couple questions about my 3150

hey all...

after the initial issue w/ the cdrom not working, all is good now. i was able to pickup a replacement cdrw drive pretty cheap and now it's working flawlessly.

so far this laptop is everything i hoped for it to be [ ]. couple questions though:

- on startup, the lcd always defaults to the most dim setting. i like it bright and always have to brighten it up (function f6). i can't figure out how to set it so that i always stays at it's brightest setting. i checked power settings and didn't see it there.

- i was browsing through the bios and noticed the boot up order was hdd/usb/hdd. is this how most laptops are set? wouldn't make sense to bood to cdrom first and the hdd just in case there was a hdd problem and you needed to boot to disk first?

- for using the laptop in a car, is it bad to use an inverter? i heard that it can ruin the laptop's battery. if not bad, then what's the difference between the small, $10 inverter that has only one plug in (can be found in radio shack) and the bigger, brick type inverters that go for $60+?

thanks,
Deo

 

Power inverters can't kill batterie as far as I know. They don't produce a real sinus wave, it's more like a square wave, but since you have a power supply that converts it to DC, it makes no difference at all. The difference between the cheapest and the more expensive one is that they have a wattage rating. Let's say we have a 100w inverter, this means it could stand 100w for only a couple of seconds, but could substain 60w for a long time. I suggest you get at least 200w for your laptop, but make sure and check on the power supply of your laptop, there should be a mention of that. If there is none, take the input voltage X input amp = total power required max.

 

good info... i was never sure if my inexpensive inverter was good enough.

anyone else have input in my other two questions? the screen brightness thing is really getting to me [V]

thanks,
Deo

 

To touch on your second point; I cant say as to how most lappies BIOS settings defualt, but the sequence seems off. I know mine was cd/usb/hdd...and i just moved around the hdd and usb.

So I'd prolly go and change that around, just to be safe.

 

yeah, it doesn't make sense to me for the sequence to be what is now. i just installed a new hdd and used the recovery discs for a fresh install and this is how it was setup. i'll change that around to cd-usb-hdd.

still wondering about the screen brightness???? anyone know???

thanks,
Deo

 

dfarrales,

I have never been able to control a LCD's brightness by software, so my guess is that if it's not an option in the BIOS, you're kind of stick with what you've got .. But I think it's really weird that it starts on the lowest settings .. Never seen this. Check in the BIOS.

Math

 

i don't know why i didn't try this before but i finally called averatec's 24/7 support and asked about the brightness issue. the first rep told me to download the most current bios update. did that... still had the problem.

called back again and told a new rep the problem. she sd that it must be a defect of the laptop. it should remember the last brightness setting and it's not. not the answer i wanted but not sure what else to look for [ ].

well, i guess it's something i can live with. a small annoyance for a laptop that i've otherwise been impressed with.

Deo

 

dfarrales;

"i don't know why i didn't try this before but i finally called averatec's 24/7 support and asked about the XXXX issue"

Words to live by!!