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

The Sandy Bridge Acer may not have a dedicated GPU. The TimelineX series seems to be coming to the end of its Acer product cycle. You may be quite glad you bought yours when you did.

 

I agree. You know, let's face it, technology is constantly changing on laptops and computers. You can always say coulda woulda shoulda for any computer purchase, it's always going to be superceded by a better model within a year.

If you kept waiting for the next best implementation, you'd be waiting forever. Eh?

 

I just got my 3820TG with 5650. The Acer BIOS website says:

Updating an incorrect BIOS may cause harm to your system. We recomend that you only do this after being instructed by one of our Customer Care representatives. By using these updates you agree to accept the possibility of product failure.

Should I update to 1.13, 1.17 or 1.19 or just leave it the way it is? Should I be concerned with going right up to 1.19 on this model?

Thanks all.

 

Once i updated with ltest bios my 5650 became a 6550, any change to raise voltage over 1V as in 6550?

 

The problem is that the new Acers may actually not be the next best implimentation. Although nobody knows for sure, there is some concern that the new dual core 13.3" Acer using a SB CPU will not have a dedicated GPU because of the increased IGPU power. That means that, like the LG P301, the 3820TG will have no successor. If Acer replaces the TimelineX series with a less powerful notebook, watch how quickly the old TimelineX's are snatched off the market. Anyone who waited for the 3820TGs replacement may wish they hadn't.

Bronsky

 

Yeah folks. Thats kinda the idea i'm following. I've been following netbooks for over a year and what I want has never happened. This is the closest to what I've wanted plus more. I never could have got this gpu power in the most expensive netbook. Great price, great netbook the option to upgrade... All great qualities. With the latest memory express sale it's not that much more then the netbooks I've eyed. I can't wait to get my hands on the thing I'm excited.

 

Is there anyway to use the Intel Graphics while using an HDMI out? As of right now when I plug it in it switches to discrete HD5650. Is there anyway to do this?

 

No, you will not be able to. It's just the way Acer designed their drivers. It is a known problem since the TimelineX series came out.

 

Hey guys, I'm having some problems with my 3820tg-7360. The ati drivers are crashing, I noticed so black spots appearing before the freeze and the crash. I'm using the stock drivers. Is there anybody else experiencing the same problems. The graphics are very fluid before the crash so I'm no sure if that's hardware related.

 

I did a little bit more research and I think that my graphic card is having artifacting issues. I get a lot of random black spots while gaming... Is that hardware related or driver related?

 

are you overclocking? is the system used?

 

It's on stock clocks, I even just did a factory reset


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One thing I hate about OEMs is that they NEVER update the "official" OEM drivers. I found a couple of sources that work absolutely fine, so I'm sharing it with everyone Intel is easy, but some others need a little bit of searching.

Intel Chipset Driver v9.1.1.1025 - no update as of today

Realtek HD Audio R2.55 [TESTED]: Realtek - select the one for Vista and Windows 7 32/64bit. You might also want to install the ATI HDMI Audio Device driver highlighted in red in the same page.

Broadcom Bluetooth v6.3.0.6700 [TESTED]: Broadcom.com - Bluetooth Software Download - accept the license agreement and download. Bluetooth must be turned on during the installation.

Atheros Bluetooth v7.0.2.13 [NOT TESTED]: Drivers for Atheros AR3011 and Windows 7 - I have not tested this because I'm using Broadcom bluetooth, if someone could verify if this works it would be great

Alcor Micro Card Reader v1.0.15.54 [TESTED]: http://www.station-drivers.com/tele...eader_1.15.54-w7(www.station-drivers.com).exe

Atheros LAN v1.0.0.36 [TESTED]: ATHEROS Network drivers for Windows - look for your hardware (mine's AR8151) and select your version of Windows (likely Windows 7 x64)

Alps Touchpad Driver v7.6.2020.204 [NOT TESTED]: http://www.station-drivers.com/tele...ad_7.x6.2020.204(www.station-drivers.com).exe

Synaptics Touchpad Driver v15.1.18 [TESTED]: http://www.station-drivers.com/tele..._touchpad_151180(www.station-drivers.com).exe - select the one for your system. Note that this source sometimes posts drivers that are for in-house testing and generally screws up gestures. Look for release notes after downloading the file. If release notes are not present, it is an in-house driver and NOT recommended for your system.

ATi Display Drivers v10.12 [TESTED]: ATI Catalyst? Mobility Display Driver - Remember to set graphics mode in BIOS to "discrete" before installing. However, installing this driver is known to cause brightness keys to not function.

Intel WiMax Driver for 6250 v6.1.0 [NOT TESTED]: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19616&ProdId=3199&lang=eng - Not tested because I am not using Intel WiMax, hopefully someone can verify if it works.

