I know this is annoying (RAID on 7811FX)

Hey, it's the thought that counts.

 

Just got back from best buy. They let me do the exchange. All was great.

W:03 Batch:H260276

Boot it up... Bios Version: 9C. 05.00


You've got to be kidding me.

lol, you've got some scplainin to do

 

wow...burn.

This is the point i would start getting ready to destory something.

I guess it goes to show that you should boot up the first time in store and make sure its what you want (check for dead pixels, BIOS version, Ghosting, etc)

So you got the second gen batch...but still the old BIOS??? Are the "08" BIOS just randomly spread out so its like getting the golden ticket or something?

 

p.s. the brick is different, hard to explain how but its visibly not the same

 

i just want the new bios for any fixes gateway made to the system even though i have 0 issues /crosses fingers & Toes .Im not the least bit interested in raid TBH at this time but its a feature i paid for and should have . I know many people love it and want it and i toyed with it abit on my 6860 but im more then happy with the speed of my machine from the drives .The new 320/7200 i got in here rocks .

 

i went to best buy today to see about the new lappy and they had no clue if it was the new shipment or the old. they had 9 sitting there. and on display they had one running a cheesy notebook cooler...*LMAO* i was like...why is this thing rocking..so i look under neath and low and behold...a white single fan notebook cooler. making more noise than cooling from the weight of the laptop...*LOL* to funny.

 

maybe their display model was one of the ones that spontaniously burst into flames.

 

yeah, it was definitely kicking out the heat for sure! out the gpu side that is...cpu was chillin'

 

that's odd..Im not the brightest dead pixel around..but it is strange. Mine is H260911 28-32-047-04 and w:04. Q:s01 a:127546 D:11 S:26 and below the S there is the number 18.

 

i bet it was the white belkin, chosen for best cooling of 2007... i had it for a week before the fan made a very loud humming noise, it lasted for about a month before i got mad at the noise interrupting my dvds so i kinda punched it. shoulda just returned it instead.

 

now what fun would that have been? lol

and you see my delima...they couldn't tell anything when i asked. he ran numbers asked other people looked at boxess...but nothing confirming it was the new bios...

edit: and on a side note...notebookreview...your killing me on this lag time!!!... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

Hey E-Wrked did you notice the dvd drive making noise when you boot up? if so it's probably because it's a different ones than what the gateway started with?

 

the BIOS has the DVD set to boot first.. put it to 2nd boot after the HDD and it shouldnt spin up. Just remember to switch back if ya need to ever boot from CD. However, I do hear something else spinning up..almost like a clicking sound coming from the hard drive area. Not constant.. but every once in a while, its making a click noise. Sounds like the primary HDD. I'll ignore it til I have problems. Or, til it annoys me enough..then Ill smash it with a hammer.

 

Yeah I hear that too.

 

So we have no way of knowing without opening the box and looking at the carton? Btw, my carton says Date:2008/7/15.... guess I need 2008/8/25. Guys with the new bios, can you confirm this? Also, if you have the new bios, what does it say near "Version" right under date? Mine says Version.:0. Only you Gateway would release a Version 0.

On a similar note. When I bought my first 7811, Best Buy forced me to let them test it, and then sign something saying that it was ok. Which is funny, because they wouldnt let me stand there and watch while they tested it, so I had no way of really knowing whether or not it was ok. Geek Squad had their grimy fingers all over it before I even got to touch it once. They set my computer name to "Owner" or something without even asking.

This time, when I WANTED them to open it up so that I could have them check the bios, they refused to open it saying that if I refused it then they would be left with an unsellable laptop. Ughhh....

Either way, I'm returning tomorrow to that Best Buy an explaining that my problem has not been solved. If they refuse to help me, I'm going to get a handful of stuff from all different parts of the store, take it up to the register, and then right after the clerk rings it up... "woops, forgot my credit card." And walk out, then I go to another Best Buy and try.

