Acer Aspire 5740G Owners Lounge

Hi guys
I have a question. I was wondering, is it possible to install in the free PCI slot a SSD. I found on internet that there are some SSD that has PCI-E interface. Anyone tried to mount the SSD in this free slot?
Could you give your feedback? In the forum i have some very old news (2010) about it but no more.

 

I think there are two things against it.

It's a PCI-E Mini Card connector, not the same as PCI-E.
There will be no way to boot from it, because that is not in BIOS.

So the answer will be no, sorry.

PCI-E Mini Card have a 1x-lane, so speed will be the same as SATA2, I realized it
after I did some experience with a SATA3 controller on it.

 

How about to install OS to PCI-e SSD (For example: KingSpec MSATA MINI PCI-E 256Gb) and boot sector to HDD? It should be possible I think

 

Electrical there are some ways, but first you have to clearly differ the kind of connections,

PCI-E drives: have 2 or more lanes to connect with the drive
PCI-E Mini Cards : have one lane to connect with the drive
MSATA: WIKI says, The connector is similar in appearance to a PCI Express Mini Card interface, [48] but is not electrically compatible; the data signals (TX±/RX± SATA, PETn0 PETp0 PERn0 PERp0 PCI Express) need a connection to the SATA host controller instead of the PCI Express host controller

And see this link http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/msata-faq-a-basic-primer.574993/

For instance PCI-E Mini Card have no 5V connection, I have to borrow it when I make my USB3 and SATA3,
but it have some empty connections for "future use", so I think if a Drive works on it, depends of how the manufacture implements it.

Then there is the software, when I was testing my SATA3 card, it was only recognized when the Windows driver was loaded for it, same for USB3, I can not boot from it, in that case it was not possible to only have a boot Sector on a other HDD/SSD, see,

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/acer-aspire-5740g-owners-lounge.468091/page-542#post-9599983

So laptop have to now what to do with a device attach to it, in form of loading a bios from that device before his own, in my case it didn't work.

But if those new drive's have any kind of support for it, then you can give it a try, be our new internet hero
and of course let us now !!

 

Hi guys
I have a question. I was wondering, is it possible to upgrade the antenna of our Laptop. I have upgraded the wifi card with intel 7260 and the wifi it works great, except that the signal of the 5 GHz is not so powerful, ven close to the modem. I think that this is link to the fact that the antenna is not dual band. I saw on internet that the dual band antenna is quite cheap and i would like to know from you if you have already done this upgrade. is it worth?

 

@mimmo345 The antenna is not the problem - it is dual band and the stock one works fine. What may be the problem is the router.
I don't know what "close to the router" actually means but remember that the higher the frequency, the faster the signal fades (or to be exact it fades while going through obstacles) so 5GHz will have a lower range. Also usually there are two sets of antennas in a router because there are two radios (simultaneous dual band) so you have to consider that the 5GHz antennas might have lower gain than 2.4GHz antennas or be placed differently (if these are internal antennas, you won't be able to adjust them in any other way than by moving a router).

Also make sure to set signal strength in router settings to highers for 5GHz radio.
One more thing to mind - more recent 7260 drivers (at least for Win 7) report low signal strength even when the signal strength is actually high - I rolled back from those drivers.

What router is it?

 

Hi
The card is intel AC-7620 and the router is Netgear AC1450 Smart WiFi Router 802.11ac Dual Band Gigabit. The power of the signal at 1 m from the router is -62dbm. When i'm saying close to the router i say 1 m without any obstacle.
Laptop 5740G with win 10 with all update.
Is interesting what your are saying, but on internet i found other topic that where saying the the antenna for only 2.4Ghz is not optimised for the dual band.

 

Feel free to replace it but mind the fact that I have the same antenna as you do (and the same card by the way), so I would rather look at variables.
Also there is no such thing as antenna being optimized for dual band - open the screen or google for the image, it's not an advanced piece of engineering, so there is no much to optimize. It usually either works or it doesn't.
That being said, there is a chance you have a different antenna than I do (and others in this thread who had no problems) but I would rather see if you have the same issue with a different router - maybe at a friend's apartment or something.

-62 is bad indeed and while it won't change much, do not test it that close. If you are closer than about 2-3 meters you might get interference between two radios and the result won't be worth much. I don't think that is the problem here though.

See if changing wireless channel helps as well - maybe there is some sort of interference (not necessarily from Wi-Fi so you might not see it as a neighboring network)

 

Thanks a lot, i will do some test and i will let you know.

 

Hi everybody.

I have an Aspire 5740DG originally with the i5 430m.

I wanted to upgrade it and installed an i7 720QM.
At the moment i got some problems which i can't explain.


