-->*OFFICIAL: MSI GT725 Owner's Lounge*<--

It's the ability to directly address al 4GB of shipped memory that people want w/o resorting to PAE and any potential problems associated with that. I still think that it's quite dubious that OEMs ship 4GB machines with 32b OS AND that MS sells it to them knowing that they will, especially given that 64b Vista support is every bit as good as 32b unlike XP64 v. 32b XP.

That's my only real big gripe ATM.

Now to back up partition D:, delete, defrag the rest, and resize into a bunch of partitions. Probably won't have anything on linux until tonight or tomorrow depending upon how things go.

 

GT725 is "Service Packed 1", which it seems to be 36 bit If i'm correct.

And so, Vista SP1 sees and uses all 4Gb of RAM.

Alas, my GT725 does recognize all 4 Gb.
Not sure if it use it, but i read on other threads that yes, it does.

For hints:

1. There is not much bloatware inside, and the most part is precious; so you can uninstall IMHO without any fresh install. I suggest to disinstall Office (Trial) and Norton security (trial).

2. You can download and modify catalyst 9.2 and apply 8.58 over 8.56 (installed by default).

3. if you feel so, you can unblock Ati Overdrive and try some little overclocking of 4850, but for the moment it runs so nice, since i don't see any pourpose in that.

 

36-bit? You either mean 32 or 64 (but I'd guess 32).
A 32 bit OS does not use 4GB/4GiB of RAM, the reason SP1 says there is 4GB is because of uninformed users who don't know this and think they get ripped off. This way, when they see the 4GB they don't complain even though they can't use all of it.

 

Vista 32-bit can't use all 4Gb ram, SP1 or not.

The SP makes no real difference, it just changes the way the OS informs the user. It's telling the user that it sees 4Gb of ram in the slots, but it still can only use 3Gb or 3.5Gb of that or whatever, (depending on the components).

It needs to save the rest of the memory addresses for the GPU, and other components.

 

I remember reading a review somewhere where they did some performance tests with 32bit and 64bit OS, with 4gb and 8gb RAM.

From what I remember, the conclusion was that although all of the 4gb is utilized in 64bit OS, the performance gain is very tiny compared to a 32bit with 4gb (3-3.5 utilized). (Can't remember the explanation why)

The real performance gain is only seen if you have a 64 bit with 8gb or more RAM.

I will try to find where I read that review, and post a link later on.

 

According to what little that I've read of Vista, SP1 changed the memory reporting to be the meory installed NOT the meory addressable by the OS at least for the 32b version apparently in an effort to derail people from calling and asking what happened to the extra memory that the paid for.

Running a battery test outside ATM, c. 42F air temp with eco battery saver mode or whatever but with backlight bumped up 2 notches.

Do re-partitioning and linux later on today, have everything all set for that now, D is backed up but I didn't feel like messing around with ATM.

Another minor quiblle is that I really don't see that the glossy screen is better viewable than matte indoors as compared to my old 1651/GX620 WSXGA+ matte finished, and I've already notice reflections on it in daylight use now. I can see my hands in the screen as I type this.

Are there any after market LCD screen covers that can be added? Have to check those companies that make those thin covers for iPods, Nintendo DS and the like later on I guess. (Don't recall the names offhand.)

Actually under XP Pro SP3 32b on my old 4GB 1651/GX620 only about 3.2GB was addressable, and I expect similar memory availability with this machine considering that both had/have 512MB GDDR3 GPUs which DO get their memory mapped into that 32b of addressable space along with other peripherals on the motherboard and/or otherwise added.

64b is generally NOT at all about performance gains, but about maximum memory addressable by the OS and applications. 32b linux is the same as other 32b OSes in what's addressable, but like Windows they have a PAE mode for 32b that allows addressability of more than 4GB of RAM, but at a performance penalty plus the normal individual application address space limits remain intact w/o special memory management drivers on a per application basis. 62b gets you everything w/o the performance hit (for enabling PAE) and w/o requiring hax0ring to get apps to address more than 2GB.

