Power Led !

[paxl]

Hi all,

This is my first post on the forum but I read it since a long time.
I buyed my gp2x like 1 month ago from play-asia and when it
came, on the first set of battery [ witch were not rechargable ]
the power led lighten up. Since then, the led is intermitant, like
sometime it goes up in the middele of a game. I've also seen
sometime when I plug earbud, it awaken.

So, should I try to reshoot it to playasia or Keep it and hope
that only a firmware or something bug ?

The only thing special I've seen is that I can't overclock over 250 [
at 260 it frozen, but I presume that is normal sinece we're already at
1.25x the normal speed ]

Any idea.

Thank you
paxl

 

[wipeout2000]

Yea u should try to return it. Mine overclocks to about 280 stably. That way you can get rid of the led problem and hopefully get one that overclocks better.

 

[nubie]

Time it on NiMH batteries, if it can't last a couple hours on a fully-charged set of 2500mAh Duracell or Ansmann or Kodak or Energizer (AKA name brand) then return it.

The LED is just set to come on at a certain voltage, the voltage can fluctuate and it will go off and on, mine does sometimes.

I wouldn't worry about the LED, sometimes mine comes on as it dies, sometimes it comes on and I play for another half hour after letting it sit 10 minutes.

 

[paxl]

Time it on NiMH batteries, if it can't last a couple hours on a fully-charged set of 2500mAh Duracell or Ansmann or Kodak or Energizer (AKA name brand) then return it.

The LED is just set to come on at a certain voltage, the voltage can fluctuate and it will go off and on, mine does sometimes.

I wouldn't worry about the LED, sometimes mine comes on as it dies, sometimes it comes on and I play for another half hour after letting it sit 10 minutes.

It last a couple hour, on 2600 NiMH, never counted them since
I OC'ed sometime and other time I downclock it.. The prolbem with
returning it it that it will cost like hell.

Thank for you comment.

paxl

 

[Paradox]

they wont know youve been overclocking it if you dont tell them. i dont think it would matter anyway

 

[gamefan999]

Yea u should try to return it. Mine overclocks to about 280 stably. That way you can get rid of the led problem and hopefully get one that overclocks better.

What games precisely are you overclocking to 280? Mt machine also freezes at 260 or above, usually on mame. Are you talking about the PSX emu maybe? Not that it would make any difference, I dunno. Anyway, I am a little annoyed that I can't OC as much as other people say.

I also read that the #1 versions of the GP had heatsinks and that the #2 versions don't. Is yours a #1 version maybe?

 

[paxl]

Yea u should try to return it. Mine overclocks to about 280 stably. That way you can get rid of the led problem and hopefully get one that overclocks better.

What games precisely are you overclocking to 280? Mt machine also freezes at 260 or above, usually on mame. Are you talking about the PSX emu maybe? Not that it would make any difference, I dunno. Anyway, I am a little annoyed that I can't OC as much as other people say.

I also read that the #1 versions of the GP had heatsinks and that the #2 versions don't. Is yours a #1 version maybe?

Would it be possible to put heat sink on our MK2 gp2x ?...

Is there the place for it ??

 

[Paradox]

lol heat sink.

people say heat isnt a problem, but i put 2 thermal pads over mine so it touched the metal on the back of the LCD and it allowed me to overclock about 30mhz more

 

[nubie]

Yea u should try to return it. Mine overclocks to about 280 stably. That way you can get rid of the led problem and hopefully get one that overclocks better.

What games precisely are you overclocking to 280? Mt machine also freezes at 260 or above, usually on mame. Are you talking about the PSX emu maybe? Not that it would make any difference, I dunno. Anyway, I am a little annoyed that I can't OC as much as other people say.

I also read that the #1 versions of the GP had heatsinks and that the #2 versions don't. Is yours a #1 version maybe?

NO!! I have had the 3 different models, NO HEATSINKS EVER!!

Yea u should try to return it. Mine overclocks to about 280 stably. That way you can get rid of the led problem and hopefully get one that overclocks better.

What games precisely are you overclocking to 280? Mt machine also freezes at 260 or above, usually on mame. Are you talking about the PSX emu maybe? Not that it would make any difference, I dunno. Anyway, I am a little annoyed that I can't OC as much as other people say.

I also read that the #1 versions of the GP had heatsinks and that the #2 versions don't. Is yours a #1 version maybe?

Would it be possible to put heat sink on our MK2 gp2x ?...

Is there the place for it ??

