MX6450 owners, please share your experiences....

Ah, okay. Gotchya'

 

recommend me something, my laptop is for home use, is an MX6450, should i leave the battery always connected to my notebook even when i use always the AC adaptor? or should i only connect the battery when is needed? (i think if you leave it connected, the battery is constantly charging and recharging and slowly reduce the battery's life)

bass09

 

I have. I've also noticed that when the drive is empty it will seek media quite a lot, particularly when I am typing quickly. I contacted Gateway tech support about it and they suggested that I open the machine up and reseat the drive. I did that and it stopped seeking for a while, but now it is doing it again. Still hasn't spontaneously opened in a while. They want me to send the drive in which I may do, but Gateway has a notorious black hole and sometimes takes a few months to get your gear back to you.

Please let us know if you find some other fix for this.

 

your machine has a setting or embedded software utility that dynamically controls CPU power. there are now free utilities downloadable from the internet that does the same thing e.g. Notebook Hardware Control, SpeedswitchXP. the purpose is to conserve energy thereby allowing the machine to be a few degrees cooler which is of course good. depending on use a dynamic powering up or powering down of the cpu is a good idea.

 

I think I am going to get this computer... tommorrow... any thing I should know before I make my final decision???


- Robyn

 

I always leave my battery in. I don't use my battery very often though. In my year that I've had my laptop, I have not noticed any degrade in battery performance. When I got it, I got around 2:20, now I get 2:20. I do have it recharge a lot too.

Robyn, immediately after you purchase, use it plenty to see if you get used to the heat. There are a couple complaints about the heat on that computer. If you decide that you don't like it, return it to BestBuy within 14 days. You may be recharged a stocking fee.
If you know that you are pretty picky about heat, I would advise that you look at a different computer.
Good luck

 

How's the Gateway MX6450 refurbed at $699 compare to these acer aspires?

Acer Aspire AS5003WLMi AMD Turion 64 ML-32(1.8GHz) 15.4" Wide XGA 1GB 100GB DVD±R/RW Dual Layer SiS Mirage 2 NoteBook - Retail $899 after 100 mail in rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16834115328

A265-4004 :: Acer Aspire AS5002WLMI AMD Turion 64 ML-30 1.6GHz / 802.11b/g Wireless / 15.4-Inch WXGA / 512MB DDR / 100GB HDD / CDRW / DVD Combo / Windows XP Home / Refubished Notebook PC – refurbed at $699
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2138914&sku=A265-4004

thanks!

 

The Gateway has a better videocard than both of those Acers. I think that would be the sales clincher for me.

 

I wholeheartedly agree with Hellmanns. Stay far, far away from anything with a SiS chipset. You'll be much better off with the Gateway. Plus it's a heck of a lot better looking.

 

Hi,
I bought my 6450 about a month ago (at best buy go figure) and absolutely am thrilled with every aspect of this beautiful machine except two... the first is a minor problem Im having with my wireless nic not always seeing my wireless router, but I suspect that to be a problem with the router as its never a problem anywhere else... the second is the more anoying problem Ive never been able to fix... I reformatted and reinstalled windows XP pro and it went flawlessly except the sound driver gave me a "failure" message during installation. I've downloaded a few drivers from other sources (than gateway) on the internet, but I usually get a similar message. Gateway recomended I reinstall media center edition, so I did, but for some reaons I still got the exact same message when tring to install the audio dirvers. I've tried to troubleshoot the problem, but am trying to avoid having the nic card itself checked as I only have the basic warranty, and don't want to waste money on that if I dont have to.
has anyone else had this problem, or does anyone have any advice at all?

 

It's been a while but I think I remember a similar issue with the sound driver. I think I went in the device manager (control panel/administrative tools/computer management) and updated the driver. I chose to select (not search) and then have disk and found the *.inf in the directory (I don't remember where that was). Or, I might have just found the driver and right-click, install. Anyway, the driver worked it just needed a kick.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help with directories etc.

Joe

 

the one I got off of gateway's website wasnt a inf, it was the install variaty... and it just gives me a "failure" message when trying to run it

 

Hi guy's,

I saw this machine and loved how it looks and read a couple of good reviews here. Howerver I will like to know if tere will be a big difference in the performance between the MX6450 and the MX6425 the only difference i can see is the processors one beeing a 2.0 Mhz and the other 1.8 Mhz.
The price difference is about $50.
Will I be able to really see a difference in the performance of these two machines?

Thanks.

 

I have doubts that you will notice a difference. I myself would spend the $50, though some may view it as unnecessary. You'll be fine with the 1.8 if it comes to that

 

Thanks Hellmans then I will go for the MX6450.

 

I recently aquired an mx6450 with no cd's and a crashed HD. I installed XP Pro and am having problems finding drivers. If anyone has a copy of the drivers and applications cd's that I may aquire I would be very gratefull.
Please pm me if you have these cd's.

Thanks

 

Im thinking about getting the OnAir GT HD tuner for my MX6450. I know a lot of the laptops build today are HD capable. Does anyone know if the MX 6450 is one of them?

