3820TG Owner's Lounge - Part Two

Have you taken a look at the lenovo y470/480 y570/580? They got comparable specs and are much cheaper

 

Recently got the TG.

I want to upgrade ram in it, I'd like to go to 16GB, however 8GB will suffice if I cannot go to 16.

I bought DDR3 Cosair ram and it doesn't work.

Can anyone point me in the right direction for compatible ram?

Thanks in advance!

 

Hi all,

I have the i5-480m with 6550m version of 3820tg. Anyone tried running Diablo 3 beta? How does it fare? What settings and fps are you able to get?

Thanks in advance

 

I did, (i5-430m, 5650) and it ran great after shaving off a few demanding settings (shadows,...). Even without OC.

I cannot tell you specific fps numbers, because beta suffered a pretty major bug where very ofthen fps dropped rapidly to 10-14 fps with very annoying game jitter. This occured on specific places (tied to particles not handled properly), like templar breaking barricade, spells being tossed at you.

Summary: Do not worry, it will run great on your rig. Once they fix the particle bug.
And I certainly hope they will not ship a game with a major problem like this.

 

Hey!

I've had my Timeline 3820TG (with the 6550M Radeon) for over a year and I've had this recurring problem with the discrete video card (wasn't bothered by it initially because I hadn't planned on gaming, but D3 is coming out so here I am trying to fix it).

Problem:
When running a game that should have no problems (such as Mass Effect 1) with the Radeon 6550M, I get an error that says my AMD driver has encountered an error and stopped (causing the game to freeze and crash).

Side Notes:
I am able to run League of Legends on low settings, but when I switch to high I encounter the AMD driver has stopped working error.
Also, I have tried updating the drivers, so that does not seem to be the problem (I used the ones from the Acer website).


Has anyone encountered this problem and know a solution?
I really did try searching the thread but its really hard to sort through all the information with questions pertaining a video card.

 

I did as well,

I have the same rig as you (480m + 6550m), I was running on my external monitor at 1920x1080 and I oc'ed the gpu to 800/1000.

Had no issues running at maxed settings.

 

This problem seems to be fairly unique to your unit. Have you tried completely removing your current driver, sweeping your unit with a driver cleaner and reinstalling the most recent Acer driver? That is where I would start. If that doesn't work, I would consider a clean install. http://forum.notebookreview.com/6465732-post1612.html If that doesn't work, I would look to GPU hardware issues. I would check temps first with hardware monitor (actually you might want to do that before you attempt a clean install) and repaste if necessary. If that doesn't work or temps check out okay, I would consider a repair facility for a diagnosis. The behavior you describe is not normal for a properly configured, properly working 3820TG.

It is amazing how well the 3820TG still performs on new game releases. I've had one of these for nearly two years now and still haven't found anything I like better. This has turned out to be one of the best notebooks I've ever owned. The only obvious weakness is its display.

 

I have to agree with you there, adding a very poor audio speakers as a weakness.
The concept of this 13" beast is ingenious and I haven't seen anything similar in this price range packing this kind of punch.
I mean - being able to play newest games on reasonable settings in a 13" body on a what, 2 years old rig?
It almost couldn't get any better. I love Acer for this laptop. Wish they haven't strayed from concept though.

 

I had similiar problem with driver when i bought my 3820tg (i5 480, 6550m), but it was very annoying, had it all the time. Laptop was replaced by shop for a new one, also 3820 and now i see this notification maybe once per 2-3 months.

 

Thanks for the reply, what fps were you getting if I may ask?

 

IIRC: Was around 60 in the quieter areas and around 30ish in the busiest sections of the beta. Slowed down especially near the end of the beta when I was fighting the final boss who kept spawning all of his minions.

This is all going off memory from the beta weekend so I could be off somewhat.

 

I have another way to display the hidden menu on the amd driver ..
and it is more efficient without mod the original driver ..

by changing the registry on amd .. (I've tried and works on AMD Radeon 6550M Acer 3820TG)

may be different on your notebook can change :

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E968-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0000]

change 0000 to 0001

apply reg after restart or log off your Notebook ..

 

What does this hidden menu do? And where do I find it, once I've applied the tweak?

 

you can show several features without mod the original AMD driver..

increase in several 3D Application Settings :
================================

anti-aliasing :

+ Temporal anti-aliasing
+ Morphological filtering
+ set level anti-aliasing (2x)(2xEQ)(4x)(4xEQ)(8x)(8xEQ)

Aniso Filtering :

+ High Quality AF

Catalyst A.I. :

+ Texture Filtering Quality (Performance)(Quality)(High Quality)
+ Enable Surface Format Optimization

Adaptive Anti-Aliasing :

+ Enable Adaptive Anti-Aliasing (Smooth)(Sharp)

Direct3D Settings :

+ Enable geometry instancing

The original CCC AMD driver not show ..

