Acer Aspire Timeline Owner's Lounge

Hardware Id on my monitor is LGD01F7.
PC Wizard shows:
Product ID : LGD01F7
Model : LP133WH2-TLA3

 

You have an LG/PHILIPS screen

 

found the problem...
when using the ati it's an standard monitor with microsoft driver.
after switching to the intel it recognizes as AUO.
hope marstein's got it too...

 

even being better than than the first 3810T the build quality is mediocre. compared to my 4 year old toshiba m100-166 at the condition that is now sadly the 4 day old 3810 TZ replacement timeline doesnt make you feel confident to push it to the limit and work intensively with it. it seems just too fragile. also i have an issue with the screen that flickers when on battery and in minimum brightness. Also the laptop makes a clicking noise randomly that is too concerning...
hope that these are just minor issues...

 

Anybody else has observed excessive battery power discharge after starting the PC from standby mode?

I do measure the discharge power with the free tool "batterybar" http://osirisdevelopment.com/BatteryBar/index.html). The discharge power of my AS3810TG-944G50n (SU9400) is around 4800-6000 mW after boot. But after wakeup from sleep mode it is over 10000 mW. I checked that with windows 7 64 bit and 32 bit editions. Settings for measuring: Energy saving mode ON and the display to lowest brightness and WLAN off.

With that tool you can confident check the consumption and watch the actual battery capacity and esti-mate the battery powered operation time.

What is your result when starting from standby?

 

I know this was a subject for discussion earlier but I never found out if there's a fix for the fan always being on when AC power is connected.

 

This is well-known problem of "TG" (dual graphics) Timelines. The reason is that BOTH cards consume energy after resume. Sorry m8 - there is no permanent solution yet. As a temporary solution you could

• right after resume (from standby mode) switch to ATI and then back to Intel. This will lower consumption to normal level
• also you could use hibernation instead of standby

Hope it helps.

 

No solution yet. However it seems that not everyone experience this problem. In my case, manually switching to Intel video helps to reduce noise to unnoticeable level.

 

Has anybody noticed their battery charge not reaching 100% anymore?
I have this happening since a few days on my 3810T, wondering if this is caused by the latest bios? I'm running v1.17 which shuld support the new 9 cell battery and might have something to do with this.
Or maybe my battery is going bad?

 

Hello everybody,
Finally I have sold my macbook and got myself an acer laptop. So far I'm very pleased with it. Although I had to install windows 7, which is not a bad thing. But I've found that now my laptop doesn't change it's GPU's automatically when I unplug it from mains. Anyone had the same problem ? It's a bit annoying to change it manually every now and then.

 

There's still no Win7 powermanager utility for the 3810T.... the reviews I've read about battery life decreasing in Win7 on the Timeline series makes me hesitant in upgrading my 3810T. Although Win7 has been working very very well on my HP netbook & 2 Desktop PCs.

 

PowerSmart Manager Application version is 4.07.3008 for Win7 (both x86 and x64) is available from Acer's downloads for more than a month. However, it shows only at 64-bit section BUT it actually works on x86 edition also

 

Can you post the link for me bro? I really can't find it anywhere in the Acer.com download site. All I can find there is the one for Vista.

EDIT: Found it, but it's for x64.... will it still work for the 32bit version of Win7?

 

1) See attached pic.
2) Yep, it works.

 

Yup, found it...thanks alot. I was looking at the 32bit win7 section earlier, and didn't find it.

When you said it works, I assume you've tried it with the x32 Win7 and it works?

 

yes it definetely works on x32 win7

 

Many thanks for the interesting info. I did not know it is with all dual graphic models. It is really too bad. Switching to ATI and back is not solution because it does not work when applications are running. Hibernation takes a much longer time.

It really is as scandal that there is no solution after the model is since some months on the market!

 

You should complain (by email or so) to your local Acer's reps.
I did so.
If it would be a number of complaints, they'll have no other way then to fix it.
The problem is definitely fixable by BIOS and/or software.

Let's complain alltogether

 

Anyone with dual graphics doesn't get that automatic switching on win 7 ?

 

for me automatic switching works if "PowerSmart Manager Application" is installed.

 

Yes, that is the only way right now. My 3810 was 3 times in the shop at Acer for repair that problem. Now I sent a letter asking the money back, because for me standby is important. The the senior tech told me, he cannot do anything and Acer Switzerland has no way to take influence for pushing a solution. They must have a real bad organization for such issues. They should learn from HP and others how do deal in such cases.

 

Well, Lenovo CULV laptops with dual graphics (also ATI4330) are also known to have the similar issue, so...

