- Jul 17, 2003
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Please search the thread for your problem to help keep it readable.
Unofficial Work-in-Progress FAQ:
(most of this was ripped off from orion7144's thread over at notebookreviews.com)
My best battery life was 2:50, the VPU was downlclocked to 75\100 and using Hitachi's Power Booster software, the hard drive was on max battery, wireless disabled and the screen brightness was turned all the way down. Normal battery life is about 2-2:30.
Stock Specs
Athlon 64-M 3000+ (1.8 Ghz) 1MB L2 cache The M6809 and M6810 have the 64-M 3200+ (2.0 GHz), and the M6811 has a 64-M 3400+ (2.2 GHz)
15.4" WXGA screen (1280 x 800)
60 GB 4200 RPM hard drive (80 GB for the 6809\6811). Some people report getting a 5400 rpm one (I got a 5400 RPM in January, looks like the first ones got 5400RPM drives, later units got 4200 RPM drives)
Mobility Radeon 9600 64 MB (dedicated memory)
DVD/CD-RW combo (the 6807/6809/6811 have a DVD burner/CDRW)
2x256 (512) Samsung PC2700
6-in-1 Digital Media Manger (Compact Flash, Micro Drive, MultiMedia Card, Secure Digital (SD), Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro)
Broadcom 802.11g Wireless (via mini PCI card)
4 X USB 2.0 ports, 1 Firewire port (mini 4 pin), 10/100 LAN, 56K modem, mic jack, headphone jack, S-Video out, VGA out
Drivers
1. The OEM provided drivers are on Disc 3 of the restore CDs. This is particularly important if you want to install a different OS. Visigoth pointed out that newer units seem to be coming with a single Restore DVD, so the drivers are on the single restore DVD.
2. Hot keys can't be mapped to other applications at the current time. However, some people are reporting that TweakUI from microsoft will let you do it.
3. VIA Arena Has the latest chipset drivers.
4. The ATI 9600 can use the latest Catalysts (modded) or Omegas.
5. Realtek has the latest drivers for your soundcard.
6. BETA 64 bit ATI Drivers
MEMORY
The memory is split into two modules. One is "user" accessible and the other is under the keyboard and may void your warranty if you replace it. It uses regular PC2700 SODIMM's so you can either replace the stock 256 mb stick that is located on the bottom with a 1 gb or 512 mb stick to increase your memory. There is an issue with PC3200 memory and currently only one stick of PC3200 RAM can be used without nasty problems.
Hard Drive
This is probably the biggest bottleneck in the laptop. 4200 RPM is very slow for a hard drive and these machines need a faster one to go along with the rest of the components.
The hard drive is located in the front middle and there is one screws to get it out. You can get any 9.5mm laptop drive 5400 or 7200 RPM to replace it with. You can either sell the drive or get a 2.5" external USB/Firewire enclosure and use the old drive for backups.
End user upgrades pictures are available at Wereshark.com
MISC
There is also a mini PCI slot located on the bottom of the laptop for the wireless card.
User upgradeable parts that will probably void your warranty.
CPU
The AMD A64-M 3000+ is also known as a DTR (Desktop replacement) and is 1.8Ghz whereas the normal desktop A64 3000+ is 2.0Ghz and has only 512mb of cache. The DTR's have 1MB of L2 cache. There is a 3200+ and a 3400+ that will plug in easily to our machines. The CPU is in a standard ZIF socket.
OVERCLOCKING
The video card is extremely over clockable. Stock speeds are 300mhz for the core and 200mhz for the memory. With some simple tools most people are reporting 400mhz+ on the core and 220mhz+ on the memory. (mine will do 435MHz core and 225MHz (450MHz DDR) memory)
ATI Tool is a program that you run and it will determine the max setting for both the core and memory. It takes awhile to run but is pretty accurate. You can also set custom profiles for 2D and 3D speeds. I have a 2D, 3D, and Battery profile.
ATI Omega display drivers are a must. They are the certified ATI drivers included with a lot of utilities for the Radeon cards. The latest Omega driver can be downloaded from Omega Corner and install just fine. Once installed and you open the control panel there is a tab called Radlinker and there is where you can set you new core and memory speed, although I'd still recommend using ATI Tool.
