Acer ASpire 5102 WLMi BIOS (memory settings) question for memory upgrade.

I had posted a similar question, but can't get any solid posts yet:

1. I have upgraded my BIOS to 2.0 version. I still cannot see the memory latency etc settings. Can't I change the latency etc numbers so the memory upgrade would work?

2. Where can I find Acer Aspire 5102 WLMi (and Ati Radeon xPress 1100 as it uses shared memory) compatible memory resources so I can upgrade the notebook memory without pain?

3. At the end of the long posting

And the long story:

I have purchased an Acer Aspire 5102 WLMi (AMD Turion64 x2 TL50 1.6 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB HDD 4200 rpm, ATI Radeon xPress 1100, etc) from Circuit City while they have some good back to school deals (August 2006). I am a computer professional who constantly needs to run heavy app servers demanding memory and CPU speed. Sometimes I have to run disk intensive applications (DB2) as well.

After seeing and Performance Testing (SiSoft Sandra) the computer a friend of mine bought, I decided that waiting a second longer due to the slow HDD wouldn't matter for my applications, I bought one for myself as well.

I need to upgrade the memory and couldn't find any place to verify the compatibility of the memories with this notebook and the ATI 1100 graphics card as this card uses the shared memory. On ATI website I have found ATI 200m compatible memories. But that was all.

I have contacted Acer as well. No luck there. Circuit City. The same... Not so encouraging.

I would really appreciate if someone can direct me to the right resource so I can do this upgrade without so much pain?

Here are more facts: I have already checked the memory modules. The ones I got are 2 of Nanya NT512T64UH8A1FN-37B modules.

3. Since this post I have "tried" to upgrade my mem to 2GB with 2 x PNY 1GB DDR2 PC4200 533MHz modules. The notebook started freezing badly! I had to put the original memory modules back in.

Please help!

 

Although I can't help you, I look forward to hearing from someone who can.

It seems as though the 5102WLMi is pretty picky about the brand/type of memory installed.

I have the 5102WLMi-MCE, which only came with 512meg RAM. I installed a Corsair Valu-Select 512meg RAM stick and my notebook was freezing up daily. Since I removed it I haven't had any trouble.

You are the 2nd person I've read that has had trouble installing different/extra memory in addition to me.

If/When someone upgrades their memory in the 5102 and it works I hope they post in this forum.

PS - was the BIOS upgrade painless? I've been hesitant to do that because there aren't any explicit instructions, only download the file and run the executable. I don't want to fry my BIOS. Thanks.

 

Thanks gtoddh.

The BIOS upgrade was painless. Just make sure you use the power adaptor instead of the battery, just in case if the battery is low. Simply unzip the package and run the EXE. It will open up a dialog and run thru the flash updates. No pain whatsoever.

For the memory upgrade, I have replaced both of the banks. I had 1GB RAM (2 x 512). I put the 2 x 1GB to make it 2GB. The freezing issue is possibly due to the Graphics card not being able to use the memory (as it is shared). This is my gut feeling.

Anybody has similar upgrade issues resolved for them?

Thanks,

 

That makes no sense, why would the gpu not be able to use the memory since its shared? Obviously its the system that doesnt like the ram, not gpu.

Anyway, I myself have tried ocz value ram and had the same problems, so add another user to ur list.

 

Adinu,

The reason why I said it is my "gut feeling" was that I have seen a separate compatible memory list for Ati XPress 200 (not 1100). The memory I got was not in it. So I am trying to find GPU compatible memory or I will go with the Nanya 1GB modules as the ones I got from Nanya as well with the same operational specs.

I hope this helps to people. Word of caution: Nanya solution I will go with is not definite yet. I will try it if I cannot see any solution by the end of this month.

Cheers,

 

I thought I'd share the info I got from Acer Support about my memory upgrade question. I was asking specifically which modules they are supporting for Acer 5102 WLMi. But they sent me this reply (a week alter):

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Below are the memory specifications for the Aspire 5100 notebook. I hope this is helpful.

Chip ATi SB460
Feature 256/512/1024MB + two 1.8V JEDEC standard 200-pin DDRII SODIMM memory module connectors
Adjustable 128MB UMA VGA memory share from system memory
Supports memory size per socket 1024MB
Supports maximum memory size 2G (by two 1024MB SO-DIMM module)
Supports DIMM package 200-pin soDIMM
Memory module combinations You can install memory modules in any combinations as long as they match the above specifications.


Regards,
Acer Online Support Team