Frankinbook (My Pro Elitebooks 8570PB)

If you're not familiar with the P or B designation, then you haven't got a clue to old dinosaur HP business class notebooks. They are the last of their breed, so I will try a good attempt at making what HP should have done as a special edition for early 2013.

NOS PARTS LIST:

Elitebook 8560p display panel (FHD, Map light, Webcam, Stereo mic)
Elitebook 8570p palm rest with finger print scanner and touch point buttons
Elitebook 6560b Touch point keyboard
Probook 6570b HM76 system board (born date 08/12)
Probook 8570p bottom cover

STANDARD PARTS:

UJ-272 (Panasonic Blu-ray R/W - very thin tray model - Late 2011)
M.2 A key to Mini PCI-e adapter (WiFi 6 M.2 A+E key)
M.2 B key to Mini PCI-e adapter (WWAN CAT20 G5 Ready M.2 B+M key)
2x WWAN Antennas (to add to the existing 5 antennas)
7x IPEX MHF4 to IPX U.FL adapter cables
MSATA to SATA adapter
M.2 B key re-locator / extender to Mini PCI-e
Samsung Evo 970 250GB NVME x4
Seagate Blue 256GB NVME SATA3
Unbranded/Unlocked CAT12/16 WWAN module (1Gbps Down / 450Mbps Up)
Intel AX210 Wifi 6 and adapter w/ Bluetooth 5.2
i7 3740QM CPU
Used Elitebook 8570p base
DV6 Heat sink (To be modded for high-perf cooling)
Possibly more to add as I go... stay tuned.

1st thing, some of the parts may not fit or function until modded. Though it is mainly the light up keyboard for now. I prefer the dark grey look over black, and the lettering holds up much better than the print on non light up keyboards.

Mod #1:

Keyboard

The W series uses a different base, motherboard and cover than other similar models. In fact screen assemblies have different latches, so palm rest or base will not allow swapping from unlike models. The keyboards look the same and have the same footprint, just the hold down stays to be fastened by screws are in different locations and a bit deeper than the other models.

What I noticed about the light up keyboard is that the assembly can be taken apart. Unlike the other models. So, if one is willing to remove the backing plate and carefully remove the hold down stays, they could be cut down and resign their locations to match the non work station layout on the base and palm rest. I did a test fit with the removed hold down stays, which was snug enough not even to bother with using the screws to hold down the keyboard. I doubt it will ever pop out on its own.

With that simple trick done, I can now move on to some assembly to make things operational.

Stay tuned for more...

 

All this for a laptop without an MXM slot?

I actually didn't know you could do nVME on a system without native nVME support, especially all the way back to 2nd/3rd gen!

Any access to the i7 Extreme processors? A 2nd gen 2920/2940 might outperform your 3rd gen quite readily.

 

Hi, as for NVME support... hardware will function, just BIOS limitations to boot from PCI-e. Problem for most is MSATA looks just like M.2, but it's not plug and play. Need a conversion adapter or m.2 to MPCI-E adapter, which is easier to manage and has a low price tag.

Don't know if your familiar with the lower business systems. They too have had support up until mid 2019. I have not used the 2019 bios yet on these old 2012 system boards. Who knows what goodies may lurk with the BIOS update.

As for the extreme edition CPU. I am not going there. The system is too restricted for cooling. The system Board I have is a Probook 6570b. Pretty much the same as an Elitebook 8570p system board, just ID info mostly.

It is a integrated video system board. To me it's better in the long run. Have had way too many issues with AMD. If I were a gamer after cheap old school hardware for gaming a Dell 7500 series would be a starter. Though there is other notebooks out there, just them Dells are proliferant. I sorta like the lower end Elitebook/Probook design. Not quite thin and light, but not the IBM brick house that could come in handy if mugged. Them 14" think pads are deadly.

I recently looked at the system Board and found it has a HM76 chipset. No real loss, but some are HM77 based. It lacks the ability to do RAID, and minus 2 USB 2.0 ports. Like there is not enough of them already.

If I cannot get the NVME to boot, it will be work, temp and swap drive. Video conversion and light games will benefit over keeping things all SATA.