 

Strange, I've installed a fresh copy of win 7 64bit and acer power saver, but still can't get the automatic switching of gpu's. Maybe my driver installing order is wrong. Maxim_fr, do you remember in which order did you install drivers and acer applications ?

 

Hi, I had the same issue when I installed windows 7. All you have to do is to install the ATI drivers from Acer website and it installs the ATI's, Intel's drivers with the auto-switching feature!

 

That works here with the same 3810. Did you also check the BIOS version?

 

Hey, Thanks for the advice but unfortunately it did not help. Tried it yesterday and it did not resolve the problem. I am runinning 2.31 Bios. I guess I'll have to wait for the acer win7 upgrade dvd, And then try installing

 

Hello Sir,
I'm also same as you and even where the GTM382 and where to fix SIM card, I can't find out.(AS5810-D34)
let me know please.

 

Hello, I have the same issue, however I have installed the driver version 5.x on my windows 7 64bit and It installed a modem that works as a network card... Wich means when I turn on the 3G modem (on the notebook butten), the Windows auto-detects the 3G connection under the avalable connections!!! It has native 3G support!

If you don't find the driver 5.x you can go to the option site and enter your EMEI (it's under your laptop).

http://www.option.com/en/support/software-download/

Hope this can help!

 

I have one question guys! Did anyone get a fix on the GPS?
I was also able to activate it but I cannot get a fix!

Thanks!

 

got enough antennas installed? and if so, did u make sure that at least of those is actually reserved for the GPS connection?

 

Unfortunatly, I have not had the time yet to do any more testing. I too think its a antenna problem. Seems this is a problem on most laptops with gps.

I did find in the Option documentation that its the GTM382EN (MO0405) that lacks GPS capability. GTM382E,W,and AWS should be good to go.

Hope I get some time to play around with this after x'mas.

 

No, Unfortunatly I do not have any extra antennas. Only the Manufactor pieces!

Thank you for the update cmeide!

 

Hi Maxim,

Is this Windows 7 specific, or does it also affect Vista? This could be why some users report lower battery life after upgrading to Windows 7 from Vista.

I use W7 and Hibernate a lot, and also notice higher power consumption if I resumed from Hibernate. I did feel that switching the graphics once or twice after a resume increased the battery life. This looks like a driver problem, I think?

 

North America is really now just getting the Travelmates? And where is the 1810 version?

 

I was wondering if others have the problem too...
I had it on vista and 7 and hibernate/standby .. don't know right now but i think it's kind of always

 

hm strange thing about this hibernation/standby = more power consumption business. ill check and see if i can get some definitive numbers with my powermeter here. ill post the results once i have some answers

 

Thanks, looking forward to it.

One workaround for me is to switch the notebook to Discrete graphics mode in the BIOS (ATI HD 4330 only). At least this way I can get consistent battery life after a Resume from Hibernate.

Interestingly, the battery life is not too badly affected in Discrete graphics mode. I think I can get 7+ hours on a full charge. Plus, my harddisk is a 7200rpm Hitachi 7K320 which should consume slightly more power than the stock 5400rpm one.

Still wish there were a "Integrated-only" graphics option in the BIOS, and also a driver fix from Acer or ATI.

 

It appears this problem also happens with Lenovo users with switchable ATI graphics. After a resume, both graphics chips are active so battery life suffers. So far, they don't seem to have a solution either.

 

Has anyone found a solution to the fan-problem? That is the loud noise it makes when connected to power. I understand that when connected to the powercord it "upgrade" the specs and switch to a better gfx-card, which lead to more head, which require more cooling. But what if i wants to be able to recharge my travelmate, while using it and still hear myself talking (thereby be able to recharge without using the good Ati gfx-card (most of the time i just use it for schoolwork and doesn't need the high performance, more the low noise for concentration)


I have the 3810tg and love it on battery, but hate it when its not.

 

I have a timeline 4810T which has worked lovely since September, but now I have a weird problem with it: The keyboard won't work until the operating system is loaded. I can't access the bios (press the F2 key but nothing happens), neither select my OS on the Grub menu as the arrow keys doesn't work, all I can do is wait for the 10 seconds timer, then Ubuntu launches, then I can login without problems and all the keys work perfectly.

To give more details, maybe some keys do actually work before the os boot, because when I'm on the grub menu, some keys manage to stop the timer, but unfortunately I can't change the OS or accept the selection, then I have to reboot and wait for the timer to go back to 0 for itself and ubuntu loads.

I'm running the newest BIOS, updated some days ago but didn't had the problem since today.

