Xi 1546

2 JohnOrion82:
I have had the same problem with that blue screen. The 90% successfull solution was to install Microsoft microcode update which, as it was written there, solves problem with BSODs. Yes, after update I don't have BSODs 1 time per our but 1 time a week, and I think now it's because overheating.

Question: when I've bought my NB it was quite silent, now, after year of every day (and over night) usage it became a little bit noisy. In the nearest future I want to replace termal paste to Arctic Silver 5, as a lot of people here done so (avg. tempterature is 56 C w/o load, and 75-80 C under the gaming, and the top plastic is really hot). Can I replace somehow the fan too? Is there any compatible with NBs native on the market. If I can't replace it how can I clean it to lower the noise of that old fan?

 

Final update:

I decided to use DriverHeaven's Mobility Modder in order to install Catalys 7.7 and it worked perfectly. While my CSS Stress Test scores are down 15fps, I now have a new and working graphics driver.

 

@JohnOrion82:
Thanks for your posts. Interesting information. Keep us informed how things develop.

@jarni
Your temps doesn't sound too worrying to me, but they seem to be a bit towards the higher degrees. Have you already checked the insides of your laptop, if there's some dust accumulated? You could buy some compressed air and spray it on the fan and other places where there's any dust. You can find good cleaning guides from the net (e.g. this one), if you are unsure what you are doing. It sounds a bit odd that the fan would be failing so soon, but it certainly isn't impossible. In that case the warranty should come in handy. Other things to consider is that the current thermal paste is badly placed, which is a bit unlikely since you haven't had these issues earlier. Replacing it with AS5 is of course a smart move in any case.

I've also had few BSODs during the one year I have owned this laptop. But they seem to happen very rarely and it usually has happened during the startup, because of ATI Tray Tools, which I load with Windows. I don't recall having BSODs during gaming. I haven't had patience updating my drivers for a while, since I haven't had any serious problems. I'm have Windows XP Home and I'm using Mobile Catalyst 7.4, BIOS v1.17, other drivers and software are updated this year in April. So things are pretty much up to date.

 

Thank you, ronkotus.

 

You can always download latest official Ati Mobile drivers here:
http://www.ati.com/online/mobilecatalyst/
Now downloading 7.8.

 

I wonder if this works with Windows Media Center?

 

to JohnOrion82
It should work with any Win XP.

 

Okey thanks. I installed the drivers, and everything worked fine (benchmark scores were pretty much the same as with the Catalyst 7.7 drivers with Mobility Modder). I was sceptical of them working as when I tried to download them from Ati website, the compability program said that the drivers are not compatible with my system.

UPDATE: Wouldn't you know it, my system started crashing. First, it crashed when I was playing CSS, and then when I ran a benchmark program. In conclusion, I DO NOT recommend you use the latest Mobility Catalyst drivers if you have a similar system (especially if you have Windows Media Center). I download the new Catalyst 7.8 drivers and installed them using Mobility Modder, and my system is running smooth (although you might want to try out older Catalyst versions as benchmark scores seem to be slightly going down after each new Catalyst driver).

 

@JohnOrion82
Don't worry about the benchmark scores. They don't accurately show the real performance of different driver versions. As also stated in the futuremark website, 3DMark scores vary a lot with different driver versions, not always to a positive side, but the stability should be always be better (doesn't seem so in your case ). BTW, do you use ATI Tray Tools?

I've also always used that link for a new driver version. I also get the compatibility problem with the ATI compatibility check program, but drivers have worked fine for me, atleast to the current Mobile Catalyst 7.4 that I'm using. I have WinXP Home.

 

Off topic - Does anyone run a successful amilo xi1546 rig with 4GB RAM? The official specifications on the FSC homepage indicate only 2GB RAM compatibility, although I heard that the newest bios flash enables 4GB support. I'm currently planning such an upgrade, and I wonder if there are any risks involved concerning the computer rejecting the RAM...

 

to TheGovernator

IMHO, this is what can go wrong:
1. The memory controller may not be able to recognise and handle 2GB modules.
2. The current (amps) needed for memory modules to work properly may be higher than the maximum provided.
3. The heat generated by the memory modules may be in excess (they are located right next to CPU and not far from GPU).

