3820TG Owner's Lounge - Part Two

what happened to intel 6230 experiment ? does that card work ?

 

Any card should theoretically work.

 

for some reason my intel 6200 has slower wireless than normal, my dads netbook shows 150mb/s for the status and for my laptop it varys between 36mb and 54mb on the status which means the laptop itself is limiting its speeds even though its connected at wireless n. The max internet download speed i get is 15-20mb but sometimes it drops down to 10mb whereas on my dads netbook i get between 25-30mb consistently. We have 30mb broadband so we should be getting around 25+mb and I am literally in the next room from the router so i am not far away from it. The only wireless N device thats not working is on my laptop.

EDIT: I've now tried reinstalling the driver, switching channels, MMS is on by default on my router and now ive tried a different adapter on the same laptop and it works with another wireless n usb adaptor fine, i receive the high speeds i wanted but not with the inbuilt card... I have no idea how im meant to fix this...

 

I have no idea but my guess is somethings up with your antenna wires for sure.

where'd ya buy the card?

 

i bought my card from ebay, the guy had good feedback... Ive switched to the original one in and when i get close to the router i achieve speeds of around 130mb whereas my intel card only reached around 48mb. Also i get the full 30mb on speed test when im in the same room with the original broadcom card. Im not really sure why its acting up like this :S Is there any other card i can buy?

 

Depends on how long ago you bought it but i'd tell the seller the card is faulty and you'll contact e-bay and pay pal and leave him a bad review. If he's cool he'll have you send it back and he'll replace it. He/she should anyway.

 

I would but i literally bought it around the same time as my laptop so nearly a year ago. I'll see if he'll do it but i doubt it.

 

Ouch. A year ago... Maybe not. Don't sweat it though, we've all done stuff like that. Who was the seller btw? I plan on buying a new card soon, it would be nice to avoid the guy

I was thinking of buying from Asia (on ebay) to get a cheap one but the wait time is crazy and judging by the quality of the last few items I bought from Asia (on ebay) I might not lol.

 

it was a seller from china called wifi-bluetooth they seem to have mixed reviews...

 

I see some people with I5-540M. Is this a lot better than the 480m?

 

For you guys that have upgraded RAM to 2 4GB sticks, is there any height/spacing issues with any sticks out there that you know of?

 

I shouldn't think so, mine came with 2x 4GB sticks

 

There should not be any issues as long as it's using standard DDR3-SODIMM specifications.

 

Does repasting void your warranty? I've had my 3820tg for 4 month, if there was a hardware problem, I would have seen it by now i think...

 

By the terms and conditions of the warranty service, your warranty will be void if you change the ram, hdd etc... but practically speaking even replacing the processor will not void the warranty.

 

Thanks for the quick answers guys.

I'm thinking about upgrading RAM + Processor in mine. I've got an i3-370 in mine, and I want to get a i5-540. Is ebay the only option for mobile processors?

 

Hi!

I'm planning to buy this laptop because it is the best bang for the buck right now here in Canada.

Acer Aspire TimelineX AS3830TG-6494, Notebook (Blue) - Intel Core i5-2410M (2.3GHz), 13.3" HD (1366x768), 6GB RAM, 750GB HDD, NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M 1GB, No ODD, Wireless BGN, Bluetooth 3.0, HDMI, Webcam, USB 3.0, 6-cell, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bi

What are somethings I should know other than the throttling issue, and what are some things i should do to make it even more awesome?

I will be only playing light games (league of legends, team fortress 2, etc.) So should I be worried?

Thanks in advance!

 

I have the old 3820TG and it plays TF2 perfectly, so you should have no problems there. Can't speak to LoL though.

 

Does TF2 trigger the throttle problem though?
or is it just the really demanding games?

Thanks for the reply!

 

The 540m has a higher frequency "turbo" mode compared to the 480m.
The 480m has on average slightly better benchmark ratings and is newer.

The main advantage the 540m has that it is more of a "business" CPU (same with all the 5xx series over the 4xx).

For example, the 540m has technology that allows for better virtualisation, faster encryption / decryption (for example if your laptop contains an encrypted harddrive, regular CPUs can experience extremely degraded performance), it also has some better security protection against hacks for example.

In general, for home use, there is no advantage for changing to a 540m, unless you want to have your harddrives encrypted.

