SP2 on an M2350 - Page 2

HUH?

Are you sure that's not a W720-K7?

There never was a w730-k7. There was a website reporting the m68xx series and all it's sisters as a w730-k7 (or maybe it was w720-k8), but they recently corrected the misprint. www.e4allinc.info

It is possible that a w730-k8 could have an AthlonXP in it, as there are some (notably used by HP) socket 754 Athlon XP's available in the OEM market. The only video option on the w730-k8 is the m10 and m11 though. Not the IGP 320 w/shared memory

Is this supposd to be a known issue on the M6810 too?
I tried upgrading mine last night and WAMO would not boot with out using safe mode after that. Thank GOD for restore!!
System is back to normal now though, However SP2 is not installed.

From a hardware standpoint, SP@ is 100% compatible with all the m68xx series notebooks as long as they have a BIOS version higher than 0f02.p00 (which yours should). You likely have some poorly written software installed that is not cooperating with DEP that is enabled by default by installing SP2.

Just checked my BIOS Version is 0F07.P00. Why then do you suppose I had such a time with SP2? I'll try disabling all of Norton before reloading.

I sent my M6805 in 2 times so far for service. Thanks to this forum I asked both times for them to please flash the bios to make it SP2 compatable. The first time (hinge crack) they refused to consider there was a bios problem and didn't flash it. The second time ( esc key popped off ) they said they couldn't do it, but must have noted it in my file because when I got the computer back, I noticed the radio was off. I checked the bios and they flashed it.
Both services were sent out on a monday and I got the computer back by Friday both times. The service was great.

I fell victim to the sp2 update. I had been putting it off, and finally I clicked install by accident (late night, thought it was a regular upgrade at first... ) anyhow... failed as we all know. Also I found it interesting that it also does the exact same thing with Windows XP Pro SP1 upgrade. (I installed xp pro since someone had mentioned it might be better, but its worse it seems).

I had, at one point, found drivers for the broadcom that had WPA support that worked on this notebook, but for the life of me I can not find them again. All i can find is the same old 3.30.15 set. I remember I had windows adminstering the connections, not broadcoms utility. I should have backed up this thing like I do my desktop.

So far I've only found work arounds for the m6800s ... anyone found anything on the m2350?

Thanks!

Answer to M2350 BSOD upon SP2 install

You are chatting to Arthur
Contact Reason: sp2 bsod upon initial install
Arthur: Thank you for contacting eMachine's Live Chat. My name is Arthur and my badge number is 35495. Please hold while I review your issue.

Arthur:
That computer will require an update before Service Pack 2 will run on it correctly.
At this time eMachines does not have this update. eMachines and Microsoft are aware of this and are working for this.
When that update becomes available, you will be able to download that through Big Fix.

david rimmer: ah... so there is an update? bios update?
Arthur: When that update becomes available, you will be able to download that through Big Fix.
david rimmer: bios update?
Arthur: *Any* upate.
david rimmer: okay, so if there is a microsoft and emachines update coming, is it likely to be a bios update?
Arthur: Hard to say for sure.
david rimmer: is there any estimate of when this update will become available?
david rimmer: and if i no longer use big fix, will there be another download option?
Arthur: We do not have any ETA at this point.
david rimmer: great
Arthur: You need to use BigFix.
david rimmer: it woud have been helpful for emachines to have posted this issue on the website
Arthur: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
david rimmer: i have spent many hours trying to get this update to work an have scoured emachines site for help
david rimmer: yes
Arthur: Go ahead.
david rimmer: i sent an email to tech support before and did not receive word of the update in the techs reply - when did this recognition of the problem occur?
Arthur: I couldn't say when they did that.
david rimmer: arthur, i appreciate your help but geez man you are thin on answers - or i am asking the wrong questions?
Arthur: I just don't have the information you want.
david rimmer: in my battles with the sp2 update
david rimmer: i finally simply installed xp pro.... i no longer have big fix
david rimmer: is there a way to install big fix on my system?
Arthur: Reinstall Big Fix

Click Start, Click Control Panel.

Go to Add\Remove programs and uninstall Bigfix.

