Monday, August 15, 2011

netbook memory upgrade

easy as pie.

I followed these directions:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/26855544/Gateway%20LT28%20Series%20Netbook%20Repair.pdf

took me seriously 10 minutes total, and most of that was being careful not to bust anything.

unrelated:
the memory card reader on this netbook is not yet supported by Ubuntu. not a big deal right now, but would be nice if it worked.. still searching for a work-around. still looking for a way to allocate more memory to video as well. BIOS says 8MB only, and I want it to have more than that.

28 comments:

  1. I just bought an LT2802U from BestBuy for that $199 and am having a great time with it so far, but I can't get it to recognize the net through the Ethernet port either on Windows or when booted from my Kubuntu 11.04 flash drive. I can get on a wireless net but at home I don't have one. Shouldn't I just be able to plug my Ethernet cable in and possibly reboot and have it work? It doesn't, so if you have any ideas they'd be appreciated!

    - ced

    ReplyDelete
  2. I need a bit more info:

    when you go to the Network Tools, is eth0 listed under devices? what does it say under Interface Information for eth0?


    open terminal and
    sudo ifconfig
    and post what it says.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nope, eth0 isn't listed. Here's the output of ifconfig:

    ------------

    ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ sudo ifconfig
    eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr e8:9a:8f:31:00:43
    inet6 addr: fe80::ea9a:8fff:fe31:43/64 Scope:Link
    UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
    RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
    TX packets:9 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
    collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
    RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:2562 (2.5 KB)
    Interrupt:43 Base address:0x4000

    lo Link encap:Local Loopback
    inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
    inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
    UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
    RX packets:18 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
    TX packets:18 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
    collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
    RX bytes:980 (980.0 B) TX bytes:980 (980.0 B)

    wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 68:a3:c4:d6:4d:9b
    UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
    RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
    TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
    collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
    RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

    ubuntu@ubuntu:~$

    ReplyDelete
  4. is eth1 listed in the Network Tools?
    does it say enabled? it looks enabled..
    not sure why the name was changed..

    do you have a firewall on your router? I do MAC address filtering.. anything like that possible as a reason?

    another thing to check- make sure Windows is not allowed to turn off your wifi or ethernet adapters to save power. I forget where to check on that.. and I can't find it quickly right now.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would also suggest making sure the MAC address is the same in Windows and Kubuntu- this is just funky..

    ReplyDelete
  6. I dunno how to check the MAC address, but I agree it's funky. I'm in contact with Gateway Support about it. So far they've told me to do a system restore to the last time it worked, which means they haven't read the problem description because it never worked and I said so up front.

    I'm suspecting a hardware problem with the network connector at this point...

    ReplyDelete
  7. And no, eth1 is not listed in Network Tools.

    ReplyDelete
  8. what does it look like in Windows?
    Network and Sharing Center -> Change Adapter Settings (in left hand column)

    is the adapter disabled, not even there?

    ReplyDelete
  9. how long ago did you buy it? return to Best Buy for replacement?

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yeah, looks like I gotta replace it. Gateway Support just tries to avoid the issue. Now they're claiming it's a problem with my modem, which doesn't explain why the other two computers using the same modem are working fine.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Best Buy *can* be pretty easy to deal with on returns- just get something from Gateway (email, chat dialogue) printed out to take with you.

    at least you've been running a live flash drive and not an install. should be fairly painless to exchange.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Good idea on printing the email, I've done that. I'll go to BestBuy tomorrow. I've noticed that the Ethernet connector seems to wiggle, while the USB ports are so tight it's a little difficult to insert the flash drive, which is probably preferable.

    Thanks for your helpful advice!

    ReplyDelete
  13. thanks for letting me play tech support!

    love talkin geek. lol

    ReplyDelete
  14. Curiouser and curiouser! I took it back to BestBuy, and they tried in the store, where it worked fine. Still, they gave me a new one. I brought it home, and it doesn't work either. So I plugged it directly into the modem and it works fine. Thus it must be an issue between the LT28 and the router. We've reset the router and everything else continues to work but the netbook fails. Any ideas about where to look for configuration stuff that might be relevant?

    ReplyDelete
  15. while in windows, look at the ethernet adapter while it is plugged into the router, and then again when it is in the modem. see if the IP and/or MAC addresses are different.

    have you tried a different ethernet cable?

    ReplyDelete
  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'm glad they were able to exchange it for you quite painlessly. sometimes Best Buy can be a major PITA, especially if you originally paid with cash.

    why don't you have a wireless router at home?

    Windows Firewall may be the culprit.. but checking the IP and MAC addresses from the two devices will say something..

