Acer Aspire 8942G Core i7 Owners Lounge

ar you sure cpuid can give me that information, because i already have that program, and i never saw that?!

i just want to know when my laptop is on full load how many power it drains from the power suply

 

Thx for the explanation

 

Hi thanks for the post i realize the chip set is capable of handling the i5 and i7's however i'm having issues finding out if the the cpu socket is the same going from the i3-330m to say the i7-720 and above. cpu-z shows the socket as 1156 lga but somehow that doesn't look right. I'm a former desktop user of 18+yrs to 1st laptop and the setup internally is a little different don't want to waste money on something that wont fit Thanks

 

Hello all!

My 8942G developed what seems to be a transparent white spot (few millimetres in diameter) on the left side of the screen, five centimetres from the top, near the bezel.
It's best seen on brighter backrounds, harder (almost invisible) on black.

There's no physical damage associated with it neither I remember doing anything that would cause that spot to appear.

I thought it's just a dirt on the screen (sort of looks like it) but cleaning didn't help.
I also tried what I'd call "a light massage" on that spot but didn't help at all.
The spot is definitely not made of stuck or dead pixels.

Is the display replacement my only option? Notebook is still under warranty.

Thanx!

 

You can refer to Intel website for this information. For example, Intel® Core™ i3-330M Processor & Intel® Core™ i7-720QM Processor share same socket.

 

I have a strange issue with my screen.. when i look close to the screen i can see pixels...not pixels that stay @ 1 place. there all over my screen and moving.....compare it with television when there is snow, ...don't get me wrong i can only see it on my screen when i look concentrated


can some1 confirm me if you also notice some pixxels moving all over the screen

thnx

 

Hello Guys!.I just bought the machine.It's a beast I removed all the useless things (Bloat ware), made backup cd's and now its ready.
When i shout it the system down i see some things still running so i believe i might do it a fresh install of win 7 in the future.
I noticed that it runs pretty cold in comparison to what i've heard of from other's peoples 720's.To be exact,it actually is a bit hotter than my Dell studio 17 with the dual core T4200 even in full thrust.
In the first day i had a problem with the bio protection with BIOS code but its ok now.For some mysterious reason it dosen't ask anymore for the BIOS protection or the code.
I love it so far!!

 

Take a look at these videos:

YouTube - ‪Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 - Ants arround the edges‬‎
Ideapad Y560 problem
YouTube - ‪Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 - Dancing pixels‬‎

Does it look similar?

I didn't experience anything like that, but my notebook also has some sort of screen defect (explained few posts above) and is currently being repaired (hopefully they'll replace the screen with a new one).

 

Hi Everyone:

Is there any way to program the MediaControl pad to work with MediaPortal? I'm surprised it does't work because I have MediaPortal setup to work with the MS MediaCenter remote, and that works fine.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!!!
Dale

 

hi aspire man,

i didn't saw your previsious post ... iam not sure if it is the same as your screen issue?! i also notice it on a brighter background! not white...for example my background has a lot of red.. the pixels ar all over my screen.. and it is green! i don't think it is a dead pixel because they are moving all over my screen.

the strange thing is, when i play a game like metro 2033..and during gameplay i go back to my desktop i don't see the pixels anymore:S:S!! but if i shutdown the game and watch the desktop carefully..the pixels slowly come back

i have looked to your video on youtube.. and i think my screen isn't that bad as your.

 

Nooo, those are not my videos, I found them accidentally - they just fit in your description of "moving pixels" so I posted them.
Problem with my display is single plain ol' spot on the screen full of translucent pixels. I'm yet to see what they'll do about it...

Anyway, I'm not sure if I fully understand what you're seeing on your screen, but it could be that GPU is throwing artifacts for some reason.
Install newest ATi drivers and then check for pixels.
Try to capture desktop screenshot with Print Screen button when you see those rampant pixels so at least you can determine if it's GPU or the screen/something else.
Also check if same problems exist in BIOS, for example (or Linux or anything besides your current Windows installation).

 

i already tried different drivers.. i have now 10.7 installed..and the problem is still there.. have you already tried what i said? start a game etc etc

today i will try to see if it occurs in the bios. i will also make a picture and post it here

edit: i looked @ the bios and the pixels ar also there.

here is a picture of my screen, iam not sure if you can see it here because when i open the picture the pixels ar over the picture

like i sad before compare it with 90% good cabel signal on a tv...then you will see snow all over the screen..but it is verry light and green at my screen:S

 

Wow, you've broken forum's layout with that image! Well, at least on my old 1024x768 desktop PC...

