and see if it shows the On screen volume meter when increasing/decreasing volume, then look @ the msconfig " start up items " and try to find that program.. it might not be a feature in dv1000t since you have more buttons there than I have in my dv5020 i think..

 

I have both WinXP Home and Pro in my DV4000, but I have only tried it in the Home partition. I'll test it again in the other boot partition later. For the XP Home, I also did not have the ehome directory, but I created it and extracted files there and it works. It does show the "Mute" on screen too.
As I said earlier, both the iType and iTouch work too, but they have a small conflict with QLB that you have to re-install it. Everytime I updated QLB, I need to re-install iType too. I also have an error message showing during shut down when I am using iType in my XP Home but not in the XP Pro partition. I think that is due to other software conflict in my DV4000 only. The ehtray is very similar to the iTouch in the OSD, while the iType's mini scale bar is more visible disregarding background color although it is much smaller.

 

Did you create a shortcut in the Startup Menu as I said or copy the ehtray.exe there instead? If you make a shortcut in the Startup menu, it will run the ehtray in the \Windows\ehome directory and will see the dll file. If you copy the .exe to the Startup menu, it will run the ehtray.exe in the Startup directory and will not see the dll. It works for zolo because he has \ehome already in the path as he is running media center. For those who do not have the \ehome directory, either follow my way to create shortcut or add the \ehome directory to the path.

 

lmao, i just followed your way billcsho and I can see mute on screen now, wierd ass xp pro... ty man..

 

Perhaps it was using another dll in a different directory that gave partial function. Now that it is running from the \ehome directory (with the shortcut method) and it will use the dll you posted.

Great collaborating effort to make it work.

 

I tried both ways, copying the .exe to the Startup and also by creating a shortcut to the .exe. Neither work on the DV1000t.

Msconfig shows that ehtray is running, but nothing happens when volume or mute is pressed.

 

Do you have both the ehres.dll and ehtray.exe in the \ehome directory?

 

Yes, both are there.

 

ZOLO's suggestion with ehtray.exe worked fine with my ZV6000 and it only uses 2,180K of memory according to windows task manager!

 

Great. So far we have reports from the following machines:

Work: DV5000, DV4000, ZV6000
Problem: DV1000T

On my DV4000, the ehtray only uses 1876k.

 

It even works with a compaq v2000 !

 

I also was looking for such a utility.

Before I came across this Thread, I discovered this nifty Yahoo Widget called Volume Pro . It can sit anywhere on my display and be on top of every window. I see the current volume setting as a progress-bar along with the volume as a numeric percentage, 34% for example. What I really like is the progress-bar moves up or down, or left or right, (user selectable) regardless of whether I use my hardware Vol-Up/Vol-Down buttons, OR I can quickly adjust the volume with my mouse, AND I can always see exactly where my volume is set at. There is a "speaker" icon that when clicked toggles the MUTE function displaying a big red X over the icon indicating mute. The MUTE works via a mouse click or via the hardware MUTE button. I have the Volume widget locked in place so it's always in the same place regardless of what window I am looking at. I keep it on the top Title Bar, just to the left of the Minimize button. I am very happy with it.

Enjoy!

 

lmao, I moved ehome directory to my friends ACER 3004WLCi lappy and it worked there too . So it should work with any hp laptop too i guess, since it works in ACER now. My friend was having trouble with this feature in his lappy cause the acer manager program that displayes the on screen volume meter was using 99% of processor's load when he start up his lappy and he always had to end the program through Task Manager and start it again for it to work right. But now, everything is fine there with the hp program

 

I can confirm that it works on my Compaq v4000t. I decided to combine both of your guides zolo and billcsho with some added comments from me. I hope you don't mind. I had a little trouble trying to figure them both out together so I think this should help.

--------------------------------------------------------

In order to show the volume meter in your HP lappy follow these steps:

- you need winrar program, google for it
-Download the files here
-Just scroll down and click free. Then wait for the download options to be displayed. Choose the first one and enter the code. Then your download will start.

