Acer Predator (Vega 56+Ryzen 2) Helios 500

Hey everyone. Does anyone know how to enable freesync after installing latest drivers? If it's not possible do you know which driver version is safe to install? I decided to update everything but now freesync is broken.

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You need to use CRU utility (freely available online) to manually set the refresh rate for freesync from 60-144hz, then apply that and restart the laptop (freesync works after that with latest drivers ).

If you need further instructions, I posted an image here several pages back which details how to use the thing.
I will find it for you if you need it

 

I'll find it. Thank you very much Deks!

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You can download CRU from here:
https://www.monitortests.com/forum/Thread-Custom-Resolution-Utility-CRU

As for the picture explaining the procedure on how to use CRU... its on page 109 of this thread.
But here it is for simplicity sake:

 

Thanks for the link. Freesync is enabled in the driver menu now. New drivers have definitely increased performance. In RE2 I used to get 92 fps in the main hall and now I get around 106. It's a nice boost for sure. Freesync seems to be working but I'm not 100 percent sure. Need to test in other games. Thanks again for the help, Deks.

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No problem.
Freesync should be working, at least I hadn't noticed that it wasn't working.

 

Just checked out ace combat 7 and yep freesync is working perfectly.

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Another happy person.

You will need to run CRU utility when you install new drivers... although, I wouldn't necessarily suggest updating to EVERY new version... unless the newest drivers bring good enough improvements/fixes, then you might as well stay on current version for a while.

 

Hey Deks, sorry to bother you, I actually have a problem figured you might know the solution. Windows updated amd drivers automatically for some reason now they are broken. Does your machine do that?

I remember early in the thread people had this problem, though for me, this is the first time I'm witnessing such behaviour.

Does this still occurs with yours or are you still applying group policy methods from earlier?

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Yes, mine does/did that too.
The trick is you need to set Windows to NOT update the drivers for your devices (go into Control Panel, then System, Advanced System Settings, Hardware tab, Device Installation Settings - click on NO).

However, I already did that and Windows decided to update AMD drivers anyway, so someone mentioned to me I needed to download a small Microsoft tool which will allow you to HIDE the AMD driver updates (that way MS Update won't show or install them).

Its a 'Show or Hide updates' Tool.
You can download it here:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/F/2/2/F22D5FDB-59CD-4275-8C95-1BE17BF70B21/wushowhide.diagcab

So, the way the utilty works is pretty simple. I think however you need to run it AFTER you've installed the Adrenaline drivers (though obviously you'd first remove corrupted drivers by using AMD driver removal tool).

 

Yep did that and worked like a charm thank you. I apologize for a late reply never got a notification and randomly decided to check forums. Thanks again for your help!

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Anyone experiencing a weird display contrast and color issue when on battery?
My screen brightness is lower (about half of what it usually is) and colors look a bit washed out... however, this is ONLY happening on battery - the moment I plug into the mains, the display acts properly.

Is this a calibration problem or down to something else? Any potential solutions?

And yes, this has been happening since I bought the laptop (so the drivers aren't the issue here) - oh and, the screen brightness being lower on battery has nothing to do with the brightness slider (as that is set to max)... but regardless of this, the display still looks dimmer with slightly washed out colors or incorrect contrast when running on battery.

 

This sounds familiar to one of the two AMD laptops I have in the house. It sounds like PowerPlay's Vari-Bright is on. Checked the Catalyst Control Center/AMD Radeon settings for it?

 

Yup, I think that may have done it.

Thank you.

 

For those of you who have this laptop, are you experiencing some occasional delays?
In my case, when I press CTRL+P in Libre Office there is a very long delay of 10 to 20 seconds before the printing window appears...
In WordPad, this happens as well, but if the print window opens immediately, after its closed, the document is temporarily unresponsive.

Anyone else experiencing these minor delays with document based software?
Sometimes if I'm using Libre Office, when it comes to entering the document deeper settings, there is a similar delay.

Is it Windows based or what?

My Power mode is set to best performance, but Power Options are set to AMD Ryzen Balanced profile.

As you can see from my signature, I'm running all SSD's... no astray programs running in the background, no malware present, etc.

Oh and I tried re-installing LibreOffice many times.
This problem does not occur on the 10 year old Intel laptop which has Windows 10.

Maybe I need a clean install of Windows 10... but the issue I had the last time (before I bought this replacement) was that Windows kept telling me it couldn't install on a said partition and that I should check the media (no GPT or MBR error).

Some people suggested changing the BIOS mode from Legacy+UEFI to pure UEFI or vice versa... but given our BIOS is locked, we can't use that option.

 

Finally found someone selling the schematics. Fun fact: the second SSD slot actually is wired to support two lanes of PCIe for SATA express.

