Acer 1410, 1810, 3810, 4810, 5810 Timeline Drivers, Software, Tweaks and Settings FAQ

Ok, i installed RMClock and I am wathcing at "Battery info" but I don't know where to look or what to look for.

I am charging it right now, I will post some print screen 45 minutes later when it's full.

LE:
I uploaded the screens, please take a look.

 

@ dok_indo thanks, I'll add it to the start post.

@ netics, your fully charged battery capacity is close to 60 Wh. That's good enough. Have you installed al the latest drivers from Intel, as mentioned on the first page of this thread? Also run Windows update.

 

@Phil
Can you please add this model to the bluetooth info?

DELL J613H

 

Yep done....

 

@Phil - yes, I installed latest drivers but I had some problems with Atheros Lan (100% CPU problem) and I uninstalled it. I think it's ok 5 hours battery endurance.

Thanks for advices.

 

I've got Windows 7 RC 32-bit - 7100, and my battery life seemed kind of low (maybe 4.5 hours). I installed all the latest drivers per some other posts in this thread. Then I finally found the ePower utility under the Timeline 4810 applications section of drivers/downloads on the Acer site. I installed it, but there's no tray icon. Should there be? I can't recall from Vista. It seems to be running in the background per the processes list in Task Manager. I'm on the 1410 - not sure if you have a Timeline? Thanks.

 

I've successfully made a bootable sd card with the newest version of memtest86+ on it using the utility here.

Once you get it to write to the boot sector properly (took me a few tries using vista x64. I finally got it to work by launching an administrator command prompt, navigating to the drive, and running the makeboot.bat) you can switch out the "memtest" file with the newest "Pre-Compiled Bootable Binary" version from memtest.org. Just make sure to extract it from the zip and rename it from "memtest86+-2.10.bin", or whatever name it has, to "memtest" (no extension) so it can be recognized.

 

BIOS recovery. If you bricked your device, this might help. Works on 8471, other timelines should be similar. Warning!This is experimental! Please report back if it works for you!

Edit: The forum's spamfilter removed a part of the flash program's filename, it's called f_l_a_s_h_i_t.exe

 

Thanks dasfool and der_mali. Tweaks added to startpost.

 

anyone noticed vbios version in 1410 is 1800 and in 3810t is 1744??

in win7 1410 gets 3.3 in graphics and 3810t hovers between 3.1 and 3.2

 

This tweak does not work. The fan is still switched on from time to time.

 

It's not intended to disable the fan completely, but it stops the continuous running of the fan when plugged in.

 

Well, at least on my 1810t the fan is still running continuously. But IMHO this is not the real problem, as the fan runs quite silent. The frequently "howling-up" behaviour is distinctly more annoying.
But with the tweak the fan is doing that less often though.
Perhaps you can mention that in the first post.

 

Timeline battery life measurement software

 

Well, I just finished hacking the BIOS of the 1410 to enable VT. Definitely not a user friendly adventure. If you don't know what VT is, why you would need it, or understand the risks involved, please do not continue.

This method is probably the same for the 1810 as well, but I cannot test this. If someone wants to try and let us know, that would be great!

I'm unsure about the legality of distributing a premodified BIOS image, so I'm going to tell you how I got it done, and if anyone with more knowledge about those kinds of things wants to come in and make it easier, be my guest.

If you do this right, you should end up with a bios file that is exactly 1 bit different from the original, that enables VT for your 1410.

How I got there:

I started at Marcan's Blog about Enabling Intel VT on the Aspire 8930G (and other InsydeH2O-based laptops)

The specific VSS_OFFSET,SIZE and PATCH_OFFSET,SIZE values for the 1410 were found using the Insydecodr script from http://thechaw.com/insydecodr

Used MaxL's vtenable.py mod from http://pastebin.com/f604e244a to bypass checksum errors.

How to do it:

First of all, you'll need to be able to use python on whatever system you are on. I used the Python 2.6.2 Windows Installer. For linux, you probably already have python (and know how to use it).

Assuming you have Windows:

First, grab the v3115 bios, from Acer's website. (This also works for v3113)

I recommend extracting this to "C:\Bios\". Run "InsydeFlash.exe" to upgrade to v3115 BIOS (skip this step if you have already done this). Reboot.

After reboot, open "platform.ini", and change it to

Code:

[BackupROM]
Flag=1
FilePath=C:\Bios
FileName=backup.fd

Save and exit. Run InsydeFlash.exe, but when it asks "Are you sure you want to flash BIOS?", hit cancel. Verify that you now have a "backup.fd" in the "C:\Bios" directory.