:lol: :lol: :lol:. No, he simply got a good chip. There is room, but it doesn't even get hot enough to make a difference, so don't bother.

lol heat sink.

people say heat isnt a problem, but i put 2 thermal pads over mine so it touched the metal on the back of the LCD and it allowed me to overclock about 30mhz more

:lol: :lol: . Riiight. Maybe you had a cold solder and pressing down the chip made it connect and improved your stability.

Thermal pads don't help.

Edit: I have a MK2 and I can't get above 240mhz on some emulator's. GPH is putting bargain-bin (AKA crappy/rejected) chips in our device to cut costs. If you want a clocker ask Craigix from GP2X.co.uk or EvilDragon from the German shop for gauranteed overclocker, but be prepared to pay a little extra.

 

[SunSpire]

My power LED does not work at all, I have never seen it in action but since it's the only thing on my '2X that doesn't work I didn't bother to return it to play-asia, far too much shipping expenses for a stupid LED

"SunSpire"

 

[nubie]

My power LED does not work at all, I have never seen it in action but since it's the only thing on my '2X that doesn't work I didn't bother to return it to play-asia, far too much shipping expenses for a stupid LED

"SunSpire"

Which version and firmware are you running? I never had the light activate properly until my MK2 on the 2.0 firmware.

 

[SunSpire]

I have a MK1 with FW 2.0. When I bought the '2X it had the for that time newest FW 1.2.1 on it. It has never worked on any of the firmwares. But I don't really care, with my current batteries I can guess pretty well when it's about time to save a game or get a new set of AA's ready to continue watching a movie

The green power LED on the other hand works like a charm, lol

"SunSpire"

 

[gamefan999]

OK, "heatsink", "thermal plate", whatever, you gurus, they both amount to the same think, removing heat from the CPU to allow more stable OC'ing. I am prety annoyed to read that some units have "crappy/rejected" CPU's in them, and that I can "get an overclocker" if I "expect to pay a little more". WTF, I paid my money, I should get the same unit as anyone else.

Is there any software to test/measure the OC-ability of any given unit's chip? I would like to see how stable mine can run. I would also like to see a thread posting results from the whole community, to compare. I would return mine if I got a lemon chip, in comparison to others, since OC'ing seems to be so significant when running emu's.

 

[SunSpire]

The latest CPU Tweaker app has got 2 benchmark test programs built in that you can use to test your overclocked '2X with different speed settings. Link Here!

"SunSpire"

 

[Ranma13]

WTF, I paid my money, I should get the same unit as anyone else.

You need to understand how chip fabrication is done. They make the silicon with a certain goal in mind, in this case the 920T, and then test the chips to see if they can run stable at a pre-determined clock speed. The 920T is rated at 200 MHz. The company that made it tested it at 200 MHz and it ran stable. Any overclocking on your part is going OUTSIDE of the bounds of what they rate and sell the chip at, and at that point it's up to luck and the silicon to determine how far it can go. Your chip is not a 'lemon chip' simply because it can't go above 240 MHz or whatever rating it's at. If your chip was a lemon chip, it wouldn't be stable at 200 MHz. It's like me buying a computer processor and then complaining that it's a lemon chip because I couldn't overclock it by 500 MHz.

 

[gamefan999]

WTF, I paid my money, I should get the same unit as anyone else.

You need to understand how chip fabrication is done. They make the silicon with a certain goal in mind, in this case the 920T, and then test the chips to see if they can run stable at a pre-determined clock speed. The 920T is rated at 200 MHz. The company that made it tested it at 200 MHz and it ran stable. Any overclocking on your part is going OUTSIDE of the bounds of what they rate and sell the chip at, and at that point it's up to luck and the silicon to determine how far it can go. Your chip is not a 'lemon chip' simply because it can't go above 240 MHz or whatever rating it's at. If your chip was a lemon chip, it wouldn't be stable at 200 MHz. It's like me buying a computer processor and then complaining that it's a lemon chip because I couldn't overclock it by 500 MHz.

Hmm, I don't know about all that. What you're saying is like, snce the speed limit is 65 miles per hour, auto companies manufacture car engines that are stable at that speed alone, and at any speed over that limit, you are technically over the legitimate limit, and therefore on your own.

Of course we know this is false. In fact, the opposite is true - car engines (and CPU's) can *not* be manufactured to operate at their peak eficciency all the time, because they *would* overheat and wear out sooner. Rather, engines (and CPU's) are designed so that the speeds they are intended to operate at fall firmly *within* the range of operability; it is safer and more efficient.