 

If you intend to OC it even moderately I would rather get the i5-480. This is based on the fact that the Turboboost on the i5-540 raises the clock 266MHz less on one core than the other. For the same buck invested on the i5-480 version you get an even raise on both cores, rendering the computing power greater on the i5-480 (taken the app is multithreaded). This fact seems to evade many, even more so when declaring these fantastic overclocks on the i5-5** and i7 series. The difference between the cores is even more on the i7 series. Those high turbo frequencies on those are pure marketing BS if you ask me. There is also a risk that you will end up getting a C0 stepping of the i5-540, whilst the i5-4** only exist in K0 stepping.

 

I can hear noise from HDD in audio output and I have a question if changing hdd for ssd solve this problem? Someone with SSD?

 

Yes, it is optical, I use it all the time. In the Sound Settings of Windows 7, it is called the Realtek Digital Out, I think.

Sorry for such a delayed response to your post.

One thing I am finding about the replacement US keyboard, is now that it is installed, the top part pops up occasionally from under the tabs which secure it down at the top.

I filed off some of the metal where the tabs click onto, thinking that the metal was too high for the tabs and they weren't able to fully secure the keyboard down. The filing has helped a bit, but the keyboard still occasionally pops up from under the tabs and has to be pushed back down and clicked into place.

Very annoying.

Has anyone else seen this problem?

I had an OCZ Vertex 2 in my old HP laptop and upgraded to a larger 90 GB OCZ Vertex 2 within the last six months and I have had no problems, 15 second reboots. Very pleased.

Can't say how this compares to other drives though; But since I was happy with my first OCZ Vertex, I'm sticking with OCZ for now.

Sorry for the delay in responding to this old post.

 

Make sure you install all the latest updates, especially one for startup delays. There's a hotfix specifically for slow Win 7 boot times / slow Win 7 logon times. It fixed my slow boot and login problems right away.

Also, an SSD helps.

Sorry for the delay in responding to this old post.

 

hi mark2000, on fixing the startup delay, what hotfix would that be? windows 7 hotfix or from acer?

 

Which audio output?
3.5 headphone jack?
3.5 optical out?
HDMI audio?
USB headphones?

 

Hi, did anybody figure out how to start with Bluetooth ON immediately (or at least ON), i tried 3820tray with that load profile on startup... but i cant get it running

 

Try this. If it does not fix ot then Google the problem and search for other hotfixes.

The Welcome screen may be displayed for 30 seconds during the logon process after you set a solid color as the desktop background in Windows 7 or in Windows Server 2008 R2

 

thanks! i don't have the 30s delay and it states that a wallpaper will eliminate that problem anyway.

 

3.5 headphone jack....

 

hey guys, i have a 3820T

my battery is dead and it was a 6000mAH, the thing is when i was browsing acer product store, i couldnt see anything but the 9000mAH for my 3820T

Can i buy just a 9000mAH or do i need another adapter ? Can every 3820T handle 9000mAH batteries ? would it works perfectly as a 9000mAH meaning i could get 6hours+ ?

Anyway, if you could help me out i'll really appreciate it, event telling me which battery you use would be of great help

Thans again

 

A 9000mAH battery is a 9 cell battery, which will add a bit of weight to the laptop but also extend your battery life well into the 12 hour range. It will work perfectly fine with your current adapter. The default 6000mAH battery is a 6 cell battery.

 

Hi folks,
Hope someone can help.
I have the Acer 3820T and recently Windows 7 task bar showed red X on the battery icon in the task bar. Hovering the mouse over this shows "no battery detected". The battery LED flashes every second or so (orange).

I unplugged the AC adapter the laptop still showed no battery detected.
Eventually, battery was drained and now the does not work without AC adapter.

I unplugged the AC and the battery. Held the power button for two minutes. Reconnected battery and the AC - no joy. Battery still not detected.

I went into device manager and uninstalled ACPI manager under the Battery section and rebooted. It came back in the device manager but still no battery detection.

I changed the AC adapter from another Acer (4741) but that does not help either.

It is not charging the battery - I can only run the laptop with AC.

I bought a new battery (non-Acer brand). That is exactly the same.

I have been trawling through the google space and there are many folks who have had similar issue with their battery but have not seen any conclusive fix.

Seem like my charging circuit is dead ?
Any other ideas ?