 

Meaning what exactly?
Also, could you send me those schematics?

 

Hmm, i spotted new bios update via windows updates. Anyone tried new bios from windows updater?

New driver is Insyde Software - Firmware 5.23.1.9

 

I saw that too.
Not sure if its the wisest course of action to allow a BIOS/UEFI update via Windows - or, at the very least, I wouldn't try it unless you have a USB programmer (with that clipper that can read the ROM chip without desoldering it from the motherboard) at the ready and another computer to install it with.

More to the point, this looks like a pure UEFI update.
Not sure if we'd gain anything with it - unless Insyde decided to include microcode updates for Zen 3 and fast RAM... in which case, I'd whip out my USB programmer and install away.
And then, assuming the install was successful, I'd go online and buy 5900x along with 64GB of 3.2GhZ or 3.6GhZ RAM.

P.S. You know, Acer might be a dead end as far as BIOS updates go. What if we tried asking Insyde to provide us with a Zen 2/3 microcode upgrade with fast RAM?

P.P.S. It seems this update was released in October 2020. Interesting. According to Insyde, they seem to work closely with Intel and AMD to provide support for their reference designs.
Would be interesting if this thing at least gave us access to Zen 2 and far better support for RAM.

Anyone willing to install and see if it made any difference?

 

Meaning, if I understand SATA express correctly, that the second M.2 slot should support PCIe over two gen 3 lanes. SATA express is stated to be either SATA or PCIe the SATA express device having to support an AHCI or a NVMe interface, this means things like eGPU or even another NVMe drive should be possible. The problem being that people have tried NVMe drives in the second slot and it didn't work.

Would if I wasn't wary they could somehow link a leak to me, getting cut off this reseller could be a problem in the future and this is the only one I've found after years of searching so...
Got it from here: http://laptop-schematics.com/view/12270/

It doesn't state exactly what devices it applies to or what is updated. While I'd like to believe Microsoft knows what they're doing I simply don't, not without more data.

It's not that simple however with the schematics it'd be possible to get someone with a license to make a compatible BIOS. Or perhaps simply hacking one of the recent releases from e.g. Asus motherboards for 16MiB B450 motherboards. Would be nice discussing it with someone familiar with modern laptop design to hear if simply inserting the modules for the embedded controller and so would be enough.

Thinking about it. Would be nice replacing the BIOS ROM with a socket first...

 

As far as I know, ACER said that the second slot is not NVme compatible. I tried it in mine too and it didn't work.
If the slot itself is CAPABLE of having NVme drives in it but BIOS support is lacking from Acer, then its the same case its with the socket. The motherboard is B450, therefore compatible with both Zen 2 and Zen 3, but lacks BIOS updates to allow us to use newest CPU's.

I wouldn't worry about leaking these to anyone... I was simply curious.

Same. Microsoft is hardly without faults, but I would surmise that their methods of detection have improved over time and would allow us to install this Insyde update without problems (trouble is, BIOS updates are STILL not danger free... especially for laptops. Sure, we could 'technically' bypass the problem by flashing the BIOS from Acer's website with a USB flasher... still, its not exactly a fool-proof procedure either and no guarantees it would work).

If you know someone, be my guest. But this unit was relatively 'rare' when it was released to begin with, and its not exactly 'well known'. So, I don't know how much of a success would people have.

What do you mean by replacing the BIOS rom with a socket first?

 

Its possible that since that Insyde UEFI update is so recent, it probably includes all the security updates to date (which is a welcome bonus) and maybe some performance improvements.

It might also be usable to see if that update carries with it RAM speed improvements and Zen 2 microcode updates (I wouldn't expect Zen 3 support until at least early next year though since its a B450 mobo).

Problem is, we have no way of verifying what kind of updates this includes.
We could try contacting them via Twitter if someone can find their username there (I think I did, but messaging was no allowed - same with most major companies like ACER, AMD, Intel, NV, etc.).
So, how do we get their attention via Twitter?

Hm... maybe old fashion email?

 

I didn't end up selling mine and gave it to my son instead, and he's been using it daily for school and gaming. Around a month ago the factory ram crapped out. As I had upgraded to 32GB, fixing it was pretty easy, just pulled the factory ram out and put the other 16GB in its place. He doesn't do anything that needs 32GB of ram so I left the other slots open and still runs great. The fans needed a good cleaning, so if any of you haven't pulled it apart to clean it, I definitely would.

I was hoping there would be a zen2 bios by now as I'll have a 3950X looking for a home soon and figured I'd swap it in, but looks like that's still a no go. Disappointing, but it's still a fairly powerful dtr even if it's now getting beaten by my sub 4lbs asus g14.