 

Is this needed if running Leshcat's drivers? Do I just run the attached .reg file?

 

no, if the above menu is available ..

reg file only for the original or beta driver..
and only serves more fully display the menu..

 

Hi guys,

Got a slight problem with my 3820TG-6829 (Core i5 480M, Radeon HD 6550, 4GB RAM, 500 GB HDD).

Computer is extremely slow, especially on boot up, and core temps are running extremely hot at 80+ degrees at times and almost always above 55 degrees. I'll probably take it apart and clean and reapply new thermal grease but I also want to run a memtest to make sure some of the random restarts and BSOD I'm getting aren't RAM related.

Problem is that memtest 4.2 and 4.1 both reboot the computer immediately after it loads from USB. A problem like this is reported in the first thread but no answer came from it.

Any ideas from the experts?

 

Hi Guys.

I've recently upgraded my 3820TG (ATI HD5470 version (3820TG-354G32nks)) from a i3-350M to a i5-540M. Right after the change it started to give BSOD (code 7f).
It's not temperature as it doen't pass the 60ºC.
The BSOD happens randomly when i'm playing a game and even when i'm googling.
I've already did a memcheck and it didn't detected any errors.
I've made several tests with Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool (64-bit) ( http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19792) and everything is OK.
I've made several Benchmark tests with SuperPI, futuremark software, etc... and the results were normal.

Another thing I noticed is that this BSOD only happens in 64bit windows. I've tryed to install the 32bits and this didn't happened.

This is what i got when using BSODViewer:





I'm not sure if it's a defect from the CPU or not and i don't know what to do next to have sure.


Could Someone help me?

EDIT: I also got this from the Event Viewer witch i think is related to the BSOD:

Code:

- System 

  - Provider 

   [ Name]  Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power 
   [ Guid]  {331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4} 
 
   EventID 41 
 
   Version 2 
 
   Level 1 
 
   Task 63 
 
   Opcode 0 
 
   Keywords 0x8000000000000002 
 
  - TimeCreated 

   [ SystemTime]  2012-05-04T16:05:57.247203100Z 
 
   EventRecordID 2343 
 
   Correlation 
 
  - Execution 

   [ ProcessID]  4 
   [ ThreadID]  8 
 
   Channel System 
 
   Computer RuiRodrigues-PC 
 
  - Security 

   [ UserID]  S-1-5-18 
 

- EventData 

  BugcheckCode 127 
  BugcheckParameter1 0x10 
  BugcheckParameter2 0x80050031 
  BugcheckParameter3 0x6f8 
  BugcheckParameter4 0x71cc8d77 
  SleepInProgress false 
  PowerButtonTimestamp 0

Thanks
Rui

 

hey folks.

I'm currently using the 3820tg with the i5-480M & ATI 6550M.

not sure if anyone's got the same problem but i just got diablo 3 and was playing it for abt 15 minutes and then my 3820tg suddenly shuts off. i'm guessin its due to overheating. anyone got the same problem? i am already placing it above the surface its on to improve air flow but its still shutting down every 15 minutes of gameplay or so.

I've played crysis 2 and BF2 on this bad boy and everything was fine until today. I got it last January. Could this mean that i need to get a new notebook or is there a way to fix this problem?

thanks for reading!

 

First of all measure the temps- no need for guessing.
Also make sure you use canned-air (gas-duster) once a month or so to stop dust from accumulating in the radiator.

 

Played 4hrs cpu 3.2 gpu 780/1000 no problems with bios fan mod

 

Hey sorry for the late response. Even though what you suggested worked great, i'm still having a problem with the nvidia catalyst control center. When I click on the program, it doesn't do anything. When I right click the desktop to go to graphic properties, nothing happens. I didn't think much of it before but now after installing D3 and having graphics issues, I want to solve this problem.

Any suggestions?

 

Hi Guys
I am thinking about cleaning fans in my 3820TG. How do you clean this laptop? Is it enough just to unscrew the bottom and spray the fans and radiators? Is it possible to unscrew this bottom?
Thanks in advance

 

Thanks for the advice! it works!

managed to somehow open up my 3820tg after following the pic by pic steps that i found to change the CPU or somthin. I am surprised i didnt break anything internal but i did break my F2 button while try to pry the keyboard out but yeah. managed to go all the way into the fans and blow out the dust.

I also tried looking for somekind of prgram that will allow me to increase the fan speed at a touch of a button but it seems that the only way to do it is going through BIOS etc which seems a bit too much for me to handle. Opening up the notebook itself was hard enough, i dont think i want to risk playing with the BIOS.

Thanks again for the advice! Playing D3 is smooth but sometimes during the cut scenes, it lags a bit.