I told Gateway that their manual says the laptop can Raid, and that in reality it cannot. They said sorry, nothing they can do. I'm so upset really. Sry just venting.

 

Jakamo if the machine is in good working order you should just wait it out and im sure there will be a bios released . i had the option of returning mine the otherday but did not cause this machine im on is perfect ie no dead pixels ,perfect screen, keyboard ,temps etc. If i had got one with raid yet it had any of the above problems i would be ripping my hair out over it .Now i know you want raid as much as the next guy and i dont want it that badly but i do want what ever other fixes that came with the new bios . Im going to "try" and be patient in the meantime and enjoy what i have .

this is all my opinion and you have every right to be mad and demand a return/exchange but im just speaking from a different point of view.

 

Yep, I'm waiting but am gettin' a little irritated with a company that can't even post a simple BIOS release. I'll bet they are just shakin' in there boots that I'm irritated. Me being so important and all.

@Mistargill - How did the Ubuntu install go? Everything work?
OH, forget it ... I see you did it on the Everex.

 

I have 0 faith in gateway TBH but after seeing how many people that had problems when these things first shipped i think it would be in there best interest(what ever that is) to release it .

Im sure they Sold a megaF***ton of these machines and plenty didnt have problems but i also saw people returning one after the other till it stopped locking up etc .

The 6831/60 didnt really have the same types of problems. so i guess they never needed to release a new bios for that machine and infact they released an older bios lol, thats why i dont know who is running gateway but i can just picture one guy in a room with a small desklamp doing everything .

 

Gateway P-7811FX R&D Department

 

Lol syng i almost made that statement knowing you would find just the right pic for it and there it is LOL.

 

You make good points but I'd rather not spend hours (actually days for me) setting up this computer and waiting for raid... because once raid comes, everything I've set up will get wiped when I enable it anyway, and then I'll have to set up again. This is assuming Gateway actually releases a bios update of course.

BTW, I mentioned that the powerbrick is different. I can describe it now: theres no texture to it. It's literally just a black brick. The older brick had a thick grill-like texture stripe down the middle with about half an inch of smoothness on each end longways. This brick is completely smooth. Performance may/may not be the same, but it's funny to see the areas in which they cut costs.

I can see them now - Gateway Rep A: "Hmm, In upgrading from the P-173xl FX, we've removed the CD access indicator light from below the touchpad leaving the current indicator lights where they were causing them to be in an uneven formation, removed bluetooth, removed the fingerprint reader, removed Raid functionality, and removed the slot-load CD drive. What other modifications can we make that are seemingly unnoticable yet still inconveniencing to the end users in an effort to save us another 5 cents?" Gateway Rep B: "Well, we're already at indirect sales. Let's remove the Chat feature from our website, but still leave the "Chat with Gateway Rep" link there! Wait, we did that already. Hmmm... Lets remove the texturing from the power bricks!" Gateway Rep A: "You're a genious. That will save us a whole 3 dollars!"

Guess that's how they make money selling them indirectly for 1249.

 

hehe about the power brick but actually both the power bricks i have are smooth black while others have had ones that are textured or grooved whichever . i think they just have 2 suppliers for them and its all random . best investement though was that 35 dollar 180 watt brick i bought for it . that thing barely even gets warm as where the stock one is one step away from exploding by the end of an evening of gaming.

 

What's the disadvantage to having the 180 watt one, is there any? I'm really asking why Gateway provides the brick it does if 180 watts will be fine without getting hott, is it just another money thing?

On another note: my screen has even less white "ghosting" or whatever it is than the last one did, which is just about nothing. My last one didn't have any ghosting except for the perfectly normal cloudish strip along the bottom edge of the screen. On this one, I wouldn't even have been able to see any if I had not just been using dead pixel buddy to check for any dead pixels (there's none). The white "ghosting" at the bottom runs about 3 mm high and is hardly noticeable with an all black screen, and not visible at all otherwise, even when looking for it. It's a shame I'm going to have to return this puppy.

