3820TG Owner's Lounge - Part Two

My guess on the display is that you have the 13.3" Travelmate 8732 LG version display. If it is a recent manufacture, it is probably a replacement model.

I have no idea where you're going to fit additional heat sinks/fans in the 3820TG. I have had my old unit apart on a number of occasions and have always marveled how tight the tolerances are in that notebook. A screw out of place pops the keyboard up or makes the case impossible to close. I am a skeptic and don't believe that you have room for the extra fans. The only option I can see is if you can put one on the bottom near the exra PCMIE pad and duct it through the motherboard somehow. Still, I don't think that would be very efficient and you will have to duct the exhaust through the bottom of the unit. I think you're limited to the 2 fan/sink set up of the 3820TG. You might be able to use the sink itself to add cooling fins like the 3830TG owners did, but you will still have to cut away around the motherboard to face the fins toward the bottom of the unit. It's an interesting problem. My concern woujld be that the modifications may make for a less efficient cooling system than from the factory. You're probably better off just using some really good IC Diamond 7, adding some venting fins and drill holes in the bottom of the case. Maybe put the whole unit on a notebook cooler to help vent air through the system. The Quad should be fast if you can keep it from Throttling.

 

You could be right, I just took a quick look when I was changing paste and thought there is enough space to put one more fan just above the stock one, I have one little fan laying around from Acer Aspire One, its really thin, just a few milimeters, maybe that one could fit, but I'll see when I open it again.
About heatsinks I'm not sure either, these are about 5mm tall but I can cut them a little if needed.

I've been researching about two fans on one connection for desktop motherboard (cant find about laptop) and its not recommended as the mobo probably wont be able to take combined current. What do you think about this?

Thanks for paste recommendation, I'll try to find it here, right now I've used Noctua N1H1, I'm not sure if it is better then Artic Silver Ceramic that I have as well and how much worse is it then IC Diamond 7 (I'll try to google it)?

PCMIE slot for fan would fit, however I'm not sure where to connect it so it doesn't run all the time :/

I'll post pictures of whatever I'm able to do in a week or so when I get those heatsinks.

 

The Original 3820TG thread was 1000 pages long and this part II is almost another 300 pages so you'll never find it, but we tried a lot of paste on the heat sinks. IC Diamond 7 was by far the best with MX4 running second. I saw temp. drops of nearly 10C and was amazed. I have never seen as much of an effect by merely repasting. It must have something to do with the efficiency of the sinks in the 3820TG. IC Diamond 7 is thicker than normal paste and is hard to get a perfect thin film for maximum benefit but it's worth the effort. I changed out my CPU about a half-dozen times (I3-370M to I5-450M to I5-540M and back a couple of times for warranty service) and finally got good at it.

 

Is anyone else playing Diablo 3 and having issues with lag, freezing and frame rate drops? I have 3820tg with 5650, i5 460m.

 

10C is pretty significant temp. drop, unbelievable. I've had MX4 but didn't like it much, imo it is way worse then AS5, at least thats how it showed in my tests with E8400 trying to reach 4.5GHz. There is no IC Diamond 7 in my country, I've called all bigger stores today, most of them never heard of it some of them pretended like they know what it is
MX4 is available here, it isn't expensive so I'll give it a try.

I really do need that custom agressive speed fan mod if anyone could please host it somewhere again.
I've tried 3820Tray and making a batch file but it just won't flash the original KBC. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

 

I have similar specs (i5 450M) and play fine. Are you sure you are not throttling due to overheating?

When I get home I can give you the game settings, but I didn't change them, just played on the ones the game selected.

 

Ok thanx, but what graphics card do you have?

 

Are there any news about replacement screens, that could be fitted inside this model?

 

Do you have your GPU overclocked?

 

5650. I did have my laptop cleaned and pasted not so long ago, so you can look into it.

Also monitor your temps while playing, then you can know if it is overheating.

