Acer Aspire 5740G Owners Lounge

hey ya i hav dne tht..but still the same..

 

Wish i could mate but i want to stick to my budget. I could have got the one with the ATI 5470 or 5650 but they are £70 and £130 more, i dont play games much at all so it wouldnt be worth it imo. Ive got a 360 for when i do game. It can play old games which im happy with Im a poor poor student, just about to start uni!! haha

Is it possible to buy the recovery disks?

 

I got it working ..

I used "dvd +r" but i read somewhere that only "dvd -r" works... Thank god .

 

well, mine burned ok on dvd+r...maybe you just had a bad set of dvd's

 

I've had this laptop running almost continuously since I got it May 1st, and haven't had a single issue yet. I love everything about it except one thing. The battery lasts a maximum of two hours and thirteen minutes. I've tried lowering every setting to the most battery efficient level possible and there is no improvement.

Anyone have any solutions to this? It's not of great importance since I almost never use my laptop on a battery. The specific model was the 6395 with the i5 520.

 

i'm downloading now...ll install n c

 

Would you suggested me to buy:

a) Acer Aspire 5740g (i7-620, 6gb, hd5650)

b) Sony Vaio VPC-F11M1E/H (i5-520, 4gb, 330m gt)

c) Asus N61JQ (i7-720, 4gb, hd5730)

I need to buy a quality notebook, to keep it at least 4-5 years

 

At first I thought that Asus would be the best one but after I've looked at some tests I think it's the Acer after all so my opinion is gonna look like it's biased by the fact that I own one.
I guess the fact that I had considered Asus N61 before I bought Aspire 5740G won't improve my credibility too much either

All three were tested by the Polish version of notebookcheck- the same website the same conditions and methodology- it's a good thing.

So it looks like this- the Acer is a bit more quiet while idle and a lot more quiet when under load. One would think it means that would mean the cooling system in the Asus is efficient but apparently it's not- HD5730 got up to 94*C under load.
HD5650 in my notebook even OCed to 670/900 (HD5730 is 650/800) is 76*C tops. Also keep in mind that 5650 and 5730 is the same exact card with different frequencies.
On top of that Aspire 5740G works longer on battery (an hour more at idle and some 40 min while surfing with Wi-Fi)

Sony is a bit more noisy compared to Acer when idle and a lot more when under load but unlike Asus it at least keeps the components cool. Battery times are almost identical to what Acer achieved. GT330M is slower than HD5650 BTW. Sony has full HD screen which makes gaming with GT330M virtually impossible at least in native resolution.

Last but not least the quality- 4-5 years is a lot and no one can really make any promises about that. Acer 5740G build quality is good which has been confirmed by many users in this thread, Asus is also generally good but to my surprise in the review of Sony Vaio it's been mentioned that it makes distinct creaky sounds of plastic in different parts of the chassis and whiny noise when under load (it's not about the fan but probably capacitors)

 

""A""

 

Hey guys, I sometimes hook up my laptop to an external monitor, with a keyboard and mouse for gaming. But the mouse is really shaky. For some reason whenever I move it kind of shakes around versus moving smoothly. Any ideas whats up? I have a logitech G9 Laser mouse.

I have installed the setpoint software and disabled the touchpad.
I have tried the mouse on another computer and it works fine. I have also tried a mousepad and no mousepad, and no difference. I have the Acer 5740G-6979.
Thanks.

 

Nevermind fixed it. Shoved a cuetip with alcohol on it and cleaned the lense.

 

Alright fellow acer lovers....
i got a question i am a tad bit paranoid but i game alot on my pc and i notice that its running a tad hot...not super hot just a tad uncomfortable ( for me anyway ). So I checked the temps using HWmonitor and im shocked at what i see. My CPU temps are dancing anywhere between 75 - 89(GASP) degrees C. Now i live in Jamaica and .. well its summer so im figuring this is playing hell on my lappy.... no cooling pad either.(NOTE: this is running WoW, Google chrome with like 10+ tabs, and a some folders open. Normally, temps idle at aroun 55 - 60). Now my question is...should i worry?
Also the model i have is the i5 520m core 5650 gpu

 

Considering your ambient temperature it's more or less fine, however a good cooling pad may ease a situation a bit.

 

Thankz Downloads... i kinda figured that... just wanted a second opinion

 

Hey all! Just got the 5740G (Blu-ray, i5 430m, HD 5650) a few days ago...to my surprise this model came with Bluetooth as well. So far I've only played Left4Dead 2 for a few hours but I've not noticed any freezes yet even though it came with a WD500G HDD (WDC WD5000BEVT-22A0RT0). Maybe I got lucky or is it only certain games that it freezes on?