 

Xotic PC does ship internationally. Feel free to email me for further shipping details. The current ETA for the Asus W90 is the middle part of March. We have the W90 listed on our website for pre-order

 

That mean we can't upgrade the HDD or the RAM?
because IIRC, MSI GT725 has this 1 big cover for all the internal components including RAM and HDD.

PAE won't make a 32-bit OS see more than 4GB memory address.
It just a way to make it look like the OS use more than 4GB address.
IIRC, PAE just use page file to swicth the data back and forth from the memory (the data here is the one who supposedly written to the "beyond limit" memory address but can't due to the addressing limit of 32bit).

 

You can upgrade the HDD or RAM, but if you remove the back panel to access the internal components. Then you would be voiding the MSI warranty.

 

Yes, it's a form, of multiplexing memory addressing, which is why there's the memory access performance hit with PAE enabled. I felt that it would be pointless to mention that here as it will be meaningless to most users, and rightfully so.

Anyways, didn't last more than whatevr it was outside, but I started at 3h 20m of batt runtime(according to Vista), ended up jacking up backlight fairly high about 75%, and ended with still about 2h 30m of battery time left by Vista. Battery life seems to be very good. (I used it for about 1h 30m)

725 BARELY fits into the bag shipped by MSI, and stick out the top of the sleeve a couple of inches.

And yes the size is enough larger that it DOES make it a bit unwieldly as compared to the 15.4"ers, but I decided that I wanted to try an ATI GPU so I'm not that concerned about it as I will, undoubtedly become used to it, although admittedly I may end up buying a netbook a gen or two out as a supplemental portable device for when portability is more important than processing power, or perhaps a 12 - 14" nb.

Decided to just try booting 64b 8.10 Ubuntu before booting now and re-partitioning/sizing partitions. Booted up fine w/o the endless re-boot reported by some several mos. ago, however X11 failed to start which may mean soem additional work getting it up and running, but we'll see what happens when I actually do a disk install, but just in case I'll pick up the ATI cat 9.2s for X11 before I start and have them on an NTFS partition.

[EDIT]
Another minor detail that I apparently overlooked was the fact that this model ships with only 3 USB 2.0 ports PLUS a dedicated e-SATA prot v. 3 USB 2.0 ports and a combo USB 2.0/e-SATA port on the GX620/GT627/1651 models. Doesn't matter nmuch to me as I rarely truly need to have more than one or two USB devices attached, and if you need many you may as well go to a hub just for cable management and you'd likely only use them while in a desktop sort of situation anyways or a fixed location...

(meant to post earlier, but kept forgetting) Man, I get my 725 and activity in this thread just dies... too bad about acerguy getting annoyed, must've been some behind the scenes activity there though I'm guessing... just let it slide unless they do it on a continuous basis, as AFAICS there aren't many decent nb oriented forums, or at least general/comprehensive ones...

hmm now I forgot what my other comment was, oh well, I'll post later, but may not get to linux today or tomorrow as something has come up that behooves me to work on and may end up being slightly tricky...
[/EDIT]

 

Here's what the FAQs says at MSI's website:

http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=faq2show&faq_no=120

http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=prodfaq&maincat_no=135&cat2_no=271&cat3_no=&prod_no=1676

 

So, since I couldn't sleep I decided to go ahead and re-partition my drive for linux installation, then completely forgot that X11 was failing to start. (It's been a LONG time since I've used a text installer, and I don't even remember how to do it in Ubunut, hence I'm back in vista ATM looking up stuff... or IOW 64b 8.10 Ubuntu on the 725 is not even remotely plug and play, but after I get it going or I'm sufficiently annoyed I'll try live booting the 32b 8.10 as well..)

Anyways my REAL reason for this post:
We have no USB boot option on the 725?

The boot menu only gives me, CD/DVD hdd Network
Ok, so I thought Hey! I remember that boot options setting in the BIOS that I briefly looked at, so I went there and was going to change network boot to USB, but guess what? Those are the ONLY 3 boot device options...

So has anyone tried to boot from USB? Do one of those options somehow automagically boot from USB if the intended device is NOT present? (I still have the January '09 BIOS on this, v1.0P IIRC but haven't checked for a newer one...)

