[LIB] Alas, L100 Wasn't Reliable At 266MHz
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 09:52:51 -0600 From: John Liu [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Alas, L100 Wasn't Reliable At 266MHz I went ahead and overclocked my L100 using a conductive pen as mentioned in the earlier post. The pen worked fine, in the sense that the L100 booted up and functioned normally after the modification. Unfortunately the overclocked machine was not reliable. It would lock up (screen looks normal but no response to keyboard or mouse, have to restart) after appx 20 minute of running. The heat shield under the keyboard got hot - not too hot to touch, but too hot to keep your fingers pressed to it for more than 10 secs. I restarted the Lib several times with the same result. It even locked up with the keyboard lifted up, the upper PC card slot empty, and no application running. This is using Win XP Pro with a 20GB harddrive and a Linksys wireless card. I examined the drawn trace under a loupe and it looks fine - is connecting the two points, no apparent deterioriation due to heat etc. So, I reversed the mod and now the Lib is running perfectly. I've sort of convinced myself that it really wasn't much faster at 266MHz anyway, although to be honest it did feel peppier during the short period that I actually got to use it overclocked. I am now going through Windows, disabling services and so on, to get a bit of extra speed from that source. Bummer. I've read that 90% of L100s will run well at 266MHz, apparently I'm in the bottom decile. Someday I may try 200MHz using CPUIdle and thermal grease. But I'm not hopeful of success. It was only 68F in the house last night when the overclocked Lib was locking up while merely idling, and I want the machine to be reliable running any application(s), sitting in the sun in 100F ambient, with the drive spinning and both PC card slots working. Oh well, it was worth a try and only took 15 minutes. By the way, it seems like all or most of the English language webpages showing how to disassemble a L100 have gone 404, so I thought I'd post the procedure I used here, in case it is ever useful for someone: LIBRETTO L100 DISASSEMBLY TO OVERCLOCK: 1. Remove battery and unplug Libretto from power. 2. Turn Libretto upside down. Remove lower case half (remove 7 long screws from underside of Libretto, pull sliding handle of the hard drive out a bit, carefully separate lower case from upper, note tabs on either side of battery compartment need to be gently separated). 3. Note location of PC card assembly and the 4 screws that hold it down (from the underside, you see the ends of the screws, not the heads). 4. Turn Libretto right-side up. Remove the plastic strip between the keyboard and screen (fingernail-pry up the right end, lift it out, unhook the left end). Lift up the keyboard (gently lift the side closest to the keyboard, careful not to stress the ribbon cable). While keeping the keyboard raised, detach the right and left keyboard retaining straps (remove short screws fastening them to the case, slip strap ends from slots). Remove shiny metal heat shield (it was held down by those same screws). 5. The screen and upper case half should now be loose from the motherboard of the machine, although still connected by the display cable (right upper corner of the keyboard area) and another cable (screen power? left upper corner of the keyboard area). The keyboard is still connected to the motherboard by its ribbon cable. So you haven't actually disconnected anything, but you have gotten access to the screws under the heat shield and the screen. 6. Now remember where the PC card assembly mounting screws were located, find their heads, and remove them (over by the right-hand side of the machine, two by the edge of the keyboard closest to you, two under the screen). 7. Now close the screen (put the keyboard back in place, be careful not to pinch anything) and turn the Libretto upside down again. Remove the PC card assembly (verify the four screws are missing, then pull up at the end closest to the middle of the machine). Lift up the black plastic sheet covering the motherboard (use tape to hold it out of the way). 8. Find the points you need to solder and do the job. 9. Assembly is the reverse of disassembly. Verify that everything is secure before you close up the Libretto (check LCD display and power cables, memory card, keyboard cable, CMOS battery in its plastic cover). You should have two short screws for the keyboard straps, four long screws for the PC card assembly, and seven long screws for the lower case half. 10. If the case halves aren't meeting on the left-hand side (near the hard drive), check that the hard drive handle is pulled out, then push it back before inserting screws. If the case halves aren't meeting at the back (by the audio in/out jacks) check that the PC card eject levers and the corresponding levers on the PC card assembly are not interfering with each other.