@Downloads: Hi. Are there any noticeable benefits of having up-to-date drivers for the touchpad, wi-fi, etc? I've followed the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' rule ever since some bad experiences with my old laptop from driver updates.

Thanks.

 

all the same spec's as mine... How much (US) did you pay for that notebook? mine didnt come with blu-ray/bluetooth (the bluetooth has a button but does not do anything)

i wanted blueray...

 

You can always roll back a driver plus all driver updates that I post are already tested and confirmed to work fine on Aspire 5740G (by me )
Some drivers are more important than others like GPU drivers or network-related drivers- these either improve speed (GPU ones) security (networking) or stability (both types) but as a rule of thumb new drivers are better than old ones. After all these companies wouldn't spend their money and time developing drivers that are not needed. For example I've read somewhere on this forum that Synaptics drivers v15 are a lot better than v14 and eliminate some problems that the old ones used to cause. I haven't run into any trouble with v14 but still you get my point- even seemingly most irrelevant drivers may cause a lot of trouble under some circumstances- no reason to dive them a chance to do so.

 

I paid £699 ($1015) for it which is pretty cheap. A machine of a similar spec would cost at least £1000 normally. A normal pizza costs £12.99 (nearly $19) so it's hard to compare between the UK and the US. I'd kill to get notebooks at US prices....

 

Could someone please link me to the latest (and best) realtek audio drivers? I dont care about the beep.

Are the best and latest intel gma hd drivers on the intel website?

Cheers

 

Does the fan on the bottom pull air into it, or blow it out?

I think its pull, but wanted to make sure.

 

If they've been tested by yourself I guess it should be safe to update the drivers. Thanks for your view.

On to a different issue. My laptop didn't come with ePower Management installed (or maybe I can't find it?), is it better than the Windows Power Management tools and should I install it from the link you provided on the first post?

P.S. Overclocked card at 650/950 so far. Looks stable.

 

It probably is installed (check the list for "programs and features" in control panel)
I have the same problem, I can't open it nor see any icons for it.
The only place I found it is in the C:/ program files/acer folder, but when I try to open any of the applications...nothing happens.
I already reinstalled from acer website (same version 05.3004) but still not working.
I guess I just get rid of it since it doesn't work.
Anybody got it working?

 

It does work it just doesn't have an interface. This app is meant to integrate into Windows power management so if you get anything it's additional options there that wouldn't be visible otherwise.
I left it as it is- the only thing I did was to update it from the original version 4.05.3004 to 5.00.3003.

 

Hi guys,

This series AS 5740 is a Compal production?

 

Hi guys,

This series AS 5740 is a Compal production?

 

No- it's made by Wistron.

 

oh very thanks !!!

But thes as5740 and as5745 are good quality?

 

seems impossible to find Acer Aspire AS5740-6395 instock anywhere. Very disappointed as I was hoping to buy this for my wife.

 

I don't know about the 5745 but 5740 is fine.

Acer is pushing its new Aspire lines to replace the old Gemstone designs- like TimelineX 5820TG (which gets hot) or Aspire 5745G (which has a slower GPU so it's actually a downgrade).

 

Do you think Acer will try to clear inventory and put up some more 5740s?

 

That sucks. Any tips on a similarly priced/spec'ed machine? (doesn't specifically have to be acer)

 

This one is pretty similar..


Gateway NV5924u 15.6" Notebook PC - Midnight Blue in PC Notebook Computers at JR.com

And gateway is owned by acer...

 

hello there!

i have th i7 version of this laptop and just after i bought it, as soon as i started using it i noticed a very high pitched noise coming from the left side of the laptop, near the "turn on" button.

This noise isnt present all the time, it starts everythime i hear the processor (i think) fan boosting.
The noise isnt that high in volume, it just is extremelly high pitchedm which makes it hard to pass by unnoticed.

Does anyone have this same issue?
Is this something to worry about?

thanks in advance

 

downloads you can delete that, found the answer

 

Sounds like fan issue reported many times in this same thread. Search the thread and you will see it mentioned many times. I believe they all had to get a warranty replacement or repair to get a fan that wasn't making the noise.

 

What? You just made up a problem that doesn't exist! The only weird sound the fan makes is just before it starts (something to do with bearings) but it's something one gets used to after few days.

 

I'm talking about a whining high pitched sound the fan does constantly at a certain RPM level. After hearing it a few times, its somewhere between maximum RPM and disabled RPM. when i hear the fan starting it starts to whine right after it, and keeps constant beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee until the fan stops blowing.

