**Official eMachines M68xx Thread**

[Connoisseur]

Originally posted by: ChuaChua
Anyone recommend a notebook sleeve for the m6809?
I would like to carry the notebook inside my bigger backpack but it has no protection.

Here's the one I use Fellowes Body Glove . Fits perfectly, works great and looks slick. Not a single scratch on my M6805 after a semester of transportation in my backpack... wish I could say the same for my textbooks. It's crazy cheap too.

 

[ChuaChua]

Alright. thanks. I just didn't know if the m6809 would fit.
The link is broken...but I know which one you're talking about.

 

[HemoPhilic]

Just found a pretty neat utility called rmclock. It can change your max and min multipliers and voltages from default values and auto regulate them. I'm running mine along with omega drivers which will lower the gpu and vid memory speeds. I can get about 3:30 out of my batteries this way. Still trying to find ways to squeeze more time out

edit: i put the voltage down as far as it would go for both max and min clock speeds. I left the multipliers at 4x and 10x. At 4x(800mhz) the voltage is 0.800v, down from 0.950 and at 10x(2000mhz) the voltage is at 1.2v down from 1.450.

 

[DragonMasterAlex]

So how long do you have to leave ATI tool running to find the maximum Core and Memory values? Also, do you have to do them one at a time? I just got an M6805 for my GF (CPU@2001Mhz, not bad!) and want to make it as optimal as I can before I box it up for Xmas.

Oh, also, I installed XP Pro, but there are 2 unknown devices in device manager, even after I let it scan the driver CD. ANy ideas?


Thanks!

Jason

 

[HemoPhilic]

Well, ATITool will run forever if you let it. Keep an eye on the clock that shows how long it's been running without errors. When it encounters an error it restarts the clock and stops overclocking. So if you've been running 10 minutes and it says 3 minutes then you found the very limit and should back off a bit. Also, don't use the pc while it's testing. It seems that it will stop testing correctly if it isn't the only thing working.

As for the drivers issue, it may be something like wireless that's missing, you'll have to narrow it down by what functionality you don't have but should.

 

[o2bthecream]

HP has released new drivers for the broadcom wireless network adapter version 3.70.22.00 dated 10/20/04. You can find them by searching on the hp website for softpaqs sp29361 (driver) and 29362 (utility).
To get the driver to work I had to edit the bcmwl5.inf file to recognize the wireless adapter in the emachines laptop by adding the line
"%BCM430G_DeviceDesc% = BCM43XG, PCI\VEN_14E4&DEV_4320&SUBSYS_041814e4" (without the quotes) under the "[BROADCOM]" heading.
I succesfully installed the drivers and utility and verifired that they work on my m6810 with WEP enabled.

 

[DragonMasterAlex]

OK, now what about a Power Monitor? Laptops I've had in the past have had the ability to monitor the power of the battery and let you know before it croaks. Is there such a utility for this one? Windows XP sees it as ALWAYS on the cord even when it isn't.

thanks!

Jason

 

[gtd2000]

Originally posted by: DragonMasterAlex
OK, now what about a Power Monitor? Laptops I've had in the past have had the ability to monitor the power of the battery and let you know before it croaks. Is there such a utility for this one? Windows XP sees it as ALWAYS on the cord even when it isn't.

thanks!

Jason

I've done a format and reload of XP @ SP1 and with vanilla XP or SP1 the battery icon is displayed as soon as I pull the power cord out. The screen also dims at the same time....

I'm not sure what the reason is for your notebook not detecting when it is operating on battery power but

I would assume you need to goto the Control Panel then choose the Power Options and change the description of the Power Scheme until you find the desired setting that alerts you of imminent power loss/switching to battery power etc.

 

[bigal40]

well i just oc'ed the m6805 and got this stable.
A64 3000+ @ 2000mhz
9600 Mobility @ 398/212
Text

I ran the AMD N-Bench and got 2545

I'll run some more benches in the morning.

 

[jm0ris0n]

Anyone have a problem with their 6809 and the Burner only being in PIO Mode ?

Dma will not enable ! DVD playback is really choppy.

 

[ChuaChua]

Anyone tried linux on the m6809? 32/64 bits? How about windows xp 64 bit version?

 

[JasonBottjen]

Starting with RC1 of WinXP x64 there are finally drivers for the broadcom wireless network. However, they only support WEP, and do NOT support WPA yet. So if you use WPA you are still out of luck.

There is a modified version of the ATI Beta 3 x64 drivers at TechConnect that works perfectly with the laptop.

AVAST has a 64-bit version of their antivirus, which is FREE to home users.

So with all of that, I now run WinXP x64 as my main OS now. Works well for my uses. But, I don;t really play games on my laptop, so I can't comment on performance there.

Jason

Originally posted by: ChuaChua
Anyone tried linux on the m6809? 32/64 bits? How about windows xp 64 bit version?

 

[ThunderPC]

The wireless drivers in RC1 work flawlessly on WPA for me.

 

[JasonBottjen]

Weird, if I even try to enable WPA, it says my device driver does not support WPA... This is on a clean install of RC1.

