Compal HGL-30 Owners Lounge

Hey everyone. I just recieved my new HGL-30!!I am really impressed. I asked info about buying a new lappy before christmas and this is what you suggested. I am deffinetly happy with the suggestions.

-The graphics on the 7600 are excellent.
-The color on the cover is actually really nice looking. Its more of a dark greenish Blue if anyone is wondering.
-I can multi task with no problem from any high end game(which is one thing i was looking for.)
-The integrated camera is really nice def. a plus.
-And service at Xotic was good too. Although it did take a while for them to ship it.

There are some concerns though. With the mic. Is there any program that i could use to record better?? And how far do you think is the maximum pick up...could i use this in a seminar class to record the professor?

And the when i plug in my headphones I get the buzz high pitch sound that I've been hearing about. Is there neways to fix this yet?? There are different buzzes with different stuff i do. Like if i scroll on a pic it will like make a lazer noise haha. If i minimize and maximize a program I get different sounds. Its kinda strange. Please if you know any answers post them.

Thanks a lot for the recommendation and great support.

P.S. If you would like me to post pics tell me because I can! I'll try to get the true color of the top.

 

Quick few questions - what backpacks is everyone using? I have an Ogio Nyquist and it's a little tough to get the laptop in there.

Also, has anyone tried those skins that you put on the cover of your laptop? DecalGirl and such make them, I was thinking of getting one to try out.

 

http://www.buy.com/prod/Maxxum_Comp...02080044.html?adid=17260&s_kwcid=&dcaid=17260

 

i bought a targus bacpack from futureshop for a 100 bucks,awesome backpack, holds everything perfectly and even has an insulated hot/cold pocket for your lunch!!

 

i have the option of selling my PCMCIA audigy 2 zs (for 60 bucks, bought it for 100 CAN). I don't record anything, and i don't plug it in to a surround sound system. Should I sell it and stick with the on board audio?

 

The onboard audio of the HGL30 is actually rather good. Top-of-the-line is what I've been told by a reseller.

That said, it's a very personal decision whether or not you want to sell your Audigy card. If I didn't see myself using it anymore and had the option of selling it, I probably would.

 

is there any on screen display software? I was looking for any such but no luck...

 

Hi maniakus. Welcome to the Compal forum.

What are you looking to have displayed onscreen?

 

This is something I've been wondering as well...

You know on an IBM laptop, when you press any of the media keys (the volume buttons etc), a small graphic comes up and shows the current volume setting. I know other laptops have similar functions, like when you press the internet key, some words on the screen says 'internet explorer' will appear, and it will open IE...

Is there any programs that add this functionality to any computer? is there a way to change the Compal hgl30/80 BIOS to do this?

Isn't my description awesome? (sorry i don't know what the actual name of this is)

 

The volume and mute buttons should already do that by default.

 

Normally called OSD software (on screen display.. clever eh?) I've not seen any universal software available, but I know in the geek arena's there are people that run either the logitech keyboard or ms keyboard software. It sounds like a hit or miss sort of thing depending on how the software is written. Not sure it's worth having another memory resident application just to see stuff though..

 

yeah, having a program in windows running in the background just to do that would be pretty weak.

I was just hoping someone would have any knowledge on how to possibly add the functionality to the BIOS, seeing as how it is possible to change the BIOS graphic (yeah i know, the picture was replaced with another, not added on).

 

Hey, I've been considering purchasing the HGL-30, and I have a few questions. First is it worth putting the extra cash down for the Arctic Silver paste? Second is 667 MHz memory that much better than 553? How much does this notebook weigh? How does the 7600 Go compare to the x1600 Mobility, and is the 7600 effectively overclockable? Thanks for your input.

 

First of all, this laptop is so cool that you really dont need the arctic paste. Secondly, 667 is pretty much the same as 553 or whatever it is, because of latency, so yeah both are the same speed. The laptop is only like ~5 lbs. The 7600 is a great card on par with the 1600, although it will get a low score od 3d mark due to Compal underclocking it. However, to answer your last question, yes it overclocks quite a bit. For example, on 3dmark05, you will get a score of ~3100-3200 stock. After overclocking, a score of ~3800.
Scores aside, still performs as well as any other 7600 in real world gaming

 

There is alot of information on these questions if you only use the search function

 

Alright, this is to all the sellers out there.