The notebook start without any problems, no Bios Post Code eg.
Windows 7HP isn´t able to install the Graphics Card Drivers. (which were installed before without any problems)
I´m not even able to install them manually :/


Another problem is, that the notebook sometimes turns itself off.
Temps are okay (60-70°C), battery ~80%
While working it turns off immedeatly. (like pressing the power button for 5 sek.)
After that it takes a few seconds till i can start it again.

Anyone else had this problems?
Thanks!

 

Anyone have problem with windows 10 when you go to fullscreen in any app the taskbar don't get hidden automatically :/

 

Never heard of this problems in combination with cpu swap.
Maybe bad cpu or very old bios ?
Not forgotten to close cpu socket ?
Maybe to slow ram ?, runs faster under QC.
Place old cpu back and see what happens....

 

Guys I have just sold my 5740G
Thank you for all of your support, "little projects" that you guys have made for our old lappy, for your patience and time to answer all the questions.
Keep going. Stay the same!

 

Your will be regret it !
Good luck.

 

Hi,
i now changed the i5 back in and everything works fine now...
Sad but i now sold the i7 :/

 

You can now run Geekbench 4, 64bit,
Mean values is also to low for i7-640M : 2261/4287
Mine : 2476/4727
Multicore i7-740QM is 5032, was always a bit faster in multicore, so I think mine is correct.

 

Hello fellows,
I was wondering did someone have a properly calibrated ICC profile for the AU Optronics B156XW02 V2 matrix in our beloved laptops since I do not have a colorimeter and the proposed ICC from 5553G doesn't seem right to me.
Thanks in advance.

 

Hi Guys,
since the Windows 10 anniversary update my sound is messed up. Sounds terrible, like I had the volume maxed out even though it's on low. Already installed the lates realtek driver from their site but No change. Anybody else has noticed it and maybe a fix for it?

 

I have the same problem...
I have installed the last realtek, unistalled the windows hd audio driver, installed older stock driver
I have also try to play the sound on windows7(in dual boot)

In the first days from win10au I had no problem

 

im still using this driver on W10 and its just working fine
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/acer-aspire-5740g-owners-lounge.468091/page-500#post-9052446

 

I was trying out all kind of drivers including the original old win 7 one....they all work! But they also all have the distorted sound. From here on I don't think this problem is from the realtek drivers, must be something else.
Even the latest driver that was released for the win10 anniversary edition (dated 10/11/2016) didn't fix it completely.

 

Umm maybe some hardware issue ? does it happen on headphones too or just on the built in speakers?

 

If it is an hardware problem we can solve only changing the two speakers?

For me changing driver not solve the problem.
The headset seems to work(but with a previous problem that I have: the full audio in headset work only if I insert the jack for about an half of its lenght)

my last possibility to solve the problem via software is a backup point

 

Same thing with the headphones or external speakers. I wonder what Microsoft messed up with this update...ARGH!
Sound was perfect with win10 built 1511!

 

I don't know if this can help but this is the last things that I do to my notebook:
1 update to windows 10 AU(22/09/16)
2 changed the battery 10400mah(exausted)->with new one 10400mah(30/09/16)
3 very few other things, just 3-4 film(with vlc) and little else

The date of problem is approximately 14-16/10/16 but the two weeks before I ever eard problem of sound

The first time that I eard the bad sound was while the system was using the -vocal assisstant of windows 7-

 

I've tried another hard disk with a bakup pre win10au and the problem persist, so for me is an hardware problem, can I solve it with only change the speakers?

 

You can put another small speaker in place of the original to check the sound but I can't find any specs about the impedance (4,8,16,32 ohm ? ) and I don't want to open mine to measure it.

But reading both your story's I downloaded the datasheet ( search for 23056de05a6281f61447d733817e6dc5.pdf ) I saw on page 52 (reader page, not the sheet) that there is a way to boots the output from 0db to 30db what can result in a distorted output.
Also on page 62 there is a link to the BIOS to control it, so if you have to open it, you can try to clear the BIOS cmos by removing the small battery .

I'm not shure of it, its hard to read, but you can give it a try, there is to much coincidence that both your speakers are broken after a windows update.

 

I have tried external power speakers and seems it work with very good sound plugged in headset hole,
while, when I plug the headsets I have a good sound but I pull the jack not at all at the end of the hole, else the sound have a limitated volume(but this happen by long time ago)

I will buy two speakers used for my laptop, so I can confirm that is a speaker problem, else I will try to plug-unplug the battery(thank you to suggest)

Is a tedious change the unmounting of all my laptop for unplug two speakers(but I hope at this point that the problem is this) or the battery(why is so difficult arriving to it?)

You feel that the repentine change from 0 to 30db do this problem?

 

Yes, it will be loud an distorted.

 

So, in teory if I start the system at 0% volume and change the value step by step the problem will not happen?

