Averatec AV5428HX

Can't find anything on it except at Walmart. Looking to purchase for daughter who's starting college this fall.

Has anyone purchased the Averatec AV5428HX 15" Laptop w/ AMD Athlon XP 2800+ DVD Burner and Carry Case (advertisded at $998.00) at Walmart?

Description

Mobile AMD Athlon XP 2800+ processor with PowerNow and HyperTransport technology
PowerNow technology extends your system's battery life
HyperTransport makes multitasking easy
40 GB hard drive
512 MB RAM
Built-in DVD-RW/CD-RW combo drive both burns and plays DVDs and CDs
Comes pre-installed with Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition operating system
15-inch XGA TFT flat-panel display
Integrated 802.11g wireless LAN lets you connect at high speeds from anywhere
4 high-speed USB 2.0 ports
Headphone and microphone jack
56k modem
Padded carry case included

Accessories Included
Carrying case, power supply

 

I recently bought an Avertec AV54288HX from Wallmart. Everything seemed to work fine until I found that it wouldn't shut down but continued to reboot until I held the power sitch down. Thinking that some of the software I loaded might have caused the malfunction, I got out the 3 start-up disks. These disks ONLY load a fresh Windows XP and destroy all stored files in the process. After doing this, I fould the laptop would shut down properly. After trial and error, I also found that the problem would only recur if I allowed Windows update. I have suppressed all updates and this feature continues to work properly.
The real serious problem is that the bios has been modified by the OEM to make it impossible to boot from any disk other that the original set of 3. In fact, it appears athat if a disk is bootable, it can't be read using Windows (probaqbly again due to the bios mod). Unless I can find a work around to fix these problems this machine does not serve my purposes. It may be a great buy but I need more flexibility.
Bob Scott

 

I have been using this model for 10 days now.
Box says CPU is AMD XP-M 2800 but on bios and within windows shows the speed at 1600 Mhz.
Is this normal guys?
I have called Averatec and Walmart several times and they are not able answer why it shows the speed at 1600 Mhz.
Not that there is a problem with it, but I would like to know if this is an expexted behaviour.
There no way to change the settings in bios. I have one day left in my return policy.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

That's the speed that the processor runs at. They call it a 2800+ because they say it runs as fast as a 2.8GHZ Intel chip.

My desktop is a 3000+ AMD 64 processor, but the actual Mhz that it runs at is 2.01 GHZ.

 

I bought this notebook recently.Do not buy this model if you want to have your eyes burnt !! This screen is pretty much like a neon. Even if you adjust the brightness it is still burning. And it is not temp situation I`ve been trying to keep it because I like its features and price however I`m not gonna sacrifice my eyes over 1000 bucks. I warn you potential buyer. I have compared to the screens of other comps like acer,hp and dell and they do not make my eyes as tired as this one. They use cheap displays.

 

I just bought this laptop for my daughter. I think it is a great computer. First it does not have pre-loaded junk software. The DVD burner worked great and the screen is sharp and bright. The only think I found is weak is the speaker. Volume is low even if you turn to max. But using the headphone sounds great.I also bought the Toshiba from Costco to compare, I returned the Toshiba because it ran slower than the one and it costs 300.00 more. I strong recomend this laptop

 

Purchased AV5428HX 2 days ago works great not for wimps with weak arms [8D] wondering if anyone here has formatted and installed win xp pro? I need to install win xp pro for my daughter starting college the school mandates all students pcs have win xp pro. Here is a heads up to all in this forum I also purchased at walmart.com the 2 year Service Plan for Home Office Item from $750-$1999.99 cost $58.88 will keep checking this forum and posting any findings with our new AV5428HX

 

Like I had said I returned 5400 back to Wal-Mart. What a great store that is. I got 6100 series at Staples and I would recommend this model over 5400. The difference in display - visible.
Going back to 5400
Pros:
- price $998
- inexpensive replacement and protection plan from WM
- dvd burner

Cons:
- cheap screen burning eyes
- S3 only 16MB video RAM ( come on !)
- cdr/dvd drive poorly located ( opens towards you , what a stupid idea that is !)
- lack of s-video
- poor audio and speakers

 

I just setup one of these babies for a friend. As it turns out these models come with and AMD Sempron and NOT the Athlon XP-M like it says. I ran some benchmarks with Sisoft Sandra and noticed that it was designated as an Opteron, which it definitely is not. Upon further inspection it came in as a tie in almost every benchmark I threw at it with a similar clock Opteron. Interestingly enough the 2800+ Sempron is supposed to be a direct direvative of the Athlon 64 but without the 64 bit extentions and with a lower cache. This combination though seemed to keep the processor running right in line with the Opteron 1.66 Ghz.

