Advent 9315 crappy laptops
About 4 this afternoon, my neighbours knocked on the door for some help with a new laptop they had just picked up from Currys – an Advent 9315.
The guy in the shop had said “just turn it on, it really simple”. This it turns out was utter bollocks.
Firstly, none of the drivers were installed so it needed 9 reboots to install the 6 drivers (no, I don’t know why the supplied CD appeared to install the media slot, modem and lan drivers twice). Once this was done, it still appeared to have no wireless. Windows reported that “no wireless device is installed”. Grrrr.
Turns out that after booting, you have to press fn-F10 to turn on the wireless. Everytime. What a pile of toss. Anyway, after turning it on (which caused it to install drivers and then insist on another reboot …. grrrr, I thought vista was supposed to remove the need for endless reboots?) it came up with a wireless card – woohoo. Except it couldn’t find any networks. None. Bugger all. My powerbook was happily sat there connected to my home network and offering me 5 others. The Advent however told me nothing was available.
After spending ages trying to work out what the hell was going on I took it upstairs and sat it next to the wireless router. Ahha! 1 bar of signal. If it was within a ft or so of the router it worked badly. Any further than that, forget it. The chances of using it downstairs – nill.
A bit of googling suggested others with similar problems so, if you are thinking of buying an Advent 9315 beware – it’s a bit toss 
(yeah, I know, blog slacker etc etc, I’ve been busy with various trips, diy and sorting out grave stones (how much?!!!?11one! For a paving slab???) so whistle for it )
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:36 pm
This review is a pile of toss I have one and had none of the problems you have had.
May 20th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I have one and i’ve never encountered any problems with it. The reviewer is a bit of a toss.
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I too have the same problem with having to press Fn + F10 to enable the internal wireless adapter after boot every time. Came across this page looking for a solution. Very peculiar problem. Never seen a laptop that does this before. Have not found an answer yet.
May 23rd, 2008 at 7:42 pm
Dear George (haha, such wit) and Steve (or could you be the same person?),
Glad to hear you haven’t had any problems with yours – seems you were lucky. I still maintain it is a cheap, crap laptop with some serious issues and it seems others agree. Still, each to their own eh?
Laptop went back, staff in store admitted they had had several back (so, it’s fine eh?) and it was swapped for a HP that was only 20 quid more. Worked fine in all rooms, no problem with signal strength at all. Wireless works all the time and doesn’t need bloody turning on every time. Much better.
As for “The reviewer is a bit of a toss” who ever claimed this was a review??
May 31st, 2008 at 10:58 am
Have to agree it’s a pile of s**t. I just bought one and I’m not happy with it.
It was supposed to have a cd containing a user manual, don’t know where that is.
I don’t have wireless problems but the build quality is pretty poor.
I agree it’s a pain having to turn antenna on every time you boot up.
I cannot find out how to disable taps on the touchpad, any ideas?
June 4th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Hi, no offence but i put these problems down to people who know nothing about computers… also anyone with a brain gets rid of vista and uses XP because VISTA is basically SHIT. My mum has n advent, my niece has one and i just got the one your on about and havnt had any problems. But the problem you are on about is a VISTA problem and happens to a lot of vista machines.
BUT DO NOT BUY FROM CURRYS
one they over charge, two there is no support. you buy a vista machine with this problem and they can easy turn round and say its not there problem and charge you £60 to fix it.
good luck people
June 20th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I have owned the advent 9315 for about 6 months now and have had no problems with it at all. The only thing i find crap is the short battery life which is only about 1 hour 30 mins with the setting on power saver.
The driver problem you described was more than likely either hardware not being properly supported by vista as someone has mentioned or not being installed properly in the first place. I didn’t have any problems with vista premium and even re-installed vista so i could get rid of the crap pcworld had installed.
If you think about it, wouldnt it be more annoying to continuously have to turn off the wifi in areas you can’t or don’t want to connect to the internet to save your battery power. Either way theres gonna be those that moan. Also my grandad lives across the road from us in a ground floor flat and i can still surf the internet off my wireless bt connection in his house so maybe you just have a crap router or service provider. I have no problems in any part of my house either, whether downstairs or up. I move around my house alot carrying my laptop sometimes from room to room still surfing and no probs.
I use my laptop like my home PC so i will have downloads running while surfing the net with various other programs open at the same time and never experience and freezing problems or anything from this.
So for me, yeah there are things that can be improved like the battery span but all in all a good value laptop that does what i want without any problems
August 1st, 2008 at 4:18 am
“wouldnt it be more annoying to continuously have to turn off the wifi in areas…”
a bios setting that allows “enable/disable wifi on boot” would fix that, but if that is too much to ask then it should at least start in the same state that it shut off in. On the wireless point, it is idiotic. Especially to try to explain to a grandmother/primary teacher why she has to remember to hold down the function key and hit F10 before logging in. It’s hard enough to train them to hit CTRL-ALT-DELETE simultaneously.
