Hel 80 Owners Lounge

It differs. When just me screen is turned off I can always bring it back. But when I'm in standby mode (no matter what way my computer got in it) I can't always bring it back.

 

I have a problem with when i try to hibernate the computer sometimes it tells me that i dont have enough system resources available to do this..... any ideas??

 

OK, I looked into this some more. If I manuall put the system on hibernate or standby, I can bring it back. If the system is open, the screen saver runs, and then the display turns off, I can't bring it back by moving the mouse. It does this with both the 83.90 and 91.33 drivers so it's probably not a driver issue.

What BIOS version are you all running? Mine is 102B.

 

I have the exact video problem as you saturnotaku, I reported it to powernotebooks.com, I believe they're looking into it. I'm hoping it can be fixed with a BIOS update. I tried the stock drivers, and 91.37

Regarding disabling the touchpad: You have to do it in the control panel. Someone might be able to come up with a script for it to do it quickly. The solution I've been using is on the control app for the touchpad. On the touchpad tab, you can check disable when typing. That's helped me some. But it forces me to use the Elantech drivers, which suck for using the scrollpad.

I'm hoping Elantech comes out with updated drivers that fix the scrolling issue. And that Compal gives us a new BIOS that addresses the screen-hibernate-timed off thing, as well as auto disabling the touchpad when a USB pointing device is installed.

 

According to some posts I've read, there apparently is a 105B BIOS floating around somewhere, though it doesn't seem like it's officially approved by Compal.

 

Which touchpad drivers did you use before? The default WXP drivers?

And I hope Compal adds some CPU temp treshold settings, so you can select the temperature where the fan has to kick in.

 

I am using the 105B bois, and I have had both the screen and the keyboard problems after updating to it.

 

Did you notice any improvements at all?

 

Honestly, no. I can't tell a single difference.

 

Well, then it's not worth giving it a try.

 

What scrolling issue?

You guys really hit the touchpad when typing? You guys must keep your hands right in the middle of the keyboard

 

No, but when touching the space bar or one of the others keys located near it, you might touch the touchad . I really don't have such issue, although I tapped the touchpad during CS: S sometimes, which resulted in a deadly headshot for my team member. But that was because WXP somehow didn't load the drivers

 

Hello,

I got a compal hel80.
I just have a problem with the resolution. I can chose only one wide screen resolution. 1680x1050. The other ones are 1280x1024, 1024x786 etc etc.

I tried to install the newest nvidia driver for the geforce go 7 series. But I cant install it because he doesnt recognize the hardware.

What is my problem? And can someone help me please?

Aljan

 

LOL!! That headshot must have been hard to explain; "I'm serious, I accidentally tapped my touchpad with my...ahh forget it"

 

i always 'accidently' touch my touch pad but none of my body is anywhere near it

 

i have the HGL-30 but i have also had the problem of the screen turing back and not being able to revive it. the only way i have found to do that is to use the fn and f1 combination to put the machine into standby then revive it from there. As for the touchpad problem my thumbs float and were constantly hitting the trackpad while typing but with the supplied driver from the cd there is an option to turn off the trackpad while typing and since enabling that i have not had one single problem.

 

It's really weird that some but not all HEL80 owner's are experiencing this screen/keyboard issue.

Have all of you upgraded to that 105B BIOS? I'm running at stock and am still trying to replicate the problem on my machine.

 

I didn't even know where it came from at first, I found out later that it was because of tapping the touchpad .

 

I'm not doing a BIOS update until it's officially sanctioned by Compal and/or Powernotebooks.com.

I can get around it by simply not allowing the monitor to shut off by itself. If I manually put it into standby/hibernate I don't have a problem.

 

PLEASE don't upgrade your BIOS without it being certified by your OEM or reseller. By doing so on your own you may well void your warranty and find that you will no longer get support.

Your BIOS should only be updated if you have a specific issue that the new BIOS addresses. Just doing it because you find it on an ODMs website can be very dangerous. If it wipes your laptop you instantly void your warranty and wipe your right to tech support...so why do it?

 

I personally had no intention of upgrading the BIOS on my HEL80. And I also wouldn't recommend it--even though a plea from Donald above is much more convincing. I was just wondering if that might be the cause of the problem for some of the users here.

 

My comments were not directed to you chrisyano.

Yes, it is possible that the updated BIOS, or other "tweaking" utilities are causing these issues.

The Hibernate and Suspend features of Windows have historically been very troublesome due to conficts and their sensitive nature.

These issues are almost never caused by hardware failure.

 

Yes that was my other theory...merely a Windows glitch.

 

As of today I am the proud owner of a CyberPower Explorer X5-7500. It's a Core Duo 2.1, 2Gb, 120GB, DVD+-RW,MCE .. Of course it's the Compal HEL-80 chassis that everyone here seems to know and love. I've been reading the forum for a while, and it's what helped me choose this laptop. I've been using a fingerprint scanner from microsoft for a while now, so it's a pleasure to have it built into the laptop. The camera is a nice touch for chatting also. Overall I got a great deal. Fully loaded for under $1700.
Until I ordered this laptop I had always been a Toshiba, or a Dell fan. My last two notebooks have been Dells, I just bought my father in law a new Dell, and My wife also.. but NEVER again (Bad Experience that I will put into the appropriate forum.. not here). Anyway.. I have ONE problem. I have power management turned off EVERYWHERE. Control Panel and what spartan settings there are in the bios. But the machine keeps going into suspend after about 20 minutes. I've even gone through the screensaver power button (though it should not make a difference) and it's set just like I left it.

