i-Buddie 4 Desknote Review

[a928cro]

What is the part# of the 2.8 Celeron?
I am running a 2.8 SL7EY P4 no problems, even clocked up to 3.0 GHz

Your CPU is northwood, i had that one before, worked great, but unfortunately it got broken few years ago when i was switching it on my desktop computer.

Looking up on google i think that my processor part number is SL7TW intel celeron 335
Couldnt read part number directly from cpu since its smudged with white cooler paste.

Maybe a928 dont support celeron processors since they came out later than northwood?
Is there any bios upgrade or smthn, been looking with no luck so far!?

 

[albroswift]

Your CPU is northwood, i had that one before, worked great, but unfortunately it got broken few years ago when i was switching it on my desktop computer.

Looking up on google i think that my processor part number is SL7TW intel celeron 335
Couldnt read part number directly from cpu since its smudged with white cooler paste.

Maybe a928 dont support celeron processors since they came out later than northwood?
Is there any bios upgrade or smthn, been looking with no luck so far!?

Your processor is likely a 533 FSB, A928's are 400 FSB. The SL7EY is the fastest 400 FSB chip, I believe. There are also 400 fsb celerons that will work, I don't think 2.8's though.

 

[albroswift]

Ebay's got one now for 125 bucks
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-P4-2-8-2-8g...ryZ14293QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[a928cro]

Ebay's got one now for 125 bucks
http://cgi.ebay.com/New-P4-2-8-2-8g...ryZ14293QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Well i guess this is gonna be only solution for me to buy this 400fsb cpu and sell my 533fsb
Thanks for your help.

 

[Morttan]

CMOS reset

A bit of info I find useful. I recently found out that the way of resetting the CMOS in an A928, in case you messed up the BIOS settings and the computer doesn't boot, is to unplug the power cord and press the Power button. This is supposed to reset the BIOS to default values. I haven't tried it yet but is good to know for future reference.

 

[Anon_F]

A bit of info I find useful. I recently found out that the way of resetting the CMOS in an A928, in case you messed up the BIOS settings and the computer doesn't boot, is to unplug the power cord and press the Power button. This is supposed to reset the BIOS to default values. I haven't tried it yet but is good to know for future reference.

Where did you read that, The Beano.

 

[Morttan]

http://www.lostcircuits.com/motherboard/ecs_ibuddie/10.shtml

 

[Anon_F]

http://www.lostcircuits.com/motherboard/ecs_ibuddie/10.shtml

I stand corrected.
Not something they teach you for CompTIA A+ & N+

 

[whitby]

A928 heating fan fixed by David Cai

My A928 has survived a few system crashes for 6 years now, until my heating fan died...

Thanks for this blog!

Alas, I found David Cai, the man who gave extra life to my 6 year old A928.
I almost want to throw it away, but I decided to call him.
He replaced the heating fan of my iBuddy laptop yesterday and it's now working fine again.

His expertise in laptop repair is really indepth, that I can recommend him for ANY laptop repairs, fast service at a reasonable cost too.

Don't try a DIY repair on A928 hardware replacements like heating fan, etc... the process is tricky.
One thing to dismantle this laptop, but another thing to put it back together.

Thanks for this post and thanks to David!

 

[albroswift]

Question to David, are you in agreement with Doddel's post 452 on the capacitors? I have another one that's ready for your magic soldering iron and I was wondering if you could fix that also. Simptoms: Needs to be unplugged after turn off before it willl turn on again (haven't heard that one before!), rebooting during Norton Virus Scan, plug not showing signs of melting yet but Ill bet that's right around the corner.
On another note, has anyone noticed the similarities between the 928 and some models of winbooks? I am curious about the boards, and the winbooks have a wireless card inside under a cover mid bottom. Lots of winbook parts on eBay, any compatibility?
Keep up the good work, PCReview team!
ThaNKS--
Al

 

[MikeA928]

A928 Fan Always On, is this normal?

Hi All, I have a question regarding the FAN on the A928, I noticed the CPU Heat pipe FAN seems to run at FULL speed all the time even when the machine is idle. My understanding is that FAN is suppose to be temperature controlled.

I notice that if I unplug the machine and hold down the power button, on the subsequent startup the FAN runs a low speed.

I must confess this was how the machine behaved since I bought the machine 4.5 years ago is this the normal behavior? I'm concerned that may be a symptom of a larger and greater problem.

Thanks
Mike

 

[MikeA928]

Is this possible?

