*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 2*

@NikonMan,

It should be fairly easy, -
Removing,
After loosening the 3 screws and lifting the keyboard slightly on the side close to the LCD and then pulling it towards the LCD, you should have it out of the frame held by the 3 cables.
Now, shift the keyboard away from the LCD (always parallel to the frame) so that it's overlapping the touchpad as far as the cables allow. You can now disconnect the cable near the fan by lifting the plastic clip upwards a few millimeters. Then flip the keyboard over and mess with RAM .
Retrace the steps backwards to insert the keyboard. To put the cable back, lift the clip again, insert the cable and press the clip down to lock it. It's a bit awkward but should work.

 

*jaw hanging slack*

well...mine has an ambient temp of...80C.



yea, I'm gonna have to get one of these.

in fact, if all goes well this weekend, I'll be placing my order next week.

 

Wow thanks guys for the quick replys! This forum rocks!

It seems that the ribbon cable wont insert fully into the plastic mechansim, such that when I depress the white latch, it remains without comming lose. I can't image why, as it seems fairly straightforward :-(

I will try again tomorrow as I am already quite frustrated and dont want to risk mangling anything. I'm wondering if the replacement keyboard will have the plastic connector pre-attached?

Anyone want a backlit keyboard if I can get this figured out?

 

One more thing - does anyone recall if the bend (the "L") in the ribbon cable, when properly inserted into the connector, is such that the cable lays over the top dimm? this seems to be the "natural" way the cable is supposed to be orientated. Thanks again guys ...

 

I'm not sure if you've read my posts. I use AutoCAD LT 2011. The performance it pretty bad. I had to turn off several of the default settings to make it usable, but still it isn't right. The animated boxes that give you live information as you measure or snap stress the GPU and the cursor pauses to update the info, then jumps to catch up to your movement. Very annoying.

I noticed this app makes my fan turn on almost instantly. Not sure if it's GPU or CPU related. It doesn't seem like it would be a big deal to run though.

 

Think theres any way to convince hp to allow all mxm graphics cards in the bios instead of whitelisting them? id like a cheap cuda upgrade with a consumer card.

 

To be fair, I don't think any of us _knows_ that any graphics cards are whitelisted. It's just a worry because it's something that HP has had a tendency to do in the past. The only thing is, we won't know for sure unless or until somebody either tries to throw a "non-supported" card in there, or cracks open/decompiles the BIOS to take a look.

 

Check that the latch is fully inserted. Also, maybe you're inserting the cable from the wrong side of the latch,...just a thought.

I think it's normal, mine is bent similarly.

That's a very good question and will be asked when their reps are here at the end of the month.

Both options look very tempting. We'll most likely also need to mod the HS.

 

Dunno if anyone is interested in Unigine benchmarks:
1 - 1280x1024
2 - 1920x1200

 

I have a brand new HP 8740w w/ the M7820 and am loving the DreamColor2 screen. However when I try to play a flash video inside Firefox, it crashes my system every single time. I have the latest Firefox and Flash player plugin installed, and the latest BIOS, so I'm guessing its a problem with my ATI drivers. What's the best way to update the ATI M7820 drivers? Is there an easy way to "check for driver updates" on the workstation? Or should I download from the hp support website or from the amd website? Thanks.

 

what kind of crash exactly? BSOD?

you also can manually update the drivers you download from the hp site

this one, I guess

just to make sure: Firefox is 3.6.10 and Flash Player is 10.1.85.3 ?

Re-initializing the Firefox plugins database may help, too

Troubleshooting plugins

 

Does this look correct? Thanks again guys!

 

Yes, 10 char...

 

Thanks Aikimox!

Well I managed to get the cable back, but no backlight. Guess the KB backlight is toast ...

Everything else is working fine (including the regular part of the keyboard). I hope there isn't some other issue.

I will wait for the replacement backlit KB from HP and see what happens (will probably take 2 weeks to ship from China anyways).

I installed a 500GB Momentus XT (as Intel has delayed the G3 SSD's until 1st QTR 2011) as well as 8GB GSkill DIMMS for 12GB total - definately faster booting W7 x64 than the HDS 320 GB 7k2 stock one.

I guess I can always put everything back to original and return it to HP as "defective" if the keyboard won't function (I need a backlit KB) ... Nicest laptop I have owned to date other than the annoying ribbon cable issue ....

 

All,

Here is the 'official' instructions on how to remove the keyboard on the EliteBook 8740w, in case anyone needs to reference it.