We have to wait for someone to experiment with at least one 2GB module.

 

No I don't. While I do want the latest drivers, I'm not into overclocking or anything like that. I guess I should stick with the drivers that work perfectly ( if it ain't broke don't fix it), but I'm an update-freak.

By the way, I have found that using Mobility Modder Catalyst 7.7 is the most stable driver in my system. I've tried out all the Catalyst drivers from 7.4 to 7.8, and, apart from Catalyst 7.7, each of them crashed my system regularly when I used a 3D application.

 

Hi to all,

I own a FSC Xi 1546 T2400 since 12/2006. The first issue with my notebook appeared after 1 month, when the faulty second hard drive was crushing my entire system unless I had it manual disabled through Device Manager (took me a while to figure this out, I was either getting a BSD with a note to VT6421 Raid controller, or a complete system hang).

FSC replaced the faulty Fujitsu MHV2080 80GB hard drive with a WDC Scorpio 120GB (hehe 40GB Free upgrade) and the problem was gone.

The primary hard drive is still a Fujitsu MHV2080 80GB model, which I'm about to upgrade as it rarely emits weird noises (from my past experience it sounds like its about to crush)

My biggest problem with this notebook is that it sometimes crashes while listening to music, or playing Call of Duty2 (the sound hangs and keeps coming out from the speakers, with no response from the control volume or any other mean of controling the notebook rather than to hold the power button for 4 seconds for an emergency power off).

Did anyone had similar problems? or know the cause of this problem
My idea for the cause of the problem is either the Realtek drivers (currently v1.72-1.73) , or a weird HDD caching issue.

I'm using WinXP Home installed on the WDC Scorpio 120GB which FSC Repair Centre used to replace my faulty hard drive.

 

Update to my BSOD case. Yesterday I've run 3DMark.06 for performance tests of catalyst 7.8 drivers and 've got 3015 points. But when I've ran it second time I had BSOD, third time - BSOD. MemTest86 didn't revealed any problems with ram. It is really look like overheating. Maybe I'll try some stress-test form SiSandra package. But, what would be better: change termal interface myself and hope that that was the issue or give it to service? I don't really want to give it to somebody for a week or more.

 

@jarni
Have you tried any older mobile catalyst versions, like maby 6.x versions, if you still get the BSODs? Remember to do full driver removal before trying them (see on this page the section 'Old Catalyst removal' http://www.tweakguides.com/ATICAT_3.html ).
Could you also post what kind of temps (meaning ACPI Thermal zone + CPU0 and CPU1 temps) you get with the Intel Thermal Analysis Tool (TAT), when doing a full 100% workload test for both cores at the same time ( download TAT). Here are my results with TAT: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=1923081&postcount=246 . Of course during gaming the temps may be a bit higher since in addition to CPU the GPU is also utilized, which produces more heat.
BTW, did you clean the insides yet? If so, did it help lowering the temps any?


@mark81
I had this problem with harddrive doing clicking noises described on this thread: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=111451
Not sure if it's anything related to your problems. I think I've got rid of my problem for good by doing the following:
1. I ran CHKDSK check/repair on my C: drive (the Windows boot drive)
- go to Start -> Run... -> type cmd and press ENTER
- type chkdsk c: /f /r and press ENTER
- when asked "Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts? (Y/N)" answer Y
- more info about CHKDSK: www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/chkdsk.mspx
2. I ran a System File Checker that checks all major protected Windows XP system files against the original versions stored in the Windows XP CD.
- Start -> Run... -> type SFC /scannow

Other things to consider:
What is your pagefile size?
- can be seen on Control Panel>System>Advanced>Performance>Settings>Advanced>Virtual Memory section
Have you defragmented your harddrives?
- Basic: go to Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools> Disk Defragmenter
- Advanced: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/PageDefrag.mspx
Are your drives optimized for performance?
- Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager> expand the Disk Drives section. Do the following for both disks: Right-click on the drive and choose Properties. Under Policies tab, make sure 'Optimize for Performance' and 'Enable Write Caching' are both selected IF they are available. Under 'SCSI Properties' tab make sure 'Disable tagged queuing' and 'Disable synchronous transfers' are both NOT selected.
- Remove disk indexing from both drives: go to My Computer or Windows Explorer, right-click on particular harddrive name and select properties -> Untick the 'Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searhing'.

