Acer Aspire 5740G Owners Lounge

Actually you don’t need a cooling pad for this notebook- it has an efficient cooling system and will not overheat. That said- there’s no harm in buying a cooling pad but I’d go for something quiet.
As I said you don’t need one, so it’s not like you’re in desperate need and have to sacrifice comfort of having a quiet laptop just to keep it from overheating. You can safely choose something that is not super-efficient but is rather quiet so you can use it not only for gaming but also every time you leave your notebook on for a long time (or any time it sits on your desk for that matter)
For technical reasons you need a cooling pad that blows air upwards towards the bottom of the notebook and one that doesn’t have an intake for air in the back (notebook blows air to the back and the cooler would use this warm air again which wouldn’t really be cooling).
My personal preference would be a quiet metal cooling pad, without any fancy LED lights, with the possibility of manually adjusting fan speeds and preferably with USB hub of sorts.
One last thing- the cooling pad should be blowing air into the notebook’s air intake- if it doesn’t and is just blowing air at the bottom of the notebook it’s less effective and may not even be worth it.
Look at this picture- the cooler is fine but the upper left part of the cooler where the air intake of 5740G would be is solid- that’s what I would avoid.

 

Don't use the laptop on a bed or other soft surface,use it on a hard, flat surface like a table top.The cooling fans are at the bottom of the laptop,if you keep the air from flowing out, it will get hot.If you like to use the laptop on a bed or your lap, then buy a laptop cooler pad.

 

The same thing happened to me. I came here specifically looking to see if anyone else had the same issue.. Unfortunately, I don't have any solutions other than to not do the update.
I read earlier in this thread that the Intel HD video is not enabled in the bios on these laptops, I'm wondering if that's what's causing the conflict.

 

Did you try this? (You probably did but I'm just asking )

 

Well guys, just had to sign up to post this. Its a major issue for me, and i hope you can shed some light on this issue!

I purchased the laptop 2 days ago, and its worked fine. The problem was first noticed when i installed World of Warcraft, and the simple fact is when i run around i use WASD or the arrows. But when you press a button, the touchpad will not work so i cannot move around at all! I have tried it on online games also and its the same.

I also tried this on the desktop, held a key and tried to move the touchpad but it just doesnt move. Could someone else try this? Anyone else ever had this problem?

My spec is i3 processor, 4gb ram, ati 5470.

Thanks, Peagreen

 

My 5740G GPU heats up to 80-82 degrees after I play games like Burnout Paradise or even Most Wanted... The room temperature is usually around 32-38 degrees... Is that all right? what is the "safe limit" for the temperatures?
I used GPUZ and PC Wizard 2010 to check the temperatures.

 

It's not very hot but I can't say it's cool either- the problem is you cannot really hope for a lot of improvement since your cooling agent is 32-38 degrees.
Cooling pads improve circulation but it's still the same (in your case hot) air.
These temperatures are not risky so you don't have to buy a cooling pad but I'm not saying it's a bad idea or will not help at all.
If you do have money for it and don't mind doing some research before purchase- then why not, but if you never intended to buy one- you don't have to since your temperatures are still on the safe side.

 

Hi guys, I just bought this laptop(acer 5740g, corei5 430m + ati 5650) yesterday. I wiped the factory installed OS and did a clean install of win 7 professional and installed all the updates. I've had no problems at all(except one), I ran COD:MF2 and crysis at high and it ran smoothly. And i read that this model doesn't come with bluetooth, well mine did, not just the button, i connected my nokia 5800 and it works.

Now to the tiny problem. I ran furmark at 1280X720 and got these temps

Stock GPU frequecy 75 degrees
CPU 57,60

GPU oc'ed to 650/900 80 degrees

when furmark was running i opened up gpu-z and it showed that the fan was running at only 30%(i felt that it was running slow as it doesnt make much noise). What could be causing this? I've installed catalyst 10.3 drivers and the latest bios(v1.22)

and also i got this weird WEI


why is the proc only 6.4? and memory 7.2? Btw im using 32 bit windows...

 

Fan is not running at 30%. It's always showing that even though fan speed changes and you can hear it- just disregard it.
If you've changed 64bit Win to 32bit it's not really an upgrade- I'd recommend using 64bit- it's faster in general (system is) let's you use 4GB RAM (and more), all 32 bit apps work just like on 32bit Win but these that have 64bit mode run faster (regardless of if it's WinRAR or Crysis-both benefit nicely)
I have the same CPU but mine shows 6.7- but than again it's on 64bit system so it wouldn't surprise me it that was the cause.

EDIT: BTW Catalyst 10.4 have been available for like 2 or 3 days- you might wanna consider them.

 

I have a 5470-5255 that's also having the same problem with the Intel drivers.

Here is a link to the discussion on the Intel forums, at least they sound like they are aware of the problem.

Black screen after installing...

