Acer Aspire 5740G Owners Lounge

You can always add external USB drive.

 

Sure, but then you need to remove DVD reader and you can fit SSD nicely there.

 

Not 100% sure this is the right place to be asking but has anybody managed to get epsxe working on a 5740G? Is it even possible or are the mobile 5650s, windows 7, i3/i5s etc just a bit too much shiny stuff for it to handle?

Edit: Also, thanks for all the help I've had from reading the first couple of posts. I think a huge number of people come straight to this thread from google and fix the 2 second game freezes + the loud beep with it

Edit 2: Just got it running, was my fault for screwing up with the disc.

OpenGL2 v2.9 is the video plugin I'm using, works great with this laptop

 

I just got a Acer 5745G, was amazed to find that it does not come with a reinstallation disk for windows 7 !

Since you guys know so much, where can I get the win 7 disk from ? I am making "create a system image" file onto an external hard disk incase

 

Start Menu/All Programs/Acer/Acer eRecovery Management. It will take a couple of blank DVDs.

 

Used driver genius pro and it found 19 outdated drivers.. ouch!

 

where the heck are you ppl all getting this laptop =x

 

Hi,

There are differences between Core#0 and Core#2 as per hw monitor. Which one could be the real temperature?

 

First of all, thanks everyone and specially downloads for the very useful thread. I've consulted this thread over and over again before buying my 5740g with a core i3.

Now some questions:

1 - My power chord seems to disconnect rather easy when I have the laptop on my lap, does this happen to anyone else? It happened 3 or 4 times already, and now I'm getting a bit paranoid about it, always making sure it's properly connected at all times. I wonder if I let the batery on at all times to prevent this will wear it out significantly faster. I'm not using it to anything else, really, I have a netbook to take out with me, this laptop stays at home.

2 - I haven't yet used the AMD clock tool, I'm thinking about starting to use it. Do I have to run it everytime I start the computer, or the changes are permanent?

3 - Has anyone managed to overclock the i3 yet? I've seen that the i3 processors are bound to be the overclockers best friends

Other than that, I'm very happy with my choice, it's a damn cheap machine with killer specs!

 

Both- there are two physical cores and they differ in temperature as a result of different load they handle at the moment.

Battery wear shouldn't be the problem. I wrote that before but in short- battery loses its capacity also when not in use and not in the notebook at all. As for the power cord- it's annoying. I solved it in an easy way (not good looking though) using something similar to what's called duct tape in the US. What's important is not the adhesive but the fabric-like top of the tape that increases friction and stops the plug from disconnecting. The difference is that duct tape is smooth on the top but what I used is not- it was originally meant for medical purposes BTW. Now the power cord doesn't come off anymore.

You have to start it every time, manually change clocks and then switch them back to normal after you are finished gaming (otherwise they stick until the restart which means PowerPlay doesn't work)

No one so far. From what I gather it's gonna be very hard to do via software as Core i3/i5 are "self-governing" to a degree that makes it practically impossible to undervolt them via software not to mention OC them, but I haven't been following this subject for a while so may be something's changed.

 

hi everyone.
it's my first post here, althought i've lurked quite a bit ^^;

i've a small problem
few days after the purchase, i've decided to format my 5740 (core i5, 5470, 640gb hd) and reinstall seven from the scratch.

everything went fine; but i've "lost" acer backup.
i'm not missing it; but at the moment i've two unused button on the pc (the other one being the one for the bluetooth).
is it there a way to "hack" the launch manager and to assign the buttons to other tasks?

thanks in advance

 

Thanks a lot for your quick and detailed answer, just a quick question though: what is PowerPlay?

And let me tell you, the idea you had for the power chord is genius! Thanks a lot!

 

PowerPlay automatically changes clocks for ATI card according to load- 2D clocks are 100MHz core and 150MHz memory while if you run a game or use hardware accelerated video (that includes Adobe Flash) it jumps up to 550MHz core and 750MHz memory and then back after you've stopped using it.
Manual overclocking prevents PowerPlay from working so it stays OCed after you are finished gaming.

 

I see, that's very useful too keep it cool. Thanks a lot for the info.

And btw, I second dave4mame's question on the buttons, it would be useful to reconfigure those two buttons.

