Roll Call

[nmope]

I bought my X in Oct2003..was my first laptop and i've been using it every day since then. I trekked it with me daily to school for 2 years and the last 1.5 year it's been sitting mostly on my desk playing RTCW:ET. I've had 2 HW issues...I had the dreaded video card dying but luckily it happened to me in my 11th month of warranty so it was fixed without me paying a dime! Also just a few days ago my Hitachi 7K60 HD died 2.5 years since i bought it and that will be sent for replacement under warranty. I didn't think a compaq would last this long...

Just curious as to how many people are still actively using their X1000 as their primary system! Reply with how long you have owned it plus any HW probs that you have had along the way.

[kf_man]

Well, I "retired" my laptop last December when I got my new ThinkPad, but until then I never had it off except when it was in transit.  I always carried it with me everyday to classes and work and never had any hardware problems.  It's been a great laptop to me and the only two reasons I got rid of it were size and age.  The biggest downfall at this point in the game was the video card which had not current drivers, especially for Vista.

Even so, I sold it to my parents and my dad uses it at least once a day for a few hours to check his e-mail, go online, and play his Poker game.  He loves being able to use the computer downstairs in the kitchen rather than trekking upstairs to the huge beast we have in the office.

Over the 2.5 years I owned the laptop (I think the 3-year warranty expires any day now!), I had only a few small problems.  First, since the day I received it, the eject for the PCMCIA card did not work quite right.  I could never get the little button to pop out without a lot of patience.  Once it was out it worked great and I never use PCMCIA cards anyway so I just let it stay that way.

Sometime soon after that, the little button which turns the touchpad off stopped working properly.  One hit will turn it off, but you need to turn it on, then off, then on again to get it back on.  The light follows the button presses, but the touchpad doesn't work.  This is a minor problem and given the good design of the laptop with a touchpad centered under the spacebar, I never used this button anyway.

The final problem I had was that the power supply broke.  The actually supply hardware was fine, but the cord right near the exit of the supply started to fray.  I don't believe it was my fault because I'm very careful with my computers, but in any event HP replaced it under warranty.  When the faulty cord was being used, it would sometimes cause the laptop to stop charging/using the battery (even though the LED was on), but the new cord hasn't done this since.  This didn't even cause a huge problem for me since I had another power cord for use at my desk.

Overall, I've had great luck with my zt3000.  I'm surprised I never had the video card issue, but I generally didn't play games on it.  For the short while I did I used a thermal pad with fans to keep the system cool.  For the record, I purchased that machine back in May of 2004 and it was a zt3200 model DR302AV or something like that.

EDIT:  Just wanted to add that this class of machine, x1000/zt3000/nx7000, was built for business use and was much sturdier overall than other consumer laptops I've seen (and I deal with many brands of laptops everyday at work).  In comparison to Dell, for instance, the machine was similar to their business-class Latitude as far as build quality.

As far as I'm concerned, the zt3000 was an anomaly, a diamond in the rough.  I looked at recent HP/Compaq models and they just weren't up to par with the zt3000 I had.  Just compare the thickness and overall size to other models currently on the market and that's impressive enough.  Without the video card problems and the sometimes temperamental wired network interface (just remembered that one), this laptop was nearly flawless.  Looking back, I'm really pleased with that purchase and I hope that three years down the road I will be just as pleased with my new ThinkPad.

[restoguy]

I'm still using my X1050 as my primary system.  I've had it for 2 or 3 years, I can't remeber.  I bought if from a friend when the LCD backlight went out.  I've repaired/upgraded it along the way and I'm still happy with it.  Parts and support are dissapearing, unfortunately, but I'm not serously looking to upgrade in the near future. My graphics card died like so many others, so I replaced it with a 64mb card(32mb originally).  I just put 1gb RAM in a couple weeks ago.  Should have done that a long time ago.

[bwbuy]

restoguy,

I'm also still using my X1050, but recently got a iBuyPower CZ-92 thru Costco.  I have another 60 days to decide if I want to keep it. 

One of the reasons I got the newer notebook was for gaming.  It has a 512MB nVidia 8600GT and a Intel T7700 Core 2 Duo.  It seems to be really solid and I'm impressed with it so far.

Also the new notebook system is a model IFL90, made by Compal, a long time notebook OEM from Taiwan.  Our X1000s were also Compal designed (and made?) machines, AFAIK. 

I use the X1050 for everything but the gaming:  email, taxes, writing, browsing, etc.  It has been heavily upgraded though.  It now has 2 GB RAM, 64MB video, 100 GB 7200 rpm HDD, 2200BG wifi + Bluetooth, 2.1 GHz Dothan CPU, and 1920x1200 LCD. 

I love it, but it only plays WoW at the lowest graphics settings.

I got another X1020 from eBay and I keep it at work.  It too has some upgrades, but came with 1920x1200 LCD and 64MB video.  I added a 1.8GHz Dothan CPU, 2200BG wifi, 2GB RAM, and 160GB 5400rpm HDD.  It' another sweet machine.