 

Sounds like the next one on the conveyer must have had the new BIOS Mine has the smoothe brick, the CPU Heatsink is different, the screen is impecable, if only I could overclock the GPU as much Otherwise, this thing is brilliant. And I'm a picky mofo.. If no one here recognizes that yet, Im clarifying..


EDIT: OH MY GOD!! I just realized something.. I may be... ANAL RETENTIVE. Lord, please don't let me become "that guy".

 

Jakamo5, not trying to talk you into or out of anything but cloning your old setup to RAID in Vista seems easy but I have not done it yet. Just saying it may not be a big hassle if and when the BIOS Santa arrives. (Assuming you have been a good boy)

 

I believe it was Dook that had some failed attempts at this, am I right or wrong dook?


Also, There's some black gunk on the first HDD tray (the one that was occupied before I added the second HDD). I can scrape it off, but I'm wondering what exactly it is.

As you can see, I'm a perfectionist too haha.

 

"Perfectionist" - I like that term much better. And Dook did mention he had BSOD after restoring the RAID via image..and I was thinking bout that earlier when johnksss did the same with his. Then it corrupted on him. *shrugs* I'll stick to the 4 hour re-install and tweak sessions in between re-formats.

 

Yes, now that you mention it, that was the case. I just read where someone did it here ... I thought. Maybe I am wrong. I need that BIOS to get some personal experience with it. My other RAIDS have XP and I have no motivation to use Vista on them.

 

nah. *LOL* not like that.

i was over clocking and it shut down, but i already fixed that. nah, my image is intact. i was thinking i was gonna have to restore again, but since i had the restore partition, i just ran a chkdsk and all was cool.

 

Good..cause for a second there I thought this whole RAID thing was going to be a huge hassle. john, you be a test dummy for my enjoyment.. and lemme know when I need to be one for yours.

 

well that depends and im not sure...but i changed my vista os to ahci then imaged it and restored it with no problems. not sure if dook had his in ahci mode or ide mode before imaging. this may be why his didn't take...(speculation of course)

edit: and you know i stay being a dam.n test dummy!.. lmao! im just that guy who has to understand why. that's why im back on the bios project. (over clocking) you got any more suggestions i should try im all ears. and since these gateways will still boot with no bios, you just need to leave usb hdd and usb key before your hard drive boot. and you can restore your bios. (once we get a working copy of it that is) so i'll stay being the test dummy and when we find that..then you can take half the load...hows that? lol

 

Here are some comments by DriveSnapshot about the Vista image/restore problem. They appear to have a handle on it maybe. Not sure why RAID would make a difference. Who knows.
http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/vista.htm

Edit: OK John did it. Good news.

 

This is entirely 100% off topic, but has anyone heard of the ATI XGP? This was the reason I considered not upgrading from my HP..thinking I could hook up a bad@$$ external GPU, and not have to dump a bunch o' cash on anything else. Well, that's 4 months ago..now here I am. So, is anyone familiar? And what ever happened to it?

http://ati.amd.com/technology/xgp/index.html

Oh, and if my 9800m thinks about giving me crap cause Im discussing another GPU.. I'll have to underclock it to put it in check. You heard that, right GPU?

 

i restored my partition in a different spot, plus the recovery partition. i cant prove it just yet, but i think it has to do with ahci mode.... when raided...it's in the ahci mode if im not mistaken. and when you try to clone an ide version (speculation of course) to an ahci...it crashes.

 

I assume this is a BIOS setting or are you changing to ahci mode some other way. (I'm too lazy to reboot and look at the BIOS)

 

you assume correctly.
edit: but that is only half...the os has to reflect the change as well..

