Official x300/x305 Owner's Lounge

I agree. I got the two 660's at $189 and the 680's are $459 at the moment. It all came down to most bang for my buck and I didn't have the extra ~$80 in my budget. I'm happy with my purchase and so far it's running fairly well. Having issues with the eSata port in the back crashing my PC to BSOD. Haven't quite figured it out yet. GPU's are purring like kittens maxing out everything I've thrown at it. Everything is lightning fast. My only regret (for lack of a better word) is not having/waiting on the $$ for the 680. I'm not unhappy with my build (coming from an x305-q701, its a hefty upgrade). I would like to add blue-ray burner and an extra SSD and HDD. I want a dedicated SSD for windows and my current SSD for games. Another TB for RAID storage/backup

 

Priest-King can you upload pictures of the new qosmio x870 vs the x300 one next to the other mostly showing how much thinner it is? A couple of pictures showing all angles would be great. I am thinking of buying a new laptop this summer but I amore into the series 7 of samsung as they are quite thin and still able to play games.. Thanks!

 

My X305 is in pieces awaiting a new motherboard from ebay.
The X875's are definitely much much thinner than the X305's are.

The more I mess with this laptop, the more I find myself able to do with it. It came with a 1600 x 900 led lcd, and i have found a source online for direct replacement 1920 x 1080 3D LED LCD's for $145.00

I installed 32 gb's of Corsair Vengeance memory in it, and that has maxed out the memory score in Windows Experience Index in Windows 7 Ultimate.. They use the same optical drives as the X505's and X775's so that makes upgrading to a blu-ray burner both cheap and easy. Mine cost me $70.00 on ebay and it works great.

Oh and I have had no issues at all running several different drivers from the Nvidia site. Currently I am running one of the Omega drivers in it with no problems at all.

 

Sounds like a good investment! I did not have the chance to see it in person. Does the casing feel plasticky and cheap? I know it seems aluminium but is it aluminium or is it brashed aluminium? Thx!

 

The lid does feel plasticky, but the rest of the laptop is rock solid. Also the palm rest area is rock solid.
It's plastic like other laptops.

 

Hiyas,

A while back I saw some posts in this thread regarding the fitting of backlit keyboards into X305s.
I'm not sure if anyone has done it since the question was raised and dismissed as impossible, but I can now say that it IS possible, and not too hard if you're handy with a soldering iron.

The Tohsiba P305 has an optional backlit keyboard. This keyboard will drop right into the x305.
To power the LED backighting, you can use the 3.3v rail that is used to power the case LEDs. This will work nicely, in that you can easily turn your backlighting on and off along with the case LEDs, but it doesn't fully power the keyboard lighting (about 50% brightness).
I think a better solution would to use this 3.3v to saturate the base of an NPN transistor, with the transistor's collector powered by the 5v USB rail. Then power the keyboard from the transistor's emitter. At the moment I'm still powering my keyboard lighting from the 3.3v rail, but as soon as I can be arsed taking the laptop apart again I'll add the transistor into the mix, as the half-brightness of my keyboard is starting to annoy me a bit.

When I'm doing it I'll try to remember to take photos and post them here if anyone's interested, along with a circuit diagram.

 

Thanks for the new information IGW !!
I know this will please many x300 owners, as it will bring some needed interest back to their machines.

Looking forward to the followup post with pictures.

 

Hey there again! I was quite inactive for a long time, but im back with new questions.
I installed the new nvidia driver judgement recommended me (As you can see in the chat history), and i was busy testing it. In some games it gives me an insane boost while on other games it doesnt rum smoothly as before, since i get random fps drops. Judgement himself told us he gets the best performance with this driver. I thought back and tried to search for a problem that coused this instability. A few years ago I realized that I did install Win 7 but not the service pack it offered. Of course after discovering that i did install the updates to get Service Pack 1. But then the nemesis started. I did get randomly freezes everyday. For example when i watched videos the last thing I heard in the video I heard in a Loop till i had to shutdown my x300 manually. I searched and they said in forums that the HDD and mainbord or something had not matching frequenzes-> therefore cousing this freezes.Long story short , judgement do you have SP 1 installed or any other significant drivers i need to know?