[EDIT]
Since the forums seem to be undergoing normal maintenance and not quite working properly while doing so, I looked up some info on the Ubuntu site and found that I MAY be helped by adding kernel parameters to installer boot:
fb=false AND video=vga16 ff (reportedly helps on a Dell with a mobile radeon, so off to try now rather than messing around with a text install :shudder: ... )

Yay! Not only was it seemingly not working, I ended up with a bunch of dupe messages, but I cleaned them up.
[/EDIT]

[EDIT2]
OK, those options didn't help at all... back to do a little more searching before I just give up and go the expert mode text installer...
Waste about the same amount of time either way I expect (getting graphical installer to work v. doing it with the tedious text installer...)
[/EDIT2]

[EDIT3]
Oh! Joy!
ATI is dropping support for <R600 parts already (Windows AND X11). No wonder ATI is lagging nVidia, and this certainly isn't going to be helping them any... (on the good side, as least this beast has a real MXM slot...)

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=13559
[/EDIT3]

 

CutterJohn, as a very drunk friend once said to me...

"I can't understand a word you are saying, but I like the sound of your voice..."

Why an earth are you doing cold weather battery tests? Not that the information isn't useful, but I hope someone was paying you to do it!

I will reiterate my question of a few pages ago. Given my limited techinical skill, what, if any "upgrady/tweeky" type things must I do to my GT725 when it arrives? Drivers for example?

Thanks.

 

Hardly cold weather here. That's actually very warm for this time of year, especially considering that we've had an abnormally cold winter so far this year, about -6F below normal so far which doesn't really give the true story of weeks at a time where we never broken 10F for a high, and -20 to -40F windchills. So yah, 42F is pretty balmy right about now. (It's 57F ATM, theoretically a 58F high, but maybe it'll get warmer now...)

Anyways, I've been sidetracked reading about ATI's sneaky marketing ploy for nVidia... so now back to see if I can get graphical install going...

[EDIT]
Upon further digging, it looks like part of the problem, at least is read-edid or linux/X11 not being able to properly read the EDID info from the LCD panel, so X11 fails out with a no screen/mode error. Giving up and going to a manual install and either a) hoping that something else fixes up read-edid on the way, or b) trying to hak together the manual settings if I can figure what LCD panel this is and the appropriate Hsync/Vsync timing ranges...
[/EDIT]

 

Yes, you can boot from USB, but you have to do it from the boot menu (F10, I believe), and you only see the option if there is actually a USB storage device present. The option may show up in the BIOS as well, but I'm not sure on that.

 

Ah, OK I'll tyr it later when I have time.

I saw no option for USB boot when looking under the boot priorities(IIRC) sectionof the BIOS, just the CD/DVD / hdd / net boot options, but I had no USB mass storage device inserted.

Got Ubuntu 8.10 64b installed, had to use the alternate install CD and the expert text mode installation (failed to detect WiFi, and I couldn't quickly tell how to force it to attempt to override manual config to WiFi). Anyways that was as far as I had gooten, left off grub for the moment, and haven't had a chance to boot and test it. Maybe tonight or tomorrow morning. (Still trying to decide if I just want to boot into single user mode and install the catalyst drivers that I downloaded and hope that that fixes the read-EDID LCD panel modes problem or monkey around doing them manually and using one of the OSS drivers to start with. Will eventually go to fglrx anyways.)

Oh yeah, since Dukkha brought up the temperature earlier... they're now forecasting 65F for a high today... been a LONG time since I've felt those sorts of temps outside...

 

I saw that there are updated Bios and Firmware drivers on the MSI-Website, compared to those it was sold with.
So does anyone know whats new in those updates?
Or did anyone updated his bios or firmware and did notice any difference?

 

Hello everyone. I ordered the GT725-074 from Newegg and it took about 8 days to get to Iraq, where I'm currently deployed. I realize I am new to Windows Vista (this is my first time using it) but I cannot figure out how to turn off the touchpad's "tap to click" feature. It's not in the mouse control panel or any others that I can see, like Pointers and Pens or Tablet PC, etc... This is extremely frustrating to me as I enjoy graphic and web design, and gaming on the side. I do not have an external mouse to use with it right now, not to mention that wouldn't be very convenient on a 14 hour plane ride. Can anyone please help me figure out how to resolve this issue? I am willing to take off this horrible operating system if I must.

