3820TG Owner's Lounge - Part Two

Actually that's normal (at least in Europe). The logic behind this is "if you're buying parts for a laptop that is no longer made- your laptop is broken and you can afford a new one. You will pay then".

 

any update on the GPU driver? the one im using doesnt return the screens backlight after returning from sleep.

 

I have problem to use Digital Output to send sound to Logitech Z5500 via coax cable. The sound bar is moving but Logitech Z5500 can't detect digital signal. I used a converter for Coax to 3.5mm.

I was able to use Digital Output when I had acer 1410 on the same Z5500. But I forgot what I did to make it work.

Can anybody make any suggestion?

 

I'm probably way off here but doesn't the 3.5mm as digital output on the 3820tg send light signals while coaxial sends modulated digital signals? If so there could be an issue with the converter. Again, i'm blowing stuff out here, someone with an audio background will know more.

 

Would this: Canada Computers | Memory | Corsair Mac Memory 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1066MHz CL7 SODIMMs, Apple Qualified (CMSA8GX3M2A1066C7)

Work in my 3820tg? I know its "for apple" but is it really all that different? Anyone know?

 

Don't take the Apple one, a few of them have other information inside the SPD and will not work nicely on a laptop. Take in mind, that you are not able to overwrite the RAM settings inside the 3820TG Bios.

 

The 3820TG only support by default only optical S/PDIF and not the digitial coax one.

Maybe that you can patch it with an TRealtek driver, if the audio chipset is able to give out the digital signal on the analog audio ports.

 

Leshcat Catalyst 11.10 Preview 2 has been released.

More info.

 

Like the others have said, the 3820TG outputs a digital OPTICAL signal, not digital coax. You need a cable like this:


I am currently using my 3820TG with a set of logitech Z-5500 s so I can guarantee this is the issue you are experiencing.

The optical output really does blow the analog away, you will wonder how you ever listened through the 3820TG's crappy preamp once you hear its digital output.

 

Does it fix the brightness issue?

 

Brightness issue? The only problem I get is switching back to ATI from Intel (the screen gets black and I have to restart the computer). So I'll roll back to Alien9's v11.6. :|

(Running ATI Radeon HD 6550M)

 

I installed the newest drivers (11.10) over the stock acer drivers... no problems so far... I was able to 800/1050 no it went down to 780/1030 which is still a very good oc on the gpu... I still have the old intel drivers though but it doesn't matter. switchable graphics still works

 

That is the right way.

 

So, many jumping to Asus UX21/31?

 

Why?

The higher solution of the display is the only nice feature.

 

Hello all!

I really need your help and experience (and your patience as I'm just a simple unskilled user not a pro)! I've bought my 3820TG about a year ago. I've chosen it for it's great price/value ratio. I'm completely satisfied with it's performance and portability.

I have only two problems with it since I've bought it. While I use the computer it sometimes stops working/freezes (I don't know whats the perfect phrase for that so I'd rather describe it in the next sentence) for a few seconds (2-4) and after that it carries out everything I did during that time. For example when I'm writing a text in Microsoft Word sometimes it suddenly stops to make that continuous noise that it usually make (I think the hard drive's noise) than I don't see on the screen what I'm writing. After 2-4 seconds suddenly everything appears on the screen and the noise continues. I also feel it during FPS gameplays. I run straight ahead and then I detect an enormous lag (computer becomes quiet) then it functions properly again. I can't emphasize how annoying can it be when I become fragged because of it... My brother's better at computer stuff and he adviced me to send it to the service, as it can be a hardware problem. Acer service is simply amazing. I wrote them that I suspect that the hard drive or the processor could make the problem. And what have they done? They simply replaced them I think they didn't even switched on the computer as when I started it, it required me to wait until it detects and installs the new hardware. The problem still exists... Which means it mustn't be the hardware. I hope some of you have met a problem like this before and knows how to solve it... Computer pro's I really need your help!

Other problem (This might have something to do with the first problem). I couldn't update my ATI GPU driver since I've bought my computer. The latest driver I've found on acer-s page made a memory leak issue for me at Borderlands game. The game started to eat up memory. It was significantly faster than with the previous driver for 5 minutes, but then it became as slow as a snail. I had about a 1/10 frame per second refresh rate So I've installed the old driver again. I tried to use drivers from ATI-s page but they couldn't handle this double GPU thing. I couldn't change between GPU-s. Could you tell me where can I get a better driver? If you know which drivers were updated during the last year you could also tell me where can I get them too.

Thank you for your help in advance!