 

I have sp1 installed. I have the nvidia chipset drivers installed as well. The only problem that I have since toshiba replaced my laptop (I had a motherboard failure and thus they gave me a new x300) is that when I am running in SLI I cannot adjust the brightness of the screen. If you can adjust the brightness let me know which drivers ur using. I am using windows 7 ultimate sp1 fully updated. I have found that windows vista work better (my brightness works and fps are slightly higher) though I cannot stand vista.. Once u use win 7 u can never go back to vista..

 

Okay thanks for the quick answer. I will investigate your problem as soon as possible

 

Do you still use the same gpu driver? ( 280.26 ) and what nvidia chipset are you exactly using? I use that from toshiba.
Does the chipsets drivers fom nvidia work so much better?
To your problem, yes i can adjust screen brightness.
Go to control panel -> Display and Adjustment -> Display -> Adjust Birightness -> Then at the bottom you have a bar where you manually set the brightness.

 

I know the procedure though when I have the SLI enabled then there is no bar to adjust it. When I am on the 9400m then the bar is available. I have the latest bios 1.80 (toshiba suggested that it would fix my problem though it didnt). I am using the toshiba chipset driver though previously I used the nvidia latest one which didn't make any difference. Can you let me know which VAP and flash card version of drivers ur using? Finally yes I am using the 280.26 drivers. Some games do not have a profile so I manually create an sli profile since the latest drivers do not install on our machine due to nvidia not supporting hybrid SLI any more.

 

I can tell you that all my drivers are from the toshiba website (excluding GPU)

Why do you create SLI Profiles to games? Does it make a difference?

 

I create SLI profiles mostly for games that need a new driver thus they do not have an sli profile in the 280.26 drivers.. I don't know if someone can upload the sli profiles from the newer drivers that would be fantastic since we cannot install the newer drivers on our machines. Moreover are you using the UK website and thus the windows 7 uk drivers? If yes do u use a specific order in installing them? I am asking that since I am using the UK website's drivers but I can still not get the brightness to work when I am on SLI.

 

Again thanks for the answer, i would also be grateful if someone would post this socalled 'sli profiles'.
Since im from Germany im using the drivers from the german thoshiba website and no i dont have a specific order in installing them.
But be warned with the drivers i have now i get blue screens sometimes and i dont know why. Not so frequently as i had win 7 SP1 but i do get them sometimes. I still didnt solve the problem.

 

I had similar problem on my previous qosmio x300 (before the motherboard died) and toshiba could not find a solution. I found a solution after a long time trying different things. Ur gpu must have some problem thus the blue screen so the cheapest solution is to download the nvidia performance tools and then adjust the gpu memory clock from 799 to 750 on both gpus (create a profile so when windows load the profile is loaded). This will solve the problem and u don't need to replace ur gpus! Performance wise u do not lose much (1-2fps max).

 

Well that problem aside , i intsalled the newest GPU driver (dont know the name , too lazy to look now) from the website just for fun.
As predicted it didnt work. It didnt recognise the SLI Setup and therefore disabled it. Did you tried any new drivers?
And do you know Nvidia Experience or something? A new program offered by nvidia. Just wanted to know ur thought on that.
Btw when im able to PM you ill give you my skype adress so we can keep close contact

 

As I told u nvidia dropped hybrid SLI support in their 3xx drivers. So they will not install and recognise the SLI. The only way is to disable the onboard 9400m which toshiba didn't give us the option to do so. I do not have the skills to modify the bios so that I can disable the 9400m or else I would have done it a long time now since for me the 9400m is usually useless. I don't know the new program but u could always contact nvidia etc.. I contacted them for the drivers and they suggested that our qosmio x300 will be suppoorted from the next version and so it did (not just me complaint though). For the new drivers I don't think they will care. Qosmio x300 is a pretty old machine phased out. I don't know many people still using it apart from myself.