 

There is an optional UEFI update for the BIOS via Windows from Insyde... its dated to October this year (so from 2 months ago), but we don't know what kind of updates it contains.

 

If win32asmguy has an unlocked bios, why didn't he put it in? https://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-REQUEST-Acer-Predator-Helios-500-AMD-Bios-Unlock
What is the temperature at your Hot spot?

 

laptop was bricked in the process iirc

 

If he got unlocked bios, then is only for him because it is everything tied to owners laptop (licences, ...).

Btw PsixPro, are you contacted me via www.bolha.com? I got email about overclocking this helios He uses almost the same name.

 

It's me. I could not register at that time here If you have the opportunity and desire, I would like to ask a couple of questions somewhere in the discord. Is it possible?

 

win32asmguy, sold his helios to me, so it didnt brick the laptop, but it wasn't succesful. I also wanted to see this machine reach its full potential but acer really has dropped the ball on this.

Hopefully the community can come up with a way to update the bios so we can really make this laptop what it really is capable of being.

 

I don't like Acer's politics. They have everything the same, which is for a $ 500 laptop, which is for a $ 2000 laptop. It is not right. I also bought my laptop used.

 

Pretty sure that's a warranty replacement due to bricking the laptop.

 

Ahh I see. you might be right.

 

It did brick the laptop. After trying to flash the backup I had and multiple different recovery methods, I ended up calling Acer Support, explaining what I had done and a manager decided to let me RMA anyways.

For the record, the only model laptop I have EVER seen a manufacturer publish a bios update that support a new revision of processors, was the MSI WT75. It came with an i7-8700, but with the update had full microcode support for the i9-9900k to be dropped in. They also upped the EC TDP caps too so the CPU could pull up to 138W and maintain boost clocks at 4.7ghz. It also supported MSI's smaller MXM cards without the supplemental power connector, so a 1070 could be swapped in and modded with the Pascal VBIOS Tweaker Tool to pull ~185W just like the GT73. I know everyone wants to hate on MSI but they have made some decent laptops in the past.

 

Acer also made a decent PH517-61... the coolest and quietest laptop on the market and one of the most powerful for the year it was made (and at an affordable price)... and then they messed it up with not including a BIOS update for latest Zen 2 and Zen 3 CPU's or high RAM speed support.

 

I don't know. Maybe you should write a petition on change.org??? Maybe someone could do it? And put forward a list of requirements:
1) Fixed freesync on the latest drivers
2) Introduce support for amd 3000 series and possibly 5000.
3.1) Introduce support for high-speed 2666 memory when working in 2/4 slots.
3.2) Or unlock the bios and let people choose the frequency themselves

 

Has Acer already announced their CES products for this year? I am guessing there was no mention of a Helios 500 successor. They seem to only be interested in the thin and light models for now...

 

Nothing that I've read about.
Although I have tried getting in touch with Acer again via Facebook and asked them about the Optional Insyde BIOS update that appeared on Windows 10 and if they could tell me what that update contains (aka, Zen 2 and/or Zen 3 microcode updates, security updates and/or support for higher RAM speeds). They said they will forward my request to their other department and asked for my email... but its been about a month since they got my email, so I still hadn't received a reply.

 

change 3.1 to 'Introduce support for high speed 3200 MhZ memory when working in 2/4 slots.

3.2 is not a bad idea, but I'd prefer support for over 3000 MhZ memory when 2 or 4 slots are populated.. and microcode updates for both Zen 2 and Zen 3.

Just imagine putting 5900x into this thing. It would increase performance by well over a DOUBLE and give us a sizeable boost in gaming at 1080p.

 

This is the standard method for updating BIOS/Firmware/drivers on Windows 10 now, they are given to Microsoft who then make them available to compatible devices via WU. Going forward some companies wont even have them available as download on their sites (Though Dell/HP/Lenovo have confirmed they will still provide drivers/etc as not all machines are connected to the internet).

Something to remember of course is that Acer didn't design the BIOS on the H500 and possibly didn't even design the board either, and it's possible that this laptop isn't the only device out there using a compatible BIOS/etc so this new one may have been requested from Insyde by another manufacturer who used the same design in their product. Similar to how you can get a BIOS update from Dell that works on multiple laptops across different families.

In case anyone finds the above confusing as this was the only laptop made with a Vega 56 mobile GPU, the GPU is physically part of the board layout but it is essentially an add in card that has been merged into the board to avoid putting an MXM slot on the board, for all intents an purposes it is an add in card as far as any BIOS/firmware/driver/software are concerned (I did try to explain this earlier in the thread but some people didn't understand). So it is very possible that there are variants of this board with no built in GPU out there in laptops and even desktops which would be BIOS compatible with ours.

