Acer Aspire TimelineX 4820TG Owners Lounge

Do you have a Western Digital hard drive? If you do, try quietHDD. If you don't, I have no idea.

Also, make sure your processor isn't throttling. Try logging your CPU temperature results.

 

@ robi0024
Looks like a WD issue- do you have a Western Digital HDD in your unit?
If so install QuietHDD set it to start when Windows starts and disable APM in that app.
QuietHDD is not a virus in spite of what some AVs say.

EDIT: aylafan types faster

 

Thanks for the quick reply! I'm at work right now but I will check the HDD when I get home. Did Acer ship some 7805's with a different HDD other then the WD drive?

If it's as simple as the HDD I was considering swapping it out for a 7200rpm anyways and using the current hdd for a portable external drive.

 

i had the exact same problem in my 3820tg (WD harddrive) less than a week later it failed and i ended up swapping it out for a 7200.4 hard drive.

 

I wonder if it's worth my time to send the laptop in for a warranty repair @ Acer and if they will even replace the drive considering how it's still working. I have never had an Acer product so I don't have a clue as to how good or bad their customer service and tech support is.

I bought a squaretrade warranty just in case I have an issue later on. With as much heat as this thing is putting off I'm glad I did.

 

They won't replace the drive because it's not malfunctioning. Western Digital had a bright eco-idea and all laptops with this series of WD drive have this "feature".

 

robi0024, that sounds like the "glue" effect I remember other posters describing in the summer. User "M4cr0s" was the first to report this I think.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/search.php?searchid=5438511

 

Just another quick question, if I order the AS4820TG-7805, will I need to repaste with some Arctic Silver or do they run pretty cool stock?

 

Question:
You bought it from amazon? Why didn't you go through them for the return? They probably would be much quicker then a repair.

U shouldn't need to. I haven't and mine runs pretty cool.

 

hmm... i've noticed the "glue" effect whilst playing GTA IV. it's like it struggles to load textures when you're moving fast. I'm inclined to think it's video card related, since turning down the settings seemed to reduce it... maybe I need to upgrade to the latest driver?

 

good day. i recently got my acer 4820tg, and i want to dual boot it with windows xp. i tried to insert an xp installation cd but it BSoD after loading the drivers. please help..

 

You need to slipstream AHCI driver to the Win XP or change inside BIOS, from AHCI to IDE...

 

quietHDD fixed the problem. Thanks a ton... you saved me the cost of a new HDD. No sense in replacing this drive until it dies now that its working properly. Unless I misunderstood the purpose of that program I installed it should extend the life of the drive by parking the head less.

Again... thanks!

 

thank you for the quick reply.

i tried to slipstream the driver using nLite, but i still get a BSoD. i also tried to change in the BIOS, i was able to get to the screen where you choose where to install XP but i cant seem to find the partitions i made before

edit:
what i mean is, i made 3 partitions of my hdd, one for windows 7, another for my files, and the last for xp. the setup sees my hdd as a big unallocated space

the driver i slipstreamed was this:AHCI_Intel_9.5.6.1001_Win7x86 am i missing something?

 

Sounds like you slipstreamed a Win 7 AHCI driver into Windows XP, which I doubt is compatible.

 

Mine came with Hitachi drive (bought notebook from Amazon).

 

Question to all of you - I had to do a complete recovery using Acer provided erecovery software and I have noticed that it did perform first a complete Windows 7 recovery and ONLY then after computer reboot started loading all of the Acer junk. Could we somehow terminate Acer from loading all of that? I mean it really shows that it is performing Acer bloatware installation (I think 39 total). No buttons are responsive while it is installing. Any ideas?

 

Your best bet is to do a clean install of Windows 7 (using a Windows 7 disc and not recovery discs) if you don't want to deal with any bloatware. However, it won't take you that long to uninstall some bloatware from the Control Panel in the first place.

Out of the 39, I believe more than half of them are drivers/software that is required by the laptop to function efficiently. I haven't heard of owners uninstalling more than 15 applications from Acer's version of Windows 7. Most of the bloatware are probably just shortcuts on the desktop/favorites that can be removed quite easily.

 

Yeah, it's true that that probably would have been much quicker. However, I also expected Acer's repair method to be much faster. One of the main reasons I chose repair over return was that my screen was fantastic, no lines and very clear. Since I've read many horror stories about the 4820tg's screen, I decided I wanted to keep my laptop and just get it repaired. Who knows if that was a good decision.

