Problems with a new HEL80

Hi everyone,

I got my new HEL80, and I'm having some problems with it.

First, I tried flashing the BIOS with the dummy guide that sticky'd here, and it wrote all the sections, numbers and letters, then started again at 0 and made it to about 3 before powering the computer off. Is this normal?

When I noticed that the dummy guide didn't have the most recent BIOS version I downloaded the new one, and tried to flash it and got exactly the same thing. When I power it on the BIOS version reads as correct in the BIOS so I don't know if it's supposed to do that. Seems odd.

Second, I was just playing CSS and the game froze after 2 rounds, I tried to ctrl-alt-del, ended up hitting the power button to try to start a shutdown and it blue screened on me! Citing some atapi.sys error! BSOD on the first day? Surely not a good sign.

I'd also like to ask if your Compal came with enough screws. Mine sure didn't.

I await your guidance!

 

I'm sorry to hear about your problems. Was there any particular reason you needed to upgrade the BIOS? The newest version doesn't automatically translate into "better". I personally am still running 101B and have had zero problems for over seven months now.

I would definitely recommend that you give your reseller a call. They should be able to help you sort out your issues--particularly the screws and also perhaps the BSOD.

 

I had considered giving Vista a spin, and I figured I'd need the latest BIOS for that. Since things have been iffy on XP, I'm no longer feeling brave about Vista.

I will call my reseller and ask what the deal is, but I don't expect them to be very helpful (Milestone PC). It took them a long time to process my order, and when they finally got around to it they phoned me at work to tell me they couldn't verify my address with my CC company. They wanted me to phone the bank. I said wtf, it's not my problem, you guys deal with it and phone me back to tell me everything is fine. I eventually phoned back to find out that they cleared up whatever problem that wasn't there. A few days later they shipped it out. Anyway, I can't fathom why there are not enough screws. That makes no sense. This machine had obviously been opened and powered on before since I didn't have to set the time in BIOS and some minor stratches are visable on the lid.

Any ideas on why a BIOS flash would cause a power down? Should I perhaps try a different boot CD? Can't see how that would make a difference, but I feel like I shouldn't just leave it alone with a BIOS that I'm not sure flashed 100% correctly.

Overall I'm kind of underwhelmed. The software that comes with is very poor (surprise, surprise). I was blown away to see the realtek software using 20MB of ram (!!!) and the security stuff using much more than that spread over several processes. All of that stuff has since been uninstalled. The fact that I didn't know Avid doesnt support the Realtek audio is an extra piss off... it means I'll have to buy a USB sound card. It's heavier than my last laptop, the screen isn't that bright (wsxga+), bit of screen door and backlight bleed, battery sticking out is odd and uncessary (make it longer), keyboard is springy, plus no DVI out for no apparent reason. The underclocked graphics card and noisy headphone jack is all adding up to a big 'meh'. Granted those problems are documented, and I didn't think they'd bother me. If it had been a positive experience and those were the only things that were annoying it would be a different story.

The prospect of having to send it all the way back to Ontario for an exchange isn't exciting at all. They better pick up the shipping bill at least.

 

When you flash the BIOS, I believe it does shut down to reboot. As far as the gaming issue goes--which drivers did you uninstall? Perhaps you took something off that needs to be there. You mentioned that you removed a bunch of software.

You are obviously not happy with the notebook. Perhaps a return is in order.

 

I'd like to hear from someone who has flashed their Compal BIOS. Does it just uncerimoniously turn off on you without saying anything like 'completed successfully' or anything at all?

I haven't seen another BSOD so I'm hoping it was just completely random. I uninstalled all the security stuff (it's a shame, the fingerprint thing is cool, but not 30mb ram cool), and disabled the Realtek software from loading with windows. There is no way I'm going to use a 20mb EQ. 20mb idle in tray, I might add. Who programs this crap?

I wish I could do a return, but I need a Core2 duo machine that has PCMCIA and a decent graphics card. It is a very short list of machines at my price point ($1500 Canadian). The only other machines I've seen that do it are Dells, and I can't find a 15.4" WSXGA+ version that has good graphics, core2 and PCMCIA for $1500. If you guys could suggest anything, I would be open to checking it out. I ask here did back in October, and the HEL80 is what was recommended to me.

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

Yeah, it shuts off suddenly without warning, gave me quite a scare when I flashed mine (though I have HGL-30, I imagine its pretty much the same thing)

 

Thanks! Scratch that one off the list of complaints! :\

 

If you find yourself needing that extra 50mb that bad, you should really consider upgrading your memory =P Max that stuff out.. its cheap!

 

the bizcom site has a set of drivers/bios/etc for EL_80 and EL_81... would that be the problem if maybe you used the EL_80 set instead of the EL_81 since your hel80 is VBI?

also, having problems with CS:S isnt necessarily something wrong with your computer. Steam is known to cause problems with many systems.

 

I used HEL80_81 BIOS V116B.zip from http://www.compal.com/asp/driver_dnd/e_download.asp?M_path=/Download/NB/HEL80_81/HEL80/BIOS . It has been suggested that the machine immediately turning off after BIOS flashing is normal, are you saying it isn't?

I can only afford 1GB ram at the moment... giving up 20 megs to a software eq is retarded regardless of how much memory you have total. That's just sloppy programming.

 

no not saying that isnt normal, just thought maybe u might have used the wrong bios since you seem to be having problems.