Here's very good harddrive information and scanning tool: http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2006.01.22-HDDScan/

I also recommend you to familiarize yourself to this great quide for Windows XP: http://www.tweakguides.com/TGTC.html .

 

Thanks ronkotus,

I had already done most of you suggested besides removing file indexing and page file defragment. Does removing file indexing effects to the reduction of Windows performace? My virtual memory is ~2GB same as my Ram installed.

However, since my second hard drive was faulty I suspect the first one to fail as well. I don't really trush Fujitsu HDs. Therefore I expect to upgrade to an Seagate 7200.2 or an Hitachi 7k200 (if I find a cheap version than the 200GB).

Yet the biggest issue with this notebook is that it sometimes crashes while gaming or listening to mp3's, no BSOD, just freezes, no keyboard-mouse response and the sound keeps repeating until it becomes completely distorted. You can't even control the noise emitted by the speaker by the use of left hand volume control. The only option left is to hold power button until its shuts down...

@jarni
Same thermal issues here, but never seen these BSOD on my notebook. However, I my experience despite the annoying fact that FSC rarely releases drivers updates when ever I'm installing an 7.xx catalyst driver the laptop feels hotter and after 30' gaming Call Of Duty 2 graphics start glitching. I guess sticking to the old 6.xx catalyst drivers is the way to go at the moment.

 

@Mark81
Actually Fujitsu laptop HDDs are pretty realiable, atleast if we are talking about physical durability. You should definitely read this HDDGuru's article about 2,5" laptop harddrives: http://hddguru.com/content/en/articles/2005.10.16-Choosing-a-laptop-hard-drive/
I think the guy really knows what he is talking about.

When you remove file indexing, the harddrive performance and responsiveness are improved and it won't get fragmented so fast. This in turn also makes the general Windows performance better. Only downside is that if you ever have a need to find a specific file or files by using the Windows search function, the search will be a bit slower especially if you have lots of files in your harddrive. But thats about it. I think the performance increase is a lot more important than a bit faster search function, which I rarely use anyway.

When doing chkdsk, did you pay attention to the output information it gave, Were there any errors? Try also that HDDScan I posted earlier. It has four good S.M.A.R.T. selftests and a good scanning option. Other application I have used is Passmark Diskcheckup. It can also display SMART info, but doesn't have any scanning options like HDDScan, but it instead has an option to predict the failure date of the drive, when used frequently. For benchmarking I have used HD Tune. It also has error scanning ability, but it's SMART info doesn't work for SATA drives. Benchmarking might also be a good thing to do to see if the HDD is working as stable and fast as it should.

About the biggest issue. It may be related to the harddrive OR it may not. Have you checked your Event logs to see what has happened during the freeze. I haven't experienced this kind of problems, so it's quite hard for me to give an direct answer.. Are all your drivers updated and correctly installed including bios, chipset, sound, graphics etc... have you also updated Windows and DirectX... have you done Windows XP multicore fix... or maby there's something wrong with your sound or video codecs... maby there's a virus in your system... maby something else running in the background and causing conflicts and the crash with games and mp3... is your power scheme 'always on' when plugged in.. ???? (just questions and no answers, I'm sorry )
This is why I suggested you familiarize yourself to the guide (the Tweaking Companion) I linked. With it you can make your system stable, responsive and cleaner than mother theresa. I also use number of good applications to keep it that way. Yes, it takes a lot of time to do everything, but it pays at the end, and you learn to know hell of a lot more about your system. You may also instead use it as a reference OR to search it to find a solution to a specific problem, since it's well divided into different sections.

About your thermal issues.. What kind temps you get with Intel TAT (see my responses to jarni)?

 

Thanks again ronkotus for responding.