Finally, soooo true about VIsta. We wipe it out any chance we get. It stinks.
September 1st, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I wish I hadn’t bought this laptop – battery life is pitiful – in this day and age I’d expect at least an hour of battery life, not to mention the 2.5 hour charge-time to get it back up to 100%.
And the graphics card – an SiS Mirage – is the cheapest pile of crap out there. I wish I’d gone for a branded laptop (HP / Toshiba / Compaq) etc.
November 15th, 2008 at 10:47 am
Hi shell i noticed wha you said about the short battery life lasting 1hr 20mins. You think that is short! Iv had my laptop since jan 08. And in the lst 2 months my battery hasnt been holding the charge! With 2 windows open doing barly anything. On balanced – my battery last 10 mins on power saver it last 20 mins! Dads taking it 2 the tech guys 2day 2 see if it can b fixed
November 16th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
I bought my 9315 last january 08 and I am generally quite happy with the computer, it does all the things i need it to, the wireless is great, nice range. it surfs quickly and downloads well. The 2g of ram keeps everything fluid, usually. The screen is nice and doesn’t turn negative at angles (i’m sure there’s a fancy name for that somewhere)The speakers could be better but you get for what you pay for. however, i too am suffering with an extremely short battery life which seems to diminsh more when the wireless is on. Also the compter runs very hot due to the heat sync, so much so it crashes during prolonged (an hour or so) use on fabric surface like a bed or sofa. The compter also crashes when doing too many thing, ie I can’t watch a show while on line and moving folders/files at the same time. But in the end, it’s slick lookin, fast inside, light with a big screen(in proportion) i find it perfect for a mobile, home pc
November 19th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Emily mine does the same. make sure and write back so i know if mine can be fixed too.
November 25th, 2008 at 3:43 am
Did someone say ditch Vista and put on XP? Have you tried to get XP drivers for this thing? What a nightmare….glad I read about the Wifi switch needing setting every time and more glad it’s not my laptop!!
Nearly 3 in the morning and I’m ready to hit this on the head. Good luck to anyone else that tries.
November 29th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
looking at buying this model until I come across this site, it seems that they have passed on all the problems from packhard bells to advents
it’s about time pcw curry and dix get there act together and supply
good machines, also to tell you the truth, tried to buy a pc last year in local store in the sale, i would like that one, informed OK walk this way,
he looked at the PC ordering system and said sold out, can I order one or have the display M/c, he booked it for me (he said?), then he walked me over to ?bell machines to buy, NO thanks. looked in the store again a few weeks later at the end of the sale and the same m/c still there,
asked the same questions with the same answers, following day, same again, asked to see the store manager, he’s busy? I’m a customer demanding to see him, had a word with him and asked him what the game was? and i formed him that I’m not happy with the so called sale advistised, all you are trying to do is sell the cr@* machines plus a few more words, looked in the store again, and surprise the PC still on the display at the sale price. CurryPcwand Dix, get your act in order
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:11 am
I bought 2 Advent 9315 laptops in December 2007 and not had any problems with either of them. Only thing I don’t like is having to turn the wireless networking on via FN + F10 every time, other than that I have absolutely no complaints at all.
January 27th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
I bought an Advent 9315 in eb 2008 and the battery life is rubbish. I have never had more than an hour and a half of battery life, and for the last 4 months it has been down to 35 minutes. I just called PC World and they’re collecting it on Monday and changing the battery under warranty, so we’ll see. Fingers crossed
February 5th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I bought my laptop in 2008 and its pretty sound battery life is all i can say and as for everyone going on about omg u have to press fn + f10 u have to be the worlds laziest people in the world o crap i have to move my hand but its stuck to the mouse. What should i do help someone help. i love it. I sit out side I get net I sit up steers guess what I get net its never f-up on me like my old Sony. its quick the g-card ent the best but its no alienware that u pay over £4000 is it no it £400 and just the CPU and hard-drive would cost that alone so if Ur not a gamer (buy a tower) not lazy (nf + f10) good buy for what u get Intel core 2 duo 1.5. 2g ram. 120 hard drive and vista witch runs sweet umm
February 5th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
OOO and the____ with the first comment first go back to college and learn how to fix them before u brake them. That has to be the funnest s*** i have heard its all crap but thats for u lot to find out
February 26th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
I have one these laptops and am totaly 100% pleased with it,it runs vista perfect.
battery life is approx 90 mins but mainly use mains anyway.
I put mine into hibernate state and dont have to use fn and f10….but at the end of the day its only 2 little keys if this is all people have to moan amount in life they must have no life.
April 9th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
BASICALLY YOUR A PRICK.
THERES NOTHING WRONG WITH THE LAPTOP, ITS THE PLACE THEY BROUGHT IT.
