Unofficial Gateway P series 6831/171S/171X/171XL Lounge

So what did you pay for it? and your gonna love it!

Hey have y'all noticed while playing COD4 at high res 1440 and all settings maxed that the game plays slow? Even the mouse moves slow in the selection screen.

 

All together with shipping I paid $895! I thought it was a good deal for it, so I got it! I'll have to inspect the machine when I get to see it tonight, and see how it looks!

 

Just got home and checked it out! It is really nice! I mean it looks like it's brand new! I mean it was a return, but it's awesome! I'm just getting some drivers that were missing, but I have a question... One of the devices in Device Manager says "Unknown Device"? Does anyone know what that is? I think it might be for the touchpad, just cause I can't use the scrolling with the touchpad! I'm downloading the drivers right now, so I guess I'll find out soon enough!

 

Sorry for the Triple Post! Just wanted to update and say that the Unknown Device was the Modem! So ya, I've got everything up-to-date now, and it's all working well! It will be some time though before I upgrade the CPU, and the Drive, but I can wait for that!

 

The unknown device seems always to be the modem, kinda weird.

 

Yep...and that is always indicative of a re-formated drive. When I placed my sys into Raid 0 I had the same problem with both the modem and a generic graphics driver. Got the graphics driver fixed but the modem is still a mystery.

Tried Gateway On line Support and that guy couldn't figure out the problem..even after nearly 1 1/2 hours of remote access/downloads.

Though have to say Gateway's support team was very good....I appreicated that ALOT (especially because I am in the IT business world).

 

so you havent got the modem installed yet?

 

Me? No...I have just disabled the modem on DM

 

what is the exact driver error. i think i have the fix for this one as well.

 

Well..sorry for the lag...anyway, it seems like the latest MS update fixed the modem problem. It is now acknowledged as a Agere Systems HDA Modem. Something that I hadn't seem before. The last time I checked it was still highlighted as a problem, now, after a MS update it is good.

Go figure. What was your resolution?

THanks!!

 

ms update for that driver or reinstall the driver from your apps directory on the recovery partition.

 

Hey you guys, I just upgraded my CPU to the T-9300 on the 6831FX. It recognized the upgrade and everything is working fine. However, I remember reading around somewhere about a program or something to run after installing a new processor. I can't remember where I read this at, but if anyone knows what to do after the upgrade, any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance

 

http://www.overclock.net/attachments/downloads/36840d1165737486-orthos-orthos_exe_20060420.zip

for cpu stress testing.

 

Does anyone know if it is possible to swap out LCD screens between a Dell 1705 and the Gateway 6860? I have a Dell that has a 1900X1600 screen which looks great and I was thinking of swapping it out since I will be using the Gateway as my primary PC from now on.

Thanks for any advice

 

Quick question. I am away from my computer at the moment. P-6860FX supports Firewire 800 or just 400?

 

I guess I will be welcomed to this family soon enough, I just ordered a 6860. I'm thinking the retail p-series fx laptops might be getting discontinued because the gateway site doesn't show a successor (but they have one for the M-6850FX), so it was now or maybe never!

 

Nevermind about getting rid of it, it's back on the gateway site.

 

Well I went to Best Buy yesterday after stopping by the mall and bought the 6860. Last I checked online my local BB didn't have any and as soon as I saw they had one on display I told them I wanted one of those. Was a spendy day yesterday. Bought a DS for the wife yesterday too so we could play Mario and Mario kart together. Been busy installing all of my games on the laptop. Gonna put my old Compaq up for sale within the next couple days.

oh yeh so far I've had no problems with using vista 64.

 

Count me in . Got my P-172X FX, figured out how to reinstall everything after putting in 64 bit Home Premium, and am currently enjoying what this laptop has to offer

 

Ordered my Gateway P-6831FX yesterday. Should be delivered mon/tues. Nice forum you guys got here. *stocks fridge with various cases of beer*

 

hey i seem to be having a problem. When i start the computer (p-6831) i get very low frame rates in call of duty 4 and mass effect but after about ten minutes the frame rates come back up so does any one have any suggestions. thanks

 

It's most likely Vista filling the Superfetch cache. Try disabling Superfetch from the services window, reboot and see if you still have the same problem. If so, then re-enable Superfetch and check some of your other startup programs. If not, then you have two choices, wait a few minutes before you start gaming, or just leave SF turned off.

 

Hi - On the 6831, does the hdmi out - output audio as well as video?

Thanks much.

 

Hi - Yes it does.

 

Hi guys, just registered to ask this question, had my P-6831FX for under a month, been really enjoying it.

One question though, my spacebar button got all messed up, (I bought this used from Ebay), originally it was just the left side of the spacebar that wasn't fully connecting and stuck up a tiny bit... actually a press on either side wouldn't always register as the button being pressed, so I tried fixing it, fiddled with it, and it's pretty delicate in there... so plastic and delicate metal pieces have been worn and a few actually come off... so I think I have to order a whole new keyboard since I have no warranty.

