Official MSI GX640 Owner's Thread

Just curious here, my GPU recently (as in a couple days ago) spiked fro 60-61 while idling to 66-67 while idling. how would this happen?

 

Were you browsing the web? If yes flash might have triggered the spike in workload to the gpu or it could have been the windows assessment tool running in the background. It does that sometimes on mine.

 

yeah, since it has dropped to about 62, which is better. probably flash or something.

 

How do we flash the gpu to original stock setting?
It might be fixed the temp spike on our gpu

 

do i need to replace all the thermal pads around the gpu to have a less heating system?
ive been desperately fixing my laptop without any solution

 

i dont know, but my battery died for good a couple days ago These damn things are expensive!

 

My laptop just died cause of bios update.
Ah I'm so tired trying to fix my laptop temp
Ill bring this to service centre asap.
I bought this system from us, is the warranty claimable in singapore asia?

 

By the way, I have no warranty card here.
How could i check the warranty status? hmm..
i bought this as a barebone unit though

 

i really have no idea

 

You bought it as a barebone?

Like, gt640?

You probably have the wrong heatsink, if its made from aluminum like the gx740 owner here.

 

singapore right? show the reciept but i dont supose there would be any warranty since u open the laptop and played around with it

 

Last night it was a dissaster..
I failed to update my system bios, and ended up can't boot into windows.
I just sent down my system to msi centre in singapore, but they couldn't fix the laptop straight Away as I bought this from states.
They are now confirming my warranty status before they fix it.

By the way limpei, do they accept service without warranty?
Mine is barebone set, so its ok for me to play around changing the hardware like cpu wifi card etc, except the original system which is the gpu motherboard heatsink etc

 

I've had my GX640 for almost a year and the other day, after playing some games and I shut it down for the night.

The next morning it worked fine.

When I got back from school and started it up again, the computer goes to the initial start-up screen, which displays the MSI logo and options to enter setup, BBS Popup menu or OS recovery, but pressing any of the required buttons does nothing.

If I press CTRL ALT DEL the screen goes black and takes me back to this logo screen.

Any idea why this is happening and how to fix it?

Thanks in advance.

 

What are the benefits of flashing to the latest vbios? Is there a performance increase?



---- If it is worth it, can you please post a link as to how to do it.

 

The 'old' vBIOS had the infamous black screen issue: computers could not resume from standby/hibernate when ATI PowerPlay was enabled (I suppose PowerPlay forced GPU into some very deep sleep state from which it could not resume). Later, MSI released the updated vBIOS, that fixed this issue.
Other tnan that - no noticeable changes. If your computer is working fine - don't fix it.

 

If you can get into BIOS (pressing F2), you can try disabling that msi startup screen and it will show all booting information when restarted. Maybe you can spot any error there.

 

i bought mine from sim lim so i had warranty and i have sent it for repair once, took them 2 weeks to reinstall os and replace keyboard though. and im not sure if mine has warranty anymore since i open the back to drill holes and tore the warranty sticker lol.
they do accept service without warranty but u have to pay though

 

Thanks for the reply.

Won't let me in though, pressing F2 does nothing.

 

Anyone knows how to recover the system bios not the vbios?
When the screen goes to starting windows (loading) it stucked and keep restarting. I tried to do system restore from recovery option f3 button at startup, it doesn't work either
Please help

 

If you see the windows logo this means that only windows installation is corrupt. Try booting off a windows cd and then attempt a repair.
Also - can you boot into safe mode?

 

Does anyone know where I can buy a new chassis? I cracked mine.

 

Ah too little too late, I just sent out to singapore msi service centre 3days ago and until now they are still trying to contact us for the warranty status.
The service here crap man..
By the way could u pls give me how to flash the system bios properly step by step?
I used the unetboot or smth followed msi website bios update and I ended up with this problem -,-

 

yea... msi company in singapore is very small and they are quite slack with the repair service. so nxt time just dont overkill ur laptop

 

quite slack..
i have experienced with some brand though.
dell is the best! i had some problem before with my alienware.
They took 2-3 days to get the hardware from US and directly repair my system on the spot and the service greatly satisfied me.
I have no idea msi singapore just checking my warranty status, even 4 days they couldn't get it..
I'm deeply depressed without a laptop besides me.
Couldn't do my work here

 

I thought you killed your Vbios or something. Why don't you try a new card? There are 100$ cards like gtx 260m that will work.
You can flash any EEPROM with a USB tool on another computer if you desolder it from the board, or buy a new eeprom from someone who pre loads the BIOS for you

 

i've no idea what is EEPROM..
its kinda a chip or something on my motherboard?
its ok ill just bring it to msi service centre
even they couldn't claim my warranty here
im willing to pay the service charge..
i need my laptop back!
the copper ram heatsink + my drill has just arrived
can't wait to see how will improve the cooling system !

