Acer 8104 Quality Control Issues

After waiting one month for my 8104 it arrived today. After spending 4 or 5 hours with it I noticed a serious problem.

I ran down the battery after charging, then plugged in the machine. After startup I kept receiving the message "Battery low, please connect to AC power" The screen kept flickering in brightness (as if going from battery to AC). Checking the Acer power utility indicated a battery charge of 6%. The screen is still flickering every few minutes.

I turn off the battery warning balloon... I thought that perhaps it was just the warning indicator causing the flicker. I turn off notification. I watch the power software. It seems like the computer momentarily flickers to battery power then back to AC. The screen still flickers!

Of course all this time the AC is plugged in and working fine.

I call Acer support and they give me a return authorisation (I do not want to buy a $2700.00 repaired laptop).

This is the second Acer that I have bought in the last 3 months. The first one (TM4000) was defective and replaced after 3 days.

Now I know that the 8104 is in great demand. I am concerned over QC... particularly if these models have been rushed to market.

1. Should I try a replacement or get a refund?
2. Anyone familier with this issue?
3. Perhaps I should just buy a better quality machine?

Any thoughts gratefully appreciated!

PS
I have used laptops from the days when they were called transportables. I have never come across this flicker issue before... It should be irrelevant how much power is in the battery if the computer is connected to AC.

PPS
Removing the battery and running the computer gives me a stable non flickering TFT. The problem is only with the battery connected.

 

This is exactly why I decided to go with a Dell instead. After seeing a lesser price Acer in the store I was not confident in the quality. I know the 8104 must be better since it was 1000 dollars more than the system I saw but I didn't want to take a chance. I was able to configure a Dell with all the features I wanted to pay off and none of the features I didn't want to pay for for about $1500. So I figured the Dell was a safer choice only because it was a lot less money and if I don't like it I won't care as much and I will be in a better postion 1 year from now to buy a new dual core laptop when they come out.



On Ordered:
Inspiron 6000d
PM 760(2.0GHz)
15.4" WSXGA+
1 GB RAM (pc2-4200 533mhz from crucial, hope it works)
64MB ATI X300
60GB 7,200 RPM
CDRW/DVD
Bluetooth
2200
XP pro

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Nick Moreton

 

That bites - I have had my Acer8104 since Tuesday (4 days). No flickering / dead pixcels , etc (knock on solid wood). I have tested most components except Bluetooth / fire wire / smart card /PCMCIA interface interface. I left the factory XP install for now , along with a host of all my other 'bloatware' products.

Other than the Funky keyboard which will take some getting use to - I love it

 

Nick,

Try the following :

Let your battery load (full) but with your laptop switch off.
Then turn it on while still connected to the power plug. Go to control panel and check how much % your battery is loaded, it should be full. Then start using the system. If the flickering didn't show, then now remove the power plug and work on the system untill it is fully discharged, and when so plug it it and continue working while it charges.

I suspect the flickering to show up :
A) during the discharge when battery level is around 7%
and/or
B) during the recharge when battery level is around 7%

In case this doesn't confirm, i am wrong. Else i think you will need a BIOS upgrade as soon as it is available.

The BIOS contains code to support energy saving. One of the functions that is accomplished (togheter with some external (in OS) software is to monitor the battery load levels and if they get to low (below a certain threshold) or sufficiently high (above a cettain threshold) make some changes. Among them changing the backlight intensity of the screen (changes brightness).

If the tresholds are wrongly set or implemented (without their delta value) then the battery reaches a certain level, screen goes bright, this increases cnsumption, this makes lower threshold to be crossed, screen goes soft, this give lower energy consumption and battery charges faster and high treshold get reached again etc ...

This results in flicker. Depending on the number of applications you run (and the number of background messaging systems IM's) the interval of bright/soft may be different. So it can be fast but it may take 10 or 15 seconds too.

I hope this is what is happening because then it can all be solve by downloading software.

QC

 

I LOVE my new Acer 8104. No problems yet. Hey, has anyone found a good forum for general info, tips and tricks for this laptop?

B

 

Thanks for the excellent eplanation... and I would say you are probably right.

Tomorrow I will try what you suggest.

The laptop looks quite nice really, the design is sound (apart from the location of some usb ports).

The screen is good and I really like the solid keyboard.

I intend to use this machine for on site multimedia work - it really still gives the best bang for the buck out there.

 

i have been through three 8104s and all of them have been defective to some degree.

two had dead pixels, and both of them the power supply bar would buzz in an annoying high picthed noise..

the third one probably the worse.. i would try to run aquamark and then i would resart the pc, and bam the pc would not restart.. it would be stuck at the acer logo, then it would start up and woul dfreeze, i am guessing a heating control issue on this unit. i have made a more indepth review thing at www.notebookforums.com on these problems

as for YOUR PROBLEM some guy had the same problem and the defect was in the battery. and they replaced the battery and the problem went away.

i am going on my fourth one this week i hope

IF this one is defective then i am getting my money back!

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by lastdon

 

out of the three that i went through,
only the one had this heating problem

same test
were done on each machine over and over

 

Thought I'd post this here... some good news!


OK...Got a new 8104 this afternoon... they sent it to my billing address. Found out myself of course... UPS driver comes by every day and noticed the error.

Fired it up... updated XP installed NAV (i will replace with NOD32 when trial runs out).