Atheros WLAN v9.2.0.113 [TESTED]: ATHEROS Wireless drivers for Windows - look for your hardware (mine's AR5B93) and select your version of Windows.

Broadcom WLAN v5.100.249.2 [NOT TESTED]: http://www.station-drivers.com/tele...0.249.2-vista-7(www.station-drivers.com)).exe - This driver should be compatible with all Broadcom WLAN devices. Verification needed.

Intel WLAN driver v13.4.0.0 [NOT TESTED]: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=19516&ProdId=3200&lang=eng - Read the readme in the page. If it scares you then don't use this driver. Verification needed.

I cannot post drivers for the 3G modules as it seems that there are specific drivers for specific modules, so I'm playing it safe because I don't want to post the wrong drivers. Hope this helps. I will update this list as new drivers are released

 

@duy. sorry. I can't really help then.

@too456. do you have a quick link to properly backup your OS before a fresh install? It's here on the forum somewhere but I can't find it. I just ordered the laptop so can test what you've listed

 

interested to know too... possible to check your stock volts through everest or gpu-z? In gpuz u can look at the VDDC field under the 'sensors' tab....

 

I'm really interested in the outcomes of this also, since if a BIOS update can turn the 5650 into the 6550, then the updated TimelineX's will be nothing more than CPUs which run a little hotter (by being rebranded CPUs with + x1 multiplier), and there would be no point in waiting for that.

 

Use Acer's eRecovery Management tool. You can find it under 'Acer' in the start menu. It will save the factory default image to DVDs. If you want to save the current state of your computer, I would try something like Acronis True Image.

 

boohoohoo,
My new AUO screen seems deffective (left part of screen is white, right part black with colored line passing throught it ...)

I have no luck with this notebook

 

Hey guys,

I'm looking to buy a 3820tg but like most people can't find any in the UK. The only option i've read is to buy a german model from computeruniverse, reinstall the OS for english language and change the keyboard.

However yesterday I found these models here:

Ditaq Computer

I have no idea who ditaqcomputers are, they look like a german company, so im assuming these to will only ship german models...

Anyone have any feedback on ditaqcomputers? Or able to find english keyboard layouts going to the UK?

Thanks

 

I did a short research on the shop you mentioned... they seem to be Malaysian and have sales offices in several countries (USA, UK, GER). It doesn't look very trustworthy to me...

 

Is there any way to fix artifacting problems with the graphic card or I have to RMA the laptop??

These are what I get in the ATI Tool artifacting test



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You've mentioned that you already restored the stock OS and that the problem still exists. It seems to be no software issue... you have to RMA it

 

It's a dead GPU (or VRAM). There is nothing you can do in software/driver/BIOS level.

 

That simple? I thought there were more complex instructions here somewhere?! I think one guy used the key from the factory OS for a fresh install, I'd need to do the same thing. Is that possible though?

EDIT: I mean, how bad is the bloat ware that you can't uninstall it or use msconfig to block half of it???

 

You could buy 3820TG with i5-480m and ATi 6550 form Poland (if only they allowed you) from x-kom.pl

YOU CAN TRUST THEM.

Notebooki / Laptopy 13,3" - Sklep komputerowy - X-KOM.PL

Acer AS3820TG-482G50nks i5-480M/2048/500/7HP64 (HD6550) - Notebook / Laptop 13,3" - Sklep komputerowy - X-KOM.PL

edit

In Poland We have got US keyboard layout

And sorry for capital letter

 

sure some of these early 6550's aren't just the same as what we have but with the bios update?! someone else posted an Asian seller with the 6550

 

Hey everyone...anyone can help me with this one? I am sure someone has tried the update. I can't find anything about it in the thread, except someone running into problems with their RAM availability on 1.17.

Does anyone know if it is safe to install the latest BIOS, for my configuration?

 

Worked when I tested it. Not very nice to use it, as you need to open COM port named "HUAWEI Mobile Connect - Control Interface" and say "AT^WPDGP" to it. Then you can read info from that 3G GPS Interface COM port. Also when the signal is found it tells lines like: "^POSITION:27.26787d,61.68780d,8" to Control Interface.

Softwate which I used to see GPS status etc was Earth Bridge - Bridge the gap between Google Earth and your GPS receiver. unfortunately that seems quite old and seems like the development has ended.

I've found some mentions that newer Huawei software would have option to enable/disable GPS, but not our Acer 3G Connection Manager.

 

The eRecovery tool is basically the factory default image with all the crap attached to it. The key and everything is already in the image and you don't need to do anything, unless you want to use a retail copy of Windows 7, then you need to use ABR here to backup your key and certificate. If you use the factory image, the crapware can be easily removed using this, or manually removing the programs from add/remove programs.

