R3240US DVD Read and Support

The DVD read speed is throttled at 2x as are most (all?) laptop DVD drives. If you backup your DVDs, do not do it on these laptops. Use your desktop. It's rather frustrating.

Also, if you do not want to lower yourself to using the useless software pre-installed and want to use the respectable Windows XP Professional, do not expect to be given the drivers from Compaq.

I have been fighting with them for a while now trying to get the drivers for this laptop(yes I own it) and they refuse to help me. They say they do not support Windows XP Pro thus will not provide drivers. After I mentioned to them that their website says "Compaq recommends Windows XP Professional" on their R3240US page they finally apologized and tried to help me. But their help stopped at giving me the drivers already on their website.

You will need to install the nVidia nForce drivers to get most of the stuff working.

However, the USB Controller drivers are do not exist on the internet. Thus I am completely stuck on USB 1.1 and none of my devices work at their optimal speeds.

Also, when you close the screen at the optimal resolution(the lcd resolution is over 1600) and reopen it, the screen does not wake up for about 5 seconds. Obviously this is unacceptable and worthy of returning it. This problem only exists in Windows XP. DOS, Linux shell, and Linux GUI all work flawlessly.

Thus, I recommend not buying this laptop until Compaq provides a fix for the video and drivers for the USB.

This is obviously very easy for them, because when they created the CD image that comes with the PC they used these drivers in there. When I asked for them to give my suppor ticket to level 2 support they ignored me. They do not have a level 2 support because they do not have a level 1 support. They have customer service, not technical support.

All they have to do is ask the systems engineers to provide the drivers they used in the creation of the CD image.

As a final note, the live chat people, while also completely ignorant of technology, are more willing to help you then the e-mail service. This said, they will cannot help because they do not have the technical skills required for such problem resolution.

I had all these similar problems with my HP5000 series, but after 6 months they finally admitted they were in the wrong and posted the drivers. However, they will not publicly admit they were wrong, but the fixes for that laptop do now exist (...not all of them though).

I highly suggest that you test their customer service (remember, they do not have a technical support dept) with a fake problem. If they provide you with an answer saying "We recommend you use the CDs included with the laptop to restore the original system image..." then you know to then try Dell. If however, they give a respectable answer then you can go ahead.

This test works for everyone. I tested eMachine with this and they are worst than Compaq and HP.

This is not meant to be a slam of the laptop. I own it and it's more than twice as fast as my Pentium 4 2.6(well of course so is my Athlon XP 2600). My Pentium 4 2.6 processed video at 15fps. My XP 2600 processed at 30fps. Currently I am working at almost 40fps. So, parts of it does meet my needs. But the lack of drivers, thus the lack of high speed USB and the critically damaged video problem does make you question weather you really want this product.

Test them yourself. Make your own decisions. Do not but it because you always wanted it or because you have some loyalty, which is useless in this technical world.

 

I too have the R3240US from Compaq and have had no trouble whatsoever with Windows XP Pro. I even reformated and re-installed the XP Home ed that came with it and then installed the XP Pro Upgrade that I purchased at CompUSA. This laptop screams and I love it. Now I am wishing my desktop PC was an Athlon 64.