Msi U230?

Good luck.

 

Does anyone know what the empty slot above the HDD is?

 

WAN maybe?

 

The U230 I have already has WLAN, LAN, and BT. When you say WAN, what do you mean?

Thanks!

 

hiya bud wont let my install kernal driver says cannot load kernal driver ?

its ok fixed it

hold that it installed but whe i change the clocks it reverts back to low clock

 

is anyone have problems with the keyboard on their u230? I noticed when playing Counterstrike that I can't bunny hop because the keyboard won't recognize the spacebar when i'm holding a+w. also, e+s+spacebar doesn't work either.

i ran some keyboard testing software and noticed that multiple key combinations do not work at all. this is really frustrating... MSI tech support was puzzled by this problem and they said they have not had any calls about this problem.

seems kinda fishy that my 10 year old laptop can recognize simple key combinations but my brand new netbook cannot.

msi tech said to restore the system to factory default to see if it fixes the problem but i'm sure it won't. i guess i'll RMA this back to Newegg asap.

edit: guess I can't restore it to factory default because when I formatted the HD earlier, I must've erased the partition containing the restoration files. i guess i'm totally screwed now.

 

Mini PCI? I'll take a look when I get some free time to confirm.

 

That's why I said you have to verify OC with AMD Overdrive. GPU tool will change clocks, but it doesn't report the core speed after you set it. Running mine @ 700Mhz now.

 

Can you hit F3 (restore) during boot? The only way you could have formatted over the recovery partition is if you deleted every partition on the drive and created a new one.

 

holding F3 while booting does nothing at all.

are you having any problems with the keyboard on your u230? specifically w+a+spacebar? i want to confirm that this works on other u230's before i RMA mine.

 

thats a mini pci. you can put wireless cards in it and such.

 

What other things do yo need to press 3 keys at the same time for?

 

Regardless of if there is a need to press three buttons outside of games or not, it's the principle of the whole thing. The keyboard in the MSI is total garbage. Using Passmarks keyboard testing software, I discovered that half the keyboard wouldn't work when certain key combinations were pressed. This is pathetic considering one the main selling points of this machine is it's keyboard.

I sold this lemon on Craigslist and bought the Toshiba T115D which I shouldve bought to begin with.

You can rationalize the keyboard issues anyway you want to, but I for one will not compromise when it comes to my money.

 

Wait you just bought a system with a slower cpu, slower gpu core clock, less shared video RAM, smaller screen, no bluetooth, slower LAN, and no wireless n so that you could have combo keystrokes for one game? Ummm.....I think that's the textbook definition of compromise bud.

P.S. - did you bother to try a 3rd party keyboard mapping tool?

 

everything you mentioned besides the screen can be remedied easily. and a .5in different in screen size is negligible. I already have my gpu and cpu clocked higher than the MSI with simple software overclocking and a bluetooth dongle can be picked up for a measely $10. I see what you're trying to do here, but I prefer to spend my money on stuff that works the way I want it to and works the way its advertised.

the toshiba has a 1mb L2 cache, and a Synaptics touchpad, two things the MSI does not have. With simple tweaking this Toshiba is a better a machine than the MSI. But hey, to each his own. I'm not trying to start a fight with you over brands but personally I feel more secure with my purchase of this Toshiba.

 

Oh, I have no brand loyalty. It was just an ironic statement. Like you said, to each his own. If there was a company out there that just got it right, we'd all own the same gear. What tools work on the Toshiba for CPU overclocking?

 

This is true

I followed these guides here for overclocking my cpu and gpu. Maybe these guides will work with the MSI too?

CPU
http://mini-gaming.co.cc/?p=124

GPU
http://mini-gaming.co.cc/?p=157

 

Yeah, came across those those a while back myself. Been OC'ing the GPU to 700Mhz for awhile now with no adverse results. SetFSB has no clockgen for the MSI, or the MSI PLL is locked. Not sure which, but more than happy with the L335 as is. Big improvement over the N330 (@ 2.1Ghz) in my 1201N.

 

As far as I can tell, the U230 does have a Synaptics touchpad. http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=137307.msg1029471#msg1029471

 

I was debating 1201n vs. u230, and I didn't know how an oc'd 330 would compete against a L335.

Do you have any other thoughts on the comparison of those 2 computers? I only play 1 game, and it's maplestory. I'd rather have a better cpu if I don't need an ion.

 

Well, the u230 has a better LCD, nicer keyboard, less keyboard flex, faster CPU (L335 not MV-40), the ability to address more than 3.25GB (1201N max RAM), larger hard drive, longer battery with PowerNow, it's smaller by a half inch, easier to keep clean, and it runs cooler. In addition, swapping the HD doesn't void your warranty, the power brick is cooler, the system charges faster, internal build quality seems better, and it's much more comfortable to work on (although comfort is subjective based on personal opinion). So far I haven't seen or heard any mention of u230 having the kind of BIOS and driver issues that currently plague the 1201N either.