 

I recently did that. I actually googled "acer 3820tg disassembly" and one of the results was in the form of a pdf. Its got a pretty good step by step guide with pictures. You would need to literally unscrew the back, take of the keyboard, and unplug some internal stuff. I am just surprised i didnt break any thing as mentioned in my previous post. But once i can see the fan, i just use the spray cans. I didn't try to open the fan any further though. although the dust may seem minimal but they do seem to affect the performance and temperature. well mine did anyways.

gd luck to u

 

Thanks Tin2. I have the same PDF i guess, but I'm wondering do I really need to take keyboard out? I plan to take out as few parts as possible because I always have a bad luck when I try to improve something that is already working fine.

 

You can also take a look at user kindan's PDF guide. The additional explanations and pictures are useful:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/6571874-post3001.html

 

Hi, new to the forum. I was wondering if anyone knows if there are new drivers coming to the Radeon 5650 HD soon. Going to start playing Diablo 3 and would be nice with smoking hot drivers …
Or is there a way to simply install the drivers directly from amd?

edit: ignore found the answer here in the thred

 

btw the bios mod is just a 1 click and it changes the fan profile to a more aggressive state you will lose wifi until you reboot it works very well -15 to -20C on load compared to the normal

 

Any of you guys ever think of looking on the first page of this thread? There is a link to the Acer online manual for the 3820TG with a complete disassembly guide. My temps are still quite low considering the age of my 3820TG. The IC Diamond 7 paste has really kept temps down low (38C idle) and if dust has gathered on the radiator, it hasn't affected performance yet. This notebook has been nearly maintenance free.

 

Does anyone remember seeing a modded BIOS that allowed for lower brightness? I vaguely remember there being one out there somewhere but I can't remember.

 

Would it be possible to connect the USB receiver of my wireless mouse to the print traces at the second PCI-Express connector of my 3820T (not TG) ?

I am planning on buying an Logitech wireless mouse with a tiny receiver, but if i could hide (and connect) it inside the laptop it would be awesome

 

Should work. Take a look at the schematic, hint sim card holder.

 

Hi,

Thanks for your reaction. Where can i find the schematic? I have looked on this forum, but since the search function is so crappy, it is hard to find. And with Google it is also impossible to find.....

 

On pin #4 is USBPP and on pin #8 is USBPN.

The schematic is from a ru forum.

 

Hey Guys!

I have look through the thread but it would be nice with a small cohesive guide in one post

I would like to update Acers old Catalyst Drivers for my 6550m, as I understand it I need to install some moded drivers if i want the latest?

Will there be some perfomance enhancement?

Do i just install them over the old ones? if not how do i do it?

And last but not least where do i get them?

Thanks!

Edit the catalyst control version I have at the moment is 11.10

 

Don't use the modded one. Use the AMD one, but don't deinstall the old "Acer" one.

 

Ok! But is there any way to get hold of newer AMD drivers? I cant find anything on AMD's site they just reference me back to the computer manufacturer

 

64 Bit

10 chars

 

Tried that several times but it basically says that it doesnt support my hardware and that i should contact my notebook manufacturer for drivers.

 

Have you activate the AMD graphic card at the moment you start the app?

 

Yeah, I have the 6550m activated, my brother have the same laptop and receives the same message as me (that the app cannot identify the hardware.)

 

Maybe that AMD has changed the detection. I have used this way for a long time.

Now I am using a modded Bios.

 

Found pinout here: Linuxsolver: Laptop modding: install usb on mini PCI-e

 

Hi, I just updated my AMD drivers to 8.950 driver version from 14/02/2012 using this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/7480048-post800.html

that worked very well

 

I wonder how many people actually use the hybrid drivers. I tried them once, received a BSOD within the first hour and basically had to format c: and do a clean install to get rid of it. I'm not keen on doing it again. Just my two cents.

 

Safe mode wasn't working? You could've used a recovery disk and system restore...

 

I'm using them for quite a while now. There are some problems, but the way I use the computer those never come up. I've had a BSOD or two when I was installing new drivers, but after the restart everything worked so it never bothered me.

 

I have been using them for a while now. The key part is to follow installation manual to the letter and chosing the tested and stable version of drivers.

 

Hey guys, I'm having an issue and am hoping you can help me. I'm using leshcat's drivers and my card (6550m) won't clock up in games. It stays locked at 300/300 instead of 600/800 (or higher with an overclock). I can get it to go up to 550/800 by watching a YouTube video at the same time and locking it in the "low 3D" mode, but that's it. I tried installing drivers from Acer's site as well as different leshcat drivers and neither is helping. I've also used DriverSweeper in between. It seems that driver installations can be particularly messy with this laptop. I've been searching around and can't seem to find and answers, but my time is short to work on this (medical resident) so I was hoping you guys could point me in the right direction. Thanks!