 

Yeah i know what you mean, we are going through hell for this laptop but as you said its a kind of rarity these days and its worth it.
So basically the 2xxx drivers are still supporting the x300.
What PhysX driver you have? The newest one or the one which is installed with the driver?

 

I am using the one installed with the driver. It doesn't make much difference since most games physics are run on the cpu due to the 2 different architectures between nvidia and ati.

 

I PM'ed you

 

Heya, nop mate you are not the only one using a Qosmio x300 ~
I'm also using one, not really by choice and the silly graphic card drivers are pissing me off...

Quick question, with graphic drivers are you using?

 

I hear a lot of people having issues with video drivers on these laptops, but aside from the initial horror of trying to get the SLI working at all (resolved by rtfm and installing the toshi crap in the right order before installing nvidia drivers) I haven't really had any major issues.
I had some visual tearing in Skyrim with the Nvidia drivers on the Toshiba website, so I updated to Vanilla Nvidia 280.26 drivers and now it runs fine. The only real problem I have is a complete system lock-up SOMETIMES when I open Chrome, but only if I'm running in SLI. But it's only Chrome which causes the lock-up, and I've been getting a little tired of Chrome's resource-hogging anyway. So I'll be switching back to Firefox shortly, as I'm told it's now much leaner than it was back in the Firefox 7 days.

 

Give "Torch" a try instead. Been using it for awhile, love it.
Also fankz for that info mate.

 

Looks cool, I'll give it a shot now. Thanks!

 

Well I have got zero problems since toshiba gave me a new qosmio x300. The only problem that I have is with the brightness that I am not able to control when I am running the SLI. It is not important to me anw since I switch the SLI on only while I am gaming!! For browsers I don't know why but I always use opera. For me is fast and has a great ui! Only problem is with facebook that changes all the time making it a bit slow on that. Otherwise I think is the best browser out there. I have used chrome and firefox but I did not like them as much...

 

I killed it

Torch has the same issue as it's based on Chrome. But I liked it so decided I'd try to fix the issue with the drivers....
I updated to the latest drivers from Nvidia which supposedly supported the 9800mGTS....bit mistake.
They claimed I didn't have any supported hardware, so I rolled back to the 280.26 drivers I HAD been using. Now I no longer have the ability to switch SLI modes, and the problem with Chrome and Torch is still there.
As the problem only happens when I'm in SLI, and I can't turn SLI off anymore....I'm spending a lot of time rebooting the laptop just to try and get Torch open haha.

I think what's happened is that my version of Nvidia Control Panel was updated, and didn't get rolled back with the drivers....
I'll keep experimenting when I have time.

 

This are the best drivers I found for Qosmio x300 until now:

Toshiba Qosmio - Triple Hybrid SLI - Nautis1100 Hybrid and Optimus Drivers - LaptopVideo2Go Forums

Might be outdated as hell like the others (with is a shame...) but is the one who gave me less problems.
Skyrim used to become all black after alt-tabbing, those fixed it.
League of Legends used to take over 1 minute to open after alt.tabbing, also fixed.
No browser issues related too...

The only issue I'm having, are blue screens time to time by running Feed The Beast (Minecraft modded version) & most recent games such as Tomb Raider, Far Cry 3, Dead Island 2, the ocean is always kind of messed up....

 

I had used those drivers previously. They were okay for the time being. But since nvidia started supporting our laptop the official ones were a lot better. I have zero issues with tomb raider (I do not play the other games so I can't say about them). 280.26 are the most stable drivers. Version 280.85 (something like that maybe 285.xx not sure as its been a long time to use them) was good but I had problems with vsync and thus preferred the 280.26

 

Oh, I didn't even knew about that tbh, I'll download 280.26 right away and give them ago ~
Let's see how it goes.

 

Yeah, they were bloody good. (aside from my recent chrome issues).
I used those drivers for a year with no problem, it's only in the last couple of months that I started having the Chrome-related lock-up. I assume it was an update to Chrome that has prompted the problem. You don't have the issue with Chrome?

 

I have only used chrome once (just to try it). I have always used the opera browser...