 

Hello there, first time posting.
I've had 5740g for about 3 months now, and it had some problems with artifacts about couple of weeks in. I looked at this thread and found some answers. I updated the bios to 1.22 and downloaded the catalyst control center. Everything went smoothly from that point until recently. Right as i type 2/3 of my screen is filled with light green lines that sometimes flashes. I've tried reinstalling video card driver and i updated the CCC to the 10.6 release. nothing has worked. I dont think its the memory or hard drive, so what could be the problem? Also, if it is the memory, how do i go about fixing it? thanks help needed!

 

People keep asking about this laptop. Any idea of where it is available these days?

 

Took me 4 days to read all this , and it convinged me to buy it , i have one question , in my country it comes with linux installed , one guy here sad that if u format your pc and install other operating sistem will make u lose your 1 year waranty . I've read on a different forum that u can restore your laptop in 30 days after buying but if u format and install windows u can't do that anymore , now i am confuzed ...

 

Check if the BIOS really shows as 1.22 then see if the problem persists on an external monitor. If it does go back to Acer provided ATI drivers. If nothing helps restore Windows and if it didn't help send it to a service centre for repair (or more likely replacement)

I don't know but it's gonna be harder and harder to find one of these so if anyone is still debating this purchase make your decision before "out of stock" makes it for you. These are not produced anymore because Timeline X 5820 doesn't need more competition than it already has and Gemstone is being replaced in general.

You mean return not restore right? Installing Windows will not void your warranty however you may not be entitled to 30-day return policy if the notebook is not in its original state (in this case with Linux) but that depends on country and/or retailer policy.

 

Maybe see if this works: The Acer Guy Blog Archive Aspire 5920G Launch Manager Patch

or ask Morris if he could possibly make a version for this model.

 

It may work but it didn't for me- after I've installed it and patched I got something working but not the way it was supposed to so I tried to go back to regular Launch Manager I used to use. And that's where the problem started- neither default Launch Manager from 5740G support page nor the most recent v3 build worked (no error but no installation either)
In the end I was forced to use the Launch Manager for 5920G (since the Setup actually worked and registered the files) and only then did I replace (manually) the files in Launch Manager folder with the most recent ones.
So keep it in mind if you decide to play with it.

 

My realtek audio manager is gone.. What the hell?

 

You mean the control panel shortcut is gone or RAVCpl64.exe is not in C:\Program Files\Realtek\Audio\HDA?

 

I did system restore and its back. I had audio but i guess the program "driver genius professional" deleted new drivers and installed some weird drivers instead...

 

I ran PCPitstop's full scan and it says all my drivers are up to date...and I have all original drivers out of the box (except BIOS and intels SATA)

 

That doesn't speak well for this program. Most of the drivers were updated several times, for example one cannot expect a ATI driver from 2009 to be up to date.

 

I want to limit frame rate to 30 per second because I think it is better then jumping for example from 45 to 28
I know that some games give you that option like RE5
but most of them do not
Is there any way to limit their frame rate to 30 ????????
sorry about my English

 

Not the best app it seams- at least ATI, Syanptics, Broadcom and Atheros are outdated. My opinion on updating drivers is well known so I'm not gonna repeat myself- good thing you updated BIOS though. So far we haven't seen anyone with battery dying so I guess all these warnings and encouragements to update to 1.16 or higher worked.

I see your point but unfortunately it depends on a game engine and you can't do anything about it. On top of it- some engines are rather consistent (CryEngine2 or Unreal) others are not so there are some games that will make your fps jump up and down and you can't really do anything about it.

-----------------------------------
Acer Backup Manager update to 2.0.0.63 available here
Second post of the thread also got updated with this. I don't use it so I didn't test it!

 

Anyone know where I can find a 6 or 9 cell battery compatible with this laptop? I want to extend my battery life with two batteries.

Thanks.

 

I just took it off! It just uses a lot of memory and does nothing on my laptop...I don't see any difference in my win7 power settings and was never able to actually open the app. It seems not to work on win7 64bit...

 

Battery should be "AS07A31". Search it on ebay and you can find easily l

 

AS07A31 is made by Sanyo and is 48038mAh
AS07A41 is made by Sony and is slightly bigger 48840mAh

I got the latter but both are available in different Aspires 5740G.

