**Official eMachines M68xx Thread**

[jacque26]

Just a question: I have an M6805 and today I noticed that the hinges were cracked. Will Best Buy cover this under their service plan? If so, will they just fix the hinge, or give me a new laptop?

 

[Connoisseur]

Originally posted by: jacque26
Just a question: I have an M6805 and today I noticed that the hinges were cracked. Will Best Buy cover this under their service plan? If so, will they just fix the hinge, or give me a new laptop?

It's covered under the BB service plan. Generally, they'll just give you a new laptop on the spot and swap the hard drives if you ask.

 

[PolishPaul]

I have a dumb ass question....I just bought an eMachines m6810 notebook...and I want to use it to its fullest potential...I have been reading many forums, and have read about some nice accomplishements along the way. But what I would like to know is how you all got there...Im lost when it comes to tweaking...the notebook came packed with useless software...Im not sure which software to uninstall though (due to dependencies), I dont know which services and msconfig options to disable, and I dont know how the hell to overclock the damn processor or the gpu....and I also have not been able to find drivers for this damn thing anywhere either...If anyone can point me in the right direction I would be very greatful. Thanks

 

[AVSpec]

Thanks for the link will. Ordered it last night. Very good deal.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: PolishPaul
I have a dumb ass question....I just bought an eMachines m6810 notebook...and I want to use it to its fullest potential...I have been reading many forums, and have read about some nice accomplishements along the way. But what I would like to know is how you all got there...Im lost when it comes to tweaking...the notebook came packed with useless software...Im not sure which software to uninstall though (due to dependencies), I dont know which services and msconfig options to disable, and I dont know how the hell to overclock the damn processor or the gpu....and I also have not been able to find drivers for this damn thing anywhere either...If anyone can point me in the right direction I would be very greatful. Thanks

For drivers look at the first post in this thread, I have links to almost all of the drivers. As for stuff you can uninstall, I got rid of almost everything except for the card reader driver and Easy CD (Coaster) Creator and mine is ticking along without a problem.

 

[PolishPaul]

Ok, here is the deal....i thought i knew what i was doing by deleting a bunch of useless software and disabling services (using BlackViper guide) right out of the box yesturday....and then i benchmarked with 3dmark2001 SE....3605 FOLKS!....so i freaked out and went online to find out that people were getting mid 9000s out of the box.....so i reformatted and didnt shut anything off or delete anything...i just ran 3dmark2001 se.....9125....thats more like it...with norton and all that running in the background...now...i thought it might have had something to do with the services and windows updates that i did...so i decided to just uninstall some software and benchmark....i uninstalled America Online(Choose which version to remove), AOL Coach Version 1.0, CompuServe, ICQ, Norton AntiVirus 2004....and thats it....i also disabled messenger....now...benchmarked and got...3595! WTF? Which one of those damn apps is vital to my freakin computer? This makes no damn sense...and BTW my f...in' hinge is cracked...I cant exchange it cause no best buy around me has it in stock at the moment...luckily i bought it yesturday and im an employee so ill make sure to get this taken care of....Please let me know what I should about the lousy performance....may it just be the unit?

 

[MDE]

Try removing programs one by one and then bench to figure out what the culprit is.

 

[spdfreak]

Originally posted by: PolishPaul
Ok, here is the deal....i thought i knew what i was doing by deleting a bunch of useless software and disabling services (using BlackViper guide) right out of the box yesturday....and then i benchmarked with 3dmark2001 SE....3605 FOLKS!....so i freaked out and went online to find out that people were getting mid 9000s out of the box.....so i reformatted and didnt shut anything off or delete anything...i just ran 3dmark2001 se.....9125....thats more like it...with norton and all that running in the background...now...i thought it might have had something to do with the services and windows updates that i did...so i decided to just uninstall some software and benchmark....i uninstalled America Online(Choose which version to remove), AOL Coach Version 1.0, CompuServe, ICQ, Norton AntiVirus 2004....and thats it....i also disabled messenger....now...benchmarked and got...3595! WTF? Which one of those damn apps is vital to my freakin computer? This makes no damn sense...and BTW my f...in' hinge is cracked...I cant exchange it cause no best buy around me has it in stock at the moment...luckily i bought it yesturday and im an employee so ill make sure to get this taken care of....Please let me know what I should about the lousy performance....may it just be the unit?

I uninstalled all that crap on mine also and it does 9470 in 3dmark not OCed with Omega drivers. Make sure you are running it plugged in when you do the benches because if you run it on the battery, it runs at 800MHz instead of 2000.
But... I took my 6810 in to BB because of the cracked hinges and they replaced it with a new one (swapped HD) and it was totally screwed up. It would not run anything without getting errors, and then eventually, the video got all corrupted and it died. So I took it back and they replaced that one with another new one, and it is perfect. So you might have a bad one, but it sounds like you have a different problem.

Also, for the guys who got the mouse/splinter cell deal- Is it Pandora Tomorrow or the original Splinter Cell?

