*Official*P-7811 FX Info Thread

Most (but not all) things that fail do so in the first 24 hours so just load up some demanding programs or games and keep the machine on 24/7 for the first week you own it. Also I think some of the issues were from immature drivers shipped with the machine: see the 7811 drivers thread here for where to find updated drivers. My wifi was flaky (took forever to connect, sometimes, but no BSOD) until I updated to the latest Intel wifi driver; since then connection has been fast and persistent, latency in WoW has been cut in half or more.

 

@wtburnette and tallan
thanks for the help...

@wtburnette

would it also be good to just run crysis demo on high for a couple of hours to see if it burns anything up?

@anyone else
i know it's been mentioned before in the lounge but is there a full system checkup tool out there that does everything for you?

 

sure hope someone would come in here and start posting stuff how to help us newbies...

hopefully dook, wtburnette, tallan, syngen, dj, e, and others... (i can't mention every good gateway techie here)

kudos to you all!

 

When purchasing the laptop, the geek squad can perform a free "check" on it. They apply a few minor registry tweaks (not the same as the paid optimization service) and make sure all hardware is working (by connecting to their WLAN and noting that the unit powers on. It would be in your best interest to have them run the Dead Pixel utility (within their software tools) as well as run prime95 on BOTH CORES for about 15 minutes. If it doesn't overheat then, it wont

 

Good summary wtburnette. Looks like you've been reading up just like me.

 

Your best bet is to run a really cpu/graphics intensive program all night

 

you can orthos and furmark in tandem that will give your notebook a good fever.

 

I am sure that if you PM Narsa;i(or if he sees the post), he will add a section in his post for that.

As this relates to the p-7811fx, I merged it with the info thread as well.

 

oh... ok... so that's why when i was looking for this post, i couldn't find it until i gave up and tried to look for more info on other threads... i don't mind it being transfered here but thing is, it would have been very helpful to us newbies to find a separate thread on testing the unit rather than to read a whole thread looking for something like this...

anyway, it's all good. no harm done.

@plaz adam and royk
ty for all the new info

ok so this is what we have so far:
1.registry tweak
2.do hardware check
3.dead pixel utility
4.prime95 on both cores (i dont really know how this works)
5.orthos and funmark (running together... i also don't know what they are)

 

Leaving crysis running would be good. Any graphically intensive game should work just fine. I would let it run as long as possible (if you have time before you go back overseas, I'd play at least a few hours of straight gaming to verify you don't have any issues).

Prime 95 and Orthos are either the same thing or pretty much the same. You only need to run one of them. I believe the other program referenced is Futurmark, not funmark or furmark. Futuremark means one of the 3DMark programs. Just google 3DMark, prime 95 and orthos for all the info you need on running them.

 

oh... thanks wtburnette. very helpful. kudos and rep to you! ok let me edit the list...

(before doing all these things have the unit elevated from surface. proper ventilation underneath the laptop itself.)

1.registry tweak
2.do hardware check
3.dead pixel utility
4.orthos
5.futuremark (i actually have tried this on a pc in my home, roflmao @ score. 300+)

by the way, can i run crysis slideshow nonstop to workout the units? and what is the regular temp at everything set to very high at native resolution (1900*1200?

 

My guess is FurMark our furry little friend.

 

Furmark indeed. My sinuses clog up just thinking about it.

 

Digital Dander Reaction

 

when i ask gs to check for dead pixels do you think they will also check for screen ghosting?

 

ok, it's official my uncle is ordering mine later today... i'm not sure if he'll order it online... anyway, can anyone pm me a link to a passmark suite so that with one click, my uncle could test the whole system? i don't want to trouble him any more than i already am. thanks

 

Good luck with your purchase, hope you get one of the good ones...

 

thanks wtburnette!

 

ok so I updated the first post and gave credit where applicable, thanks guys, I hope this helps diminish the ever growing amount of problem threads.

 

wow narsnail, first time i've been a part of a continuous forum... im really enjoying this. hopefully my succeeding posts will be because i want to help and not posts where i always need help.

 

rep to you for making me a part of the first page.

 

well if you're considering getting a 7811, nows a great time seeing as how they're on sale at BestBuy (save 200) - dropping the price to an impressive $1249.
i want this notebook so bad! but the thought of no warranty scares me. Oh well, i'll just wrap it in 2" of bubble wrap

 

Yeah, I just bought it from best buy for 1249. I couldn't pass it up. Can't wait to see how it performs.

 

see the problem for me is that i'm in canada, and i've got no problem driving down and picking it up, but i'm worried that the warranty is for the us only!

Does anyone know if the warranty is for the US AND Canada or only for the US?

 

well everyone comes here for help, thats why I came here, I knew nothing about computers in July of 2007. do now though (Y).

 

What free game should I pick?
No flippant answers now, this is a gut wrenching decision. Oh, the agony of it!
I'm thinking:
Call of Duty: World at War (maybe preorder won't work) Yes it works.

Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader is definitely NO.
(I hate failure)

 

Fallout 3, The Orange Box, Oblivion GOTY.

 

Fallout 3 looks interesting.

Already had COD in the cart, pulled the pin for in store pickup so my gas guzzler and I are headed out. No confirming email but can't wait around ... wish me luck.

 

hey guys, how reliable is the ,,in store availability''tool on the bestbuy website???cause a friend of mine is buying the laptop for me and he doesn't want to make the trip to the store for nothing.....and also is there a way to contact specific stores to ask about the p-7811 fx, if they have it in stock????

