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HP Recommended

So my case with the business division is still open and has been escalated as I mentioned it before. Yesterday I was asked to send the laptop in. We tried everything.

 

FYI, I have a discrete video adapter in it so I disabled it in the BIOS to see if it would make a difference and it didn't. I also tried BIOS version F.40 which was released early February, no helping with this issue either. HP started to wonmder if my RAM was the issue so they sent to me HP OEM RAM and that still didn't fix the problem. I have the feeling they will replace the motherboard and it will go away which means there is/was an issue in the assembly line. You guys should either get a refund and buy something else or fully go through a warranty claim to get it serviced so your problem is fixed. Again, as it mentioned multiple times throughout this thread, you need to talk to HP Business customer service (you bought a ProBook, take advantage of the fact that you get a better customer service when calling in).

 

One more thing, we bought C6Z86UT which a i7-3612QM. We put in an Intel SSD and 16GB of RAM (Crucial) and that thing is SUPER fast. No discrete video adapter but that's not an issue for us. Our employee has two 24" Samsung LED monitors connected to it (one through VGA, the other through HDMI) and it's been awesome for her running AutoCAD. So you can run 16GB of RAM on this laptop, just go buy one of the pre=configured model mentioned above until HP figures out what the problem is.

 

One more question: out of all people who have the same issue, did you guys buy a custom made laptop or was it a pre-configured one?

HP Recommended

Mine was pre-configured, i.e. nothing was customized. Just the standard thing from the factory. For those who didn't read the whole thread, I sold it and bought another one, EliteBook 8570p, which is ultra fast with 16 GB and a SSD drive, indeed.

HP Recommended

Yeah, EliteBook are awesome. We tried to save some money. Another thing for those debating between a ProBook and EliteBook: the docking port. ProBook doesn't have one so you essentially rely on a USB connection if you use a docking station. On the EliteBook it is built-in and proprietary. Like the good old fashion docking port. Unless things have changed so gallarr feel free to correct me on that one.

Right now our employee ends up connecting up to 6 cables everyday WITHOUT using a docking station: mouse, keyboard, ethernet, vga, hdmi and power.

HP Recommended

You're right, Elitebook connectivity is better compared to Probook:

-Docking station

-eSata/USB 2.0 combo port

-Serial port

-Firewire

-Displayport (instead of HDMI, whether's better or not is a matter of taste)

-PciExpress slot

-RJ11 Modem (some models, not mine)

-One USB 2.0 "charging port" (you can charge other devices' batteries from there, I don't know the specs, but it has probably a greater amperage than a regular USB 2.0 port)

-Plus a pointing stick

 

Now that comes to a price, like 60% more (660 EUR vs 1050 EUR if I remember it right)

 

HP Recommended

Hi, I bought one of these on the 15th, unfortunately before I had seen this thread.  Mine was a pre-configured, from a local computer superstore (their website also indicates that this is upgradeable to 16GB.)  It is the i5 3210M version of the ProBook 4540S, C9J17UT.  Exhibits all of the problems indicated in this thread when attempting to upgrade to 16GB.  I have tried matched 2x8GB sets of DDR3 1333 CL9 and 1600 CL11 from Crucial, and 1600 CL10 from Corsair (Vengeance), updated to the latest version of BIOS, tried everything I could think of with various settings, and no luck.  All of these SODIMMs pass the BIOS RAM tests, the BIOS recognizes them, Windows (when it eventually starts up) recognizes the 16GB, but the performance is awful and the machine slows to a crawl and often freezes up with the full 16GB installed.  A pity, I really like this laptop in almost every other regard.  The fact that it still came with 7 Pro was a big bonus for me with respect to my work, and the claimed capability of upgrading to 16GB was important to me for some of the EDA tools I work with, such as EM simulation where all the memory you can give it helps.   I just wish I had seen this thread before purchasing and investing all of the time in getting all of my tools loaded up on it, buying and exchanging RAM, and scratching my head.  I do sincerely appreciate your posts though, and for initiating the process with HP, I surely hope they will resolve this.

HP Recommended
I see C9J17UT has Radeon onboard (my C4Z09EA has too), seems that problem is related to the models that has discrete graphics (with dedicated ram for).
HP Recommended

I believe Gallarr said his was preconfigured though and I don't think it had the discrete video adapter. I thought so too that the discrete adapter might be an issue as well. I even disabled it in the BIOS but it didn't make a difference. I still think though that it has something to do with it... I think there is only ATI as an option (no Nvidia). What if that adapter is not compatible with the amount of RAM we throw at it?

 

Also, HP finally asked me to send in my laptop so I did that last week. So far no updates but I am betting they will replace the motherboard and that will force the issue. Hopefully they will have an explanation either way. I will keep you guys posted.

HP Recommended

@ tc71: I hate when that happens! 🙂

But thank you for your feedback, it's never too late for others to learn or know about it.

HP Recommended

Guys,

 

Sorry it's been so long. I wanted to update everyone to let you guys know it was escalated for months with HP higher tech support, whatever higher means in this case. Everyone was pleasant to work with but it was tedious and borderline painful. I guess at the end of the day I didn't mind spending the time troubleshooting and helping HP doing so but if I wasn't IT, there is no way in hell I would have spent that much time to help them trying to figure this out. I have tons of emails and tests, timing how much it boots with different memory kits, etc. I felt like I was working for HP. 

 

So guess what? They decided to just have me send them back the whole unit and they had someone from a different division to call me and agree on a comparable resolution. So they ended up replacing the ProBook with a EliteBook of the same value or above. Keep in mind that we started this whole thing by buying a custom laptop in the first place with best hardware available for the 4540s. So I doubt they would have done that if we purchased a generic 4540s with an i3 in the first place. 

 

Anyways, I still have 2 4540s with i3s in it and 16GB of RAM in them each and they are working just great. My other 4540s with the i7 never worked with 16GB and we will probably never know why.

 

HP Recommended

Oh thats sad

I just order a 16gb kit and stack in this problem on i5 model(((

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