Official MSI GX640 Owner's Thread

Had the same problem with my laptop when using it in London with an adapter (it was bought in Korea)... However now that I am in Belgium and using it without adapter this static electricity completely disappeared!

 

I have now my GX640 for 1 week. my problem is when i start playing games maybe half an hour may screen goes blacks out and i can hear sound just buffering. games like NFS, left4dead, max payne2 and even counterstrike. Any idea guys how can i fix this? I already updat my vga driver

 

You will need to update the video card bios too. You do it under dos however. It could also be overheating, check the video card temperature

 

I wonder how you guys set different profile for this laptop. I want it to have 300/400 for the videocard at idle and stock speed when gaming. What software do you guys use?

 

Use this tool: techPowerUp! :: Download AMD GPU Clock Tool v0.9.26.0 For HD 5870
It is the AMD GPU Clock Tool. You can create different profiles with it by editing the shortcut on the desktop. Edit the target in the shortcut properties to where it looks like this "C:\Program Files (x86)\AMD GPU Clock Tool\AMDGPUClockTool.exe" -eng=300 -mem=400
Then when you click on the shortcut it will automatically adjust your clock settings with the values you entered into the target line. If you want to make more profiles just copy the shortcut and adjust the values and name the shortcut the profile you want it to be.

 

Is anybody else having bluetooth problems with this laptop? I have not yet been able to connect to any bluetooth device that i tried to connect it to. Nothing will show up when i search for devices. I have tried everything that i kno of to fix it. I have the bluetooth button enabled on the touchscreen. I even reinstalled the drivers countless amounts of times and nothing works. Now i am just using the Microsoft bluetooth stack and it still cant discover bluetooth devices. I even have the "Allow Bluetooth devices to find this computer" setting checked under my bluetooth settings.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
I am beginning to think i have a defective bluetooth adapter in my laptop.
Other than the bluetooth problem this laptop is amazing. It's a great "Bang-for-the-Buck"

Nevermind I got it to work

 

Video card temp is only 50deg to 55deg when playing games b'coz i have gopd ambient temp in my room.

Maybe i need to update the video card bios thru dos, my problem is i don't know how to do it. Can you guys give me step by step procedure how to do it. thanks a lot in advance

 

Use this tutorial: http://forum.notebookreview.com/5882187-post1.html

 

Thanks, but that one very risky i cant do it on my own ... i have one question. is it ok to uninstall may previous ATI driver and install new one emailed to me by MSI tecnical support. Bco'z i already update it but still the same maybe because i updated it first with ATI catalyst from guru3d

 

You're talking about how to install a new driver when what you want ot be doing is flashing the vbios. You want to wasnt your vbios which doesnt require uninstalling anything

 

lol.. sorry about that.. my laptop now runs fine with games after i update my vga driver.. what now i notice is when i put my laptop on sleep mode i cannot put it back to what i'm doing monitor screen just stay black

 

I have that problem too, except it's when I close the lid. I have it set to Do Nothing. So only the screen blackens, but everything is running. When I open it back up the screen stays off.

 

As just mentioned, you also need to update the VBIOS.

 

If anyone is interested I have overclocked the i5 450M Cpu in the GX640-260US using this setFSB program: http://www13.plala.or.jp/setfsb/download/ver22/setfsb_2_2_134_98.zip
Then under the PLL selection select this one: ICS9LPRS133BKLF
Then hit the get FSB button and adjust the FSB to your liking.
The only problem I've had with this is that it doesn't actually increase performance in games it will actually decrease it when you overclock it. Very wierd. I think it is just causing errors thus resulting in worse performance in games.
It gets a better score in benchmarking softwares for CPU, but it gets worse performance in games.
Any thoughts?

 

I don't get it, so he used double sided tape but only taped it to the bottom and left the top side with the cover on?

 

I already did. Doesn't fix it.

 

Would you like to share how you got the Bluetooth to work? I tried for a little while today with no success. I didnt try reinstalling as you did, but I did every other obvious bluetooth setup step.

 

The purpose of the tape is to add padding in between the keyboard and the body. Removing the cover on the top side won't be a good idea especially if in the future you need to remove the keyboard again for whatever reason.

 

All i did was install this driver: Download MSI GX640 Notebook 3801/3870 Bluetooth Driver 3.0.0.152 Driver for Windows 7 / Windows 7 x64 - Softpedia after having the microsoft bluetooth stack already installed. Make sure your bluetooth is turned on on the touch pad. Then run the driver installation as administrator. And somehow that worked even tho i've tried this before ha.

