Guerrilla Sentia m3450 Review - Page 2

Updated a few sections.

Biggest point I updated was the touchpad. Recently I ran into some trouble with scrolling. I should say it's always been a small annoyance, but it finally got to me. So I looked around and found out the Elantech touchpad drivers don't play nice with some software (Firefox, OpenOffice). Uninstalling Elantech and using Synaptic or Windows generic touchpad drivers work great. It's like a whole new touchpad.

Good luck

The benchmark section also just got a major update with PCMark05, 3DMark06 and Super Pi 2M.

No, you can't upgrade the graphics card. The 945G chipset supports graphics upgrades, but not the 945GM chipset in the Sentia.

Thanks for the sticky Yang

Added in benchmarks for the CD/DVD combo drive, wireless card connection and power management of the Core 2 Duo.

Yet another update

It could have been a few things that may have triggered it. It was weird. I origionally blamed Firefox 2.0 if you saw my post in AW General. I first noticed it after I upgraded to Firefox 2.0 and it always seemed to start after the first launch of Firefox once I booted it up and then it wouldn't end. So the only changes made was a Windows update and a Firefox install.

I definitely didn't hear anything when I first received it. My best bet is "something tried something" and set off the BIOS when it tried to retrieve the CPU type. It could have been one of my benchmarking programs.

I had the same problem with the keyboard being unresponsive. Reinstalling the drivers fixed it right up. You could also try reseating the cable, it's real easy. Just press the tabs above F1, F8 and Num Lock to release the keyboard. Pull the tabs on each side of the cable about a millimeter towards you to release the cable and reseat the cable by reinserting it and pushing the locks back in.

If Explorer.exe can be reopened with out an issue that makes me think you have a program opening on startup that's tampering with Windows. Try disabling all the startup programs in msconfig and see if it still hangs.

This may be unrelated, but I also uninstalled the Elantech touchpad drivers at the same time as reinstalling the keyboard drivers. The Elantech software doesn't play nice with non-Microsoft programs which led to its removal, but maybe it also messes with the keyboard drivers.

And ya, use a flat head screwdriver to push the tabs in on the keyboard and then it works great for pulling on the little gold tabs locking the cable in.

Disable everything on startup, you never know. If it is a Windows component that seems to be causing it then I'd reinstall Windows, but try a repair first.

It finally happened, a hardware failure on my Sentia. I'm currently shipping out my AC adapter for a replacement after it mysteriously died last night.

A while back when I was having the beeping issue, that the BIOS update seemed to fix, I mentioned I was concerned about a power problem due to a kind of "buzzing" sound that was heard in between beeps. The Alienware tech and I agreed then that it was probably interference with motherboard speaker.

Well, the beeping started again, but I noticed whenever I scrolled with my touchpad or USB mouse the beeping/buzzing stopped. So I figured it wasn't a big deal, the notebook was just re-detecting the touchpad and/or USB mouse, or something else. Annoying, but not a high priority issue for me to slow down to call tech support. But then last night I saw my battery was dropping while on AC power. Tried every outlet in my living room, nothing. Couldn't power up off the adapter only, no power lights.

My girlfriend had an adapter of the same make and model, tried it, and the power lights came on to indicate AC power. Called tech support and got a hardware swap RMA setup. The real catch-22 is though, the tech opened up a ticket for me to send it in if the beeping continued with a new AC adapter. He thinks, and I tend to agree, that the battery and/or power controler might be damaged and causing the beeping and buzzing. Especially since a buzzing would almost certainly be power related.

But right now we have no idea if the sounds were caused by the bad power adapter or if another piece was damaged either by the adapter or was damaged previously and killed the adapter.

To add to the list I recently noticed my AC adapter wasn't charging my battery. I called Alienware and they set me up with an RMA swap for a new adapter, but I decided to check my girlfriend's adapter for her laptop (same make and model) and it didn't work either, at first. I twisted it a little and jiggled it and voila the AC LEDs came on and started charging. So fine, I'll call AW and RMA the laptop for a quick fix on the power connections. Wrong.

After having the Sentia for 3 months Alienware told me this was not covered under warranty and this was due to general wear and tear. I would have to live with it or pay for S&H, parts (new motherboard) and 2 hours labor. The tech told me he wasn't allowed to give me a price, but the repair depot would call me.

I asked him how after only 3 months with a warranty in tact I couldn't get this quickly fixed for free. He told me there was no proof I didn't ram the AC adapter in too hard or rip it out too roughly at an angle dislodging the connection. So now I can charge my battery and run off AC, but I have to keep an eye the power.

My Sentia is still at the repair depot as of January 21st. It's been there since December 16th meaning it has now been there for over a month. I've been receiving updates from one of the critical issues managers, Virgil, but now he's not sure when I'll be able to get it back.

He says the repair depot is reporting the motherboard is fine (the part it was sent in for) because the problem is the inverter card that connects the LCD to the motherboard. Now the problem with all that is the inverter card is out of stock at the repair depot and the Alienware facilities in Miami seem pretty slow on shipping one out to the depot. Two weeks ago I was told one was shipped, but it still hasn't arrived.

To make up for this they extended my warranty, but I'm still concerned because the reason it was sent in was for a faulty motherboard (issues with getting a charge from the power brick).

We'll see how this pans out, hopfully it'll be sent back soon.

I finally received my laptop back in the first week of March in a satisfactory condition and I'm very happy.

The inverter card and power convertor were replaced and the laptop was sent back to me in February, but the case was not aligned correctly. The S-Video and VGA ports in the back weren't lined up correctly causing the case to be uneven and stick out in places.

I sent it back in while I left on vacation with a promise that the laptop would receive expidited repairs and shipping. Sure enough I got both and the first delivery attempt was 4 days after I shipped it while I was on vacation. The only issue ended up being FedEx. It seems the driver got tired of hiking up the stairs 5 days in a row with nobody home. Had to pick it up, but the laptop works great and the chassis is in good condition.

So if you have a problem with Alienware, work with them and it will get fixed. Granted, this took close to 3 months in the end, but it was also over Christmas, I kept it for 2 weeks before shipping it out again and then I went on vacation.