Check if you are playing with the gGPU and not the iGPU (could happen )

Set the battery settings for max performance (don't think it will help much)

 

No, no overclock..

 

What version of catalyst control center are you running?

 

Here's what I would do. First, run HW monitor when playing and post the temps to see if you are throttling. Make sure you have the latest video driver. You can use the latest stock driver or try to use the AMD drivers listed on the first page of this thread. If you are throttling, I would clean the unit and have new paste applied. I would use nothing but IC Diamond 7. If there is not throttling, I would think about trying to overclock the GPU. You can use MSI Afterburner. Check out the 3820TG Tray thread linked on the first page of this thread, for instructions.

 

12.6

Playing with textures and physics high, shadows and clutter medium

 

ok, thanx, but how do I know if I'm throttling? I seem to be topping at arround 112 celsius. I'm running catalyst 12.7 beta...

 

Your CPU has a max temp of 106C. If that measurement is correct, it sounds like your problem is temp. Are your fans running? Are you getting heat from the exhaust vents? Time to go back to basics. Get rid of the beta driver, restore a stock Acer driver and try playing the game. Check temps again.

 

Ok, what temp should I be getting? The fan are running I think, sounds like it, think there is heat comming from the exhaust vent, will check again.

When you say "stock Acer driver" do you mean the ones that were installed when I bought the computer or the latest ones on acers site?

And it's my GPU not CPU running at 112c, but maby that's just a typo

 

You should get 90 degrees tops on both, I think... Anything higher is pushing it. Are you using HWMonitor? That is usually pretty accurate.

Also I do believe he means the latest switchable driver supported by Acer

 

Was using HWMonitor yes. Thinking of buying some compressed air and thermal paste to try and fix it, never done that before but have built my own stationary’s before so I figure it can’t be that hard, or am I wrong? Will also go back to latest acer drivers. Anyone have other tips for fixing heat issues?

 

It is a bit more complex than assembling a desktop pc. That's why I sent mine to a shop to clean and repaste, as they have the right tools and more expertise.

However it is possible, so if you are feeling confident, go ahead. You can always refer to the Service Manual

Other than that you can check if the cooling is not passive on the energy profiles and get a more aggressive Fan profile Mod

Always prop up the back of the computer on a book or something so you can have space between the bottom and the table.

And you are not very concerned about the aesthetics you can do as prikolchik did and drill some holes on the bottom cover.

 

The GPU is even more sensitive to those temps. Is your unit resetting? Do you get a BSOD? If not, I suspect you are not getting a true temp reading.

Here's the steps I would take. First uninstall the beta driver, run driver sweeper and install the most recent Acer switchable driver. Establish a restore point at each step and run HW monitor while playing your game. Report the temps. While playing, you should hear both fans running to 70% and hot air should be coming out of the right hand vent. If that is working properly, you probably don't have broken heat transfer pipes. Let us know after you have that done and we can make suggestions.

 

Ok, so installed the laest acer drivers and put the computer on a book, now topping at 72c while playing still have to run everything on lowest but preformence is better. maby I will try 12.6, anybody know a good download site?

I started looking at opening the cumputer and cleening it but its semed hard, do you really have to remove tke keyboard to get to the heatsink or am I missing something?

 

Looks like your problem was that driver. 76C under stress is not surprising.

The only way to completely clean the fans is to take the shell apart. If you're uncomfortable, don't do it. If you get a can of compressed air you can do a partial cleaning by GENTILY directing air into the exhaust vent from the outside. But be gentile. You don't want to harm the fan.

The newer drivers may help a bit. To get better performance from the game you may need to overclock the GPU.

Update:

Zsero's Fan Profile link had been updated on first page. (resolved broken link)

 

anyone has a working fix for switchable graphics in windows 8 yet, I remember playing bad company 2 during the developers preview, but that may have been on discrete settings in the bios.

