Acer Timeline Ultra m5?

Hey

I have been unfortunate enough to crack my screen today. Did you manage to source a screen?

Your help is much appreciated.

Matt

 

Well I have my m5 for 6 month and I am really happy with it, but I think is time for upgrade some parts, and I have some questions:

Is there any way to fit a OZC Agility 3 on it?
If I change en mSata for a 240 gbs, and remove the HD , can I boot from the mSata drive?
I want to remove the ODD, is there anything aroud there to cover the holes, maybe a fan or something like that?
I will also add a 8gb ddr3 and do a clean install for win 7.

 

You can fit a Crucial M4 easily if you open it and remove the black spacer.
Dont know if Msata is bootable some report it some dont.
You could get a ODD HDD enclosure and put a hard disk in it and use the frontplate from your disk drive t cover it.
You will need an 8gb single stick of ddr3. 2gb is soldered onboard. Puts you on 10gb total.

 

Thank you,

I see, well the problem is that if I remove the spacer I void the warranty, so i will use that SSD for something else ( i got it fo $110 on new egg, and i am building a HTPC so not a big deal).

Now, I am not sure if I want try a 7mm SSD or a mSATA,

 

From what I understand, the mSATA is not bootable, only if you are using the normal 2.5" drive area.

If you remove the 2.5" SATA drive and leaving it empty, then you can use the mSATA bootable.

 

Hi, I have a laptop M5, I read some of what has been written, but it is very long, and I apologize if I repeat something already discussed above.

I have several questions for other users of this laptop:

- Do any of you have noticed a kind of electric current in the metal surface of the laptop?, It's like he was not secluded enough, and sometimes it becomes very annoying.

-The screen brings to me is terribly bad for the eyes, and I wonder if you can switch to another higher resolution, antireflection or just higher quality contrast, do not know if it is enough that is compatible with your connection, or is there something else you should consider.

-And finally I'm using the Bios v1.xx its latest version (1.12), and notice that the fans are switched from 50 ° C, would it be possible to find a modified BIOS to change the settings of the fans , or perhaps some software?.

Greetings and thanks.

 

hey,

anyone can tell me something about the fan noise of the ACER M5 15" notebook?

Thanks alot!

 

Having a problem with minimum processor state in power options. When I play games mostly it seems to set itself to 100%, I have to manually force it back down. I don't want it to go to 100% because then it overheats and I get a performance hit like frequent sharp FPS drops in games. Any way to keep it down and keep it from resetting?

 

Use throttlestop

 

I downloaded throttlestop and I cannot click the box that says disable turbo...its greyed out. What settings would i have to do within this to stop it from forcing up to 100%?

 

turn on multiplier and make it go to any step of your choice up to turbo.

Highest cpu speed will only go to how high you set it

 

I'll post this here since the M3-581TG is very similar to the M5

Does anyone have an M3 with a BIOS earlier than 2.10.

When the M3 arrived, it came with 2.07 and I was happy with the fan profile (very slient). I later upgraded the BIOS to the latest 2.15 from acer and now the fan is always on high or max even when nothing is consuming CPU.

I would be grateful if you could dump the bios.

 

Hey,

a have some issues with downgrading WINDOWS 8 UEFI/GPT to WINDOWS 7 UEFI/GPT.

When i start to install WINDOWS 7 in UEFI/GPT MODE the installtion stucks at the logo "starting windows".

SECUREMODE: disable
UEFIMODE: enable


anyone can help me please?

 

Hi there. Quick question. It seems likle my 640M is almost constantly running at 645/1000 MHz, even in idle mode, which forces the fan to run at high speed. Does anyone have a modified vbios that allows the 640M to run at 645/1000 only on games, and 135/400 MHz at idle mode ?

I have even modified the Nvidia control Panel to make sure everything in indle mode turns with the HD Graphic, but it does not solve my problem....

 

you must have a program that setting it off to use the Nvidia grphics by default.

Check the nvidia tray icon that tells you

 

If i upgrade my Bios, can i downgrade it after this if i'm not happy with that?

What does "BIOS - UEFI for Windows 8 (Not for Upgrades)" mean? Can i install it for windows 7 64x /BIOS/MRB?

 

Hi There!

Which HDD enclosure fits into the DVD bay? Can i put a HDD Drive into it?


Regards

 

Hi There!

Which enclosure fits into the DVD bay? Is it possible to put the HDD into the dvd bay and a SSD into the original HDD bay?


Regards!

 

I have ordered an M5 with 128 SSD only. The exact model is Acer | Aspire M | M5-581TG-73516G12Mass | Datasheet

Everything looks nice except the low capacity of the storage. I have read almost all post but I can not find the needed answer 100% sure regarding:
- adding a HDD. The ribbon cable is there or not? If not where can be found? A standard cable can be used or an Acer cable is neede.
- is there any solution to boot from Msata SSD (where the OS is) instead of the added HDD assuming that an HDD will be placed and the cable is there (it will be a kind of stupid thing if is not present).
- this operation voids the warranty or not?

If anybody did this please help.