 

I bought my MX6450 while home on leave back in January and it has performed admirably for me the whole time I was at Camp Duke and Camp Echo, two of the most sand-riddled places in Iraq. I never solved my thermal shutdown problem while there because I had intended to take advantage of my Best Buy Extended Warranty to get one of the new Intel Core 2 Duo Gateway Notebooks, but now that I have found a solution to the Thermal Shutdown problem, I think I may just try to keep this thing come hell or high water. I love it that much. While my workaround for the Thermal Shutdowns was to run it exclusively on Battery and just plug it in to charge, I noticed that the Battery life actually seemed to INCREASE. I can now browse the internet while listening to MP3's for 3.5 hours at a go, and watch at least a movie and a half before she runs out of juice. This problem actually proved kind of useful I think, as a few of my buddies had their comp's fried by power fluctuations over there, though I think part of their iseue was using cheapo power converters. Why use a converter with a machine that gobbles 220Ac as readily as anything else anyways? My one remaining complaint is that the sound the through the built in speakers is kind of weak... oh well,*HEADPHONES*

 

Hey i am in need of the infamous hard to find Audio driver for the Mx6450....i reinstalled Windows xp and did not back up my drivers and here i am...found every driver but my audio...please reply thanks John

 

I swear everyone replys to everyone else but me.....

 

Not sure why you can't find it. I don't have my MX6450 any more but I reinstalled my OS several times. An audio driver is listed on Gateway's support site. I know that with one of my laptops the audio driver would fail to install. But, if I went to the device and selected Update Driver and chose the folder where the installer extracted to the driver would install. I don't remember if that was the Gateway or not.

Good luck, Joe

http://support.gateway.com/support/...dio Driver version: 6.14.10.575&uid=143559717

 

Old post, but I want to chime in.

I've had my MX6450 for 1 full year now.

Initially I thought this was a great laptop but I would not purchase it again.

I'll run down the problems I've experienced:

1) The single processor runs quite hot, even with dynamic clock speed switching enabled. I have had the machine shut down from overheating several times while playing games or otherwise stressing the CPU.

2) My hinge was defective (an issue with other gateways). After about 6 months of ownership, the hinge seized up and broke the metal chassis of the laptop. The replacement hinge (if they even replaced it) looks like it will cause the same failure again later this year.

3) Gateway repair was HORRIBLE. Only the bare minimum of parts were replaced, it appears that the defective hinge was not changed out for a re-engineered part, and worst of all the laptop was returned to me with the speakers disconnected. Yes, after waiting 2 weeks to get my computer fixed, I had to open it myself to reconnect the speakers that some idiot tech forgot about.

4) Despite numerous disk wipes and reinstallation of windows, this computer just runs hot and performs poorly. Disk access is especially crippling. No, my hard drive is not going bad.

5) Loaded VISTA and it performed terribly. In fact, after loading VISTA this stupid thing developed a hardware problem. I can't reboot anymore. If I attempt to "restart" / "warm boot" the machine, it will turn off and it can not be started again until I remove the battery and AC power for a few seconds.


Maybe my experiences are unique, I don't know.

My ex-gf has virtually the same model gateway but with the dual core athlon. It is infinitely more powerful and capable, more quiet and runs cooler.

All my future purchases will be dual-core and because of the hinge issue I won't buy gateway again. I have seen pictures of other people with the exact same hinge defect, but different models of gateway laptops. This leads me to believe it's not just an MX6450 issue.



** On edit, I want to talk about the audio driver issue.
Yes the driver is a PITA to reinstall. You must manually select "Have Disk / I will choose ... " and locate the inf file for the driver, then make it install. The driver downloaded from gateway will work if installed this way, but windows won't automatically associate the driver with the detected sound card. So annoying.

 

You are right on. I install the software "Notebook Hardware Control" and made the settings you suggested and my laptop works perfectly now. Thanks.

 

Hello, I have a Gateway MX6450 I to need a restore disk, What would you charge to send a coty? My email is [email protected] Thanks

 

well hello to this forum
i have to admit i was a bit shocked when i couldn't use my own last name as part of my user name- it contained a banned word !
ok big brother- get a life please. take it easy on the banned words list...
banning my name- sheesh!

ok back to the topic-
i have had a mx6450 for about 2 years now and i did a little bit of modification

1) i took it apart and put more cpu thermal paste between the cooler and the cpu and the gpu...

2) i superglued legos to the bottom of the computer so it sits raised off the surface of the table/desk etc...

not only does this totally fix the problem (keep the airflow)
but it looks cool too!
airline security people look at me a little funny but then they always do...

i use it for audio- i play a live set of my music off of it- the shutdown would be DEADLY for my performance so i had to find a way around it.
the legos work really well!

anyway...

BTW- if you are going to use xp 64 or ANY OS different than the preload, of COURSE you will need appropriate drivers... this is easy enough as all the parts of the mx6450 are specced out for you and you can look up their manufacturers website and download them...
easy.

PS- about Vista- well that P.O.S. runs HORRIBLY on ANY machine. it needs a gig of ram to even load the desktop properly. Vista is junk. stick with XP for now...

 

i just want to add one more thing

about a year after i got it- it started to overheat again... and shut down spontaneously...

and so i took it apart and cleaned it but it STILL shut down and overheated etc...

and SO... i finally figured out- take the heatsink/fan assembly APART and clean inside THAT- and lo and behold, i found a BIG clump of gunk it there- dust, hair, etc... BLOCKING the heatsink from doing ANYTHING...

cleaned THAT out and it worked fine again...

but be careful- when cleaning the fan blades i accidentally broke one off- and it makes a different kind of sound now than it used to ... more buzzy...

but works fine