Hm.. Better bring that up with MS.

Jason

 

[ThunderPC]

It may have something to with the build. I am still using 1218 with the drivers from RC1 installed.

 

[beyoku]

OK i need some help. I read in other formus - ways to under clock and under volt your amd64 laptop to get more battery time. The mail tool people used was CrystalCPUID. It lets you change the multi and voltage on the fly. So a guy forces his to run at 800mhz - 4x multi and .80 volts instead of the defaul .95. It works fine when stressed out in prime.
ME - Since the lowest multi is .4 it lets you get 800mhz at 200bus. Why would i get an error by using clockgen to chage the Bus speed under 200 hmz? What if i wanted to run at like 150bus for 600mhz. Why cant this be done? is there any one out there underclocking?

 

[Nhatters]

This is odd...I had my cracked hinge replaced by eMachines a few months back and now it's cracked again...what should I do?

 

[RobsTV]

The M68xx models appear to be just what I am looking for.
Decent graphics, with great CPU..
Trouble is, I can not find any cheap.
TigerDirect crooks seem to be the only ones, and refurbs are close $1000 (M6805)
Hate to spend $1000, (prefer less than $800), and will NOT give Tiger 10 cents of my money, so any ideas where best place is to find one with warranty?

Thanks in advance!

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Nhatters
This is odd...I had my cracked hinge replaced by eMachines a few months back and now it's cracked again...what should I do?

Call them back up.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: beyoku
OK i need some help. I read in other formus - ways to under clock and under volt your amd64 laptop to get more battery time. The mail tool people used was CrystalCPUID. It lets you change the multi and voltage on the fly. So a guy forces his to run at 800mhz - 4x multi and .80 volts instead of the defaul .95. It works fine when stressed out in prime.
ME - Since the lowest multi is .4 it lets you get 800mhz at 200bus. Why would i get an error by using clockgen to chage the Bus speed under 200 hmz? What if i wanted to run at like 150bus for 600mhz. Why cant this be done? is there any one out there underclocking?

Because the K8T800 chipset has no AGP\PCI locks, when you change the FSB you also change the AGP and PCI bus speeds, and when those buses are underclocked, it hits the fan. I've noted this in the underclocking section of the first post. I guess it's time for me to re-scour the thread for updates to the "FAQ."

 

[imported_haris]

The M68xx models appear to be just what I am looking for.

These models are all discontinued. They are now being sold under the Gateway brand. The new/best model they have right now is the 7405 which sells at Best Buy for around $1250 after instant rebate.

 

[RobsTV]

Originally posted by: haris

The M68xx models appear to be just what I am looking for.

These models are all discontinued. They are now being sold under the Gateway brand. The new/best model they have right now is the 7405 which sells at Best Buy for around $1250 after instant rebate.

Thanks.
Did some further studying of reviews and benchmarks, then came to the conclusion to spend the extra $200 and get the Dell 9200 with Pentium M 1.8GHz, 128 meg ATi mr9700, 60 gig, 512meg and 17" screen (WXGA, not the WUXGA many complain about). $1450. The added CPU power (little faster gaming than the 3GHz A64, at stone cold temps) and Video performance increase over the Gateway, plus the extra screen size were enough to make me pluck down the cash (never shop at 6 am after getting home from an all nighter party).

Best Buys were all out of stock on the 7405 as well.
I did want one, and did look, then I found out more about the Dell 9200.

Not dissing the Gateway/eMachine, as it is also near the top of my personal list, but for me it fell to #2, as well as being N/A.

(edited to update video card to it's actual memory size of 128 meg)

 

[ThunderPC]

I have no idea where you looked at benchmarks, but the Pentium M is no where near as powerful a processor as the A64 3200+, even in 32-bit.

 

[RobsTV]

Originally posted by: ThunderPC
I have no idea where you looked at benchmarks, but the Pentium M is no where near as powerful a processor as the A64 3200+, even in 32-bit.

Sorry, failed to link to source.

Comparison of 1.8GHz Pentium M against Desktop A64 3200+ in games I am interested in, the 1.8GHz Mobile M compares closely with the Desktop A64 3500+. I am NOT an Intel fan at all, and still have 3 other decent AMD desktop rigs. Would have loved to get the A64 if it had been the better all around bargain, and had been available. Can't overclock the Intel.

Also look at madonions site for 3d gaming benchmarks of laptops. This backs up the above results.
I too was shocked that the old chipset used with the Pentium M could run so well compared to the others.

One other thing some get confused on.
The Pentium M is nothing like the P4-M, and yes, the P4-M (Pentium 4 mobile) sucks compared to A64.
Also, Pentium M should not be confused with it's little neutered brother, the slower Celeron M.

Kinda sorry to post here now.
This is the official thread of eMachine/Gateway, which is an awesome notebook!!
There are other threads you can check out for comparisons on CPU's, etc, so I'll leave this one now.
But thanks for the help anyway. This thread did show me there are a couple great laptop choices!

 

[AVSpec]

What is the status of XP64 and other apps that will let us really take advantage of these M68xx machines?