win7 64bit on a 2370?

Based on my tests with the Win7 RC several months ago, it should work. The biggest challenge is getting a video driver. The RC had no driver for the GO 6100, and a generic VGA driver was installed.

As a suggestion, go to www.laptopvideo2go.com and follow the process to modify a nvidia driver inf file to support the GO 6100 GPU. I found that once I had a basic GO 6100 driver working, Win7 RC recognized the GPU and installed a better driver. All the keyboard function keys tied to the video driver worked just fine.

So much for having to obtain a driver from the PC manufacturer.

I only had temporary use of a spare drive to do my testing, and only checked the basic operation of built-in devices and a couple plug-in peripherals, plus some key 3rd-party software. The results were good. Where a Win7 64bit driver wasn't available, I was able to find and sucessfully use Vista 64bit drivers. However, I would hardly call this an exhaustive test.

My biggest question right now has to do with RAM... Supposedly the 2370 only supports 2GB ... I already know that's false. I have 4GB installed (2GBX2), and Vista 32bit SP2 sees all 4GB, although (supposedly) only uses a bit over 3GB. However, when I look at the BIOS setup, it reports only at bit over 2.8GB installed, and no where near the full 4GB actually installed.

Has anyone out there experimented with 4GB of installed RAM and a 64bit OS on the 2370? If so, please post your experience. Certainly I will post my experience after I install Win7 Business 64bit (my pre-order upgrade disk is somewhere in the mail).

 

If your BIOS is only seeing 2.8GB then there is either a chipset or a BIOS limitation preventing you from using more.

 

Perhaps. But something I spotted today may have a different explanation...
I assumed the BIOS was giving me the currently installed RAM less the 128MB minimum devoted to the GO 6100 GPU (after all, how much video RAM is needed for the BIOS setup display?) I recently updated my video driver (and yes you CAN install a current nvidia driver - see www.laptopvideo2go.com) and looked at the information in the nvidia control panel. I was surprised to see that the GPU was swiping over 700MB of installed RAM.

So, the shortage could simply be RAM that is being sucked up by other system components. After all, Vista 32bit reports seeing 4GB, even if it can't utilize all of it.

 

Have you updated your windows experience index? I've got the latest video driver for nvidia (7.15.11.7967 dated 3/6/2009), but the window experience rated the video at a 2.0. With the win7 RC, it rated it a 3.0.

 

I have the same driver, but I am still doing my win7 installation, so I haven't bothered yet with the experience index. I have two 250GB drives. Vista is on one, and still my production system. Win7 is being install on the other - I simply swap drives until I'm done. (the Vista drive will be used as an eSATA backup for win7).

Two notes:
First, the experience index in win7 was made 'more rosy' than Vista's. Although I suspect win7 will be more efficient.

Second, nvidia does have a newer driver (released this month), but it is still in beta and win7 prefers a certified driver. Also, to use the drivers directly from nvidia, the .inf file has to be patched.

 

It installed for me without the .inf patch.

 

I would call the transistion to Win7 Pro 64bit finished. From here it is the usual ongoing tweaks, updates and assorted fiddling around. I haven't run the experience index yet, but as I am running the Everex ST5340T, there won't be a one to one correlation with the 2370 anyhow (the ST5340T uses a slightly faster CPU, plus I am running 4GB of 677Mhz RAM whereas the 2370 shipped with slightly slower RAM, and I have replaced my harddrive with a fairly fast 250GB unit).

The system is running smooth and stable. The couple 64bit apps I have run faster than their 32bit cousins (I can directly compare IE8 32 & 64bit versions). Otherwise 32bit software runs about the same as it did before.

I used PCMover Upgrade Assistant to move many of my smaller apps. It did save me a LOT of ininstallation time, but I have had to reinstall some of the larger apps. Menu shortcuts in particular tend to point to what is now a 64bit location rather than the 32bit locations where they were actually moved to.

I am quite happy I made the move.

 

Everex Stepnote ST5340T (marginally faster twin to Averatec 2370, and with RAM & hard drive upgrades)

Processor = 4.4 (AMD TK-53, 1.70Mhz)
RAM = 5.0 (4GB 667Mhz, 3.87GB available to Win7-64bit - rest used by video)
Graphics = 3.2 (same driver as darnatl)
Gaming Graphics = 3.0 (ditto)
Hard Drive = 5.4 (WD 250GB 'blue' Scorpio)

Tests run while using an external 1440X900/32bit external monitor connected to the VGA port.