 

I am really eyeing this series of laptop. Have there been any "announcements" as far as updates to this go (namely the SB processors, etc)? I missed out on NewEgg yesterday, had one in my cart for 8 hrs, and then they were sold out it said. I'm still waiting, but I'd love to get this notebook.

 

________________________________________________________

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.4
Locale ID: 18441

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 1000007e
BCP1: C0000005
BCP2: 84E4BAD0
BCP3: 80D86890
BCP4: 80D86470
OS Version: 6_1_7600
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\111810-40373-01.dmp
C:\Users\103751\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-86221-0.sysdata.xml

Read our privacy statement online:
Windows 7 Privacy Statement - Microsoft Windows

If the online privacy statement is not available, please read our privacy statement offline:
C:\Windows\system32\en-US\erofflps.txt

________________________________________________________


Hey guys I've been having this blue screen for the past few months.
It keeps appearing for like more than 6 times a per month and I do not know whether this is serious. There has been two other types of blue screen but this one is much more frequent. It keeps appearing and how the heck do I stop this ?

BCCode: 1000007e
BCP1: C0000005

I think it should be software related. So what do you guys think ?

 

I thought that might be the reason... even I had a slight problem with my screen at first...
But in retrospect it was foolish for me to compare it to my desktop monitor.
I actually went up to friends and family and asked them to sit down with the laptop for 5-10 mins and tell me what they think and they all said it's a nice a laptop and didn't bring up anything about the screen at all... I did this small test for my own peace of mind haha.
I am completely satisfied.

Too late now, but for anyone who has a similar situation I would take my luck with Amazon instead.

good luck man, I hope acer fixes it up good

 

speedy21589 is correct. The AHCI driver is NOT listed under Windows XP on the Acer website. I think you will have to slipstream a Windows XP AHCI driver from somewhere else.

AHCI_Intel_9.5.6.1001_Win7x86 clearly states it as Windows 7, otherwise it would have listed XP somewhere in the file name. Example: WinXP-Vista-7x86

 

I just ran 3dmark11
Result

I am using the AMD drivers for the 3820TG on my 4820TG and they are not fully supported in 3dmark11. I hope Acer releases some new drivers soon. I like my brightness keys and stability.

 

I thought the brightness keys work with the 3820TG AMD drivers. I read it somewhere in this forum.

 

They do. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear.

I have the 3820TG drivers because they are newer. They are installed on my 4820TG and everything works perfectly!

But because 3dmark11 just came out, that program wants the current drivers or better. So right now the 3820TG drivers will run 3dmark11 but they won't officially compare it to other scores because they are older drivers. Also they are probably not optimized for 3dmark11 (or the other way around) and make the scores harder to compare.

 

thanks for the info. does anybody know a site where i can find the AHCI driver for XP? i tried looking for it but i cant seem to find one

 

So the CPU safe max temperatures are the low 90's.

-What are the safe max temperatures for the GPU (ATI 5650)?


Also, did the 4820tg really go for this price, or is it a mistake?
Micro Center - Acer Aspire TimelineX AS4820TG-3195 Laptop Computer - Carbon Black LX.PSE02.228

 

The 4820TG never went lower than $799 officially at Micro Center. It was $799 for the Core i3 model and $899 for the Core i5 model.

However, if you did find a 4820TG returned by a customer while the price was that low on the website then you could've gotten it at that cheap price, but that rarely happens.

 

Well, not to discourage anyone else from buying this great laptop, but Acer's customer service kinda blows. Kinda is a bit of an understatement. They completely refused to speed up my return shipping or give me any type of compensation whatsoever. I'd think that normally when a company ships a broken product to a customer they'd be willing to do something to make up for it. The woman was quite rude as well, saying "No we won't do that for you. And no we don't offer anything else. Anything else today?". I stated that I was very annoyed with this and probably wouldn't be buying any more Acer products, she said "OK. Have a good day sir."

Disappointed.

 

That is not good to hear. Idk what other companies are like, I've never sent in a laptop before. I think HP is pretty good with customer service, they helped my friend a lot.

 

My experience with Acer personnel in Texas has been just the opposite. But, i am extremely charming.

Bronsky

 

You can always try calling customer service again and hope you get someone that is more kind. When I have a problem with electronics, I usually have to go through several lazy customer service representatives on the phone before I find one who will actually get the job done.

Sorry to hear that your experience with Acer customer service has been bad.

 

I'm glad someone was treated nicely anyway. I was quite nice at first, I only became aggravated once she rudely denied my request and gave no reason. I asked for a reason, and she said "I'm sorry I don't understand the question." So I moved on and asked what kind of compensation they give for bad products/service, and she once again said "Sorry sir I don't understand the question." ... How can that question be misunderstood? When she finally "understood the question", she then blatantly said they would offer me nothing.

