Acer 5740G issues , must see !! I am sad!! Bad luck

I bought acer laptop 5740g-6454 with 1 gb ati mobility radeon hd 5650 graphics card on 5th Mar.

but i am getting screens like this after a day I bought it, while playing videos(it happens both in the situations of high and low definiton). Sometimes it happens when I surf on the internet, and then the screen show nothing but the system is still running. Sometimes it happens but when i click the mouse it disappears........
What's going on?? What should I do??the laptop is only 4 days old .
Is it the graphic driver problem?? Or the graphic card problem(hardware)?? Or others??
I have checked the problem on the internet, which many people have come across.........

I bought it in NCIX , Richmond,BC.

 

If the problem shows up on a screenshot it's not a hardware problem (ex. a dead pixel obviously won't show up in a screenshot..)

My guess would be drivers/bios... make sure you have the latest/greatest bios installed and reinstall your graphics drivers.


I've got a 5740G-6979 coming tomorrow myself

 

it's lastest...............let's me reinstall it............

 

Does anybody have the same problem???

 

Hm. Well this sounds scary. I'm considering buying the 5740g-6979 soon. Anyone know if there are many other problems like this with the 5740g? I knew the price seemed to good...

 

4 days old? go back to ncix for a replacement why fix it when it may come back later? its covered by NCIX 30 day warranty im pretty sure.

mine runs great and i've been oc'd to high heaven and back

 

That's a relief. How's the build quality? My fear is that it will feel cheap and plasticky. Also do you have the 6979? How well does it play games?

 

6454play games fantastic!!! No delay at all.............

 

i have the 5740G-6454 model with i5 and the 5650 ati gpu
i have a review out in this same Acer forum:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=463227

truth to tell the 6979 looks to be exactly the same spec wise...i wonder what the diff is?

 

Hm. I dunno. Thanks I'll take a look at your review!

 

Yes, sure 30-day warranty in NCIX............But just now, I reinstall the driver of 5942G, it run well. The problem disappear...........
Still to replace it??......NCIX told me i can get another new one if the hardware has problems after they have checked it.........But what if the driver's problem?

 

I use the latest Catalyst 10.3 Beta for notebooks and that would be the latest.
Give them a try.
I own 5740G too and no problems at all- although mine runs on Cats 10.3 from day one.

 

Where can i download Catalyst 10.3??

 

http://www.techpowerup.com/download...0.3_Beta_Preview_for_Vista7_32-bit64-bit.html

 

What's the driver's version when you bought it ?? The original version of yours' is??

 

What is the Catalyst thing exactly?

 

That's how ATI calls its driver and control panel (Catalyst Control Center)
My original version was the same as that is available on Acer website- that would be 8.672.3.0 while Catalyst 10.3 Beta is 8.710.3.0

 

Now my version is 8.672.3.0(I reinstalled it. Download it from Acer official). The problem has gone. But a problem is that the Graphics card is distinguished as HD5750 after I have reinstalled it.
My original version is 8.682 which made my problem.

 

Oh. So if I buy the Acer 5740-6979 I should download it as well?

 

Hello,

Please tell me where you guys buying acer 5740g - 6979 from and the price , if you don't mind. I have been looking for this laptop for months. It is seems like an awesome laptop. THank you

 

I bought 5740G -6454 in NCIX, Richmond..........There is no 6979 version in Canada.

 

I bought 5740G -6454 at NCIX also and had the same problem you had. I downloaded the 10.3 beta drivers and also disabled the Ati powerplay option in the catalyst control center(didn't need it anyway). I read that the 5870 ati cards had problems with powerplay being buggy in the past and that disabling it fixed the problem. So far I haven't seen the problem since then.

 

I bought the bigger 7740G from Best Buy and had the same issues, except the checkerboard was red not green:


I decided to return mine instead of playing around with any settings or updates - I figure it SHOULD work properly out of the box

 

AFAIK the 6979 is just the US version without the french keyboard

 

I have the 5740G-6979

There's nothing wrong with your laptop.... you must have the 10.3 beta drivers from ATI installed... I sometimes see similar weirdness since I installed them

Nothing to worry about

 

Did you actually mean that?

 

Just so you guys know, the blocking you're seeing is due to VRAM communication failure. Overheating of the GPU/VRAM is normal in these units with older BIOS Revisions and ATI Drivers installed. The thermal overhead for this unit is almost nil, and older software will cause thermal stresses to eventually develop BGA Sphere connection issues at the GPU and VRAM BGA's. A known problem with these units. All you can do is keep your software up to date, and your fans clean.

