Hel 80 Owners Lounge

For study/gaming applications the Core2 Duo really won't help you at all, but it will be nice to have once 64-bit computing matures.

We won't really see the benefit from the Core2 Duo 64-bit capabilities until about a year from now when the 64-bit OSs and software have matured...and in truth it could be even longer than a year before they really become mature.

However, if you were going to buy the T2400 (1.83GHz) it is difficult to compare it to the T7400 (2.16GHz). Why not get the T5600 (1.83GHz) Core2 Duo now? Since the T5600 (1.83GHz) is the same price as the T2400 (1.83GHz) and will give you the same battery life...I sure wouldn't buy a T2400 anymore. Nor would I even buy a T7400 once they come out in October. The sweet spot is either the T5600 with 2M L2 On-die cache (same as the T2xxx series) or the T7200 (2.0GHz) with 4M L2 On-die cache.

 

You're going to be hard-pressed to see a noticable difference between the Core Duo and Core 2 Duo. I'd bet that if you had a T2400 and I one day switched it out for a T5600 (without you knowing), you wouldn't be able to tell.

If you can get a Core 2 Duo, then by all means, get it. But as Donald said, there will be no difference in gaming between the Core Duo and Core 2 Duo - there are many benchmarks to prove that. Unless you have an SLI laptop, your machine is going to be GPU-limited, so a faster processor hardly helps.

The only place where you'll see the benefit of a higher-clocked Core (2) Duo is in rendering, encoding, and mathematical apps, where the processor is running at 100% for extended periods of time. Most of the time, the Core (2) Duos run at 1.0GHz anyway. 1.83-2.0GHz = best value.

 

So any updates on the usability of the media keys on the far left.......with regards to running DVD's without booting up the hard drive.

or are the media keys not able to power up.

 

The updates were quite a while ago. Forgive me for not searching out the posts. Upshot is that the buttons control windows media player, and don't involve using the laptop as a portable not-booted-into-os media device.

 

How does the hel 80 and or hgl30 feal in your lap? im used to a 13" and am worried that I might get deadleg with the 15"

 

I don't really use this thing in my lap a whole lot... no problems to speak of though. The weight isn't too much spread out as it is. The only thing I watch out for is to make sure the air intake on the bottom clears my leg so the processor doesnt' overheat.

 

Realtek HD Audio Control Panel
process - RTHDCPL.exe
how much RAM does it use on your system ?

 

22 444 K

No problem with 2 gig total

 

so 22MB is normal ?

 

I'd guess so...if that's somewhat similar results you've got...

 

I have Realtek HD Audio in my laptop and it uses ~21,928 K. It's normal as Kjetil said.

 

After much thinking, debating (with myself, does that make me schiso?) and reading I finally ordered my compal HEL80.

Spec:
Processor: Merom t5600
Memory: 1 GB (2*512 mb pc 533) (will upgrade to 2 gigs later on has i had the memory around already)
100 Gig Hitachi 7200 rpm drive
DVD writer 8X
Wireles 3945 ABG

Ordered it from milestonepc.com after trying to get a line at NCIX for about 2 hours, I figured it would be best if I bought from a store that can actually be reached = P.

I will be installing some flavor of linux as soon as I receive it (might be Ubuntu, Gen2 or else Fedora if I feel like having an easy time hehe).

Anyone knows of a 3d synthetic benchmark test that runs on linux? Or even better of a live CD?

Otto.

 

Nothing synthetic, but you can run game benchmarks, many times inside of demos. Check out Doom 3, Quake 4 or Unreal Tournament 2004 for games that run in Linux natively. No such thing as a Linux version of 3DMark as far as I know Not terribly important though, to be honest. Same as in Windows, if it runs everything you want as fast as you want it to go, then it doesn't really matter what it scores in some random benchmark, does it?

