*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 2*

You know, I think the 8740w's integrated sound card is excellent; I have not heard better in a notebook (referring to the headphone out jack). For serious listening I use my hi-fi headphone setup and dedicated DAC/amp; for general use however the 8740w's internal sound is superb. There is nice detail and good separation.

The speakers, on the other hand, are abysmal . . .

 

yes, i agree.

The audio out via displayport through my surround sound system is also a refreshing change. it's better than my G73's hdmi out.

 

Yes, I've noticed the sound out (both with headphones and external powered speakers) is quite good.

I also have the same opinion about the internal speakers. Not only are they of low quality, they also have very low volume. I've tried to watch some hulu videos with the 8740w and have to resort to either the headphones or the powered speakers -- I simply can't hear the dialog otherwise, even turned all the way up. And that's in a quiet room!

 

thank you very much for all previous answers, I have one more, in display settings I have gamma set to 2.2 and I would like to change it but I can’t edit it like for example color temperature, how to do this?

 

Do you use a DisplayPort > HDMI adapter to get sound out?

I have one and I tried using it this weekend on an HDTV, however I could only get video out. The only audio output device that shows up other than the headphone jack/speakers is "ATI HDMI Output" which showed "Not plugged in" even when I was hooked up to the HDTV.
It might be my adapter; I could not get audio out working with my ProBook 5310m either.

 

Read THIS. It helped me a lot.

 

Very interesting; I think I will buy that adapter. Mine is a cheap one, it must be passive only.

 

I don't believe you can change that setting with the MDA. I'm pretty sure, though, that it's adjustable using the HP Advanced Profiling System for DreamColor displays as part of the calibration process. I've got one, but it hasn't been working for me so well and the software is uninstalled right at the moment. Unfortunately I don't have the availability to install the software to test this out, but I'm almost positive you could change that setting when profiling the display.

In any event, I'm pretty sure that the MDA won't allow you to change that setting for a DC2 display -- at least not through any means that I can find.

 

As ProdTog says, the MDA is a gamut profile switcher, not much else.

You can go to the Display Adapter's advanced configuration and override/negate use of the MDA, and change gamut using the normal Windows widget to control/configure the display adapters.

Now I think it's worth saying, I don't know if anyone but folks @ HP knows exactly what the MDA does under the covers, or if you can re-active use of it to get back to the calibration the MDA provides once you disable it. Moreso, you can't then use your computer to work on graphics & photos, publish it, and expect what you see to be what others see, but it's likely you're not concerned with that if you're interested in changing the gamma.

 

Just a note on the 8740w "boot to black" problem for anyone that has it (myself and m80 AFAIK) -- which is that intermittently on booting, the notebook turns on but the power to the display doesn't, so you're left with a black screen and you have to reboot (I use windows key-tab-tab-enter)...

I got my unit back from HP repair (US) today, who found an "issue with the VGA board," replaced the board, and said the notebook was now tested and working correctly, except that the first time I turned it on I got a black screen. In fact, it's worse than before: the black screens are more frequent than when I sent the notebook in for repair, and I can't run an external display off the notebook after it boots to a black screen like I could previously.

Guess I'll call HP support again tomorrow..grrrr...

 

what spec is your machine thecla?

one of our 5000M machines has the boot to black from time to time. if they claim it's a fault, then i'll get hp on it also.

I always thought it was a power issue on startup, but i'm having doubts now.

 

I have an M7820 (and i7 820 with DC2 screen).

Well, I don't know what they claim, but I certainly claim it's a fault.

 

Does someone knows if the HP DisplayPort to HDMI Adapter BP937AA works OK?

 

I just discovered a fix for an issue I was having. Whenever I watched Flash video (especially HD) in Firefox (and maybe others), the video would often stutter significantly while the video was downloading. The fix was to disable Windows 7 sound "enhancements". After doing that and restarting firefox, videos immediately stopped stuttering. I found the fix here:

• Fix: Flash Jumps, Stutters, and Skips in Firefox and Internet Explorer
  

For windows 7:

• Control Panel -> Sound
• Playback Tab -> Speakers
• Click Properties
• Click Disable all enhancements (I didn't have any actually selected)

This is more of a workaround for Flash than a fix and it sounds like it affects a number of people. I don't know if this is an issue specific to all 8740w's. I've had sound card issues previously, so YMMV. This change made a noticeable improvement for me though.

