New 7805u Owner - Questions

I know this thread has probably come up millions of times in the past, and that there is a massive 7805 thread, but I need some specific questions answered.

This is a refurbed one and so far it seems good. However, I'm seeing the HDD light come on every second. I used to have a T42 before this and this never happened.

Next up is the battery. I'm running on AC right now, and im wondering what is the BEST way to get the most of the battery. Should i charge it up, let it drain, then charge it up all the way and remove it? I only plan on using the battery when im not close to an outlet, and im sure that leaving it in would kill the life of the cells. Whats the best way to go about this?

I also read in another thread, that I should follow some burn in process, whats that about?

Lastly, I'm going to be building a cooling pad out of a binder with some old fans i have lying around the house. I've got one 2" case fan and a stock cpu fan of some old processor. The CPU fan still has the heat sink so I'm thinking that if I can get that install so that when the laptop is on the pad, the heatsink touches the laptop body, that way I'd get maximum cooling. This fan would obviously be blowing away from the laptop. The case fan is going to be situated over the intake vent, which, if I'm not mistaken, is on the top right corner of the body when the screen is open. I'm still not sure where I should place the CPU fan. The HDD area seems to get hot, but I'm not sure if its worth putting it there. Where is the best spot for it?

Thanks in advance!

 

Oh damn, looks like theres a video card issue as well. Im trying to watch a flash video fullscreen. It starts of great then the FPS plumets. On youtube it seems fine, but Zshare seems to be no good. I've downloaded the 186 driver update from Nvidia's site but it doesnt seem to help. whats going on?

EDIT: Nevermind, It seems like chrome doesn't like to full screen on 64-bit. It worked fine on IE.

 

HD activity could be SuperFetch and indexing, it may settle down but if left on there will be activity.

Fn-F1 turns the lights off. (see no evil)

 

Ok, I've never used vista before and never had this problem in Win 7 RC's...Indexing is now off, hopefully my HDD temp. should go down. It got as high as 58C once.

As far as the vents for the fans, what do you guys think? Should I just fork over the money for a laptop cooler? (I'm a student and money is tight...I still have to buy a backpack for this bad boy and thats probably going to cost a good 60.)

 

Make sure you prop the back up on a book or something. This allows air flow makes a big difference.

Gives you time to think about cooler.
I think one of the members here liked this one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16834997421
I can't find the post. If this works well it is good buy. Most of them are an expensive yawn or worthless. (Just my opinion and open to debate)

 

Video choppiness can also be powermizer too. Burn in does two things for you. First it lets the TIM settle in and second it will show any weaknesses in the system.

 

I have it up on a binder right now. I've noticed that this cools the cpu down quite a bit, but the HDD gets hot.

How do I do said burn-in?

 

You can run a program like OCCT to challenge the system. Furmark to challenge video. This will push your system beyond what you would normally do and weaknesses will show up. If you run any of these be sure to monitor your temps with HWMonitor or similar. I usually run these on a new setup to see what the system can handle. It would be even more important on a refurbished unit I suppose.

I think "burn in" is a deceptive phrase. Other than what Tan mentioned about setting the Thermal Paste, which happens over time and use. There is no advantage to "burn in" other than information (that I know of).

Burn in is fine, just don't burn it up.

 

And regarding cooling pads. Tiger direct has the cooling master linked above. But im wondering if i should get a pad that brings cold air TO the bottom or removes hot air? i'd obviously want both but that doesnt look like itll happen if im buying. And i want to keep it relatively cheap.

 

BTW, If powermizer is downclocking the card even during heavy video then you need to check to make sure it really isn't overheating. This can cause problems in the long run if left unchecked. I don't have issues with powermizer over here. In fact the last time I had video studdering it was actually due to my antivirus product that I was using.

 

Define over heating for my video card. Im seeing 50's then the fans goes on and it drops to 43C~.

 

I would say anything beyond 80C should definitely be watched for.

 

About that video problem, check your CPU usage. It's most likely at 100%. It only does it fullscreen, right? If that's the case, I don't think you can fix it, other than by lowering your resolution before going full screen. It's not the GPU that's causing it, flash video doesn't really use the GPU. You could test it if you want by playing a movie or something in VLC or OGM or something, but I'm pretty sure it's not the GPU. I've heard it's an OS problem that affects 64bit windows and linux. Weird thing is, my 7811 does it at 1920x1200, but at the 7805's resolution, it doesn't stutter.

 

Yeah, I was pretty sure it wans't the GPU. I think im going to make the move to Windows 7 tomorrow, i should hopefully see better results. Think I should go 64 or 32? Ill be using MS office, AutoCAD, and rarely any games.

 

I would say try them both out and see which you like. I doubt 32 would be significantly better in any way though. Vista 64 absolutely destroys it's 32 bit counterpart.

 

The 32bit version of Windows 7/vista is so that older hardware can run and be able to have the new look. Here is an overview.

 

Yeah, Ill probably go the 64 bit route.
Any way, is there anything else i need to do now in order for this laptop to last 4-5 years? Battery?


And the windows 7 upgrade DVD seemed to be a success even though this is a refurb.

 

Clean it once in a while and maybe reapply thermal grease (I suggest ICD7). Above all, keep an eye out for problems. Don't download crap you don't need, keep the registry clean with CCleaner or something (maybe reinstall the OS again at some point?), watch your temps, and ask if you see anything you think is suspicious. Basically, do all the stuff that 99% of people don't do.

And the battery seems to be pretty good on these things. With the stock CPU, my 7811 had over 4 hours on low use and a power saver plan, and that didn't really diminish over the course of 6 months. Pretty damn good for a 17'' display, a high end GPU + CPU, and 2 hard drives.

 

hey quick one... can i remove cam assistant? can i still take pics and make videos?

 

just go to msconfig and disable chicony camera assistant on start-up.
if you ever want to use it, it'll be on your start menu.

 

Damn it. I just installed windows 7 RTM 64 and i apparently i dont have a driver for The mass storage controller. Where do i go to get it, i need some files i have to move.

 

NVM, i got it. You just have to install the Media Card Reader Driver.

 

but the Fullsceen flash/flv stuff is definitely not working. I checked the resource manager and the CPU seems to spike when it begins to get choppy. I've installed the latest the nvidia graphics and its still the same...

 

That's what I said would happen. And I already said it's not the GPU. I'm 99% sure it's an OS problem, and it can easily be fixed by lowering your screen resolution before going fullscreen.

 

Ahh not worth it, Ill just not go FS or Magnify. The magnification in linux was great.

 

You have to set powermizer to off. It isn't the GPU but the memory bandwith to the video card. When the GPU lowers its speed it also lowers the video card memory speed too.......

 

Oh, how do i turn it off?

 

Here's a guide: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=261929

 

Thanks for all the help guys!