Acer TimelineX 3820TG Owners Lounge. Info, benchmarks, tweaks, mods and upgrades

Is the Mini PCIe connector height 5.9mm or 3.9mm?

 

just recived news that my Seagate Momentus HDD have been shipped.
Can't wait to put it in this baby

 

Hi, can Ï have few more questions? I have never before had notebook with OEM windows. So, I know you have no way to reinstall them. So, is there any other legal way to fresh install Windows using OEM license? Is there a way to legaly download Windows OEM version and than install it and apply OEM key on it?

And, what is the thing with all the diferent wi-di cards manufacturers? Is specific manufacturer connected with specific notebook version, or you can buy two same 3820TG models, one with Atheros and second with Broadcomm? Why there isnt one wi-fi card type for all notebooks?

And last, why do you need to install Acer ATI driver, and you cannot install ATi drivers directly? Where is the difference between the two, other that Acer is older? Thanks.

 

Some help:
- 1st page, 1st post, Bronsky's guide ( http://forum.notebookreview.com/ace...rks-tweaks-mods-upgrades-162.html#post6465732)
- ABR backup

 

Does any know if it's possible to have the bluetooth automatically turned on while not running on battery (connected with a power cord).

 

TouchPad problem!!! this happen to me many time when I'm using FF and moving between tap to tap suddenly I can not tapping to click, can't do one or two fingers scroll... I can move the mouse only... is this happen to anyone?

 

I used a 4mm one.

I believe the existing slot is 4.5mm

I hope everyone waits before diving into this mod. It hasn't been properly tested yet. It may need some decoupling caps added in empty spots on the mobo.

**EDIT**

I have just cannibalized an intel AGN card from another laptop and...

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.









It actually does appear to be working! The real test will still be the SSD though.

 

Okay so I have a 3820T - and i swear the wireless card is bloody awful. I get loads better signal on my old laptop.

I've got the Atheros AR5B93 Network Adapter.

Is this just notoriously bad?? I'm sitting with both laptops next to each other and the new has no signal and the old does.

The old has Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG

Anyway to improve wireless performance?

 

i tried swapping with a Intel Ultimate-N 6300 card from my sis notebook and...

found that range wise my Atheros AR5B93 seems better and that includes consistency as well.

Thus i have revert it after a day usage.


Do check your drivers and etc to determine if by any chance you got yourself a lemon set instead.

 

k... i'm running into another 2 problems with my machine.. if anyone could help me out or give some input.

1. I keep getting the message that usb power exceeds limits when i'm burning my recovery discs using my external drive. like when it finishes 1 and 2 it comes up and it stops working. the problem is everytime it stops i have to restart the whole computer/process and i'm required to reburn 1 and 2. i don't have that many discs to waste... whats with the usb? and also is there a way to skip to recovery disc 3?

2. My 2nd issue is regarding my warranty. I'm from Canada.. and if i'm correct Acer Canada warranties are basically handled by the same Acer USA place in Texas. When I made the call.. and asked for my SNID, i gave it but had lots of trouble getting it to recognize.. like it took liek 10 tries or something. Also when I talked to the CSR about transferring the warranty.. he gave the answer that theres no need to transfer as I'm covered by the international travellers warranty? I'm thinking thats not true.. should I be phoning in a 2nd time?

Thanks for the help. Oh btw.. my yadi keyboard protector is still kinda weird.. still has the bumps that make it look like it doesn't fit properly.

 

Have you tried each of the 3 ports? I get the best results from the rear left port. I sometimes use a dual powe cable (two large USB male, one small USB Male)

Also - What kind of cable are you using? I find that some of my cheapoer, long cables fail while the short fat one that came with my LG drive is perfect everytime.

 

Awesome work with the pci-e slot tgoode! Can't wait for the ssd test.

 

i was using the cable my samsung drive gave me, it was one of those y-shaped kinds. i plugged into both of them on the left side.

 

do you have enough length to do one on the left, the other on the right?

Maybe try the 1st connector (with 2 wires) only?

 

1.5A at the USB Ports on the left side are no problem.

Which model do you have? I will have a look at my NAS and push the file online.

 

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=41503&vpn=SE-S084C/RSBN&manufacture=Samsung

that model.

 

Hey guys, was wondering if it's okay to remove the laptop's battery and plug in the cord to power it up? Haven't tried it but i want to since my wear level is getting higher. And i do game a lot that's why my battery run out pretty fast. Thanks for your input.

 

I was talking about your laptop. The model with 3G or without

 

Yes, it's ok. Also, if you often use the laptop plugged in the wall-plug this is a good way to protect the battery from the heat produced by the laptop and thus prolong the battery life.