I expect a few more years use from these solid Compaq workhorse notebooks.

I really appreciate this Forum still being available!!!

Cheers,

-BWBuy

[toy4two]

still using mine 3 years+ later.  I recently replaced all the panels for cosmetic reasons, and now it looks brand new again.  I love this machine.  As far as problems, I had the video card die like everyone, that was fixed under warranty and never failed again, I had the sticking hinges, but fixed that with WD40, the silver paint rubbed off so I replaced the palm wrest, the hard drive died, so I put in a bigger one.  I also upgraded the DVD drive to a Dual Layer DVD burner from NEC.  Still have no real reason to upgrade.  Its been a really great computer.

[toy4two]

It has been heavily upgraded though.  It now has 2 GB RAM, 64MB video, 100 GB 7200 rpm HDD, 2200BG wifi + Bluetooth, 2.1 GHz Dothan CPU, and 1920x1200 LCD. 

-BWBuy

I've read on there the 2.1+ Dothan CPU causes the machine to over heat and shut down, is that true, otherwise I might upgrade to one.  On here someone said althrogh bigger CPUs fit, the 1.8 is the only ones that do not over heat, I find that hard to believe since the Dothan should be running cooler.  Maybe the poster just never cleaned the dust out of his fan.

[bwbuy]

>>Maybe the poster just never cleaned the dust out of his fan.

Well, cleaning out the dust was one of the first things I did with my X1050 & X1020 upgrades, and it's good advice. Thanks! There was another thread where someone got a 1.7 from a scrapped Thinkpad and did an upgrade.  He too suggested this excellent idea of cleaning out the dust.  He also suggested Arctic Silver.  I used Arctic Silver 5 in both systems along with their 2 part cleaners.  I did remove the thermal pads from the CPU heatsinks and noticed that the exposed copper surface was a bit rough.  I'll bet some time spent lapping the heatsink would help with the temperature. 

>>I find that hard to believe since the Dothan should be running cooler.

I too was surprised that the 2.1 Dothan didn't run as cool as the lower clocked Dothan CPUs.  If there was a Banias 2.1 ( I don't think there was)  I'm sure it would have been a scorcher compared to the Dothan 2.1.

Another possibility is that the speed increase has all the components adding to the heat load but it's only the CPU temp that I'm reading.  The fan has that much more heat to remove from the system. so the CPU doesn't get all the benefit. 


But, I should mention that I am on the 1.8 machine right now and it's currently at 49C.  with Notebook Hardware Control (NHC) set to Maximum Performance.  If I switch to Dynamic Switching mode the CPU temp immediately drops to low 40's C.

To help lower the temp on the 2.1 machine, I've dropped the CPU voltages using NHC, added a external StarTech notebook CPU cooling fan (only about a 3-5 C. drop) , and set the max CPU speed to 1.8 using NHC.  Sort of defeats the purpose of getting that 2.1 though.  So much for my greed for speed!

Maybe the 2.1 is just a hotter running CPU then the lower clocked 400 FSB CPUs, or maybe I screwed up the upgrade.  LOL

I'd love to hear others' experiences. 

So, bottom line, I stand by my recommendation to stick with either a 1.7 or 1.8 as the best value performance upgrade option.  I wish I hadn't spent the money on the 2.1. 

Good news is, I ended up putting one of the 2.1s into a Shuttle SD11G5 HTPC and it's a sweet little box, so the CPU cost wasn't totally wasted.

Thanks again for taking the time to give me cooling suggestions.

Cheers,

BWBuy

[toy4two]

I wound up with a 1.7 and at max performance in NHC its about 50 degrees, and about 10 degrees cooler on max battery.  In Counter Strike Source it can get up to the 70's.

I wanted to see how far I could push the CPU in the x1000 without a fan plugged in and I could get it up to 90 degrees just shy of thermal shutdown running HotCPU, not bad if with just passive cooling it won't shut down so there is some margin of safety.

The 2.1 must be a real scorcher, maybe you could jimmy in a more powerful fan in the case and splce a second wire for the power?

[bwbuy]

toy4two,

Glad that 1.7 Dothan is working out!!  I think it's the best upgrade for these X1000s.  Does HotCPU give you a readout of the CPU temp?  I thought only Hmonitor would do that on these systems.  I hope I'm wrong, since Hmonitor cost me $$!

I thought about another fan inside the case, but it was too challenging.   It's still my main machine for email, taxes, etc.  so I didn't want the risk.  And, I should add that the machine is normally running fairly cool now.  The heat was only a problem gaming, and I have other PC's for that.   I 've got two cooling solutions. An external fan that the laptop rests on that blows air towards the bottom of the laptop (most fans suck the air from under the laptop) and that StarTech external fan that clips on the internal fan's exhaust vent.

BWBuy

[cyberstupid]

mine (x1000 CTO) just broke down last week, still looking for the cause of the death.