Over clocking the CPU is a little trickier since there is no AGP/PCI bus lock (meaning you can't lock the bus to 33/66mhz). When you increase the FSB on the CPU it will also increase it on the PCI/AGP bus as well. This will quickly put the PCI/AGP bus out of spec and cause anything from lockups to frequent restarts.
The utility preferred is called Clockgen and can be found here Go to the Athlon 64 motherboards section and download the CG-ICS950403 for the K8T800 chipset. (Direct link) I would recommend not going much beyond 2.0GHz as it will put a serious strain on the PCI/AGP bus.
UNDERCLOCKING
Normally I'd call anyone crazy for underclocking anything, but in my quest for a few extra minutes of battery life I've found a few tidbits. The CPU won't go under 800MHz, lowering the HTT speed throws the AGP\PCI clocks out of whack and will crash the system in no time. The video has a bit more flexibility though. Using ATI Tool I got mine to underclock to 75 MHz VPU, 100MHz memory (200MHz DDR). Any lower and I got nasty artifacting. This netted me about 10 minutes of extra battery time and a slightly cooler right leg. Windows was as responsive as ever.
Next is the dreaded 800MHz on battery problem. It is not eMachines fault rather it is a combination of AMD's driver and Windows XP. If you are running Windows 2000 or Linux you're unaffected.
There is a solution that is pretty simple. Download the latest AMD PowerNow driver and then right click and select compatibility mode. Select Windows 2000 and then install. You can now check the power properties and there is a new option "AMD PowerNow ? Technology" one of the options is High performance mode and always on.
Some people are having trouble installing XP Service Pack 2 on their machines, and it appears that updating the BIOS fixes their issues, but flashing the BIOS may void your warranty, so don't blame anyone but yourself if your machine dies because of a bad flash. Get it plugged in or have LOTS of battery power left before you attempt it just to minimize any potential issues.
Link Use either the M6809 or M6811 BIOS.
Thanks to Mermaidman's thread I have discovered that the hinge on my screen is cracked, and this is a widespread issue apparently, but is pretty much just cosmetic.
Unofficial Work-in-Progress FAQ:
(most of this was ripped off from orion7144's thread over at notebookreviews.com)
My best battery life was 2:50, the VPU was downlclocked to 75\100 and using Hitachi's Power Booster software, the hard drive was on max battery, wireless disabled and the screen brightness was turned all the way down. Normal battery life is about 2-2:30.
Stock Specs
Athlon 64-M 3000+ (1.8 Ghz) 1MB L2 cache The M6809 and M6810 have the 64-M 3200+ (2.0 GHz), and the M6811 has a 64-M 3400+ (2.2 GHz)
15.4" WXGA screen (1280 x 800)
60 GB 4200 RPM hard drive (80 GB for the 6809\6811). Some people report getting a 5400 rpm one (I got a 5400 RPM in January, looks like the first ones got 5400RPM drives, later units got 4200 RPM drives)
Mobility Radeon 9600 64 MB (dedicated memory)
DVD/CD-RW combo (the 6807/6809/6811 have a DVD burner/CDRW)
2x256 (512) Samsung PC2700
6-in-1 Digital Media Manger (Compact Flash, Micro Drive, MultiMedia Card, Secure Digital (SD), Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro)
Broadcom 802.11g Wireless (via mini PCI card)
4 X USB 2.0 ports, 1 Firewire port (mini 4 pin), 10/100 LAN, 56K modem, mic jack, headphone jack, S-Video out, VGA out
Drivers
1. The OEM provided drivers are on Disc 3 of the restore CDs. This is particularly important if you want to install a different OS. Visigoth pointed out that newer units seem to be coming with a single Restore DVD, so the drivers are on the single restore DVD.
2. Hot keys can't be mapped to other applications at the current time. However, some people are reporting that TweakUI from microsoft will let you do it.