 

thanks alot for the answear. Would you mind recommanding me website where i can order one of those ? its out of stock on the euro acer store.

Whats the best site to order acer battery in europe ?

 

thanks! that seems to have done the trick.

 

Is there a special place I don't know about to buy bare/OEM laptop processors? I can't find an i5-480 for sale ANYWHERE, even eBay.

 

Buy an i7-720qm... I think it's easier to find.

Or if you really want the i5-480m, buy the i7 for me and I send you my i5. LOL.

 

The wires on the charging circuit are quite delicate. If you're still under warranty, its time to RMA. If not, you can check for a pinched or broken wire. Have you had your unit apart. It's easy to pinch these wires.

Bronsky

 

Thx Bronsky for your suggestion. Sadly the laptop is 6 months outside of warranty . I have not taken apart the unit. Except for replacing the HDD (which was trivial).

I just downloaded the service manual from a link on these forums. It shows one field replaceable unit which is called the Power Board. Is this the charging board ? Anyone sell these ?

Is there any way of testing if the charging circuit is faulty or is it a software problem ?

Is there any way reseting the CMOS (like on a desktop system by moving a jumper) ?

 

me my battery is detected but wont charge itself. It says charging but stays at 0%... I dont know what to do, how to be sure the battery is dead? I went to acer and they told me i had to change the battery but they asked 150e for it and i couldnt pay them at the time.

I see generic battery at 45€ on the web, but will it work ? :<

 

I haven't had to do it but I would guess that you have to pull the mobo battery. Unfortunately, I don't think you have a software problem. It sounds like a short. You can check the charging circuit with a multimeter and micro-leads.

Since you got an aftermarket battery, you can't rule out battery failure. At this point, I would spend a few bucks to have a tech isolate the problem.

Bronsky

 

Hi everyone. I just bought one of these today, and in general the build quality seems to be very nice. I have a bit of a problem though. I find it running abnormally slow in windows. I will click to open things, and it is sometimes having these mini-halts and taking 5-10 secs to open things. I have checked and the proc usage isn't high, just normal background 0-2%.

By the way, it is a fresh install of x64 premium ISO that I installed immediately after getting it home.

I want to get it fixed, because it is acting like a Pentium 3 right now (windows score'd CPU at 6.9, so it doesn't seem to be defective).

Id like to add I went to the official Acer site and used all the latest drivers. I am running under the intel graphics in windows (6550m if switched off).

 

Do you know the model of your hard drive? Is it by any chance a Scorpio Blue? Because that hard drive is known to have problems like these. There is a software fix, QuietHDD iirc, or you could change the hard drive.

 

Some updates for some drivers:
AHCI - updated to v10.1.0.1022
Realtek HD Audio - updated to R2.63
Atheros Bluetooth - updated to v7.4.0.40
Atheros WLAN - updated to v9.2.0.419
Intel WLAN - updated to v14.1.1

Find the link to the driver listing on the first page

 

Thank you very much for answering. I just checked, it is indeed a Scorpio blue 5400rpm 500GB drive. All the drivers I mentioned however are the latest, since when I did my fresh install yesterday I used all the ones from the Acer site.

EDIT: I used quiet HDD, and it seems better than it was. I am assuming these drives decide to turn off often for power purposes, and when it starts spinning again it is lagging. Thank you,

 

This issue was discussed in detail in the first 3820TG thread, but it's impossible to find the posts that discussed it since the search function is so clunky. If you want to, you can go and take a look.

 

To search on the first 3820TG thread, replace the "XXXXXXXX" with your keywords on this google link. It's way easier to find something useful.

 

Hey all

I'm having a problem with Windows refusing to let changes to the harddisk spindown timer while on battery in power management stick. It simply keeps resetting the setting to 2 minutes, which means I'm wearing heavily on my harddisk while using it, since the spinups and downs never cease. I suspect this is due to the Acer software running on the machine... Any workarounds or ideas?

Thanks =)

 

Reinstall Windows and DO NOT install any Acer software! (except Launch Manager)

 

Trouble is though, how am I going to get my windows serial to work then? The ISO's available around the net aren't compatible with my serial (win7 home premium x15-53758). Now that I've actually gone and purchased a legit version of Windows, I'd like to use it instead of messing around with cracks and the like!

If you know where to get that one, I'd be very happy and appreciative to hear it! =)