ALSO YOUR CLEARLY AN IDIOT WHO HAS INSTALLED THE DRIVERS INCORRECTLY.
April 10th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Wow, what a wonderful comment. I assume you are an extremely experienced computer expert – you’ve certainly got the hang of the capslock key.
Oh, I think you meant “you’re” but I’ll ignore that.
April 12th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
I have this laptop and have had it for half a year now.
I only had to boot it about 3 times but after that it was fine. I do have the constant fn-f10 but I’m now so used to doing it I don’t even notice that I do it anymore and the range works fine. The only real problem with mines is that it overheats, ALOT, I tried googling that but I’ve only been getting results for older models.
April 16th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
The need to manually restart the wireless connection is VERY irritating. The people who have posted juvenile and frankly arrogant comments along the lines of it being so easy that anyone who complains hasn’t got a life have never had to try to help elderly people use a laptop. As an earlier poster said, it is an unwanted and unnecessary complication. Not everyone is a spotty computer geek and the comments simply highlight the typical nerd’s inability to think themselves into another person’s situation.
On reboot a lost wireless connection can generate warning messages that frankly worry and confuse inexperienced and elderly users. A lost connection also means no automatic security updates and no continuity of connection after a required reboot with the possibiluty of even more warning messages.
I pointed this out (initally very politely) to PC World where I got my parent’s laptop from, but they tried to persuade me that this was “normal” wireless card behaviour, which was news to me. I have been buying laptops for organisations for many years and this is the first one that has ever done this.
July 12th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
I have a laptop with almost exactly the same architecture except for the Wireless card. In my case is an internal Ralink RT2501USB but I experienced the same issues you say: WLAN always OFF after boot.
After some days I found the answer: updating the BIOS. Now the Wireless card is ON by default.
This link works only for model U50SIx (where x=number) laptops, so don’t try to flash this BIOS unless your laptop model matches the requirements or you could be exposed to a much more serious problem than that of the wireless. Look for an appropiate update of your BIOS
http://forum.novatech.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4230
Mine is U50SI1 box INNOBO.
Good luck!
July 12th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Looking around I found this:
“Advent 9315 === ECS U50SI 1 (Gericom Phantom A4 Superlight)”
at:
http://www.w00tw00t.co.uk/support/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4736
In other words, the BIOS flashing will also work for you, suffering Advent 9315 users…
October 4th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
I don’t get why you’re making it out to be such a hassle to hold down Fn and F10 – it takes about 0.2 seconds to do and is hardly complicated.
The battery life on the 9315 does suck though – although I got a letter the other day saying my battery may need to be recalled – so I might get a new one that way.
October 9th, 2009 at 11:09 am
I’ve had numerous problems with my laptop (Advent 9315), mainly the hardware. The base of it heats up regularly, which was a problem with the fan. It was cutting out several times during use as a result which was very frustrating.
I did buy it in Curry’s about 2 years ago and am still paying it off unfortunately. Wouldn’t have ever gone near this computer had I done my research initially. It really gets me down to hear that within the space of 2 years, decent laptops can be bought for a mere 400-500 euro and they don’t experience the same hassle as one bought for double the price and interest to boot. Anyway, I’ll learn from experience as the thing will be mine in a couple of months. For what it’s worth the laptop behaves like it’ll croak at any given point.
So it cut out numerous times and was sent back promptly, 4 times or so, each time returning with the same problem.
I found them to some way polite on the phone, but their maintenance staff cheekily only cleaned the fan the first two times, and after an irate call, replaced it the 3rd time. But when I received it back the CD-Rom was broken. It was jamming and was difficult to close.
So I rang them again(and I hated the way I felt I was inconveniencing them) and stated my case. So it was returned and fixed and returned again to me.
It seems fine at the moment, but I’ve always had a problem with the battery. I can’t leave the laptop operating without it plugged into a socket as the battery won’t last for more than a minute. Yes, and external parts aren’t part of your cover. Typical.
So I was wondering if anyone could help me regarding the battery -
Do I have to get the same spec battery that goes with the Advent 9315 or can I get a similar one? The reason I’m asking this is that the 9315 is a lot dearer than the other series to purchase for some reason.
Oh, and yeah, I’ve never had the wireless function work on this computer.
Not really sure what’s that about.
November 30th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
I have had this laptop for about a year now. No major complaints except the fact the battery lasts about 30mins when not plugged in to the mains. does anyone know if you can get a longer life battery ?
December 6th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
has anyone had proplem with paint peeling on computer lid as mine peeling every where.
March 31st, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Just like to note that when i purchased my advent 9315 i looked at the descripion and there was clear indications that it was built to be placed on a desk not on a bed nor lap, taking this into consideration complaining about the heat issue is unjustified as there were clear markings that it simply wasnt buit to be on a bed or a lap. the battery sucks but theres alot worse NOTEBOOKS out there.