 

OMG you are my hero !!!
Thank you very much !

 

Ha no problem man. You should tell me if it increases your performance in games, because for some reason I cant get it to.

 

The two back rubber feet on the bottom of mine fell off

Nothing some epoxy wont fix!

 

2 in the back fell but I found them. one in the front left is GONE!

 

wow thats awsome how far did u get with ur oc?

 

Whats a good clock/memory set for the 5870 using Overdrive? I'm just looking for a slight boost. I'm not experienced in O/Cing.

Lol I just realized I shoulda posted this in the GX740 thread, sorry.

 

I got a 2.7 ghz oc and up to 3.1 ghz with turbo boost.

 

I have the same issue here i Denmark where I live. Whenever pluged in static feeling on palmrest. Everything is working fine. I have contacted my supplier for a new adapter since that might be it or do you think it could be something else?

 

I also noticed this issue when connecting the notebook to an ungrounded wall outlet. Ungrounded means there is no third contact in the middle or on the sides of the outlet to make contact with the plug. I'm living in Europe, so this concerns 220V mode only (I suppose).

 

Had the issue when I was still living in London. Both the palm rest and the screen lid were having this issue. But than after a few days it stopped happening on the palm rest but it never disappeared from the screen lid :-/
Now since I came back to Belgium the issue totally disappeared, so it must be caused by your wall outlet or something similar I don't think it is the adapter per se :-/

 

I'm running on 240V in the Middle East, I've only felt the tingle on one outlet I've plugged into. Definitely seems like its related to the ground on the outlet since it is not consistent for me.

 

think I will try and bring to my work or somewhere else just to check. Now since I assume this is an issue that might have been happening with my old laptop (my wife has it now), but I never noticed since it's all plastic. I am ofcourse wondering if it's a problem I should worry about?

Hopefully I will move into a new house in a year (I hope) and then it might disappear, but until then, should I worry?

 

oh ok thanks.

 

Please, recommend the tool to show gpu voltages? Thanks ;/

 

GPU Observer gadget. You can set up a semi transparent gadget to show the clock frequencies and voltages in real time.

 

thanks, but i need something for xp

 

you will need bios update to fix this annoying issue. is a must and it will also decrease the voltage on the videocard so it will run cooler when idling. as for the risk, i think is worth it, especially the outcome of the update

 

I also have the keyboard flex issue, it was so bad when i press the space key, it will stuck there and pops back up after a few seconds. I fixed the issue by open the speaker lid and unscrew 5 screws to take out the keyboard. After placing some electronic tape under the keyboard i fix the issue, I also upgrade the keyboard to a chiclet. finally no more annoying highlighted wasd and arrows keys

 

for all the static electricity you feel on the palm rest and screen part all result in poor grounding and the design of the power adapter itself. I don't believe it will actually harm the laptop, it might cause discomfort to the user, maybe your next laptop should be all plastic.

 

Hey everyone, thought i would post this picture since the original Keyboard Flex thread was closed.

I tried to do the flex fix with double sided tape as I noticed I had some flex with the keyboard. I opened it up and to my surprise this is what I found:



Suffice to say, I was both happy that MSI decided to fix this problem, but also annoyed that I opened up my laptop to find that I didn't need to do anything.

Weirdly enough, after I had put the keyboard back on, my flex has now completely dissapeared, even though i did NOTHING to the laptop besides open it up and close it.

My GX640 is pretty new, was purchased in July so it is manufactured pretty recently.

 

Is that the new version? because my does not have the silver tape when i open it, only the black pads. i have to add tape myself.

 

Anyone know were the cheapest place to buy this beast in the US is, maybe some sweet coupon codes, student discounts, ect.?

 

very few stories sells this laptop. Even at retail price, this laptop is a steal for its spec. your best bet will be on ebay

 

Ok I'll go with Xotic PC

 

is it possible to clean the fans on the gx640?

 

MSI MS-1651-ID4 i7-620M 4 GB RAM 1066 Mhz ATI 5850 1 GB - eBay (item 290446518134 end time Sep-16-10 14:52:26 PDT)

You can also get it with different processors

 

There are too many posts to go through on this thread, so I'll just ask my question Is the fan noise noticeable during idle and load? Does it get hot when idle and when under load?

