The Official MSI GE40-2OC Owner's Lounge

Yes, you still can.

 

I would like get this laptop but I am not a fan of the glossy plastic feel of the interior.
Has anyone here put or seen any pictures of the MSI GE40 with a carbon fiber skin inside it?

Thinking of adding one but have never installed one before, im hoping it can look/feel like the interior of the Razer and/or Dell XPS15.

Is that possible?


Thanks

 

Hi im new here

I just got a GE40 last week. My model has an ODD and a 128GB Toshiba SSD. I want to put a 240GB Crucial SSD in the other slot of the daughterboard. Do I have to RAID the mSATA SSDs on the daughterboard or can I run them as separate drives?

 

USB problem... Is anyone else having problems with certain USB thumb drives? My GE40 seems to not like some, writes really slow or not at all. It wants to format some, then they fail. I put the thumb drives into another computer and they work fine. Really annoying.

Is there a I HATE WIN 8 club here? Is it easy to load windows 7 Pro? Is there any performance hit or improvement.

I can't figure out this forum... There is only one thread for all types of posts relating to the GE40? Is there another Ge40 forum worth looking at?

Thanks!

 

Would anyone perhaps have the latest firmware/bios for the barebones version of this laptop (MS-1492)? As far as I know I am not able to use the official ones from the MSI website(feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) and I'm having issues on 8.1 with WiFi/BT. Thanks in advance.

 

Hello Wonderdog or anyone who might see this Reply

I actually came here to ask you some things about overclocking and about an MSI GE40 which I just bought. A friend of mine told me to overclock my computer. I didn't know what that was so he explained me what was it. So I guessed overclocking is increasing your computers speed performance. I am actually a newbie to gaming computers I mean I know my basics and everything but I am just so curious about everything. I started to search about overclocking and my mind was lost. I really don't know how difficult it is to overclock my computer. I don't know if I have to get it open and I'm actually scared of screwing up so I guessed why not ask you. So my questions are (sorry if they are dumb in any way) Do I have to open my computer to overclock it? Do any other components need to be added to my computer to overclock it? Do I have to take a class about the parts of a computer for me to overclock my computer?

Please respond as soon as you can I am really curious about this and I really want to maximize my computer's performance.

Thank you Clifford24

 

Greetings from Malaysia guys I have the GE40 with the 1080p, it came with a single 8gb stick and a 1tb 7200rpm hdd. I swapped it out for my slower HyperX 3K 120gb ssd with Windows 7 (also have an older Vertex 4 but OCZ went bust...) and intend to take it to Australia with me to finish up my studies. I saw a computer science student posting earlier so... hi! I'm one too!

Just want to know what the Firmware download on MSI's site does? The description only says for Windows 8.1 but the download is also offered for Windows 7. A bit leery of installing drivers nowadays, I've had this laptop and my 3 year old Asus experience blue screen disasters and this particular one seems a bit picky about its drivers... it seems to like MSI's own drivers as I couldn't get audio or the GTX760M to work without using MSI's drivers. I managed to get the laptop stable now and don't want to bork it again by accident.

As a side note, I repasted the notebook yesterday using Arctic Cooling MX-2 and saw idle temps drop from mid 60s to mid 40s, with highest being mid 50s. Ambient temp is around 30-33C here at the current moment. Also swapped out the wifi card for an Intel Centrino.

 

MSI Global GE40 2OC Dragon Eyes

Try the firmware, it says WLAN/BT support for win 8.1.

 

You can first download Intel XTU to try.
Intel® Extreme Tuning Utility (Intel® XTU)

However, please note that by using this tool, your system may go into "non-responsive" mode when the OC is too great.
If the system does get to non-responsive mode then you will have to disconnect the CMOS battery to clear the settings.

 

My luck with Windows Updates are terrible. They always fail or in today's case, reboot to a black screen then fail after a hard reset. After that a BSOD occured which I suspect is caused by an update if not Service Pack 1. Having experienced SP1 BSODs on my old laptop (strangely my desktop is fine and has been BSOD free for years), I normally skip it but Windows decided to install it when I forgot to disable it. Rolled back using System Restore and ran Windows Memory Diagnostics and Prime95 Blend. All is well so far.

 

From what I understand this is only for official MSI notebooks and I cannot use this on my barebones system. Unless someone can confirm otherwise I don't really want to risk bricking my laptop.

 

What's the current version of BIOS/EC that you have in your System Information?

 

Currently have the BIOS version: E1492IMT.10H and EC Version: 1.504.

 

You can update BIOS to E1492IG6.10N, and EC to E1492EG61.507.