 

I am having big problems with my harddrive and if I can't get help from Acer to sort it (they claim my serial is invalid) I'm thinking of replacing it with a SSD. Is there any real use doing that? Can the motherboard handle SATA 6GB/sek?

 

There is a real advantage in putting an SSD. Try it, you will get addicted and frown upon any PC still carrying an HDD.

As for the speed, our mobo only handles SATA II, so 3Gb/s. You can always put a SATA III drive, it will just run at SATA II speed, but it is compatible. That is what I did and runs fine. If I ever upgrade to a new pc, I can take the SSD with me and it will run at full speed.

 

hi guys, last good switchable drivers for our (6550) 3820tg????
thanxxx

 

Hi guys,
the driver page at the forum ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/acer/561840-3820tg-owners-lounge-part-two-80.html) does not have the direct links to drivers anymore. Can someone share the new set of drivers. I plan to do a clean install.
Thanks

 

try it

LESHCATLABS.NET

 

The new link doesn't point to the fan profiles, only the file host main page.

 

Damn must have been moved. Zsero, if you post the link, I'll put it on the first page.

 

Anyone having problems with connecting to WPA2 Enterprise again? My 3820TG suddenly decided to crap out on me and now I can barely surf the Internet at school on both WEP and WPA2 Enterprise. However as usual, everything is fine at home...

 

I uploaded the whole fan profiles directory that I've been using (credit goes to zsero or whoever created the originals)

here: 3820TG Custom Fan Profiles mod.rar

It includes the original profile (flash, gaming, quiet, original) .bat files

hope that helps

 

Thanks. Link fixed. Rep to you.

 

Trying to do a clean install of Windows on my Agility 4 and running into a couple problems with the drivers.... One would be how do I install it? Windows Update decided to install something weird and now my screen is black when I run switchable graphics.

Also trying to find updated drivers, especially the AR5B97 drivers, but they don't seem to play too well with my school's WiFi network... Anyone got links to updated drivers? This one is pretty outdated while others are removed, such as Alps

 

Atheros Wi-Fi driver v 10.0.0.75 (for Win 7) and 10.0.0.200 (for Win 8).

 

Relatively good site for drivers.. Has most of what I needed.

NecaCom | Katalog drajvera,novi drajveri,PC drajveri,drajveri za kompjuter,it novosti

Edit: Still can't get the latest Leshcat hybrid GPU drivers working... Need help!

 

Heads up for the new Catalyst 12.9 Beta. It introduces automatic switchable graphics named Enduro. Another new exiting addition is full Linux support for switchable graphics! I've installed it on my W7 3820TG and it is definately an improvment! The manual switch is much faster! Have'nt got any games installed for the moment so I cannot try out the automatic switch functionality. Hopefully someone here can give it a go:
AMD Catalyst 12.9 Beta

 

I saw that, but people are saying that it doesn't work? How'd you get yours to work?

 

Hi guys, I've had the 3820TG for about 2 years now, it is a amazing laptop I must say.

But recently I've started running into problems with it.
I see that this forum has a fair amount of people dedicated to this laptop so I'll ask here and hopefully someone can help me to get my problem solved.

The boot time of the laptop has increased by a lot over the summer, even though I haven't gotten much things at startup, but the startup time would still take a good 5 mins.

And so I decided to do a fresh install.

I reinstalled it with a version of W7 that comes with the service pack 1, everything would be fine.

But after I have everything ready and set, problems would kick in.

When I startup the laptop, it would take ages to load into the desktop, and when I do get to use the laptop, it seems like Window's Explorer has a tendency to stop responding for me. But the error doesn't seem to happen when I switch the graphics card to the intel one. So I am guessing it's a driver problem. I am fairly certain it's not the Windows 7's problem, as it worked fine with all the other machines I've installed it on to.

I just want to ask the exact steps I should do after doing a full, clean reinstall of Windows 7 with service pack 1, as I have read that service pack 1 doesn't cope well with the intel graphics drivers. Someone please help me, I have started college and I want to use the laptop during college.... Thanks!