 

@dbalazs123

To problem 1:
Are you using an antivirus scanner? Could this access the hdd and create the slowdown? Or is an instant backup software running?

Start up the resource Monitor of Windows and take a look the harddrive section which application creates the traffic.

To problem 2:
Download the last driver from the Acer page and install it. Reboot the laptop.

Go to the Bios and change the graphic to discrete. Load the AMD page and install the last available driver for the card. Reboot the laptop. Switch the graphic back to switchable in the Bios.

Have fun and play the game

 

@dbalazs123

i had the same problem with inexplicable freezes too, (Microsoft Word f.e.). Since i've updated to 8gb ram and SSD there are no more problems. If Acer replaced your harddrive, the ram is an option. Think about buying 8gb ram (very cheap at the moment). I must say that my old ram had no errors in memtest...so the problem was really inexplicable

 

@Just_a_Nick

Thanks for the help! As soon as I'll have some time I gonna try this bios aided gpu update method and I'll also watch the resource monitor carefully.

I don't have any backup program as far as I know. I use ESET Smart Security as antivirus program. Could this cause the problem?

@maikvalberg

Thanks for your advices too, but I'll wait to perform these steps until I won't be sure there isn't any other way. I don't think my HDD could cause the problem as it was just replaced and the probmlem remained. The "inexplicable freezes" are also present while I edit texts in Word not just during playing high-end games so I hope 4GB memory is enough to run a text editor program Anyway I'm planning to get an SSD but I'll wait until prices go down.

 

@dbalazs123

when i talk about 8gb ram update, i don't meant that you need 8gb to run Word properly . I meant that the ram can cause the problems of freezing windows, because it might be defective, although Memtest does not show errors. I had exact the same issues with Word --> type few words, freezes, and after some seconds there is the sentence

8gb because it's really cheap at the moment!

 

I have to agree with Wally33, the optical output of the 3820TG is working just fine and is way better then the analog output.

 

Yeah, I'm interested in this display as well. Wonder if the 13.3 inch screen can be swapped into the 3820tg. I'd gladly take any screen with better angles and contrast than the stock 3820tg screen. Only thing is, with a 1600*1200 native resolution, games are going to take a noticeable performance hit.

 

@dbalazs123

The "lag" freezes were discussed a lot in the past and the few of us who had it swapped HDDs and that seems to work for us.

 

I doubt that many 3820tg owners will be buying a UX31 since it lacks a dedicated gpu or a way to add an external solution. I would expect some to buy the lg p330 if they ever release it.

 

The UX31's resolution is 1600x900 (16:9 aspect ratio) and I don't think that the 3820TG supports resolutions above 1440x900 (16:10 aspect ratio) resolution, which ironically wouldn't fit in the case.

Hence we're stuck with the 1366×768 (16:9 aspect ratio, approx.).

 

Thanks a lot. Crappy Acer support told me 3820TG has coaxial S/PDIF. Will order a converter. Looks like 3820TG uses optical S/PDIF but 1410 uses coaxial S/PDIF. I made 1410 works with coaixal S/PDIF but I forgot how I did.

 

Still, a 13.3" IPS, 350 nits, higher contrast, matt display panel would be nice, even if it is 1366x768. Has anyone looked into the Lenovo X1 panel. It is still TN, but it is quite thin, very bright and has decent contrast. It only lacks non-glare surface.

 

Of course, it would be beautiful! I would love to see it happen, just wonder if anybody has the balls.

 

yea that would be amazing

 

Plenty of balls around ... it's the brains that are the problem. The conversion is prohibitively expensive. A factory made Lenovo X1 replacement display panel is $991. NEW A+ LENOVO 27R2439 13.3" WXGA LED LCD SCREEN DISPLAY | eBay I was afraid that the price would be insane. That is $200 more than I paid for my computer. I can get a complete X1 for less than that from the outlet and just add external graphics.

 

hi everyone.. i have a big problem for me. today after i opened a youtube page on firefox, i couldn't hear any sound ( started 2 seconds good sound then corrupted ). The speaker isn't working i think.. But when i use my headphones it works correctly ( only headphones are working )..
Are my speakers on notebook crashed ? broke ? what is the problem with speakers ?

 

Oh wow! thats twice as much as a FHD vaio Z 13.1" display costs. if only the 3820TG had dual LVDS support

 

Hey all! I have a question regarding the drivers for the GPU. On the following page you follow hotfixes for the drivers: http://support.amd.com/us/Pages/Catalyst-Hotfixes.aspx

So my question is: Is this only for desktop PCs?

