hemantofkanpur

hi,
I just bought this laptop from ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.in/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...m=120083771556


does anyone have any idea what's wrong with it and if it can be fixed.
2.What centrino clock speed is it equal to
3.did i get a good deal
thanks hemant

TheMatt

Hi Hemant,

First, hook this laptop up to an external display and see if you get a picture. It could be a problem with the LCD or IGP.

This laptop would be about equal to a 1.6 GHz Pentium 4-m or a 1.4 GHz Pentium M.

If you can manage to fix it, it would be a good deal. It would run pretty good if you installed Windows 2000 and some more RAM.

michael2718

Don't forget Function Button with Monitor Dsiplay Key that will toggle through External Only, Laptop Only, or Both. If you get any kind of display on an external monitor, I quietly suggest that you study the LCD screen VERY carefully to determine that it is truly black screen, or whether there is a faint display showing. Angle the display in different positions and under strong light to see if you get see any icons, etc. This display (exceedingly dim)seems to be a CHRONIC, oft unacknowledged problem with Compaq displays. I have a CMPQ Presario 2300. Everyone will suggest that you replace the backlight, but if you have that faint image, I believe it is a CODE problem, instead. The problem has been chronic for me -- when my display DOES work (rare event) and I hook it to an external display (projector) to utilize in presentations, the laptop LCD display immediately cuts out again-- usually for weeks (or months) --no amount of restarting, cold booting, etc., will remedy. Then, for no explicable reason, display will suddenly return (weeks later) -- complete and full -- although only until I cycle the machine up & down again in routine use. I have killed all power and save settings, killed "hibernate", nothing matters. Compaq has had it at factory service three times -- it gets returned with a report "can't duplicate problem" -- almost immediately, it cuts out again. Great repair strategy eh? Nothing like pride of workmanship. Local service people have had it several more times as well. So -- good luck with YOUR display -- I always welcome feedback with advice on mine as well.

michael2718

oops1

michael2718

Sorry -- got a message that I could not post, but apparently it already had.

michael2718

ooops

hemantofkanpur

hi,
I really appreciate your advice.one question still unanswered?What centrino would this be equal to?thanks

TheMatt

hemantofkanpur

hi MAtt,
Thank you for the reply.A centrino laptop consists of a Pentium M processor, the Mobile Intel 915 Express chipset family or the Intel 855 chipset family, and an Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 (IEEE 802.11b), PRO/Wireless 2200 (IEEE 802.11bg) or PRO/Wireless 2915 (IEEE 802.11abg) network connection.
therefore, just a pentium m based processor without the above mentioned chipset and network connection would give a different performance than a centrino.There are laptops ,I believe, with a pentium M , processor but still not being a centrino
hemant

TheMatt

You are right, Centrino is more than the processor, but I thought you meant the processor. An equivalent Intel chipset would probably be an Intel 845GM or 845PM chipset. The Radeon Xpress 320M is pretty old (it has a Radeon 7000 IGP). For wireless, any 802.11g intel wireless card would be equal.