I've used HDDScan which is realy useful, in the past I had been using HDDLife which was also good. No sort of error appears in the SMART info. I have also used Sisoft Sandra to benchmark the HD. Everything appear to work as fine, but this was happening as well in older HD until it crushed for good. I've checked the HDDGuru site, the article is a bit outdated as its a bit old(2005). I think Momentus or TravelStar is a must for a Desktop Replacement Notebook. http://www.storagereview.com/HTS722020K9A00.sr

I have installed Realtek HD 1.73 drivers, Ati catalyst v6.14( latest FSC officialy provides), Bios v1.23, Avast Antivirus(used to use AVG, Zonealarm Suite) and all latest chipset, wireless.. etc drivers.
I've also disabled file indexing as you suggested.

The strangest thing is that the event monitor does not hold any info whenever the crash occurs. When the faulty HD was causing problems in the past, I was able to isolate failures involving VT6421 Raid controller which indicated that there was a problem with one of the hard drive that SMART wasn't revealing.

From temperatures point of view using Notebook Hardware Control after intensive gaming I'm getting 78c in Thermal zone 0( ? heatsink i guess) and 74c on each CPU core. The HDs are around 40c. When Idle I'm getting 60-63c in Thermal zone 0 and five degrees less in each core.

I haven't found a way of monitoring the X1800 core actual temperatures so far(tried powerstrip) however when using Catalyst versions 7.2, 7,5 and 7,8 the notebook was noisie, felt hotter and the graphics in COD2 were glitching after 30' of gaming. Using the old Catalyst 6.14 drivers these did not take place.

Finally, my notebook cooler (Antec) does not appear to cool my laptop at all and its only use is protecting me from the heat.

 

Just update bios to 1.25. No significant improvements however using Intel TAT 100% workload CPU temp raises dramicaly.
Core 0 at 100% reaches 79 C
Core 1 at 100% reaches 77 C

Both Cores at 100% reach almost 85 C in less than a minute. When idles from full load it reaches C0 57C and C1 55C.

The highest thermal value that i've got during long period of gaming was 82 C.

Looks like I might have to apply new thermal paste on CPU, maybe GPU also.

 

Certainly sounds like it. Here's the guide: http://soren.hegner.googlepages.com/xi1546arcticsilvermod (thanks to ledderlappan)

I still use 1.17 Bios since there doesn't seem to be any real improvements mentioned in the release notes of the newer ones, atleast anything that I would need.

 

After heavy gaming my temps are CPU: 71C and HD: 50 C. These seem to be fairly normal temps although after a couple of minutes in a game I get strange graphical glitches that consist of long triangular objects stretching from various 3D objects (It's hard to explain I may post screens later). I'm using modded Bioshock Hofix drivers. Some drivers seem to cause more glitches than others but the current ones seem to be the best. has anyone had problems like this?

On a side note: the BSODs some people are experiencing (including myself) seem to linked to the GPU somehow since updating the GPU drivers decreases their frequency.

 

Most websites that i've researched using google-search suggest that temperatures up to 75 C under full-load (heavy gaming/ 3Dmark06/ Intel TAT both CPU 100% load) are acceptable for Core Duo.

Strangely enough compared to other parts of my laptop, both my HDDs are running at 40C.

Initially, I thought that these glitches(same as you describe) were caused by GPU overheating. However, after switching back to 6.xx catalyst drivers glitching problems are resolved. My laptop is at 74-81C during intensive gaming therefore its definately driver issue, as your notebook is far more cooler.

Can Xi1546 GPU temperature be monitored ?

 

Which specific driver are you using? I had even more problems with 6.7 and 6.9 than with the 7.xx series. An interesting fact is that I never had any glitches before my notebook stopped working and had to be repaired. The technicians said they had "readjusted the video card" (whatever that means).

Check out this link:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=81852
I haven't tried it so tell us if it works

 

There is no temperature sensor in the x1800, so it's temperature cannot be monitored.

I have used number of different Mobile Catalyst versions without having any serious problems with any of them. I'm still using version 7.4, so I don't know about the newer ones.