I can't see anything strange with your screenshot, apart from wallpaper being a bit strange...

Do you see the same on external display?

 

Hi shaneee, Aspire 5740G owner also complained about the display, although I'm not sure if they have the same "problem" as yours. I failed to understand correctly about the problem (I tried to imagined it though) but today I stared my notebook (internal) monitor (LED-backlit) & I don't see anything weird with it. I'm using an external LCD monitor (not LED-backlit), so most of the time I turned off the internal monitor.

BTW, please resize the screenshot before you get banned by the moderator.

 

i have deleted the picture and don't hate on my background! LOL.

Tomorrow iam going on a vacation, so i have no time to test it on an external monitor. i will be gone for 2 weeks. can you pls keep my up to date when you have found a solution or something? many thnx..

when iam back i will test it on an external monitor.

 

a question...
can you over clock the cpu on this?? i dont care about added heat this and that or you'll break your laptop or i wouldn't do that if i were you...only to know whether it is possible and if anyone has done it yet. thanks allot!

 

What a retarder application, I don't believe it!

I'm talking about Acer Bio-Protection...

Here's the all-too-well-known story:
Finally I decided to try finger-scanning system and guess what? It locked my BIOS with some God-forgotten password!
Upon starting, application INSISTED on setting password on BIOS level or it won't work (although I just wanted to protect logging into Windows), so... I've heard of problems others have had with it before, but anyway I kind of ran into it like a Stallone or something and, well... Triple-checked my password before clicking "Next" and everything, but on the very next system boot BIOS wouldn't let me do anything without password - which, hard to believe, isn't the one I triple-checked and am 100% sure is the right one!
Of course, none of so-called "default", "master" or "backdoor" BIOS passwords didn't work so I unplugged CMOS battery and reinserted it after 15 minutes and now I'm back and running again. Luckily, CMOS battery is exposed and it's location is very convenient so you can't miss.

Now that I've acknowledged my frustrations with Acer's stupid way of "protecting" your system (from yourself and anybody else), I have two questions:

1) Is there alternative to Acer Bio-Protection application which is so protective that it won't let you access your computer without screwdriver? I just want to be able to login into Windows by finger-scanning, nothing more, nothing less...

2) According to Everest, my first hard-disk - known as C: (my 8942G came with two 640GB HDDs) is always around 7°C hotter than the other one. I guess it's mainly because of its position. Would installing Windows to other disk (D help it run cooler (because of less usage - one of those two disks I always use as a "backup" disk while the other one being "system" disk with Windows and everything on it).

Thanks and, for God's sake - avoid that "protection" software unless you want to open your notebook!

 

Johnksss

it is possible to overclock... I have done it.mine clocks are 700 and 1000. Use rivatuner and manualy add the device

 

Have you tried inputting the password in capital letter? Just in case. If I'm not mistaken, I have read about Acer Aspire One, even though the BIOS password was set with small letters, when unlocking it later the password need to be in capital letters.

 

anyone here switched the CPU to a better one? just bought a 8943 and want to switch to a i7 840qm.
just for some pics how these very similar books shoud be opened

i just tried to overclock the gpu but there was no tool that worked. always got a bluescreen. i have the acer catalyst installed. the ati catalyst doesnt seem to work. is this right?

 

I've tried pretty much every combination (num lock on/off, few small letters, all caps etc.), nothing works. Pulling CMOS battery out for 15 minutes did it.

 

slight misunderstanding.....i was talking about the cpu.

yes, you can upgrade...but battery life starts diminishing with each upgrade. along with a few degrees in temp.

i went from an i3 to an i7-620M and lost like an hour on battery...but if that doesn't bother you. then upgrade away.

 

both cpus have a tdp of 45w. so i would guess that there should not be a great battery degression. for temps i hope they behave similar.

 

you should be fine. going from 720 to 820
going from 720 to 920...now that's a different story..

 

how did you do that? every overclocking tool i try doesnt work.

 

AMD GPU Clock Tool v0.9.26.0 For HD 5870 works for sure, but set clocks are valid only until reboot then you have to overclock again.
I actually like it that way, overclocking procedure takes a few seconds and I can do it right before starting game and avoid too much power drain or heat during "regular" Windows sessions.
Anyway, I didn't want to mess with RivaTuner settings, but you can go that route too, it will "remember" its settings. By the way, my 5850 at 700/1000 maxes out at 69/70°C in GTA 4 and that extra speed counts for up to 6 extra fps.