HP EliteBook 8740w Mobile Workstation- HP EliteBook 8740w Mobile Workstation - Removing and Replacing the Keyboard - c02432432 - HP Business Support Center

Mind the fact that there is no mention of the additional care required if you have the backlit model, etc.

 

I have to say that this whole issue with ATI GPU concerns me quite a bit, and I am surprised that more people are not complaining, as most seem to have this card. I am sure that the processor itself is ok, so this lack of providing proper drivers is hard to understand. Has anyone talked to HP in regards to this? Are they planning to address it?

Again, is anyone experiencing the same issues with MicroStation?. Any other applications that are affected by this?

 

Historically, ATI (AMD) driver support has been severly lacking. I am normally a nVidia user, however, the specs for the ATI seemed on par, if not better than the nVidia CUDA enabled QuadroFX, for $400 less - so I jumped on it. The minute I opened the Catalyst Control Panel app - I was saying to myself - "well this certainly isn't anywhere near as nice and full featured as the nVidia Control Panel" LOL ....

I suspect this issues with the 2D/3D performance are driver related, unless HP serioulsy dropped the ball in going 'first to market' with this new FirePro card. The equivalent non-CAD/CAM version of the card (Mobility Radeon) is a very fast and well reviewed mobile GPU, so I find it hard to believe the performance issues are hardware related.

Mind you I have yet to do any real work or testing with my 8740w as it is waiting on a replacement backlit keyboard, so other than the weak ATI/AMD Catalyst control panel software, I have no numbers per-se to back up/refute any performance issues.

The laptop, other that these issues, is by far the best I have ever used (and that has mainly been Dell Latitude/Precisions).

 

For those with 2D issues & concerns, just a reminder that it is possible to install more recent ATI drivers (in case you missed earlier posts about it) . See here:

• Installing Latest Catalyst Drivers for M7820 per sheltem

Benchmark tests show that these newer drivers make a major difference in 2D performance on the M7820. I don't know if anyone has confirmed real world differences, such as differences with AutoCad LT, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was a noticeable improvement.

Like others, I would prefer to install official drivers from HP, but this might be a temporary workaround. I've been running these drivers since that post was made without any issues.

 

Yep, I tried these and the 2D went skyrocketing but gaming performance was slightly crippled with some annoying freezes.

 

The HP support assistant notified me that there are new ATI drivers. I installed them, and notice no improvement in 2D performance.

 

Those are the old ones. There are now new drivers on the driver page.


@Everyone,

Those of you who installed the MR5870 gaming drivers for the FirePro - do you have any freezes, lagging in games?

 

Could you please provide the version number and link for the new drivers? Are there any improvements?

 

These are the latest for the FirePro.

 

I mistyped the sentence, lol. It's no instead of now

 

The latest FirePro drivers released by HP are still quite old at version 8.743.3.1. The equivalent Radeon drivers from ATI that were linked to in Sheldon's post were at version 8.762. There's no guarantee the Catalyst version numbers between the FirePro and Radeon product lines follow the same sequence ...but seems likely that they do. The improvement in 2D performance has only been seen with the newer Radeon drivers.

I haven't done any serious gaming with the laptop. I have used PhotoShop CS5, Alibre3D CAD, Blender3D, and run a a number of 3D demos without noticing any issues. But I really haven't stressed the 3D performance. I wonder if the issues you noticed previously were heat related and would now be better with the manual fan control? Just a guess. I'm hoping HP will soon release official more up-to-date ATI drivers.

 

My temps during games never went above 85C with constant monitoring as a must, so it's hardly an overheating issue.
I too hope to see some updates from HP soon.

 

Great, so not only does HP Support Assistant take weeks to notice real updates, it also recommends old updates I already had installed.

 

Yeah, I've noticed that too. But it's ok, it gives HP some safety buffer. Imagine, if they post the wrong BIOS update for your system and you jump on it and brick the lappy one day before an important presentation... lots of fun

 

No performance problems with Starcraft 2. I'm buying Civ 5 soon, so I'll let you know if I have any problems.

 

Actually, I understand (and have witnessed) the 3D performance to be exceptional. It's only the 2D performance that is sub-par; slower than my T9400 @ 2.53GHz w/integrated grafix.

Not that that makes it any better, especially since I use & need 2D performance 99% of the time. But just being accurate here.

 

I've trying to get my HP tech to give me any info on 2D drivers. My specific problem is with AutoCAD LT. I'm baffled by what he has said and thought I'd ask you guys if you know what he's talking about.

The M7820 is a Certified and Recommended GPU for AutoCAD. It says so on their GPU database. He keeps talking about chipsets though. I don't see anything about chipsets on Autodesk's website. Anyway, here are the direct quotes from my email.

