Acer Aspire TimelineX 4820TG Owners Lounge

if i changed the HDD with an SSD one how can i transfer the windows from the old one without reinstalling it (i don't even have the installation discs i got only the recovery discs)

 

There are several tools for "cloning" disks. Direct copy may be sufficient (with tools like "dd"), but a Windows user may need a more intelligent tool taht resizes partitions.
Assuming that you are a Windows user, check out the Acronis product line, where "True image home" can be downloaded for trial.

Good luck !

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If you get an Intel SSD, it comes with a software that will transfer your system files. Other than that, if you want to do a clean install, you can get the installation files from Microsoft's website and just burn it to a DVD. Then, use the license found under your laptop to activate it or call the microsoft center to authorize that license.


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Question for the forum:
I'm looking to get a new HDD. Should I get this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136835

or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167053

I'm aware of the price and capacity differences.
My current plan is to buy an adapter and replace my ODD with the HDD.

 

there must be a newer driver from acer than last dec. can someone link? (us site only has dec 2010 - i'm looking for a link to TW version or something)

thx!

 

Is there a way to force this notebook to always use integrated GPU?

 

Short answer: No

More elaborate answer: See various threads about modded Insyde BIOSen. One of the threads even has this specific problem as main subject.
Be warned though: most attempts to modify the Insyde BIOS have failed for a number of people. We have currently too few experts on the subject. Nevertheless, try to search the forums for "Insyde" and you will see a great number of threads where you may find what you seek.

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Try the program 3820tray. 3820tray worked for me in the earlier beta stages. There's a link to it in the FAQ section on the first page and it's updated daily by inteks.

 

do they sell 4820tg extended batteries anywhere? I have been looking and can't find.

 

I'm about to purchase an Intel 320 Series 160GB SSD. Any reason I should go with something else for my 4820tg-7805 (with 480m)? I'd like more space but can't justify the price on the bigger models. I'll have to use my external more I suppose.

I'm sick of researching haha. I was considering the M4 even though its Sata 3 for future proofing (if I get a new laptop in the next year or two). Tough decision but I'm leaning towards the 320.

I know this isn't the SSD forum but wondering what a few others have bought for their 4820tg's?

 

I have an intel g2 (120gb). Runs reasonably well (boot times are like 15-17s to desktop), but you need to follow the SSD tweaking guides to compensate for the crippled nature of the crippled chipset the 4820 (and many other laptops) uses.

 

Thanks for the response, any others are also welcome. So the 4820's chipset can't handle a SSD normally? I didn't realize this problem, could you please link me to the tweaking guide?

 

320?

stay away...

Intel 320 SSD bug causes forum despair ? The Register

and I don't know what the dude above is talking about chipset being crippled. your only limitation is SATA2 speed if you consider buying SATA3 speeds capable SSD.

I don't see why would the HM55 chipset be crippled in any specific way, compared to other chipsets of its kind.

 

Something to note about the 320 series:
The bug happens due to the fact that people don't correctly power down their notebooks. For example, they just press and hold the power button to shut it down like that. And even then, its only about a small percentage that it happens to. Intel has acknowledged the bug and is coming out with an update.
Also, Intel's SSDs come with a 5 year warranty. Thats one of the reasons why I was sold to Intel over its competitors.

 

Yeah, no one had responded for a day so I hadn't updated my post, but I have actually been leaning much more towards the Crucial M4 than the Intel 320 now. Because of the reported bug and other reasons.

I know it's SATA3 and the 4820tg will not be able to use it to it's full potential, but it will still perform the same if not slightly better than the Intel 320 from what I've read. Also, it comes as 256gb instead of 300gb, so it's a hundred bucks cheaper.

Finally, if I decide to buy a new machine in the near future, I can stick the M4 in it to take full advantage of the SATA3 goodness.

Yeah I wasn't too sure either. I tried to look stuff up on that but couldn't find anything. If he would elaborate I'd be grateful!

Thoughts?

 

raw speed + future proof - I'd go for vertex 3 max iops.

it's just fast...I mean super fast.

for an all rounder I would go for m4.

when I was buying my SSD, I was deciding between C300 and vertex 2, vertex 2 won as it was just a tiny bit slower in bm, but cost 50 USD less at the time.

OCZ had some problems with its SSDs, though I had mine Vertex 2 for some time and cannot complain, but generally people prefer Intel and such for more reliability, but you never know...

 

Hey guys. I did a clean install on my SSD of everything. I've upgraded the drivers on Acer's website. However, I notice that when playing games such as bad company 2, even at the lowest settings I'm having trouble staying above 20 FPS. Whereas before the clean install, I was easily getting about 40 FPS at medium settings.
Anyone else have this problem? Is it a driver problem?