That being said, see this

I wasn't sure from your post, but remember that you'll need a pair of 1GB, DDR2 533MHz SO-DIMM's, AKA PC4200 to get your 2GB. So your PC-533 really isn't right... make sure you have the correct memory for it. I'm surprised that you'd have DDR2 SO-DIMMs just sitting around.

Also, I've found Ubuntu is much easier to get going than Fedora, especially if you want to use any multimedia stuff. Fedora doesn't support that so well, mp3 and other codecs, DVDCSS, etc.

 

Well I ordered 2 Satelite pro p100 for work that on the spec sheet came with 512mb ram when I received it it already had 1Gig. So I ended up with 2 533mhz ddr2 sodimms that I couldn't use elsewhere. So I bought em back from work for peanuts ; - P .

Been running Fedora Core 4 for the last year. Thinking of doing a triple boot system with Sun solaris, Windows Xp and FC5. However I'm not so sure about the flavor of linux i'll be running. Still need to read a little, as an all source distro sure sounds more standard and compliant to any package I might run into.

Otto.

 

That's a problem. Most notebooks (HEL80 included) only have 2 slots for RAM. So you won't be able to use 2GB of memory.

I'd really recommend Ubuntu over Fedora Core. I do development and such on it, and I like it a lot. There's always just been something that's felt "wrong" on Fedora with me, too many things that're Redhat specific, that aren't standard. Ubuntu uses basically bog-standard everything. The development is all look and feel stuff, no distro-specific kernel hacks or anything. But YMMV, and to each his own

 

Yeah I know about there only being 2 ram slots. However when you pay 30$ for a gig of ram seeing how memory sky rocketed in the past few months, I tought I'd wait for the price to go down before buying 2 1 gig sticks.

Otto.

 

I have had a problem since I flashed to the 107B bios. The battery seems to have stop keeping track of how long it will last. It will still show me the percentage, but it won't say that I have X mins left. Any ideas?

 

It never showed the remaining time on mine?

 

Hmmm . . . I am 99% POSitive that on mine, it did before I flashed it. What BIOS are you using TC03?

 

I think it's 107B. I bought it in early August, and I remember that the BIOS on my laptop was only a few days old.

 

ok, it may just be an issue with this bios. Maybe I will try going back to 102B and see if it fixes it.

 

I'm experiencing the same after flashing from 105B to 110B...

 

Not displaying battery life is normally a mistake with the ACPI tables. You guys might want to verify your power saving/power chewing modes you use to verify they are still functional.

 

woah as for my first post on nr.com..

..I recieved my hel80 this afternoon by mail ^^

t7200
2gigs
80gigs at 7200rpm
wsxga
..

it's my second laptop tbh (my first was a crappy hp pavilion 7400ze..or a 7300ze )
I'm probably going to stay up all night to test this thing

 

Congratulations and welcome to the forums!

 

Enjoy it. My identical machine is VERY nice. If the GPU turns out to be upgradeable (I won't say what I'm attempting yet), I may sell one of my desktops. It's a quick little machine.

 

I have to say that I knew little about compal..but after googling a lot (yay), i found out that the made barebones for quite a lot of manufactures...so the quality of this laptop shouldn't be bad at all ^^

..man..finally relaxing outside with my laptop..got to love the wifi

 

I'm also the proud owner of a brand new Compal HEL80:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T7400
RAM: 2GB DDR2 PC2-5300
HD: 100GB 7200rpm Hitachi
SCREEN: 15.4" WSXGA+ TFT 1680 x 1050
ADDITIONAL STUFF: Bluetooth 2.0, WiFi, TV tuner



BTW there seems to be a new BIOS:

HGL80/HGL81 BIOS Change Notification 09/26/2006

*SYS BIOS : EL80112B.ROM

*EL80112B.ROM Checksum: 5D01h
*EL80112B.WPH Checksum: B593h

Change notification:
1. Default combines 111B EC

Issue Fixed:
1. Fix system hang-up during POST intermittently (9Ch)
2. Fix System Hang-up during WinXP BOOT intermittently (F0h)