 

I am not 100% certain that I understand the question but that's the way it's supossed to be.It's normal when you hold a key for the touchpad not to work.All the notebooks are like that.

 

Don't install any new Intel VGA drivers if you know it's going to black screen. Since, the Intel GMA HD is disabled in BIOS in the first place. The 5740G doesn't have switchable graphics yet.

Until, Acer adds support for the Intel GMA HD in a new BIOS update, don't mess with it.

 

I'm sorry, I wasn't clear in my post. All I have is Intel GMA HD graphics.

 

Sorry, thought you had a dedicated videocard. Did you install the latest Intel drivers version 2104? If that didn't work for you. Install the previous Intel drivers version 2086 and see if that helps.

 

Aylafan what happened to your 5740g?

 

Hi
Firstly WEI only considers the lowest score (aka the performance bottleneck)
5.7 is a touch low for a modern HDD, but WEI will not score a HDD higher than 5.9 anyway so you are only losing pride - not any aspect of windows graphics /animation etc

Secondly, 6.4 is not too bad for processor; the i5 520 would only have got you closer to 7
Your RAM figure is very good unless you have added extra RAM which in 32bit windows would have been a waste of effort.

Remember WEI is in no way at all a general purpose benchmark - it has lots of internal links and limits that are not well understood and is only really so that windows can deploy only those animations/graphics tricks the system can handle without losing it's 'snappiness'

For gaming use a gaming benchmark

And FYI Acer apparently works with some retailers to produce variants of popular models that deliver prices and margins vs online sellers by dropping graphics card and HDD specs and bluetooth fitment etc. The retail versions still carry the same headine model number and spec and cause quite a bit of confusion and occasionally worse

 

Well im not really worried about the WEI scores, more about the temps... My old HP laptop used to make a hell of a noise when gaming but this hardly makes any. I just cant figure out if the fans are running at full speed.... Is there any software that can show me the real speed(unlike GPU-z which just shows 30%)

 

That's what HP does to people
No software can monitor nor set speeds to this fan but you should hear three or four different speeds of it including an HP-like one when CPU hits 80*C.
The best way is just to torture you notebook with Prime95 and Furmark and monitor temperatures- after all it's all about that, isn't it?

 

My 5740G randomly shutdown while I was studying in the library. It wouldn't turn back on. LED lights, fan, etc. nothing turned back on even with the battery on 100% capacity. When I try to plug in the power adapter back into the laptop, the green light on the power adapter would turn off. It was really strange.

I also tried to power reset the laptop multiple times, but it didn't do anything. I RMAed the laptop to newegg.com because it was under their 30 day warranty and I should receive a new 5740G in another 3-5 days. Usually, they would send the laptop to Acer to get it fixed, but they decided to just send me a new one without all the hassle.

 

Guys,
I was trying to download ATI Catalyst™ Display Driver 10.4 (for Win 7 64 Bit)from the ATI/AMD Site. Below is the link for the driver download page.

ATI Catalyst? Mobility Display Driver

The driver detail says, the file size is 69.3 MB. But when I click on Download button, it downloading a file "catalyst_mobility_64-bit_util.exe" of size 1.09 MB. Please let me know how do I download the complete file....

Regards,
Akshara.

 

Launch the utility- it's just a downloader- it will download the full driver package.

 

That is correct. You download "catalyst_mobility_64-bit_util.exe" and run it. Then it will determine if you have an ATI Mobility videocard and will install 10.4 drivers.

 

Guys,
Thank you very much for the swift reply.
The problem is my laptop doesn't have a net connection. I have downloaded that file from cyber cafe.
Please let me know, is there a way I can download the complete file & install that in my laptop..

Thank you,

Regards,
Akshara.

 

Win 7 32bit link

Win 7 64bit link

These are direct links but may stop working in a while- anyway both are OK now

 

I guess take laptop to cyber cafe and plug in ethernet cable might also work . . as you might find a pile of windows updates are due also

 

The only drivers that work are the ones that shipped with my laptop.
Guess I will have to wait for Intel to get this straightened out.

Thanks for your input tho...

 

Hi Guys,
@downloads Thanks a lot for providing the link... If you could tell me how did you got those links , it would help me to download the future downloads/updates.

@BruBoo Thanks for the suggestion dude....

 

The easy way is to copy the links from gaming forum- there's always someone linking to the most recent version directly as it allows Sony/Panasonic/Toshiba users to download and use them even though these companies opted-out.

The hard way is not for you as you need to either use "show source address" in FF or look at the active address in firewall- but that would work only if the download was already active. The problem is- in order for it to be active the ATI Downloader has to check and confirm that you are eligible for it- another words you would have to run it on a computer with Mobility Radeon.

Anyway- I can post direct links in this thread every time new driver comes out- probably in the second post of the thread.

 

It looks like your username is rather appropriate.

 

It would certainly seem so.

Catalyst drivers added to the second post of the thread and will be updated from now on.