 

Ho - Lee - Cr*p! Nothing to say but that's the reason I live with the few problems I have. I don't have time or patience to deal with tech-un-support...

 

If you ever feel like experimenting, I'd ask you to re-enable the sound 'enhancements' and view the flash video in Chrome. Both a benchmark test and my person observation has shown me that every type of DHTML manipulation, graphics rendering & manipulation, and flash, et al, run dramatically faster in Chrome (I have no idea why). Begs the quesiton if this too is the same.

 

Could you please do a power drain and report if the problem is still there?

 

Update on 10-bit issue:
According to HP engineering, they are going to issue a ATI video driver update to fix the issue.

 

+rep for your effort in working with them [twisting their arm] on that. Thanx much!

 

Is that 10-bit issue exclusive to AMD cards?

NVM. I think most people with DC2 also chose AMD GPU along with it.

 

If it can be fixed with a video driver update - kudos to HP

 

Well, not everyone. I've got the 2800M, and I can't seem to get 10-bit either. Hopefully there will be new drivers for the nVidia GPUs as well (ones that won't kill the Mobile Display Assistant like the newest one does for me).

 

yes, there are things in the pipleline i believe for us.

but there is a new version of MDA out soon also.

(source hp HK)

 

Seems to be, at least with a 120W power supply I still get an intermittent "boot to a black screen" with a drained battery (or with battery out completely, or with battery and no adapter). I wasn't able to reproduce the boot to black with the standard 200W power supply and a drained battery (so maybe it is somehow power related), but I did get a couple of system service exception blue screens on booting with that set up.

I'm beginning to think there really is a hardware problem with my unit --- sounds like HP will try replacing the system board next.

 

what was the bluescreen you got thec? i'm interested to see them if possible

 

Sorry, I wasn't too clear. Power drain means draining the extra static charge from the internal components:

1) Turn off the system
2) Unplug the power cord
3) Remove the battery
4) Press and hold the power button for at least one minute.

BTW, from your description it looks like the problem is insufficient power when using a 120W PSU.

 

Let's just remember to benchmark the graphics card of our macines before and after applying said upcoming driver update.

 

You betcha!

 

don't forget to do some of the tests in our benchmarking thread please!

I don't want to be the only sad git who did it!

Sio

 

I will do it in a couple of days (have a project deadline tomorrow )

 

Maybe it is power related (I have no idea at this point...) but to be clear I get the "boot to black" with the 200W adapter also. I just I couldn't reproduce it with the 200W and a drained battery (my misunderstanding!), though it was back again this morining with the 200W adapter and a full battery. No idea if that was a coincidence or not. (As a side note, HP offers 65W and 90W slim adapters and says they're compatible with the 8740W. Has anyone tried one of those? I can't imagine they're adequate, except conceivably with a dual core non-dc2 configuration.)

I couldn't catch the stop codes (not sure if there's a way to record them) -- the blue screen stayed up for a second or so right after booting and then the machine rebooted itself.

Anyway, I send it back to HP repair so hopefully they'll sort it out this time.

 

I wanted to wait sharing this until trying to boot and then do some warm re-boots today, to likewise reduce chance of coincidence, but lemme set that aside and share now...

To re-cap what I mentioned a bunch of pages back, I'd never been able to re-boot in the past, and I would boot-to-black often in my LI home. But I didn't have any boot-to-blacks in my NYC apartment; and I was even able to reboot successfully (tho one of them did result in an ati driver induced bluescreen ... but the auto reboot after that was a success; where it would never succeeded in my LI home after a bluescreen).

So, I'm back in my LI place. I did a cold boot while plugged-in last night.

Try #1) Boot to black. Used the WindowsKey -> Right Arrow -> Enter keystrokes to shut down.

