*HP EliteBook 8740w Owners Lounge - PART 2*

[ProdTog]

When I get the chance, I might try connecting the external display directly to the laptop's DP to see if that makes a difference. Doesn't seem like it should, but it would be one more thing to try.

For what it's worth, I tried nVidia's 261.28 drivers with the 24" DC display attached directly to the DP on the laptop. No difference. Still banding.

As I've mentioned before, this isn't a show-stopper for me. Mostly just an irritant. HP marketed their 10-bit support in the 8740w, I paid extra for it (and a bunch of other things :-) ), so it should work. It doesn't stop me from doing my job, though.

[Thecla]

So I clicked "CHECK UPDATE" on the Mobile Display Assistant. Anyone else update and notice anything?

Does seem to load profiles correctly now --- at least, the screen goes to maximum brightness on start up without having to run MDA manually.

[Sotton]

For what it's worth, I tried nVidia's 261.28 drivers with the 24" DC display attached directly to the DP on the laptop. No difference. Still banding.

are these from HP? latest NVIDIA drivers are 266.58 (at least for XP)

However, I don't think they fix your problem....

[ProdTog]

are these from HP? latest NVIDIA drivers are 266.58 (at least for XP)

However, I don't think they fix your problem....

Those drivers (266.58) definitely wreaked havoc on my Win7 Pro x64 system. Windows stopped seeing my internal display altogether -- only the external display showed up.

I just checked on the hp driver download page, and it's now showing 261.28 as the most recent update. I'll try their installer to see if it is any different than that same version that I already have via Windows Update. I don't expect to see any real changes, though.

[Siorah]

the driver i used which worked (briefly) with the MDA, was 260.99. it didn't give banding on my external dc screen, but for some reason the driver is unable to see the DC2 as a ''10 bit'' display, no matter what you do to it.

For stability (CUDA/PhysX AND the Mercury Engine/Photoshop openGL acceleration being enabled in CS5) use one of the Fermi drivers from Nvidia's site.

with these enabled, even on the old 2800M you get ~10-25% better performance, esp in After Effects/Premiere and Photoshop/flash.

I'm on 265 atm which works fine with CS5. However, as a 2800M user, if you get ANY stop errors (blue screens of death) which are 0x122, 0x124, 0x125 when using CS5 you need to update the video bios which will fix it. it enables us to use the fermi drivers, which although are not completely ISV certified, they have so much more functionality with the 2800/3800M GPU's as hp strip out proper CUDA/Open CL/PhysX/Mercury Engine (CS5)/Iray support (in 3ds max)/Acceleration in Autocad/3ds max with the special autodesk driver.

so yea, you can see the benefits.

I was unable to get MDA to work properly with the DC2 on any driver. it is a known issue, which hopefully HP one day will fix. what i did was use colour sensitive stuff on my 24" screen instead of the dc2 panel, as i wasn't completely certain of the colour accuracy.

Hope that helps.

Sio

[Siorah]

Those drivers (266.58) definitely wreaked havoc on my Win7 Pro x64 system. Windows stopped seeing my internal display altogether -- only the external display showed up.

I just checked on the hp driver download page, and it's now showing 261.28 as the most recent update. I'll try their installer to see if it is any different than that same version that I already have via Windows Update. I don't expect to see any real changes, though.

wow prod, i've had no issues using the fermi drivers on win 7 pro, and atm i'm on win 2008R2 with the normal nvidia fermi drivers lol.

i posted back a gpu-z which shows my driver. you using the updated vbios right?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-b...ml#post7105528

Sio

[Siorah]

Your success on your desktop system (and others I've read) are part of the reason I've been especially puzzled about the apparent lack of functionality when using my 24" DreamColor with the 8740w. When I mentioned in my previous post that I was still seeing the banding, I didn't clarify that it was on both the internal DC2 as well as the external DC displays. I also tried with Aero turned on and off, and put PhotoShop in full-screen mode (as I've read that to be required in some sources). None of those things made a difference; the banding was always there.

It occurs to me that I might try one more thing. All of my testing thus far has been with the 24" DC display connected to the DisplayPort output of the 230W Docking Station. When I get the chance, I might try connecting the external display directly to the laptop's DP to see if that makes a difference. Doesn't seem like it should, but it would be one more thing to try.

Siorah: I recall you mentioning that you had seen 30-bit working with your 24" DC/8740 combo... which GPU/drivers was that with again?

seems i missed a lot of comments while i've been away. The driver version it was working on was:

8.743.3.6-101115A-108695C from HP's site. was with the firepro.

you had to completely wipe the old driver off first, and you needed to make sure the monitor was set to PnP Monitor, and the GPU was coming up as a 'Standard VGA Adapter' before installing them.

if any of the above were not true, 10bit didn't work.

it takes 3 reboots to completely remove everything, using CC Cleaner.

i've also seen it working as well with 5000M 26x.xx + Drivers, though its a bit flakey if you use Aero/DX9 based things before doing the colour critical work - but it crashes MDA like anything

[ProdTog]

wow prod, i've had no issues using the fermi drivers on win 7 pro, and atm i'm on win 2008R2 with the normal nvidia fermi drivers lol.

i posted back a gpu-z which shows my driver. you using the updated vbios right?

Sio

My VBIOS version is 62.92.C0.00.03.

This morning I uninstalled all the nVidia software, then ran CC Cleaner through multiple cycles of cleaning things up (removing all instances of nvidia fragments).

After multiple reboots (I lost count), I then reinstalled the hp-supplied 261.28 nVidia driver package. Everything seems to be working the way it was before I started this process (both displays work, but still no 10-bit happiness on either).

I've got a lot of photos to shoot/edit right now (gotta pay the bills), so I can't try any more configurations for a bit. But when I get caught up, perhaps I'll try the nVidia 260.99 installer after cleaning everything out again with CC Cleaner to see if that makes any difference.

[VisionLight]

The new FirePro driver is now on the HP Support site. So far I've installed it on the 8540w and now it looks like we have 30 bit support in CS5. Ramp.psd looks good even at 400%.

But . . . am trying to install it on the 8740w right now and it's crapped out the screen. The hard drive is blinking continuously, but the screen is black and can't tell for 5 minutes now what, if anything, is happening. Will keep you posted.

[ProdTog]

The new FirePro driver is now on the HP Support site. So far I've installed it on the 8540w and now it looks like we have 30 bit support in CS5. Ramp.psd looks good even at 400%.

But . . . am trying to install it on the 8740w right now and it's crapped out the screen. The hard drive is blinking continuously, but the screen is black and can't tell for 5 minutes now what, if anything, is happening. Will keep you posted.

Congrats on the 8540! Gives me hope for the future, even though I'm using the nVidia GPU.

Do you have an external monitor that you can connect to the 8740? Perhaps the video has been shut off to the internal screen for some reason. Stranger things have happened...