The 1201N has ION.

There you go, just the facts.

 

Thank you very much. Good info to know.

I don't think I'd really need an ION. I play one game and it's a 2-D side scrolling RPG named MapleStory.

Now I guess I need to decide between a HP DM3 and a u230

 

I had an HP dm3-1030us. Absolutely beautiful laptop, but was just a bit too big and the battery life was terrible (barely more than 2 hrs.). The MSI is the same amount of power in a smaller package with better battery life. I do miss the brushed aluminum finish of the HP though.

 

A friend was keen to buy a U230-040 after a test drive of my laptop, but had a hard time getting one since most retailer are OOS at the moment. Can anyone please suggest any MSI lappy that has an equal or better specs than the U230-040 (same size and weight)?

Any comments is much appreciated?

 

The only other MSI in this price range is the U230-033, but it has a single core CPU. There is a reason the U230-040 is out of stock at most retailers. It's really the best deal in the 12.1" class. If I was your friend, I would wait for new stock. He probably won't be happy in the long run if he settles for an Asus 1201N or Toshiba T115D-S1125 while you make no compromises with your u230.

 

Your right, we have inquired with so many retailers but still no ETA for the new stock from MSI. One CSR of a known retailer even said that it might have been dis-con. Anyway, he could probably wait for next week and see what other options exist.

 

There's some on ebay.

 

I bought an U230 a week ago, im having problem with it since the first day.

Hypertransport Sync Errors along with random turn offs.

I flashed the bios to the 1.1C and did an EC reset, Hypertransport Sync flood problems seems to be gone since them, but i still have those turn off problems.

I dont if they are completely random or what... for example, it may turn off a lot of times in a short time, or i may use it for 9 hours straight whiout problem.

For example, yesterday i wanted to do some gaming with it, since 12:30pm to 2:00pm it was completely unusable, it turn off in desktop, while browsing internet or wharever it seems no matter what i do it will turn off.

Them suddenly stoped doing that... i played games with it for over 6 hours whiout a single turn off.

at 8:00pm i power it off since i have to g to my home.

I arrived at my home at 9:15pm, turn it on, 9:19pm it just turned off without a reason... again.

It seems to be a bad motherboard(not temp related i already checked the heat spreaded), and my problem now it seems to be i dont know what to do now, i mean, i live in Argentina, the U230 cant be brought here, a friend of mine brought it from newegg and bring it to me...

I work as quality tester in Bangho here in Argentina, it just ensambles OEM Clevo notebooks here, but , this U230 cant pass the stress testing we do to our notebooks(i executed the same stress test programs in my U230)... wth is wrong with msi.

unfortunately, there seems to be no way of RMA or or having any kind of warranty support... any ideas of where i can get a reemplacement motherboard??

About the U230 features, we can say, why it dont have an AHCI mode??? only IDE mode, and memory seems to be working at 640mhz while CPU is at 1600mhz and 320mhz while is at 800mhz, there seems to be no way of setting it to 800mhz as should be.

Addicionaly, setting the PCI Latency to 248 seems to improve IGP performance a little.

 

Load up AMD OverDrive and CPU-Z and monitor your voltages. Try HWMonitor for monitoring temps. Not sure what "checked the heat spreaded" means, but HWMonitor will record max temps during use and you can reference them after. Ideal temps are around 60*C across the board. Keep an ear on your fan. Make sure it spins up under load. Disable PowerNow in the BIOS until you have identified the problem. Set your PCI latency back to 64 and leave it alone. If you want additional performance from the IGP, it's quite east to overclock, and it's a much more stable way to achieve higher performance than messing with latencies. There was no reason to flash to 1.1C, unless of course you were having an issue with your web cam. Your time would have been better spent updating your drivers or reinstalling Windows and re-setting to your BIOS defaults. You don't need AHCI on a netbook. Why do you think that the RAM should be running at 800Mhz? Have you seen a spec sheet that says the u230 supports 800 RAM? Just because the BIOS recognizes 800 during post doesn't mean that the MC supports that speed on this model.

It is possible that you have a bad component, but I don't think you should jump the gun until you have exhausted all other possibilities. Load BIOS defaults, record temps, monitor voltages, check Windows error logs, update drivers, try a clean windows install.

If you need to take advantage of RMA with newegg you only have 30 days on a laptop I believe. You would also need the cooperation of your friend and a way to cover substantial shipping charges. Outside of an RMA, the MSI comes with a one year standard warranty.