 

I'm not in front of my laptop right now so I can't check, but I believe if you install the Synaptics Touch Pad drivers it includes an extra tab in control panel under Mouse, where you can disable this.

http://www.synaptics.com/support/drivers

 

i just got my gt725-075, but when i run rhinoceros 4.0, the screen looks like this:


ive been browsing around the gt725 threads, and there seems to be some kind of updates needed on the video drivers.
any help or directions would be appreciated. thanks

 

My GT725 just arrived today. The initial start up process takes forever.

 

thinking about returning my gt725..

 

Ummmm why???

 

i need a nice computer to run rhinoceros, but this graphic card seems to have problems with it, i've uploaded screenshot of that problem on previous page..
and rhino isnt even an hardcore program

 

hi - just in case anyone else has the same problems, ubuntu 8.10 - intrepid would not run on my GT725 complaining about no display found.

After further reading - support for the mobility radeon HD 4850 in the drivers and Xorg is only present from jaunty jackelope 9.04 which is currently in Alpha 5 (final to be released end of April).

I've been running this and it's quite stable, but with a few niggles with: - scratchy audio
- wifi has problems on b/g channels 12 onwards, and all of band A and draft N are disabled due to driver bugs and substantial changes in the subsystem
-No 2D or 3D acceleration in the repository version of the Open Source drivers yet - meaning that for HD720 and 1080 content i need to drop back to vista.

Note also that the Alpha 3 live install version could not detect the trackpad - but the full install version was fine.

 

Have you tried installing Catalyst 9.2 using the Mobility Modder tool ( http://www.driverheaven.net/modtool.php)?

Also, after a quick look over their forums, many users report problems with ATI cards. The only fix I see mentioned is turning the hardware acceleration down in the control panel. Try that if the new drivers do not help.

 

Does anybody know what kind of MXM the 725 uses?

 

@ Aeilerto

There is a pretty healthy discussion of that HERE. The short of it is that the 4850 is an MXM III card, so the GT725 has got to have either an MXM III or IV port (probably III).

 

yes ive just installed 9.2 with MM but it still has the same problem/
how do you do that other method? and where did you find the page that talks about problems of rhinoceros with ati cards?

and i've noticed another problem with my computer.
when its booting up, just before the login screen, numerous black horizontal lines pop up along with the background wallpaper for a second.
and it dissapears after 1 second or so.
i cannot take a screenshot of that, but to give you an idea, i've made a similar image:

 

Thanks!

 

HERE is their support page. I found the info on the "Web Newsgroups" page.

Judging from that picture however, you may have bigger problems. It looks like bad video RAM (more info HERE) You should download ATITool and use the "Scan for Artifacts" feature. If you get artifacts at stock clock speeds, you should return the laptop or exchange it for a new one. It could just be a bad fan or loose heatsink, but there is no point in voiding the warranty to check.

 

thanks
you are being very helpful.
while intalling the atitool, my laptop went into blue screen and said something about crash dump and gathering something and then restarted.
whats going on?? atitool seems to be not supported in vista tho

here is the description i got after restarting:
////////////////////////

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: c5
BCP1: 0000EB28
BCP2: 00000002
BCP3: 00000000
BCP4: 822F315E
OS Version: 6_0_6001
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 768_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\Mini030709-01.dmp
C:\Users\Philip\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-59124-0.sysdata.xml
C:\Users\Philip\AppData\Local\Temp\WERFBDB.tmp.version.txt

Read our privacy statement:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=50163&clcid=0x0409

////////////////////////////
i run atitool after this installation problem, and then try to run it, and it says 'kernel mode driver does not seem to be running'.
and it doesnt find any errors. im not sure if its even running correctly with that kind of message popping up.

and i had this since i received the lapotp, i have a HORRIBLE white bleeding on the WHOLE edge of the bottom of the screen.
its really bad, its like literally grey.