 

Actually it doesn't. I did a quick install and noticed a faster time when switching between GPU's, but did not have time to check if it really got installed. It did not stick, I think I must blame this on placebo effect... Sorry about that. Note to self; never install early in the morning and rush to work without closer verification if you are about to post it here.

:SLEEP:

 

What did you do so far? What drivers have you installed? The latest ones from Acer website, the custom ones or the official ones from ATI?

Do you have an HDD?

 

I do have an hdd in it.

I am planning on formatting the drive so I can do a clean install, can you tell me which drivers to use and what to install first? Btw the graphics card on mine is the 5470 ne with the i5 450m and 360gb hdd, 4gb ram.

Thanks for replying!

 

Ok. What I do for new graphics drivers is:
1- Use driver sweeper and clean out the amd drivers (If just formatted skip this step and step 2)
2- Reboot
3- Install the latest switchable drivers from acer website in the 3820 support
4- Reboot in discrete mode by pressing F2 at bios posting and changing the settings, install the latest amd drivers from amd website
5- Reboot in switchable mode

However some users are reporting some issues with the latest catalyst control centre version. I am using 12.6 perfectly fine. The above procedure is if you want the absolutely latest drivers from ATI while retaining the switchable capability.

You can always just set the bios for discrete and install the latest ATI drivers from their page, forgetting about the intel GPU.

Of course you can also use the latest Acer drivers (from 2011), game performance won't be very different and compatibility is assured.

I asked for the hdd because putting a SSD inside will TREMENDOUSLY increase the laptop speed. Maybe it will solve your long loading times.

 

This might help. My original 3820TG drivers are listed. http://forum.notebookreview.com/ace...rks-tweaks-mods-upgrades-162.html#post6465732

 

I'm not sure how you got 12.6 from leshcat to works perfectly with your acer, but that version didn't fix the black screen problem completely. It was the best version for the acer 3820tg, you don't have black screen as often. But it was still there. I kept submitting ticket to him and reporting back, but after a couple of times he completely ignored me. I have tried every version, they all have black screen problem. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate his work. Other laptops work fine with his driver. But just not on the acer 3820tg. I got tired and never want to deal with another black screen problem ever again.

 

Thanks for the helps guys, appreciate it.

I've formatted the hdd and got drivers and such installed.
But the laptop BSOD'd suddenly when I was doing nothing with nothing but the wifi, lan and the graphics driver installed. I haven't installed anything else and I just left it on the desktop. It just randomly BSOD and whrn I got into startup repair to see what's up it says it's repairing disk error, so I guess my hdd is causing problems now. Any suggestions as to what I should try before buying a new hdd? Although I am very tempted to go and buy a ssd and get this over and done with. Thanks.

 

You can check your hdd with the free trial of hdtune, if there are any s.m.a.r.t errors. Make an error scan too. HD Tune website.
Second check would be your RAM. (memtest)

However, I recommend to buy an SSD, you will not regret it Prices are falling at the moment...
Samsung 830 or Crucial m4 are very popular. Although the 830 is a bit faster, the m4 is more efficient (your battery life will benefit). Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Looks like Leshcat drivers haven't been working with the 3820TG for a while... So I guess no Windows switchable graphics for us. Only BIOS switchable is possible.

 

???? Kids nowadays with their ADD...

1- Use driver sweeper and clean out the amd drivers (If just formatted skip this step and step 2)
2- Reboot
3- Install the latest switchable drivers from acer website in the 3820 support
4- Reboot in discrete mode by pressing F2 at bios posting and changing the settings, install the latest amd drivers from amd website
5- Reboot in switchable mode

This gets my 5650 windows switchable with AMD OFFICIAL drivers (no custom leshcat crap that gives me blue screens every other minute)

This is very stable with catalyst 12.6 (haven't upgraded because this is working fine, so there is no need)

I can't vouch for newer catalyst versions compatibility nor for 5470M, but it should be the same.