Got it from Mundocorp.com, it's where Gateway directed me to buy it, I guess they get all their stuff from them (no way they get it for those prices though )

Has anyone taken off or replaced the keyboard before? I'll need to replace it when it gets here, but I don't want to take off anything un-needed, and I don't want to break anything else on it, warp the body, etc.... any help would be appreciated.

 

if you dont have experience in this kind of work, get some professional to do it for you, if you read through our forum you will find that taking this laptop apart is not a job to be taken lightly.

 

Although I'm no expert, I have been working on computers for a number of years... although they were usually desktops. Unfortunately, I currently live in Mexico, and I trust myself a lot more than any of the computer repair shops around here to do it. I guess there aren't many more guides around though except to replace the CPU and RAM though

 

Just got my Gateway P-6831FX last weekend and am very pleased with my purchase. When i upgrade my stock processor, memory and hard drive, i'll definately do it myself. I dont trust repair places to much.

 

there is no problem upgrading cpu hdd and ram it is as easy as picking your nose(well almost). but.... read this

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=271448

 

Or you could follow this guide that mrsamsa posted in that thread you link to... Obviously there's always going to be some risk opening up your laptop, it's not quite as easy as a desktop computer... but as long as you're careful and have a decent idea of what you're doing, it shouldn't be a huge problem... Just be careful and don't start unscrewing screws you don't know what they hold in and trying to pry off pieces where you don't know where to pry

 

I just ordered a Gateway P-173XL FX edition with an extra battery for $1850.00. hell ya biznitch

 

Did you get a warranty on it?

 

ya one yr. i might extend later. but all i need now

 

So my refurbished 6831 is on its way and I was wondering about people's experience with the X9000 at standard and overclocked speeds. Any stability issues? Fans running at top speed constantly? (Sort of used to that with my now ancient Toshiba P-25 S676 anyway). I'm thinking that since one of my common uses is serious number crunching, I might actually benefit from the X9000 over the T9300 or T9500. At minimum I'm upgrading to the T9300 and two Momentus 7200 drives in RAID 0 config but should I give serious consideration to the X9000? Thanks for any and all input.

 

i have an x7800 which is a tad hotter than an x9000
the notebook is completly quiet while doing daily stuff.
i would say the loudest part is the dvd drive.
if you put the cpu/gpu to a crunch the fans will kick in, but it never resembles a jet engine like some other notebooks/desktops.

mind you [email protected] for long periods will result in high temps.
but you can always test your safe thermal zone and go for 2.8/2.6ghz.
it is up to you to decide whether the 50% price hit over a t9300 is worth it.
the difference in clocks between the t9300 and the 9500 is marginal, the price isn't.

no facts stated, mere opinions.

 

Thanks royk50. Ended up going with the T9300 under the expectation that perhaps there will be other upgrades possible in the next year or so.

 

Do yourself a favor and cancel that order. Go back online to gateway.com, chat with a salesperson, and tell them you want to pay 1700 or so. I got mine for $1650 after talking them down a bit.

 

i just got my X7800 for 308CAD shipped. I just hope its not too hot. Im also hoping its a huge jump from the T5450.

 

From 1.67 Ghz to 2.6 I think? There should be a pretty decent jump I would expect. I'm getting my T9300 in about two weeks so I'm hoping for a decent jump in performance as well

 

i think i read a review saying the T9300 and the X7800 were equal, i only got this cause i wanted to OC and it was pretty cheap. [plus double the cache will help

 

Actually T9300 has 6mb cache compared the X7800 4mb

But overclocking ability is pretty nice, and probably cheaper than my retail-priced T9300. Stock though, they are probably about equal, being the exact same clock speed. Only difference is the T9300 is 45nm and has extra cache, but that would probably only affect certain CPU intensive operations....

 

no no i know, i meant over the T5450 the double cache is good, you have triple.

 

Ahh gotcha, my bad

Yeah, it's questionable how much all that cache helps... but it can't hurt. Let us know when you get it and how it overclocks

 

well the gateway chipset limits at 3.0, so thats why i got this one and not the X7900 oe the X9000, im sure i can push the limits on this one


and there is a ray of hope BTW for all 6831 and FX series users! You can pay apparently to have your BIOS modded by BIOSMAN, a Dell M1730 user said he had his X7800 up to 3.8 because he had a modded BIOS. Costs money possibly though.

 

3.8??? Holy crap! I should have bought an Extreme chip, hehe. I was looking at X9000's, but only thing really being sold on Ebay are ES chips

 

yea that is also the reason a paid a bit more for an inferior chip, it is retail and not OEM so ya

 

I'm tempted just to buy a damn OEM X9000. I mean, $300! Come on...

I've never had a CPU fail on me... (Knock on wood)

Or, just spend the extra $20, and buy a new T9300.

 

honestly, I would just go for the X9000 for $300, the chips are all the same really, i cant see why they would be worse. Actually, I know why they are, but its worth a risk right?

and none of the users on here have had problems.

 

as much as i love my x7800 getting it to 3.8ghz without room temp of -20c is not something i would do

 

im actually having problems with my T5450 lately, its overheating, idles at 50C and maxes at about 80C. Thank god my CPU will be here monday, then I can apply some new thermal paste and be off to the races.