I recommend saving "backup.fd", to a usb stick as mentioned in this recovery procedure, in case something goes wrong.

I have uploaded a version of a Python script that is modified for the 1410 here. This script allows you to change the bit of your bios that enables VT. That's all it does, change one bit.

Place this script in the "C:\Bios" folder. Don't forget to rename it from "vtenable.py.txt" to "vtenable.py"

Go to the command prompt and type "C:\python26\python.exe C:\BIOS\vtenable.py C:\BIOS\backup.fd C:\BIOS\vtbios.fd". On linux, it would be "sudo python vtenable.py backup.fd vtbios.fd".

If successful, you should get something like a whole bunch of zeros and other nonsense, and at the end:

Code:

Updating VSS...
Updating BIOS...
Writing output...
Done

If that is not what you got, something went wrong. Sorry.

If that is what you got, then you should have a brand new "vtbios.fd"

Open "platform.ini", change it back to

Code:

[FDFile]
FileName=vtbios.fd

[BackupROM]
Flag=0

Run "InsydeFlash.exe", and flash your new bios.

When you restart, you should have VT enabled.

To test, run Securable.

 

@zrbarnes

Thanks!!!
Invaluable information
Someone with points left to spend please up his reputation!

 

Rep added and info added to the start post.

 

Hi everyone. I´m a bit conused about which bios version is currently the best one for my 4810T. I have v.1.21 installed, and the latest is 1.28. Any comments ? Cheers

 

You may want to try asking in the 4810T thread. You'll probably get more answers there.

 

I installed the Acer PowerSmart Manager and it doesn't seem to be doing anything. Is something supposed to happen with this app when I install it on the 1410. FYI, I am running 64 bit Windows 7 Ultimate.

 

@zrbarnes

I followed your instructions to the letter, but no joy. The vtenable script resulted just as you said it would for a successful change of the one bit. I did notice that the BIOS upgrade from v.3018 to v.3113 took quite a while, but the upgrade from the original v.3113 to the altered v.3113 took only a few seconds. My computer is behaving just fine, except the Securable program results in a "Locked OFF" for hardware virtualization. I've got an Acer 1410. Any ideas?

 

Just replicated this on my computer, and it was caused by me omitting a line that I changed in my platform.ini. The original post has been updated (I also changed some files names to be more logical).

cmaines, on your current files, just change the platform.ini to this:

Code:

[FDFile]
FileName=ZH7_3113.fd

Run InsydeFlash again, and reboot.

 

It works in the background. You know its working when you use the computer on battery power and the leaf button is lit up. Also, epower should be running in the task manager.

 

That worked! Excellent! Thanks, zrbarnes.

 

There is no leaf button that I am aware of on the 1410. I also don't see it running in the tray nor is there any way to change settings,etc. I did notice that once I uninstalled it things ran better. Perhaps it just won't work on the 1410/1810 yet nor is it designed to.

 

Correct, no leaf on 1410. Probably best to compare battery life under similar usage conditions with/without it installed to see if it's doing anything. Some of the other tweaks in this thread (installing latest video drivers), enabling power save features on video and wifi, as well as playing with some of the advanced power options for Windows 7 seem to help as much as anything for me. Also install Battery Bar to get a better idea of discharge rate/actual battery life.

 

There are epower services running in my task manager, reinstall it and see if they are there.

 

Just to confirm versions are we talking about ePower for Vista 64/32 version 4.2.3002? When you look in the tray (or whatever it is called in Win7 now) what sort of options do you get? Also, are you running Win7 and if so are we talking 32 bit or 64 bit (I am 64 bit as mentioned earlier)? I will try this again tomorrow if there are some interesting settings but Win7 seems to have quite a few options now that I have updated all of the drivers.

 

I am running 64-bit Windows 7 Professional. There are no options for the epower software. If I click the leaf button while plugged in, nothing happens. If I unplug the and run it on battery, the leaf will show up on screen showing it has started, and the screen will dim. I am using 4.02.3002 for the 3810T.

Also, just noticed Acer is getting ready for Windows 7. Under choosing an OS for drivers, Windows 7 options are there! They already have this driver: Wireless LAN Driver for INT1000H for Intel wifi cards.

 

Regarding battery life on Windows 7, this is a useful command to run:

Click Start, Search Programs and Files (or else do Win + R to get the Run prompt) then type "cmd" (make sure to run as administrator/with elevated privileges).

Then run "powercfg -energy" which will monitor your usage for 60 seconds then compile a report and put it in c:\users\yourname\energy-report.html. This will highlight processes that use significant CPU as well as other tips for settings to adjust to improve battery life.