I don't care much for power management.. I'm not a tree hugging bunny lover... let it run. : ) That's what I say!!! I have two ups in my home office, and it's on a 1400 va ups (with my router and an inkjet printer) and I'm monitoring it on another PC (the ups) so I know the power isn't dropping. And I do have power management turned off while ruinning on battery as well. I'm not sure what's going on. I haven't seen any of the other problems listed here. (Mine always comes back when I hit the power button.. but I'm fundamentally lazy.. so I don't want that extra step!! hahah)

Thanks,

Greg

 

I usually resolve the black screen problem by simply closing the notebook again and opening it. Always comes back on.

 

Hey guys, this is my first post. I finally got my HEL80.

specs:
T2500
2gb DDR2 PC5300
Hitachi Travelstar 60gb 7200rpm hdd
Dual DVD drive
256mb 7600

I have a question though. I heard that this chipset(945) is "drop" in compatible with Merom cpu but up to what speed? and do I need to update my BIOS (102B). I got my HEL80 barebone from mwave.com and what if I need to update my BIOS, where do I get it?

 

I don't know about what the speed of the processor has to do with compatibility... they're all the same socket (at least initially).

As far as bios flashing, the advice is don't unless you get files and instructions from where you bought the laptop. see a few posts up: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=1522169&postcount=520

 

I am pretty sure you would need to update to at least the 104B bois for merom support. That was the first one with merom support.

The reason I updated was to see if it fixed anything or improved performance. It didn't as far as I can tell. There is a link in the 7600 OC thread somewhere to DL the BOIS.

I would agree that you shouldn't flash the BIOS unless you need to, but I love to tinker, so I will probably always get the latest BIOS. Then again, I can fix it myself if something goes wrong.

 

Btw, I experienced another issue. Sometimes my fan won't turn off when my laptop has just booted. This morning my CPU temp dropped to 30°C but it still wouldn't turn off. Quite weird.

 

I've got a few questions about this (also considering the Asus S96J). If anyone could answer them, that'd be great.

(1) What's the WXGA (1280x800) glossy screen like on the HEL80? I've heard a few complaints of it having very narrow viewing angles and poor colour saturation. Any truth in that? Also, does anyone know if this is an 18-bit LCD (262,144 colours, with dithering to 16.2 million) or a 24-bit one (16.7 million colours)?

(2) What's the sound quality like if you use headphones? Does it suffer from interference, or is that not really an issue?

(3) People seem to be using Ubunutu on it with no problems, but has anyone tried using Sun Solaris 10? Did it work?

(4) Is there a main Compal website for downloading drivers/manuals? I'm planning to buy a barebone one, but I'd like to be able to get a bit more info on it first.

(5) What exactly is the difference between the HEL80 and the EL80? Or are they really much the same?

(6) What's the battery life like with the 6-cell battery, without overclocking the video card or anything else? Most reviews only seem to test it with the 9-cell extended battery.

 

Thanks for the email follow-up and the instructions, Donald (this is Roger in the Bay Area). I just checked my keyboard and the screws are in place. I'm not comfortable with the idea of double-sided tape on something that gets warm. The laptop is wonderful, but this is without a doubt the worst keyboard I have ever used in 20 years of computing The worst part about it is the rattling noise when I type.

Oh well, I suppose I'll get used to it. Let's hope the neighbors don't have me evicted for excessive typing noise...

 

Well, I had the S96J and ended up returning it to get the HEL80.

(1) I like the screen on the HEL80 much better than the S96J, but if they end up getting the x1600's graininess issues figured out, the lcd on the S96J would be the better of the two. The graininess drove me crazy, but I wouldn't let it break the deal for you. It doesn't seem to bother a lot of people. The lcd in the HEL80 WXGA is the CMO N154l2. Here is a link to the specs: http://www.cmo.com.tw/cmo/english/product/showproductn.jsp?size=15.4#4

(2) Excellent.

(3) I have only tried Kubuntu, but that seems to work well.

(4) Yes, and no. There is a site where they release BIOS's and drivers, but it isn't really very end-user-friendly. You can find a link in the 7600 OC thread.

(5) From what I understand, the EL80 is the VBI version, which means that it's warranty is covered by Intel, and the parts are interchangable with all other VBIs. It also comes with the 6-cell instead of the 9-cell battery, and it doesn't look quite as spiffy, IMHO.

(6) I only have the 9-cell, but it is simple math. With the 6-cell, you should get 2/3 the life of the 9-cell. I usually get around 3 1/2 hours on the 9-cell with wireless on and doing just about everything besides gaming.