 

update drivers to newest catalyst (use guide from 1st page)

acer drivers suck big time ( I had issues with BSODs and freezing etc, all resolved when done above)

 

I really don't know what's going on. After I put my SSD in and installed Windows 7, I went on to install the ATI catalyst driver (11.7) from their website first. But seeing that it does not work, I used Acer's.

Now, I uninstalled all drivers, restarted my PC and I followed the directions in the first post (Acer driver first and then ATI's). I see that now, when I right click, I can go into graphics properties and use CCC and everything. However, when I go into device manager and select the AMD video card, I look at the driver version and it still says 8.741.1.6000
Shouldn't that say 11.7.xx?
Can anyone help? Will I have to reformat and install again?

 

honestly?

you screwed things up...

if you install catalyst first, you won't be able to use switchable graphics + possibly have other issues.

you could use driver sweeper etc., but clean install is just a better option, to eliminate any other potential software issues.

you have to completely uninstall all the drivers and their remains from the system, before replacing them with other to make sure you won't have issues with old and new ones clashing.

BUT

now you still have the system relatively fresh, with no large amount of personal files on it, perform clean install again (that'll be minutes with SSD).

install acer drivers first and then update the catalyst drivers using the instructions precisely.



what my drivers say (issue free since my last post about drivers weeks and weeks ago)

Intel: 8.741.1.6000 from 21/10/2010
AMD: 8.850.0.0 from 19/04/2011

besides, 11.7 is the version number for Catalyst application from AMD, not the drivers themselves.

 

Does anyone here use winamp? I can't seem to use the media keys with it and haven't had any luck searching for a solution.

 

Hi guys, I just picked up the 4820T last week. For the most part I'm happy but I also have that issue with the fan that keeps starting and stopping. Sometimes its on all the time even when during basic stuff like checking forums. I also have the issue with the HD constantly resting the heads every 8 seconds or so.

Have either of these issues been resolved yet? Are there any programs which can control these quirks?

 

If the HDD is Western Digital- it's a known issue. Use QuietHDD to disable APM (you'll have to add it to autostart)

 

Thanks for the reply, it is a WD. I'll give that program a try.

Anyone know anything about quieting the fan?

My 4830T also makes a quiet but high pitch noise which I've been told is something to do with the Intel CPU? I'm guessing there is nothing that can silence that...

 

For some reason QuietHDD doesn't autostart for me. It's in the Startup folder and in MSConfig's list of startup programs. Does it have something to do with the permission required each time I manually start the program?

 

Got a 4820T (Intel GPU version), which has the i3 350m in it. Doesn't seem to overheat.

Looking to put a new CPU in - an i7 820QM came up on eBay, couple of questions:

1 - Will it fit? I know heat has been mentioned - but the 350m has a TDP of 35w, and the 820QM a TDP of 45w - it doesn't overheat atm, I would think that 10w more heat would be ok, especially with a good application of AS5

2 - Will turbo boost work? The CPU is normally at 1.73 GHz, but can turbo-boost up to 3.06 GHz. Would suck to put a quad in, that only ran at 1.73 GHz so for single threaded stuff it was slow...

 

I think you need to get the winamp media key add ins. I haven't used them with the Acer, but do use them with my other machines with media control keyboards. I usually find them on the winamp website

 

are you logging into windows under admin account?

try disabling the user account control (permissions)to minimum and see what it does.

or try to uninstall it, restart and install again as admin.

why do you need quadcore? and more importantly, why did you buy 4820T, if you need quadcore?

 

Considering that first gen core i quad cores don't have an IGP, I don't think that's gonna work out. A core i5 540M or so is usually your best performance bet on the x820T series.

 

I bought a 4820T because I need a laptop with a long battery life (6+ hours minimum), and it was cheap (I paid £279 for mine).

I use my laptop at Uni for taking notes, and a bit of programming - really light use. However, occasionally I do use it hard, and when I do I mean *hard* (some of my Uni stuff will be quite heavy).

The i3 is a step above the SU9400 I had before, but I'm a sucker for a quad-core...

Good point...

 

any way to control the fan on this laptop? Even when cpu usage is ~10% the fan is changing speeds randomly, really annoying esp when sitting in quite area such as a library or a lecture room.

 

I am wondering how much can I get for selling my Acer 4820TG that has I5-480, AMD 6550M GPU, 4GB RAM, and 640GB 5400 RPM? I also installed internal bluetooth on it myself.

One of the main reason I bought this was the AMD GPU. However, now I don't use it for any gaming. In addition, I thought that the GPU will allow me to output the display to 2 external LCD and 1 internal LCD. I like this laptop, but since I don't need the AMD GPU, I am debating if I should upgrade to a smaller and lighter laptop with integrated GPU depending how much I can get for this laptop.

Thanks!

 

so you bought a refurb. probably ebay, dixons or pcworld.