Next go to www.bigfix.com and download the Bigfix client.

The last option in the installation is if you want to launch big fix. Bigfix must be running for the next step

Unsubscribe from all sites the sites except Bigfix by right clicking icons along the left-hand side and selecting unsubscribe.

Next go to http://www.bigfix.com/mastheads/eMachines.fxm (This step is case sensitive, so the M must be capitalized.)

this will bring up the screen for big fix, click ?Add Site Now? This will install the Emachines Fixlet list.


david rimmer: is there acknowledgement of this issue on the emachines site?
Arthur: Is there anything else I can assist you with today?
david rimmer: ok arthur, i appreciate hearing of an upcoming fix without an estimated date of availability, where i will finally be able to update my $1400 M2350 emachines laptop.
david rimmer: have a good day
Arthur: Once again, thank you for contacting eMachine's Live Chat. My name is Arthur and my badge number is 35495. Feel free to chat again anytime and have a great day.

Sp-2

Still in the search for an update, I found this. The last post states that someone was able to update a 2350 using a slipstreamed copy of XP. Check it out. I found it here: http://forums.amd.com/index.php?showtopic=23317
Scott

I just tried the slipstream XP SP2 install, and so far so good. Just make sure you do a CLEAN insatll (not an upgrade) and make sure to format the primary partition.

Also, most of the basic drivers can be found on the 3rd disk of the recovery disk set (although I personally use newer drivers, it at least got everything up and working) ... I'm still in the middle of updating drivers, I'll let you know if my 2350 dies.. but so far as good.

2350 and sp2 - "stupid purchaser x 2"

please let me know if it works... i am not so sure i want to do a clean install but geez.. i am somewhat concered about the problem with the broadcomm drivers as reported here... and to do a clean install - can that be done with the recovery disks from emachines? I finally just loaded xp pro on the machine - but am too freaked out to try an sp2 install for the fourth time only to have to redo everything yet again.

According to the last few posts, you need to slipstream SP2 onto the install disc (actual XP disc, not restore disc) in order to get it to properly "take". Some thorough instructions on making an SP2 slipstreamed CD can be found at www.theeldergeek.com .

As best I can tell, one or more of the drivers that came with the computer originally do not survive the upgrade to SP2 very well. However, if you install them AFTER instaling a fresh SP2, they seem fine... my laptop has been on constantly since the install, and been through a number of reboots to make sure it will still come back to life. So far so good.

As far as drivers, ALL of the drivers for this computer are located on the 3rd disk of the recovery disk. Basically just take a upgrade/install disk for windows (not a recovery disk) and do the slipstream process as the links before show, then when windows is done then you can stick the 3rd disk in, and run the needed driver installs. After which I personally went and got HP's SP23107 and SP27942 updates to get the WPA and updated wireless drivers, and then went to broadcom and got the latest NIC driver for the lan.


Most likely BIG FIX will have some driver fix that will enable safe transition to sp2... if they ever release it. But, if it has a new bios image, then I might get it, because this laptop does not seem to recognize an external USB device to boot to like my other computer does. Would be awful nice for ghosting etc to have that capability. I can only hope that if they release a new bios, it will have USB dvd boot capabilities.

Has anyone heard any new rumors on the fix for our 2350s? I was hoping for the fix to be out but still haven't heard anything new.

BigFix update came out today

At last, they came out with it! I, too, got caught by the unsafe driver unbypassable BSOD from hell, not suspecting a thing. I'd be interested to know how they figured this fix out

From the looks of it, it's a registry fix (!):

I'm not feeling brave enough to go try SP2 after this just yet; my machine is thoroughly set up as an office-away-from-the-office. Would some other brave soul care to share their success story from applying SP2 after this patch?

-- Ritchie

Feeling brave, I downloaded the update from bigfix and then droped in the XP Sp2 upadate disc. I am happy to report that my 2350 is working great! I use my laptop on a wireless network and it worked right off. Thanks emachines, even if you are a little slow.

Big Fix patch available

The "Big Fix" patch is available. I loaded the fix, which was a registry change, and the SP2 upgrade went just fine.

Thank you E-Machines

Mike