Ok here is a weird question.  Several weeks ago my 4 or 5 year old
Dell Inspiron 5000e laptop started having the following problems:

1.  If left to sit for several hours or after it was on for an
extended period of time it would hard power OFF (this wasn’t because
of any power settings that I could find).

2.  The screen would be black after boot up.  I could hook it up to an
external monitor, but the LCD screen was black except for you could
just make out what was on the screen, but just barely.  Sometimes the
screen would work, other times it wouldn’t, other times it would pop
up and start working after it had been on for 20 or 30 minutes.

2a.  The green light on the lcd case (lower left hand corner)  to
indicate the power was on would sometimes be lit and other times it
wouldn’t.  This did NOT coincide with when the monitor was blank.

4.  Finally one evening it would not boot up at all.  It would start
to boot up but would just die like I had turned OFF the power.

Now, the apparent solution:  My battery had been useless for months
(about 2 – 3 min worth of power max) but I had kept it in the laptop.
Basically I could only use the laptop using the AC adapter.  Well I
removed the battery and everything seems to be working fine.

Finally my question.  Could this really have been the problem… a
dead battery?  Could a bad battery cause all these problems even when
on AC power?

http://www.are-u-sure.blogspot.com << go here

Hi Gurus,

I have an IBM ThinkPad T21 Laptop (Pentium III-750Mhz) running Windows
2000. Using serial port COM1 at 115kbaud, it experiences CE_OVERRUN
errors from ClearCommError in the Win32 API. This indicates that the
serial port is losing bytes due to a FIFO overrun in the
16550-compatible UART. It happens even with "Use FIFO buffers" and the
lowest Receive Buffer threshold setting in the Advanced Settings
control panel for COM1.

Minimising/maximising Internet Explorer, resising the window or
dragging it around is enough to cause the occasional CE_OVERRUN error.
By running SiSoft SANDRA (http://www.sisoftware.net/) I found that the
PCI Latency Timer for the PCI/AGP bridge appears to be set too high
(128), which would cause servicing of the UART to be blocked for too
long when performing video accesses. I can’t find a BIOS setting to
reduce this latency timer value, and none of the PCI Latency Timer
setting utilities I’ve found on the ‘net so far seem to run on Windows
2000. Does anyone know any way to adjust the Latency Timer setting, or
another fix to this problem?

Thanks,
Graham
Computer Systems Engineer

Hello I am posting this message for a friend. He has a old IBM laptop
which works okay but I cannot seem to find any drivers for the USB port
on the base that you can connect the laptop to. The model numbers I am
unsure of, I looked and could not find any. Help needed. Thank you.

I’m keen on investing in a Laptop. I’ve shortlisted Acer Aspire 1362
and Acer TravelMate 2300. The specifications of the 2 laptops are given
at the end. (If you find the text difficult to read, please use:
http://www.acer.co.in/products/notebooks/aspire1362.html
http://www.acer.co.in/products/notebooks/tm2300.html

The two models differ by approx INR 4000.00 (USD 88.00).
Please help me decide on which one I should buy.

Regards
Rajkumar

*********************************************************

SPECIFICATIONS:

Acer Aspire 1362:
Operating system: Linux OS
Platform: Mobile AMD Sempron™ processor 2800+ with 128 KB L1 cache /
256 KB L2 cache AMD PowerNow!™ technology, and AMD HyperTransport™
technology support
Chipset: VIA K8N800 series
Memory: 256 MB of DDR333 memory, upgradeable to 2 GB using dual soDIMM
modules
Display: 15" XGA colour TFT LCD with 1024 x 768 pixel resolution, 16.7
million colours
Graphics: Integrated UniChrome™ Pro IGP with up to 64 MB of shared
video RAM.
Dual independent display support
MPEG-2/DVD hardware-assisted capability
S-video/TV-out (NTSC/PAL) support
Audio: Audio system with built-in speakers
Sound Blaster Pro™
MS-Sound compatible
Storage: 40 GB ATA/100 hard disc drive
Optical media drive     DVD/CD-RW combo drive
    * Read: 8X DVD-ROM, 24X CD-ROM
    * Write: 24X CD-R, 10X CD-RW
Communication   Modem: 56K ITU V.92 data/fax software modem Wake-on-Ring
ready.
LAN: 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet; Wake-on-LAN ready.
Size and weight: 361 (W) x 292.5 (D) x 47.3 (H) mm (14.2 x 11.5 x 1.8
inches)
3.6 kg (7.9 lbs.)
Power ACPI 1.0b power management standard: supports standby and
hibernation power-saving modes 8-cell Li-ion 4000 mAH battery pack
3-hour battery life
2-hour rapid-charge; 4-hour charge-in-use
90 W AC adaptor
Special keys and controls       Standard 84-/85-/88-key keyboard, inverted
"T" cursor layout with international language support
Embedded numeric keypad
Four easy-launch keys: Internet browser, email with LED, Empowering
Key, and one user-programmable button
Built-in touchpad with 4-way integrated scroll button
I/O ports       Four USB 2.0 ports
IEEE 1394 port
Ethernet (RJ-45) port
Modem (RJ-11) port
S-video/TV-out (NTSC/PAL) port
External display (VGA) port
ECP-/EPP-compliant parallel port
Infrared (FIR) port
Microphone/line-in jack
Headphone/speaker/line-out port
PC Card slot (one Type III or two Type II)
DC-in jack for AC adaptor
Warranty        One-year International Traveller’s Warranty (ITW)