 

I'm using Catalyst v6.14.10 Driver Package v8.261, the latest available from Fujitsu Siemens website. I've used v7.2, v7.5 and v7.8 in the past (downloaded from ATI website) but they resulted in the appearance of glitches while gaming.

I find the 6.xx catalyst drivers much safer than 7.xx. However if you are playing some of the latest developped games, using the latest versions of drivers could increase gaming performance.

Initially I was feeling to lazzy to replace the thermal paste on the laptop not at least without a CPU upgrade . T7200 was one which I fancied most. Too bad that its a bit expensive at the moment. However the heat problem had to be considered prior to any Higher-MHz CPU upgrade .

I've never re-applied paste on a notebook before but it was much easier than expected (had previous long-term experience on desktop cpu replacement ofcource).

I haven't touched the thermal tape same as ledderlappan's guide however they are in poor condition also. I'm guessing the heat from X1800 is unbearable! This in conjuction with the fact that I rarely close my computer.

I've replaced the thermal paste on both CPU and GPU on my computer. The older paste must been of poor quality and was misinstalled in some areas. It looked in extremely poor condition. Too bad I didn't took pics with my cell phone.

I've applied Akasa AK-450 (wanted to try AS5 but didn't have one around) and so far i'm 54 (5C less than before when idle after full load). I expect the temperature to drop further after a week or so.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/
This is a very interesting web site. It has some useful reviews in many laptops and interesting guides as well ( upgrading GPU ).

 

The quality of paste Fujitsu uses is usually very bad. Working in Fujitsu Siemens warranty repair has taught me that

 

Has anyone know how to overclock the x1800 ? I know it sounds odd to talk about overklocking when people seem worried about temps but even so I'd like to discuss it here.

This what I've tried so far:
I deactivated ATI Powerplay to make the new clocks stick. I have tried ATI Tray Tools and ATI Tool to over clock to 450/500 (core/mem) but when I try 3dMArk06 I notice that performance is degraded! I get around 4 fps less consistently. Does anyone have a foolproof way of over clocking? And as far as cooling goes is a notebook cooling pad enough?

 

I believe if there was a thermal sensor on the GPU, we would see temperatures of even 100C after heavy gaming! Its by far the most hot area of the laptop.

Futhermore, when a processor reaches critical temperatures (etc 80C and above) its performance decreases. My guess is that this may apply on GPUs as well. Hence, when a GPU is extremely heated may perform less than expected.

I can cook an egg on my GPU without even considering overclocking it. Zalman ZM-NC1000 is the best notepad cooler i've seen so far. Too bad it does not fit on 17" notebooks.

The best solution that i've found for extreme gaming is getting a desktop GPU along with this http://www.magma.com/products/pciexpress/expressbox1/index.html
A bit expensive and underpowered at the moment (55watts ) but might be better than GPU replacement or overclocking.

 

Hi to all.
So, I've replaced FS thermal paste to AS5 and... no any lower temps. It seems to be even higher the it was. NHC shows stable 57 C, but as for TAT it is oly ACPI thermal zone, and cores have nearly the same on idle. But if I start CPU 100% workload the temp of core jumps to 90 C and then goes up to 92 C. And thats all just for core 1 100% load. Core 2 has a little bit lower temps. But if Core 2 has 100% and I start Core 1 100% the temp of core 1 jumps to 100 C, then lowers a bit to ~93 C a hold on this temp (in that time core 2 has some 85C). ACPI thermal zone temps doesn't go higher then 80C. I see few reasons of that behavior:
1) I have nearly 28C in my room.
2) I don't use coolpad.
3) I've applied a thermal paste bad.
The worst is I haven't done such temps monitoring with TAT on FS thermal paste so I can't really compare.
Is there a possibility that Core1 is cooled worse than Core2 due to not ideal applying of thermal paste?

 

I don't know if its possible to reach 100C because the CPU should shut down between 95-100C. Maybe you are getting wrong readings from the thermal sensors somehow.

However, the most possible would be that you haven't applied the thermal paste correctly. Try re-opening, re-cleaning the heatsink, re-cleaning the CPU-GPU( consider using ArctiClean ) and applying a thin layer of the thermal paste on the inner square of the processors only. Be sure after installing the heatsink to press it a bit just to be sure it fits perfectly.