 

Nope, no problem so far with ET:QW, Mafia2, GTA IV, Civ5.
Maybe if you can point a specific game, I can test it as well.

 

I noticed it in Torchlight and Worms Reloaded. Maybe I should give it another try though.

@Knight,

I think what he means is - "I don't know and stop bothering me" We will know more in a week

 

Civ5 plays well on max settings for everything. Not perfect, as there are occasional stutters, but good enough.

 

Just to doublecheck, you are using the 10.8 drivers with the driver mod?

 

Does anyone's screen randomly yellow-shift, requiring going into mobile display assistant to fix? Mine does from time to time :/

 

As far as I understand, the shift occurs when you or an application change the brightness through windows control panel or fun+f9/10 keys.
Otherwise it should be fine, at least in my case it is, so far...

What drivers are you using, Koshinn? Also, how are your gaming temps? Have you tried the manual fan control?

 

It happened once when I created a new folder on the desktop, and once when i emptied the trash though.

I'm using drivers from a while back, I'm gaming now at about 75C between cpu and gpu. Have not tried manual fan control.

 

Two questions:
1 Has anyone run DPC Latency on the 8740w? Results good?
2 Most of the posters here have the DC2 screen which is overkill for me and my eyes. Can anyone with the 1680 - 1050 screen comment on brightness, viewing angles, etc.

Great thread, I've been following since the beginning, so thanks to all for valuable information.

The entry level (I5-520) of this and the 8540 are selling now in Canada at decent discounts. With the 3 year warranty and quality of the machine, these are a really good deal.

 

@Aflat,

1) There are a few sceenshots of DPC Latency Checker available in the reviews section and also somewhere in the old thread. It's ok, IMHO.
However, there are people that consider anything above 100us a catastrophe
So, it depends on what you do with the system. To me, 100-500us is good.

2) Why do you consider the DC2 to be an overkill for your eyes? Resolution?Small fonts? You can always increase the fonts in windows to 125%+. The regular screens are mediocre at best, imo.

 

Hey everyone, I just received my 8740w the other day and am having a serious issue with the graphics card. Any advice you can give me would be appreciated before I return this laptop.

System specs:
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Core i7 840
ATI Firepro M7820 1GB
Non-DC2 screen (upgraded to higher resolution)

The Issue: Whenever I run a 3d game such as Counter-Strike: Source, Battlefield: Bad Company 2, or Civ 5, I see polygons and random colors popping in and out on the screen. I can still see the game itself. Plus, the game runs like butter. But, from the moment I log into the game menu to playing the game itself, I see these squares and polygons popping all over my screen. This, to state the obvious, makes the game completely unplayable. I, however, do not encounter this popping issue while running windows. Only when playing games.

I also should note that when playing Battlefield and Civ 5 I have to position my mouse about an inch below and to the right of a menu item to click on it. In other words, I am unable to point my mouse directly at the menu item to click on it.

I tried to resolve this issue by ensuring that I am running the latest FirePro drivers off of HP's site. When that didn't work, I downloaded the latest ATI notebook-compatible 5870 drivers off of ATI's site, but this didn't work either. I have no unusual software running on the system as I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit yesterday. I also sat on the phone with HP for 3 hours yesterday to try and fix this. The rep said she thought the graphics chip was bad so she offered for me to receive a refund / replacement. I'm going to do this, but I wanted to see if this is a universal problem with this model laptop running games with the ATI FirePro graphics chip and not just a specific issue to my laptop.

Any help / advice people can offer me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

I don't know, I play CS:Source, Age of Conan, SC2, and a few other games without problems like what you describe. Possibly faulty card?

 

That's what I'm thinking too. The card has to be bad. What drivers do you use? The regular FirePro drivers or the M5870 drivers? Thanks!

 

FirePro from the hp website

 

hi, I'm thinking of getting a base model in Sweden. Does anyone have the experience of negotiating a price with HP here?

 

Contact a rep and ask for a 20-28% off
The key is persistence. Contact many reps, as many as needed to get the best deal.

 

I guess you have to directly talk to a shop in Sweden? So HP is not selling anything at all?

 

I think HP is selling, and their prices are better than other shops. I just don't know if it's possible. But since Aikimox says so, I guess it is.

I'm actually from China; it's also possible to negotiate a price there, so I guess I may be able to get 30%. I took negotiation classes

 

Just checked my invoices and it looks like the final discount during the second placement of my order (after the first one was screwed by HP) was 31%.
But I know that some people got further discounts/refunds/upgrades by complaining later on, due to material shortages and/or problems with their systems.
But 30% should be possible from the bat.