Try #2) I waited a few minutes and tried to turn it on. It started loading, all lights were lit, but then the bios didn't even seem to post. I have biometrics set in the bios and have to swipe my finger before I can boot me maching by any device. I didn't even get that screen. So I pressed the power button and without delay it shutdown; another hint the machine didn't even post.

Try #3) I waited a few minutes and started it up. Got the fingerprint scan screen and excuted it. It asked me what device to boot, I let it default and booted my HD, started Windows ... and a delay. I knew something was off. I then see the default profile's background, and a warning I was loaded w/the default profile.

Try #4) So I logged off. Scanned my finger again on the login page this time, and it finally completely loaded my profile.

I just wasn't up for more experimentation and trying to see if I could warm reboot successfully; it wasn't looking promising as it was. I might be adventurous and try a re-boot tonight. This experience re-inforces my theory, and if I'm now unable to ever warm reboot with success here in LI it will only reinforce it more. The only differences in the two locations b'twn NYC and LI is here on LI I know I have crappy power, and I use a N wireless router.

I bought the docking station which came w/the 230w power-supply, but never opened it. I'll have to dig out the PS and give that a go, to see if it may be a better supply or can better regulate a bad power feed.

 

Since Monday I have had one insta-crash per day. The rate of crashing seems to be increasing. I found one other guy on HP Support Forums with the same issue. I am waiting to see what configuration he has.

 

To all those suffering from the "boot-to-black-screen" manifestations:

Has anyone ever tried a power drain?
In my case the problem was instantly solved.
Also, I never leave my system with the power cord plugged in when the notebook is turned off and never unplug the PSU from the wall before unplugging the power cord from the notebook. Not a single problem ever since

 

What you say is stated on the User Guide (page 65). I think it's highly recommended to read the User Guide before using this computer. I did and I've had no hardware problems in a week (before sending the unit back to HP), no reboot issues and no black screens.

 

I ceratinly have; probably 3 or 4 times over these past months. I've had instances where it still would not boot after. And if it did boot immediately, I can't say for sure that when it booted after that, that it wouldn't have booted if I hadn't done a power drain.

But further, I'm not going to make that a daily action; not in a top-of-the-line machine. I imagine you wouldn't want to either.

I have left the machine off for a week w/o booting both with it plugged in and powered the whole time, and other times with the power strip turned off. I've tried unplugging the connector @ the laptop before turning the power strip on, waiting, then plugging into the laptop after some delay ... incase there was some instability.

At no time has any action led to consistent boot results. The only pattern I've found is in NYC I have no boot trouble and little re-boot trouble, and on Long Island I have major boot trouble, re-boot is a complete fail.

I am however guilty of leaving the power brick conntected to the laptop and turning the power strip off. I will try always to avoid this or to do a power drain if I do this, to see if that helps.


On a different but relate note in regards to power ... has anyone else left their 8740w unplugged for a week to week and a half? If you have, do you find your battery level is at 80 - 85% when you boot? I'm pretty surprised at the level of leakage of my battery. ... reminds me of cheap laptop battery replacements I bought direct from China over eBay that proved to be the crappiest of quality, or 3rd party D-SLR batteries I'd bought that all have heavy leakage vs the original Pentax-branded battery which would have no leakage after a few months of sitting. I would have expected an 'HP branded' battery to act as the latter, not the former. ... very dis-heartening.

 

@M8o,

You won't need to do power drain more than once in several months, if you follow all those simple rules. If the problem persists with all the precaution measures - something is wrong with the system. Maybe the PSU needs to be replaced or even the mobo.

Battery passive discharge is normal for most notebooks. Don't worry about that. My AW had its 8-cell battery discharged within 2 weeks of being a paper weight, lol.

 

Just a general comment (not directed at you at all personally and I can't try a power drain at the moment since FedEx has my 8740w) -- but one person's problem may not be the same as another's. It drives me nuts when A finds x solves problem y on their machine and says that if B did x properly it would solve y on their machine as well. Of course it might, but B might, in fact, have a real hardware fault that A didn't have. (Again, not to imply that you were intending to say anything different.)

