IQ506: no aero, no touchsmart sw, no vid card

[eschaton451]

Just received my IQ506 this week and have spent about 3 hours per night trying to get the Touchsmart software working, and in turn sorting out the underlying problem with the video adapter.  The sequence thus far:

- booted up first time, went through thru usual setup steps, accepted EULA, set preferences, created admin act etc

- once booted to desktop, tried to select/run Touchsmart software

- error pops up: you must select the 'Aero' them to use Touchsmart (noticed this same issue when I reviewed the product in-store)

 First Issue: 'Aero' is not available under my themes, just 'Vista Classic' and 'Vista Standard'.

- tested all video resolutions, theme choices, etc.  No effect.

- did some research online, MS and HP sites, sounds like AERO has some serious video card requirements, so double checked my card version.

Second Issue: Video card should be Nvidia GeForce 9300M, but shows up as 'Standard VGA Graphics adapter'.  Should have 256 MB of dedicated DDR RAM, with shared memory up to 2GB, but showed up as 14MB Total Video Memory, n/a for shared or dedicated video memory

- ran HP hardware diagnostic and other precursor steps in the warranty documentation (including the aforementioned searching across multiple sites), eventually called their tech support line

- first tech support wasn't even familiar with the product, kept asking if it was a desktop or laptop, had to try to explain the concept of an all-in-one integrated touchscreen PC.  After walking her thru the above listed info, she suggested rebooting to the bios screen to confirm the video adapter (which is weird, as I've never seen that info in a bios window before).  Several large updates were pending, so I told her I'd call back when I was back at the bios screen.

- 20 mins later, updates completed, back at the bios screen with, of course, no info on video hardware.  Called tech support back, got someone much more informed about the product, informed me I had been talking to someone from the wrong department (yet routed thru the same IVR choices on the call system).  Proceeded to walk me thru several diagnostic/recovery steps

 - HP recovery manager: re-install the video adapter, reboot.  No effect

 - review of all installed programs and removal of EVERYTHING except the official apps bundled with the product, reboot.  No effect.

 - a few more look here, check their, read that back to me steps.  Finally, advised to go to the disk image on the D drive and do a full recovery to factory default.  ~1 hour restoration, reboot.  No effect.  Have to call it a night and get some sleep

I'm at the office at the moment, but thought I'd ask around the forums before I call back to night to see if anyone else has seen or heard of anything even remotely similar.  So far seems to be a stumper, and I'm guessing I'll be stuck shipping the lemon back.  Hoping against hope someone might have a lead or suggestion.

[JimT]

i'm not at all familiar with the first issue, however it might be worth downloading (that is if you already haven't done so) the latest HP drivers for your IQ506 and applying them;

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=2100&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=3752245&lang=en

As a side note, I didn't have any of these issues you described myself when I initially setup/installed the IQ508 that I have,...

[Kalt]

It sounds like it's using the Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 (with a default driver) instead of the Nvidia GeForce 9300M adapter.  Perhaps they forgot to install it or it came loose in shipping?

[mmdm]

It sounds like to me this may be a case for a RMA- if its not showing in the bios, thats usually and issue that wouldnt be self fixable....

[mmdm]

Also, the Aero theme isnt listed under Themes, you have to right click desktop, select personalize, select window color and appearance, select open classic appearance properties for more color options, then you will see the vista aero theme, along with others.

[Bill_Hicks]

Reinstall your graphics driver. Here is the download:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=pv-61864-1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&...

[eschaton451]

Thanks for all the input.  As per my original post, I went thru severl iterations of reinstallation - first reinstalled the video drivers, then tried deleting the display adapter and reinstalling, etc.  It always came back as 'Standard VGA Graphics Adapter'.  I also ran the full system recovery twice.  I eventualy RMA'd it, received a second unit that ran fine, graphics card showed up properly.  Unfortunately that unit had a bent frame and cracked outer trim, so just returned that one as well.  Hopefully third time is the charm.

[ChrisT]

Hello,

Regarding Aero, it is only enabled as an option of Vista thinks your computer can handle it by checking your Windows Experience Index (WEI).  I have seen some machines where Vista "forgets" what your WEI score was and you have to update your score.  You can do that by going to Control Panel then Performance Information and Tools and finally click "Update my score" just beneath your current score (my 804 has a WEI of 4.5). 

Then you can go back to Personalization, Window Color and Appearance and finally choose "Windows Aero" for your color scheme.

[Dash-10]

Hi, I have a question regarding your first reinstallation of the Graphic Driver, did it come back with any errors? Like saying the Hardware ID does not match perhaps or that it is not the correct version of Graphics that is needed?

[eschaton451]

To Dash-10: no, there were no errors reported when installing the graphics driver, the hardware  just wouldn't recognize the video card.  Even after multiple restores of the entire operating system, it still only saw the graphics device as a 'Standard VGA Graphics Adapter'.