Definitely a GREAT buy knowing what I know now and to think this was available BEFORE Amd even supposedly shipped the Sempron models out. Also the screen is not as bad as some make it out to be. It is actually a pretty good quality screen. I found a lot of laptop users suffer from using sub-par screens and when finding one that has good brightness and color representation they point fingers and say how bad it is. Oh well, this is without a doubt a GREAT buy and I have been reccomending it to anyone and everyone who can get one or is in a market for a laptop.

One last thing to note is that these computers do indeed come loaded just with the basics and that is EXACTLY how things should be. A lot of manufacturers will bloat up the machines with startup processes that do nothing but slow down the computer. Not the case here by any means. Oh and this is not a great buy for a gaming laptop due to limited graphic processing power and memory but can't be beat for a personal use computer.

 

I did the same thing Dobry did. I took the 5400 back and got the 6100 series model at Staples. I'm glad I did. The screen on the 6100 is clearly a higher quality screen. After rebate, it comes out to the same price as the 5400. You trade off certain things for others, but the 6100 fits my needs better.

And Dobry, the 5400 is pre-set with 16megs of video ram, but if you go into the BIOS, you can set it to 32 or 64. Once you do that, it will list the 64megs in Display Properties. The difference is noticeable.


Kevin

 

Is this true about the modified bios? Does this mean that I cannot reformat with a different OS? I would like to run bootable cd-roms that have diagnostic tools and also be able to partition the drive and have Linux, etc but if this is impossible then screw this laptop. What kind of junk is that if you don't even have your choice of software on the thing?

 

I was misinformed by a level 1 Averatec technician that I could not boot from disks other than the 3 supplied with the system. Later, after discussing the problem with a level 3 technician, I found that I had a defective drive that would not recognize other bootable cds but would still recognize the 3 supplied with the machine. I have no idea how that can work. On my defective notebook, if a system cd were in the drive while booting, the startup did not prompt for a key press to boot, which it is supposed to do.
I've had no such problem testing other Averatech notebooks, except to find that a non-bootable cd in the drive at startup hangs the bios up without any prompt at all. If you're confused as I was,try an Averatec machine out at Staples to see how they work with both bootable and non-bootable cds.
Bob Scott

 

Thank you for the reply, Bob. It is very helpful to me to make my decision. Do you or anyone know if the hard drive is upgradable? I would like to put a Hitachi 60 gb 7200 rpm drive in it and I think they are a 9.5 mm spec and I heard there are 2 different sizes a notebook could take but I am not sure, as this would be my first notebook purchase. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

and one more thing frustrating about 5400 series, the keyboard especially space bar does not work when pressed on either left or right side of it. you have to press it exactly in the middle, if you are doing a lot of typing forget about this one, guess what 6100 series does not have this disadvantage.

 

re: upgrading the hard drive - go to the Averatec web site and download the product information guide, that will give you the full specs.

http://www.averatec.com/archives/5400series.htm

http://www.averatec.com/customercare/5400dl.htm

This notebook uses a 9.5mm drive.

old: Sony PCG-GR300P 1.13GHz PIII-M, 512MB
new: Asus M6Ne 2.00GHz P-M, 2GB

 

My last post isn't showing up so sorry if this is a duplicate post. Anyway, I was going to trade my HP ze4805us with the AV5428HX, but after reading this thread is it really true that the 2800+ XP-M or Sempron in this model is running at 1.6GHz? My HP has the Athlon 2800+ XP that clocks at 2.1 GHz. I do a lot of video encoding so true cpu cycles is necessary, and dropping from 2.1GHz to 1.6 would be a noticably slower encoding time. The only reason I wanted to trade is because I was after an internal dvd burner, but not at the expense of 500 MHz.