 

To the u230 Windows 7 x64 users:

I've noticed on the MSI website, they have 32-bit drivers for windows XP and 7 but nothing for 64-bit. Do the 32-bit drivers work on x64?

IME, 32-bit software works on 64-bit oses but drivers are usually a different story. That's why I'm curious.

ps - I obviously can't wait for my u230 to come in the mail.

 

I wouldn't use 32 bit drivers on a 64 bit OS. If you really want to use a 64 bit OS, Windows 7 should load generic drivers for most of the hardware. You can get the AMD Catalyst and Realtek Audio 64 bit drivers directly. You may have an issue with the wireless.

Personally, considering the shared resources, I don't see any reason to run a 64 bit OS on a netbook. 3.5GB is more than enough RAM for any task which the system is capable, and a 32 bit OS would run leaner with better driver support, usually resulting in better performance.

 

You're first statement is in-line with what I had assumed.

From a practical sense, I agree with you. That said, I still have to assume that some people will add a 2gb stick onto the u230. 64-bit OSes are becoming more popular these days.

Thanks for your feedback. It's been helpful.

 

I have 4GB installed on my u230 and I have Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit on all my other computers, but netbooks run better with a 32 bit OS. I've tested this theory on an Acer 1410, HP dv3-1030us, Asus 1201N, and the MSI u230 within the past 6 months. The results have been the same each time. A 64 bit OS can consume as much as 1GB RAM just idling, whereas a 32 bit OS consumes less system resources leaving more available for apps. Couple that with better driver support, and the benchmarks always reflect better performance with the leaner 32 bit OS.

 

An OS using less RAM is NOT a good thing. Windows should use it ALL as long as its releasing it when another app asks for it.

I think you should learn how OS's and memory work. Why have 4GB or ram and not use it? If I have no apps open I want Windows to utilize more memory until an app asks for it back.

 

I'm talking about an OS using less system resources in the background while executing tasks, not a RAM cap. A 32 bit OS has less background applications clamoring for valuable system resources than a 64 bit OS does. Just because you add an executable to the que does not mean that other processes stop consuming system RAM. Not sure where you got that idea. Perhaps you should conduct your own comparison, I think you would find it quite enlightening.

 

Okay I've just opened up my U230 to have a look inside for the first time - JESUS it was HARD to open! Seriously, you have to be really careful opening that bottom panel because it has these annoying grabbers that lock in and you have to pull on it really hard to get the dam thing off! I thought I was going to snap the damn thing. Bizarrre.

Also another bizarre thing is the screws that hold the panel on, also hold down the Hard Drive. So dont take off the panel when the laptop isnt facing upside down or you risk the HD dropping out, tearing away its IDE connectors with = Fatality. Honestly its very delicate, and could drop out and snap its connectors. Keep it upside down, you should be fine.

What I was trying to find out was if it had 2x1gb or 1x2gb RAM, thankfully its 1x2gb RAM, and its a PC2 6400s (800mhz) DDR2. (SODIMM). I'm not sure what the "s" means on the end of 6400, and whether you need a 6400s specifically,idk yet.

 

What speed does your RAM run at in single channel?

 

I'm wanting to get an extra 2gb stick, my question is can Windows 7 32bit read 4gb of RAM?...apparently not

 

So it would seem that the u230 only runs at 667 speeds. Windows 32 bit can address 3.5GB. I have 4GB of G.Skill 667 and there was a noticeable difference in performance after installing it. Between the additional RAM and running it dual channel it's an upgrade well worth making, especially when close to 2GB can be shared for video.

BTW, when removing the bottom panel, it's easier if you work on one side at a time.

 

I think it should see more than 3.5GB, as the graphics card only takes 128 memory?

By the way, for those wondering about the graphics card's BluRay capability, I recently succesfully ran an Avatar 720p Blu Ray rip, that was something like 6500kbps bit rate. (for comparison a youtube HD 1080p video will stream at 128kpbs but rate) There was some skipping in the really intense scenes, like say, with lots of moving grass under helicopter blades, but mostly the film was flawless 98% of the time. I dont think a 1080p BluRay rip would be watchable though.

I was very impressed and the HD LED screen really came into its own, the picture was incredible.

 

The system holds 128MB in reserve for video, but will share up to 1.9GB. 32 bit address extensions will cause only roughly 3.5GB RAM to be available to the OS, a well known limitation of Microsoft (non-enterprise) 32 bit operating systems. Have you tried overclocking your GPU at all? Wondering what kind of performance benefit there would be, if any, regarding HD playback.

 

I'm not an overclocker, so no I haven't. If I was ever to think about overclocking the gpu it would only be for a game, but then the CPU would only bottleneck anyway, then you'd have more work on your hands. And imo, if its already possible to play a 720p Bluray movie, I cant see the point right now.