One question:
Does RivaTuner downclock in Windows when extra speed is not needed?
Default 625/800 goes to 200/200... which is cool & quiet. Does RivaTuner do that too?

Regarding my fingerprint "protection" issue explained earlier...
I've found two alternatives to Acer Bio-Protection application that do not insist on setting BIOS password and they get the job done very well:
DigitalPersona Personal v4.01 & Lenovo BioExcess (freeware).
BioExcess is basically the same as Acer's Bio-Protection and everything works as expected (well, I didn't try setting BIOS password, won't touch it... ).
And, yes, it says "lenovo" on the main screen.

 

Hi,

Rivatuner keeps the highest clocks... It won't downclock..
Also rivatuner can keep the overclocked setting even durin restart:d.

If you wan't to overclock with rivatuner, look @ page 10..iam explaining how to do that

 

Not automatically but you can set profiles for low & high performance (overclock). When you don't want to overclock, just load the standard profile.

 

Yes not automaticely,.. It is indeed better to make a high low profile... Because when your on battery.power and the gpu is overclocked, you will get driver errors.... when you switch to battery, the power will drop..and the gpu can't drain the needed power anymore.

 

We forgot one thing, actually we can set RivaTuner to forget overclocking setting at Windows startup.

 

Haha ofcourse! Just don't. Hit the option load clocks @ restart or something..( Donnow the exact name of that option.. Iam on a holiday right know:d)

 

Hey guyz i found a very eazy way for the stupid ACER bios password problem in case you disable the bios protection.I believe you all know that issue.I had that problem too.

Step 1: Go to this link http://dogber1.blogspot.com/2009/05/table-of-reverse-engineered-bios.html

Step 2: Work out what bios type your computer is. Most ACER computers/laptops run on Phoenix bios.

Step 3: in the table there will be a script thing that says WINDOWS BINARY. download the zip file for that.

Step 4: unzip and open the program.

Step 5: go to your computer thats not working and run bios.

Step 6: enter a random password 3 times in order to get the SYSTEM DISABLED error.

Step 7: there should be a set of numbers under "system disabled" mine were 116333. open the program on the other computer and enter that number. Hit enter.

Step 8: a set of maybe 6 different possible passwords should appear. try them in order from top to bottom. usually it will be the generic password for the bios.

you should be allowed into bios. i suggest from there, clearing your bios password.

No more battery pull's people! You might hurt it!

 

Thanx for this useful info, I haven't been able to find it myself! I should have waited a few days before digging that CMOS battery out...

I haven't tried this solution but it encouraged me to try Acer Bio-Protection once more and now my BIOS password is recognized normally. Although it's the same password I had used last time (when my BIOS locked), I nailed the problem: do not use num-pad!!! This time around I used numbers below function keys and everything worked as expected.
Why the hell some kind of warning or anything that would prevent you from entering invalid password isn't implemented in Acer Bio-Protection is beyond me (since a lot of notebook drivers and other software will give you warnings every now and then for far less important things like "register", "update" etc.).

Still I prefer lenovo/Egis BioExcess software as I find it to be more intuitive and packed with more useful features then Acer's version so I'm gonna stick with it.

 

Does anyone know where to find Acer Backup Management application or reprogram Acer Backup Management button (below the power button)?

I bought it without OS, installed drivers manually and everything works except for that button. Supposedly it should launch Acer Backup Management but I can't find that application anywhere so I'm stuck with few blue flashes (that's all that button does).

 

i look if i can find it on my driver cd

i packed it for you. send me a pm and i give you the download link

 

I would also like 2 know...wich driver do i need to let the smart energy button work??... Normally wwhen i pressed it a popup comes... But i have trown all the acer stuff of my laptop... So now when i press it there is ng popup but the button however lights up...iam not sure if it still works

 

Done, thanx!

That pop-up has "do not show this again" tick-box, maybe you clicked it and that's why it doesn't show up anymore.
However, mine does the same. I installed newer version of that ePower software, got that pop-up again but everything else is just the same - button lights up but I can't see a difference in power plans settings or anywhere...

 

no i didn't clicked it... it is like the same popup when you control the loudness off the speakers, then a little round popup comes in the middle of the screen.

i think i have removed 1 of those aplications. so iam not sure if the powersafe button still works

 

btw aspireman,

did you have any progress in finding a solution for the screen isseu?

 

I don't get it... I've tried every ePower software I could find but never managed to see what that "powersmart" button is supposed to do. Might be it's too smart for me or something...

My display problem is pretty much straightforward and the screen will be replaced under warranty (on monday, I hope..).
What did you do with yours? If it hasn't improved, you should check out what Acer's service centre has to say about it...

