**Official eMachines M68xx Thread**

[thetxstang]

Originally posted by: syarost
This web sites has all the other BIOSes. You should send it ther, then everyone could get it. I was the one who gave him the original m6811 bios.

http://www.rmecc.com/~v2/em/index.html

Thanks. I've already had an e-mail exchange with the operator of that site and will be sending him the NSF04.P0 bios to post as soon as I have read up on the instructions on how to caputure it and feel comfortable doing so (gotta admit I'm a bit afraid to try).

 

[thetxstang]

One more time...

1) Has anybody heard of the NSF04.P0 bios that came installed with the motherboard I had replaced through eMachines service about a week ago?

2) Is anyone else experiencing a problem running the full, stand-alone-version of Norton GoBack v3 on their eMachines M68** unit only after upgrading / updating to Windows XP SP2?

Thanks.

 

[ThunderPC]

I have yet to see NSF04, but have NSF03.P0 If you get a chance, I would still love a copy of it.

 

[Jassi]

Is there a model after the 6811 in the works? I am in the market to buy a laptop and will be looking to buy one during the crazy thanksgiving sale season and I have heard that the emachines 68XX series is the best DTR model series. I want to buy the newest one in the series.

 

[imported_freon]

edit: oops you said "after" 6811.. lol

Question for the group: I just bought a 6810 and Doom3 locks up on me. It doesnt lock up the entire system, but I have to shut down Doom with taskman. WinXP SP2, default speeds for everything, and I havent installed any driver mods or the like. Anyone had this problem?

 

[fizi]

Originally posted by: freon
edit: oops you said "after" 6811.. lol

Question for the group: I just bought a 6810 and Doom3 locks up on me. It doesnt lock up the entire system, but I have to shut down Doom with taskman. WinXP SP2, default speeds for everything, and I havent installed any driver mods or the like. Anyone had this problem?

I believe the problem was with the ATi Catalyst Drivers. Getting the latest Omega Drivers should resolve the problem. I also believe that there is a v1.1 patch out now for Doom 3. If you are leary about installing the Omega Drivers try using the v1.1 patch first.

Omega Corner


Edit: Oh and I'd love a copy of that new BIOS you got with your M6805. I'll be more then happy to test flashing my M6807 with it. I'm in the process of speaking with eMachine Techsupport right now seeing if I can break their TSR into giving me some info or even a BIOS update.

 

[imported_freon]

Thx, ill give the omegas a shot. 1.1 patch doesn't look like it addresses any lockup issues, and I wanted some updated drivers anyway.

EDIT: Omegas worked like a champ.. Thanks!

 

[fizi]

Originally posted by: thetxstang

Originally posted by: syarost
This web sites has all the other BIOSes. You should send it ther, then everyone could get it. I was the one who gave him the original m6811 bios.

http://www.rmecc.com/~v2/em/index.html

Thanks. I've already had an e-mail exchange with the operator of that site and will be sending him the NSF04.P0 bios to post as soon as I have read up on the instructions on how to caputure it and feel comfortable doing so (gotta admit I'm a bit afraid to try).

For making a backup of your bios the risk should be none. You're only making a copy, you arn't modifying it. Just to try and re-assure you so I can get some new bios goodness to hopefully fix this video lockup bs emachines has left us all with

 

[imported_Woody]

I for one am perfectly happy with the M6811 BIOS I flashed into my M6805. I appreciate having that BIOS and thank those who made it possible. I wouldn't change it with a new BIOS update for the M6805 unless there were significant advantages and support by eMac to do so.

I also have installed the Omega 4.8 drivers on this machine. This was my first use of Omega drivers on any of my systems and I am very impressed not only with the performance but also the installer. (Be sure to go to the website and click the banner ads a few times). ATi warns against installing updated Catalyst drivers on a laptop and recommends getting updates directly from the manufacturer...HA! The Omega drivers automatically detected my card as a mobile installation and set me up with all the correct resolutions for the wide aspect monitor on the M6805.