I do have a question - does anyone know the make/model of the interal dvd burner in the AV5428HX? This info is in the device properties. If someone can look it up and post it I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

 

I just bought the Averatec AV5428HX and I'm pretty happy with it. I haven't had any of the problems or issues that other people have had, especially with the display. It's very nice and not too bright. Adjusting the brightness doesn make a difference. The only issue I have is that when you plug in the a/c power supply, the screen does get brighter, and dims when you unplug to use the battery. But adjusting the brightness works fine. No problem using the wi-fi, and had it networked with my other pc's in minutes. It is a bit heavy for a laptop, but who can't lift 7 lbs.? I don't understand, though, how an AMD Athlon 2800 is smaller than my other AMD 2400. Anyone know how that works?

 

Hondamaker,

By the 2800+ XP being "smaller", I assume you mean clock speed. Essentially, what AMD means is that a 2800+ XP is the equivalent of a true 2.8 GHz processor (like the Intel 2.8 GHz) but the 2800+ actually runs at 2.1 GHz. This is true of all Athlons - I own 4 Athlons - my 1800+ XP is 1.5 GHz, my 2700+ XP is 2.2 GHz, my Athlon 2800+ is 2.1 GHz (yes, less than the 2700), and finally my 2400+ XP is 2.0 GHz. Essentially for most applications, a 2400+ XP should run as fast as a 2.4 GHz Intel. The only exception is when you're doing CPU intensive activity like video rendering in which case true cpu cycles count (literally ).

The reason why your monitor dims while on battery power and brightens when on AC power is because of a power saving feature so your battery meter isn't drained too quickly.

red_5ive

 

I have recently purchased the Averatec AV5428HX, I have some opinions about this laptop I would love to post lets call them the pros and cons.

Pros:

- it has a built in dvd burner
- its pretty light for everything it has in it
- wireless and everything worked perfect when i started it up and went through the configuration.
I installed windows xp service pack 2 on it and nothing broke like on other laptops i have tried it with.
- of course the price 1,112 including s/h all together was pretty cheap for laptop.

now the cons

- for a 2800+ it runs slower than my desktop machine (athlon xp 2000+ 1.67 ghz) ther laptop at 2800+ is clocked at 1.60 ghz, which in my opinion is bs, considering i see people on ebay selling it as a 2.8 ghz.
- the display is pretty bright it seems to be acting like a neon light, but i can live with that.

ive had this laptop since yesterday (sept 10th 2004) and I can already say if you can afford the next model of averatec after the Averatec AV5428HX then do it, cause this one may be nice with all its features, but it is only clocked at 1.60 ghz which in my opinion is bs and they advertise it comes with a amd athlon xp-m chip it doesnt, it comes with a amd athlon sempron chip designed to act like a opteron, and its clocked at 1.60 ghz which its supposed to be 2.1 ghz like alot of places said athlon 2800+ is supposed to be. for its price its a great little laptop, but its a ripoff for what you would expect, i research everywhere about this laptop before buying it and i got huge speed differences from what i was expecting, i did however see something in this program called Aida system info, that the chip can be clocked to the max of 2500 mhz, anyone have any idea how i can gert this chip clocked higher.

 

Dude.. I installed Redhat 9 on this system. Works fine, except that the OS doesn't detect the wireless card. I partitioned the hard drive using partition magic.

