*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 2*

[knight427]

No BSODS here. The occasional B2B. Firepro.

Is anyone with an nVidia GPU having B2Bs? If so, type 1 (black after the HP splash in BIOS) or type 2 (when high res kicks in)?

Despite what my sig says, I have FX5000M and I have B2Bs (unknown if type 1 or 2 though).

[m8o]

BSODs: I've had a couple lately, always when viewing a Flash video. I've assumed it's a Flash bug. The odd thing about it, though, is that it only seems to happen when I'm using the 8740 off of it's dock. Could be coincidence, but I've seen quite a few hulu and media center flash videos (full-length movies and such) while docked without any problems at all. If I try to do the same thing undocked, I can count on at least one BSOD (or hard crash) per hour of viewing.

Yes, it does seem the FirePro cards but more likely drivers are less stable.

Is your dock connected to a regulated UPS, and using the 230W PS but when running undocked neither are the case?

It might be worth this experiment in either case.
a) Use the 230W supply from the Dock when operating un-docked and see if there's Flash is more reliable.
b) This one can be failrly disruptive... if your dock is connected to a regulating UPS, disconnect everything from it and move it to where you're using the laptop when undocked, and plug into it ; or get another regulating UPS. And do so with one PS then the other to see if that makes a difference.

[m8o]

p.s. I wanted to clarify in the B2B behavior I described that's become known as "type 1", there was no screen display, at all; none during the HP bios load spalsh screen. All the LEDs are on, and bios post tone is heard after which my machine is waiting for me to swipe my finger before it tries to boot the OS ... but no display at all during that attempted boot. So I've only witnessed
- Turn the machine on, and no display is ever activated
- Turn the machine on and there is a display during bios load (low rez), and OS load (low rez), but no display when the desktop (full rez) tries to get displayed.

So if there's a B2B behavior where there's a screen display during bios post, but no display during the OS load, meaning the moving Windows logo is never seen but the macine does load and can cleanly get shut down w/the Tab,Tab,Tab,Enter keystrokes, or WinKey,Right Arrow,Enter keystrokes, that's yet a 3rd type of B2B behavior.

[Siorah]

the B2B errors i've seen are:

1) Machine powers on, cd spins as normal (if theres a disc in the drive). Nothing else happens. No display at all. (7820M/5000M)

2) Machine powers on, HP logo is seen (640x480), then black from the beginning of windows loading. (7820M Only)

3) Machine powers on, no display, wait 10 minutes, computer complains about battery. (5000M's only)

4) Machine powers on, white display before HP Logo, Battery Error. System then remains black afterwards. (5000M Only)

5) Machine powers on, VGA Mode (640x480) until windows is about to load welcome screen, then black (or BSOD) (7820M Only)

The 2800M and 3800M machines have not suffered from this since Bios F.03

Now, 3 and 4 went away with F.09 briefly, but we rolled back to F.08 due to a PCI-E problem. Since going to F.0A this issue remains, and i feel it has something to do with the battery code/PCI-E initialisation routine.

1, 2 and 5 happen on a repeated basis, HP seem to be a bit bewildered with it. I've manually put the machine back to F.08 and symptom 2 and 5 has stopped.

I hope this helps, but its an issue which has suddenly come back. It used to be very common, but bios F.04/5 cleared it.

Sio

Source: People using those machines in the office

[ProdTog]

Is your dock connected to a regulated UPS, and using the 230W PS but when running undocked neither are the case?

The dock power supply (230W) is on a surge protector, but not regulated. The same condition holds for the 200W PS, which is what I normally use when undocked.

It might be worth this experiment in either case.
a) Use the 230W supply from the Dock when operating un-docked and see if there's Flash is more reliable.

I'll try this the next time I'm planning to watch something flash-based. At least something with enough length to make it a worthwhile test.

b) This one can be failrly disruptive... if your dock is connected to a regulating UPS, disconnect everything from it and move it to where you're using the laptop when undocked, and plug into it ; or get another regulating UPS. And do so with one PS then the other to see if that makes a difference.

That's a good troubleshooting step, but I'm not using the dock on a regulated supply right now so it doesn't really apply.

I'll try these things after the holiday rush is over and things settle down a bit.

Thanks for the ideas!

[Siorah]

B2Bs: Never had one. I'm actually wondering if this is more likely for FirePro users, based on my experience and Siorah's earlier comment about his systems.

BSODs: I've had a couple lately, always when viewing a Flash video. I've assumed it's a Flash bug. The odd thing about it, though, is that it only seems to happen when I'm using the 8740 off of it's dock. Could be coincidence, but I've seen quite a few hulu and media center flash videos (full-length movies and such) while docked without any problems at all. If I try to do the same thing undocked, I can count on at least one BSOD (or hard crash) per hour of viewing.

Over the last week or so I've experimented with different combinations of WiFi/wired, HW-acceleration enabled/disabled, even discovered that my audio drivers weren't the latest and updated them. So far, nothing has made a difference. I'll keep trying to narrow it down as the situation presents itself, which won't be much over the next few days. Certain other things are taking priority this time of year...

prodtag

what bsods have you been getting? if it's 0x122 0x124 0x125 0x126, i fixed my issues, by manually reflashing the Vbios, and using the latest Nvidia driver

there was an issue with my 2800m timing out on the PCI-E which lead to a bsod.

[maunakea]

Re: B2B. There's much more variety in B2Bs that we realized. My B2Bs have all been the "black after HP splash screen" variety. I can salvage these B2Bs by cycling though sleep. ATI GPU.

[Judicator]

I've had none of either yet (knock on wood), but then again, I haven't been heavily using mine yet.

[Siorah]

i've never on my 2800M machine.

but all the machines people have stated the list above are on DC2 screens

the machines we have in the office are on DC2. Only 3 (mine included) are on TN panels.

The 5000M/7820M on TN do NOT have the B2B problem. they are identical machines bar the display too

Sio

[qq328544133]

will 8740w upgrade new motherboard to support sandy bride processor？