Ran down the battery to zero... powered up and ran at full power while the battery charged.

NO FLICKER!! NO PROBLEM!!

Excellent screen, better than the first machine (seems like no dead pixels on this one).

I will now test EVERYTHING but it is looking better....

This is a quick, quiet, smooth looking machine. Runs like a high end desktop.

Video is excellent, no ghosting and good colour.

Now to send the other back, get my credit card fixed (I have put out $5200.00 for two machines, they will credit the other when they receive it back at Insight Canada. I'm still out the shipping and insurance $50.00.

Not to mention the five or six hours of work, the frustration and stress.

Perhaps they'll give me a break on the warranty at Acer?

 

I'm the guy whose battery replacement did the trick (I go by Epicure1 over at notebookforums). And, as was mentioned here, it only worked for a while. Your theory sounds spot on. I'm going to be speaking with Acer tomorrow, hopefully the technicians see the logic as well and can fix this fast.

Thanks a lot for the suggestion.

 

I'm typing this on my second Acer 8104. The first one was faulty; I described this problem somewhere in Notebookforums. Shortly - the screen turned green where it should be black (or very dark), flickered like hell and looked like it would have 2 different resolutions on various screen-parts. So it went back to the seller (who then interestingly said the notebook was tested and found OK???). But I've got photos and a video-movie that proves otherwise, so I got my money back and bought another TM8100 at another german internet-store.
This time everything worked fine. I was glad to be saved from this flickering-fault I've read about. I was using it about 7-8 days. Then two days ago: bang! I ran the lappi completely out of DC-power so it put itself to sleep, then connected AC and turned it on with the power-button. And as soon as windows loaded this flickering began, exactly like described above, together with the balloon message about it not getting AC-power. Man, how pi... was I!
I played with it several minutes but it behaved exactly like by other guys. Now it flickered from the very start, before windows was up. Then I disconnected it from AC, turned off, and turned upside down to have a look at the battery. And I noticed, that one of the 2 battery-holders is open... I took the battery out, set it in again and secured it with boths holders. And from then on everything is functioning just flawless. This battery-holders are laptop-feet too - when you move it on a surface, they tend to open - so I think.
Just now I connected the AC-adapter again as I was getting warnings about data-loss and stuff and it still does not flicker. There are 2 days now witout flickering. Well I too am knocking on a veriiii hard wood...

But - of course - I am absolutely not sure if this theory is good and if my lappi doesn't start to flicker all of a sudden again.

What do you think?

Greets

Marek

(TM8104, self made desktop Athlon 2700+, Fujitsu-Siemens Activy Media-Center, 2 self-builts and a Medion P4-Laptop with my sons, everything on a network)

 

Marek,

I think you have pointed out why your 'multi-screen' resolution flicker appeared. That will certainly have been related to your battery no being in place. The heavy flicker that comes with that has nothing to do with the flicker that is described lately be a growing number of 8100 owners. The flicker you described is related to the way power distribution works in a computer (incl. notbooks). External devices (that is all that is not embeded in the chipset + bus, even when it sits neetly inside the computer housing) are lower in the so called 'pick order' for energy. The ATI hardware is part of that. If one batery is not fitted well then depending on the consumption of embeded consumers the ATI will only be able to compete for the rest. There is a level at wich it receives sufficient enery in order not to reset but not sufficient to keep refreshing at a rate that is needed for our eyes to perceive the screen as standing still. The lower the frequency of refesh (lets say from 60hz down) the better your eye can see the flicker.

QC

 

@QContinuum, thanks for your reply but I think you mixed up the symptoms on both my TM8104s. The first one displayed green where it should be black and had this "double-resolution-feature". The flickering seemed like parts (the green ones, usually)of the picture were on, say, 50MHz frequency and lower resolution, whreas other parts kept regular freq. and res. Somebody in Notebookforum said it was rather due to a bad connection between the GraCard and the screen or something to that extent. It is possible, that the lappie was well shaken during the transportation back to the vendor across Germany and this contact temporarily improved but I am sure it is only temporarily. I hope they wouldn't sell it again at another poor nonsuspecting customer...

The new TM8104 comes from another Internet-Shop. It functioned well 7-8 days and then suddenly started to flicker/flash like described in my previous posting. But it did it only once and after I "reloaded" the battery it performs well. I really do hope you are right and this problem is only related to the battery being a bit loose and not to a faulty "charge-circuitry" or something... The flicekring was low-frequent I would say 1 - 1,2 Hz so it again proves you may be right.
Hopefully
Marek

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Nick Moreton

 

[quoteFired it up... updated XP installed NAV (i will replace with NOD32 when trial runs out).
[/quote]

Nick,

Part of your post (see above) indicated that you updated XP. Depending on your update or even reinstall it may be that you have reset your system to the standard MickeySoft drivers. There should be a vendor specific (ATI) driver with your ACER 8100 software (even pre-installed). If my memory is good there is a specific TV out configuration tag. Make sure to check that you are using the ATI drivers vs the standard drivers. There are also new drivers for the ATI on the ACER 8100 download directory.

Then also remember that part of the display hardware is now part of the Intel 915 chipset and is embedded in it. So no more 8x AGP etc. This means you also want to install the new drivers for the chipset, available at the same place.

good luck,
QC