3. VIA Arena Has the latest chipset drivers.
4. The ATI 9600 can use the latest Catalysts (modded) or Omegas.
5. Realtek has the latest drivers for your soundcard.
6. BETA 64 bit ATI Drivers
MEMORY
The memory is split into two modules. One is "user" accessible and the other is under the keyboard and may void your warranty if you replace it. It uses regular PC2700 SODIMM's so you can either replace the stock 256 mb stick that is located on the bottom with a 1 gb or 512 mb stick to increase your memory. There is an issue with PC3200 memory and currently only one stick of PC3200 RAM can be used without nasty problems.
Hard Drive
This is probably the biggest bottleneck in the laptop. 4200 RPM is very slow for a hard drive and these machines need a faster one to go along with the rest of the components.
The hard drive is located in the front middle and there is one screws to get it out. You can get any 9.5mm laptop drive 5400 or 7200 RPM to replace it with. You can either sell the drive or get a 2.5" external USB/Firewire enclosure and use the old drive for backups.
End user upgrades pictures are available at Wereshark.com
MISC
There is also a mini PCI slot located on the bottom of the laptop for the wireless card.
User upgradeable parts that will probably void your warranty.
CPU
The AMD A64-M 3000+ is also known as a DTR (Desktop replacement) and is 1.8Ghz whereas the normal desktop A64 3000+ is 2.0Ghz and has only 512mb of cache. The DTR's have 1MB of L2 cache. There is a 3200+ and a 3400+ that will plug in easily to our machines. The CPU is in a standard ZIF socket.
OVERCLOCKING
The video card is extremely over clockable. Stock speeds are 300mhz for the core and 200mhz for the memory. With some simple tools most people are reporting 400mhz+ on the core and 220mhz+ on the memory. (mine will do 435MHz core and 225MHz (450MHz DDR) memory)
ATI Tool is a program that you run and it will determine the max setting for both the core and memory. It takes awhile to run but is pretty accurate. You can also set custom profiles for 2D and 3D speeds. I have a 2D, 3D, and Battery profile.
ATI Omega display drivers are a must. They are the certified ATI drivers included with a lot of utilities for the Radeon cards. The latest Omega driver can be downloaded from Omega Corner and install just fine. Once installed and you open the control panel there is a tab called Radlinker and there is where you can set you new core and memory speed, although I'd still recommend using ATI Tool.
Over clocking the CPU is a little trickier since there is no AGP/PCI bus lock (meaning you can't lock the bus to 33/66mhz). When you increase the FSB on the CPU it will also increase it on the PCI/AGP bus as well. This will quickly put the PCI/AGP bus out of spec and cause anything from lockups to frequent restarts.
The utility preferred is called Clockgen and can be found here Go to the Athlon 64 motherboards section and download the CG-ICS950403 for the K8T800 chipset. (Direct link) I would recommend not going much beyond 2.0GHz as it will put a serious strain on the PCI/AGP bus.
UNDERCLOCKING
Normally I'd call anyone crazy for underclocking anything, but in my quest for a few extra minutes of battery life I've found a few tidbits. The CPU won't go under 800MHz, lowering the HTT speed throws the AGP\PCI clocks out of whack and will crash the system in no time. The video has a bit more flexibility though. Using ATI Tool I got mine to underclock to 75 MHz VPU, 100MHz memory (200MHz DDR). Any lower and I got nasty artifacting. This netted me about 10 minutes of extra battery time and a slightly cooler right leg. Windows was as responsive as ever.
Next is the dreaded 800MHz on battery problem. It is not eMachines fault rather it is a combination of AMD's driver and Windows XP. If you are running Windows 2000 or Linux you're unaffected.
There is a solution that is pretty simple. Download the latest AMD PowerNow driver and then right click and select compatibility mode. Select Windows 2000 and then install. You can now check the power properties and there is a new option "AMD PowerNow ? Technology" one of the options is High performance mode and always on.
Some people are having trouble installing XP Service Pack 2 on their machines, and it appears that updating the BIOS fixes their issues, but flashing the BIOS may void your warranty, so don't blame anyone but yourself if your machine dies because of a bad flash. Get it plugged in or have LOTS of battery power left before you attempt it just to minimize any potential issues.
Link Use either the M6809 or M6811 BIOS.
Thanks to Mermaidman's thread I have discovered that the hinge on my screen is cracked, and this is a widespread issue apparently, but is pretty much just cosmetic.
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