Function Modified:
1. Remove unused code when system enter S5 state

Other Notices
Please Load Setup Defaults After BIOS Updated


HGL80/HGL81 BIOS Change Notification 09/14/2006

*SYS BIOS : EL80111B.ROM

*EL80111B.ROM Checksum: E1B6h
*EL80111B.WPH Checksum: 3A69h

Change notification:
1. Default combines 111B EC
2. Force enables HD audio and Disable HD audio Dock support

Issue Fixed:
1. Fix AP CPU DTS Reading incorrect
2. Fix Password on Boot failed issue
3. Fix UUID reading incorrect

Function Modified:
1. Enable PC beep in DOS mode

Other Notices
Please Load Setup Defaults After BIOS Updated

 

Couldn't withstand the inner pressure to flash with 112B and it worked perfectly:


Here is the flash iso:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=E1VK3XLE
Burn, Reboot, Flash.

DISCLAIMER: if this fails on your machine don't blame me, it worked on my HEL80

 

I realize that a number of you are going to upgrade to each BIOS update as they become available regardless of the risks involved. It's definitely your option to do so, but please be careful to avoid creating problems on your system. I have seen a number of users here in the Compal forums create problems that didn't previously exist on their systems by trying to use the latest BIOS version.

 

Has anyone experienced the blue-screen-of-death with their HEL80? I'll try to write down what it says next time, but it was a rather lengthy message with the usual "begin physical memory dump" at the end. Has happened twice so far...

 

Definitely get the error message you're getting. That's the key.

 

Hello all-
Just wanted to drop a quick word of thanks...to all of you.

I have been researching a replacement for my ABS Mayhem g3 for 3 days now, around 5-7 hours a day (mmm...obsessions...). So 3 hours in tonight, I come across this thread. It references the Hel-80, which had also just been recommended to me on another thread. I do the research, and from reading paladin44's comments, I cruise over to powernotebooks.com.

A shining beam of white light in a otherwise dark and painful experience. (mmm...overdramatic...)

I am thoroughly impressed. A 10/10 resellerratings.com 6 month? 9.99 lifetime? An incredible laptop with options and a MXMIII graphics card? Wow.
And with my being in El Dorado County, Cali, the actual shop is very close to me.

I have a couple of questions though before I commit every other paycheck for the next couple of months to a new laptop. I plan on checking finances and most likely ordering tomorrow, with this config:
PowerPro L 8:15 SUPRA, WSXGA Matte
Core 2 Duo T7200
Arctic Silver option
Either 1 or 2 gigs of corsair ddr2, not sure yet
80gig 7200rpm HDD

-Has anyone used this laptop to play the new Battlefield 2142? That and World of Warcraft are my main reasons for wanting to upgrade.
-On ordering, when you select your sales advisor, is that just related to if you called in to the shop to ask questions?
-When you select your OS, if you choose no OS, do you get full drivers disk, and will the Hel-80 recognize a XP pro bootable CD when there is no drivers or OS installed (I have never installed an OS on a notebook, only desktops)?
-And last of all, where have you been all my life?

Sorry for teh huge block of text, and thank you for your time.

 

Don't count on the graphics card being upgradeable though. Laptop GPUs are generally never upgradeable and are a waste to do so when they are (in terms of cost/benefit).

Definitely call in before placing your order and ask about any ongoing promotions. Trust me.

You will get the Drivers CD. Installing your own OS is very simple. Power on, select CD Drive, install Windows.