 

Could you please elaborate on this and give some sources.
What do you mean by known problem? It's a pretty new laptop- too new for known problems it seems
Also by referring to older BIOS revisions do you imply that new/current BIOS doesn't cause/resolves this issue?
Another matter- no thermal overhead- by that you mean memory gets too hot? (because definitely not the GPU itself it never goes past 70*C)
If that's what you're saying that would mean VRAM cannot be overclocked and remain stable. That wouldn't be consistent with what I've seen.
Does this concern all 5740Gs?
Apart from that, problems reported by those two gentlemen concerned 2D graphics. If this was enough to cause enough stress to result in overheating and artifacts, this laptop would crash immediately in any 3D graphic situation.

 

Can't give sources, only my own experience with this line at work. It's the only source I've got! I'll elaborate as I can, though. Mind you, I don't see many of these! The white-topped Acers (5315, 5920, et-al) still occupy most of my repair time.

The latest bios Revision solves this issue, yes. There's a launch-month bios revision that can make the unit puke all over itself.

You can run the GPU up to 70C, sure, but you're going to induce BGA Sphere stress when you combine high peak temperatures with low idle temperatures, due to an undersized heatsink assembly. Combine these factors with board stressing from flex (being moved around, etc. Laptop stuff!), and you're setting yourself up for a BGA Failure.

BGA Failure at the GPU Level causes 2D Blocking/Striping as you can see in the previous pictures listed. It's not stress that causes the video issues, it's the fact that part of the signal isn't getting there due to the fact that there is a BGA Sphere failure already.

 

Sorry about that. I asked the question and only after that discovered it's actually your job. That's a pretty good source actually

Good news, as I see it is that you're not referring to a problem specific to 5740G. Idle temperature if GPU is around 50*C while it maxes out around 67-70*C. The difference doesn't seem big to me although I'm no professional.

Also these problems reported concerned brand new units- that seems weird.
That shouldn’t be caused by BGA Sphere stress and flex. Not on the first day, don't you think?

If you come across any relevant information I'd be grateful for posting them here.

 

Ah, no. This is more of a universal issue, rather then something isolated to just this unit. I just figured I'd make everybody aware. Because it'll be a problem, eventually.

Brand new units are being shipped with the original factory hard disk image. Updating video drivers and BIOS (Where neccessary) should (hopefully!) fix it, assuming there isn't a Mfg defect (Remember, this is Acer we're talking about).

Hope I helped.

 

Are you sure? I didn't see the problem UNTIL I installed the 10.3 drivers... and reverting to the old drivers makes the problem go away.

(I do have the latest bios)

 

I bought 5740G two days ago and it has the same problem (sreen going black and system lock when you play a video). Is it with all the 5740Gs? How can a company be so careless?

 

No- definitely not with all of them. Check in device manager what is the name of the graphics card- 5750 or 5650 and what is the exact driver version? Write it all down and report I back here please.
After that (regardless of what device manager shows) update drivers with these and let us know if problem persists.

 

ati mobility raedon 5650 , driver version 8.682.1.0.
I just played a simple video (the intro of Left4dead) and it played initially and then at the end of the video, got stuck and then the screen went black,system on but all functions disabled, and I had to restart the system by turning off the power. I tried it again and this time it played without a problem, the third time it got stuck again! So.... I think something is really wrong. Here is another link of similar interest:
http://www.techenclave.com/laptops/acer-5740g-issues-must-see-160704.html
But here people believe that the hardware(graphics card is corrupt) and it is not a driver problem. I don't know what to believe, and can use a precise technical answer if possible.

PS:I do not have any viruses, this was the first video I played on the notebook. Everything was factory sealed and brand new.

 

It is possible that's memory related problem however updating drivers and BIOS are first things to do in such a case.
If it doesn't help you can always return it but returning a laptop because it has driver issues wouldn't be very smart.
Apart from that your problem is in no way similar to the one other people have/had that is unless you have some kind of distortions while playing videos and/or browsing. I don't have this game to test but it may be driver/game specific and not a hardware problem at all. Play some games and/or run some benchmarks to verify that.
BTW. Could you also state your BIOS revision and model exact model number?
I'm trying to narrow it down somehow.

