HP 6930p owner's lounge

Nice work, thanks!

Just a question, though - why did you choose F.19 as base? The latest good (ie. non-locked) BIOS for the 6930p is F.1A, which seems to have at least one useful change compared to F.19.
Edit: nevermind, saw the footnotes in the table; it's based on the existing non-whitelist BIOS, which used F.19.

 

An extra free 133Mhz is a nice treat. I figure it was worth sharing

I used F.19 since it was the last TTAV134 no-whitelist modded bios from here. I use that as a source and modded it to have dual-IDA capability as well. F.1A could be modded for both but the single fix for a rare condition in that version seems hardly worth the effort.

If you did want a modded F.1A then would require using PhoenixTool to decompress the modded F.19 and stock F.19 bios, identifying modified modules and the differences, then patching F.1A with the same modifications and finally packing the modded bios with cabpack and the modified hpqflash binary.

 

Yep, noticed it right after submitting my post

BTW, would you happen to have any idea why the ExpressCard slot in my Intel 6930p doesn't recognise some cards (USB 3.0 and eSATA)? See my post on page #3 for more details.

Could it be a problem with assembly? The laptop originally had ATI graphics, and I swapped in an Intel motherboard myself. I've double- and triple-checked the connections at the ExpressCard/audio daughterboard, though, and everything seems fine. Audio is also working, and the slot itself isn't totally dead, because USB 2.0 cards work fine.

 

There is an option to enable/disable the expresscard slot in the bios. Ensure it's enabled. A expresscard has a pci-e component and USB 2.0. If the expresscard slot is enabled and the USB 2.0 part works but the pci-e component doesn't then either the systemboard is faulty or your test expresscard (e-sata, USB 3.0, etc) isn't work.

 

Added Nando's mods to first post. Great work
I will probably try the pin mod when someday when I run out of warranty and will have spare cash for another mobo if it fails

Wondering why he got banned.

 

Could it still a good deal for 300 euro or nowadays, with the same budget, it is better to go with more recent products and different cpus ?

thks

 

In my opinion in this budget it is probably one of the "best bangs for buck" now Performance is decent and sufficient for most tasks. Unless you need a lot for specific software or games. If you don't need more power and don't mind a few scuffs then anything more expensive is a waste of money imho (especially if you add ssd - this adds much to system performance then newer better spec laptop with standard hdd)

Some 6930p are still under the standard HP 3 year global warranty (like mine still has like 6months) although sellers may not be always aware of it.

 

ExpressCard is enabled in BIOS, and the cards work fine. Looks like a faulty systemboard then. Luckily I bought a factory refurbished one and the seller offered a 90 day warranty, so I'll try and get it replaced. Thanks for the reply.

As przemke says, it's a great deal for €300. The higher-end Core 2 Duos have decent performance, it can take up to 8 GB of RAM (although DDR2, which can be a bit expensive these days), build quality is way better than any new laptop that you can find in that price range, plus you get a great non-chiclet keyboard and a 16:10 screen. Just try to get a new or refurb model with remaining warranty, because it means that either it doesn't have the lid latch problem, or you can get HP to fix it for free.

Its contemporary competitors do have some advantages, though of course it's up to you to decide whether they're important to you. The ThinkPad T400 uses newer DDR3 RAM (cheaper to max out to 8 GB) and has switchable graphics (with the discrete card also a bit better - ATI Radeon HD3650 vs. the EliteBook's HD3450), while the Dell Latitude E6400 has a DisplayPort output (the only way to get digital video out of a 6930p is with the docking station, which has DVI). Both also offer WXGA+ displays with LED backlighting (the 6930p does have an LED screen option, called IllumiLite, but it's hard to find and only WXGA resolution), as well as a third mouse button for scrolling with the trackpoint (though a hack exists to get similar behaviour on the 6930p).

Of course, if you have any accessories for your current 6510b (like a docking station or travel battery), then a 6930p will be compatible with them, while switching brands (or even getting a newer EliteBook) means having to change those as well.

Hope this helps.

 

Just a note to the switchable graphics in T400: I remember I read this had issues (performance I think) so check for current state of that if you consider lenovo.

 

In my case the choice is among 6930P and Lenovo X200, T400/T500.

All these models come at the same price (300 euro) and have similar features.
My trouble is to understand if they can be still good deal or, for a little more money, it's better choose other (new) product that are equipped with i3 or Pentium B.

Considering that for just 500 euro (But this is slightly too expensive for me) an i5 can be bought, again.