Thanks

 

I have the Timeline M5-481TG and have problems writing to DVDs, reading works just fine. I have tried several kinds of media already (TDK, Imation), but IMGBurn in Windows 8 always gives me power calibration errors. Anyone else experiencing this? Is the drive just picky or is mine just broken?

 

I have the Acer M5-481TG, and want to update it's original windows 7 to windows 8. Any advice? I have a windows 8 install disk, but I've heard mixed things on here about windows 8 drivers and such. Also, it seems that I can't update the BIOS to a 2.x version, as mine is 1.x right? Will I still be able to install Windows 8 anyways?

 

Alright, I have successfully installed 4 more gigs of Ram (low voltage), and Samsung 840 250 gig ssd, and windows 8. It's pretty easy to install all the hardware, just make sure and download the repair manual that can be found on this thread. You can not update the BIOS to a 2.x version. Windows 8 installed fine. If you have any questions, just ask

 

I have the same issue when I boot or resume from sleep/hibernation some times. I press the power and then it will flash the KB light and shut down then start up then shut down multiple times till it finally boots at a random # of times every time ti does it.

I tried disabling hibernation. Uninstalled the MSata drive, upgraded my HDD to a Samsung 830, popped in 8GB of RAM. Unplugged the cmos battery and the main battery and held the power button down for 30 seconds to reset the BIOS. Tried reflashing the BIOS (v1.12)

Where you able to fix your issue? Or does anyone have an idea of what causes it?

I'm going to try downgrading to BIOS 1.05. I can't find any download links for the original BIOS i had which was V1.02.

 

Hey,

i have a problem with Turbo Boost.
Turbo Boost only works for me when the AC is plugged in.(power supply)
If not the CPU maximum will reduce to 1.7ghz.

Powersetting: 100%

anyone have the same problem, that turbo boost only works when ac is plugged in?

 

Just wanted to give another update. SSD & Ram have been great, and have had no problems. I recently updated to windows 8.1 and Acer released new drivers! The new drivers solved almost all of my problems. The only things that aren't working on 8.1 now is that the touchpad is defaulted to "off" (have to press fn+f7 to turn it back on) after coming out of sleep. Kind of annoying, but I can live with it.The new 8.1 drivers from acer fix wifi/bluetooth issues and other things. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

I just want to say thanks for the the info vacaloca, smerdk and everyone else. As of right now I have just order a Samsung 840 evo 250GB and 8 gb DDR3 Gskill ram card. With this My total for the notebook and upgrades are going to come out to $425.00 I came out with a better deal then any Black Friday ad if I do say my self. I just have one question I read the entire thread and just wanted to know from the people who re pasted there gpu and cpu is it worth it and should i redo mine since im already opening it.

 

Hi - using the 38 pages of great info here about the laptop I have - the M5 - I recently followed all the great advice, pictures, suggestions and inputs from everybody, including Vacaloca and smerdk most, but I now have hit a problem I can't fix.

The process:

I uninstalled rapidstart, expresscache, etc, rebooted multiple times.

Just in case - I used Samsung data migration to try and copy the existing 100GB Win7 install onto the new SSD. It might work, it might not, I thought, I'd likely reinstall Win7 fresh anyways.

I installed a patriot 8GB stick - its fine in bios at 10 GB now.

I installed a Samsung 840 EVO 256GB in place of the HD. I did not remove the mSata - it seemed from the posts that I could probably leave it in there and just not use it.

Well, the install went fine. But when I tried to boot, of course it said "no boot disk found". The crappy Acer 1.12 bios (with its limited options) saw the Samsung 840 fine (it doesnt see the mSata).

So I obviously could not get it to boot after migrating the original contents of the 500 GB HD I tried to migrate from, so I went ahead and tried to do a fresh install from a windows 7 home premium CD. It couldn't see my Samsung SSD, but it could see 20GB mSata SSD. I tried a few reboots, load drivers, etc.
Finally I got some info from a forum to use Shift-F10 to get a command prompt off the windows install CD, and used diskpart to "clean" the SSD and put down a new MBR. Once I did that, it finally showed up in the windows 7 install GUI as a drive, but then had errors when I tried to format or install to it.

I'm stuck. Please don't tell me I need to open the case back up - that took a long time to do carefully and I'd hate to do it again.

Do I need Samsung SSD Raid drivers or something during the win 7 install? I couldn't find any online.

HELP!

 

To be honest I would just removed the mSata that way there is no interference between the msata new ssd/hdd. Just install everything on the new drive.

 

First off I want to say thank you for all the information on ways to upgrade the Acer M5. I have gone through all the post but still need some clarifications if possible. I recently upgraded my ram to 10gb with no issues. I noticed in some of the posts about using Intel rapid in-order to partition the memory and effectively use hibernation. I did not seem to have to go through this process since my system recognized my ram through system specs. My concern is hdd vs sdd, I have read that sdd should only really be used for starting and shutting down the computer and running programs but not used to store music games documents and such. Those of you that have upgraded to the 830-840 Samsung ssd did you have any issue of it slowing down as your available space decreased? And did you remove the 20gb ssd after installing the 830 because it was not recognized? could you have replaced that with a Hdd in that slot instead? As far as the procedure before you swap out drives, do you need to make a back up disc before installing the new ssd drive or can you plug it in as a usb and extract all the files you need and have it pre-upload so when you actually swap out the drives all the info is already on it. Lastly does anyone have pictures of how to take out old hdd and swap in new ssd on the M5 step by step. I understand some of these questions have been answered and appreciate all the info I can get.