 

well.. then im the oppersite. i get lousy service from dell and better from msi.
from the first day i got my alienware it already had performance issues and for 11months of emailing and calling they wouldnt care or even if they did they keep acting like they dont know how to solve it and wouldnt replace me with another.

 

Lol. What should I do now? I just called up msi and they said msi us haven't reply them.its been 6days already.. Nevermind ill just give another day and let me see tomorrow.
If they still couldn't get the warranty status ill just bring em to some ousiders computer shop and fix it.

 

Hi guys,

I think I am most probably gonna buy this laptop with the i-5 first gen cpu model but before I take the plunge,can some kind souls (preferable real users) summarise what are the general complaints and praise they have on this model as 300+ of reading is really impossible for me though i did read the last few pages?

Another question is, if I am to use this lappy purely on battery to just surf net while I am out,how long would the battery last me? 2 hours?

Also would an I-5 cpu be a bottleneck for the hd 5850 but I don't think it's a major issue since I don't really game on graphics intensive game in high settings.

Is the screen nice? Nowadays many brands' screens seems really washed out to me, i feel that only apple's and sony's screens show better colors. What do you guys think?

This whole 'get the most bang for the buck laptop that can do decent gaming with decent battery life and looks that are not horrendous' shopping is really a headache with so many value for money models in the market such as Sony's C series,lenovo Y570,asus k43 and U41SV and HP's DV6...thus I really hope I won't go wrong on this MSI model.

 

I've got my GX640 for more than a year now. First problem was rattling speakers, but I fixed it with some double sided tape myself. Then, the keyboard - you really have to spend time to get used to it. Buttons somehow shifted to side and very often (at least at first) you'll hig caps lock instead of "a". Keyboard quality overall is not among the best, but it is kinda "ok" for casual usage.
Other thingy - I've bricked my GPU while trying to flash modified vBIOS, but got it replaced and since then - everything is fine.
Gaming performance is top notch for the notebook of this price point. i5 CPU will not be a bottleneck for sure. It's also much slimmer and lighter than most of "true" gaming notebooks, so portability is not compromised. 9 cell battery can keep notebook alive for 2,5 - 3 hours if GPU is downclocked and you don't do anything too demanding.
The screen is of average quality. It's just not bright enough when you compare it to some other screens. However, viewing angles are quite good. Color can be made more 'vivid' in AMD Catalyst Control panel, so it's OK too. 1680x1050 resolution, however, is probably ideal for notebook of this size. 1366x768 is for netbooks...
Overall build quality is also pretty average. I wouldn't recommend throwing it on your bed and so like some people like to do with their macbooks or thinkpads. If you handle this GX640 with care, it won't break for sure.

It's quite funny, how over a year this notebook still keeps most bang for the buck for upper class gaming. I bought it in Europe and got some nice accessories bundled: msi optical gaming mouse (quite comfortable), nice msi backpack (kind of poor quality), free hdmi cable.

 

Hi Molius,

Thanks for the quick but detailed description of your GX640 Most probably I won't be doing any overclock since not really tech savvy but saw from notebookcheck review that the original graphics driver has problem, they only managed to run games fluently after updating the graphics driver from stock. Did you Have to update yours when you just got it?

I have a few more questions regarding heat,sound and noise...because notebookcheck reviews listed these as areas of concern.

Does the left palmrest emits Bearable heat? As this is a gaming lappy,most of the time we do rest our palm there to use WASD keys so bearable heat is impt,yeah?

How's the sound when coming out from speaker since this model doesn't have subwoofer compared to the higher end models.

Loud noise when just surfing or idle? Hate to be waken up from sleep should someone turn on this laptop while i am sleeping should the noise be too loud,hehe...

Also, can we modify GX640,such as upgrading gfx card or cpu like Alienware. Last but not least,how much you bought your GX640 a year ago?