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by kdubakron

 

I am wondering what would be a better buy, the AV5428HX or the AV3225HS the price difference is about $60 and the weight is about 3lbs difference. http://www.averatec.com/notebooks/3200series.htm
If the 5428 is the better buy does anyone know if the walmart site is account for the stores stock? cause it says sold out

Elvish

 

Hello - I'm a newbie to this forum, but I thought I would offer some advice on these laptops. I work on computers for a living so I've seen a lot of laptops. I bought one at Wal-Mart and was very impressed with it until I put on M$ XP SP2 (that is the Microsoft Service Pack 2 which is a critical update - and an automatic update, so everyone will eventually get it unless they don't have automatic updates on). After the "critical update" the power management functions quit working. I was stuck in a catch-22 because before SP2 my wireless connectivity was very poor and would disconnect me often even with the router in the next room. Upgraded to SP2 and it worked perfectly. BUT the laptop then decided to not power down correctly anymore. It would get stuck on the dreaded "windows is shutting down" screen. If you get SP 2 DO NOT go to standby! It will completely lock up the computer. Hibernate will save everything to disk then get stuck right before turning off the power - it will show "hibernating...." with all the bars across and then freeze. I had to hold the power button down for 4 seconds to completely power it off. I talked to Averatec and Microsoft about the problem and neither could give me a solution besides reformatting & loading recovery CDs or removing SP2. A technician at Averatec told me that they've been trying to work on the problem, but Microsoft won't help them. He said to immediately remove SP2 because it might stop the fan from working correctly and then the laptop would fry the processor. I told him my fan was running - actually faster than it was before the update. I did uninstall SP 2 and it worked normally again. I reformatted & then put SP2 on and had the same problem. I even upgraded all the drivers to even newer versions than posted on the Averatec site (VIA chipset, S3 Video, Realtek Audio) but that didn't help (although it did allow Sims 2 to run on it after updating the video driver!) I tried to return the laptop to Wal-mart to find I was past my 15-Day (exception for computers and cell-phones) limit. Luckily, a manager took my name and number and called me 2 days later and said I could bring it in for a refund or exchange. (whew!) It was about 21 days old. I have to say I really liked the laptop except for the power problems with SP2 - the DVD burner worked great, although the software provided with it wouldn't even allow me to burn a DVD movie - I had to put Showbiz and Sonic MyDVD on it. (It only comes with a basic CD/DVD creator from Roxio). For the person wondering what DVD burner it comes with, mine had a lite-on 8x slim drive - but I don't have model # now. It also showed in the system info that it had an AMD Opteron (Dublin) 2800+ processor (not the XP-M 2800+) and it ran at 1.6Ghz in full power mode or it would run slower at the portable/laptop power mode. I had one dead pixel on the screen. The battery lasted about 2-3 hrs depending on what I was doing on it, so that is pretty decent. I have to say one thing more that I did like about it - the speakers were quite powerful for a laptop, much better than most I've heard. If it wasn't for the power problem and not having a fix yet, I would've kept it. But I didn't want to get stuck with it and only a 15-day return policy. I now found that Sams has the Averatec 6130HS for only $1198 (everywhere else I've seen it was $1350 or more) so I ordered it today. For that price and looking at the reviews I couldn't resist. I did a LOT of looking for laptops and that's the best deal I could find anywhere for a P4 3.0 HT laptop with a DVD burner, Widescreen, AND about $150 less than any other comparable product with DEDICATED video 64MB (ATI Radeon 9600), So you can play just about any 3D game on it too. Way better and faster than the graphics capabilities and compatibility of the onboard S3 IGP Pro with this. So if you want to play new games, this probably isn't your wisest choice. That is a hard deal to beat anywhere for a brand new laptop. After looking around I'm thinking it's a misprint on the Sam's website so order quick. [ ] As for the 5400, IF the XP SP2 worked correctly, I would say that this is the best laptop deal for a 512mb DDR with A 2800+ processor and DVD Burner. Hopefully they will have a fix for it soon - I am guessing it will need a bios upgrade. Being that it's only sold at Wal-Mart - and they're the biggest retailer, maybe they can push the buttons at Microsoft to get them to fix it before everyone returns their laptops! [:0]

 

MrComputers wrote,

"......I now found that Sams has the Averatec 6130HS for only $1198 (everywhere else I've seen it was $1350 or more) so I ordered it today. For that price and looking at the reviews I couldn't resist. I did a LOT of looking for laptops and that's the best deal I could find anywhere for a P4 3.0 HT laptop with a DVD burner, Widescreen, AND about $150 less than any other comparable product with DEDICATED video 64MB (ATI Radeon 9600), So you can play just about any 3D game on it too. .....