*****************************************************
Acer TravelMate 2300:
Operating system

Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition

Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional

Linux

Platform

Intel® Celeron® M processor 320 (1.3GHz; 512 KB L2 cache; 400 MHz
FSB) or higher

Intel® 852GM chipset

System memory

256 of DDR266 memory, upgradeable to 1 GB using dual soDIMM modules

Display and graphics

14.1" or 15" XGA colour TFT LCD with 1024 x 768 pixel resolution

16.7 million colours

Intel® 852GM integrated 3D AGP graphics, featuring Intel® Extreme
Graphics 2 technology and up to 64 MB of VRAM

Dual independent display support

External resolution/refresh rate:

    * 800 x 600: 200/160/120/100/85/75/60 Hz
    * 1024 x 768: 200/160/120/100/85/75/60 Hz
    * 1280 x 1024: 160/120/100/85/75/60 Hz
    * 1400 x 1050: 60 Hz
    * 1600 x 1200: 120/100/85/75/60 Hz
    * 2048 x 1536: 75/60 Hz

MPEG-2/DVD hardware-assisted capability

Storage subsystem

40 GB ATA/100 hard disc drive

Optical drive:

    * DVD/CD-RW combo

Disc performance compatibility:

    * DVD/CD-RW combo

    * Read: 8X DVD-ROM, 24X CD-ROM
    * Write: 24X CD-R, 24X CD-RW

Dimensions and weight

364 (W) x 279 (D) x 33.9/38.9 (H) mm (14.3 x 11 x 1.3/1.5 inches)

2.75 kg (6.06 lbs.) for 14.1" XGA LCD model

2.91 kg (6.42 lbs.) for 15" XGA LCD model

Power subsystem

ACPI 1.0b power management standard: supports standby and hibernation
power-saving modes

32 W Li-ion battery pack1

2-hour battery life1

3.5-hour charge-in-use

65 W AC adaptor

Input devices

88-/89-key keyboard; Acer FineTouch™ keyboard with a 5-degree curve;
inverted "T" cursor layout; 2.5 mm (minimum) key travel

Touchpad with 4-way integrated scroll button

12 function keys; four cursor keys; two Windows® keys; hotkey
controls; embedded numeric keypad; international language support

Four easy-launch buttons: Internet browser, email with LED, Empowering
Key, and one user-programmable button

Audio

Audio system with two built-in speakers

MS-Sound compatible

Built-in microphone

Communication

Modem: 56K ITU V.92 modem with PTT approval2; Wake-on-Ring ready

LAN: 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet; Wake-on-LAN ready

I/O interface

Three USB 2.0 ports

Ethernet (RJ-45) port

Modem (RJ-11) port

External display (VGA) port

Microphone/line-in jack

Headphones/speaker/line-out port

PC Card slot (one Type II)

DC-in jack for AC adaptor

Security

Kensington lock slot

BIOS user and supervisor passwords

Software

Acer Launch Manager

Acer System Recovery CD

Acer disc-to-disc recovery4

Norton AntiVirus™

Adobe® Reader®

CyberLink® PowerDVD™

NTI CD-Maker™

Options and accessories

Additional 256 or 512 MB soDIMM memory

Additional Li-ion battery pack

Additional 65 W AC adaptor

System compliance

Mobile PC 2001

ACPI 1.0b

DMI 2.0

Wi-Fi®

Warranty

One-year International Traveller’s Warranty (ITW)
*********************************************

Hi all,

I’m looking at recommending this laptop for a friend, any thoughts?

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=745114

Thanks,

 a75-s209 doesn’t recognize PNY (Samsung) 512meg memory addon
Howdy!

I have a beautiful a75s209, but only 512 megs of the stock memory. I bought a PNY (Samsung chips) N512d27opt 512meg pc2700 200-pin memory addon, but the laptop doesn’t recognize it at all.

Faulty memory board, or is the laptop just incompatible with all PNY/samsung chips? Any other possibilities?

thanks

Trying to come up with a fair price for a Gateway 1150 CL laptop.  A
relative is getting a new laptop and will give me this laptop, not sure
what to offer for it, he is not sure what he wants or what is fair,
anybody have an idea of what these are going for, thanks

It is about 4 years old, new was around 1100 dollars.

Hi,

because Sony did on my new Vaio FS115Z install so much SW, I do not need and
which does slow down the performance, I want do do a clean XP-installation.

I burned the notebook-drivers, Sony delivered with on the HDD, to a CD and
installed XP new (not using the Recovery-DVD).

The installation of XP and the most of the drivers went OK – but the
modem-driver don’t want to be installed and the audio-software does cancel
installation at 50% with the message "Microsoft bus driver should be loaded
in your system before installing Realtec high definition audio driver".

 I found, that the "UAA High definition audio class driver" is missing –
this driver is not part of the Sony delivered drivers.

Where can I get this driver?

Thx
Reinhard

Hi
hopefully someone here can help me with my T20 lap top
When I power up I get an
ERROR 0175: Bad CRC1, stop POST task message and then nothing happens
I have to latest Bois update ready to load but the problem is none of the
drives will work as the whole system freezes .
I have searched everywhere for a solution  dose any one here know what I can
do to get this thing running ..other than a new M/B or Laptop ..
Thanks in advance
P N