Download link:
http://we.tl/RVwk0rb3yE

 

I can't thank you enough for this Kevin. If only all resellers were as helpful as you.

 

Glad you got that sorted out What is a barebones system btw? We don't have that here in Malaysia.

 

Its basically just an unbranded version of the MSI GE40 that is sold by resellers and has some customization options available for the buyer. For example I was able to select which CPU, how much RAM and disk space I wanted in the laptop. Being unbranded warranty is with the reseller rather than MSI though.

 

Hi, as a post mentioned, you can overclock by using Intel XTU mentioned, but I do not recommend you to overclock on laptop and in this case MSI GE40. It's because the laptop itself is quite hot already and overclock will make it much hotter which result in: lower life-time, power consuming (for CPU/GPU load and for cooling .aka fan), unstable because not enough cooling.
However if you still want to, some minor overclock is still possible and provide some improvement, but if you want to do so I recommend you to replace the thermal paste for MSI GE40 which is quite simple: the fan is easy to reach, replace the stock thermal paste with AS5 or whatever good brand you can have, remember to follow closely the instruction of thermal paste manufactor.

After replacing the thermal paste, you can play with Intel XTU to overclock your babe, the setting is quite simple in case of this laptop so you wont be lost: increase the number little by little, stress test, rinse-repeat until it's unstable -> go to the nearest stable point and decrease a level for normal use.
And aside from overclock, you should try undervolt.

 

I've been looking at the msi ge40 and was wondering how long the battery life is? I've checked older USA models of the same ge40 series and they all say 4-5hrs+ but am wondering if this is the same for AU models or whether they'd only last 2-3hrs

thank you

 

Battery on GE40 2OC lasts around 8 hours, see below review from laptopmag.
MSI GE40 2OC-009US Review | Notebook Reviews

 

If I'm performing a clean install should I also update bios and firmware?

 

It wont hurt to do that, but if they were not causing any issues previously you can leave them alone.

 

I have upgraded my screen to a 1080p version. With wifi off, and medium brightness, I got over 4 hours of up time (on a flight from Sydney to Darwin) watching movies at 720p quality - over 40% of battery remaining. Accordingly, even with the upgraded screen, you should get well over 6 hours.

 

Battery life varies depending on your usage.
If you watch movies, then it requires more power consumption thus the battery time is reduced.

 

Hi Moses, I recently ordered the GE40 with 2x128gb ssds and was wondering if you could give some info on the usage/good-bad/overall perfomance of the laptop and the looks/keyb+touchpad/aesthetics

Thanks so much!

 

I have sent you a pm.

 

I had problems installing the lan qualcomm, gives me an error saying "installer can't find qualcomm atheros ar81 family ethernet controller on your system" and iffs intel saying "this computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software".

What do I need to do to fix this?

 

It's e2205 but not ar81, try this driver below.
http://download.msi.com/dvr_exe/Killer_network_win78.zip

 

My system have had problems with BIOS 10N (not booting after flash) because of addidtional memory stick added by seller.
New BIOS version 10O is working fine again, so it was this very 10N BIOS with the problem (I think default timings was changed).

 

It's best not to mix memory modules due to differences in timing/voltage, and incompatibility between ICs.

 

I know this. But I bought it as a brand new 16GB config, with stickers.

 

So I got my 218US model today from UPS from XoticPC. How hot does everyone else's GE40 run under a slight load? I've been sitting here for about 2 hours running a Windows Disk Cleanup removing all the old Windows Update files(OVER 15GB REMOVED) with a 18% CPU usage. My temps are sitting at 72c on the CPU and 78c on the motherboard according to Speccy.

 

Just now I replaced the screen of mine with a screen from Aliexpress, a matte 1920x1080. It was easier than I thought.

RIght now it's the best laptop I ever had. But so far I've replaced
- memory, now 16B
- hdd, now Samsung 840 SSD 512GB
- screen

so not much left. It's running Linux - Linux Mint 16 with Bumblebee (intel/nvidia switcher) and nVidia 331.
I get a battery time of up to 6 hours, 5 hours with full brightness.

I'm considering getting another one as backup...

 

Any tips on how I should go about replacing the screen? Is there a guide you followed or anything like that?

 

There is a thread.

But I did:

1. bend open the bevel using your fingernails. It sits with snaplocks, but it's pretty soft and none of them were damaged for me.
1a. It sits with sticky tape, but it's not that much trouble to peel off if you expect it
1b. The bevel isn't acually easy to losen at the hinges; i managed to get one hinge out, but not the other. It bends anyway so you can access the screws.
2. locate the screws on the bottom of the screen. They shouldn't be covered.
3. unscrew the screen
4. dislodge the screen downwards so that it's no longer in the upper holders
5. now you can access the connector behind the screen, where the 30-pin plug is. There's some sort of serial number tape over it, remove the tape and unplug the cable.
6. now do all this in reverse with the new screen.

