Elite e9150t Feezes/Locks up

[shutdowns]

This might be minimal & simplistic but I thought that I would ask anyway because I want to be sure.

If I have not updated to the BIOS 5.27 yet, will it be alright to jump to 5.28 w/ out missing anything or should I do 5.27 and then 5.28?  or should I just stick w/ 5.27?  Any feed back?

Thx!  ~ Val

e9290f out of box 10/31/09 went thru all of the BIOS updates except 5.27 sent it back once in 12/09

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sumsolstice wrote:

The primary change for BIOS 5.28 was to roll out an updated microcode from Intel for the new "gulftown" 6-way CPUs.  The BIOS also picked up the latest memory reference code from Intel.  The updated MRC is the only thing that would really made a difference for most owners - and I didn't see anything really compelling in the notes for that to warrant updating or that one would notice - but if you like to have the most current - go for it...

The fixes mentioned for fan speed and hangs while entering resume were present in 5.27 - it was left in the list of fixes, as many users may had not updated to to 5.27 yet.

If you ever make any changes to your BIOS settings (from default) - you'll need to re-set them again after you do a BIOS update.   Things like disabling things like wake-on-LAN, disabling 1394, switching from RAID mode to AHCI mode, etc...

-dm (a long-time HP employee, but the comments/suggestions here are my own, not my employer's)

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[Big_Dave]

No need to install Bios version 5.27 before 5.28.  Go for IT.

[sumsolstice]

FYI,

HP has posted an updated nVidia graphics driver which should resolve issues with the GT220 driver restarts many have been seeing on Windows 7.

It should appear on the software driver and download pages in the next day or so.  In the interim, here is a direct link to the driver on the FTP site.   Please be aware that these links may change (or go away) in the future, so check the software driver and download page for your product going forward.

-dm (a long-time HP employee, but the comments/suggestions here are my own, not my employer's)

ftp://ftp.hp.com/ftp6/pub/softlib/software11/COL33130/pv-82373-1/sp46254.exe  (64-bit OS version)

ftp://ftp.hp.com/ftp6/pub/softlib/software11/COL33129/pv-82370-1/sp46253.exe   (32-bit OS version)

Below is the readme for the 64-bit version - SP46254:

Title:

NVIDIA GeForce GT Graphics Driver Update

Version:

8.17.11.9732

Description:

NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 Graphics driver update resolves issues with distorted video and the system hanging after a system restart.

Purpose:

Critical

Operating System:

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic (64-bit)

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit)

Microsoft Windows Vista Business (64-bit)

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (64-bit)

Microsoft Windows Vista Starter (64-bit)

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Basic (64-bit)

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit)

Microsoft Windows 7 Starter (64-bit)

Language(s):

Global English

Enhancement/Fixes:

- Resolves issues with distorted video and the system hanging after a system restart.

- Resolves an issue with the following error message displaying when resizing a window: "NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 186.27 has stopped working."

Prerequisites:

- You must be logged on as an administrator to install this update.

- You must have a Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit or Windows 7 64-bit operating system.

Installation Instructions:

1. Click the Download Only button.

2. At the File Download screen, click the Save button.

3. At the Save As screen, save the file to your Desktop.

4. If a message appears stating that the file already exists, click YES to overwrite file.

5. Double-click the icon for the update downloaded to your desktop, and then click NEXT.

6. Follow on-screen instructions.

7. If prompted to restart the system upon completion of the update, click YES and allow system to restart.

Copyright © 2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

[johng05]

I just wanted to follow-up with my impressions of my HPE-180T. So far, I'm totally happy with the purchase I made. Although it's not what I consider a "Top of the Line" I7 system, it's certainly fast enough for what I need. No issues with it at all so far. So perhaps this will give you some hope that HP is doing better. I just hope that those who are having issues will be able to get them resolved soon.

John

[royceq]

I started to have the BSOD, but I decided to try to solve it on my own.  I did two things and haven't had a problem since.  I replaced the OEM power supply with a larger wattage power supply. And the second thing I did was turn the power supply upside down.  The circulation of air looks very poor with the way the power supply is originally installed pointing up towards the top of the case.  With the fan pointing down, it is sucking the hot air directly from the video card and motherboard to the outside.  Try this at your own risk because it is changing the design of the engineers, but I haven't had a single problem in the 6 weeks since I changed the power supply.

I think the entire issue was probably bad power or the motherboard getting insufficient cooling. 

[Freezin_Jake]

The 1.03 and 1.04 motherboards are both defective and cause frequent BSOD problems. 

You need to make support calls if your computer is still under warranty until they replace your defective motherboard with a 1.04 REV E01 Motherbaord.

[Big_Dave]

I'll second that recommendaton.

[RBeam]

I have three of the e9150t that I use in my home for work and home theater duty and the flash to 5.28 went without a hitch.

Just picked up a refurb of the same model for my office and figured I'd go ahead and take from 5.24 to current while it was still 'fresh' since things had gone so well with the other boxes and of course things didn't go quite so well this time. Didn't brick it but blue screens almost immediately after bios even in safe mode.

So, here I am needing to flash back to the 5.24 version and not having planned for a problem. Can anyone help me out? Have done a fair amount of searching but, of course, hp doesn't appear to archive these things in any easily searchable format.

On a somewhat ironic side note ... despite immediately crapping under any normal boot of windows (tried a minimal install of xp and that died as well) I'm able to run win 7 ultimate in vmware without a hitch on top of a full install of linux (ubuntu 10.04) . Go figure.

I have our helpdesk guys waiting to flash my machine back so anyone that could lend a hand would really be doing me a favor.

Thanks

[Big_Dave]

RBeam,

What is your current bios level and motherboard revision level?  You can use the HP Support Assistant to find that information.  Bios version 5.28 is the latest and motherboard revision level 1.04E01 is the most stable.

XP will not install unless your XP installation disk contains sata drivers.  Either you build a XP installation disk using nLite and merge in the sata drivers or change your hard drive controller mode to IDE (up to 5% slower in disk I/O performance).

Start a separate post if you want to install XP.

[sumsolstice]

5.24 is simply the 5.22 version with the ability to correctly report the newer revision motherboards ( x.xxExx).   It was never released as a web patch, only was used for new production and the repair centers when reworking a system.

Unless you've the latest motherboards- 5.22 would likely work just as well  as 5.24- but it is no longer on hp.com - I'd need to work out something special to get you the file.

I wouldn't recommend trying to go XP - the HW is really designed/tested/qualified on 64-bit OS's - drivers may not be available for XP - and no guarantees.

This is the first I've heard of anyone with an issue with 5.28.  My only suggestion to check would be to see if you had modified any BIOS settings from default previously (such as changing raid mode/disabling 1394/changing wake on lan settings, etc). Loading a new BIOS resets the setting to the default state.

-dm (a long-time HP employee, but the comments/suggestions here are my own, not my employers)