Flaming Hot!!!HP ZE1210 for only $629.50 possibly $479.50 at staples local stores. YMMV. HOTTER THAN HP ZE1201

[Tarobap]

So has anybody got the powernow tab working on XP SP1??? I formated the HD and took the crappy XP Home off. I have the lastest drivers installed and AMD dashboard (you can find dashboard on the AMD site) tells me that cpu usage is at a minimum. The dashboard also shows the bursts necessary when I open a program etc.

Problem is . . . that I can't get the tab to come up under the "power" settings in control panel . . . in other words I don't have the option to turn it off . . .

Has anybody got the tab back after an XP with service pack 1 installation? Thanks!

 

[jamesd1343]

only thing i noticed on battery was if i show the battery bar in the sys tray i can rt click and change my settings to laptop or max battery and the amd power meter changes accordingly. not sure what more is supposed to be...

 

[Kwad Guy]

I got PowerNow working fine under Win2K. Taking off XP Home and installing Win2K was a
great idea...Just make sure you install PowerNow v.2 or later. At first, I installed PowerNow v1.6
and that didn't work.

There is an issue with PowerNow and XP...You need to go to the Microsoft support site and find
an article about it. After you install PowerNow under XP you also have to install or replace
some system file.

Kwad

 

[Tarobap]

The system file Kwad Guy is talking about is the new AMD processor driver . . . which if you have XP SP1, is already there. I'm not sure if powernow is working . . . after I installed the powernow dashboard, it displays the usage of the CPU, but I don't have anything to compare it to. If I right click on "my computer" it lists the processor as a 1400+ running at 1.2 GHz . . . and it keeps it at that even when on battery. Whereas before under native xp home, it dropped down to 600 MHz. Weird.

Anyway, if anybody has the powernow tab under xp, please let me know . . . after reading the amd and MS sites, I'm not sure it is suppose to be there or not . . .

FROM THE AMD SITE:
--------------------------------------
Enabling PowerNow!

Check whether the PowerNow! software is installed and enabled by going to Power Options under the Control Panel. If there is a PowerNow! section, then AMD PowerNow! Software is installed. Use the PowerNow! section to set your PowerNow! settings.

Windows XP:
AMD PowerNow! support is included with Windows XP. This means that under Windows XP the AMD PowerNow! Software should not be installed.
IMPORTANT: As of the current release of Windows XP, you must go to http://www.windowsupdate.com and download the latest processor driver to enable PowerNow!.
--------------------------------------

But if you have XP Service Pack 1, you already have the latest drivers . . .

I'm at a loss . . .

 

[ww4397]

Does anybody know of a good low cost case for this laptop?

 

[Kwad Guy]

If PowerNOW! (like PrimeTime LIVE!) is active, then if you start the Dashboard, you should see
the cpu speed and voltage drop to pretty low levels when the laptop is not doing anything. As soon
as you start up a cpu intensive process, you should see those levels jump up to near maximum levels.

If you see this kind of behavior, PowerNow is working. If you don't, there's a problem...

Kwad

 

[Kwad Guy]

know of a reasonably cheap source for a second battery for the
ZE1210? The HP part number is F4486B. The ONLY source I've found is the shopping.hp.com site,
and they want full list price ($130).

I have tried a number of the laptop battery places and none of them seem to
carry this battery...

Any help out there?

Kwad

 

[Fritzo]

I noticed that too. It does get good battery life (I'm getting nearly 3 hours out of mine), but an extra would be nice. HP might be doing their "ink cartridge" method on batteries....they put a chip in them that belongs to HP, so you have to by the product from them only.