Does anyone stock the 9-cell battery for the HGL-30 and what are the prices? Thanks.

On a related note, can anyone who has a 6-cell mention the battery life they get on the 30.

 

Sure, we have them in stock in our Accessories Store at http://www.powernotebooks.com/category.php?catId=125

$120.00 plus shipping/handling and insurance

 

Darn, that's pricey! Would you consider taking my new 6-cell and some cash for a 9-cell?

 

I am sorry but:

1. It isn't really pricey...I don't think you will find it anywhere else for less can you?
2. We cannot accept your battery in trade. I know it is 'new' to you, but since it has been shipped by your vendor it would be consider 'used'.

 

Yep, I was only joking there Don.

Do you have any battery life comparisons between the 9-cell and the 6-cell?

 

As you can see from my signature my name is Donald. That is what my friends call me, and you would be welcome to do the same

Well, you can expect to get about 50% more battery life out of the 9 cell. Since battery life is so dependent on your settings, what you have running in the background, and what application(s) you would be working with it is pretty difficult to estimate what kind of battery life you would get...but just measure your 6 cell the way you set and use it...and then multiply by 1.5

 

Sounds good. Thanks for the info Donald.

 

Donald, do you know where we can get the latest BIOS updates for this machine and how we can check which BIOS we already have?

 

It shows the BIOS version on the main BIOS setup screen I think.
Bizcom usually has the most up-to-date BIOS.
http://www.bizcom-us.com/support/

 

Found it and downloaded but I have no idea how to flash this sucker. I've put all the files into a bootable CD Rom and when I run the Dos BAT, it spits out the error "Cannot flash when DOSKey is present". Any tips?

 

Have you read the Sticky: Ultimate dummy guide to flash Compal HEL80 ?

It is the same process for your HGL30

 

I have and unfortunately, I cannot use the program provided to burn a disk, do not have access to a Nero program that can burn bootable CDs, have a floppy drive or an HEL-80.

 

wait nvm nero is a separate cd, it should of came with your laptop

 

Flashed to 115A.

 

Hi guys,
I hate to double post, but i think asking fellow Compal HGL30 owners would be of better help. My Hitachi 7200 HDD (HTE721010G9SA00) is heating up. According to HDTune v.2.53 my HDD temp is 28 C when I boot up, it goes up quickly to around 50 C in 10 - 15 min of light Internet surfing, then slowly goes up and stays at 56 - 57 C. The LED that indicates that the HDD is being accessed rarely lights up during this time, which rules out the possiblity that a background process is constantly accessing the hardisk. And if i do hard disk intensive activities like backing up my files, it can go as high as 63C which is way higher than the limit of 55C that Hitachi says the HDD should not exceed.
Now if anybody has a similar notebook setup as mine, and the same HDD, can u please use tell me if u experience similar conditions as mine. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Does anyone else have the same problem?
Its really pronounced if I use a headphone although when i actually play something the sound quality is top notch.
Its just when nothing is playing that I hear the static.

I've already muted everything except for the Wave part but its still there.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

The noise is caused by EM interference. A while ago (6 months or more, its been a while) I tried nearly everything to reduce that noise on my laptop, as it was driving me up the wall.

One of the biggest contributors of EMI is from the hard drive. However, most HGL-30's have a metal cage around the hard drive which blocks any EMI from escaping the HD and affecting sound. I think the cage is there specifically for that reason, as I noticed the noise was louder without the cage on the hard drive.

Things I have tried to reduce it: Disabling almost every piece of hardware in device manager individually to see if any of the components added noise. Tin foil on the hard drive, new sound drivers, old sound drivers, buzzing reduction programs (plays inverse waveform of sound to reduce it, but very hard to work it properly). None of these helped.

Things that helped me: Muting CD audio, muting the microphone, using headphones of varying impedance (smaller headphones have more noticeable buzz than larger ones)

After having done all this, going through the quite large HGL30 sound buzzing thread (which seems to have disappeared on the forum), and asking numerous questions, I fixed the problem by buying a Audigy 2 ZS sound card.