It would be awesome if we could upgrade our laptops, I for one would love to drop a 5600X and some 2800-3000Mhz RAM in mine, but in fairness to them Acer never designed or marketed the H500 for upgradability, if they had done so it would have cost a lot more due to requiring longer term support and the effect it would have on sales of its successor. Hence why an equally performing Alienware 51m (the only "upgradable" laptop released by a named manufacturer in the past decade) cost nearly a grand more.

When somebody on the internet talks about upgrading their laptop what they usually mean is that they bought the i5 instead of the i7 to save money then waited a few years and picked up the i7 for their machine off eBay (Or did the same with the GPU if it was removable). In a very few cases laptops with removable GPUs have accepted the GPUs from newer models (I.E putting a Firepro intended for a Dell M6800 in a M6600) but installing newer gen CPUs is practically unheard of aside from a few brand X manufacturers providing the support in order to entice people to buy a brand X laptop.

Even if somebody hacked the BIOS to support newer CPUs I wouldn't want to put a 3950X in mine, these laptops were designed around having an 88w 2700 in them, if you replace that with a 142w CPU then it's possible one of the following four things may happen (may not will, it all depends how the laptop was designed to handle it):

1. The CPU throttles as it's hitting power cap.
2. The GPU throttles as the thirstier CPU is using more of the available power.
3. They both throttle as they battle for power.
4. You smell burning.

Personally I would stick a 3800/5800X in mine if we got Zen3/4 support.

 

I created a post here https://community.acer.com/en/discu...-500-ph517-61-buyers-are-not-rubbish/p1?new=1.
Can someone create a petition? I have no experience in this, but I will definitely sign it!
Support the post. Create a petition! Let Acer hear us!

 

Whoa. I bought Boardview with our board. We have the ability to overclock the laptop HARDWARE. We can increase the voltage on the video card by removing or changing the position of the element on the board.

 

Probably security updates or compatibility updates for Windows 10 20H2 given the release timeframe. It is all the engineers are allowed to do on old products like that. If you want Zen3 support then hope for a successor using the Helios 700 chassis which seems pretty close the 500 (but Intel+Nvidia only at the moment).

 

I am sharing boardview with you. Please support the post with likes and comments. Create a petition. Let's do that!
https://community.acer.com/en/discu...-500-ph517-61-buyers-are-not-rubbish/p1?new=1

 

Provided my support for it.

 

That's the weird thing, the release timeframe is October 2020... which seems interesting to me. Since its Insyde that provides the bios itself, its possible they may have incorporated support for at least Zen 2 and high frequency RAM in all 4 slots.
Trouble is... we don't know what kind of updates it contains, so short of spending money on Zen 2 cpu's to try it out, we need Acer or Insyde to let us know (ironically I reached out Insyde as well and they mentioned I should talk to the OEM... or in this case, Acer).

 

Acer is not an OEM in this case. OEM is quanta computer. Based on the ZGX from quanta computer, Acer created the Helios PH517-61.

 

The manufacturer of the laptop I should have said.

 

A friend. Did you flash the modified bios through the programmer?

 

@PsixPro see these posts for when I tried to dump/mod/flash the bios. After spending a week or two trying to fix it I ended up sending it to Acer where they swapped in a new motherboard.

 

A brief summary of my experiencie.

The static after sleep never got fixed no matter what drivers I used. It got fixed when I upgraded my Windows 10 to 2004

2) I can upgrade my GPU drivers without issues, as far as I don't use the Factory Reset. If you do that, Freesync no longer work, but does not require the installation of the original drivers, by just using CRU add the Freesync Support range with the tool after installing the drivers, delete the unused monitors on the list, reboot and voila, it works.

3) Don't use the Ryzen power profile, it is meant for first gen Ryzen to allow the CPU to be stuck at 90% so the CPU can control its power states, not needed for second Gen. If you use the Ryzen power profile, the CPU will be stuck at 3.40GHz no matter what. If you change it to balanced, it will allow the CPU to idle at 1.5GHz but ramp the clockspeeds up to 4.10GHz during light workloads, allowing the system to feel snappier on lightly threaded applications as the Windows power scheme already contains the fixes for the second gen Ryzen. Ryzen 3x00 series clock behavior works the same no matter if you use generic balanced or the Ryzen performance as it already supports CCCP and does its own lol.

4) The latest Ryzen Master tool works like a champ and allows you to ramp up the memory clocks when you upgrade the RAM in the case that it only runs at 2,133MHz. Not tested with higher than 2,400MHz.

5) Battery life depletes quickly, already 30% in less than a year, those Panasonic cells aren't really that great.