EDIT: Your driver version is different from the one on Acer Support site (that is 8.672.3.0) You can go either way with driver updates- test Acer's default (my laptop had been shipped with these) or go directly to drivers I linked in my previous post (released yesterday- work fine for me)

 

I know that my driver doesn't match the one listed at the support site. But still if it is being shipped by acer, it should be error free, should it not? Anyway, I will try to update the driver and bios.
Current bios: Phoenix technologies ltd. v1.09, 26-11-2009
Model: Aspire 5740G ci5, 500GB,4GB, ati mobility raedon 5650.


What model specs do you have? Is it the same? Can you run games on it without any problems?

EDIT: I had seen that pink flash of dots once during a 3d test that made me conclude that the problem could be more or less the same. The person who's started this post has the same problem I believe.

 

Well you have the original BIOS- that's worth updating at least for battery's sake.
I have the same specs as you but by model I meant number i.e. mine is 5740G-434G50Mn.
I had no problems with games whatsoever- did a lot of testing with overclocking (see here) and played non-stop for 5-6 hours on overclocked card (I call it testing as in "hard work" if anybody asks )
Test another game- there are always issues with some games that's why drivers are updated every month. It's possible that this game is currently troublesome- if other aren't that's definitely not a GPU issue.

 

I want to believe what you're saying. But that pink flash has created doubts in my mind. Did you update to the catalyst 10.3 immediately after buying the laptop? Can you provide info from where I can get the latest BIOS? Mine is exactly the same model no. as yours(5740G-434G50Mn), but it has bluetooth too. I'll test it on other games and see if it happens again.

 

Yeah I updated to Catalyst 10.3 Preview (beta) in like 10 min and to Catalyst 10.3a yesterday. I don't think I even did one 3D test on default drivers.
Current BIOS 1.16

EDIT: Well it appears I'm a liar after all. I checked the driver version on my DVD with driver backup and by default I had the same drivers as you did, not the ones that are available at Acer Support. It still doesn’t change the fact that I didn't use them for more than 10 min so I wouldn't have noticed any problems anyway.

 

Hey downloads (or anyone else who can help) I'm hopefully going to get my 6979 within the next few days, and I'm wondering exactly what I need to do once I get it to avoid any of these problems. I'm not very computer savvy, so I'd love some instructions thanks anyone and everyone

 

Play some videos and run a few loops of 3D Mark06. It should be enough to stress the GPU but at the same time doesn't require any action on your part so you can carefully look for any artifacts.
Right after that update BIOS and video drivers and run the test again.
Not that I'm such a big fan of BIOS flashing but 1.16 is important for your battery life so you would need to do it anyway.
This is not a problem that occurs out of nowhere at some point- some people do have it from the very beginning others do not have it at all, so if you can manage some 3D Mark06 runs without a problem it's safe to assume that you're fine.

 

Ok that sounds easy enough. Thank you

 

I have confirmed that at least for me the "pink boxes" were a software problem.. and not a hardware problem.

I upgraded to the latest mobility 10.3a drivers yesterday (they were just released on 3/16) and the problem has completely disappeared.

For me the pink boxes were definitely a driver issue

 

Good news! Now have fun gaming

 

I loaded unreal tournament 3 yesterday and it ran perfectly(without the 10.3 drivers). I haven't seen the the pink flu or the black flu since I ran L4D. Maybe there was some problem with the game. If someone tests this game(Left4dead) on the default drivers, do share the results here.

EDIT: This is an awesome laptop. For those who are thinking of buying it, don't let the little problems make you shy away from this masterpiece.

 

It's been a week and a half since I updated the drivers and I have not seen any graphic artifacts. This laptop plays games really well and the 5.1 digital output is a bonus! I haven't tried left L4D yet, but everything else runs great.

 

Its a graphics card fault as in my lappy case confirmed by acer service center .

I will be getting a brand new one from acer as they told me .

 

i got this same problem the day i bought this lappy .According to the service center its a hardware fault and is registered under dead on arrival laptop . I will be getting a new one from acer .
And i am the owner of the above thread at techenclave .

 

Plus i have also used this same model of someone old manufactured 5th jan , no problems in that . But it seems most of this 5740g is getting this graphics card hardware fault . Anyways i will be getting mine replaced by acer . But that also 20 days passed and they said me to wait 2 more weeks . If this model is discontinued as in rumors then i am ruined as how they will give me a new one ?