I know you will love your 6130HS. I did a lot of research too prior to purchasing this computer, and not a single manufacturer could touch the price with the same feature set. It's really an awesome machine! I've only had mine for about 10 days now, and have already upgraded the memory to 768meg, loaded WinXP Pro, added XP SP2 (without a hitch - nothing stopped working!), and bought an extra power brick. My next upgrade will most likely be a larger HD.

Mine is usually on about 13-14 hours a day. 10 hours at work, and another 3-4 in my hotel room at night. I haven't had any heat related problems. As long as you don't obstruct the fan exhausts on the bottom of the puter you should be ok.

I'm not a big gamer, so I haven't had a chance to try out the Radeon 9600 graphics yet. I do use the Radeon 9600 Pro in my desktop in my home office though. One little glitch I have noticed, is that the RJ-45 jack on the left side of the puter does not seat a network plug correctly. They don't snap into place. It is easily pulled out with a slight tug. I don't know if this is a design flaw, or just my machine. One other user reported it on his machine as well. In spite of this, the network plug does seem to fit snug enough in the jack, so it doesn't seem to be a problem as long as the machine stays put. And the weight of this bad boy prohibits it from slipping around on your desk!

The screen on this machine is absolutely gorgeous at the native resolution of 1280 x 800. I have no bad pixels either. The brightness factor is fairly uniform across the entire screen. Before this machine, I was using a Sony VAIO ultra-lite with a much smaller screen and the sharpness and brightness would fade slightly in the corners of then screen Not so with the 6130.

One of the things I've been impressed with the most, is the fit n' finish' of the puter itself. The manufacturing, in my opinion, is superb. The two-tone silver and platinum metal-flake paint finish is beautiful. Nothing appears loose, the joining of the plastic parts is uniform - with no uneven edges - that I've noticed.

The only two weak point of the puter are; (1) the weakness of the wireless transceiver, and (2) poor battery life. This is not the puter to take to the park and expect to watch a DVD movie under the shade of a cool tree. The battery would just not last. But then, that's not why one buys a desktop replacement style notebook. Right?

I was also glad to see the 6130 included a Firewire(1394) port. Not always available on many laptops. I do a little digital video using my Sony TRV900 camcorder, so needed a machine that included Firewire. Another nice touch for audio buffs is the included S/PDIF (Sony/Phillips Digital InterFace) output jack. The sound is impeccable too - at least on the one DVD I've watched. Although I haven't tried it yet, there is an S-Video out jack on the rear deck of the puter too, for those whom want to route the output to a nearby TV/Monitor with S-video in.

When I bought mine at Sam's, I inquired about their return policy. I was told I had 60 days to return it. That should give plently of time for anything that is going to fail to fail, as well as give me time to put it through it's paces with my daily work routine and in my work environment. Since I do travel weekly, this truly is a desktop replacement that sees alot of airplane and airport time. While I do treat all of my equipment carefully, there is a certain amount of juggling that goes on as you drag it in and out of its case for inspection and use. So, I'm hoping the quality is up to my high standards and the longer term reliability is there. But only time will tell.

Hope you enjoy your latest and newest 6130HS notebook computer.

Cheers,
redjr...

 

See previous message...

 

I received this laptop a few weeks ago. Everything worked great on it, the display was OK, but....the space bar on the keyboard wouldn't work, and this happened right out of the box. I reinstalled the drivers for the keyboard and used compressed air to blow out the keyboard but nothing worked. I also called Averatec support and they didn't offer any other suggestions from what I already did other than to either send it to them or send it back to walmart.com for an exchange. I would have to sort of lift up on the space bar on the mouse side and push down on the keyboard side for it to somewhat work. When it did work it would get stuck and the cursor would go flying and I would have to backspace to get to where I wanted to type. I also experienced a minor problem after installing SP2 with the shutdown. It would get 'stuck' at the windows is shutting down screen, but I would just press the power button for about 2 seconds and it would go off. I then returned the laptop to walmart.com and got another one just like it. Well, right out of the box I experienced the exact same problem with the space bar. It would not work properly. This is the only complaint that I have about this laptop. Everything else worked fine, the wireless networking, the DVD burner, etc. But it is because of the space bar issue I am having, I'll be returning it to walmart today and will eventually get a different type of laptop. I am upset because I really liked this computer and it is packed with features, but I don't like that I couldn't find a solution to the problem I was having without having to send a brand new laptop back to the manufacturer for repair, and whose to say it would be fixed. Well, that's my two cents on this laptop.