 

No, with the volume you change the output, its the input that is already distorted.(Boosted with 10, 20 or 30db)
Like I said, its a possibility, its not a guaranty, but for me Its strange that both speakers are gone at the same time.
And just like Lacienega described it as loud and distorted, I think there is a good change.
I now its a lot of work to remove the battery, but maybe you can combine it with cleaning up your cooling system or maybe there is a program that can clear the cmos, anyone knows ?
At least it will cost you no money!

 

I forget a thing, when windows starts, I can eard a sound like a "tac"...

 

Says nothing to me, but if my suspected is true, its maybe an " boosted inrush sound".
Did not find a nice translation for the last 2 words, but I hope you now what I mean.

 

Dear Andy53

Yes I understend what you mean(anyway my mother language it's the italian), my problem should be proper for the "inrushes"(I also tried to set its from the setting)

If your suspect is true, what do you feel have me caused this problem? a software(I normally use VLC that start with volume at 125%)? the update of win10au? the battery changed(I use a new one 12cells, 10400mAh, 11,1Volt, by a month from another with the same specification used since 2013)? or other?
the first time that I noticed, I'm using the "voice syntetizer of windows 7"

 

Hmm, VLC at 125% could be pretty loud and can give you speakers damage.
But when I also read the problems of lacienega, I think of the update from win10au, writing accidently some data in cmos ram what will be used by communication thru soundcard, if that exist.
Fore sure not the 12v battery, having more current for your laptop will not say it will consume more.
And I think no other software do something like that.

The point is, what will you do about it, clearing cmos ram is free, but some work, replacing speakers cost you money,
and your half the way thru cmos ram.

So I would go first for clearing cmos, and if it brings you nothing, then buying new speakers, you not have to put the screws all back until your finished.

Or have you not opening your laptop ever ?

 

Hi Andy,
I have a feeling as well, that there is some configuration setting messed up with the anniversary update.
I found some configuration settings in: Program Files/Realtek/Audio/HDA Folder, like Internal Subwoofer etc. and already tried to change it but it doesn't do anything...you could even delete the folder with no change.
There must be a setting in the OS that is set way too loud.
Anyways, lately my sound is not too bad, I got the latest driver for the anniversary update installed
Last Updated: October 25th 2016
DRIVER VERSION: 6.0.1.7968
.(Sort the drivers on the page by "Last Updated")
. Guess that helped.
Here is a link, give it a try: http://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=Realtek+Semiconductor+Corp.+-+Audio+Device,+Other+hardware+-+Realtek+High+Definition+Audio

 

Yes, its clear to me, didn't read both your post good enough.
Distorted sound about the same time, but with yours also line out and headphone and Vi70 only speakers, so I think he have destroyed them.
For me W10 exist only as an image, so its not a problem, don't like it that much.
Have a nice voting !

 

Hi my friends,
I would update my experience:
I have bought another 5740G for spares and repair...
So after 4-5hours of work(my first disassembling of two laptop anyway) I changed my old speakers(2ohms) with the used speakers of the "Spares 5740G"
Before reassembling my laptop I lifted the bottom battery as suggested by @Andy53 and reput it in its position after some minutes.
When my laptop is restrarted I have a very good sound
So I feel: was a speakers problem...
So I start to watch a film with VLC(volume by 100% to 200%) in the early 15-20minutes the sound was perfect...by this point the sound return to very bad

My feel at this point:
-or a problem with the bottom battery that is almost die(I would have to change it)
-or VLC broke the speakers(but I use it for 6 years always at 200% without any problem, in some case is happened 10-15times in this year that when I'm in the middle of watch a film I have suddenly a very very very bad sound solved by decrease/increase the volume, but I don't remember it happen in the past >1year ago, so it happen in the last time and can mean again a bottom battery in exhaustion problem?)

it isn't a problem of win10au because if I mount a backup hardisk or boot win7 the sound remain bad...but there is the possibility that win10au broke something causing the problem...

What do you feel?
I would cry...

@lacienega can you repost the last link?

 

Here is the link for the Realtek drivers....they get updated almost every 2 weeks, so check this site often.
It brings you to the Microsoft Update Catalog site.
http://www.tenforums.com/drivers-hardware/5993-latest-realtek-hd-audio-driver-version.html

 

Shame to hear it didn't work out for you.
If I now it was your first disassembling then I hat to point you to google " aspire 5740 5740d 5340.pdf ", a nice re/disassembling guide.

What version from VLC are you using, mine did not go further than 125% volume ?
There are still some things you can try.

You can exclude the battery by removing it and put your acer on the power brick and watch the movie.
Maybe both speakersets are gone, use temporary some car speakers, there mostly 2 ohms.
If the sound is still distorted and also on the line out with external speakers then it's possible a soundchip /amp defect.
Last thing is swap your mobo from the spare, if it's not broken.