 

Candyland 2020-The Invasion

 

Why don't you just call the Best Buy store instead?

 

Uhh, yea. Call the store and ask.

 

where do I get the number from???i only saw the adress and zipcode...have to surf around the site a bit i guess!and i have to wait till tomorrow, guess they are not open weekends.

also somethign else. pelase tell me, i didn't quite figure it out. is the sale for the p-7811 fx going only for 2 days(labour day special)or for the whole week??thanks guys(Dook )


FOUND THE PHONE NUMBERS VIA STORELOCATOR!!!not shure when to call now, have to search for world clock or smth, i'm in Romania and it is 23:41 around here )

 

The sale is for the whole week, but they may end up selling pretty quickly, so if you're going to get someone to pick it up for you, you may wanna have them do it asap.

And right now it is 4:56pm EST 1:26PM PST. Best Buy is open until 7PM on Sundays

 

10x dook!!!called 4 stores from chicago all sad they have 3-4 in stock! one sales person said that my friend has to mention that it's on sale online in order to get it for 1249!?odd.....the others didn't say a word about it. i asked,,so my friend comes in and it's 1249 + the free game right''they said yeah but 2 didn't seem to know what i was talking about.....

but they definetely checked, one asked about the sku nr, other just tiped the name into their comps i guess, heard them typing after i sad what i was looking for....

 

Cool. Looks like you'll be able to pick one up. Congrats. Oh and you DONT have to mention it being on sale in the ad. Thats ridiculous they even told you that.

 

it had smth to do with the fact that this item is only an online sale or smth like that....didn't get it all registered in my head....accent and poor phone line quality or so from romania to the us i guess (there was a constant noise)

thanks again...I can't wait to get my hands on this laptop, but it takes about 10 days to ship from there to here, i'll bite my nails off

OFF: i find it ridiculous that there aren't any drivers for the 9800 on the nvidia site(9800 for notebooks i mean)

 

Cool. I get excited about things like that too and am very impatient. Have fun with your new toy!

 

Yep, always make sure you call with BB. They showed no stores in my area as having my 6860, but the Gateway site showed the one down the street had them in stock. I called and sure enough, they had two just sitting around...

 

yeah, I just don't know how much these phonecalls will cost me lol. i spent..let's say...about half an hour on the phone and calls can get real expensive from romania to the us, but i'm glad i did call. just hope my mom doesn't kill me when the bill comes(i'm kinda exagerating of course!!!)

ps: all the stores i called i the sales rep was female...hmm

 

No wonder you are diabetic.

I called before I left and BB kindly put one aside so it would not be given to someone less deserving. It now sits in my truck while I'm tied up with other important stuff (hospital waiting room).

Labor Day Specials are only 2 days but maybe circular goes longer.

 

From what I was told by a BB employee, the 7811 sale is not part of the LD sale and will go the whole week. This, of course, is coming from a BB employee, so who knows.

 

Probably is whole week.

I'll report back live from my new 7811FX later ... so stay tuned for Breaking News.

Box looked good but glue did not hold on side seam and completely came apart when I placed it on the pickup seat. Who manufactures that glue, that's what I want to know. So hug this bably like a carnival teddy on the way accross the parking lot if you know what's good for you.

(Well it came apart when I opened it to take a peek ... but still) Can't remember using the boxes for anything before so I'm on to more important analysis.

 

Same thing happened to me 13 days ago when I bought mine, the box literally came apart in my hands! If I hadn't had a grip on the computer it would have smashed to the floor. The cardboard was sort of bent and rippled, too, which leads me to believe some of these bad boys sat somewhere VERY hot and VERY humid for quite some time (or were stored someplace where the overhead sprinkler system went off?), and perhaps that's why so many of the early ones are showing up with issues. I don't think it was bad glue but rather a really rough environment...

 

Is there a way where others can edit and add new information to this post ? It seems it is not helping new owners by going thru 25 pages of information to find anything substantial. Please make this post editeable.

 

I'm thinking that won't happen, or people will just add so much it'll be useless. Narsail is doing a pretty darn good job of keeping that front post updated. If you feel you need something else added, just PM him.

 

Well I finally got the P7811. The first one had a ghost on the right side so I exchanged it and got another one. I just saw a ghost on the left side. I figured it's not worth returning it as long as I don't view the laptop at that angle and not have an all black background.

My question is, how do I get rid of the ghosting?

 

You replace it again.

 

Lo and Behold! Something that I did not know! This is for installing Windows XP (32-bit Professional Edition in my case) on your P-7811FX laptop. For a long while I kept getting the BSOD while booting off the XP install disk.

A smug Gateway tech support rep kept telling me the problem was with the brand new retail XP disc I had. I hate them already, I was taking a soldering iron to my motherboard back when he was trying to figure out his left from his right!

Anyway, long story short, turns out that the laptop comes with the SATA controller in AHCI mode by default. To install XP on this laptop, you have to set the controller to IDE mode!

AHCI mode is bad, since Windows XP needs drivers to support this mode. Without those drivers, it doesn't properly access the hard drive, and BAM! BSOD! Hope this helps others out there.

 

ordered mine a few hours ago, gonna pick it up tomorrow morning (after a 3 hour drive). I was thinking about getting fallout 3, but couldn't pass up Crysis - I've never played it before buy i've seen enough youtube videos of it to know its a must have - at the very least so you can brag that your lappy can run Crysis on High.

thanks for the recommended software to stress the computer, i'm bringing a dvd with, among other things, prime95 and fm vantage - gota make sure it works before i go north again.