    I didn't notice a firewall option in CMOS.. is there a network password enabled?

    what kind of router do you have? who are you working with now?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Turns out our Dynex DX-E402 was not communicating with the netbook for reasons I still don't understand. We deduced that when it turned out that plugging directly into the modem worked, but plugging into the router didn't, not even with a different cord and regardless of OS.

    So I plugged into the modem long enough to get my Windows updated and current. Then I tried going through the router again, no luck. But after we reset the router to factory defaults, then made a single required modification to allow for DHCP, presto! The netbook works, and our two desktops continue to work too.

    And we don't have a wireless router because neither of our desktops has a wireless card 8-).

    Thanks again for your help!

    ReplyDelete
  19. And now it's broken again, crap! It's weird; last night it was working fine for several hours, then it stopped in the middle of a package-manager session and never came back.

    It's interesting that the netbook is unable to connect to the router when it's plugged directly into it. Both the desktops can communicate with the router regardless of whether the net is working, but the netbook can't. Any ideas? I suppose I'm just gonna have to buy a wireless router, but I want to know why this doesn't work...

    ReplyDelete
  20. I don't know much about connection types and protocols, I was in publications for the 25 years I spent as a programmer and tech writer. But the netbook talks about connecting via PPPoE, while the router is using Dynamic IP allocation, DHCP as I understand it. Do I perhaps need to configure something in my netbook to understand the router's methods?

    ReplyDelete
  21. I haven't taken a Networking class yet..

    no clue on any of this.. netbooks are made to be wireless, and plugged in when in a more public setting (hotels, etc) perhaps that's why the difference in settings.

    I'd go with a wireless router.. and you wouldn't even need anything fancy.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Well, I don't know precisely why, but everything now seems to work. I bought a wireless router and spent a day configuring it and the other parts of the network to make it a wireless access point and a switch but not a router. This lets me keep the wireless router in my office while the modem and wired router remain in my girlfriend's. It took me a while because I didn't do things in precisely the right order, so I figured I'd comment them here and maybe someone might usefully google up these results.

    I connected my Netgear 150 wireless router through my Dynex DX-E402 wired router by hooking the Netgear through a cable into a computer, logging into the Netgear, and doing the following steps in exactly this order. I did it in the other order and ended up wasting several hours trying to figure out what went wrong.

    1) Set the wireless router to a static IP address in the relevant subnet range. For example, if the wired router is at 192.168.1.1 it probably allocates 192.168.1.100 through 254 or something like that, you can log into the wired router and get an idea. I tried 192.168.1.151 but I'm not sure I set it in the correct time/place; what ended up working on my Netgear was the LAN Setup tab and 192.168.1.99, just outside the range I think the wired router (Dynex) allocates on its own. Now that it's working I haven't tried 151 again, because I don't care. 8-)

    2) Turn off the Netgear's router by unchecking the "Use Router as DHCP Server" box. Apply the changes, and voila!

    I don't know why, but the hard wire now works plugged into the netbook or the desktop. I suppose all those reset-to-factory-defaults on the wired router might have helped. In any case, everything seems to be hunky-dory both wired and un-.

    Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hi Joss,

    What kind of ram does this take? Single slot I presume? Any idea the max amount/speed supported? You're help would be much appreciated.

    Cheers,
    Anon

    ReplyDelete
  24. Anon-

    I bought RAM from Kingston-
    http://shop.kingston.com/partsinfo.aspx?ktcpartno=KVR800D3S8S6/2G

    there is only a single slot- following the directions in the OP, the install was super easy.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Hi Joss,

    Thanks for the super quick response! Any idea if the Netbook will take 4 gb of RAM? A stick like this:

    http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=35903&vpn=KVR1066D3S7%2F4G&manufacture=Kingston

    Cheers!
    Anon

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anon-

    2GB max for the motherboard, so it won't take a 4GB chip. and if you're staying with Windows7 Starter, it will only recognize 1GB.

    what OS are you running on it?

    ReplyDelete
  27. Hmmm, that's unfortunate. Thanks for the insight! I didn't have any big plans for the thing, so I was thinking of staying with Win7 Starter. According to this msdn article, it *should* have a 2gb limit though?

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa366778(v=vs.85).aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_7

    Some kind of specific Netbook or Gateway modification restricted it perhaps?


    Regards,
    Anon

    ReplyDelete
  28. as far as I know, Win7 Starter only recognizes up to 1GB- I could be wrong.. but I have no way of checking, as I erased the hard drive and installed Ubuntu as my only OS.

    most netbooks have motherboards that will only handle 2GB of RAM. it's a physical restriction, just like on any desktop or laptop motherboard.

    ReplyDelete