 

I never had a problem with the keyboard, it worked just like it was supposed to for me.

 

cajundohboy wrote,

"....But it is because of the space bar issue I am having, I'll be returning it to walmart today and will eventually get a different type of laptop. I am upset because I really liked this computer and it is packed with features, but I don't like that I couldn't find a solution to the problem I was having without having to send a brand new laptop back to the manufacturer for repair, and whose to say it would be fixed. Well, that's my two cents on this laptop...."

I agree that a new puter should work straight out of the box. If you do indeed like it, another alternative is to request Averatec send you a replacement keyboard. It's probably a physical keyboard issue rather than electronic in nature. With any new products, getting a product on an assembly line and the bugs worked out often takes time. But from what I can see of this computer, it's quality is up to par if not better than many of the other brands I looked at. And I'm not one to likely sign-on with a new vendor without knowing what I'm getting myself into. I took a slight risk purchasing this puter. When I bought mine at Sam's, I made sure I could return it if anything failed, or it did not meet my needs - both from a quality computing experience and reliability factor. So far, so good.

Good luck in whatever decision you make...

redjr...

 

I was, and perhaps still am, leaning toward the AV5428HX.

What someone said about the screen straining their eyes “like a neon bulb” has made me a bit uneasy. Any potential problem with the screen might make me consider something else. Practically the only reason I want a laptop is so I can have something portable to read ebooks on. The Walmart stores in my area don't have computer display models, so it's impossible to go see one. Opinions in this thread seem fairly positive regarding the compluter. I'd just like to know if there's anyone else who's used theirs extensively to read and had eye trouble. More so than with other notebook screens?

~Fingers

 

The screen was just fine, you can adjust the display brightness to a comforable level by pressing the "fn" key and then the key marked with a brightness icon. The bright screen is actually a plus when viewing in sunlight or bright light. The only problem I had with the laptop is the addition of Windows XP service pack 2 and then it would have to be turned off manually by holding down the power button.

 

Thanks for the reply, MrComputers. Well, what to do... The 5428 is definately the right price for my wallet. I must say, though, that I am also getting a bit interested now in Averatec's convertible notebook/tablet, the 3500. I wonder if it would be okay for reading ebooks as well as sketching, which is another one of my hobbies. It isn't too much more expensive than the 5428. But the screen is only 12.1 inches. Hmmm.

~Fingers

 

I returned my Averatec 5400 Series laptop and recently reordered another laptop I will let you know how this other one is
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=3208773 I should be getting it on the 8th of October. thats the new laptop i ordered, the 5400 series is perfect till you install sp2, at first i thought nothing had broke, but I was wrong after installing sp2, since the chip in that laptop is a amd athlon 64 2800+ (1.6 ghz) the chip is a 64 bit chip and sp2 is incompatible with it, thats what Averatec tech support told me. So be careful with that laptop if you buy it, you need to disable auto updates on the laptop so you dont get sp2 installed automatically. The things i saw with the 5400 series is Averatec swears that the chip is a 2.8 ghz, I told them its only 1.6 ghz they said it raises the processor speed when you use it yet i used a live cpu mhz monitoring program called cpuid and watched the cpu processor while i used virtualdub and tempenc to rencode my videos i recorded with my tv card on my desktop machine, there was no change in processor speed at all. I still like Averatec but this particular model never should have came with athlon 64, cause I told them everywhere you go that model laptop is being sold at a amd athlon xp-m 2800+ which is supposed to be running at least 2.1-2.2 ghz and this laptop doesnt even get past 1.60 ghz.