Worst case, could adapt the NVME to use SATA. No sensemble using SSD as an upgrade anymore. Their efficiency lacks compared to NVMe.

 

Update to the 8570W keyboard mod. After assembling the system 6570b board assembly to the 8560p palm rest, I found the keyboard fit very snug and difficult to seat. So I grabbed a beat up 6570b palm rest and tried it out. It fit easier but just a wee tight. As if it were a permanent fit. Tough bugger none the less. I am not sure if the large zif ribbon cable connector for the keyboard has interference, or casting flash is the cause. Maybe it's just too thick for fit, since the P/B keyboards are thinner.

Will look deeper into fitment.

I had to trim carefully some of the tabs on each side of the keyboard ribbon cable, I noticed the alignment tabs were a wee larger than the non light up keyboards. The trim worked just fine in fitment.

Looking for RAM, Hard drive, power supply, and what not sure to get a test run going. With just the keyboard mod. Break in and overall checks to get things on a starting point.

I thought I had a bluray, only a DVD... may have to use one of my thin Panasonic drives (UJ-272) with tray, most are auto feeds, which cannot load mini discs. I might be able to customize it to work. But that is once the notebook is functioning.

 

I finally got the laptop bootable. It's now running 8GB. Has an old BIOS, as expected. The FHD display is functional as well.

As for my idea of a modded light up keyboard, was all for nil. I am not sure but once I got down to the nitty gritty it became apparent the backlight was damaged by having removed the backing plate. The glue had fused the backlite between keyboard frame and backing plate. The forces were too great. But I did see something odd, for being spill resistant. what ever happened in its life had left residue which made the keyboard function oddly with keys. Either the mapping at the lines on the ribbon cable are not the same for other keyboards or spillage was too great for the drainage to recover. Obviously this was not a new keyboard. Probably weeks old and damaged. Don't know why it was mixed in with the NOS parts. At least I have another keyboard that is proper for the laptop. It functions just right, so that is what I will end up using from now on.

The laptop is partially apart with display hinges free from body. The bottom base assembly is its foundation, even though it has mounting on the palm rest / keyboard top. Which is sort of a joke. Seen many crack or break off on HP lower lines notebooks.

Well, scratch off the light up keyboard mod option. It was an option, just because it was available in my parts picking.

 

Made the face plate fit on the UJ-272 Blu-ray R/W drive. Will need to modify further, the release button is not aligned and manual release hole as well. Right now it functions like a Mac version, eject through OS functions.

Will need to paint the top strip of the drive face plate platinum to match the palm rest colour.

Another note... the Probook 6570B does not have a built in smart card reader. So I will plug the slot on the bottom base. It's not required, nor is my system board equipped with components to allow it's function. The HM76 boards for the Probook 6570B don't have the extra USB ports. I assume the HM77 boards are to use a Smart Card module similar to the one used on the 2530 models.

Sorting out on what drive to use that I can boot with and start making mods to allow AX WiFi integration, and NVME on PCI-e x4.

 

Mod #2

Sound system

Had some parts from a old 17" with Altec Lansing drivers. They are 15% larger, and have thicker awg wires on the same 4 pin connector, which makes it a no brainer on plug and play. The key is the sound chamber the speakers mount to. The Altec Lansing speakers should fit the base assembly nicely, just have to modify the chamber layout to fit within the hard drive caddy location. There is plenty of area to make a sound box. I could add the two existing drivers within the modded chamber as push / pull drivers, or do something different. Differential spacial sound. It's based on old late 60's early 70's tech for quad sound out of stereo, using analog audio. It's great for games and live performances. I tricked out my 90's DTS sound to incorporate spacial sound for sports. Monday night footfall was more fun for my guests.

Here is my super secret spacial sound hack using stereo speaker output, I haven't searched online to see if anyone else has made a diy, but I doubt I am the only one to think of it.

Here is the speaker layout. S Sound speakers are on the outside of both Left and Right speakers. Being best mounted at the sides of the listeners, while left and right are kept forward.