 

lol sorry about that.. 3g?

i have this one: PChome½u¤WÁʪ« - 24¤p®É±M°Ï¡mACER Aspire 3820TG-5462G64nss.(i5-460/1G)¡n

 

3G is the same as UMTS.

I will upload the 3 dvd over the night and send you the links.

 

Oh, okay. Should've done that since day one. I honestly thought plugging it in without the battery would mess up the laptop's internals so i didn't even bother removing it. Now it has gotten real bad wear. Oh well. Any way i could cut down the wear level? I've read somewhere that putting it in the fridge would help? I'm actually using the notebook as a desktop replacement 90% of the time it just sits right there.

 

Congrats on the laptop, the Broadcom is awful on my 3820T to as well.
I would just change to the new Intel ones, but I am pending funds right now.

 

I was going to say the same after I saw the pics.
Where did you learn those soldering skills tgoode ?

 

thanks so much man! i just need the last disc btw. thanks.

 

What protective notebooksleeve/case/bag do you have for the 3820TG?

I can't decide. Bags are a bit big and pompous, and with sleeves you can't pack your power supply and cable into it.

 

I read about this thing with the fridge too You should recharge the battery to about 40% and put it in a fridge, if you plan not to use it often. However, I don't think this could decrease the wear level.

 

Wow awesome work tgoogle on the Pcie. I could not, would not attemp that solder. Solding just the tiny speaker 3.5v connection on my last backlit LED mod almost killed me. And that was just one of those pcie connections..

There is also a USB3 pcie card here: MPX-7202| 1507880 | PCI-Express Mini-Card USB 3.0 SuperSpeed Module

Which would be rather useful

In regards to the battery wear level. Disconnecting are storing a battery is an option but also remember that if the power fails you have no UPS via the battery and also the battery's don't charge all the time only when it drops below 96% I think it is it will start to charge. On windows 7 its that way at least.

 

Sorry for bumping, but since is use a bluetooth keyboard while my laptop runs on power cord and I have it connected to my monitor.

Nobody knows if it's possible?

 

I've been working/playing with technology in one way or another for over 30 years. Professionally for about 20. I made my first heathkit radio when I was 9 years old, some 35 years ago...

That was about the time my home got its first personal computer, a Commodore Pet.

 

Hi Zsero!

Now I have tryed it on my projector. But it's the same result. I get a black frame around the screen when I run on 1920x1080 and since there aren't enough pixels on the used area, the picture is not so good. With the projector I also had a black frame with 1600x1200. I still haven't found any overscan option in my 3820tg with ccc 10.8. I have tried the overscan function on both my projector and monitor with the same result: the black frame gets thinner, but it's still there, maybe it goes from 10% around the screen to 5% or something like that. It's very frustrating.

 

So, has anyone tried a smaller AC adapter yet? I was waiting for a Thermaltake Toughpower Ultra Slim 95W to be avaible in Hungary, no luck so far. Then I found an even smaller adapter, an AcBel 90W here. It is a bit on the expensive side, but I saw it for 50$ as well. Now the only question is, does it realy work with the 3820tg, an how well? My ultimate goal is to fit into my ZeroShock III both the notebook and the adapter. I also has my eyes on a MediaTech MT6260, but it is bigger and does sound a bit ... khm ... untrustworthy, however alot cheaper, and already avaible in Hungary. Finaly there is the FSP N90FX, but it seems to be a 65W adapter, aside from what the name suggests. After this I suspect a lot of other adapters that go by the name 90something is realy a 65W with a 90W peak, and I guess an online store wouldn't be able to test it. So what adapters do you use beside the original behemoth?

 

So you can't actually recommend me trying to do the same? I think I soldered something back in highschool (15 years ago...)

When is youre ssd expected to arrive? Is it a pcie mini format or normal? I'm thinking of replacing my internal wireless network card with an external one and add a ssd instead.

 

Yep, that's the downside

@alvirn Also, the battery doesn't discharge when on external power supply, since the laptop doesn't draw power from it, so this shouldn't have much influence on the battery wear level (e.g. charge-discharge cycles). And the 3820TG doesn't have overheating issues, so, again, shouldn't cause battery problems... This 'fridge' thing is for reeealy extreme situation... if you won't use the battery for months. I don't think it's necessary in your situation.

 

I wouldn't recommend anyone do this. It is a doable mod but requires specialized skills, tools and lots of patience. Your typical radio shack soldering iron ain't going to cut it. I used a $400 temperature controlled Weller desktop soldering station.

I won't recommend it because there is a very real possibility of bricking (dead mobo - Dead with a capital D) your laptop. It's your choice and yours alone.

The SSD I bought is a kingspec 64GB. It is a 3x5cm card - not full length but not half length either.

