GraviSense 8204

Hrmmm.. hadn't tried that "feature" before so thought I'd give it a shot.

What a brilliant piece of software it is too. Setup my password, and put it into "Anti-Theft" mode. I then moved the notebook and the PC speaker started blurting out an insanely irrittating tone as expected. Entered my password to turn it off (password accepted OK), then got a NullReferenceException error and was left with the PC speaker still blurting it heart out. Had to reboot to shut the thing up, lovely!

Will decompile the app and see what I can find

So encouraging to hear how good the screen is!

actually, i'm more bothered by the gravisense software and whether it really is working. because my experience with a thinkpad is that when you move it, the program will actually tell you that the hard disk head is parked. whereas for acer's gravisense, i've been moving it a lot lately, and no such warnings came up.. is the program screwed up?

That Gravi-sense is quite poorly written.

Some problems I observed.
1. Under Event Viewer - > System Logs, u can see Gravi-sense error, "File is missing"

2. When first boot-up, u will notice a gray bar in the middle of the desktop. PRess Alt-tab and u will see a icon belonging to gravi-sense. U need to activate anti-theft and deactivate for it to go away.

3. The motion sensor not very sensitive. i literally had to jerk the laptop to get it to detect motion. Lifting the base or laptop does not activate it at all..

Gravisense works fine on my laptop. When I give it a little jiggle a window pops up form the taskbar icon telling me that the HD is being protected and when in anti-theft mode, although it doesn't always go off when gently lifted from the table, it goes off with one footstep.

Mine works fine as well. When I pick it up and then set it down, it gives me a notice that it engaged, found nothing wrong, and the hard drive's fine. Something like that, but enough to know it's working...

U mean it's supposed to go off?
Mine NEVER goes off!!

Wat are the version of ur Gravisense? mine is 1.0.0.6..

For those of u which the Gravisense gives a notification, does it have a file not found error in the System Log?

My gravisense is v1.0.0.9 and it throws an error everytime. It's unusable.

wynand, phiber - can you tell us what version you're running? (right-click the gravisense tray icon and click About).

V1.0.0.6...

Odd that it should be an older version...

Event Type:Error
Event Source:Service Control Manager
Event Category:None
Event ID:7000
Date:2/17/2006
Time:4:25:19 PM
User:N/A
Computer:POOF
Description:
The gsensor service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.


I'm getting the above error in Event Viewer.

S/w version is 1.0.0.6..

How do u guys get it to work?

Getting the same evet log entry here as well:

Event Type:Error
Event Source:Service Control Manager
Event Category:None
Event ID:7000
Date:21/02/2006
Time:6:05:31 AM
User:N/A
Computer:MATEY
Description:
The gsensor service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

It doesn't!

All of the Acer software is poorly written and documented. Very tempting to wipe it all off...

It seems to be working for waynard..

Waynard, do u have the error message like us?
Maybe that's y it's working for u, the service actually loads..

Is it really *that* gay?

Could someone like take a screen shot of the little notification window?
And u're on a 8204 also right?

Acer Support juz called me regarding this issue.. will keep u guys posted..

For a lack of a better name!

Here's the email i shot off to Acer Techguy today..

Hi <ACer>,

I was at <Computer Mall> today and went to try out the TM8204 on display there..
Here's what i found, shop names maybe be spelled wrongly...

At NewStead.com:
The TM8204 displayed was running Acer GraviSense 1.0.0.9. I asked the sales staff
to demo to me the DASP activation, he picked it up, shaked it abit and indeed, a popup by
the systray appeared and indicated that GraviSense detected vibrations but no dmg was done to the HDD.

At @Notebook.com:
The TM8204 display was running Acer GraviSense 1.0.0.6 (My version). I went into the System Event viewer,
true enough, there was the same error that i have, and i've a photo to proof it.
No matter how i jerk the n/b, it would not show the notification which the TM8204
at the prev shop showed.

Conclusion:
Since both units are FACTORY DEFAULT and OUT OF THE BOX display units.
The problem lies with the S/W and not some s/w corruption caused by the end-user as your engineer claimed.
So can u ask that engineer who asked me to reinstall the OS to stop giving
excuses and make me waste a few more hours reinstalling the OS?
What will he do if i do a fresh install and the same problem occurs?
Will Acer going to compensate me for wasting my time?
Frankly, i've had enough of reinstalling the OS on this laptop already, and also
technical support pushing the blame to the user.

Solution:
Either find out what's causing GraviSensen 1.0.0.6 to fail or send me a copy of GraviSense 1.0.0.9.
But I also hope that GraviSense 1.0.0.9 is working and not buggy like a user claimed in one of
the notebook forums overseas.

Perhaps my notebook is the first batch off the factory lines,
and as such, has the problems like NIC problem, buzzing sound from GFX Card,
faulty software versions and such.
If that's the case, i would be glad if Acer could give me a new replacement TM8204
with the latest software and hardware revisions.

Thanks

Screenshot proofing that STOCK 8204 has error too.

For those of u who have Gravisense that NEVER activates, here's a screen shot,

Courtesy of waynard.