i-Buddie 4 Desknote Review

I have used different monitors, projectors, and TVs with my iBuddie (both VGA & S-Video out, sometimes together). I have the SIS 650 chip with 32MB of ram. You can set your monitors up to mirror the main display, or they can be an extension.

Or you can only use the external screen. Someone spilt water on my keyboard about a year ago and now my FN key doesn't work, which means that I have to restart every time I want to use an external display.

Oh yeah, mine is limited to "Medium" colour quality (16 bit) when there is an external display connected. It makes XP look kinda bad.
 
A928 Repaired! Thanks DAVID CAI!

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Thanks to PCReview and to all the guys that pointed out that David Cai is the man to do the job! In less than 3 hours he managed to fix the power supply problem and attach a brand new pin(lost mine when it broke). It's working great! Thanks David Cai, thanks PCreview!

-Jun-
 
Good Job

Sent my Notebook 8599. David repaired as promised and sent it back very safely. Well done.
 
How do I...

Contact David Cai? Am I missing something obvious? I have a 928 with a massive overheating problem.

Thanks for the help.
 
Another question....

David Cai did an excellent job of fixing the power plug on my ECS A928 desknote a while back. The machine itself however still runs quite warm and I have ordered a notebook cooler. I'm having no problems with the machine but I am trying to find a cheap IE. free program to monitor the temperature of my CPU. (P4 2.4 GHz) I have one for my desktop computer but it's not compatible with this motherboard. Can anyone point me in the right direction.

Oh yeah.....thanks David...excellent fix on my machine.
 
A while ago I had the power plug melting issue, and after reading this thread, was able to disassemble and repair the computer myself, and it has worked great ever since. Today though, the connector on the battery seems to be crapping out - it's not overheating like it's a bad connection, it simply won't work unless the plug is wiggled JUST right. Right now I have to sit the battery upside-down and hang the cord off the desk to pull it where it needs to be. Has this occured to anyone else? I'm planning to perform an exploratory surgery on the battery later today to see if I can solder it, but I would like more info if possible. I don't have enough money to send it to Toronto, nor do I really want to wait that long, or I would do so.


Also:

umiwangu said:
I have used different monitors, projectors, and TVs with my iBuddie (both VGA & S-Video out, sometimes together). I have the SIS 650 chip with 32MB of ram. You can set your monitors up to mirror the main display, or they can be an extension.

Or you can only use the external screen. Someone spilt water on my keyboard about a year ago and now my FN key doesn't work, which means that I have to restart every time I want to use an external display.

Oh yeah, mine is limited to "Medium" colour quality (16 bit) when there is an external display connected. It makes XP look kinda bad.
Click to expand...



Could you describe the procedure for doing this? I have tried, and all I can manage is booting it with the display going only to the TV out, and displaying weird, like the resolution is too high. The monitor out port just didn't do anything. I have the same video card as you do, SIS 650/ 32m ram.
 
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I just finished soldering my battery socket. They actually have the board glued in there, not removable, which was the worst part. I was very close to offering David Cai like 5$ to tell me how to take it out x.x I eventually had to physically cut a piece of the plastic case off the outside to get at the back of the prong. It's now ugly, but works. I just worry about the plug going in and out - I've chosen to just leave the little short-ass cord that comes with the battery in the computer since I repaired that, but I can't as easily lug around battery + power brick all the time, so I will have to take that out frequently. I suppose worst case I have to solder the thing again.
 
Help Need a U key for keyboard

hi have i buddie A928 i brock the letter U key on my keyboard so i'm looking to see if anyone out there whos keyboard might be broken has a letter U key that they dont need any more. if they have i dont mind paying something for it.

Georgina

(e-mail address removed)
 
evil twins

One of my two A928's (yes, I have 2 of the buggers, don't ask why!!!) has devoloped a strange hobby, once shut down, the power needs to be dis-connected and re-connected before it will turn back on. Anyone? Only does it with the 2.8GHz P5 processor, not with a 1.6 pentium or 2.0 deceleron. Bad processor? Fix?
 
Hi fellows (I-Buddiens)

The same problem, with the same I-BUDDIE 4, with the same bloody burnt pin, that of course, sucks and the ECS of Taiwan should be sent to a Concentration Camp in China,
until they understand the Protocol of customer respect; so a finger for them.

For almost 4 years, I was very happy with my I-buddie 4 and one day, I read about the problem of heating. I knew that I could fry an egg sometimes on this Desknote, but I was careful and even so, I won my burnt pin, thanks of these Chinese pickles of the Elite CIA.

Taking a short cut, I did fix it myself, soldering, but I could do better next time. I have to use a lot of scotch tape to put every screw from where I took them out and not to loose the location and know where to put them back, because they’re tons of them and different sizes. Damage your motherboard it’s a possibility. Careful that doesn’t touch the other pins or you can have fun if you catch on fire. I have to sand the pin to make it less tight in the plug and put an isolation rubber around the connector to avoid the heat from the CPU and put everything back on place and things started to look better for the moment.

Please, pray with me to King Kong and if that happens again we go to send him to attack Taiwan.
Marti
 
I-Buddie Desknote Problems

I am another person who had a I -buddie with problems out of warranty without a solution or a place to repair this Laptop. Thank God I found this forum and David Cai to help me with my problems. I had problems with a noise I thought was the CPU Fan. After trying to find info as to how to disassemble the motherboard I realised that it was a very painful process and in addition I damaged the Motherboard. Just as other satisfied users of this forum I contacted David Cai. He really knows the Desknote and is very helpful and proffesional in the way he does business. He responds to e-mails very quickly .He explain to me what needed to be done and completed the work in a timely proffesional, cost saving manner. I would highly recommend to all that if you are have problems with this Laptop contact David Cai first. David Cai <[email protected]>
 
I have learned from the message posted about the problems of i-Buddie A928. Up to this writing I am also encountering problem like "My display flickers or is garbled". Please help me solve this problem. Thank you very much.

jimag2006
 
A928 fix

David did a fantastic job with the repair of my laptop; the power source had melted, as noted in posts above. He fized it promptly and really knows his A928s. David also provided a couple of small fixes he was not required to perform. The laptop works great and the price ($130) certainly bets buying a new comp/laptop.
If your A928 is broken, his email: [email protected]
 
Don't bother discussing it, use David Cai!

All of the above problems happened to me. After some research I found this thread, emailed David and he fixed my computer quickly with a fast turnaround. He is very competent, fast to communicate and great value for money. The iBuddie is a great machine in my opinion and outperforms many western badged machines. Thanks David

Mark JB
 
just got my i-buddy back from david.

it works greAT AS PROMISED.

will send my second i-buddy in for repair soon.

thanks david!!!!

kj
computer corrections
cookson, ok
 
Hi guys,
This is the 100th time this name appears in this forum - David Cai.
Thanks this site I found that proffesional guy. All hardware problem with this "gold" laptop, ask him: (e-mail address removed)
 
got my ibuddie fix for about $28 from the service center referred by the local distributor of ECS. Now my problem is where to buy a replacement for the burnt powed adaptor. I've called a bunch of computer stores and they don't carry them anymore (bec. the stupid thing is obsolete). The local distributor said that i have to wait for a month or so, it i buy the adaptor from them. Geez!!! This ECS is one pain the is arse. Can i buy this online?
 
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