Re: [LIB] Alas, L100 Wasn't Reliable At 266MHz
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 13:59:05 -0500 From: Anthony Oresteen [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [LIB] Alas, L100 Wasn't Reliable At 266MHz My L100CT also was unstable at 266 MHZ when using PCMCIA accessories so I slowed it down to 233MHz. It has been running for a week or so now with no problems. I'd give 233MHz a try. Tony Oresteen KG4SPA 407-469-2818 home 407-256-4215 cell Montverde, FL - Original Message - From: John Liu [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Libretto libretto@basiclink.com Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2005 12:55 PM Subject: [LIB] Alas, L100 Wasn't Reliable At 266MHz Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 09:52:51 -0600 From: John Liu [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Alas, L100 Wasn't Reliable At 266MHz I went ahead and overclocked my L100 using a conductive pen as mentioned in the earlier post. The pen worked fine, in the sense that the L100 booted up and functioned normally after the modification. Unfortunately the overclocked machine was not reliable. It would lock up (screen looks normal but no response to keyboard or mouse, have to restart) after appx 20 minute of running. The heat shield under the keyboard got hot - not too hot to touch, but too hot to keep your fingers pressed to it for more than 10 secs. I restarted the Lib several times with the same result. It even locked up with the keyboard lifted up, the upper PC card slot empty, and no application running. This is using Win XP Pro with a 20GB harddrive and a Linksys wireless card. I examined the drawn trace under a loupe and it looks fine - is connecting the two points, no apparent deterioriation due to heat etc. So, I reversed the mod and now the Lib is running perfectly. I've sort of convinced myself that it really wasn't much faster at 266MHz anyway, although to be honest it did feel peppier during the short period that I actually got to use it overclocked. I am now going through Windows, disabling services and so on, to get a bit of extra speed from that source. Bummer. I've read that 90% of L100s will run well at 266MHz, apparently I'm in the bottom decile. Someday I may try 200MHz using CPUIdle and thermal grease. But I'm not hopeful of success. It was only 68F in the house last night when the overclocked Lib was locking up while merely idling, and I want the machine to be reliable running any application(s), sitting in the sun in 100F ambient, with the drive spinning and both PC card slots working. Oh well, it was worth a try and only took 15 minutes. By the way, it seems like all or most of the English language webpages showing how to disassemble a L100 have gone 404, so I thought I'd post the procedure I used here, in case it is ever useful for someone: LIBRETTO L100 DISASSEMBLY TO OVERCLOCK: 1. Remove battery and unplug Libretto from power. 2. Turn Libretto upside down. Remove lower case half (remove 7 long screws from underside of Libretto, pull sliding handle of the hard drive out a bit, carefully separate lower case from upper, note tabs on either side of battery compartment need to be gently separated). 3. Note location of PC card assembly and the 4 screws that hold it down (from the underside, you see the ends of the screws, not the heads). 4. Turn Libretto right-side up. Remove the plastic strip between the keyboard and screen (fingernail-pry up the right end, lift it out, unhook the left end). Lift up the keyboard (gently lift the side closest to the keyboard, careful not to stress the ribbon cable). While keeping the keyboard raised, detach the right and left keyboard retaining straps (remove short screws fastening them to the case, slip strap ends from slots). Remove shiny metal heat shield (it was held down by those same screws). 5. The screen and upper case half should now be loose from the motherboard of the machine, although still connected by the display cable (right upper corner of the keyboard area) and another cable (screen power? left upper corner of the keyboard area). The keyboard is still connected to the motherboard by its ribbon cable. So you haven't actually disconnected anything, but you have gotten access to the screws under the heat shield and the screen. 6. Now remember where the PC card assembly mounting screws were located, find their heads, and remove them (over by the right-hand side of the machine, two by the edge of the keyboard closest to you, two under the screen). 7. Now close the screen (put the keyboard back in place, be careful not to pinch anything) and turn the Libretto upside down again. Remove the PC card assembly (verify the four screws are missing, then pull up at the end closest to the middle of the machine). Lift up the black plastic sheet covering the motherboard (use tape to hold it out of the way). 8. Find the points you need to solder and do the job. 9. Assembly is the reverse of disassembly. Verify that everything is secure before you close up the Libretto (check LCD display and power cables, memory card, keyboard cable, CMOS battery
RE: [LIB] Schematic of L100 docking station
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 22:49:00 -0800 (PST) From: David Chien [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [LIB] Schematic of L100 docking station http://www.silverace.com/libretto/100110pr.zip Overview section = adorable toshiba libretto The latest news and information for the Toshiba Libretto owner. http://www.silverace.com/libretto/ __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250
Re: [LIB] Information On Libretto L1/L2?