I've managed to crash Win7 exactly once - due to a conflict between my USB video adapter (to run an extended desktop across dual 19" widescreen monitors ... not active during above tests) and a magicJack (VoIP phone). I have had a few 32bit applications hang after transfer from Vista 32bit ... usually fixed by uninstalling/reinstalling the application.

The ONLY device that worked under Vista 32bit that won't work under Win7 64bit is connecting my Palm Zire31 via USB cable. PalmSoft has refused to release ANY 64bit USB drivers (it would have also failed in 64bit Vista or XP). My workaround is to connect my Palm to another PC in my office running a Windows 32bit OS and sync to my notebook across the LAN.

I am running Win7 Pro, and have installed XP Mode/Windows Virtual PC. I have imported an XP Pro VM previously running under MS-VPC 2007. I have an older version of Quickbooks that only runs on XP. I retired my business two years ago, but need to keep my business records available for another five years should the government wish to audit my tax returns.

The only thing I truly miss from earlier versions of Windows is the classic menu. This UI was removed in Win7. However, I created a new toolbar which is little more than a shortcut to the Start Menu. I then pinned it to the TaskBar next to the Start button. It acts VERY similar to the classic menu.

I had no beef with Vista, but its hard to picture myself ever wanting to go back.

 

Jim,

I remember your handle / name from the Averatec / Everex forums.

You might remember that my Everex ST5340 also reported 2.7 GByte of usable memory (both in BIOS as well as in Vista).

I just wanted to mention that I finally made the switch to Win7U64 yesterday (installation of which proceeded smoothly, btw), and Win7 now reports 3.8 Gbyte of usable memory. Along with the 80GB Intel SSD (grab during Newegg Thanksgiving sale), this little (but capable) system feels like a brand new computer now

Vista truly was nightmare. Win7 is a worthy successor for XP.

 

3-month update...

My notebook continues to run rock solid. The combination of modified cooling and Win7 is great.

"revised cooling improvement for 2370"

Most days it runs 12-18 hours non-stop ... and technically runs for days without re-booting as I often just use sleep mode overnight. Now I do always at least add air space below the notebook, and typically use active air movement with a fan driven cooling pad.

Also, unless I am travelling, I most often use an external keyboard and mouse, as well as dual 19" widescreen external monitors (the second external monitor is connected via a USB/VGA adapter.

In short, I am driving this notebook pretty hard, and it is still meeting my demands.

I've been keeping an eye open for a better replacement but have yet to find one to match size, weight, performance and feature set.

Jim

 

so far i have loved using this!!

 

As the longtimers here know, I moved to a custom built Toshiba U500 as my primary production machine running the Intel i5 CPU... still love it.

But my 2370 (okay actually the no longer in business Everex ST5340 equivalent) is about to be re-born. We finally made the jump from a 20th century CRT based TV to a 47" HDTV ... while this new TV has its own Internet connection to stream video from several souces, the 2370 will join the home theater setup as a Windows Media Center, and will have its own TV tuner - - - far cheaper to use WMC as a no-cost DVR than pay our TV signal supplier monthly for their version.

We are still equivocating between staying with Charter cable or jumping to DirecTV. Satellite is cheaper, but my spouse is addicted to cable's exclusive tie-in with The Weather Channel for truly local forecasts. DirecTV now offers a close equivalent, but it is not quite as convenient.

Anyway, I will be using auxilary cooling for the 2370. The curved Belkin cooling tray seems to be effective and relatively quiet - although I may just prop the notebook vertically and place a very quiet fan nearby to keep air moving past. I have a WMC remote/mouse control, but may add a tiny bluetooth keyboard for full Win7 PC access on the big TV. Supposedly the TV can do Picture in Picture from more than one video source.

Wish me luck.

 

Hey,

I know its been quite a few months since your last reply here SerenityConsulting, but I gotta ask, where you ever able to figure out if the fact that the BIOS (everex or averatec) only shows 2.6GB/2.8GB (respectfully) of RAM, had any bearing on the fact that Windows says you have the full 4GB installed?

The other question I have, is I put a TL-64 in it, but BIOS doesnt recognize it, I havent updated the replacement board to the everex BIOS yet, but do you know/think that will cause me actual issues, I mean it seems to boot and function fine, but I really hate to spend money on this thing blindly (i have already.. but 20 days for returns rock )


Thanks, and sorry for semi hijacking your thread, PM's dont work for noobs (and my old account is linked to a dead email )

 

My 2370 equivalent is still running as a WMC based HTPC. My only glitch is that I MUST run an EXTENDED desktop in order to get 1080p out the VGA port with my Vizio HDTV - this is an issue with the TV, not the PC because I also own a 1080p monitor and the PC can use it as the sole monitor.