Just a bad experience unfortunately.

I had to do this for my Sager too actually, two years ago. Mail it back in for repair that is. Bad luck or what?! They were much faster though, I had it back with a new motherboard within a week and a half, and that was shipped to Cali.

 

Try calling again. Sounds like you got a .

 

I just might. She was the higher-up though haha, the first person I talked to redirected me to her.

 

Has anyone tried replacing the screen? Dell XPS 14 users are doing so in droves with great success. They're using this LG screen:

14.0-inch LG LP140WD1-TLA1 Laptop LCD Screen - US$87.00 | HooToo.com

Check out their official thread for various pictures and whatnot. Seems like a great option for 14" users. Could it work for the 4820TG?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/531042-dell-xps-14-l401x-thread.html

 

In case anyone cares:

While watching the flyers game (ughhhh) I played starcraft 2, undergarden, cs:s, and tf2 while the laptop was unplugged. The battery still lasted for a good 2 hours on discrete while gaming.

Before I got the laptop and when I first started using it, I thought I really wanted a higher resolution screen. After using it more and more I am really comfortable with the size and resolution. I don't think it would benefit much from a higher res screen. The only thing that could use improvement is viewing angles but they aren't that bad.
Just my opinion.

 

I'd just like to find a place to buy the computer. But alas, it doesn't look like anyone is getting them back in stock soon.

 

Word. However, it's not just the improved resolution. The screen is brighter and has great angles. Check out some of these pictures:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/531042-dell-xps-14-l401x-thread-2.html#post6877553

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/531042-dell-xps-14-l401x-thread-4.html#post6919295

http://forum.notebookreview.com/dell-xps-studio-xps/531042-dell-xps-14-l401x-thread-4.html#post6921290

Replacing the screen is a breeze as well. I am really impressed with the XPS 14. It has some solid room for overclocking in the GT 420M as well (OC'ed to ~9000 3dmark 06).

I've been waiting for so long to buy a laptop but I guess I can wait a little longer for Sandy Bridge. At that point prices on Arrandale units should be lower anyways in case SB isn't worth it.

 

Just letting you know, if you're getting the laptop for gaming purposes, the Nvidia gets more optimized in a lot of games even though technically the 5650 benchmarks higher. I had a GT420M laptop last month and switched to a 5650 laptop this week, and am getting much less smooth gameplay in almost all games.

 

Thanks for your suggestion, but I wonder if your two laptops with different GPUs also have different CPUs, hence differing gaming performance? Just a thought.

Hardcore gaming isn't my priority per se but I do want the option to test out and try most games without too much trouble.

 

I know that plays a factor in my case heheh. But it doesn't explain cases like: getting only 25 fps in Need for Speed, while CPU load is only ~30~40% with the present laptop; while in the old one it was getting 40~50 fps. I guess a factor is not all the cores are used, but even then it shouldn't affect the framerates so heavily (almost cutting in half) unless the GPU itself is affecting the performance.

In games like Crysis though, my current laptop does perform ~20% better.

 

Getting around 30-43 fps with NFS on my laptop, sometimes i find that evn though the graphic manager says its using the 5650, it takes a while for it to kick in. For some reason i have to start up BF2 then exit and then start another game for the card to engage properlly, after that it works great =D. Around 60fps in games like bf2 and around 30 in GTA IV

 

Count me amongst the proud owners, just got mine today from the newest batch at Newegg. One "oddity", I have a Core i5 480m, not the 460 as advertised. I'm not complaining.
Odd, though.. it doesn't "throttle down" for anything, even in powersave mode and even if I tell it to in the powersave function. (This according to CPUz, some core temp proggy and the actual intel desktop gadget.)
Is there a way to throttle this puppy down from the full 2.66 to stretch the battery?
Also, quick note, you HAVE to OC the 5650 in this thing. I was getting some pretty sketchy framerates (admittedly, the games were maxed) until I OC'd it to (I forget.. 750-950?)

Thanks for any help! Backlit KB is already here to be installed.

 

It's definitely CPU bottleneck I just found out, as I described in this thread I just made :S
here

 

@ jerg
Well it's definitely not CPU bottlenecking as you've found out in this thread. If only one of your four cores is used and not even this one is under 100% load how can you say CPU is bottlenecking your performance?
With posts like these you are just confusing people.

 

I agree my guess is the PCI-E Bus speeds dropped to 1X instead of 16X.

 

New 4820tg batch at newegg? I could not find.