Worst case scenarios would be either you have a faulty Thermal paste(unlikely) ,or your sensors are giving wrong readings. The thermal paste is supposed to provide optimal thermal conductivity after 200 hour and you need to close the notebook( several times over this 200hour period) in order to cool its self to room temperature. So don't leave the PC open for a week, stress and then shut down a couple of times.

 

@Razer-D
Do not disable Powerplay. Just keep it on at optimal performance. Use Powerstrip for overclocking. Other applications can't make the OC clocks stick. Notebook cooling pad should be enough. Still, be careful not to OC too much, especially if you have had any of these thermal issues we have recently discussed here.

@mark81
Zalman ZM-NC1000 should actually be a fine fit for this notebook. Just compare the width and length between the legs under the notebook to the dimensions of the ZM-NC1000. I actually recommended it to kamikazefly. He can propably tell more about how it has been.
Why would you want to replace the GPU? Isn't X1800 still a high-end GPU for laptops? Though, I must admit that often at resolutions higher than 1280x768 (< native 1440x900) you might have to disable too much goodies, to make certain games run smooth enough. The Mobility Radeon X1800 performs pretty much the same as mid-range desktop card, the X1800 GTO ( Some comparisons). The M58 is afterall based on R520's architechture.

@jarni
mark81 may be right: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=1995060

 

Well, my housemate has one of those (Zalman ZM-NC1000) for his 15" Macbook, when i've tried it on my laptop it didn't fit realy well.

It is better than my Antec notepad cooler. Better than Akasa AK-NBC, in uses other than desk (if you prefer putting your laptop over your lap etc) as its bottom is made of plastic and not metalic surface, which ofcourse can be heated as well if the laptop is hot enough. Personaly, I didn't feel safe when using it (I am a Zalman fan, I wish they implement a solution for 17" users), mostly due to its angle lift on the laptop.

I was very surpised to find out that very notepads are available for 17" notebooks when I bought mine. The best solution would be the combination of Akasa AK-NBC for desk usage and a plastic notepad for all other usages.

At the moment X1800 is quite sufficient for gaming, but after a year ..... In a desktop its easy to upgrade the GPU, however in laptops its extremely complicated if not imposible in some cases. I believe the ExpressCard PCI-Express expansion would be a very efficient solution to notebooks with low-mid end GPUs and desktop replacements after they become out-dated.

You could buy a 15" notebook with low-mid end GPU and use this mod for gaming purposes. However, further improvements (Stronger power supply for the Card) in this technology are needed in order to make this real.

 

@mark81
Well DTR notebooks tend to be quite bad for use on the lap or other uneven surfaces. I almost solely use the notebook on my desk and also rarely move it long distances.

After a year the X1800 is still very sufficient for gaming, atleast for me. There are people who have previous generations' cards, a lot older than X1800, in the laptop and are content with their performance with latest games, and then there's people who exclusively want only the latest possible graphics power under the hood. And everything between. So it's of course a personal preference and how much extra money you can throw away for just gaming (though some may also need a good GPU also for working).

I think the currently available external GPU solutions using ExpressCard slot are really only viable for those having low-end graphics card, especially for those who have integrated GPU and want to play latest games. For those having mid-range to high-end GPU the ExpressCard expansion is pretty much useless. The ExpressCard interface offers only a single lane (1x) PCI-Express (PCIe), which doesn't offer enough bandwidth for the computer to use the external GPU efficiently, regardless of how fast the GPU really was. Afterall most new dedicated GPU's usually use 16 lane (16x) PCIe (16 times faster than a single lane), which is also directly connected to the northbridge (handles communication between CPU, RAM and PCIe), unlike ExpressCard.
But...
the idea is certainly a good one and something that should be developed further. If they made PCIe External connectors/ports (like 8x or 16x) as a stantard, external GPU's might be a great idea. Pay attention to this kind of news: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2091593,00.asp

 

Guys,

just wanted to let you know that my system has been running VERY stable and moderately cool ever since my latest update. So at least in my kind of system, I can confirm that F-S BIOS 1.23 and Catalyst 7.7+Mobility Modder combo is all good. So no more crashes, no more insane overheating, no more problems.