Hint to anyone else in this situation... make the HDTV your primary desktop and tell Windows to postion the PC's panel to the lower right corner of the HDTV. This corner has the least chance of running the mouse cursor off the screen.

Okay, back to your question Hammerfest.... I recommend using the newer Everex BIOS - but you CAN save your current BIOS firmware with most BIOS flash tools should you decide to revert. As for the RAM recognition issue, I have ignored the BIOS report. Win7 and tools like MemTest see the entire 4GB and have no problems accessing it, at least that's the case using the Everex BIOS.

Based on what you are saying about the faster CPU running fine in your PC, I can only guess that you are seeing the same issue. That is, the updated component is running fine, but the BIOS doesn't report it. Most likely certain titles have been hardcoded in the firmware, so we see the old title even if we have updated components.

Make sense?

 

Thanks,

Just wanted to say, the latest BIOS I saw for the Everex/Averatec is the .09 from Everex, am i correct in assuming thats still the latest one?

Also on that front, the TL-64 is recognized properly with the everex bios, no need to fret , well one thing I did notice is that even though I have set it to "speed step" (to steal Intel terms for an AMD product), but it doesnt... stays pegged at 2.2Ghz...



On a side question, what temps MAX are you getting? what cooling methods have you taken to get it to "pipe-down"....

Currently maxing both CPU's (not the GPU even...) I get about 185F on the CPU and 194F on the GPU... I repasted both, got some copper shims and it did drop it about 10-15F from its PRE thermalpaste/shim days, but I am still worried about these high temps, especially if I use it for gaming/HD videos...

Thoughts?

(Q_Q SpeedFAn cant control the speed... WTB speed controller for MAX FAN SPEED 24/7...)

 

I tracked my temps on the Celsius scale (as do most studies). The last time I checked, my CPU temps were in the 40's, rarely hitting 50C. The GPU temps were typically in the 60's, rarely crossing 70C. I worry more about the GPU temp which redlines at 80C.

I don't know your skill, so don't take this personally. Too much thermal paste can be as bad as not enough.

I almost always run my unit with one of the curved Belkin cooling trays.

The Everex BIOS restores the automatic CPU throttling.

 

yeah, I hate C... not precise enough for me.. (as in sometimes 4F = 1C variance), that and being in the US I grew up with F

Yeah I have been doing desktops for years, so it was only a fine layer enough to barley even bubble up on the edges of the CPU/GPU

yeah gonna get a trey for this one (i drilled small holes strategically in the bottom trey, it helped a good 5-7F surprisingly)

yeah i got the new everex BIOS now, but it still doesnt downclock for me... meh... it ok...



Another issue I seem to have.. whats the LATEST GFX driver you have gotten working? I cant get any of the newer ones to work, they all glitch out and cause the system to hang when viewing 3D stuff's...

 

I'm using the graphics driver installed by Windows Update...

(if you upgrade to Win7, you first have to install one of the refabricated nvidia drivers available on laptopvideo2go.com, then use Windows Update to install a stable driver)

As for power... what are your Win7 Control Panel Power settings (use the Advanced Option for more detailed control over how the OS sips or slurps power)? If you have told Win7 to run full-tilt, no you won't get throttling.

FYI- when I applied Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste to my CPU and GPU, I used a blob maybe a 1/4 - 1/3 a short-grain of rice. Naturally I had to use two applications at the GPU for each side of the copper shim, plus another dab between the 'flowered' 1/4" copper plumbing cap and the heat pipe - - this cap placed directly over the GPU between the heat pipe and the aluminum back plate mostly provides down pressure, but also transfers some of the heat to the back plate.

As you know there are screws clamping the heat pipe over the CPU, but no such structure exists between the heat pipe and the GPU. I found that as the PC heats and the heat pipe expands that the heat pipe was warping away from the GPU. The plumbing cap acts mostly like a clamp using the back plate to press the heat pipe into full contact with the GPU. I installed the cap after experimenting with a wadded ball of aluminum foil. The stock cap was too tall, so I cut a few shallow slots in the open end and 'flowered' it to acheive good pressure without stressing the motherboard. The flowering had the by-product results of sharper edges against the back plate to prevent it from sliding (Silver Arctic 5 paste has no adhesive properties).