 

heat is at the right side so doesnt affect wasd.
sound is fine for me if i want better quality i would just use an earpiece or headphone.
noise for me is very quiet as i used to own an alienware m17x. this one is nothing compared to that.
more details and different opinion ask molius and others

 

Sound is surely not the best you can get in a laptop. Yet if you don't hit up the volume to the max, it will be fine. I still recommend external speakers or proper headphones.
About cooler noise: it won't be a problem. The fan gets loud when gaming heavily, but other than that - it's perfectly ok to sleep next to it (at least for me).
About the price: it was something around 1430 USD if you convert from local currency. Everything is much pricier here in Europe. You lucky americans!

 

I just got my laptop back 2 hours ago
They were still checking my warranty
I was quite pissed off so i brought this laptop back and try to do a reformat os.
IT WORKS!
Now my laptop is running back to normal..
I just drilled the bottom pannel of the laptop (fan side), applied the copper shim on my heatsink (2 sets)
running furmark same problem..
temperature about 105c running 6 mins time.. (before doing the drilling and copper shim mode the temp about 109-111c..
yes its reduced but.. ITS STILL &!!@$#! HOT.......
what should i do now>>>
please help thanks ahead

 

edit:
ah i just replaced the thermal paste which from artic mx-4 to artic colling 5 ,copper pad shim and pads an hour ago
from here HP DV9000 DV6000 V6000 DV2000 V3000 Copper Pad Shim - eBay (item 280539886634 end time Jun-20-11 20:10:23 PDT)

and all the pads from

APACHI GAP Pad 1500 Heatsink Thermal Pad New - eBay (item 170484364563 end time Jun-04-11 08:31:30 PDT)

now running 12mins furmark (default setting after installation) max 94c clocked at 850/1000 with notepal cooler underneath + fan drill mod and copper vram on heatsink
idling at 58-59c (clocked 850/1000)
how many days does artic cooling 5 takes to cure?
hoping for 5-10c drops

 

Thanks,everyone for your kind feedback and oh,congrats to you len888 for getting back your precious.

However,seems to me you did a lot of work on her...she's really worth all that headaches huh?

 

Damnnn I'm so freaking happy!
My microphone now is working!
I was trying to treasure my harddrive then I found out 1 plug wasn't plugged properly. Lol
I am still thinking its pretty impossible that artic cooling 5 is cooler than mx-4..
Let me try to wait till the end of this week and see the final curing temperature
I have never ever did these kind of hardware job before lol..
First time handed on thermal paste pads, drill!, etc
Great experience hahahahahaaa

 

Ah ran furmark clocked 850/1000 for 10mins temp raised up to 98-102c..
My heatsink kinda discolour.. Doesn't look shiny as before..
Looks darker and abit rough surface..
What should I do now

 

Has anyone tried The Witcher 2?

It doesn't seem to run very great on the recommended settings, get about 20-30 fps.

 

Have you updated your drivers to the 11.5b hotfix drivers for the witcher 2? Might help

 

are these the ones you're talking about?

ATI Catalyst? Mobility Display Driver


Also I have been having some bad fps drops lately. I go from 150 fps in tf2 down to 30 spikes at random times and I'm not sure what it is. Has anyone experienced this issue with the gx640?

 

AMD Catalyst? 11.5b hotfix

 

help with scaling? games that dont support high res keeps giving me black borders on the side. im using 11.5b drivers the scaling options are all greyed out

 

max temp and idling temp when doin 3DVantage benchmark
clocked at 900/1025

 

len888, good for u but dont forget wat happen last time

 

haha..
msi is now ordering parts for my laptop though.
should be the graphic card and heatsink.
I'm gonna try to push this up to the limit

 

Hey, I'm working on getting a custom aluminum case manufactured.
I haven't finished designing it, and I need to make sure others approve first. But the startup cost is only 100$.

Did you crack it by the vent on the right side? me too
Be careful. when it happened to me it was putting considerable flex and pressure on the top strip of the motherboard above the fan, where the DC jack is. Its because the hinge is only mounted there...

 

anyone help with scaling options?

 

It fell off the table and got smashed real good, I'm still surprised that the hard drives survived the impact and the usb ports didn't get torn off the motherboard when the cables got yanked. LCD was fine too thankfully.

 

Painful to look at... what about the motherboard??

I'm going to try and post a thread with prices and a mock up case, hopefully this will get going fast enough for you.
If not, I would buy a gx630 and use the motherboard for some random cardboard box/media center build
MSI GX630 Notebook FOR PARTS & HARDWARE 9S7-165212-028 | eBay

You will have to cut a few mounting posts for the old gx630 heatsink out of the palmrest. Luckily the gx640 comes with mounting posts attached to the motherboard.