( - ) S Sound Speaker #1 ( + ) ( + ) L speaker ( - )
( + ) R speaker ( - ) ( + ) S Sound Speaker #2 ( - )

Wiring is as follows:

Both S Sound speakers have the (+) terminals wired to each other.

The ( - ) terminals of the S Sound speakers are wired to the ( + ) terminal of the stereo speaker it is paired with.

Easy peasy! It is THX before THX was invented. Ha! Magic speaker elves do all the work. What happens is, the background sounds that are not shared in the left and right channels are selectively given to the S Sound speakers. It works best with 4 to 8 ohm speakers for S Sound when direct wired to 8 ohm Stereo speakers. It makes a true to life stadium sound with sports and other details within movies. A poor man's surround sound, with just wiring extra speakers.

Yes, you will get bleed over the left and right speaker channels, making them sound a wee mono over stereo. But if you have an extra stereo amp just feed the ( + ) line out outputs as ( - ) & ( + ) on the amp. The differential audio for the S Sound speakers, will keep left and right channels isolated from each other.

Just a wee bit of an odd idea that popped up, with the notebook speakers.

 

Back to notebook speakers...

Here is a comparison of my stock Elite speakers and a set of Altec Lansing speakers, shown below. Both sets were tough as nails to remove, while also keeping the housings mostly intact. I did cut one of the Altec Lansing speaker wires when removing. Each wire was bonded to the speaker housing, from head to toe. You can see the residue on the wires.

Everything about the Altec Lansing speakers is bigger and better. All but the connector. They even come with a snazzy metal surround. Ha! The replacement speakers have the encloser attached, so all I have to do is cut a diagonal section off to have them angle with the base contour, and build a custom enclosure, using a customized oem / modified Altec Lansing speaker housing assembly, by grafting bits to make a fuller sound experience. I did keep the full length (17") mesh Altec Lansing speaker grill, as to cover any additional holes needed for 4 speakers.

 

Tested the i7 CPU swap. Fan runs a wee more than expected in test system diagnostics mode. Probably because system bios does not initialize CPU full stepping and core shutdowns.

Will look at removing independent bluetooth, to convert the connection to USB for other options.

Placing tape or paint over pin 20 may be a requirement or not.
Pin 22 may need isolation with a momentary off switch to bypass BIOS check during boot.

I highly doubt my NVME will boot, but a SD card may allow a boot loader to point to NVME for the system drive.

Time is limited, so don't expect much happening right away. Still have to so more tests before assembling and loading OS.

Oh, another thing. The COA is still active. The 6570b is not widely used in corporate areas, mostly small and medium biz. They have mostly Pro COA. There are some with just Standard windows. So I can live with my free Windows Pro. I just need to carefully transfer it to the 8570p bottom cover, since it was corporate with Windows 8.

 

After a few minutes looking things over on the system board, I found a few limitations as for keeping things simple as possible without a lot of extra wires running everywhere.

Low and behold, it hit me. I don't need to move WiFi and WWAN.

The AX210 piggy back board can fit its home socket if... I shave off 1 or 2mm from the WWAN hold down stand offs. So I got busy and made the extra room for fitment. Worked out very well without much effort.

So now it's a matter of a couple of well done PCI RST disconnects at the cards to bypass BIOS checks on WiFi and WWAN.

Problem is that I eliminated a PCI-e socket for my NVME. Yes that would make a rats nest of wiring, and sleepless nights finding every hidden test point to add another PCI-e socket from the unused 4 that are available, some where.

My only option now is to remove the PCMCIA card connector and use the system board pinouts to create a 3rd MPCI-e socket or a single M.2 socket. None of my soldering kit will work for fine detail multi layer board work, so I am sourcing some kit to make the whole process smooth as silk.

Many pros say it's not the tools that shows their abilities... but skills don't cut it with the wrong tools. It's 50% skills/ 50% proper tools, if you want the best work done. Just look at what they use, and their talk is just smelly talk. Pffft!

Yes, I am killing a PC card option, but who uses PC cards now these days? Not many!

All in all it should look clean and trouble free with all the upgrades.