For myself, I found the CPU utilization was around 50% for the 60 seconds powercfg monitored processes, and Firefox was a big contributor, almost 25%. I also need to disable search indexing, which you can do per instructions here: http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/69564-index-enable-disable.html

I can't recall where I got the powercfg tip - I think I googled "windows 7 reduced battery life."

 

Somebody install MacOs on this notebook?
What most new bios version?

 

Discussing installing Mac OS on PC hardware is against the forum rules.

Please read them.

 

I've started a general hardware modding thread

ZH7 hardware hacking and resources

 

Does anyone know how to make more than one scheme appear in Smartfan? I made two schemes, one for AC and one for battery, but only the default one is available when I right click the Smartfan icon in the system tray. I can't switch schemes unless I go into the Configuration menu.

 

I've just spent 4 hours trying to get wifi working under Windows 7 on my 1810TZ.

It does NOT use the 5100/5300 driver.
It needs the Intel Wireless 1000 driver.
Windows 7 does not have this driver by default.

Othe intel site selectr "intel wifi link 1000" from the wireless drivers.

The acer drivers disk also has it.

The version the intel site offers currently is 12.5.0.57

I THINK it is basically the same intel unified wireless driver, only you need to choose wireless 1000 to get the newest version., that handles this card.

Please update the guide to save others from the pain

thanks

 

Hello to everybody,

I have 3810TG(with the Ati video controller)

Yesterday I bought it and install the default operating system, Vista Home Premium SP1, all is working but some I think is now working correct.

I don't see in the system tray the ePower management and Louncher, but in Task manager they are started and seem to work, I have the functional keys working and the battery life is about 10 yours. I've seen screenshots of ePower Manager that has a lot of settings and features, but I cannot view this control panel.

The second and bigger for me problem is the Touch-sensor buttons. They don't work... the Wi-fi of the notebook is working, but I cannot disable/enable it from the sensor button, non of the three buttons are working. They
are just there with lights off, I cannot make them alive..

Is there a specific driver for these sensor buttons or something else that could make them lightened and working..

Thanks!

 

Saving battery life while keeping full performance.

Download RMclock. General undervolting tutorial here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=235824

Apply this hack:

Now configure RMclock like mentioned in that above tutorial.
You just need one multiplier.

Find the lowest voltage for your highest multiplier(in my case it's x7). Mine works at 0.8750V(lowest possible value). Setting it to even lower values won't work.

After you have created your profile to set it at highest multiplier with lowest stable voltage, activate RMclock(it's best to let it start automatically with windows).

Now go into Vista's power saving settings and activate battery saving mode.

The effect of this is, that all behind the scene settings are at power saving mode, while the CPU stays at full power. But the CPU is in deep sleep states when doing nothing and so saves at least as much power as in SuperLFM mode, while delivering full performance when you need it.

You will be shocked how much battery life you will get at that setting while still having full performance when you need it

Install Battery Bar to keep track of battery life and power consumption.

Update:
I've uninstalled Acer ePower software. I fiddled around with its registry entries and came to the conclusion that it does nothing special what Vista can't do by itself. Also ePower management conflicts with Vista settings. When I booted, changes in Vista settings were reset.

The features that save most is maximum power saving of the Wifi card and Intel's power saving features. I've set the Intel stuff to manual configuration, checked all available boxes and set DPST to the first notch so that it doesn't hurt my eyes.

Update:
There seems to be a bug in Vista's power management. When coming out of standby I have to switch to an other scheme first and then back to battery saving mode to get the low power consumption.

Update:
I'm using CrystalCPUID now. With the function "Enhanced Intel Speedstep Control" I created a shortcut on the desktop that activates 7.0x/0,875V. RMclock itself uses CPU cycles, so this is a more efficient solution. The disadvantage is that it has to be reactivated after every standby.

 

It's a limitation of SmartFan. Someone would have to write an adapted version to take care of that AC/battery problem.

 

Thanks der_mali, this seems to be working great. Fan is running very quiet or hardly noticeable. I know the link said there's no potential issues with this - is that true BSOD is the worst case scenario w/ underclocking/undervolting?

But I'm getting very inaccurate estimates with BatteryBar. For example, I've been using the laptop since 7:30am and now (around 10am) I have 50% battery = 2.5 hours so far, rough estimate 5 hours total battery life. Yet BatteryBar is showing only estimated 1.5 hours battery life remaining despite showing the discharge rate between 8500 and 10000 mW, with occasional peaks around 11000mW. To get battery life you divide total capacity by discharge rate, correct? Ie 49895mWh/9500mW discharge = 5.25 hours,, or 49895mWh/11000mW = 4.5 hours, which is line with what RMClock reports. Maybe I need to use BatteryBar for a few more days to get more accurate results. The icon for RMClock seems much more accurate, though it fluctuates like Windows does based on per-moment discharge rate.