 

When I connected my old Acer TM 5520G with Radeon HD 2400 XT to my 1080p TV I got a black border too. I fixed that by changing the screen refresh rate of the TV to 59 Hz instead of 60 Hz.

Right-click on desktop -> "Screen resolution" -> "Advanced settings" -> "Monitor"

 

thanks for your replies guys however i'm confused. Not sure if you're trying to recommend that i keep the battery attached or totally remove it. At the moment it really serves as a replacement to my desktop and i'm not planning on making it mobile in the next few weeks or even months. I'm not also concerned with data loss that much in case of a power outage and no battery is attached as i use it primarily for games. So i guess plugging it in the wall is my better option right?

 

If this works for you, do you think that the PCIe in the 3G version of the 3820TG would support the same SSD? This is an interesting option for someone like me who could really use a small SSD and a larger 7200 rpm storage drive for large data files.

Bronsky

 

just purchased this laptop from staples and I am finding that it is making a clicking kind of noise. Is pretty quite but its load enough to bother me. does everyone have this problem or is it just me. I head a simple solution is to download a software that "solve" the problem or should I just exchange it for another. It doesn't seem like many people are having this problem! thanks for your advice in advance!

 

If it works on this modified machine there really shouldn;t be any reason why it wouldn;t work on the 3G version. A slot is a slot...

Here is the one I bought... It's a "Kingspec" not a "Kingmax"

KingSpec Mini PCIE 64GB SSD MLC SATA Asus Eee PC 3x5cm on eBay.ca (item 320588116311 end time 16-Sep-10 11:52:35 EDT)

There are also 16GB and 32GB available in this form factor.

Make sure you get the SATA version for maximum read/write speeds. There is a PATA version that's 30% slower. According to the specs its capable of up to 96 MB/s sequential read and 53 MB/s sequential write speeds.

Not the fastest SSD on the planet, but damned convenient. I'll be running mine with a 500GB Momentus XT as my data/apps drive.

 

Let me link to my own post some pages back in this thread

http://forum.notebookreview.com/ace...rks-tweaks-mods-upgrades-424.html#post6645955

Clicky sound comes from over-agressive power saving features of WD harddrives, which also affect gameplay.

 

Wow 500 pages! 6 more posts and we're at 5000th! should there be an episode two for another 500 pages? Just let us know mods

 

Hi, so finally today my new 3820TG came. Its 460M version.

For now, nothing bothers me, but I would just want to ask about 2 things.

First, is it normal, that after I push the P button, there is abou 3-5 second delay before GPU starts switching? And related to this, when I push P button to get notebook into power saving mode, windows power managment does not change. Do I have to change it to power saving to?

And second question, one time I pressed the P button, GPU switched to Intel, but with superbrighteness. When I switch back to ATi and back to Intel it was all right. What is cousing this? Thanks.

 

the delay is normal. However it does not revert back instantly seconds or minute after you switch to ati then back to intel. Somehow it requires sometime to refresh. For me, it's better if the automatic switching is turned off. You just need to explore a little bit about the power options, brightness settings for each option vary and you may alter it.

 

Looks like a killer combination.

 

Is this relevant here?


Mini PCIe SSD connector
Some netbooks (notably the Asus EeePC and Dell mini9) use a variant of the PCI Express Mini Card as an SSD. This variant uses the reserved and several non-reserved pins to implement SATA and IDE interface passthrough, keeping only USB, ground lines, and sometimes the core PCIe 1x bus intact.[6] This makes the 'miniPCIe' flash and solid state drives sold for netbooks largely incompatible with true PCI Express Mini implementations. Also, the typical Asus miniPCIe SSD is 71mm long, causing the Dell 51mm model to often be (incorrectly) referred to as half length. A true 51mm Mini PCIe SSD was announced in 2009, with two stacked PCB layers, which allows for higher storage capacity. The announced design preserves the PCIe interface, making it compatible with the standard mini PCIe slot. No working product has yet been developed, likely as a result of the popularity of the alternative variant.

 

Yes, it is and I think the card will not run.

@m99_
You was a few minutes faster.

 

You don't think Tgoode's SSD will work?

Bronsky

 

I think the SSD card will not work in the Acer 3820TG.

Asus used a few unused pins on the pci-e connector to connect the slot to a SATA Port. An these pins are not populated on the Acer 3820TG. The card will miss the SATA Port on the pci-e slot.


Edit:

For an SSD on the PCI-e Slot you need a model with a PCI-e "to flash" Controller. (expensiv and possible not bootable)
Or a model on the basis of the USB port, with other words, an USB Stick inside the PCI-e slot. (cheap, but not realy fast)

 

Yep, you can remove the battery then