Final thoughts about the 5400 series!

great laptop for a low price $998 <-- how can you beat that!
nice screen i like the 15 inches makes it nicer on the eyes, but it was pretty bright on the eyes.
didnt get hot at all on me and i put that laptop through hell lol
i think i reencoded 67 movies i recorded from cable 1.4 gigs to 2 200 meg avi files or one vcd file, i burned 3 dvd's and 80 cdrs, and the machine still worked like a charm.
pretty fast but since it had a onboard video i couldnt play any of my cool games on it so i needed a lappy with a more powerful video card.
you can put it to shared 64 meg ddr on the onboard card but it still maxes out using opengl 1.2 which most of the newer games use 1.4.

Overall a good laptop for the traveling user, but its not for a gamer, or a major graphics and flash artist.

 

The Processor is 1600mhz and is called an AMD Opteron Dublin 2800+ from what I can see from the AMD Site this processor IS an Opteron with the 64 bit part taken out and 256K L2 cache instead of 512K L2 cache. This is still a formitable machine certianly not a Desktop replacement. I have had mine for 5 days and it has given me fits taking Windows XP Pro but I was finally able to get it on there after 4 loads (I am stubborn and in the machine's defense some of it was that my software was bad.) I like the machine ALOT and it will make a great addition to my home network and a great notebook for me fiancee. The Burner is EXTREMELY handy for Ghosting. I built a complete image exactly the way I wanted it and then I ghosted it to a bootable DVD. One load complete with apps burned to one disk. Not like the 3 CD set I got from averatec. Upgrading to XP Pro is a little tricky. I found that an upgrade of a new from a fresh restore worked best for me when I wanted to get all of the devices loaded. Then the ones that didn't work correctly I simply removed them from the device manager and let them redetect and they seemed to work just fine!

 

Hello again. I’m still considering this notebook and have got a few more questions. Although I was not at first thinking I’d have much use for the DVD burning capability, I now wonder how readily a machine like this could be used for converting VHS tapes to DVD, as I do have several boxes of them and they take up quite a bit of space. Is VHS – DVD burning possible with the 5428? Would it require more ports and/or software than what is standard? I am sort of guessing that people here who say they are burning DVDs aren’t converting VHS but ripping directly off of disks or perhaps getting the files from the internet. Grateful if someone could explain.

~Fingers

 

I'm a little confused about this model. Can you install windows 2000 on this machine? I have certain software that requires win 2000.

Thanks

 

just got this notebook, and am pretty happy with it...

I just have one concern:

The fan runs like all the time, and its pretty loud!

is this normal??? should I be concearned???
I am almost considering to return it just for this reason!

 

just got this notebook, and am pretty happy with it...

I just have one concern:

The fan runs like all the time, and its pretty loud!

is this normal??? should I be concearned???
I am almost considering to return it just for this reason!

 

I also just noticed that if you go to Averatec's website:

http://www.averatec.com/customercare/5400dl.htm

and read the user manual. on the last page it says the laptop has Two 2.0 USB ports and Two 1.1 USB ports.

All the ads and the rest of their web site claim 4 usb 2.0 ports. I wonder if that was just a typo mistake.

Rob

 

I have a AV5428HX and am wanting to find the manufacturer of the motherboard for this laptop. I am wanting to put MBM on this. I have called Averatec and the rep I talked to did not know.
Thank You in advance

:marine: Semper Fi :marine:

 

Hello Fingers,
You need to purchase a digital converter from any of the major electronics stores. This comes with the software and the connections that you need. Stay away from the firewire types, USB 2 is a bit faster. This should run you from $130.00 on up for a decent one. Dont try to save money on this purchase, you get what you pay for here.
<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Fingers_99

 

While it is plugged in the fan will be on constantly according to Averatec'c tech support. Mine does stay on constantly while plugged in and comes on as required while on battery to conserve battery life.

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by k_ay

 

I have just spent 2 days researching the amd opteron dublin 2800+. The actual name is the AMD K8 2800+. This one step up from the Athlon XP M. It is actually a 754 pin 64 bit chip running at 32 bits and is configured to have the same output as the Athlon XP-M 2800. this is why the L1 cache is 64 and the L2 cache is 128. This chip has the fsb controller onboard as does the 64 bit chips so their is not a bottleneck between the two, basically a pipeline directly to the northbridge. So this k8 processor is a great advantage over the athlon. I am also checking out if the motherboard can handle the real 64 bit Athlon. I dont know why not if since the 754 pin socket is for a 64 bit athlon.