This is, in fact, why the whole phenomenon of "overclocking" exists at all. Users realized that their chips had a lot of headroom in terms of operating speeds, and so figured out ways to push them into that speed range. Of course, you do in fact sacrifice stability and effeciency, just like driving your basic-transportation autombile would be stressed if you drove it at 100 MPH all the time. But you could if you wanted to, and that is the point.

So the question is better addressed as, did I get a "common" chip, or a "super" chip? The GP2X Wiki says users OC as high as 300Mhz. That for my unit would be outrageous! My unit locks up at 260Mhz without fail. Still, as you are saying, I bought a chip rated at 200Mhz, so as long as I get *that* performance, I am not allowed to complain. But I can't help but feel cheated when I hear some units can OC stably (?) at 300Mhz. In fact, this is why I questioned the reports of this performance at all. It might in fact be just talk. I have seen no official, tested reports, just gossip by fanboys (sorry folks). %^/

 

[Ranma13]

You're relating a mechanical engine in a car to a completely digital processor? That doesn't even begin to make sense. But to go along with your analogy, it's like someone who's able to take their car up to 200 MPH when the engine is only rated for 120 MPH max. And then you come along and complain that your car can only get up to 150 MPH max without overheating, and therefore somehow you're being cheated.

The bottom line is that the ARM 920T chip is being sold at a rated 200 MHz. To expect it to overclock to 300 MHz and then complain when your chip can't hit that speed is exactly like what I've stated: it's like buying a computer chip and expecting it to overclock to the same speed as another more expensive chip, and then complaining about it when it doesn't.

 

[gamefan999]

You're relating a mechanical engine in a car to a completely digital processor? That doesn't even begin to make sense. But to go along with your analogy...

Duh... you question the relativity of my analogy, and then proceed to use it exactly as I did, while in the process, adding nothing to the discussion. Congratulations on that performance. You still fail to address the original question of why one customer should be satisfied with a unit that performs subpar relative to another identical unit, regardless of whether the user is pushing the processor beyond its intended limits or not. Customers should not be satisfied with parts that are cheaper than others in an equal product. If there were different grades of CPU that could be bought with the GP, that would be different. But you can't tell me that simple differences in silicon and manufacturing should be responsible for drastic differences in performance.

it's like buying a computer chip and expecting it to overclock to the same speed as another more expensive chip, and then complaining about it when it doesn't.

This is precisely *not* what the situation is, see? We are comparing *identical* units, not "more expensive" units to less expensive units.

*****
Regarding the failure of my analogy and "a completely digital processor" - gee, I suppose the actual physical processor exists only as a series of zeroes and ones, and has no physical substance, eh? So it is impervious to physical phenomena like heat, power consumption, the stress limits of its construction? Who knew that every "completely digital processor" was actually an infinite creation, free from the effects of the physical world. Wow!

 

[Shikaku]

You're relating a mechanical engine in a car to a completely digital processor? That doesn't even begin to make sense. But to go along with your analogy...

Duh... you question the relativity of my analogy, and then proceed to use it exactly as I did, while in the process, adding nothing to the discussion. Congratulations on that performance. You still fail to address the original question of why one customer should be satisfied with a unit that performs subpar relative to another identical unit, regardless of whether the user is pushing the processor beyond its intended limits or not. Customers should not be satisfied with parts that are cheaper than others in an equal product. If there were different grades of CPU that could be bought with the GP, that would be different. But you can't tell me that simple differences in silicon and manufacturing should be responsible for drastic differences in performance.

Actually, the manfacturing process of making a processor chip is a delicate procedure that involves growing silicone crystals. This process is so delicate that even a slight error or even a spec of dust could completely ruin the CPU. The quality can greatly vary because of the base material and the process it goes through to become a CPU. The final quality control that it seems they do is check to see if it can run consistantly and error free at some point which looks like 240 MHz.

In other words, if they can cut costs and still get to this point they will take it. Don't cry if you can't overclock high, they are only rated for 240, and until there is a trick found there is nothing you can do about it except maybe return it, which could cause you to get one even slower.

 

[nubie]

I am prety annoyed to read that some units have "crappy/rejected" CPU's in them, and that I can "get an overclocker" if I "expect to pay a little more". WTF, I paid my money, I should get the same unit as anyone else.

We all have the same budget-bin cheapo chips, this should not be a revelation to anyone.

All of us have the same binned chips, some will run faster than others, you are paying the distributor to test his units and gaurantee one that will clock.