 

Thanks very much for that. Almost all the info I needed (just need someone who's tested it with Solaris).

EDIT: Unfortunately it looks like the VBI version (which is the only one available in Australia) is quite seriously cut-down. No aluminium, no copper strip around the keyboard, no media control buttons, and no TPM.

EDIT2: Does anyone know of shops in America who sell barebone non-VBI versions of the HEL-80? International shipping would be a bonus too.

 

I've got the VBI version and I can confirm what you say, but the housing is not bad at all. I like it pretty much, it looks a bit boring but it has no weird things that one can like or dislike, i.e. the red line around the keyboard in the non-VBI version.

 

I had my notebook freeze up earlier... I'm trying to narrow down potential issues (and no, I'm not blocking a vent by some external means)... right now I've had my laptop on for an hour and the HD temp is around 53C (noting that I am running a bunch of programs and virus scan). I don't know enough to know if this was the cause of if there was a problem, but any information would be nice.

edit: ok, its starting to come down... maybe I should hunt down other possibilities... of course it just could be a mondo fluke

 

Eek the wrong processor came in my HEL80. Gotta email Donald about this.

 

I don't think a harddrive temperature around 50 degrees should cause lockups. I've experienced an IBM with a harddrive temperature around 80c, and it didn't start freezing until it went that high ...(OT, the harddrive didnt live too long in that temperature )

 

(1) The screen is avarage, it be much worse. I think it lacks a bit of contrast, but the brightness is really good. Viewing angles and backlight leakage aren't that great eighter, but I guess this is common with notebooks. I am very satisfied with it, and althought my Iiyama E431s has better contrast, I prefer my notebook screen because the colors seem more realistic and the brightness is better.

(2) I do have some interference, but I don't notice it all while watching movies or listening to music.

(4) I am not exactly sure where to look, but I am 100% sure that there is a download center on the Intel website which also covers the VBI notebooks, you should be able to find all the drivers there. I didn't use it though, I just used the CD which came along.

 

(1) The screen is avarage, it could be much worse. I think it lacks a bit of contrast, but the brightness is really good. Viewing angles and backlight leakage aren't that great eighter, but I guess this is common with notebooks. I am very satisfied with it, and althought my Iiyama E431s has better contrast, I prefer my notebook screen because the colors seem more realistic and the brightness is better.

(2) I do have some interference, but it's barely noticable and not noticable at all while listening to music or watching movies.

(4) I am not exactly sure where to look, but I am 100% sure that there is a download center on the Intel website which also covers the VBI notebooks, you should be able to find all the drivers there. I didn't use it though, I just used the CD which came along.

(6) I get about 2,5 hours with my 6-cell battery.

 

Okay. Since you've got it, could you say whether it does actually have the TPM module? There seems to be a lot of conflicting information about that.

If it's still got TPM then I may as well just get it instead of the 'proper' HEL80 and then look for ways of making it more interesting.

Thanks for all the replies regarding this - they've been very helpful.

 

The device manager lists it as a system device. I guess it has the TPM, although I don't know what it's for me. If you can tell me what it does, maybe then I can check for sure.

 

Donald, just for the record -- the replacement Crown P 15:2 that PowerNotebooks sent me last week is, in fact, running the version 105B BIOS. (I didn't upgrade it, it was sent to me that way.)

 

I don't think it really does anything at the moment - it'll be used in Windows Vista and future operating systems to protect data. If it's showing in Windows then that pretty much guarantees that it exists; I've never seen Windows install a driver for something which isn't there. The only other way to check (that I can think of) is to have a look in the BIOS (there's supposed to be a few options there to enable or disable it).

Anyway, thank you very much for your help. It seems that the VBI version will actually suit my needs quite well, which means that I can buy it locally. It'll be interesting to see how VBI works over the next few years - will all laptops support it eventually, or will Intel give up after a while?

EDIT: One last thing before I buy it. This does use the standard Intel 3945 802.11a/b/g wireless card, doesn't it? The mini PCIe one?

 

Yes, it does. I'll check my BIOS later.

 

Yes, it does use that wireless card. And I'm pretty sure I have seen some safety options in the BIOS, so it probably has TPM.

 

Wonderful, thank you for all of that. I guess I'll be ordering one pretty soon (possibly tomorrow).

 

Crappy phone cam pics of the BIOS TPM settings:
http://home.planet.nl/~crapt001/14-08-06_1608.jpg
http://home.planet.nl/~crapt001/14-08-06_1609.jpg

 

I don't know what I have done, but all of the sudden, my fps in CS:S have dropped from ~70 with 4X AA to ~30 without AA. At first, I couldn't get more than 15, but I installed some newer drivers and the powermizer setting was set to max battery when plugged in. I fixed that, and now it is playable, but I still can't figure out where the rest of my performance went. Any ideas would be helpful. I may just have to reformat it.

 

my fps in source dropped to about 9 over the weekend. i uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers that came on the CD and everything's back to normal. you should probably try that before reformatting

 

Maybe you have Notebook Hardware Control installed, it has some options for PowerMizer as well. Disable it in NHC (if you have it installed).