Did anyone got a similar problem? Any ideas? Thanks

 

It can't be hardware since the keyboard as you said works when the OS is loaded.... hmmm . Must be the BIOS, try to do a re-flash of the latest BIOS.

 

Hello all - new owner of 4810tz-4120 from Costco (SU4100, 500gb HD)

I notice that my build was in November and I have Bios 1.30. On the Acer website I see they released 1.31 a few weeks after, but they don't show a changelog.

1) Does anyone know what the fixes were in 1.31????

2) Do you think I should try to update Bios? I have read several stories on this thread of bricked computers......I'm sort of leaning to leaving well enough alone, but if there is some added functionality or fixes in 1.31 then it might be worth the risk of updating. I CAN return to Costco but its sort of a hassle to brick my machine, return and re-buy, remove all bloatware again, etc.....

 

I apparently need to send in my Timeline because of the overheating issues that some have experienced. Thus, I'm wondering if it's possible to upgrade my CPU from the SU3500 to the 4100 or 9500 in the same take? Is the CPU the only difference between these models, or are there other things that need replacing as well if I want this to work?

Also, if only a few changes are needed, the important question becomes: Is this kind of upgrade even possible?

 

It is possible, but the processor is soldiered onto the motherboard, meaning it would take some work to change. I doubt Acer would do that for you.

 

Desperately looking for a good deal on either AS3810TZ-4925 or AS3810TZ-4078. Seems that I missed a couple of promotions during that were going on before Christmas, and now I cannot find any special deals on these laptops. Would appreciate any info on that. Would love to spend less than $550.

 

Hi
A relative of mine bought an Aspire 4810T TimeLine today and as required, I tried burning a recovery disc using the eRecovery app that came with it. It doesn't work. It fails with an error message regarding the optics drive, stating its firmware and saying that "The drive was ready to burn" or words to that effect.

Its failed like that now 5x times in a row (and thus I wasted 5x DVD discs). I've tried 2x brands, both brands being DVD-R.

Any suggestions as to what I should do? Return the lappie? Or (hopefully) is there a fix to this?

Returning may be hard in my case because I activated Office 2007 trial using a key I had, meaning I just spent $100US on something that I need to return (and unrefundable)...

Something that MAY be relevant. I uninstalled some bloatware before trying to burn the recovery discs. The Acer games, McAfee trial, Orion, some 'B' messenger thing, and others. And I installed some smaller things like antivirus (MS Security Essentials) and a CCCP codec pack, all of which I'm pretty sure does not effect the optics in any way.

A prompt reply would be appreciated.

EDIT - I've just tried a DVD+RW (a '+' nonetheless). That just failed at 90%.



This is the same error message, 6x times in a row

 

I have similar problem, not as aggressive a problem but similar. When I burn the recovery disc it burns fine, but during the "verification" process it hangs at 39% forever.......therefore I can never get past the burning of the first disc (to burn 2 and 3). I have 4810tz-4120 from Costco. I emailed Acer but haven't heard a peep (not even an automated "we got your message" message)

I wouldn't worry too much though - Acer has a separate recovery partition on the harddrive already that you could use to recover - search the threads but I think "Alt +F10" is how you can do it. Also, what I did was a couple things and I think I'm covered. I used Windows to make a full image of the harddrive which is saved on my portable backup harddrive (if you don't have one you should get one no matter what computer you use) and Windows also can make you a "rescue CD" which can be used to boot the computer and then re-image using the saved image. I then did the same thing using Macrium Reflect, a free backup imaging program that I like. So between those 3 options I don't think the damned "acer E-Recovery" rescue disk is getting me any additional protection.

So far its a nice computer - great battery life and performance seems adequate for what I'll use it for - surfing, watching Hulu or Youtube, light apps, etc. I love the form factor and for $629 it seems a good value.

 

I got bored and I finally went and installed Windows 7 x64 Ultimate on my Timeline 3810T (orig OS was Vista SP2).... went through without a hitch. The only driver I downloaded that's not on the Acer site is the latest Intel GPU driver. Installed Photoshop CS4 64bit as well and so far so good. I'm a happy camper.

 

hi maxim_fr

How did you patched the bios with slic v2.1? I've just intalled the patched bios and slic 2.1 works very well with win7. Thanks you.

Also is there anyone overclocking ati mobility 4330. I've just tried riva tuner as patching RivaTuner.cfg. Successfully overclocked core:550 memory:850
and i got 6519 points from 3dmark 2005.

http://twisted-reviews.com/overclocking-ati-mobility-radeon-hd4570-hd4650-hd4670/

 

New BIOS ver 1.20 for the Timeline 3810T is available for download in the ACER site.... can someone post the changelogs? Thanks.