 

I have done nothing yet because iam on a holiday!:d when iam back i think iam going 2 contact acer...because sinds last time, the screen was getting more and more pixels:s. How long is you lappie gone?

 

Well, if it developed more of the same problem, it's for the better. You won't have much to explain there.
I've arranged to have my screen replaced when it arrives from... wherever it's they have to order it from. It took them a few days to diagnose the problem and then I could take my notebook while waiting for their call informing me that the replacement screen has arrived. All in all, very good service so far: 2-3 days without the machine + 2-3 weeks waiting for the screen to arrive. Hopefully, they won't mess something up while mounting it when it finally makes its way to the repair centre...

 

i have tested on a hd tv, the pixels don't appear there...so i think the monitor is broken...i will call acer for this problem! i still have warrenty

 

Good god,you're not in Greece.It whould be like two months or maybe three
to fix that issue.Our service suck's here in Greece.

I think i might do a fresh install of Win 7 64b because i notice a big list in the task manager ,and when i shut off the system i have to wait about 5" for a computvi.exe program to close first.I dont know what that might be but i will do a fresh install anyhow.

 

Why ar you going to instal w7 again.. You can manage that big list! Go to start en typ in msconfig...there you can see diffirent tabs.. Go 2 startup or something..( Iam not sure how it is called in english.. Because iam dutch:d) there you can disable. All the programs you don't want to startup... Also under an other tab you can start windows faster by starting up with all the cores of the processor! Helps allot for me.

 

My screen is replaced - luckily - no stuck pixels.
However, I have some problems...

In order to replace the screen, they had to open it, of course. Now the problem is that those two pieces of plastics along edges of the display are not tightly connected like they used to be anymore. I guess they're joined with some kind of hooks that got loose in the process. The real problem is that now dust enters the space under the screen and there's no way to remove it except by opening the display again (which I won't do because it would void my warranty).

Can somebody please check for me a few things and report back the findings?

1) Can you see LCD backlight leaking through the gap between the plastics along the top edge of the display? I can see lots of backlight leakage there...
If you can see it, does it improve by pressing the two pieces together? How big is that gap? Mine seems to be 1-1.5 mm wide.

2) Can you find any dust underneath the front bezel, on the LCD itself? I mean like dust that can't be wiped out?

Please help me determine how much of a problem this really is... Also, I can hear some squeaking sound when I press on the top edge of the screen - not sure if it was like that before. :-/

 

i don´t see any backlight leaking or dust! so acer was in a rush or something:S

 

If they're going to replace your lcd panel, beware - front bezel (at least mine) doesn't have any kind of screws and seems like once it's open, nothing can make it tight like it was before - kind of like battery cover on regular mobile phone (well, to be exact - like most of Nokia phones ).
They tried but it just won't stick tightly without ugly gap all along so I'll get another bezel which, hopefully, will stick...

 

I just purchased this laptop and while I do like it, there are a couple of things about this notebook that REALLY irritate me!

1) why in the hell did they mess up the keyboard layout? The left shift and return keys are too small compared to older keyboards and I find I frequently miss the keys because of it. I don't even know why they had to waste space to duplicate the key beside the left shift (which is also on the right side of the keyboard) instead of keeping the shift the usual size. I use the shift all the time, but I doubt I'll ever use the key beside the shift much.

2) why did they put THE FREAKING WIRELESS KEY RIGHT BESIDE THE LEFT SHIFT?!?!! Its so easy to just brush against it and turn off the wireless! You know the button to turn on/off the touchpad? That one you have to actually press with some pressure and hear a click before you turn off the touchpad. Why in the HELL didn't they do the same for the wireless button? Is there anyway to disable this key or somehow keep the wireless on despite touching it as its driving me crazy!!

And 3) I wish there were more steps in the brightness adjustment for the screen. Its like you go from dim at the lowest setting, to somewhat dim and then the third step is bright. I don't like bright screens usually and just wish there were more gradual increments in brightness than the big jumps this notebook has.

I really like the look and feel of this notebook and also how it performs, but the wireless button issue alone is making think about selling this laptop as its such poor design to put the damn wireless key right in the area where you're most likely to touch it. And then the keyboard layout is just icing on the cake.

 

Totally agree about the wireless button,its a design fail to me and when i play a FPS game my palm is exactly on the freakin button.
As you said they should make it like the touch pad's disable button.
However i dont think this is a big problem to make us sell our laptop.We just have to be a bit more carefull with the thing