 

-Just the fact that it is MXMIII is good enough, as this comp should last a couple years, and who knows what will be out by then.
-I will call in tomorrow and see whats the haps
-Cool, just saved me 150 bux
Thanks for the reply! Im soon to be the proud owner of a laptop that doesn't suck!
/slap ABS

 

I've got even worse than that, shortly after my first complete install.
BSOD, directly after that restart so I couldn't read the BSOD and then windows would not start because of critical files missing. When I fixed that I could get back into windows, but a lot of messages of corrupt files.
So I did a new install and left out the useless drivers and programs: TPM, Modem, Touchpad, Watchdog, Sidewalker and WSS.
Since then no more problems.

But that said I think we should make a list with the latest drivers of each component of the HEL80 and everyone should post the problems he encountered with a certain driver.

 

The graphics card in the HEL80 is not MXM at all, it is a card but Compal only. It is possible that some day they may release an updated version of the HEL 8x series and that card should work in the 80 but that is guess work there. The 7600Go is ok for gaming, just nothing on super high quality.

 

I've actually installed every driver from the CD even though I don't need them all. I haven't experienced this problem. I'm thinking there was a file or two corrupted during your initial installation.

But please do feel free to get a list going as that may be helpful in the future.

 

You're memory might be broken, run MemTest.

 

My thoughts excactly

 

Already did that, no faults.

In the mean time, I was stupid enough to spill water on the keyboard...

 

All those files missing problems sound to me like hard drive problems, or a bad install. Looked at your drive's SMART data?

 

After a couple of automatic "consistency checks" on the hard drive during startup that occured after the last blue screen of death, tech support from powernotebooks (who is very patient and helpful I might add...not to mention courteous), they said I need a new hard drive.

I've never seen this consistency check before, but the error messages it came up with during the check were something like:
File record segement 24444, 24445, 24446, 24447 is unreadable.
Delete index entry pagefile.sys in $I3u of file 5 and viruscant.dat in $i3U of file 24280 and A000821.sys...blah blah, who the hell knows.

HDTune also shows two yellow flags on my HD health, so that's why tech support suspected a bad drive. By sending it in I'm also going to have the grounding of the laptop checked to reduce any line noise on the sound out too.

Despite these problems, I LOVE my Powerpro 8:15 and it is all I could have dreamed of for my first laptop.

To counter the negatives people have about the HEL80 model: the keyboard is very enjoyable to type on (the "flex" and "cheap feel" aren't an issue at all) and I got used to the switched FN and Ctrl keys after about 10 minutes.

 

Wewt! Ordered my new Powerpro 8:15 today!
Core 2 duo 2.0 ghz, 2 gigs corsair mem, matte screen, 80 gig 7200 rpm, all the wireless stuff
One thing i fergot to ask Paladin on the phone, do you get an OEM verison of windows xppro, or a Retail one? Just wondering! Thanks a ton, and props to Paladin44 for being such a patient, nice, and all around cool guy
-CC

 

More then likely it is an OEM since retail cost to much, it really doesn't matter the only thing with OEM is microsoft won't help you and you can't use it to upgrade, since it is a new computer anyway, doesn't matter.

 

You get the holographic Microsoft OEM CD.

The only difference between it and retail is the terms of the End User License Agreement. With OEM your computer owns the license, and with retail you own the license. That means an OEM license is only supposed to be used on the computer it is purchased with, but a retail license can be used on any computer, but only 1 computer at a time.

 

Thanks again Paladin44 and aurawolf...
OMG i want my comp so bad...Battlefield 2142 is calling me...

 

Hello all, great forum here. I am interested in acquiring this laptop as well. Thanks to Paladin I have had a lot of my questions answered. I have one more.....

Those of you that might have purchased the 6 cell battery....does it sit flush across the back or does it stick out of the back like the 9 cell. The 9 cell is the only one I have seen pictures of....thanks.

 

The 6-cell is flush. But in the end, the 9-cell only sticks out 3/4" in the back and is out of sight most of the time anyway. It's really not so bad and gives you longer life. The pros outweigh the cons.

 

The 9-cell battery is the way to go, I agree. It has 1/3 more battery life than the 6-cell and does not add significant weight to the system.