 

It runs fine on my Vista Ultimate x64 install. None of the overclocking features work but I just used it to test for artifacts after overclocking via the Catalyst Control Center. Have you disabled UAC? That is the usual culprit for older software not working with Vista, although I don't think I've ever seen it cause a BSOD. Ignore the driver message, hit "Show 3D View," and then "Scan for artifacts." Let it run for awhile and see if any artifacts are detected.

The bleeding on the bottom edge of the screen is from the CFL backlight. All CFL backlit laptops have this problem, but some are worse than others. I didn't think it was too bad on my GT725, but yours could be defective or maybe you're just more sensitive to it than I am. It will help some if you tilt the screen back (away from you).

 

alright, imgonna retry ATITOOL one more time and run it for a long time.
and i already had UAC disabled.
and bleeding is really bothering me.
ive never been bothered so much by bleeds before.

im thinking about returning the laptop to xoticpc cz im running into too many problems with the laptop, both hardware, software, and physical defects.
additionally, here's my 3dmark vantage score with GT725-075 model on turbo mode.



um normal?

EDIT: this just happened! i was booting up my laptop and it went into some blue screen saying IRQL not less or equal
i think ill start disliking ATI for having problems with many 3d modeling programs (ive had problems with ATI cards in the past related to Maya program).
and im starting to dislike msi for having really bad screens and unstable system..

this is my first time purchasing non-mainstream brands, and im not sure if im gonna buy another msi or clevos which i was beginning to like.

 

No, that's not normal. All the Vantage scores I've seen for the GT725 were above 5k even at stock settings. I'd definitely return it. It sucks that it happened to you, but with something as complex as a modern laptop there are always going to be defective units that escape QC.

 

i was very happy this laptop had such great resolution, cpu, graphic card that had good amounts of both cinebench r10 scores and 3dmark06 scores, for the really good price too!
but im not sure if i want to get a replacement now, i might try clevo np8660, which the GPU isnt all that awesome comparing the cinebench scores, but it might work.
but i will get a refund and think a bit more about this.
thanks for the help, crazytasty

 

No problem man. Good luck!

 

pkim1230 your laptop is defective. Majorly return it.. try to get it exchanged if possible.

 

yeah, ive sent email asking for refund, but i still really cant find a better spec laptop for the price.

if i got a replacement, what are the chances of having another video card errors? or running into other 3d programs errors related to ATI? or another bleeding screen?

and i dont even get a refund for shipping back, so im really thinking i would like a refund instead.
if they are willing to give me a replacement without charging me for the shipping both ways, then i might consider spending time waiting for it, but i really need a laptop right now for school. my classes are already far ahead, and im lingering in computer labs with limited time to work on my projects. (they close at midnight...)
and it was my first time dealing with xoticpc or any of its kind that sells custom laptops.
but im hoping its just a problem with msi at worst case.. and not xoticpc's fault or anything.

 

I ordered mine from Frosty Computers and got it in 3 days. They even paid half the shipping since I live in Hawaii. I recommend them very highly.

I do not think it is xoticpc's fault though. They just shipped the box to you that MSI shipped to them.

 

3 days? that's very fast.
I might try frostycomputers then if xoticpc charges me for the shipping again.
anyway, i hope some people with FUNCTIONAL gt725-075 can test out the ATI HD 4850 for me with programs like Rhinoceros or AutoCad.
if i was getting a replacement, i dont want to have to refund it again just because everything works fine, except the PROGRAMS arent very compatible with ATI cards...

ps. its very disappointing that i am back to browsing on dell websites again.. but the xps m1730 with the 9800GT SLI is very tempting..

 

I was reading pkim's posts and I had a similar thing happen to me, I just got my computer last night from xoticpc.. The load screen on windows had a strange black streaky effect.

I noticed it after I turned on the catalyst overdrive, changed to ram to 800 and made the OC 20%. I turned off the catalyst overdrive and I didn't see it the next time I loaded up (I'm still using the 8.56 that it shipped with).

Also, when I was playing WoW last night there were ALOT of chunky pauses in the graphics... like the terrain would stutter, i.e. like a tree would move a half inch at a time instead of smoothly passing by. Turbo or non turbo seem to have no effect, though when I turned off the v sync I noticed that it seemed to go away except when I spin the camera around (stuff at far distance still doesn't smooth scroll)

Just a driver issue?