Cheers

 

Great info in this thread! Thank you to vacaloca in particular for all the hard work, and everyone else who has been contributing.

I have the Acer M5-481T-6670. i3, 6gb ram, 500gb hdd. This laptop is getting slightly older now, but I still expect to have it for several years to come, or longer if it works out that way. Love this little system.

I recently have started seeing the signs of my 500gb hard drive (stock 5400 rpm) starting to go, so I picked up the Samsung 840 EVO 500gb drive for an upgrade. I stumbled across this thread in searching how best to open the laptop up to install it, and I'm glad I did, because now I see more ideas and things to consider during the process than I had initially considered.

A few of questions, if anyone is still following this thread:

1) Is it a worthwhile upgrade to pick up a Crucial mSATA 240 gb drive to replace the stock 20GB SSD? The M500 for $120 seems like it might be worth getting, just to bump up my storage capacity. (I shoot lots of high res photos, and also have a habit of ripping DVDs to add to my home movie collection, so the extra space would be handy) I'm already upgrading the main system drive to SSD, but there will be almost no difference in storage capacity as a result of that change, so if this works as hoped, that would be helpful.

2) Can I use the new mSATA SSD for hibernation / deep sleep, AND use the balance of the drive for extra storage? I see the stock drive has unallocated space (not enough to bother with, but it certainly would be enough room to bother with if I stick an extra 240 gb drive in there) that's not being used. I know some have used the space for linux partitions, but I haven't seen any direct discussion of just making some extra space for Windows systems. (Win 7 Pro/64, in my case)

3) It has never occurred to me to upgrade an internal wireless card before (if not broken, that is). While the stock card is worked adequately for me, as long as I'm opening the laptop it seems worth a little extra if I can future-proof my laptop a bit more. I saw recommendations earlier in the thread for the Intel 6230 card, but I now see the Intel 7260.HMWG which seems to be a higher end card. Would it work? Worth doing? Amazon.com: Intel Network 7260.HMWG WiFi Wireless-AC 7260 H/T Dual Band 2x2 AC+Bluetooth HMC: Computers & Accessories Or, is there one that's better, that won't cost a fortune?

4) I don't run any super-memory intensive apps on this, and I don't game on it. Mostly surfing, email, and occasionally photoshop. (I have a big bad desktop system with massive screens for the heavy duty tasks.) Is there much point to upgrading RAM beyond the 6gb it came with? I could replace the 4gb chip with an 8gb for 10gb total, but I kinda wonder if it's worth bothering with, given my limited uses. Thoughts?

I appreciate any tips I can get. I want to place the order asap so I can get moving on this upgrade, and only have to open things up once.

 

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Here it is.
Let me know once you've downloaded it so I can remove it (it's on my private dropbox)

 

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I have a 2-year-old M5-581TG-6666 with 20Gb SSD and 500Gb HDD.

After carefully reviewing this thread it still is not clear to me, if I replace both drives with SSDs as indicated what will be the boot drive per the BIOS;
---20Gb SSD cache replace with 256Gb mSATA SSD
---500Gb HDD replace with 960Gb SATA3 2.5" 7mm SSD
I would prefer to boot from the smaller mSATA drive with Windows7 and system related files there, using the larger drive for application and working file storage. However, I am expecting the BIOS to attempt to boot from the larger drive as it is the replacement for the HDD.

Does anybody know if this is the case, and if so any suggestions?

 

If anyone is looking for a successor to the amazing Acer m5-481tg, I would recommend the Lenovo Thinkpad 14. I was able to choose a laptop for work recently, so I replaced my Acer m5-481tg with that one, it's the same weight, same thickness, but with a touchscreen (that flips around as its a yoga series), and newer i5, and newer graphics core (GT 840m), and it's easy to replace the hdd with a sdd. For the price, I don't know if I'll ever find as good a deal as my Acer was though, for the $650 I got it for, it was the best bang for the buck laptop I've ever had.

 

Hi,

i have cracked my Acer M5-581 screen.

does someone know where i can buy at a correct price a replacement screen ?

Regards.

 

Hello,

somebody can provide me the SG for the M5-81T/TG, because the link is dead?

Thanks a lot

Regards

Henry

 

Link here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27042209/SG_M5-581TG.pdf

I'll remove it in a couple of days.

 

Great thread, does anyone still have the service manual for the M5-581TG? Would really appriciate it.

 

I still do but not on the computer I'm using now. If I don't respond to this thread till the end of Sunday, please bump it once again to remind me.

 

Bump for downloads.

 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27042209/SG_M5-581TG.pdf

It was harder than I thought. I have deleted the file and had to recover it from a remote backup. Either way here it is.

 

Did you ever end up throwing a new wireless card into this? Considering it since the performance with the stock one is mediocre.