 

Hello everyone,

First time poster. Congratulations on being probably the most useful forum thread for 5740G owners on the internet. But let’s get to the point: approximately week and a half ago, I purchased 5740G (Core i3 330M, HD5650, 4GB, 500GB Hitachi HDD). Immediately after installing Win7 X64 Ultimate (mine came with Linux) I noticed artifacting issues (sorry for cameraphone quality pictures):



Not only that, but on multiple occasions the laptop would freeze for a couple of seconds, the screen would go black for a while and then it would come back again with windows telling me that “Display driver stopped responding and has recovered”:



On one occasion, the laptop froze, and hadn’t recovered at all, displaying this:



I then remembered reading this thread before purchasing my laptop. It was then, when I really started worrying about the fact that I might have bought a lemon. I uninstalled Catalyst 10.5, installed video drivers from Acer website, but there was no difference whatsoever, numerous instances of artifacting and display driver failing would occur throughout the day.

However, I then stumbled upon this thread, and it started to look like the underlying problem that I was having was related to the bios. I thoroughly read all thread to that day (113 pages – took me almost 2 days ). At the time, my bios version was 1.09, VGA bios: 012.015.000.003.035223. I flashed my bios to 1.16 (VGA bios stayed the same), but that didn’t help. And then I flashed to the latest 1.22, VGA bios then changed to 012.020.000.013.035223. Almost a week passed since flashing, with no artifacting or any problems at all. I guess it’s safe to say now that all the artifacting and related issues can be solved via updating bios to the latest 1.22 version.

The reason I am making this post is that even after reading all 113 pages of this forum to that date, there was not a single post, 100% confirming that latest bios update solves these issues, describing the “before and after” situation in detail. So my intent is for anyone who might purchase this laptop and face similar problems save all the hassle and headache and confirm the solution.

Just remember, bios update is a delicate procedure, so always take care and consult this post before proceeding.

Thank you everyone who contributed to this thread and led me to solution, keep up the good work.

 

Hello everyone. I was wondering maybe any of you guys know how to use spdif out? Because there's a "slight" problem at my side. I've got a receiver, but it has only coaxial in. So I'm not sure how I'm supposed to connect it. In the manual it says there's s-pdif out, I've tried a dongle 3.5mm to coax but it didn't work. Any ideas on this one?

 

haha, wrong laptop. This was a problem with the original laptop I was going to buy, the Gateway version of this laptop. Either way, it's the same problem they were having. And it's the same hardware so it stands to reason he could have gotten one of their fans.
Here's a thread for the 17in version of the Gateway version and it has that same exact problem:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/gat...-i5-1-gb-radeon-5650-a.html#goto_threadsearch

Sorry, about the confusion, but the issue sounds like it's the same, either way.

 

Driver Update

New Realtek audio driver v 2.49 is available for download (change log is the usual- customizations) and more interestingly new ATI HDMI audio driver by Realtek that is more recent than what ATI provides in their driver pack.

 

Okay. I am going to pick up this computer the 26th, but I would like to know... what to do with it? Meaning, what updates and programs should I install?

Bios? GPU Bios and stuff like that? How do I install and update that?

Drivers? What version and from where?

I also read somewhere there was an issue with the HDD requiring yet another program.

Please help or point me to where I can find this info.

 

What is better between 5740g and 7741g ? the 7741g has same configuration but has a resolution of 1600x900 17" screen , little slower in games but more clearly , camera of 1.3m , 3 usb ports, hdd of 320gb but is little cheap than 5740g , and his case look more solid than 5740g and not so fingerprint magnet , at 5740g the screen case is so delicate and pretentious.

 

I got another audio questions.


Is there a way to hook this


To the 5740g to get 5.1 sound?

Thats from altec lansing 251 5.1 speakers.

 

Similar question. Which one should i get? 7741G has a 17" screen while the other 15.6" ,but that also means it eats up battery life faster right? It has a 320 GB HDD while 5740G has a 500 one (not sure if they're SATA). Both have the ultra-OC-able HD5650 1GB (G?)DDR3 and Core i5 CPUs. Other differences are 3 USB slots for the 17" and 4 for the latter, 1.3 MP and 0.3 MP camera and the multimedia technology. (asus 3d pro-something for 7741G and Dolby Digital for 5740G). I-m guessing the battery should last more on the 15.6" display laptop. As for looks the 17" does look more polished, that's it but i'm more interested in battery life so the longer the better. Please shed some light on my annoying undecided state. Thanks alot

7741G and
5740G

 

If you need battery life why not consider a TimelineX 5820TG?
It gets a lot hotter than 5740G but is made of metal and gives you 5 hours of browsing via Wi-Fi on battery power.
As for 5740G and 7741G- 5740G probably works longer on battery power and is faster gaming-wise when you consider its lower native resolution.
Some people consider greater resolution to be an advantage- I don't- at least not with a mid-range GPU under the bonnet. Obviously you get the same performance with the same resolution on both but games look bad when not in native resolution on LCD screens so I doubt you are going to play it that way. If you consider that 1600x900 has more than 33% pixels more than 1366x768 it doesn't look good performance-wise.