I remain convinced that 90% of the Averatec 2370 motherboard failures were actually fried GPUs. I went through a couple warranty issues and modified my current unit right out of the box before the GPU became fatally stressed. It ran nearly 16hoursX7 for a couple years before I moved to a new notebook. It has a lot lighter duty as a home theater PC with my big HDTV these days, but continues to give no problems - so long as I supplement its built in cooling .... the built-in fan is triggered off the CPU temp - it would have helped if the fan was instead triggered by GPU temp.

 

few more questions...

im guessing the battery calibration is a BAD thing to do... i never payed attn before because i always had it plugged into AC, but after the fresh BIOS flash i ran it, the thing i noticed... it doesnt actually turn off normally.. .it HARD shuts off... windows says i got 60%~ battery remaining but a few moments later it hard shuts off...

can i reflash my bios to "forget" this battery calibration ? or is that not the problem at all... i mean is my expecting it to behave like a normal laptop and shutdown peacefully when on a low battery too much



as for throttling im guessing it is throttling... the chip is 2.2ghz... and i see it drop to almost 2Ghz (2038mhz) so i guess thats its "throttle" Q_Q...



So, after a few days burning it in.. i got 140F GPU idle (it drops to 135F then the fan goes from low to off) and 174F GPU MAX (unless i cover the fan ports and air holes, then it gets up to 200F then fan goes on high speed), thats not bad... but I REALLY wish i could find someone who could change the FAN speed defaults in the BIOS... 120 target temp 150 medium temp, 180 max tem (IE low/medium/high fan speed)

 

Windows uses the BIOS to determine battery capacity estimates. What BIOS battery calibration routine does is fully charge, fully discharge and fully recharge the battery. While doing this, it checks the battery's heat and voltage. The BIOS then has a better sense of remaining capacity, and therefore so does Windows.

What the battery calibration does NOT do is any form of battery conditioning, nor does it lengthen the life of the battery - in fact it likely shortens battery life a tiny bit.

If you are a heavy battery user, I recommend recalibration a couple times a year; most users need not do this more than annually.

Your reports for GPU temps are pretty good - but as the fan speed sensor is based on CPU rather than GPU temps, I feel much better using a powered notebook cooling tray ... I also have a fan that clips onto the exhaust port that does a very good job of cooling, but it's rather noisy.

 

yep, that was it, reflashed the bios to get rid of the "battery calibration" data, now windows goes to "sleep" or "hibernates" when the battery is low, no more of that instant off crap!!!

so, note to all, DO NOT RUN BATTERY CALIBRATION VIA BIOS... (at least confirmed with Win7_x64)...

Thanks, im still looking for some working newer GFX drivers, but other then that, everything is running "swimmingly"!!!

 

Please post if you find a newer, STABLE GO 6100 driver for Win7 x64. So far my experiments have caused me to return to the driver installed by Microsoft via Windows Update.

One advantage to at least temporarily installing newer GFX drivers is you also get the associated nVidia control app.

My only issue with the MS supplied driver is that I can only talk to my big Vizio HDTV in 1080p if I run an extended desktop so I can 'force' the 1080p mode. Otherwise, the best external resolution with this HDTV is the notebook panel's 1280X800. I don't have this issue using my desktop's 1080p monitor, just this HDTV. I've found the best place to put the notebook monitor via the Control Panel is in the lower right corner rather than directly to any side. I 'run off the screen' with the cursor less often when placed here.

 

hey, just wanted to say that I would try any of the drivers on this list:

EDIT: this forums URL software sucks... heres the URL.. no HTTP needed, copy/paste: laptopvideo2go.com/drivers?dev=0247&sub=&whql=0&lang=0&orderby=version&dir=desc&os=&os[]=win7x64

im using "259.47" right now, but I have no brightness control, and havent tested it with games (3d) so i cant be for sure, but sitting on the nVidia control panel "preview with image" page watching the nVidia logo spin didnt cause my system to lockup (which every other driver so far has)...

ill try some of the older ones later (i really need that brightness control... its a killer!)

its possible that something is missing in the newer drivers or maybe its something in the modded inf's thats causing it to break... all i know is that list is the drivers that have support for our Go 6100 NATIVELY...


on a side note, the one i got now i got off of eBay for like $100 with no HDD ( the RAM was a dud, and the battery is also a dud... which sucks i needed a batt) with only a broken power connector issue... (it was actually pretty bad, its basically jerry rigged to work, 2 of the board contacts where heated up so bad they came out... noobs with soldering irons ftl) is now what im using and runs like a charm!