 

Yes I used that guide for re/disassembling without problem.
I feel to use the last version of vlc but now I can't verify, for increase the volume to 200% there is a trick: "scrolling up the mouse"
For excluding the bottom battery I'm think to disassemble my laptop and put in a new one, I read in the service manual that bottom battery can cause "port conflict" or "irq error assignment", I see on my configuration that the wlan card and audio card have the same irq...for these test now I need another 3-4hours free
I don't think that both set of speakers are gone because in the early 15-20mins it work with a good sound so I think there are both working
with external speakers wired to headset port its work fine
Exluding the video card the spares laptop is workly and before switch the speakers I test that its work

 

With bottom battery I mean your Sony 10400mah, I thought you were talking about that.
Of course your Cmos battery can give you problems if it's empty, can block your BIOS, but not after 20 min.
By me Wlan card have IRQ 17 and from audio card I not find IRQ, but shared IRQ will not say it give problems and for Shure not after 20min.

I begin to believe for what reason ever after 6years your power amp begin overheating after 20 min.
It's the chip apa2031 "stereo 2.6 watt audio amplifier", market U62 on the mobo and have 21 con. pins.
Don't now where its put on the mobo and if it's easy to reach and touch, were you can check if it heats up after 20min.


Here is a picture from earlier this year where I try to improve the cooling from our acer, blowing air tru an aluminum air tunnel on the heat sink, with no real improvement, heat pipe prove to be very efficient.

If a make a guess, it's somewhere between the green card reader and the audio out, in the left upper corner of the mobo.
But you can first search it on your spare.
Also good to see is that you can run it with minimal connections, only power, HDMI to television just to see at the upper side, and USB mouse.
Always look good for short circuit with isolation between mobo and HDD and whatever.
If you want to try this then don't forget to unplug the HDMI after you start the movie.....

 

I'm continuing to say bottom but I want to say botton battery the cmos battery, sorry
the problem is started after 20mins by the reassembly but it's persistent since it's reappeared, also when I restart the pc after a day...
in IRQ 17 I have the Atheros Wireless Network Adapter and the High Definition Audio Bus

in the manual is reported that the cmos battery can due this problem:
device address conflict,
Allocation error for device,
i/o device IRQ conflict

there is the possibility that my old cmos battery have a few charge and generate one of this problem...I can see that the problem increases day by day

I hope to try to replace the cmos battery in next days...

 

CMOS battery is most definitely not a problem though. You can replace it off course - it's cheap so not a big deal - but don't count on it being an issue.

 

What the heck, mine speakers also sounds distorted, special the left one !

 

Do you have the latest drivers from the Microsoft update catalog ? My sound is Okay now . I also unchecked audio enhancer, surround sound and set equalizer to powerful .

 

No, I have W7, drivers unchanged, think more on speakers aged at the time, when I have time to look inside, I let it now.

 

well, that is easy to check , just connect some external speakers and if the sound is Okay, you know weather it is your internal speaker or software problems . Are you still on windows 7?

 

Oh NO! I take this opportunity to update my experience.
1 - I change the cmos battery, my one was dead but the problem persist
2 - I plug my notebook to the speakers of my car by headset port and I have a powerful theater effect
3 - With the spare set of speakers(taked by the spare laptop) I found that the right speaker work correctly....
At this point I'm sure at 90% that is a speaker problem, so now I have:
two left speaker broken(I have no lucky with the spare laptop)
one right speaker workly(by the spare laptop)
one right speaker broken(by my laptop)

I can't say why in the early 20minutes both speaker(by spare laptop) work correctly... ...and I hope that it isn't a bad sign

now I have bought another pair of speaker and if it isn't broken I have good chance to solve my problem

So this speaker have a lifetime of 5-7 years...

I want to say another question, I will disassemble another time my laptop(now I'm became very fast, my record: 30mins with assembly ) can I change my two usb 2.0 with two usb 3.0 simply?

 

I don't have one. But removing the stripe with power button give me access to left speaker and yes, mechanical damage !



Trying to glue it, in my case I used glue using in my fishpond to glue EPDM, but I think Silicone glue also works, it's must be
flexible after drying.
Don't take aggressive glue, it can dissolve the foam ring.



Also important, don't use a metal screw driver to put the glue on, magnet will pull it thru the middle of the cones and
you smear the glue on it, take a small plastic stripe. ( How do I now ? )
Speaker sound a bit softer but okay, if you screw it you can always buy a new one or unplug damaged speaker.

So don't play to loud on are old laptop, use external or HDMI out to amp for serious listening anyway, this foam get worse over time.

And yes, W7, I don't like W10 that much.