I can run a 3dmark.. I haven't done that yet.

I also had a weird graphic blip during WoW... got strange artifacts, went to the desktop and then right back in... got this error:
Description
A problem with your video hardware caused Windows to stop working correctly.

Problem signature
Problem Event Name: LiveKernelEvent
OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

Files that help describe the problem
WD-20090306-2222.dmp
sysdata.xml
Version.txt

View a temporary copy of these files
Warning: If a virus or other security threat caused the problem, opening a copy of the files could harm your computer.

Extra information about the problem
BCCode: 117
BCP1: FFFFFA8004982010
BCP2: FFFFFA600261FC18
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 0000000000000000
OS Version: 6_0_6001
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 768_1

 

lol...
i think im gonna get a refund..
gt725-075 being new and all, it must be having alot of problems that still needs solving

 

Ok, is that 2 people having problems with the 725? Both from Xotic? Or are other people having problems as well??

 

OK, did the 8.10 ubuntu install via the alternate install CD since X.org would not work.

Installed fine, installed X plus drivers still did not work.

Manually mounted NTFS ddrive with cat 9.2 X drivers, but found that it had unsatisfied deps.

manually configed wireless, updated deps, built Catalyst 9.2 Ubuntu/8.10 package.

Had to install some 32bit drivers for the control center (apt-get -f then redo dpkg -i --force-overwrite ATI packages) then aticonfig --initial -f

X.org came up fine on a reboot, and is looking OK, but I've not had time to really test anything, so this is just the basic update of status.

[EDIT]
For lack of anything else here's glxgears output:
40112 frames in 5.0 seconds = 8022.381 FPS
42034 frames in 5.0 seconds = 8406.757 FPS
41736 frames in 5.0 seconds = 8347.024 FPS
41559 frames in 5.0 seconds = 8311.697 FPS
41074 frames in 5.0 seconds = 8214.768 FPS
41593 frames in 5.0 seconds = 8318.439 FPS

Running Ubuntu 8.10 + catalyst 9.2 right now... time to go update and do some other configs so probably another day or so before I have any other useful info...
[/EDIT]

 

It's possible updating the driver will help. I would recommend always updating to the latest drivers, especially for video hardware.

Mine is running great! I did have some crashing problems with the overclock pushed to 24%, but now that it is back down to 20% it is rock solid.

Here are some 3DMark Vantage scores with Catalyst 9.2 on Vista x64:

Stock Settings
3DMark Score 5248.784476
Graphics Score 5271.441063
CPU Score 5181.968373

540/890 w/ no CPU o/c
3DMark Score 5455.675224
Graphics Score 5562.15943
CPU Score 5159.356847

550/900 w/ 20% CPU o/c
3DMark Score 5827.671472
Graphics Score 5735.617745
CPU Score 6122.458437

Are you going to put together an Ubuntu install guide for us John?

:laugh:

 

If you want, but since jaunty (9.04) is almost here you MAY be better off waiting to see if the base X.org installs ok, otherwise you're going to have to enjoy working on the command line as you'll have no X initially and no network.

Anyways, q&d for 8.10 [EDIT]I did this for the GT725-074US w/1680x1050 LCD panel. The 1920x1200 panel MAy just work, if it does have fun, otherwise there's this...[/EDIT]
1.) re-partition however you want

2.) get the alternate Ubuntu CD install disk 32 or 64 bit download catalyst from amd site for linux

3.) select expert mode install

4.) pick appropriate keyboard/etc. settings for your region/config

5.) run the partitioner however you like, I did manual ext3 fs on an 80GB partition plus a 4GB swap partition

6.) continue on through all of the install steps, making sure you select yes you want to use mirrors and pick an appropriate one for your region

7.) install grub (it'll find Vista or XP and agree to let it be added to the grub menu)

8.) finish and reboot (it'll default to boot linux in 10s otherwise at the bottom will be you Vista/XP/whatever alternate OSes)