And now for somthing completly different...
What the largest monitor anyone has hooked up?
looking at a 22" with 1680X1050 res.
I want to use as extension of 928 screen, not mirror.
Thanks in advance

I just tried this on my machine and the max resolution it supports is 1280x1024 where the primary display is the VGA port (I have a 20" Dell supporting 1680x1050) . However I couldn't get it working as an extended desktop the only options I had were Single and Mirror. However I was running this on W2K with driver version I'm running is 2.22 if that helps.

 

[albroswift]

I just tried this on my machine and the max resolution it supports is 1280x1024 where the primary display is the VGA port (I have a 20" Dell supporting 1680x1050) . However I couldn't get it working as an extended desktop the only options I had were Single and Mirror. However I was running this on W2K with driver version I'm running is 2.22 if that helps.

Thanx. Really want additional screen space for tool pallets n such.

 

[albroswift]

Spilled mil and cereal on bac up computer's eyboard No commas or cay button. anyone have a spare eyboard for a 928? down to one.

 

[MikeA928]

Thanx. Really want additional screen space for tool pallets n such.

I hear you, I have been working on multi-headed display workstations for about 10 years now. I now find it frustrating when I'm onsite and I'm restricted to a single screen. That said I've been toying with the idea of picking up a USB VGA adapters e.g.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1088606&CatId=165

you may want to give one of these a try if your dying to get a multiheaded system working.

 

[albroswift]

I hear you, I have been working on multi-headed display workstations for about 10 years now. I now find it frustrating when I'm onsite and I'm restricted to a single screen. That said I've been toying with the idea of picking up a USB VGA adapters e.g.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1088606&CatId=165

you may want to give one of these a try if your dying to get a multiheaded system working.

Thanks!

69.99 free shipping on evilBay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=180200294651&Category=71585&_trksid=p3907.m29

PS K key started working no comma yet. Don't need commas so much but it is also the angle key for autocad!

 

[albroswift]

Hi All, I have a question regarding the FAN on the A928, I noticed the CPU Heat pipe FAN seems to run at FULL speed all the time even when the machine is idle. My understanding is that FAN is suppose to be temperature controlled.

I notice that if I unplug the machine and hold down the power button, on the subsequent startup the FAN runs a low speed.

I must confess this was how the machine behaved since I bought the machine 4.5 years ago is this the normal behavior? I'm concerned that may be a symptom of a larger and greater problem.

Thanks
Mike

Not normal ' did you by it new? Fan starts slow and amps up about 1/2 way through boot up ' then varies during operation depending on CPU temps. Fan did seem to act funny on one of my a928's just prior to the dreaded "melted plug problem" as discussed in one or two posts on this thread. Question for someone smarter then me does the CPU monitor its own temp and control the fan? Could a bad thermal connection between the CPU and the heatsink cause the fan to run full speed?

 

[MikeA928]

Not normal ' did you by it new? Fan starts slow and amps up about 1/2 way through boot up ' then varies during operation depending on CPU temps. Fan did seem to act funny on one of my a928's just prior to the dreaded "melted plug problem" as discussed in one or two posts on this thread. Question for someone smarter then me does the CPU monitor its own temp and control the fan? Could a bad thermal connection between the CPU and the heatsink cause the fan to run full speed?

Yes I did purchase it new. I'm almost inclined to think it's either a bios issue or an issue with the winbond sensors. I downloaded a small freeware app which polls the winbond sensors from

http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

When the system is running in that weird state with the fan at FULL speed two of the thermal sensors can't be polled. After I reset the system (holding down the power button with the system unplugged) and the system runs with a much lower fan speed. The fan control applicaton is able to poll all the sensors and I can control the FAN via the application.

I might have to fire an email to David Cai to see if he has any insight, it might be time to bring it in. After seeing all the post regarding the power adapter I'm now freaked out and am checking the plug all the time now.

 

[albroswift]

Yes I did purchase it new. I'm almost inclined to think it's either a bios issue or an issue with the winbond sensors. I downloaded a small freeware app which polls the winbond sensors from

http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

When the system is running in that weird state with the fan at FULL speed two of the thermal sensors can't be polled. After I reset the system (holding down the power button with the system unplugged) and the system runs with a much lower fan speed. The fan control applicaton is able to poll all the sensors and I can control the FAN via the application.

I might have to fire an email to David Cai to see if he has any insight, it might be time to bring it in. After seeing all the post regarding the power adapter I'm now freaked out and am checking the plug all the time now.

David's fixed a couple of issues for me over the years, not just the melted plug issue. One issue was very mysterious, but he got it. Highly recommended. He didn't respond to my other post about the capacitors, must not be monitoring this thread at the moment. Hope his email is still good.

 

[albroswift]

PS I sent David an email and I also found his phone #, If you need it PM me.