 

[imported_Woody]

I have that same strange result with 3DMark after uninstalling a bunch of crap. Interestingly enough none of my 3D games show any actual slowdown so it is some kind of bug in 3DMark and not in the computer.

 

[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?

 

[wzack]

I bought an M6811 a few weeks ago and it has been working great!

I just bought a new e-Machines T3256 Desktop (brand new) to use as a network server with Small Business Server. Is there a desktop forum like this one for laptops?

Thanks
Bill Zack

 

[PolishPaul]

Update: I got a new one...no crack just yet...but i noticed that all the emachines were cracked at my work (BestBuy)....i UPDATED WINDOWS, disables a lot of services....updated omega drivers and 4-in-1 and turned other useless apps off...9530 3Dmarks....Now I have to overclock...keep you posted on that....PS the reason im so slow at this is cause i have about an hour of computer time a day....i work full time, and im a full time student at DePaul University...GO DEMONS

 

[Connoisseur]

Hey guys, I wanted to run a dual-boot Windows XP and Slackware 10 on my M6805. I used partition magic to get another partition and I followed the install directions pretty well. Everything went smoothly and when it came to the "hotplug" option, I didn't enable it. Well, when it came time to reboot the system I picked Linux on lilo and it seemed to be booting fine until it got to "Probing for PCIC: edit /etc/rc.d/rc.pcmcia" and it just hangs there. I can't even CTRL-ALT-DEL, I have to shut off and turn on the laptop every time. I've been trying to find a solution for this option and some people say just use the "nohotplug" option so on the LILO boot prompt I typed "Linux nohotplug" and the same error keeps happening. Can someone help me get Slackware up and running pls??? (Note: If you haven't noticed already i'm an extreme noob to linux. Please type in simple english and be detailed when describing any possible solutions ). Thx a lot.

P.S. Windows XP is still running just fine.

 

[aceO07]

Originally posted by: oldyellowcat
More on the hinge crack --- just found my 3 months old 6809 has the problem and very upset although many said it is purely cosmetic.
Called emachines 1-801-401-1419, and they dont have any problem replacing the parts. They will cover all shipping costs as well.
So all fellow 68xx owners if you have the same problem you can do the same.

What is the process for this? Do you send the computer back and they send you a new one? How long does this take? I noticed cracks on the hinges too.

 

[oldyellowcat]

Originally posted by: aceO07

Originally posted by: oldyellowcat
More on the hinge crack --- just found my 3 months old 6809 has the problem and very upset although many said it is purely cosmetic.
Called emachines 1-801-401-1419, and they dont have any problem replacing the parts. They will cover all shipping costs as well.
So all fellow 68xx owners if you have the same problem you can do the same.

What is the process for this? Do you send the computer back and they send you a new one? How long does this take? I noticed cracks on the hinges too.

I sent the computer to them and they simply replace the hinge and sent back to me. Whole process took about 1 week

 

[thetxstang]

Hello everyone. This is my first ever post to any anandtech.com forum, but I thought it was about time I did after reading virtually every post within this thread.

I purchased an eMachines M6805 in mid-July of this year (based on a number of glowing reviews I'd read), but have experienced quite a few complications with it thus far (i.e., constant system crashes, extreme overheating, and twice it died completely). I've just now gotten it back from eMachines service for the 3rd time and finally(!) everything seems to be working properly. (For the record, a hard drive, a power adapter and two logic boards have already been replaced.)

I've had the machine back for three days now and have performed the following:

1) Restored the HDD back to the factory config using the eMachines Restore DVD.
2) Uninstalled the superfluous bundled software such as AOheLL, Compucrap, etc. -- you get the idea.
3) Installed the Windows XP SP2 update and all other available XP updates.
4) Installed MS Office 2003 Pro, NIS 2004, Adobe Reader 6.0.2, Spybot, Ad-Aware, WinZip, etc. (that's about it--all pretty much your standard-fare applications), and updated everything to ensure the most recent versions were installed.

After all of the above items were completed and the machine seemed to be working great, I decided to install Norton GoBack 3.0 as my last to-do item. This app has saved my bacon many times in the past and I've grown to really like it. Wouldn't you know it...after the GoBack installation completed and the machine restarted, it booted to a BSOD. The only way I could get up-and-running again was to disable GoBack, boot into Safe Mode, and activate XP's most recent Safe Point.

Long story short, I've tried everything to get this to work but to no avail. After countless hours of troubleshooting I have narrowed the problem down to this: Norton GoBack 3.0 works just dandy (along with every other aforementioned app) under SP1. However, once SP2 is installed, the computer boots up to BSOD.

Symantec's site clearly states that Norton GoBack 3.0 is compatible with SP2. Anyone else having similar problems? I'd sure appreciate some feedback.

 

[thetxstang]

I almost forgot, I've got some additional information for those interested in the various bios versions / revisions available for the M68** series.