 

I was looking at 12cell with 8800mAh but i don't think its worth it.. Especially when it comes from China .

 

Yeah- that was mentioned some time ago- it's a scam.
I don't think legitimate 9 cell batteries for this notebook are available either- at least I haven’t seen one.

On an unrelated note- anyone with Core i5 520M here?
If so- could you post values for Max Turbo Boost Multipliers that can be found in Everest in Motherboard/CPUID section?

That's how it looks for core i5 430M
Max Turbo Boost Multipliers 1C: 19x, 2C: 19x

 

I do not have an i5-520m, but official specs are:

i5-430m: 2,26GHz, turbo boost steps: 2,4GHz and 2,53GHz.
i5-450m: 2,4GHz, turbo boost steps: 2,53GHz and 2,66GHz.
i5-520m: 2,4GHz, turbo boost steps: 2,66GHz and 2,93GHz.

So yes, i5-520m is still the faster CPU.

 

Except for the fact that Core i5 430M works @2.53GHz both with one and two cores which you proved yourself if I'm not mistaken. Thanks anyway- that's probably what I was looking for but still I don't fully get Turbo Boost in 430M- saying that it's a bug is not really an explanation.

 

Depends what you run at it, maybe also temps. Yes it can run 2,53GHz with both cores, no it won't always do it. At least not my i5-430m, in prime it often runs at 2,4GHz
with 4 threads. But then again, the i5-450m is way more picky on when it wants to boost yeah.

 

I've been an owner of this laptop for almost 4 months and couldn't be more
happy about it. I have the i520m version with the ATi 5650. So:

 

Yes I suspected that much- it's possible to run 430M @2.53GHz with both cores (4 threads) under full load if it's within the thermal envelope. It's not a big difference but still with Core i5 it pays of to have a good cooling system

So in the end difference between Core i5 430M and Core i5 520M is very small- it may sound like much if you look at max Turbo Boos value but that value is for one core only- with two cores involved it's reduced to 133MHz.

Thanks for info guys.

 

Hello!
Firstly, downloads, I'm amazed! You have collected drivers that even acer haven't put in their support site.

I have a question: Currently I have Acer Aspire 5740 with the notorious WD scorpio blue 500GB HDD. I have windows 7 64 bit on it and World of Warcraft. I have installed quietHDD.

I have the option to swap my WD with a Seagate Model ST9500325ASG SATA 3Gb/s 500 GB 8MB 5400 G-Force. Should I do it? I read on the net that some people have had trouble with the Seagate Momentus - noise, etc.

What I'm trying to say is: should I stick with the WD and quiet HDD or should I switch to Seagate?


EDIT: Thanks, downloads!

 

Hi there.

I wouldn’t use this Seagate drive- there's something wrong with it. Sure all drives die but first few reviews were- "died after 4 days", "died after a month", "died after 3 months", "bought two- both died".
On newegg there's only one review for this drive "died" off course but ST9500325AS- same drive without G-Force has good reviews both on newegg and amazon.
Still there's clearly something wrong with these drives and I'd keep WD 500GB with QuietHDD rather than take a risk.

 

I got one more question
Is there a way to make the backup button (next to the bluetooth button) do something else, or "reprogram" it? Cause I don't have that acer backup software and I don't feel like installing it.

 

I'd like to know that too, unfortunately I don't.

 

Once I read it's possible, however I don't recall where.
I'm a bit concerned about the battery though.
A friend of mine has an Asus laptop and when he plugs the charger in and the battery hits 100% its stops charging until it reaches 95%. After that the process repeats itself. I believe this helps preserve the battery life.

Is there a software that can do that for me or do I have to unplug the charger every hour or so?

 

Mine works just the same.I use the laptop plugged in 99% of the time.But it starts charging when the battery is below or at 95%.It worked the same way on my old HP too.And i didn't use any software for that either.Windows 7 Ultimate x86(hp) and Windows 7 Ultimate x64(Acer).

 

You don't have to do a thing- the battery doesn't recharge itself until it goes below 96%. It works in your laptop that way too- if you disconnect your notebook every hour and let it go below 96% and connect it again you are going to hurt your battery rather than prolong it's life.