Because when I go to the drivers page, and choose my specifications, I only get version 10.9 as an alternative, while 10.10 version 3 is the newest.

Thanks in advance!

 

Yes, those are for desktop GPUs only.

 

That's too bad. Because I would like some new drivers for BF3

 

I accidentally stumbled on these sets of beta drivers that may do the trick for you.
I haven't tested those so don't blame me...

 

Thanks a lot! But I'll wait until the game has been released.

 

Hello

First post for me.

So as we all know the destroyer of good grades is imminent, battlefield 3. Being the poor student that I am, I can't buy some awesome desktop pc. Since that is the case I simply has to work with what I've got! Which is this laptop. So my question is basically, is there any way to make it fit4fight for BF3?

It seems like upgrading the memory is a decent idea, but I can't really make out what kind of memory this laptop uses. ATM I've got 4gb DDR3, if i'm not mistaking I should be able to add another 4. So should I go for the same memory, which would be DDR3 PC3-10600, DDR3 PC3-8500, DDR3 (non-ECC) according to this page 8GB Kit (4GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-10600 upgrades for Acer Aspire 3820 TimelineX Laptop/Notebook, CT2330955 from Crucial.com

Or perhaps should i buy 8 gig of 1333mhz memory, I saw some post here about doing just that.

What else can I do in order to improve my system? I've already done a reinstall of windows and thus removed all the redundant software that came with the computer.

Just recently I also installed the latest drivers for 5650, unfortunately they somehow made me loose the option to switch between the integrated Intel gpu and the faster 5650, anyone know why?

Is a cooling pad (think that's the name for it in English) something I should consider? This laptop is kinda hot, both in awesomeness and in temperature...

 

Overclock your gpu and cpu + buy an ssd/8gb ram... ram is cheap now you can get 8gb for 50$ ssd becoming a lot cheaper too... The biggest improvement would be ocing your cpu and gpu right now... use the fan mod to get 10C. the only bottleneck is the cpu right now if you get an i5-580m and oc it to 3.8ghz it would be good... overvolt the 5650 and oc it to 750-1000 if you can. With my i5-480m @ 3.3Ghz and 6550 @ 780/1030 i can get about around 40fps at medium/high

 

How do you overvolt the 6550 ???
Does yours actually run 780/1030 without artifacts ???

 

Buying 1333MHz RAM for a 3820TG is useless as the CPU will force the RAM to run at 1066MHz. However with this "throttling" you get lower latency (CL7 vs CL9) if you buy a 1333MHz module as compared to a 1066MHz module.

 

I've been searching around for websites containing spares & upgrades for my laptop, haven't really found anyone all that good yet. Do you have any suggestions? Preferable one that ships internationally since I live in Sweden. What kind of memory do you have installed? With "fan mod", do you mean a mod as in changing the hardware or are you referring to some software?

Thanks

Actually I haven't got a clue what latency is, but judging by the word itself and trusting my English-skills, I'd guess you want as low latency as possible. Which means that 1333Mhz modules aren't all that useless or? I'm having trouble understanding you... Or does the latency even matter?

 

No- 1333MHz modules aren't useless, it's just that you won't benefit from sheer throughput since these are going to be limited to 1066MHz.
Still- these days 1333MHz modules cost exactly the same money that 1066MHz do you can buy 1333MHz- no additional investment yet reduced latency.
Truth be told you won't notice reduced latency in real life but it's not like you're paying premium for this...

 

I see, 1333MHz it is then!

I also, as stated in my first post, encountered a problem due to the installment of new gpu drivers. This is what happened: 1: Downloaded latest drivers from ATI. 2: Drivers could not be installed, however after changing from switchable to discrete in bios, they were successfully installed. 3: A problem appears! It seems I no longer can switch between the two gpus, for instance, the option in the menu for switching cards in the "right click desktop menu" is gone.

 

You should not install the drivers directly from AMD, you should install the drivers from Acer in switchable mode, then change to discrete and install the official AMD drivers, then switch back to switchable mode again to enable switchable graphics.

 

is there a guide with more details?

 

But, since I already had the drivers from acer installed, I don't see how I my method differs from yours?

 

I'm also very frustrated with the fact that I can't get any other driver to function properly than Alien9's v11.6 revision 3. With Leshcat's I get the backlight-problem however I install it, clean or over the stock Acer ones. I've got a HD 6550M. Thank you for your help.

 

Go back to Bios and select" Switchable " .You then will have option switching back on the right click desktop.

 

If I do that, my screens turn black after logging in, and it stays that way,