1. Extract the two files, ehres.dll and ehtray to C:\WINDOWS\ehome
-Click on "ehres.dll" while holding down ctrl.
-Then click "ehtray.exe" and release ctrl.
-Finally click "extract to"
-Then extract the files to "C:\WINDOWS\ehome" (You are creating ehome since the folder dosen't exist)
-Now the files are on your laptop. You may want to keep a copy incase you want to reformat sometime later down the road. Just extract the files to your desktop and make a folder to put the files in. Name it whatever you want and save it to a CD-R disk.

2. Click on "Start\All Programs"
3. Right click on "Startup" and choose "open"
4. In the Startup window, click on "File\New\Shortcut"
5. Click "browse" and point to the "ehtray.exe" file in "C:\WINDOWS\ehome"
6. Click "Next" and then "Finish"

You can start using it immediately by clicking the ehtray.exe shortcut in Startup menu. No restarting required. (Just an added note. The program doesnt appear to do anything. However it just takes a double click for it to work. Test it out to see if you did it right.)

---------------------------------------------------------

I hope this is easier to follow. Thanks for all your hard work zolo and billcsho.
Tim

*edit: Corrected spelling*

 

The ehtray.exe and ehres.dll are actually part of the WinXP Media Center, although I am not sure if the dll has been modified or not.

 

Thanks for combining the procedure. Would you please edit the text? I've made a few typo in my original post that you cited. I keep typing "entray" instead of "ehtray".

 

The spelling is fixed.
Tim

 

Another reason to choose the manual way: Logitec's program messed up my hibernation/sleep functions. Whenever I pressed the sleep button, regardless of the Power options, Windows would just go to stand by. What's worse - I set the laptop to go to stand by in 20min and to hibernate in 30min but instead when I close the lid (stand by) and 30 min pass, Windows wakes up and remains on despite the closed lid. When I open it, it's just like a hot frying pan with temps of 50-55 for the HDD....not good.

Did anyone else experience similar problems? Is the EHTRAY ok with the Power Options and the Sleep button? Tnx

 

The reason I do not want to us the iType or iTouch for the volume level OSD is the risk of screwing up button function assignment. As both are keyboard control program and may have conflict with your own keyboard layout control functions. Although my problem was much smaller and it can be solved by re-installing the QuickLaunch button software, it can be avoided by using the entray described above. Give it a try.

 

stop me if im off topic, but do any of u guys know where i can find something similar that shows the brightness level when i change it?

 

eHTray works great on Compaq nx8220.
It would be great to have something similar for brightness level.

 

I really liked Intellitype, but it stopped the OED v3.1 from launching, so I had to get rid of it. I've now installed ehtray and that works okay on my nc4000

 

Just another confirmation..works with the V3000z as well.

 

Thanks! It works with the HP Pavilion zt3000, too!

 

Kinda late to the party but, it works on my dv2000t!

Don't get the "Mute", but the meter is *very* useful, esp. being the dv2000 has a touch sensitive volume control, so this allows me to see how loud my volume actually is (I use external speakers with their own volume control, so the laptops volume control isn't apparent simply by how loud it is, volume could be adjusted very low on the speakers, but on high volume on the computer)

Thanks to all for this post!

 

Volume control also works on HP Compaq nx6125 and nc8430.

I would ALSO like to see an on screen brightness level.

 

Can someone post a link to download ehtray i cant find it anywhere? Thanks

 

It's in page 2 posts # 15 & 16

Download the file from the Quote #1 and follow the instruction from Quote # 2

 

Hi Zolo,
I just found another typo in my post in #16. The directory in step 4 should be \Windows\ehome not \shome. I've just edited my original post. Would you please edit the text you quoted in the post above.
Sorry for the trouble.

Bill

 

ah sry didn't see it, but looks like it's already been edited bud