 

Hey everybody!
Thanks for the great thread! Special thanks to downloads for the unstoppable support,making us Users enjoy this awesome laptop at maximum efficiency!
BTW, I am with 5740G Acer, the one with 640GB HDD, had the annoying FREEZE problem, but thanks to quietHDD this is all past! Thanks to this forum managed to solve it!

Ok, so here is another thing. I don't know if this is indeed a problem, but since i am an addicted gamer, here is what i noticed:

When i run World of Warcraft i seem to have this tiny itsy-bitsy problem: from time to time (when I am running at a direction) the FPS would go from 60.0 to anywhere between 45-55 and then jump to 65 (VSync is on). At this point the game just LOADS smth (looks like as if it loads. We are talking about miliseconds here, most of the times whe i monitor my fps it would just appear as 65 fps and then return to 60.
Note that i have maxxed everything (except for the shadows, i hate them, 4x multisampling).
My question: Is this NORMAL. Have tried this on 1xmultisampling(thought it was the AA-System of WoW, its quite crappy).

Similar problem with Battlefield Bad Company2, except that i am running it on medium and when running or moving(this is when the problem becomes VISIBLE) it is as if the game Slows down and jumps a bit-again,talking for a MINOR period of time.
Now, funny thing is that I also have Far Cry 2. When i run it on DX10 this problem appears (4xAA, Very High on everything). When i turn to DX9,however, on the same statistics, All is Great-these Slows,these Jumps that slow the game for a milisecond and then return it to normal are all gone.
So Is it the DX fault? Is there something wrong when I run DX version higher than 9?
I jumped mostly through this 150+ pages thread, but managed to read a thing that the 10.4 ver of ATI was running smth better with BBC2. Is it a driver we are talking? And is there a connection between these 3 isolated cases?

Thanks again,you are great, love you ^^

 

Did you update ATI drivers?
Also I assume you've had AV software disabled while playing- otherwise it may be AV interfering for a split second while scanning some textures that are being loaded.
That said I haven't had such a problem neither in DX9 nor DX10 (haven't played anything DX11 yet)

 

I have the newest Ati Update-currently 10_6.

So it appears that when loading the textures, something slows a bit the load. Not always. Mostly. When i go into a new zone (in WoW).

Maybe there is no problem? Maybe this is how the game loads and it's just unoptimised?
i stand corrected, when these jumps(i don't want even to call them jumps,because they are Minor) occur, my Framerate Increases? from 60 to 65 and then back.
I removed my AV(Antivirus system, right?) which is NoD32.(Disabled it) but, nothing really changed that much

Now another thing, in one of your previus posts on some page, you advised everyone with Battlefield Bad company 2 not to get 10_5 but remain on the 10_4. What was the exact reason for that, maybe you explained the problem there and that is what tortures me now

Initially i thought that the quietHDD didn't simply remove the freezes, but rather diminishes them to these frame rate spikies. But i tried the game without quietHDD, they are still there...as well as the gigantic freezes,muahaha

What can cause a greater load of textures than normal? Shadows? Anti-alising? High Textures? Because i think that this card can take it all(or mostly all). What can you advise me NOT to max? What have you noticed is best from your gaming experience?

Thanks again, this is what i wanted to ask.

 

As for BFBC2 there was a case when loading times (only for DX11) were very long and ATI fixed it but in the next edition of Catalyst they essentially forgot to put the same fix again so they un-fixed it And in the following edition they fixed it again Anyway- that was BFBC2 specific and doesn't concern other games.
The only other thing is you may want to defragment your HD to make sure that the textures are loaded as fast as they can be and update your sound driver and networking driver- both can affect gaming fps especially the latter can cause "hiccups" if the game is played online (the most recent drivers are in the second post of the thread)
I don't use AA- that's the only thing- I usually max out others if the game performance allows it and it usually does except for GTA IV.
These changes in fps don't cause the game to stutter do they?

 

You are right, with or without AA things seem the same.
Just installed the Ethernet Driver update, but can't find the realtek one ;
So, played some more BFBC2, on the cut scenes the situation is terrible- the game jumps (this Time SERIOUSLY)-and i am playing it on SP (i.e. no internet connection).
Another question: What should I update? On my desktop after updating some drivers things went worse. on the laptop so far i have:

Latest Ati CCC drivers: 10_6 ver.
The Network Ethernet drivers from your post.

All in all this is all i have that you have given here too.