Make sure you push the bevel so it snaps all over. If it's not clicked in on the bottom, opening the laptop will result in a horrible noise and more of the bevel will pop out. I tried this. (No problem popping it back in again though.)

 

Thanks Mirar for the detailed instructions. I'll give it a go this weekend.

 

No problem. Good luck.

Also, the area that says "do not touch" in front of the screen does not actually contain anything useful - three connectors between the screen interface and the panel. No use poking there - the connector is on the backside.

The screen cable is a little entangled but with just a tad of care it's easy to dislodge. Remember where it was.

Please photograph your adventure and post - I forgot to.

 

Hey there,

anyone tried to update to a newer Nvidia video driver than 311.43 and had no issues?
I had it installed and my computer frequently locked up when using the Nvidia card. Sometimes after seconds, sometimes a day passed without issues.

Now I downgraded to the 311.43 and it seems fine...

Any experiences?

 

Running the latest drivers from Nvidia's website. No problems here whatsoever. I'm even using MSI Afterburner for 200MHz memory OC.

Also, can someone open up the bottom of their GE40 and take a picture and post it. I want to see what the differences are in my modified laptop from XoticPC and a normal unmodded GE40.

 

Don't have any issues with the latest version 334.89.
NVIDIA DRIVERS GeForce 334.89 Driver WHQL

 

@Kevin@GenTechPC and Hughgernaut: Are you running Win 8 or 7?

 

Windows 8 x64, nothing special.

 

Thanks for the answer.... This is really weird.
I'll stress test my laptop a bit today, to see if it still doesn't crash at all.

I'm running Win 7. Who knows, maybe there are compatibility problems..

 

There really is no reason to run Windows 7 any more unless there is a piece of software that just WILL NOT work in Windows 8.

Windows 8 even shows better gaming performance. over Windows 7 in a few games as well. With the few bloat ware programs removed, my GE40 uses less RAM idling than my desktop PC. I was adamant about not switching to Windows 8 myself, but with classic shell it still feels like 7.

 

The reason I'm running 7 is because I bought my laptop in China and it came with a Chinese only version of Windows 8. I bought a Windows 7 ultimate license for my previous laptop that I'm now using...
Well, maybe I should upgrade. Shouldn't be that expensive I hope.

 

I'm using xorg-xedgers nvidia-331: 331.49-0ubuntu1~xedgers13.10.3 with bumblebee (Linux Mint).

Except for a few shadows in a few games it works fine. I even got FFXIV to run yesterday under wine.

I know you probably meant for Windows, but if anyone else reading this thread runs or want to run Linux, it could be useful information.

 

I ran stock which is Win8 x64 on that PC, thanks.

 

Can you give me a link which you bought?

Could you tell me display model number?

Is anybody know MSI GE40 2OC-245US's display model or manufacturer? (1920x1080)

 

Hi, I bought my new GE 40 several days ago. It has a great performance but I think I have a problem about my ethernet. When I installed my recomended ethernet driver from msi website, some wierd whining noise appeared. If I uninstall the driver, sound goes. However I have to install and use my ethernet. Could you guys help me, please?

Thank you.

My system: MSI GE40 2OC-028XTR (Win 8.1)

 

I got this one:
"Brand new A+ B140HAN01.1 B140HAN01.2 LCD Screen 1920*1080 IPS LCD Screen-in Laptop LCD Screen" from Shenzhen Mingcheng Technology.

What caught my interest of exact this one was the no-dead-pixel warranty. It's the same product link for both glossy (1.1) and matte (1.2), so you can specify that when you order.
The customer service when answering this question was excellent.

I picked matte, and it's really awesome - best screen I ever had...
Very low reflection, and I can't spot any colour variation in any angle where I can actually see the front of the screen (ie, ±90 degrees). The screen is very bright, and right now in daylight I have it at 80% only because it's more pleasant than 100%.
The only drawback is that the dark colours are a bit dark (lowest 5% grey is black) and that the backlight LED glow through on a completely black screen viewed in the dark. (Can't spot them in a lit room.)

But it was stuck in Bejing airport for a month, so you have to be prepared for that kind of stuff. Also it looked like someone had stepped on the package when it arrived - it was clearly dented, a bit worrysome. But it was rather well-packaged and survived.