I ran the Doom3 demo at 800x600 (one night in a hotel room late at night with the lights turned out) and it worked great. I did notice my frame rates start to drop significantly during firefights toward the end so I would recommend running 640x480 instead and maybe try some AA or something to smooth out the picture. Be prepared to lose some sleep not only during the game but after you go to bed! LOL

Let's face it though, this is a low end setup for that kind of game and I wouldn't dream of trying to play the entire game through without my desktop running a 9700Pro or higher. In fact I'm still waiting on a socket 939 motherboard and PCI-e to build my next system on before I even pick up the full version.

As far as running Norton Go Back on this machine....why? I find all Norton stuff to be resource hogs and it was one of the first things I uninstalled when I got this machine (even before AOL!). In fact I find it nearly impossible to completely uninstall any Norton software once it gets in your system, like a virus. It's my opinion that if you don't install this stuff in the first place your system will be more stable and you probably won't have any problems that a simple Windows system restore couldn't handle. IMHO.

 

[fizi]

Originally posted by: Woody
I for one am perfectly happy with the M6811 BIOS I flashed into my M6805. I appreciate having that BIOS and thank those who made it possible. I wouldn't change it with a new BIOS update for the M6805 unless there were significant advantages and support by eMac to do so.

eMachines doesn't support your original flashing from the m6805 to the m6811 FYI.

I flashed to the NSF03 bios and its resolved the video lockup bug thats been happening to the majority of people out there using ATi Drivers past v4.3. How ever one draw back is that it doesn't detect my battery properly now so I don't know how much is left in the battery when running off it. So here I sit and wait for the NSF04's and hope they fix the Battery deal

 

[imported_HeLRaZR]

Originally posted by: jacque26
Does anyone know what type of DVD burner is in the 6811? Is it possible to flash the firmware to bump up the recording speed?

The burner in the 6811 is an LG 4040N. I looked at LG's site for a f/w upgrade a few days ago and while I found an update there for my 4040B desktop drive there is no update for the 4040N.

 

[wjgollatz]

Have there been any problems running Linux on a partitioned emachines laptop?

 

[Connoisseur]

Originally posted by: wjgollatz
Have there been any problems running Linux on a partitioned emachines laptop?

i'm running slackware 10 on my M6805 just fine with the M6811 bios. the only problem is it's not detecting the synaptics touch pad. I have to download and install the drivers for that at some point.

 

[bot2600]

I *love* my 6810

 

[imported_Woody]

Originally posted by: fizi
eMachines doesn't support your original flashing from the m6805 to the m6811 FYI.

Yeah that's what I said. Just keep a copy of the original BIOS and flash it back it you need to send it back. eMachines also doesn't support SP2 either so we are kind of on our own. Personally I think they would be hard pressed to justify denying warranty support based on upgrading the BIOS unless the problem was a direct cause of the BIOS flash but who wants to hassle with them. It would be a different deal if you were flashing with a third party BIOS but you're not. These are eMachines BIOS for eMachines systems and chances are they wouldn't even notice you had done that unless you tell them.

Originally posted by: fizi
I flashed to the NSF03 bios and its resolved the video lockup bug thats been happening to the majority of people out there using ATi Drivers past v4.3. How ever one draw back is that it doesn't detect my battery properly now so I don't know how much is left in the battery when running off it. So here I sit and wait for the NSF04's and hope they fix the Battery deal

What is the NSF03? Isn't that the BIOS for the M6807? If so, why bother to flash to another known faulty BIOS. The 0F07 BIOS for the M6811 works very well in all the eMachines 64 bit laptops from what I've heard. I have yet to hear any horror stories. Just save your original.

 

[fizi]

Ya I flashed back today back to the M6811s bios. The new one was also causing me some problems with my DVD-ROM I think. I've called eMachines and am getting an RMA done for my hinges since I've been putting it off. The Rep told me he would add a note to give me the newest bios also since I requested it. So hopefully we can get something better then the 6811s bios. Now that I'm back to it my DVD Playback still causes lockups.