Not exactly the solution you wanted eh?

 

Hehe

Actually, that's sort of what I did...
I went out and bought a USB headset which had its own soundcard.
Problem solved.

But thanks for trying to help though. =)

 

Is there a way to search just this thread so I can skip reading 27 pages? I'm getting some pretty severe rattle noises when my cd/dvd drive is spinning. I'm trying to figure out if this is a common issue and what the fix is.

thx

 

Hey Guys,

I have two issues.

The first is that when I was packing to move, I took an ExpressCard slot filler and accidentally inserted it into the PCMCIA slot. The slot filler is shorter than the slot and so I can't seem to fish it out. I'll push the eject buttons but they don't have any effect. Any tips?

The second is that I'm interested in buying a 9-cell battery, as my 6-cell is starting to give me less than 2 hours on a full charge. Do you know anywhere that still sells these?

 

i had the same thing happen to me. I was lucky though, I had a metal tooth picking tool used by dentists to fish it out. It would be a REAL BIT- i mean, annoyance, to get that out if you had to disassemble your laptop though, especially since it'd void the warranty for sure.

Good luck! It sounds like you're gonna need it...

 

[QUOTEIs there a way to search just this thread so I can skip reading 27 pages? I'm getting some pretty severe rattle noises when my cd/dvd drive is spinning. I'm trying to figure out if this is a common issue and what the fix is.

thx[/QUOTE]

I think the loud hard drive is pretty common. It is more noticeable on different CDs. The sound is not a sign that the drive is going to blow up though.

 

Hi guys,sorry to put this thread up,I have got here a HGL30 (T7200 undervolt to 1.05v by now,2x1Gb DDR2,160Gb,xp sp2 and ubuntu 8.10 both 32bit) and the fan spins very high...
This pc is from my mate,there was a time (with 112a bios) that the pc was cooler (we changed thermal paste) and the fan spin correctly,but some time ago,it had a problem with chargment and sellers flashed to 116 (stupidly it solved the problem),but the fan spins a lot.
Other thing,programs say the pc is 70ºC + and running prime95 it touches 88ºC but the thing is only warm...
An thoughs?
Can anyone upload bios 112a for me?
thanks and sorry for my bad english

 

HI guys,
Much to my dismay my HGL 30 died on me a week ago, after less than 2 years of light use (internet surfing basically). I paid a $100 for a tech to tell me that my motherboard is fried, and that it costs upwards of $550 to fix it. So i decided to buy a new laptop (HP HDX 16t).
So i am thinking, if i can sell it since everything else works, maybe somebody could use the other parts (screen, RAM, DVD drive...)
I would appreciate it if anyone could point me to the right place to sell dead laptops!!!

 

Were did you buy it?

 

Hey Paladin,
thanks for the quick reply, i bought it form Xoticpc, i have not contacted them yet. Are you guys interested?

 

Didn't you get a 3 year warranty from them?

That is the first place I would go to for help.

 

Unfortunately i did not, they offer 1 year warranty. So i am out of warranty and trying to sell my dead laptop to generate some money towards my new one. Besides, it is environmentally friendly to have it's parts used instead of being dumped.

 

Where is the best place to find the HGL-30 drivers? besides the compal.com website, that site is horrible (have to download everything individually).

I want to get all the drivers from the cd it comes with, as i lost mine many ages ago... Or can someone host the cd image for 24 hours?

 

try this
http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df-external/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=2468&lang=eng

btw, does HGL-30 BIOS support 4 GB of RAM ?

 

Sadly, since the Bizcom-US site went private, there is no way to get a CD image with all the drivers, but it is better to download the drivers individually, anyway, as these will be newer than the drivers on the CD.

Intel hosts the latest GL30 drivers at:
http://tinyurl.com/yhuj4ar

 

With that login information, search for the following text: DrvXP_01-16.zip

It's not an ISO file (I guess Compal decided to stop hosting it as an ISO), but it's a single package with all the latest drivers for the HGL30.

 

Wow, thanks so much for the driver link!

 

Didn't I post here the login info? Where is that now?

 

Just use the link that Eleison posted above...post 296