 

Using 280.26 now... yup, it does indeed frezze up while using chrome/torch.
Guess I'll just change to Firefox/Opera =P

 

Thanks Myobi, I feel much better now, knowing I'm not alone

I have a small test to perform, but my system doesn't freeze all that often when opening chrome now, so I can't test it very well.
By adding "--disable-accelerated-compositing" to the end of the "target" field of your chrome shortcut, you'll start Chrome without directX support. If you're bored at any point, would you mind trying that out and seeing if Chrome will consistently open without crashing?
It's not a long-term solution, because you'll have no compositing, and therefore no flash video....but it might tell us a bit.

 

Better yet....
Use the argument "--disable-hardware-gpu"
This will enable compositing, but it won't be hardware accelerated. My Chrome hasn't crashed since trying that one....

 

Well if you go on the US page there is the original bios file to download so that u can install it with a usb upon boot. You can try a blind boot with that (you don't have anything to lose). Apart from that I believe u will need a new motherboard.. That's the reason I did not risk installing a mod bios on this laptop....

 

So I wanted to get the new drivers to work with qosmio x300 due to sli updates --> most wanted 2013, tomb raider 2013. What I did was install the latest drivers. Then reinstall the 280.26 without performing a clean install. Everything works perfectly and the SLI profiles have been updated to the latest!! Even most wanted 2013 which was previously unplayable is now playable at high settings and it is SLI enabled from nvidia default! Give it a try its worth it!!

 

Now there is an interesting trick for people to try.
I'll have to remember that one.

 

Awesome! Thanks for sharing the results of your successful experiment.

PS - Tomb Raider 2013 is a great game; I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

 

Indeed tomb raider 2013 is a great game! At least as far as I have played.. I have to continue in September though.. dissertation is killing! Btw I get 30-35fps constant with some rare drops to 22-25fps while using the SLI profile and the new patch for tomb raider with all settings at their highest (direct x 10 settings that is - no tessellation)

 

Looks like toshiba upped its game! Qosmio X70 and gtx 770m!! Qosmio X70 Series - Toshiba

 

Yeah, it has been out for a couple months.

Oh, I found brand new X305 Intel motherboards on Ebay for 50 to 60 dollars.
I just ordered one to get my old X305 going again.

 

OOOOPS! double post.

 

Hello. My keyboard suddenly started acting weird on the qosmio x300. I had to disconnect it and use an external keyboard since the f12 got stuck pressing itself. Does anyone know a place to purchase the x500 one that fits in the x300 but is not glossy? I would prefer the uk or us edition. Thanks

 

Ebay usually has them

 

This is the cheapest one though I am not sure if its genuine: Genuine New Toshiba Qosmio X500 X505 F60 X505-Q830 X505-Q850 US Keyboard black | eBay

The other options is : New Toshiba Qosmio X500 UK Layout Black Glossy Keyboard | eBay
though its too expensive..

PS did u do the mod for the backlid keyboard on the x300? If yes do u have a guide that I can follow?

 

I'll be putting a guide together next week. BUT...you'll need to make sure you buy a backlit keyboard for the P305, as X305 keyboards aren't backlit.
The backlit keyboards have a second ribbon cable on them.
The simplest method just needs a soldering iron, some small guage hook-up wire, a bit of heatshrink, and some steady hands.
But the brighter method (untested as yet, but that's what I'll be doing tomorrow avo) will also need an NPN transistor and a resister to suit. Once I've done it and tested it I'll post photos and a guide, along with the components I've used.

Edit: Sorry, it looks like the X500 keyboard you linked to is backlit. So that'd work too, but THIS one is a bit friendlier on the wallet...

 

Okay thx! Keep us posted on the guide!

 

Righto....I had success, but due to the fact that I didn't have any transistors that could handle more than 0.4w, it got a little more complicated than it was meant to.
I've put up a guide on my website here.
If you have any questions, just sing out.

 

I currently don't have the time to try it out neither do I have access to a 2nd pc so its too risky for me now! I will test it once my exams are over! Thanks for the tutorial though.