 

Thanks for the quick reply. What i forgot to mention is that i'm only interested (yet) in those two models as they have a good price/quality ratio. The one you mentioned, i don't know how many variants there are but i couldn't find the one with the HD5650 and it's pricier. That's one of the main reasons i chose these laptops. It's an outstanding vid card, maybe the best for it's price range. I've browsed pages with more expensive laptops and they all had weaker GPUs. I'm gonna use the laptop for designing (ArhiCAD,AutoCAD and others) and for gaming. And i do want to be able to play recent/last-gen games with medium-high details. So you're saying that a higher resolution doesn't matter that much for looks? How much does a bigger display impact battery life? And as a final question should i get a cooling stand/pad with it? If yes could you recommend me one ? Thanks for your patience.

 

I see from your links that they both come with Linux installed and not windows7 ? That would be a turn off for me.

 

Okay, silly me I found that there is a lot of links and stuff on first page of this thread.

I was thinking of following install-order when updating stuff, btw its Win7 64 bit, Acer Aspire 5740G-334G50Mn (4GB ram, 500GB 5400 rpm HDD, i3 330m CPU, Ati 5650). Not sure what brand of wireless, webcam. I don't think there is bluetooth in it, nor does there seem to be need for Turboboost since i3 do not support Turboboost. I dont think there is a 3G module either. Am I missing anything?

Is there some issue with the install order that I should be aware of?

I am not including basic stuff like antivirus, etc etc.

1 - Bios:

BIOS_Acer_1.22_A_A​

2 - Chipset:

Chipset_Intel_9.1.1.1020_W7x86W7x64_A​

3 - VGA:

VGA_ATI_8.672.3.0_W7x86W7x64_A
AND/OR? Install just one or both?
VGA_Intel_8.15.10.1995_W7x86W7x64_A​

, its 5650G with Ati 5650, so both? Or only one? Which one? What order? First intel then ati?

4 - Audio Driver:

Audio_Realtek_6.0.1.5969_W7x86W7x64_A​

5 - LAN:

Lan_Broadcom_12.2.2.2_W7x86W7x64_A​

6 - Card Reader Driver:

CardReader_Alcor_WIN7_32_64_151725482​

7 - SATA AHCI Driver:

Rapid Storage Technology 9.6.0.1014​

8 - Touchpad:

synaptics_15.0.13.0​

9 - Other Drivers (iAMT):

Others_Intel_6.0.0.1179_W7x86W7x64_A​

10 - Modem Driver:

Modem_LSI_2.2.98_W7x86W7x64_A​

11 - Wireless:

Broadcom LAN Driver 14.0.0.7
OR
Wireless LAN_Intel_13.0.0.107_W7x86W7x64_A
OR
Atheros_wlan_9.0.0.173( www.station-drivers.com)​

12 - Webcam

Camera_Chicony_1.1.164.323_W7x86W7x64_A
OR
Camera_Suyin_5.2.9.3_W7x86W7x64_A​

13 - ePower Management Application:

ePower_Acer_5.00.3003_W7x64_A​

14 - Launcher Manager:

LaunchManager_Dritek_3.0.04_W7x86W7x64_A​

15 - ATI Catalyst:

10-4_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc​

16 - QuietHDD:

quietHDD_v1.5-build250​

 

Where I live TimelineX 5820TG is offered with HD5650 and is priced almost like 5740G. In all honesty I mentioned it because you've wanted battery time but I wouldn't buy it myself- I think it gets too hot which affects comfort but can also limit overclocking.
As for higher resolution- you get higher resolution on a bigger screen so it does kind of level out with smaller screen and lower resolution. Pixels are too small to see them even in lower resolutions so I don't see how the game could look worse in 1366x768. I can see however how much slower it would be and that's why I decided against 17" 1600x900 when I bought my laptop.
Another thing is that 17" may be more comfortable to use for you- it's personal preference because I like 15" more as it's more comfortable to use on your laps on the bed or couch. All in all it's up to your preferences.