HP DV9000 Series Heatsink Modification
The HP DV9000 Series is a feature rich laptop with 17″ screen, two hard drive slots, 2 RAM slots up to 4GB, Media Center Remote, Keyboard with number pad, poor cooling, and overheating components. In all seriousness, this laptop is quite remarkable with the right modifications to enhance cooling of the critical components: CPU, GPU and Northbridge. The overheating issues must be understood to solve the problem.
I’ve compiled a list of flaws in the design of this computer (BOLD items will be fixed in this mod)
- Primary hard drive is next to the GPU (the hottest component in the computer)
- Secondary hard drive acts solely as an external drive
- Heatsink configuration allows heat from the CPU to travel over the Northbridge.
- Northbridge is offset from the height of the CPU
- Cheap thermal pads are used to replace thermal paste
- GPU does not have its own fan for cooling
- GPU does not have thermal paste on it; instead a metal sticker (?) is used for cooling
- CPU fan gathers dust in the vents and line of lint is created in the back of the vent.
The list goes on but these are the major issues I’ve noticed.
Before we begin, I must say that any information used here to perform modification to your computer is the choice of the user. Be aware that I cannot take responsibility for any damages incurred by following my modification. I can assure you that these modifications where done several weeks prior to me posting this for confirmation that they work.
This modification was done to a HP DV9500/9700 laptop. There may be subtle differences between the different models in the DV9000 series. Make sure you do enough research to confirm that we have laptops with the same layout. This modification was done to a Intel-based version. The AMD version has 4 mounting screws over the processor. This may yield different results so be aware of this.Â
Multi Theft Auto Vice City on EEE
I had previously recorded myself playing Grand Theft Auto Vice City on the EEE but I decided to one up it. I decided to play Multi Theft Auto on the EEE. While I did more flying than fighting, it still shows you how well GTA Vice City plays on this machine. I have not tried San Andreas but it is worth a try when I get my 16GB SDHC card. I did get a heli-kill though 
. Don’t know what that is, then watch the video below. It will explain.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EIMXODFdp0[/youtube]
JAmerican
ASUS EEE Overview
I posted a video overview of the EEE on YouTube yesterday. Due to a string of bad luck yesterday, I couldn’t post it on my site until today. I also was going to post a video another more internal video of the EEE but my main computer’s install of XP bluescreened on me and even after a new install still bluescreens. My EEE had a similar problem where it gave me some generic error message then just stop booting into XP. I have since installed a lite version of XP SP2 and now just load into Vista on my PC, which doesn’t bluescreen ironically.
Anyway enough with my problems, here is the video.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9q6b71B-kU[/youtube]JAmerican
Upgraded to XP Media Center Edition
I can’t write much due to I am busy studying for finals week. I just wanted to post that I’ve updated my computer from Windows Vista to Windows XP Media Center Edition. I posted a video some weeks ago but was too lazy to post a supporting article for it. The video is mostly self-explanatory. Also, when I say upgrade, I mean it. My computer runs much quicker and smoother under XP Media Center Edition. I also love how XP Media Center Edition and Vista Media Center Edition are very similar to each other. The only thing I can find different is that Vista Media Center has a different starting sound and slightly glassier theme. Otherwise, all the controls, guides and navigation seem to be the same. This is somewhat off-topic, but Media Center is the best DVR software I’ve used to date. I am quite amazed that Microsoft made it. It’s perfect. One of the annoyances of Vista was the fact that applications would just stop working and an error would pop up stating so. The most common was the “COM Surrogate Has Stopped Working” error. It seemed to relate somehow to my Windows Mobile Device Center connection but that still worked.
Overall, I think the most satisfying about the upgrade is that my Nvidia graphics card fan doesn’t run for several hours. At most, the fan will be on for 10 minutes. It usually stays on for less than 5 minutes. Only under intense graphics operations, like a video game, will it stay on for much longer.
The point of the video was to show how you could take XP and make it look like Vista without having to actually upgrade to a whole new operating system. Using the following links, you to can Vistafy your XP! All these Vistafied XP add-ons are all FREE!
-Vista Sidebar
http://www.wincert.net/forum/index.ph…
-Complete Vista Theme
http://www.crystalxp.net/galerie/en.i…
-Yod’m 3D
http://www.wincert.net/forum/index.ph…
-Xbox Friends Watch Gadget
http://adamkinney.com/blog/272/defaul…
-XBList (Better Xbox Live Friends Application)
http://brh.numbera.com/software/xblist/
-Video Captured (with audio) with CamStudio!
http://camstudio.org/
Let me know what you think overall in the YouTube or my site’s comments
[youtube]c2X_7LPzdJI[/youtube]
-JAmerican