I'm still not getting the point of fitting in a quadcore for few moments of extensive tasks, while at the same time, the battery life would suck as a result of that (provided it would at least work) plus the incredible amount of heat it would produce. and as mentioned, switchable graphics wouldn't work anyway.

either be more patient, or next time if you need something for extensive tasking, don't buy laptop, which has got other priorities (low weight, long battery, decent, not overwhelming performance)

 

The TDP of the quad is 45w, versus the 35w of the current i3 - aka only 30% more heat (and probably roughly the same power usage), which I could live with for more power.

I don't *need* a quad, but it would help for the odd moments when I'd like more power.

 

TJUNCTION

i3-350M : 90°C for rPGA, 105°C for BGA

i7-820QM : 100°C

and guess what, 4820T(G) has got PGA988.

and in my opinion, 30% increase in heat is a LOT. not "only" as you state.

 

Do you understand what TJUNCTION is?

 

maximum recommended internal temperature that shall be allowed to rise to during normal operation.

why such question? I probably know more about those temps than you do, especially considering the fact, that I'm not so, uhm, eager to try to fit quad into laptop meant for dual core CPUs.


look, if you want to screw up your laptop's internal parts, go ahead, no one is stopping you, but you have been warned.

 

My point was that the TJUNCTION means very little - it's a max rated temp. Doesn't say anything about how much heat it creates, power usage etc...

 

Anyone ever had their mic input jack cease to work? Speakers one still works fine. Changed headphones, same result. :/

 

i had the issue with headphone jack, but it got resolved by a flying a plane, so not sure if that'll help.

you can check my previous posts here.

 

I've been waiting for the AMD6650M hybrid driver update for a while now. My biggest issue is the latest official driver from Acer prevents Windows 7 SP1 update and causes Windows Live messenger crashing when on intel GPU. The driver posted on their website hasn't been updated for a long time.

Is there any chance Acer will update the AMD 6650M hybrid driver?

Are the modded drivers, such as posted on the first page of 3820TG thread, relatively bug free and stable?

Otherwise, what driver do you use? Are they stable? I am looking for hybrid GPU driver update that allow me to install Windows 7 SP1, stable, and allow the GPU switching.

Thanks!

 

1, it's HD6550
2, chances are zero/nada/zilch in my opinion
3, just update the AMD drivers to newest catalyst drivers using the guide on the first page of this thread. i guess you can do similar with Intel ones
4, modded drivers should be ok
5, i doubt Intel graphics drivers are causing Live messenger to crash

 

Actually that's a known issue for the older Intel drivers

 

you're correct, I didn't realize that.

but anyway, the issue is affecting only drivers 8.15.10.2104 through 8.15.10.2141.

whereas the acer ones for 4820TG are Intel: 8.741.1.6000 from 21/10/2010

 

Download the drivers from the 3820TG page instead. It's version 8.771.1 which contains Intel version 8.15.10.2189. You can install SP1 with these drivers.

 

Woops, yes it is 6550M.

I guess Acer drops the ball imo if it doesn't update their drivers that has known issue. It is quite sad that this laptop was released less than 1 year and yet they won't release update for a "buggy" driver.

I don't have any issue with the AMD part most of the time. So, it is not so important for me to update to the latest catalyst. It's the Intel part that gives me issue. Yes, the Intel driver in the hybrid driver has a known issue with Live messenger, hence Windows update won't let you/me update to SP1.

I actually had the Intel driver installed by itself from Windows update when I do not install the hybrid driver. But as soon as I installed the hybrid driver on top, the Intel GPU uses the Intel driver from that is built into the hybrid driver.

Does anyone have experience with the modded hybrid driver? Otherwise could you point out the link people's experience with it? Or what driver do you use? Are they stable? Sxooter, kefan777, or anyone?

Alternatively, I could the change laptop instead. Get another laptop (which I am considering) that has better support from the manufacturer. For example, the Lenovo X220 with IPS screen or the T420 with 1600x900 screen, or other laptop from Dell or HP. Although each has its own problems,these companies updates their drivers quite often in my experience. But this is quite extreme when the GPU driver is the issue and the rest of the laptop seems fine.

 

I think my previous post was meant for you...

You can download them here.

 

if I was you, I would try clean install first, then try both acer drivers first and then modded ones, check which ones work better for you and keep those.

 

The Intel driver within the Acer Hybrid driver 8.741.1.6000 is 8.15.10.2125, this is the one with issue.

What driver do you use?

I think I tried this driver a few weeks ago. I uninstalled the existing driver, then reboot, then install the driver in your link. But it won't install. I don't remember the exact message. I can try it again later.

Do you use that driver on your computer? Will it install? Do you have problems with it?

Thanks!

 

8.741.1.6000 / 8.15.10.2125 on win 7 ultimate x64

i got SP1 installed ok, no issues with it at all now (had problems with amd, but after updating catalyst, all is fine)

i just don't use live messenger

 

Doesn't the 8.771.1 driver from the 3820TG page support 6550?