EDIT: If you want to use a clean retail copy, back up the applications and drivers in eRecovery first, or download and save the latest stock Acer drivers in an external drive first before using my links.

 

Thanks too456!!!

rep+ for the info

 

Hmm just a question. I overclocked my gpu to 670/1040 and it runs without issue in ATITool's artifact scan. If I increase the clock speed to either 680/1040 or 670/1050, yellow stuff (very small) starts appearing in the artifact scan, but no error appears. Does this mean that the max stable overclock is 670/1040, or I can overclock some more up to the point that an error pops up?

 

Try lowering the mem clock to 1000, and bump up the core more.

 

Nope. Errors start showing up if I set to 680/1000

 

Then it seems 670/1040 is the max overclock for your ATi 5650. For common usage though, do 660/1030 or something like that, back off a bit from the limits.

 

Anyone tried this before? is it good?

Kai Anti-Glare Screen Protector 13.3" Acer TimelineX 3820TG
Anti-Glare Screen Protector 13.3" Acer TimelineX 3820TG - eBay (item 250620547050 end time Jan-18-11 03:35:13 PST)

 

Anyone know how to set the resolution on 3820TG to be 1280 x 1024 ? The max i can get now is only 1366x768. I need the 1280x1024 to run an electronic catalogue program.

Thanks.

 

You have to use an external monitor I think. You cannot set such a resolution unless you mess around with the registry and risk screwing your screen up.

 

just a small Q.. how long did you wait for errors to appear?

you using AMD Gpu Clock Tool to OC?

 

They appeared almost immediately... the first error came 10 secs after start, then the thing wouldn't stop beeping with errors. I used AMD GPU Clock tool to OC.

 

Can I do this with the current Win7 on my desktop and do a clean install without having to worry about it not being genuine?

I got my Win7 through msdnaa and need to do a clean reinstall. I know I can't re-install using the msdnaa key again because it won't active. Although if I use this certificate backup you speak of it should work right?

EDIT: I'm not trying to use multiple keys or install on multiple machines. I recently d/l'd some programs that weren't trust-worthy. My own stupid fault but I should have d/l'd and ran them in VMWare on a virtual machine so if there were problems I could delete the virtual machine. Just another cautionary step I do to avoid viruses/malware/spyware etc. I don't encourage piracy but I do encourage techniques which allow you to properly use software you have rights to (I believe if you have a legitimate version of Windows you should be able to use the key as many times as you wish as long as its on one machine no matter how many times you change HDD's or other hardware. I installed Windows on a machine before and the HDD went the next damn day. I was three weeks trying to get another key from school/microsoft)

 

I don't really understand your question so I will answer from two standpoints:

-Using ABR on your laptop and transferring the license to another desktop:

No. From what I understand, you need 3 things for OEM SLP activation: key, certificate and a SLP string in the BIOS. If your desktop is not an Acer branded computer, you cannot use this method because the SLP string and the certificate must match. There's a publicly available tool that has OEM certificates, keys, can add or modify SLP strings and activate Windows as if it were OEM activated, but that's piracy and I don't condone nor recommend it.

-Using ABR on your desktop and reinstalling Windows on the same computer:

Yes.

 

This is what i'm asking. I'm not familiar with ABR and was wondering if the technique could be used on a non-acer desktop to reinstall windows on the same machine.

 

Yes, I recently used ABR on my old dell to do a clean install and give to my sister. Works fine as long as you use the key on the same laptop/desktop you got the key from.

 

bump. Anyone?

 

You can go directly to 1:19.

Bronsky

 

erm guys... i was using my laptop halfway today... was loading Need For Speed World at native res when a few error windows pop-up and the laptop threw itself into BSOD.

it kept on restarting to hit a "driver_irql_not_less_or_equal" or "iastor.sys" BSOD screen... before rebooting itself...

running Restore/s didnt work.

so i did a Recover...

now it is stuck in "Setup is preparing your computer for first use" and is stuck in a reboot loop due to 'unexpected error'

so i guess... its dead?

 

recover really only works for recovering the registry, which isn't the problem your computer has. From the errors you described, there are just too many Windows 7 files corrupted on your computer. I would personally reinstall windows 7 from a usb drive after a clean reformat, which you can find instructions from the first page of this thread.

 

I ran the backup on my Win7 machine but it didn't write a .xrm-ms files (that I could see). It did write a quick key text file but the key doesn't look like a proper windows key... if you know what I mean?

I tried to run "backup...exe" in cmd but it went to fast for me to see what it was doing and I forget the attribute to get the window to stay open when the programs finished.

 

hmm so the new ati drivers screwed up my brightness and ability to connect to external displays without restarting..... how can i install the old ones again? (without windows recovery)

 

Well I'm using the latest ATI drivers from Acer's site (10.12) and it is working great