I did update every other driver from VIA Raid to Intel Chipset, but I doubt those are as vital as the system BIOS and GPU driver.

 

Just seen your 3DMark score JohnOrion82, we have the same system (except 2x1GB 667 Crucial RAM) and drivers(except Bios v1.25). However, my 3DMARK 06 score is different. I got 3089 using Catalyst 6.15 and 3021 using Catalyst 7.7+mod.

Any idea why I'm getting different scores? Is it because of the RAM speed difference 533->667 ?

Also, just tried Bioshock Demo which runs pretty descend in 1024x768, full details except high detail post processing. The game at its worst performace moments reduces runs at 19 FPS using FRAPS, but this happens rarely (usualy, when you are near smoke/fog areas). However, in most of the times its FPS is between 23-35+.

Enabling high detail post processing results to at least to a 2-5 FPS drop. Furthermore, in 1440x900 and full details the game is around 13-22 FPS which is not recommended for gaming.

 

I'd imagine RAM speed certainly helps. In addition, of course we can't have 100% identical systems as we have different programs installed and the drivers of other components might be different.

 

Installed XP Home OEM SP2 and Vista Ultimate 32bits on different partitions on the same disk.
It looks like Aero is stressing so much the video card that the temperatures under Vista are about 10°C higher than under XP.
It's 71°C against 61°C. These are CPU temps but the cooling system is unified.
IMHO here's where the unified cooling system for CPU and GPU+video mem is showing as a bad solution.
The temperatures were read in idle state.
Is anyone else getting similar results or am I omitting something in Vista settings?

 

I'm having some trouble with this blasted machine at the moment. I can't play a game for more than 10 min before I get strange graphical glitches (see pic) followed by a system freeze. I'm using ATI's Bioshock hotfix and the included drivers that I have modded to work on a notebook. I've flashed the BIOS to latest version as well. Perhaps I should call Fujitsu-Siemens support?

 

to Razer-D

IMHO you should first uninstall non-standard video drivers and all sort of fixes.
Then install standard or original drivers and test again.
The results should speak for themselves.

If nothing changes, then there is probably a hardware problem.
If you still have video bugs but no crashes then, most likely, it's just a drivers or a software conflict.

 

I've tried the standard catalyst 7.8 drivers and I still had the crashes. With some of the older drivers I used to get BSODs but perhaps I should try them again. Is it correct to assume that graphical glitches occur because of software related issues whereas system lock-ups are because of hardware failure? I didn't have any of these problems until the after the second time I sent this notebook in for repair ( the notebook wouldn't boot on both occasions). It seems crazy but I wonder if the they accidentally damaged the GPU or something. Does FS warranty cover this sort of thing?

edit: I know this is gonna sound stupid , but is it normal for a notebook to lock up when the CPU reaches 72~73 degrees C? I used Ati Tool to do a stress test and the as soon as the CPU hit 72 C in NHC, the system just froze up and I had to do a hard reboot.

*sigh* I guess I have to to call FS support thursday.

 

to Razer-D

It seems that you have a hardware problem.
If your laptop is still under warranty, you should send it to FSC.

 

Well it's a good thing that this laptop comes with a two year warranty. this will be the third time I send it in for repair . Buying a laptop can be like a bit of a gamble. Sometimes you take the short straw and get stuck with a lemon of a computer. It amazes sometimes that companies like FSC and Dell would rather spend twice the price of a new computer on repairs rather than simply replacing the thing.

 

The UK Fujitsu Siemens models only get a 1 year warranty. Quite alot of Amilo Xi users are based in the UK. On your query about why Fujitsu spend so much time and effort to repair the notebook, rather than replace, is probably because all the parts are present in the service centres. The parts also don't cost Fujistu Siemens a great deal of money, as they buy them in such bulk, there are substantial discounts.

 

The warranty is 2 year in Scandinavia but the downside is you have send it in for repair yourself.