 

this guy's (RAC_Gump on Engadget) comment could help:
"There seems to be confusion about a few things thou, heres what I reckon:
ATI have done the smart thing here......they have realised that all the current standard cable connections (USB, Firewire etc) and card slots (Express etc) simply dont have the bandwidth to handle a decent full size PCI video card, so they have invented their own (to quote "proprietary 4.0Gbps PCIe 2.0 connector").
Yes, thats a probem for current model notebooks because they dont come with one, and I can imagine getting their new type of connection as a standard component on notebooks is proberly the thing which is holding them up. But I am guessing that AMD themselves or someone else will make a hybrid connector that will allow you to hook it up in a standard slot/connection.
This WILL limit the bandwidth available and once you reach a certin point, it wont matter how fast the GPU in the XGP is, it'll only work as good as the bandwidth allows.
Now this isnt as bad as it seems, because you will still get an improvement over the standard on board graphics (specially if you have a middle to low range notebook), just how much is yet to be seen.
ASUS have a system thats available now and use's a standard notebook slot to connect it. It works, it improves things greatly, but its limited to the bandwidth on the cables connecting it to the notebook."

So I'm guessing it might be delayed while they look into bandwidth solutions? I dnno, sleep time. Tomorrow, I'm going to Raid best buy, pun intended.

 

off topic external video solution
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mobile...ance_with_External_Graphics_Accelerators.html

 

EDIT: John, I believe that was one of the original articles I read.. I thought these people were genius..they solved the problem I had with my 8600m GS.. I could upgrade just the GPU! Then I realized they're just wasting my time, and falsely getting my hopes up


Insightful Jak. I was wondering about the bandwidth originally, but ATI was all-in on the concept of the PCI-e 2.0 being more than capable to handle it. And yea, I remember them mentioning there was a rig coming out that would be specifically designed to incorporate the XGP. It had something to do with the release of the HD3870(i think) GPU, and the notebook would christen the video card and the capability. Ya know, it's a suprise that no one has been able to make a decent external solution. NVIDIA surely has something in the works, I mean..c'mon guys - save face after this overheating fiasco. An externally cooled, plug and play, GPU casing.. whereas the card itself is interchangeable. Even if ya had to hotwire it to your rig. Then again, it would likely stop a lot of people from ever upgrading laptops. *shrugs* I just wanna go 9800m GTS SLI :GEEK:

 

yesterday i was chatting with tech support. I asked why some p-7811 fx gateway's have that function . they told me that some models are using different chip.

I also asked abut common problem when updating the bios.( erroe meassge that file is missing ) I was told to send my beauty to be serviced.

Guys what do you think ?

 

Thats all BS edi dont believe anything they say. We just need the BIOS update when and IF that ever happens is another story.

 

I think Gateway is hiring homeless people off the street to man the tech support lines. This is a good budget cutting device and good for keeping people off the street but doesn't help much when it comes to information.

 

Tech support told me that I was lying when I said the newest notebooks were shipping with the new bios and that my screenshots were fakes from people with too much time on thier hands.

 

Lol now thats awsome. thats why i would never even call anyone there regarding important info . You just know going in to the call there not going to be helpful in anyway so i figure why bother to waste my energy and test my patience .

Gateways new motto should be "If you can't fix it yourself ,then it cant be fixed"

 

Quite hillarious ... sad, but hillarious.

 

Has anyone tried their "fee-based support" which is billed to a credit card? I'm wondering if the people who staff it are actually intelligible.

Heading into Best Buy now - exchange take 2. I'll post here when I get back to give you an update.

 

OMG.. off topic but.. I got a dead pixel... sigh... exchange number 3 ? here I Come?

 

You may have to contact E-wrecked and borrow the disguise I gave to him.

These screens, amidst there stunning beauty, are a tad unnerving. Although a dead pixel now and then is not uncommon.

 

Contacted bestbuy, they say I cant exchange for just one dead pixel ... Ugh makes me angry

 

What about a fist sized section of dead/broken pixels

Just kidding, but dead pixels suck though, and maybe they will do it in person

Try running a dead pixel program on your computer. Its rare that it will actually do anything, but it might just be stuck and it can be worked free.

Or you could try to push the pixel gently to see if its just stuck ...though i've always been weary of doing it.