Acer 5050 - Locking up / Freezing

All, I have had my Acer Aspire 5050 since last October. I have upgraded the memory to 2 gigs and up until December was running XP Media Center Edition. Back in December I was lucky enough to get a legit version of Vista Ultimate RTM from Microsoft - I installed it on my 5050 and struggled to find drivers that worked but I eventually got everything running. I noticed that my laptop would lockup at randon times - several times a day. My only way to unlock it was to hard reboot (push and hold the power button down).

Well, I suffered this until a week or so ago when I thought I would reinstall the original OS that came with the laptop (XPMCE) and then use the 'authorized' Vista upgrade that Acer sent me. I ran through the steps to upgrade my machine and it worked great..... for a couple of hours. My machine still randomly locks up. Thinking it was temperature-related, i downloaded an app that monitors CPU temps etc. My laptop barely reaches 50 degrees at full load so I don't think heat is an issue.

As you can imagine, this is very annoying and I was wondering is any other 5050 owners were having similar issues or had any ideas why this is happening.

Thanks!

 

Yes i am only on websites so far and its getting worse like it freezes then after about 30 secs screen goes black and have to hard reboot whats wierd is i can here the music when it shuts down meaning its still operating cuase i can just press the power button and it shuts down then goes off

 

I have the same problem with a brand new 5920G

I returned it to acer for repair, but I think I know where the problem lies: cpu clock throtteling. I noticed I could run stress test programs all day long, with no freezes. I can also let the laptop iddle all day, no freezes.

Its only with light use that it freezes under both Windows and Linux. When I run a cpu intensive app in the background, it works fine. I suppose disabling power management would also have "cured" it, but didnt try as its back to Acer now anyhow.

 

I just bought my aspire 5050 and It has been freezing on a consistent basis, but only when I'm listening to music (it doesnt matter what player I'm using or what particular music I'm listening to) sometimes I can listen for hours other times within a couple of minuets. It doesnt seem to be from trying to do too much at one time (it happens even when I'm just listening to music). I'm not techie by any means, if anyone has the same problem or knows something that can help let me know.

 

do you have latest bios on you laptop they is bios for xp and vista they two diffent flash

also have you try check you memorey with something gold memorey tester or memtest86

 

Hey all, thanks for your input.

BIOS and drivers have all been updated to the latest available. I have even reformatted the laptop and re-installed the version of XP that came with it. When that didn't 'cure' the problem I re-installed Vista Ultimate. In fact, I spent a whole weekend screwing around with it.

I mentioned in my original post that I thought it could be heat related - After doing some tests I think it could be ventiliation/heat related. If i use the laptop on my lap - the lock up occurs pretty frequently. If I use the laptop on a flat surface it still locks but much less frequent. After looking at the bottom of the laptop with a flashlight it appears that there are very few holes for ventiliation. I guess I need to start using the laptop on a flat surface rather than on my lap.

David.

 

i have a 3050.The only difference is the cpu to the 5050 but i have replaced the cpou to a turion x2 tl50.So my machine is actually the same as a 5050.I have NEVER seen a crash/freeze on it,working all day with VERY hi room temperatures.Its working flawesly.My guess is you need to clean inside the fins and the cooler,and change the thermal paste with a good fresh one.