Re: [SLE] HP nx6125

On 12/27/05, Hans du Plooy <hansdp-lists@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi guys,
>
> Does anyone have this notebook? I have the PY416EA model - it is a
> Turion64 1.8ghz, with Radeon XPRESS 200M 5955 (PCIE).
>
> I'm having a few problems:
>
> 1. Onboard Wireless: Broadcom BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] - it doesn't
> have a linux driver. I set up ndiswrapper, and that works fine, but it
> is junk - poor reception, poor performance, unstable. But I can live
> with that, for now. The problem is, when I do network intensive stuff,
> like copy big files, the notebook sometimes reboot. Not reset, just a
> normal reboot as if I typed "reboot" in the cli.

Haven't got it to work "right" with ndiswrapper yet. Other projects
required my time and had to set it aside for the time.

> 2. Booting hangs at the "loading keymap" or something like that bit.
> When that happens I press the wireless/bluetooth button twice (switch
> off + switch on) and it continues to boot normally.

I didn't have this problem with the laptops my company bought. Did
have a problem with the Synaptic touchpad driver.

> 3. PCMCIA - doesn't work at all. It's a normal well supported
> controller, uses the yenta driver. But when you stick something into
> it, it simply doesn't pick it up. I really want to use my Netgear
> PCMCIA wireless card (see #1 above). I have verified with a knoppix CD
> that the socket does work. In SUSE, I've fiddled around, tried various
> combinations of inserting and removing modules and restarting coldplug,
> dbus etc and got it working once, but I could never repeat that. The
> relevant lspci info:
> CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx21/x515 Cardbus Controller

I'll have to get a PCMCIA card and try this. Don't really have a
reason since most ports and devices I need are on the laptop.

> 4. ACPI doesn't work well. the CPU heats up to about 75 degrees
> celcius before the fan comes on. Sometimes the fan doesn't switch off.
> The different powersave profiles doesn't work correctly either. On
> "performance" it sticks to 1800mhz, on anything els it sits on 800mhz.
> I would expect that on "dynamic" it should raise the CPU speed if I
> compile something or do something CPU intensive, but it doesn't. I have
> fiddled endlessly with the options, modifying the profiles, to no avail.

Agree. The cpu fan does run constantly and this thing will drain the
battery fast.

> All of the above problems exist in both the 32bit and 64bit versions of
> SUSE 10.0.
>
> One more question:
>
> The notebook has a biometric sensor. Has anyone worked with such
> hardware? Could you please point me to good documentation? It would be
> nice to play around with this too.

As soon as my projects get finished (hopefully end of January) I'll
get back to working with this laptop.

> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks
> Hans
>
> P.S.
> A few observations, for anyone in the market: this particular model is
> a lot of computer for the money. Display is 1400x1050 (only on the top
> model) and very clear. The modem is an ATI device and is supported (by
> alsa, of all things). Network is gigabit and works well. Performance
> is very strong, especially when compiling stuff. And lastly, the sound
> chip, also ATI, is by far the best sound I've heard from any onboard
> sound. It has the sweetness and roundness of the Soundblaster Live
> cards. Very very nice! If the wireless doesn't bother you (the only
> non-SUSE problem I have), it's a great buy, good value for money, and a
> very nice and solid notebook.
>

Agree. This laptop is very good and my company was able to get them
for under $1,000 ea. They came with a gig of RAM (shared with video)
and 80GB hdd. My only real complaint is the display is rather dark
and dull if you have ever used one of HP laptops with Brightview
screen.

Nice to know someone else is kicking this laptop around with Linux.
When my projects finish up, I'll try SuSE 10 again and maybe Ubuntu as
well. I had better luck with Ubuntu on my Sony Vaio when SuSE and Red
Hat balked.

John

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