Like I said in the post above, I just got my M6805 back from eMachines service for the 3rd time. It has a bios version that I've never seen posted within this thread (or anywhere else for that matter). The bios version is clearly listed as NSF04.P0 in the bios setup window, with a bios date of 8-11-04.

Is this a new version that supersedes all versions discussed here?

 

[ThunderPC]

Originally posted by: thetxstang
I almost forgot, I've got some additional information for those interested in the various bios versions / revisions available for the M68** series.

Like I said in the post above, I just got my M6805 back from eMachines service for the 3rd time. It has a bios version that I've never seen posted within this thread (or anywhere else for that matter). The bios version is clearly listed as NSF04.P0 in the bios setup window, with a bios date of 8-11-04.

Is this a new version that supersedes all versions discussed here?

I would love a copy of that if you don't mind capturing it. thunderpc at gmail dot com

 

[gweilo8888]

Originally posted by: ThunderPC

Originally posted by: thetxstang
I almost forgot, I've got some additional information for those interested in the various bios versions / revisions available for the M68** series.

Like I said in the post above, I just got my M6805 back from eMachines service for the 3rd time. It has a bios version that I've never seen posted within this thread (or anywhere else for that matter). The bios version is clearly listed as NSF04.P0 in the bios setup window, with a bios date of 8-11-04.

Is this a new version that supersedes all versions discussed here?

I would love a copy of that if you don't mind capturing it. thunderpc at gmail dot com

ditto... gweilo8888 at yahoo dot com

 

[brain29]

While you're at giving away Bios's, drop me a copy

dennqis@gmail.com

 

[PerryJoeJimBob]

Originally posted by: thetxstang

Symantec's site clearly states that Norton GoBack 3.0 is compatible with SP2. Anyone else having similar problems? I'd sure appreciate some feedback.

Thetxstang:

I am having the same problem. GoBack works under SP1, but not under SP2. I have been told by others it is problem with 64 bit processors. This is noted at MS Knowledge Base. I have twice contacted Symantec, and the latest I received from them states:

"Welcome back. Thank you for contacting Symantec Online Technical Support.

I understand from your message that you are still receiving the error message "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" when you start your computer.

Please allow me to apologize for the difficulties you have recently encountered.

Perry, this issue could be due to conflicts. If you cannot start Windows, then I suggest that you turn off GoBack from the boot menu and then perform a clean boot and verify for the issue.

To turn off Norton GoBack from the boot menu:

-Restart your computer.
-When the Norton GoBack boot screen appears, press the spacebar.
-On the Norton GoBack boot menu, click Disable.
-A message informs you that disabling Norton GoBack will clear the history and you will not be able to run Disk Drive Restore or Advanced Disk Drive Restore until Norton GoBack is turned back on.
-Click Yes.
-Click Continue.
-Your computer automatically restarts and Norton GoBack is turned off.

Now, I suggest that you Clean boot your system. This helps in booting the system with minimal drivers and hence avoids any conflicts. For more information on the same, please refer to the document in the link provided below:

Title: 'Configuring Windows XP to clean boot'
Document ID: 2001053014402339
>Web URL: http://service1.symantec.com/S...docid/2001053014402339

I also suggest that you please follow the steps mentioned below to find out which application is conflicting:

Click on Start --> Run.

- In the command line, type 'msconfig' and click on OK.
- Click on the Startup tab.
- Please deselect one of the programs and click on OK.
- Restart your computer.
- If the issue is resolved then this program must be causing the issue.
-If the issue is not resolved.
- Run Msconfig again.
- In the Startup tab, deselect another program and Reboot. Check to see if the issue is resolved.
- Follow the processes again and deselect another program.

Please let us know if the issue is resolved or if we can be of further assistance."


I have not tried this yet, and I have my doubts it will work. I have searched high and low for a fix. If someone knows of one, please post.

 

[thetxstang]

Originally posted by: PerryJoeJimBob
Thetxstang:

I am having the same problem. GoBack works under SP1, but not under SP2. I have been told by others it is problem with 64 bit processors. This is noted at MS Knowledge Base. I have twice contacted Symantec...

PerryJoeJimBob:

Thanks for the reply. I'm relieved I'm not the only having issues with GoBack. Just for clarity purposes, I am running the full version of Norton GoBack v3 and not the scaled-down GoBack Personal Edition that is included with Norton SystemWorks 2004. The MS Knowledge Base article you referenced indicates a problem with the GoBack PE included with SystemWorks, but not the full version I am running.

Are you also running the stand-alone full version of Norton GoBack or the SystemWorks version?

Thanks again.

 

[PerryJoeJimBob]

thetxstang:

I am using (well I was) the personal edition of GoBack that came with Norton Systemworks 2004. It just sounded like you were experiencing the same problem I was. I did not know there were significant differences between the two versions. I can use all the other components of Systemworks with SP2 with no problems. But installing the GoBack Personal component creates the problem anew.

 

[ncclaw]

I would like that you have on the bios stuff too. ncclawsf@comcast.net

 

[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