 

wow, this was very helpful! it showed me that a particular windows media player process (wmpntwrk.exe i think) that makes sharing windows media libraries possible was using over 10% of my CPU nearly all the time, and i dont even use windows media player... according to windows 7 batter predictions, i gained almost 2 hours just from that... imagine how well 7 will run when all the drivers are finally perfect...

 

Yes, BSOD is the only thing that can happen. No damage whatsoever.

Battery Bar calculates the remaining battery life completely different. Vista and RMclock just take the current power consumption and pretend that it will stay at that value till the battery is empty.

Battery Bar is smarter and calculates the battery life by mixing former measurements with momentary readings. The long term accuracy is much higher. Basically Vista's reading is totally worthless.

Like you say, Battery Bar will have to work for a while till it shows the real battery life.

 

FYI, you can disable wmpntwrk (Media Player network sharing), Upnp device host (share uPnP devices with other devices on network), Windows Search (indexes contents of files in background - I never use it so I disabled it), and maybe a few others. Just do Start, Search (or Win + R), then "services.msc". Then you can right-click, choose Properties, check Dependencies tab to make sure nothing else depends on it. Then Stop the service, and change Startup Type to disabled. You might already know all this. : )

 

@der_mali, do you have Acer's ePower software installed and running, or disabled, or uninstalled? Will RMClock take precedence? I've booted back into Vista to see how battery life compares. The best I've gotten under Win7 is 4:15 after getting rid of all unnecessary services, 40% backlight, RMClock installed/configured.

 

I've uninstalled ePower software. I fiddled around with its registry entries and came to the conclusion that it does nothing special what Vista can't do by itself. Also ePower management conflicts with Vista settings. When I booted, changes in Vista settings were reset. RMclock overrides the OS multiplier management. It's basically a joke to see that SuperLFM doesn't save anything compared to full speed. Sleep state management seems to be extremely good on core 2(at least in Vista). My 1810t runs in passive mode when doing normal stuff like surfing with the core temp at 40degrees. Feels like an ARM processor

The features that save most is maximum power saving of the Wifi card and Intel's power saving features. I've set the Intel stuff to manual configuration, checked all available boxes and set DPST to the first notch so that it doesn't hurt my eyes. Backlight is at 50%. Battery Bar reports 6:56 right now and is still adding minutes from time to time.

Unfortunately I don't have Win7 RTM so I'll have to wait till the upgrade is available until I can do further tests. I want to fully understand Vista first so that I might be able to find Win7 quirks later.

 

Unless you are an engineer for Acer and designed this software, how do you know it does nothing that Vista power settings don't already do?

 

I've spend days with comparing power consumption readings

 

@der_mali, thanks for the above.

I uninstalled Acer ePower, installed latest Vista Wifi and Graphics drivers from Intel's site, then rebooted.

Then I set Wifi to Maximum Power Save (in the Vista power saver energy profile). I also realized DPST = Intel's Display Saving Technology. Too many acronyms! So I adjusted the slider under Display Settings, Power Settings, and moved it to Best Power Savings. I might bump it down to Better Power Savings if the slightly washed out look starts to bug me.

In RMClock, under Advanced CPU settings I have all the boxes checked for "enhanced low power states." And I followed all the other instructions from that tutorial you linked for undervolting. Right now, core temp is @ 33C.

Battery Bar is now showing a steady 5:20 (for my 4400mah battery) in Vista HP @ 93% charge. Much better than the 4:15 I was getting in Win 7 HP @ 100%. I'll have to reboot into Win 7 and adjust those settings to match and see what I get.

 

@leedr
Nice to see that it works
I guess that part of the heat reduction is due to the render clock standby feature in the Intel driver. Both CPU and Northbridge are pretty close to each other and the Northbridge might heat up the CPU.

 

Does anyone have success to overclock 1410? I read an article mentioned that an model from ASUS allow user to overclock the bus from 200 MHz to 266MHz. I am wondering whether we can do similar overclock on 1410.

Here is article:
http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3637

 

@zwind
It's easy for a manufacturer to include overclocking. It's hard for a user though. You can't get access to the CPU pins because it's soldered on. I did some experiments on an Aspire One and it wasn't possible to trick the system to accept bsel modifications. The most reasonable solution will be disabling TME and using setfsb. See hardware thread for a theoretical approach.