 

@downloads :
It would be a very good idea to keep all the driver & related application details in a single post. All of us can refer the same with out any difficulties. (Any time you can go to that post & download)...

Please do update whatever information u get regarding driver updates in the second post of the thread...

Thanks a lot... Keep up the good work.

 

Gee... im using core i3-330m with ATI 5650 1GB and gta4 lags even on low settings.. What the hell..

 

sykrot

While I feel your pain some hard benchmark results on processor or 3D (e.g. 3D mark06) or even a quick diagnostic run of the free tests at PC pitstop and maybe DXdiag would help us help you.

Your Processor is relatively slow alongside the 5650 GPU but if by low settings you mean 1366x768 and no AA , transparency etc etc at all I am also surprised it lags as the kids run GTA4 smoothly on an old 3Ghz core duo and ATI HD3870 at medium settings and 1280*1024.
Your machine should outperform that PC

 

sykrot:

Try lowering the resolution to 1024x768 and everything low (AA, etc). Turn of V-Sync also.

Download some other benchmarks like the Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter 4 etc, which are free and if they do work then it's not an hardware problem.

 

Splinter cell:conviction and counter strike:source also are lagging... I will do format c and try again .

 

see you later !

 

Still didn't work.. Updating drivers made it worse LOL .. Anyway im taking it back to the shop...

 

Yeah, best thing to do :|

 

Yap- that's exactly what I do but until now I didn't include ATI drivers as these are available through their website- but since there's demand...

 

Hey guys, here's a dumb question. For the AS5740G-6395, which HDD is actually used?

I know that it's a 320GB 5400RPM, but I was thinking about upgrading to a 7200RPM with higher capacity, and getting the specs (via finding out the make and/or model) would make the choice a LOT easier.

thanks!

 

They use whatever drives they can best get from run to run.

If you have the laptop use SIW (or device manager to get the current HDD model number then google that for the maker and for the spec).

7200 laptop drives are rare as they tend to run hotter and take more power.

Larger capacities may involve an increase in height that either won't fit in or won't permit cooling airflow past the drive.

So

confirm the current drive

Identify the size and height

Look for a drive in that series or a later model that shares size and height

If possible avoid advanced format drives

Remember to make appropriate disk images / backup DVD's before you swap the drives over !

Remember to exercise extreme care when swapping the drives. In another thread I am helping a guy who apparently has a slightly damaged cable/connector to his HDD after some DIY removal went wrong . Acer want $200 to repair the damage . .

 

Yeah Bru, I read that post... not fun.

This wouldn't be my first HDD swap in a lappy, but I just needed to know which one was in the lappy by default. Since I do not have it in my hands as of yet, I wanted to do the research beforehand (I'm like that). Unfortunately, it seems that I'm asking for more specificity than is normally available via the manufacturer's Website.

Every manufacturer is a bit different, so regardless of where I go with this upgrade, I need to be aware of the particular foibles of the manufacturer.

Thanks for the reminder though... it's too easy to get lax and make a major mistake.

 

There are probably some advantages to having the same make/type of HDD as a replacement but they are slight (e.g. the Firmware likely works well with the BIOS but it would be strange if it didn't now SATA is well established for PC's at least)

Although the OEM drive is likely not Seagate The Seagate Momentus 500GB 7200 is probably the only 7200 upgrade choice (WD don't currently seem to do 7200's above 320GB). Looks like a reasonable perfomance lift over a standard drive for boot time at least.

I am quite happy with my Western digital 640GB 5400 which costs about the same though (as curiously it seems to be 3/4 full already

 

I saw this computer in the likes of Dixons and PC world a few weeks back for around £630 but I can't find it anymore. Is this one of the models affected by a recall or just sold out?

 

Won't 7200rpm HDD's gain more heat? Isn't that an issue?

 

They can run a little hotter, vibrate a little more and pull a little more power.

Heat is one reason not to get a taller drive that blocks the airflow . . and if the current 5400 drive is running too hot that might suggest staying at 5400.

In short if the performance increase is essential then heat power and vibration are the costs.

Otherwise as I have said the same sort of money will buy very reasonable performance and 640GB in 5400rpm

 

Jay

Still plenty of 5740's at other outlets.

Bear in mind that Dixons/PC world sell a different version of the 5740 with different support processes to most other retailers anyway

 

Hey!
I'm just curious why my core temp program always shows 90+ degrees when i bootup my 5740G?

It doesn't feel that hot when i touch back of the laptop neither are fans working at full speed.

And are the keyboard buttons removeable to clean dirty that has under them?

 

What program do you use to measure temperatures? I assume you're taking Celsius, right?
Keyboard buttons are not removable per se- you could do it but that's a last resort and you could also easily damage it while doing so. This type of keyboard is very easy to clean using gas duster (compressed air).

 

Speedfan shows incorrect temperatures, just FYI.