So did you say you installed an extra 2GB ram? Did it improve performace alot? I heard before if you dont have two RAMs of the same mem in both slots, it can actually be bad for performace? Obviously techincally it would be 2x2GB, but if its reading it as 1.5GBx2GB, isnt tha the same as having 2 different sized RAM's slotted?

 

An L335 won't bottleneck an AMD 3200 IGP, even if you overclock it. The biggest cap on this system seems to be RAM speed.

Ideally you would want a matched set of RAM. You can mix speeds, and all RAM will run at the lowest compatible speed, but it's not necessarily advisable. Looks to me like you need a 2GB stick of DDR2 CL6.

The memory is not "reading...as 1.5GBx2..." You would have 4GB (2x2GB) running dual channel, the OS is just only able to address ~ 3.5GB of it. The biggest performance advantage for nominal tasks would come from the additional bandwidth available by running in dual channel mode. For something like gaming and HD playback you should see benefits since shared resources will scale according to how much RAM is installed.

 

I noticed other Radeon 3200 IGP's have 256mb memory, whereas the u230's is 128mb. Is there any way to increase that to 256 by overclocking? Theres guys on youtube who have got pretty much every game playable on the Radeon 3200 (even crysis at 35fps). Is this possible with the 128 aswell?

 

Yup, 128MB of memory is enoght to play a low resolutions...

I being doing some test with my U230 with Crysis, basicly, at 640MHz with the default timmings (6-6-6-20-24) i got on Crysis(800x484 DX9 LOW): 15/28/44 (min/avg/max).

Using 2x2GB (6-6-6-20-24): 17/29/46 (min/avg/max)

and finally:

2x2GB (5-4-4-4-12): 19/32/48 (min/avg/max)

Using SPDtool to edit cas time of one of my mems to 5 at 800mhz, causes the bios to select 667, and using default 667 timmings, still the system only runs at 640mhz. Then, using memset to change remaining timmings.

It seens like the memory controler is on the NB, not on the CPU.

The 3D performance is greatly affected with the slow memory speed... still at 2x2GB (5-4-4-4-12) Everest still report memery bandwith below a 667 dual channel....

We need a way to set the memory at 800 mhz ASAP.

Im been looking in the bios with the AMIBCP3.37, the only hidden bios option is the "C1E Support" , so no... no AHCI, no OC, no memory timmings/speed ajust....

 

While some AMD chipsets do include sideport memory for video, the 128MB that you're referring to here is just the amount of RAM held in reserve for the IGP, and this varies depending on vendor. The GPU will consume as much as 1.9GB RAM dynamically for its purposes (with 4GB installed). The performance comparison in this case doesn't come down the amount of memory, it would be dependent on the IGP core speed, and the speed of the shared RAM. The MSI's 3200 is clocked at 500Mhz and the system RAM runs at about 320Mhz, so if the system on youtube is comparable then frame rates should be similar. However, if the system that you are comparing to has a far superior CPU, faster RAM, sideport memory, and a faster core speed, then similar performance is unlikely.

 

The MC is not embedded on die since the L335 is based on older architecture. In addition the RAM clocks can also be adjusted on the fly with AMD OverDrive.

 

AMD K8 where the first CPU to include an IMC, an IMC for DDR memory.

It seems like AMD decided to remove the IMC from the Neo cpus to reduce TDP, and adding it to the NB, also, upgrading it to support DDR2.

So, the Neo L335 is based on K8, but without an IMC.

Someone knows if AMD plans adding OpenCL support to the Congo platform???

an HD3200 officially dont support OpenCL... i hope they can do it, it will be the best to compite with CUDA.

 

Are you sure about this part? Theres people with default facotry IGP settings of 500mhz getting highly playable Crysis. Most of these guys are using better CPU's, but the same RAM, or even less. But if L335 can handle a 3200....I am confused what is holding back

Yes this last part is true, but I'm not sure RAM speed really is making much difference? Like I say, people on youtube have highest spec games running with 1gb ddr2 ram, and just 2ghz processors. In tests the L335 1.6 runs alot better than some 2.00ghz CPU's. Sometimes Mhz isnt always important on CPU's.

And are you sure our IGP shares memory dynamically like that? So the 128 figure is really not very important? What is it being held in reserve for?

 

About the IGP of the U230, becarefull since it dont seem to o kick to 500mhz when gaming... just 380mhz. Thats why i always disable ATI Powerplay before gaming.

About Crysis, i get playable framerates on 800x484 DX9 LOW on my U230. Dont worry about the 128mb thing. But cant get Batman AA to work, i think its because the game detects only 128mb of VRAM.

The memory speed is VERY important for IGP performance, thats why imb looking for a way to fix the 640mhz thing.