 

Underclock it when you idle(you barely hear the fan) and on load its kinda loud.

 

How is the new chiclet keyboard supplied by RK computers. I have not read anything about it. Would anyone who has both keyboards, care to give an opinion as to how the keyboard.

If it is really good then I would like to get the chiclet keyboard. If it is not really different from the stock keyboard then I would prefer sticking with it. Please let me know your opinions.

Thanks!

 

Hey gx640 owners I have found a way to get a 10 fps increase in most games by underclocking the cpu to a 120mhz fsb instead of 133mhz. And my hd5850 mobility radeon is at 775/1045 clocks. I'm not sure why but it definately helps in current games like metro 2033. I can now play it at dx9 very high level with a minimum of 20 fps in some areas and 60+ fps in other areas. I used fraps to see fps differences btw.

I just used the set fsb program i mentioned in my post on page 202 of this thread.
Although it will probably decrease performance in cpu intensive programs, it increases performance in gpu intensive programs like video games.

I would give it a try if i were you just to see what i'm talking about, and to see if anyone can explain this.

EDIT: Nevermind I found out that it is just screwing up my timings when I use setfsb which is why i am getting more fps in fraps and gaming benchmarks.

 

Ok... I got the lappy. I was using a GX640-80US before this.. so a lot of the complaints I was hearing I expected. Let me first say this lappy is a big move up from that.. albeit not as awe inspiring as I thought. Basically I was looking for something to do some high to max gaming for a year or two at which time I'd build an gaming/htpc. But for now I'm very mobile so wanted a laptop. Ended up with the 260us. With nearly 3X the processing and graphics power I was expecting ot be amazed.. I didn't get there.

Screen with its higher resolution takes a lot of getting used to with everything being tiny. Still to get the 15.6" form is worth it. I've not tried using the scaler on it too much by setting a resolution lower, but everything runs crisply and the colors are better. It will be interesting to see though if massive slowdown is experienced when not running at native resolution though like on the older model.

I run bioshock at a minimum of 50 fps maxed normally at 110, Starcraft 2 runs with everything on somewhere between 35-50 fps in the single player campaign, about 45 in most multi matches. Street Fighter 4 experience is rather mediocre, which suprised me as its really the least demanding game. You have to run AA and texture filtering at minimal levels everything else you can have on.

The microphone still stinks and is way way to quiet, which means you gotta turn up the mic boost which makes it pick up the fan. Built in speakers seem to be worse. Wifi is still great, and the fan still blows out on your hand, but no flex problem with the keyboard. Keys do seem to be shaped eveeeer so slightly different from the older model and will leave you disoriented when typing for the first day or two. The webcam is better, and I'm not sure if the oils from your hands will wear on this one as fast as the older model leaving shiny spots.

vbios didn't need to be flashed. All in all I was expecting a little more oomf. Still if i didn't have a lappy at all and was looking for an all purpose machine its not bad. I've not tested battery life so not spoken for that. Any other laptop's performance gain would have probably been minimal and would have easily cost 200-300 more so I think I'll keep it.

Also, I saw someone bashing the build quality saying it felt cheap. Its built just like the 640-80us and my older lappy hit the concrete from 3.5 ft high in an unpadded shoulder bag(strap broke). It hit on the corner, and did dent the corner/case, but the machine is still running strong, so I'd really not be worried about that. The newer model with its greater heat load does run louder with the fan, but there's really no pitch to it so is far far more tolerable than even my movie projectors and what not. When not in gaming mode it runs quiet as can be, so not sure why people were complaining about the sound when surfing the web. Gaming in Starcraft 2 maxed has stayed in the high 70s/low 80s Celsius. Not going to speak for non gaming applications because unless you're doing something like ripping dvds(I use CAD and what not) you really aren't going to see that much practical gain from having a quad core or a faster dual core.

All in all not bad, I wasn't utterly blown away like I was expecting but I think it'll do what I want for a good while and is still small enough to be truly portable. Something you can't do with a 17incher.

Also, price isn't bad either at least in US. I figured out how much it'd cost to build a desktop with comparable power, and then just added on the cost of the screen, extra addons, and the battery as if I was modding a desktop or something and there's really not that big of a premium. So as far as what's out there now, for the price I really don't think it can be beat. I've seen advertisements for new msi lappies with the 280m gtx but who wants that heat and none of the features that the Radeons have. Fermi might be good in one of these but it'll still probably be at least a year so the wait for something better for the price could be long.