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

bronsky,

i am having the same issue and wonder what drivers you would recommend i acquire to bring temps down as per your message that "When I first got my 3820TG, I noticed heat below the left side of the palmrest. After I got all of the right drivers loaded and ran on switchable graphics, my palm rest has been cool to the touch, even under demanding conditions and when my fans are pumping out a lot of heat. I wrote the intiial heat off to something overworking because the system was not running optimally. That's why I asked. I would guess that a system with such powerful components has to be kept finely tuned."

thanks, Slip

 

You can kill all task for the intel graphic card if you are not using the hotkeys for the intel graphic card.

 

Hey

can anybody tell me where to dl a windows7-usb-dvd-tool.exe tool. The one on the form could not be downloaded anymore.

 

Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com

 

That happened when I first started my computer. I had the Video drivers that were loaded on the computer when I got it. Before I did a clean install, I backed-up my drivers with eRecovery. After the clean install, all of the original drivers were reloaded. That was when I could feel heat under the left side of the palmrest.

I loaded the current ATI drivers (10.6 I think) and the heat went away. I have not felt it since.

Bronsky

 

It should only be there when you are running on the IGPU. It is the control panel for the intel graphics chipset.

Bronsky

 

Fixed ... thanks for the heads up.

 

has anyone actually found a solution to the flickering lcd problem? or is it a hardware issue?

 

You mean on the IGP (intel) Its to do with the power saving options i think. I don't have any flicker issues on mine.

 

I too experience some flickering on my 3820TG, but only on IGP, and only on the second dimmest light settings.

Cant seem to reproduse the effekt on the ATI.
Doesent bother me much though, since i can choose the darkest setting, or the one above the flickery one.

 

Go to the Intel control panel and turn off "Intel Display Power Saving Technology".

 

Ah. Thank u!
Will try that one out =) Rep point served buddy!

 

As I suspected after getting the wrong board, Shark Technology Ltd does not have the Acer board. This one is going back for a refund. There are no refurbished motherboards available for this unit ATM and the new ones for the Madison CPU's cost $500.

I'm staying with this motherboard. Once my speaker gets here, I'll try to fix that, install the I5-540M, the IC Diamond and the keyboard switch. This unit is at least somewhat OC'able. It would be even better if I could figure out a way to adjust the ram setting on the definition I am currenly using. I'm going to write to the program's creator and see if he can help. I guess I'll have an I5-450M CPU for sale soon.

Bronsky

 

What hot keys are you referring to?

 

Looks like someone is working on a backlit keyboard that does not need a separate power ribbon. http://forum.notebookreview.com/6665427-post149.html I assume the manufacturer has figured out a way to take power from the main ribbon. If they get it working, it would eliminate the need to solder the power leads and would not necessarily void the warranty. If you need to send your 3820TG in for service, you could just swap the original KB back in. It is not cheap at $100 but I love the backlit KB and it would be nice to keep the warranty intact.

Bronsky

 

Oh, I'm sending in my dear buddy to the service depot. The display issue became more and more frequent... They said 10 days, what is a really long long time...

 

Wow 100 USD for that keyboard...Waaaay overpriced. I guess if it took power from the ribbon somehow would it have an on and off function?

 

Hey guys, I just got my 3820tg so far it's running stock with all the original software. I havent had a chance to back up or do a clean install since I don't have an exteranl DVD drive yet. I've been experiencing these garbled screens every so often. I haven't experienced one today yet, but I'm worried that it maybe a hardware issue.

I'm now doing all my windows updates to see if that will help and hope not to see it again.

Also, I can't seem to wake the computer up after it goes to sleep. I hear the computer coming back on but nothing shows up on the display. Anyone experienced this issue when their laptop was stock? Maybe the unit I received is defective? Your thoughts?

 

If they took power off the main ribbon, I doubt that they would have an on/off switch. Yea ... I agree about the price but not everyone is comfortable soldering the power wires. I could see them selling a lot of these.

Bronsky

 

hi, when i did my install i had the same issue then i went back to ati drivers from Acer's site and it worked ok.

if you read at ATI's driver download site it will tell you that the 10.7 or .8 will not work with intel switchable grfx.

i have the stapels unit only change is a 120 gb ocz Agillity 2 ssd
i want to thank all of you for the information you are posting

 

I haven't installed any drivers or updates. It was doing this when everything was stock.

 

opps i think i mixed your post with another, sorry about that but my comment still true about the ati's drivers

here is what they say on the download page
c/p

The following notebooks are not supported in this release:

Any notebook launched after this driver release.
Switchable Graphics enabled notebooks using Intel chipsets.
Toshiba notebooks (please check with your notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)
Sony VAIO notebooks (please check with your notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)
Panasonic notebooks (please check with your notebook OEM for driver support for these notebooks)

 

So you think it's a drivers issue even though I haven't installed any new or additional drivers?

The laptop is completely stock, Windows is still in Chinese stock.

 

hmm thanks! I never thought it that way, last time I started on a new laptop was about 3 years back

 

Im refering these hotkeys.

 

@ Kamzu and adelos:

Sorry I haven't read your previous posts describing your problems so I'll just ask this first, did your problem still exist after following the graphics driver installation guide on the 1st page of this thread?

