HP HDX9000 mods

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22

That was probably an official exe file. Here’s a hacked version of the flasher (with signature check disabled), try using it
https://www.mediafire.com/file/1ucp3olas4tszzw/HPQFlash_No_Rom.sig_check_patched.exe/file

You can also follow these steps for blind flash:

  1. Rename Rom.bin to 68DVD.BIN
  2. Copy the 68DVD.BIN file to a freshly formatted (not bootable) floppy.
  3. Remove battery from HDX.
  4. Plug a USB floppy drive into the HDX and place the floppy with the bios file in it.
  5. Hold down ‘Windows’ and ‘B’ keys simultaneously while turning on the power.
  6. Release keys when floppy drive is accessed (when the light on the floppy drive starts blinking).
  7. Sit back and wait about two minutes
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23

The program shows the error: “The driver failed to load”.
I don’t have a floppy drive, is it possible to flash the BIOS from a pendrive?

24

You might need to copy HPQFLASH into the root of the disk partition along with the BIOS (Rom.bin) which needs to be compressed into “Rom.cab”. This is the only file the utility accepts. In order to compress your BIOS into .cab, you need to run makecab on it via CMD. “ver.txt” file might also need to be included into the cab file.

I don’t remember how I revived my first HDX9000 either by using a pendrive or floppy, you can give it a go with a pendrive of up to 1-2GB (better with a LED indicator to watch for the activity).

25

Hello. BIOS on my HDX9200 was damaged during an upgrade from F.35 to F.40.
Would someone please help me find a way to flash it and repair?
I have tried multiple procedures and none have succeeded so far.
I would really appreciate your help.

26

Hi. I don’t remember well, but these are probably the steps I went through to revive mine.

  1. Download latest bios from HP and extract to a folder. Use WinRar or 7Zip to extract all the files in the executable.
  2. Extract either NV.cab or ATI.cab depending on your graphics card.
  3. Open the ver.txt file and look for the string after ‘ROM’ (for F.40 bios it was ‘68DVD’).
  4. Rename Rom.bin to 68DVD.BIN
  5. Copy the 68DVD.BIN file to a freshly formatted (not bootable) floppy.
  6. Remove battery from HDX.
  7. Plug a USB floppy drive into the HDX and place the floppy with the bios file in it.
  8. Hold down ‘Windows’ and ‘B’ keys simultaneously while turning on the power.
  9. Release keys when floppy drive is accessed (when the light on the floppy drive starts blinking).
  10. Sit back and wait about two minutes for your HDX to rise from the dead!
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27

Thank you for the quick reply!
I will get a floppy drive and a floppy first :slight_smile:
Hopefully it will do the trick.
USB does not react at all, so I am a bit pesimistic about this solution. CD-ROM kicks in, so maybe I will also try to burn a CD.

28

I’m pretty much sure that the DVD drive won’t work out. Ask a repair shop to flash the BIOS for you if my guide won’t help.

29

Your method has worked!
Thank you so much for helping to revive my dragon :smiley:

30

Awesome! You are welcome👍

31

Hey everyone. I got some news in this thread

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Hi All,

I tried to find the old HP HDX 9000 DRAGON Owners Lounge, on NotebookReview, but I see that’s long since closed down :frowning: and this seems to be the next best place to post this:
I’m having a clear-out and I have a few Dragons and loads of HDX9000 parts in a bag, that I’m unlikely to ever put to good use.
As I recall, I have at least one fully operational Dragon and more than enough spares to build more, including screens and bezels.
I’d like all of this to go to an enthusiast, who will enjoy building a new Dragon or two.
Would anyone in here be interested?

CJ

This is what I used to have on my signature on Notebook Forum. Can’t be sure that I have all of this still, but I might…
HP HDX9250EA, HDX9320, (2nd)HDX9250EA, HDX9160EA and HDX9120EA
Intel Core 2 Extreme X9000 (3.8GHz) and T9300 3.3GHz (Throttlestop and FSB O/C 242MHz)
Windows 7 64bit
8192MB memory in two of the Dragons
128GB OCZ Vertex SSD with 640GB Spinpoint 7200RPM
60GB OCZ Vertex 2 SSD with 750GB WD Scorpio Black 7200RPM
WSXGA 1680x1050 and WUXGA 1920x1200
NVIDIA 8800M GTS (3), ATi GPU (2)
Panasonic UJ-220 Blu-Ray Burner and UJ-120 Blu-Ray Combo Drive.
(2nd)HP HDX9250EA, HDX9120EA & HDX9160EA are Bog Standard.

33

Glad I found this forum. I too was sad when I saw the owners lounge shut down. I have two of these laptops with different goals for each that I’m hoping I can get some assistance on. I got one new when they came out with the 8800GTS and T9300 that’s pretty much in mint condition, and just recently got one with the core 2 extreme X7800 and ATI (don’t know exactly which model) gpu that’s in pretty rough shape. I already tore the ATI one down all the way it was filled with dirt and dust so first step is to just clean that one. My dilemma I’m faced with is that the 8800GTS with the latest drivers causes bluescreens so I have to run older drivers but it’s still pretty lacking in performance. I also swapped out the wifi card for an AC card which connects at 1.3Gbps but when you try to do any large file transfer it’s slow and disconnects. I have also put in a bluray drive. Everything else is stock running Windows 10 with 4GB ram (I tried some no name ram to get up to 8GB but it was less stable). I was thinking about doing a GPU swap with the ATI or maybe just swap the whole board since I think the extreme CPU is slightly faster. Though I may just keep it as is.

The rough second one I was thinking about putting a framework 13 board in there. The keyboard, mouse, and side ports should be fairly easy to adapt or change, but what I think is going to be the biggest hurdle is getting the screen to work. I’ve been trying to figure out what kind of driver board I need but I don’t know how to tell which one will work. The plug is a 50 pin plug and what I’ve found is that LVDS may be a standard also might not be the right standard. Any help here would be appreciated.

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