9.) it'll boot, X.org will fail to run add to /etc/fstab

Code:

sudo mkdir /media/windows
then add to fstab:
/dev/sda2	/media/windows	ntfs-3g	quiet,defaults,rw	0	0
(can also run fdisk -l and pick whatever NTFS /dev/sdaX partition you want to mount, or more of them with a new entry for each line and another /media/XYZ mountpoint directory)
sudo mount -a

Copy the ati linxu catalyst driver to the linux partition

Alternatively you could just skip to getting networking up and then use the links text based web browser and directly download the drivers from the AMD page to your linux partition, but likely you'll want to mount the NTFS partitions anyways. It's also possible to set it up to do this fromt he GUI, but I forget what is needed ATM but it should turn up fairly quickly from the Ubuntu site or forums or you could just try asking on the #ubuntu IRC channel.

10.) for WEP

Code:

sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid whateveryouressidis
sudo iwconfig key restricted s:whateveryourtextkeyis
sudo dhclient -r
sudo dhclient wlan0

networking should be up. If you use WPA you'll have to track down the extra steps for authenticating against WPA, should turn up in a quick search at ubuntu.com. If you omit the "s:" you can just enter the hexadecimal key instead. If you use multiple keys, do the same but add [2], [3], and [4] for the 2nd 3rd and 4th keys each a separate iwconfig line
e.g. sudo iwconfig wlan0 key restricted s:myotherkey [2] etc.

You MAY also have to add to /etc/network/interfaces

Code:

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp

If you're doing static or ethernet look on the Ubuntu site or google it. The basic idea is about the same.

May also have to try
sudo iwconfig wlan0 channel auto
OR
sudo iwconfig wlan0 channel <whatever # your router channel is set to>
IF it doesn't just work...

11.) sudo apt-get install dpkg-dev

12.) sudo sh ./ati-driver-installer-9.2-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/8.10

13.)

Code:

sudo dpkg -i xorg-driver-fglrx_8.582-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb fglrx-kernel-source_8.582-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb fglrx-amdcccle_8.582-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb libamdxvba1_8.582-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb xorg-driver-fglrx-dev_8.582-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb fglrx-modaliases_8.582-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb

14.) if you get errors (64bit)

Code:

sudo apt-get install -f
sudo dpkg -i --force-overwrite xorg-driver-fglrx_8.582-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb fglrx-kernel-source_8.582-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb fglrx-amdcccle_8.582-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb libamdxvba1_8.582-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb xorg-driver-fglrx-dev_8.582-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb fglrx-modaliases_8.582-0ubuntu1_amd64.deb

15.) reboot, and enjoy X.org with the catalyst 9.2 driver and don't forget to configure your network settings in the Network Management preferences app. You'll probably have to reboot since I couldn't get it to force reload otherwise, but I hard coded my net settings into /etc/network/interfaces and forgot to remove the extra lines before rebooting after installing catalyst. Also if you edited /etc/network/interfaces remove those lines, setup network in the pref panel and then reboot or alternately you COULD try sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart, but I'm not sure if it'll trigger the gnome network panel setup to attempt a new connection or not. Reboot will work as long as you setup the pref panel correctly.

Oh yeah, you''ll probably want to google the Ubunut/linux laptop killer bug. I also have a post in the general linux thread and it's something I still need to do now, so I'll it or a link to the post once I get around to it.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4211315&postcount=116
I'll try to find where I posted exactly what I changed later on and add it, but that should give a hint good enough for now.

 

HI, new to all this techy stuff, really want a laptop that can play crysis and work on photoshop to replace my 6 yo desktop... thought waiting 10 minutes for photoshop to do anything was normal but seems like it isn't!

Anyone lives in Australia who knows where I can get a gt725?

Also anyone with any tips and advice for a newbie especially to Vista and modern laptops (like what to do when I get the laptop to check for faults etc) would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks

 

Sweet! Thanks man! I am still learning Linux and have very little knowledge of the terminal commands.

+rep

 

Have you ubuntu /linux fans tried, WUBI...
its a cool program that automates Linux installs on your current HD It allows any flavor of linux.I tried it on a winxp pro os worked good..
I had trouble with my network when chosing winxp at boot though it didnt see my broadcom adapter..even though it had zero problems when i chose ubuntu at boot..