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 23:08:45 -0800 (PST) From: David Chien [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [LIB] Information On Libretto L1/L2? 1. General reactions to them? Interesting, but the use of the Crusoe kills the machine. Would have much prefered a Pentium instead. Just far too slow, IMO, for the upgrade vs. an older Libretto. 2. Compare to other, similarly sized subnotes, e.g. Sony PictureBook Vaio C1? Or to the L3/L5 if that's the competition? Basically, it's just a larger Sony Picturebook at about the same weight, bigger screen that is a touch more comfy to read, a more comfy keyboard to type on, no camera, and about the same slow processor. L3/L5 run faster, but not by much. 3. How powerful or not powerful is a 600MHz Crusoe, anyway?I'm not positive if the L1/L2 maxes at 256 or 384MB RAM. Divide processor speed by 1/2 and you'll get the ballpark Pentium CPU speed equivalent. It's really that slow, and if you've seen them run in real life, you'd really wonder why they'd ever release the Crusoe upon poor users. Push it hard with floating point calculations, and you can just expect it to crawl along like a snail. 4. Are they hard to do clean OS installs and run Win XP on? I'm trying to read through the L1 Yahoo Group board, and keep coming across lots of can't boot from XYZ device and where's the BIOS and help I need ABC driver messages. Shouldn't be. www.toshiba.co.jp has all of the drivers and they should run under Windows XP English or Japanese. But don't have one, so haven't tried here. The missing drivers for English OS primarily concerned the Toshiba ff1100v model line - which had remote control + webcam. 5. Other sources of information? I haven't found nearly as much online information, discussion, or sellers of batteries etc for the L1/L2 as for the L50-L110 range. See my site, links to Japanese Libretto pages. We Are Libretters website will have more info. Otherwise, Nifty Toshiba forums in Japan. use bablefish.altavista.com to translate. because it's a Japanese-only model, don't expect much English-based talk or support here at all. -- www.conics.net would be one place that could get a L1-L5 from Yahoo Auctions or used for you as well as parts. -- In general, you'd have to consider what you're using it for. Here, the Libretto 110 is used as a portable email/websurfing/picture store machine, esp. when travelling. Not very fast, so I've got a desktop rigged for the serious work (seriously, they're really aren't any laptops out there yet that has the speed, storage capacity, etc. of a decent desktop, IMO, at a resonable $1000 price; and no, I'm not about to drop $3k+ on a laptop that depreciates 50%+ per year either). For the web terminal that sits in one spot all the time for web surfing and basic shopping, there's my IBM thinkpad T21. It's got the nicer screen and keyboard (not tiny like the Libretto), so it's easier for longer surfing sessions. I'd love to eventually combine them into a single notebook, but sadly, there hasn't been anything out there that's cheap and fits the bill -- super-small yet with big screen keyboard (oxymoron actually). Today, if I were to look for a 'Libretto' replacement for stationary web terminal use, I'd seriously look at the $499 laptops that are often on sale (eg. this week - they've got a handful of $499 laptops at the usual store - see sunday newspaper ads). Cheap, powerful, has everything, and works great for a little bit of money. Destined to run for years and give you lots of bang for the buck in return. If I were to go for a small, Libretto-like sized replacement that's faster, I'd start looking at the Fujitsu P5000 series, Sony T series, the Averatec 4lbs at Staples.com, the JVC Interlink XP series (Japan only), the Panasonic Y/R/W series (Japan only), etc. -- you can see and buy most of them from www.conics.net. If price wasn't such a big issue, I'd start with the Sony T series -- light, acts as a stand-alone DVD player (no OS boot required), and has a nice keyboard and screen, as well as the Fujitsu P5000 series (T70 in Japan) - both have built-in CD burners, about 3lbs, and generally balance everything out well for the size. Beyond that, you'd have to see what fits your fingers. (eg. Panasonic looks good on paper, but the odd chisled top keys are tough to finger) Also your eyes. eg. Sony U50/U70 series seems awesome until you see one in real life and realize that even at the maginified resolution provided, you still have to hold it up to your nose to read anything. Battery life is an issue here as well - eg. JVC Interlink XP looks awesome, but then you realize to get anything past 2 hours of battery life, you'll have to attach a heavy, external rear battery pack =( Anyways, if the L1-L5 was so 'awesome' as a Libretto, I would have picked one up in Japan when I was there. But after seeing them in person and playing with them
Re: [LIB] Overclock L100 Using Conductive Pen?
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 23:10:11 -0800 (PST) From: David Chien [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [LIB] Overclock L100 Using Conductive Pen? 233Mhz. Pen is fine. = adorable toshiba libretto The latest news and information for the Toshiba Libretto owner. http://www.silverace.com/libretto/ __ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - What will yours do? http://my.yahoo.com
Re: [LIB] Alas, L100 Wasn't Reliable At 266MHz
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 23:14:06 -0800 (PST) From: David Chien [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [LIB] Alas, L100 Wasn't Reliable At 266MHz Besides all of that, also make sure that you have taken apart the CPU heatsink, cleaned that and the CPU top, applied a thin layer of thermal paste, then reassemble. This fixed the overheating problem for quite a few owners and it's easy to have this interface go bad (ie. break/have a gap), due to the flexing involved in opening the Libretto and working on it. = adorable toshiba libretto The latest news and information for the Toshiba Libretto owner. http://www.silverace.com/libretto/ __ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 250MB free storage. Do more. Manage less. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250