I've had plenty of notebooks and I never worry about power draining them, I often leave them plugged in overnight to recharge, and pretty much always unplug the power cord first from the noteboook not the wall (though I'm sure on the odd occasion I've done it the other way round). And I don't think (as I'm sure you don't either) that I should have to worry too much about such things in a 3K+ notebook...

 

I guess my advice now would just be to save your brain power, grit your teeth, contact HP support, and have them fix it...

 

I agree with that... got no time to argue

 

You can see all the laptops I have in my sig, all but one still operational [just discovered the oldest won't boot anymore; probably the bios battery]. When new, none discharged when disconnected from power anywhere near as fast as this 8740w.

 

Welcome to the future
My 8 year old IBM R40 had ZERO hardware issues and still manages to pull 2 hours of battery life. I didn't even know what was the reason for warranty @ that time, lol.

 

ok, update about our 'boot to black' 5000M machine

(we have 4 btw, only one does it!)

I rang up business support in HK, yesterday. Engineer came out this morning.

he took her apart, replaced the motherboard and powersupply and said it was a bad ground line had damaged the motherboard power regulators so the 'power bad' signal was being reported to the bios, which resulted in it halting.

our PSU was one of the early models (which if you check the part surfer, this has now been REPLACED)

I hope those of you that are having issues get them fixed, but since we've had this repair, the 5000M has been sweet as a nut.

our other 5000M machines had the newer PSU.

I hope this helps people.

@m8o yes, most batteries will self discharge to about 60-80% due to reducing wear on the cells. if you are not going to be using the battery for < 1 month it's safer to discharge to 65% then keep it in a cool dark place. My 8740w discharges to 65% if i don't have it on for about 2 weeks. it's a function of the 'power monitor circuit' in the bios to help the battery maintain a long life.

 

Thanx for that detail on both accounts Siorah. Surprised to hear about that particular reason behind the power drain; I just thought it was internal charge leakage. And even more important a potential reason behind the boot-to-black issue .... Whoa. Time to bite the bullet and call HP support to see if I suffer a similar ailment.

Seems laptop power problems are in the air for me. ... my E6500's power supply failed silently this morning; none of the magic smoke that keeps electronics running was release... "it just shtopped". Waiting to get that replace from internal tech support of the company I work for. I'm actually using the HP's 8740w power brick on it @ the moment to keep the battery from draining; the Dell won't charge the battery detecting it's the wrong supply, but it'll run the laptop fine.

 

Thanks a lot for the update, Siorah. It'll be interesting to see what HP repair does with my 8740w, but I doubt I'll get as detailed an explanation as you got, and it makes me worry a bit about my PSU which I assume they won't think of replacing...

 

you can ask them to swap your PSU.

i can give you a hint to do

with your machine off, LISTEN to the power supply. (do this in a quiet room)

switch your machine on, and listen again. if you hear any 'crackles or pops or buzzing' that is a dirty ground line. and needs to be replaced.

the fault is on one of the rectifier circuits we got told today.

The engineer was pretty sound actually, said we were crazy to have so many 8740w's in one office (it's now 14!)

all our other psu's are very quiet. only a very tiny buzz, which is within normal parameters. if it's loud, mind you, you have a bad PSU.

The engineer also added, this psu sort of 'stalls' like an engine on boot, which can cause the system to halt.

but he also said boot to black on battery is a bad power regulation system on the motherboard, damaged by the PSU.

it's NOT a GPU issue from what he said. (they've had about 22 cases in HK of this)

 

Thanks for the update, Siorah.
I hope that all the affected systems will get proper replacements.

 

I do find it surprising people would pick fights in a thread I visit daily . . . seriously?

Please, keep it to PMs or just send a moderator a message if you have problems with someone.

Thanks. I cleaned up the thread so we can continue like it never happened.

 

@ Siorah

What is the part# of the new power supply that guys received?

 

@Charles,
I apologize for getting carried away. Won't happen again

@Siorah,
Could you please provide more details on the normal vs abnormal PSU noise? I checked mine and compared it to M17X and Lenovo W510 bricks. The later two are totally silent at all times, while the HP is making a distinct buzzing noise. It's not too loud, but it's also not perfectly smooth, with some short stops and minor sound fluctuations.

Thanks