As I am not experiencing any problems with what you described, nor is my screen garbled or is my laptop not waking up. Perhaps you can check your power option settings in control panel?

if everything is normal, then I do think yours is a faulty set, go and exchange it.
(but attempt to follow the gfx driver installation guide first on the 1st page if you havent done so)

 

not at all, i'm only saying that the new ati drivers are not 100% working for switchable grafx.

your sleep issue is strange but i also had that once after i did wake it up disconnected from my ext Monitors.

after trimming the Vga connector i was able to connect 1 hdmi and 1 vga ext monitors and i put it to sleep connected and after i disconnected it i press the space bar and i got what you got + both fans on both sides were going full speed.
keep in mind that only happened once with stock drivers but i can reproduce it every time with 10.7 installed and without ext monitors.

not sure that will help you but it's what i know.

 

hmm..adelos, when your monitors are plugged in, are you running on the 5650? I think so?

I will attempt to re-produce this problem.

@Kamzu
do your sleep problem occur when your external monitors are connected or when they are not? or both?

 

ok tested with my 24" dell monitor connected via hdmi. Went into sleep mode and I'm able to wake my laptop up without any problems; the moment I hit any button, the windows login screen appears on my monitor, not on my laptop screen. I'm using Catalyst 10.7, heres a screenshot via GPU-Z:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

yes to connect the 2 monitors i have to be on ATI, the sleep issue happend only once on stock drivers and i can not reproduce it since then.
i also think that i played around with ati power play and other things after the first time which can explain why i can't reproduce it on stock drivers.
but on 10.7 it was every time and as i mentioned without any extra monitors.

i have the 5470 and running fresh 7 ultimate 64

 

Early reviews of the TimelineXs mentioned display issues with factory drivers that went away with the proper driver updates.

 

I think I'm starting to figure out this Overclocking thing on my machine.



When it became apparent that I would not be able to get a reasonably priced motherboard replacement, I decided to go back and see if I can solve the OC'ing problems I was having with my 3820TG. After a lot of fiddling with different clockgens and settings, so far I have been able to successfully set FSB to 2951.0mhz which resulted in an actual speed of 3.28ghz as recorded on CPU-Z. Temps were rock solid at 91C running WPrime 1024 for over an hour of stepped OC'ing. The best part is that I still had more room. The OC was incredibly stable. The temperature stayed constant at 91C without the slightest hint of throttling. What an amazing design.

BTW, I was using a different clockgen than before. I had switched to SLG505YC56DT. I'm also starting to get the hang of using the two slides. You have to alternate them and move them incrementally. I should thank Shark Technologies for sending me the wrong motherboard.

Bronsky

EDIT: At maximum settings for this clockgen, my 450M clocks at just under 3.3ghz and is very stable. I'll run some longer tests when I have the time. At least I know that the I5-540M I'm putting in here should OC at least as well. The 450M gained .7 GHZ or 27%. If the 540M clocks as well as the 450M with this clockgen at max settings, the 540M should attain speeds of 3.8-3.9ghz. I guess we'll get to see what an OEM CPU can do. BTW, the 450M at 3.3ghz is lightning fast.

Edit 2: I have not had a single problem at 3.3ghz running all of my work software. This is great.

 

anyone kno if its available in usa?

 

The 3820TG is not. The 4820TG is ... Newegg has them for sale now. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._-na&AID=10446076&PID=3640576&SID=skim525X832 $829 for an I5-450M/HD5650. You can buy extended warranties too.

Bronsky

 

for those of you who have updated their synaptics to ver. 15.0.24, did you uninstall the original synaptics then installed the new one or did you just install the new one over the old one?

 

I've read instructions in this thread and i've already tried freeware version to overclock cpu. This is what i get, i guess something is wrong. What should i do then? Thanks in advance.

 

I don't have any monitors connected to the laptop, only the power supply. I dunno, I haven't had it happen again since I did some windows updates. Hopefully it was a driver issue? I would hate to have to ship it back to pchome =(

 

actually the flickering is happening on max brightness, laptop plugged in, high performance gpu. and it has nothing to do with the adaptive brightness sensor since i disabled it. it just flickers from time to time. like dims then brightens. any ideas? I am using the model with 5470 graphics btw

 

This is actually a 4820T with integrated GMA HD only, not a 4820TG.

You probably mean to refer to this one.

 

I'm hoping the massive price increase is just to deter people from purchasing it right now (since they mentioned it wasn't ready yet).

Hopefully.

 

Sorry to hear you wasted all that time with Shark Tech for naught. They should learn from this customer experience.

 

Funny, it motivated me to spend more time figuring out the OC'ing on my unit. As some people say ... things happen for a reason.

Bronsky

 

Doubtful. They probably raised the price due to the demand for it.

 

LOL I thought that was the URL I was copying ... wonder what happened?

 

Yes, I later read your recent post about how it inspired you to resume tinkering with SetFSB.

People also say "That's making lemonade out of lemons"!

 

I've been busy playing with my new toy (Panasonic TM700 HD camcorder with 1080p 60 fps. I'll post my writeup on my latest experiences with RAM and my 3820TG shortly.

 

Thanks a lot thundernet!!

 

Diagnosis, 29, 97, 39. Read a bit more, you will find it.

 

NVM ... he got banned.

 

Has anyone tried to update their intel drivers? I skipped the Intel HD video drivers after installing the ATI-VGA, and then the Catalysts. Right now the Intel drivers under Device manager are listed as "8.713.3.3000" made by "ATI Technologies Inc".

The newest version is "15.​17.​9.​64.​2182" off the Intel website. When I try updating with them, it says the laptop is "not validated" for the driver install