 

[bigal40]

I have cracked hinges on my m6805 and am probably going to send it back to emachines. I dropped my it abotu a month ago and it is cracked and kind of smashed in on the upper left hand corner of the screen but it does no affect the screen at all. ( its not really that big, i didn't even notice it until later that day) Anyway do you think emachines will have a prblem fixing the hinges with the screen damaged like that. THe hinges were cracked befroe i dropped it so i don't think it will be a problem and can anyone who has had there hinges repaired tell if they were repaird or the screen was replaced because i might be able to get away with a new screen. And when i send it in would it be a big deal if i removed my HD bc i don't them looking at my files. IF i took out my hd would i be able to put it backed in when my laptop came back and it would be the same as before or would i have to set it back upo or anything

thanks

 

[ThunderPC]

The wholoe screen is not replaced, but the entire back bezel is. The actual LCD remains intact. The hinge covers and back bezel are all one piece is why the whole thing must be replaced. If the see the damage from your drop, they likely own't repair it due to neglect, but you never know.

 

[thetxstang]

I finally mustered up the courage to capture the NSF04.P0 bios. Luckily, it went through without a hitch. I've already e-mailed it to everyone who requested it within this forum, as well as to the operator of the bios website.
http://www.rmecc.com/~v2/em/index.html

fizi, I'm not sure if you were included as I couldn't locate an e-mail address for you. At any rate, you said you were sending your laptop in to eMachines for hinge repairs, so hopefully you'll find the same bios (or newer!) upon its return.

 

[imported_freon]

I have the M6810 and Windows reports my CPU running at 800Mhz when plugged in.. Is that normal?
I tried AMD powernow app (installed with Win2k compatibility) and set it for High Perf, but it is still 800Mhz.
PowerDVD also says 800Mhz when im not watching a movie, and I think it went up to 1.6Ghz when I was.
Whats the deal?

EDIT: fixed it by installing the latest Athlon 64 driver for XP at AMD's site. It's 2.0Ghz all the time now.

 

[imported_Woody]

Yeah it's normal....I also updated to the latest Athlon64 driver and it helped fix that problem. It was just a reporting problem. Nothing wrong with the actual CPU speed.

fizi: Since all these computers from the M6805 through the M6811 are essentially the same the BIOS will be the same. The trick it to figure out what is the latest one. Whatever it is should work fine on any and all of this series. Only the CPU and the optical drives are different.

I don't think I've tested a DVD since I upgraded....need to try that.

 

[jyxent]

thetxstang, would you mind sending me the NSF04.P0 bios? I will be getting my m6809 back pretty soon, and I would like to try the new bios out on it. My email address is jordanp (at) jyxent.com. Thanks for your help.

Jordan

 

[thetxstang]

Originally posted by: jyxent
thetxstang, would you mind sending me the NSF04.P0 bios? I will be getting my m6809 back pretty soon, and I would like to try the new bios out on it. My email address is jordanp (at) jyxent.com. Thanks for your help.

Jordan

Sure thing, jyxent. I just e-mailed it to you.

Just curious, when you said "I will be getting my m6809 back pretty soon," did you mean back from eMachines service? If so, I'm curious as to whether they went ahead and automatically updated the existing bios to the NSF04.P0 or not.

It'd be interesting to document if eMachines' service department is using the opportunity to automatically update the bios in all M68xx units that happen to make their way through their service dept., regardless of what the units are being sent in for (e.g., hinge repairs).

 

[fizi]

thetxstag, sorry i think I forgot to include an e-mail address when I messaged you. Could you send a copy of the bios to 'eric (at) fizi (dot) ca'

Edit: Never mind I will snag it from the site instead. Thanks though!

Double Edit: lol, his link is dead, could you e-mail me a copy?

 

[thetxstang]

Originally posted by: fizi
thetxstag, sorry i think I forgot to include an e-mail address when I messaged you. Could you send a copy of the bios to 'eric (at) fizi (dot) ca'

Edit: Never mind I will snag it from the site instead. Thanks though!

Double Edit: lol, his link is dead, could you e-mail me a copy?

Sent! Hope it works out for you. Please post your results here either way.