 

I recently bought a Averatec 5400 series notebook from Wal-Mart.com. I am fairly happy with the notebook, except when I tried to install XP Service pack 2. I began to have power problems. That's when I discovered that the processor is a 64 bit processor with the 64 bit taken out which makes it a AMD Sempron processor. I contacted tech support and they had no clue. Now, reading the forums and various other info found all over the web it turns out it only has 2 USB 2.0 ports and 2 USB 1.1 ports. I would consider this false advertising and selling under false pretenses on the part of Averatec or Wal-Mart. I am looking into possible legal action, for the charges stated above, if Averatec doesn't get the Service Pack 2 problem resolved soon. Anyone else want to join me in a class action suit?

CHARLES HULKEJR

CHARLES HULKEJR

 

Chulke,

I recently purchased one at walmart too. I saw in the online manual the mention of 2 usb 2.0 and 2 usb 1.1 .

Have you tested that only two are usb 2.0? If so, which ones were 2.0? The side or the back ports? I have to setup my 2.0 printer to test this out.

Thanks
Rob

 

I'm not sure which two are 2.0. I'm just going off of what someone else has said after they called tech support at averatec?

CHARLES HULKEJR

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Chulke

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by symbiont

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by mooclown
It is actually an AMD K8 2800+ and the post screen on my 5428 shows it that way. This is what AMD Mobile Tech support said, It was created as an inexpensive copy of the Athlon xp-m but using the 64 bit chip 754 socket RUNNING AT @ 32 BITS. It is actually a better processor than the Athlon xp-M.So a 64 bit Athlon Mobile should fit as an upgrade using the 754 pin socket? This I am trying to find out.
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

I can't answer that for you. Although the socket is the same, I can't assure you that the chipset supports a 64bit CPU. However, the chipset is a VIA K8N800, and I'm almost positive it supports an AMD 64 w/ hyper-transport. Good luck getting the BIOS to work with it, though...

 

Hello its me gumpy again, I am finally happy after a month, I have the Averatec 6130H1 and this thing has not failed me at all and trust me I have put it through hell and back, if you get the averatec 5400 series keep in mind averatec even is aware that the processor will not work correctly when service pack 2 is installed, service pack 2 is not compatible with 64 bit processors and thats what comes with the 5400 series is an athlon 64 xp 2800+ (1.60 ghz) so keep that in mind, walmart now has the av6130H1 for sale at 1,298 + tax and s&h for me came to 1,398.73, and it was worth it, I have installed every thing known to lag machines and this laptop still keeps ticking, i have sims 2, doom3, counterstrike, grant theft auto vice city, Manhunt, and all them installed and my machine dont lag on them lol. so this is a great little laptop, I know this isnt the section for the 6130 model but i am a past 5400 series owner and fortunately i was able to return my laptop and get a refund from the company, and buy this beautiful laptop I have now link is at http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=3208773

Specs
3 ghz processor with a 800 mhz fsb (4x200mhz) and a 512 k L2 cache
40 gig hdd
512 meg ddr ram
dvd/cdrw combo 24x10x24x dvd is 3x read
built in 64 meg ddr dedicated ati radeon mobility 9600
3 usb, one firewire, svideo and printer port on the back
built in ethernet, wireless, and modem

its worth the price.


ps if you need an avatar for the 6100 series i would gladly make one for ya lol I notice you dont have one for that model

 

Gumpy,

I thought on one more question. I see this model only has 3 usb ports. I need to hookup a mouse, cf card reader and 2 printers. Does this one have a standard mouse connection?

Thanks

Rob

 

Grumpy,

I have 2 questions for you. How is the battery life? I am getting really bad battery life on my 5400. Less than an hour.

Is the screen better on your new laptop? I find that the 5400 laptop doesnt look 100% clear sometimes. I have viewed photos on the 5400, a gateway laptop, and a cheap emachines crt. The 5400 makes the photos look a little softer.