I understand that the parts may be cheap but the service cost in the form of paying skilled technicians must be expensive. It's only a guess though. For all I know it may only take them 15 min to fix a problem if they have the parts in stock.

 

Yes, I see what you mean about the technicians needed to repair notebooks. It is funny then, that the go to such lengths to repair notebooks. I remember that when my notebook became faulty, just 2 weeks after I bought it new, I sent it in. When I recieved it back, I had a look at the repair documentation, and practically all the parts had been replaced. The motherboard, processor and graphics card, being the main ones. Being in the UK, labour is not cheap, and it takes a fair bit of time and alot of effort to replace all those parts.

 

When it comes to parts, the graphics card isn't actually so hard to replace. This laptop actually has one of the easier procedures for swapping the graphics card.
But nevermind.

I've asked about this earlier in this thread, and I think I'll do it again: Does anyone run a successful config with amilo xi1546 and 2x2gig RAM? Because I've been considering that upgrade since long before i actually got to buying my laptop. From what I've seen on the net, some e-tailers claim 4GB compatibility, however FSC's official specs say it's limited to 2 gig... I also seem to have read somewhere that one of the biosflashes enables 4gig compatibility, but it doesen't say so in any of the biosversions' changelogs that they do enable it.

And does anyone know where I can get a hold of a drive cage for the 2nd hdd? I want to run RAID0, but there is just an empty space where the second hdd would be, and there was no hdd cage in the box...
I live in Norway, so if anyone would know of any e-tailers selling the hdd cage and shipping worldwide, I'd be quite grateful.

 

For the second hard drive take a look at these links:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=144377

http://www.amilo-forum.com/topic,31,-Mx438-2nd-sATA-HDD-part-list.html

 

Hello! as most amilo xi1546 users, after a year of using the laptop it started to get very hot even watching videos. The average temperature without doing anything was 60-65 Cº and when I started any demanding application it raised even at 95º in a very short period of time. I changed the thermal paste to artic silver some time ago and the results were great (it lowered the temp by 5ºC) but this summer the thing went worse.

Today I decided to clean the fan because it seemed to be a little bit dirty but when I removed it, what was the surprise that the fan grill was blocked by a little layer of fuzz so the air couldn't flow outside through the copper grill (I take a lot of care when I put the laptop on a surface, I clean the table every day as well as the laptop so after a year, most of you should have the fan grill in the same condition).

To clean it you have to dismantle all the thermal system of the computer because the fan screws are in the back (follow the typical thermal paste reaplacing tutorial to remove the thermal system that contains the fan). Once you achieve to dismantle the fan (you have to completly sepparate it from the housing by removing three screws that holds it and two that holds the cable) you have to look inside the metal housing to see the little surprise. I recommend you to blow from the outter side of the grill to remove all the dust and to clean the fan and the housing with a paintbrush. Take care of doing this far away from the laptop to not scatter the dust in it. When everything is clean you have to replace the thermal paste of the cpu and the gpu to mount everything back.

Results:
now I'm getting 45-50ºC of average temp writting this post instead of 65º and when I open a lot of videos and webs the temp rises to 55-60º It is amazing, I feel the same sensation from the first day with it, it's silent again!!!

 

Pedrofan: If youve never cleaned your lappy, that is a very good solution

There are just some (including my self) which have some other problems, with this notebook. I've tryed almost every (except the aged fujitsu drivers) with no luck. With every driver I recive graphic glitches, some are worse than others, and lowering the cpu voltage, only extend the time before they occur. Ive now send this notebook in for heat issues for the third time, this is tho the first time its going to fujitsu. Still, now the place ive bought it, had three chances to fix it and is it not fixed now, they will have to either replace it or give me my money back.

Really, this notebook must have a design flaw with its cooling system.

 

I usually clean my laptop but not the interior of the housing where the fan is because you have to separte the thermal system from the proccessor and the graphics card, replacing the thermal paste etc. You have to completly remove the thermal system and the fan to access the interior of the copper grill where the dust is accumulated. Have you done it? I got surprised beacuse y take a lot o care qith the laptop, and the fuzz was there. I think that it is a design problem.