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

I prefer it as it is.

 

Maybe you have an ALPS too. Just look in your recovery DVD for driver.

 

Mine has an alps trackpad too. No complaints from my side.

 

Ati catalyst mobility display driver 10.8 says Switchable Graphics enabled notebooks using Intel chipsets are not supported. Has anyone tried it? What is the result?

 

Hey,

I have been noticing my laptop only gives me around 4 hours of battery life even on the power saving mode and with the screen dim down to min. I was wondering if I need to change any settings to allow it to squeeze out 8 hours of batter life like what it advertises.

 

turn off your bluetooth and wifi

 

Zsero has a great post in this thread on what needs to be done to max battery power. Might be a good one to "sticky" since it seems to be asked a lot.

Bronsky

 

Thanks Bronsky, that would be great.

 

Hi guys!

The ventilation fan on my 3820TG on the left side seems to extract more warmth, then the one on the right side. Is that the same for you guys?

 

just straight up freezes.

ran a memory test using the ms online crash analysis, says there were no errors in the RAM.

i first thought RAM since it froze while I was running an image processing program, ImageJ. But the last time it froze was while running an AV scan. AntiVir.

did an quick scandisk of the HDD also, no problem found there.

suggestions?

thanks for the help.

 

I know that low voltage can be a cause for freezes, but afaik you can't change that laptop's voltage, the only way would be by having a faulty motherboard.

Try memtest86+ and let it run overnight so it does some passes. Besides RAM and voltages I can't think of a reason for it to freeze out of the blue.

 

Hi!

Im getting a bit pissed. Why the does the computer suddenly make a "beep"/"pip" sound when I unplugg the AC adapter?

Anyone else got this? How did you get rid of it?


Best regards.

Solved the problem by reinstalling the sound drivers.

 

happens i think on a lot of them or most

informing you of the switch between dedicated and integrated graphics.

 

That is normal, the left fan is bigger - for cooling the CPU. The right fan is smaller for cooling the ATI HD5650 only, which generates less heat than CPU.

 

Hi again!

What wireless speeds do you guys reach when downloading? I got 100mbit and the card wont push thru and max the download. The speed goes up and down, I hate the broadcom card. On the 4820TG I can reach 9-10 and easily 6-7 in utorrent and now I comes up to 5.X and goeas down to 3 maybe.

 

Its working in mine.

bios set to switchable
Install Acer intel gfx drv
restart
install acer ati gfx drv
restart
restart again!
set bios to discrete
install ATI 1.08 drv
restart
restart again
set bios to switchable
enjoy

 

Hi again!

I found some overscan function on my Benq monitor, if it's was that that you were referring to? CCC? The black frame around the screen got smaller when I activated it, but it didn't vanished completely :-(

Got anymore tips?

Thanks so far!

 

CCC = Catalyst Control Center. There should be an overscan option somewhere, but if you are using 10.6 you shouldn't have it. Can you try it with a different monitor? For me both 1600x1200 and 1920x1080 was absolutely black bar free on any monitor.

 

Bronsky, you can't imagine, I actually started a wiki page for the 3820TG, but I realised it would need so much information that I got afraid of building it.

But the good thing is that everyone can contribute, so it might not be such a bad idea to start it, and over time it could get better and better. Everyone could just work on his own area, I could write a battery time part, someone could write wireless card swapping part, or keyboard modding (ok, it's almost a copy and paste...).

Look> (ok, there isn't too much to look, but at least the page is started and it has a logo
http://timelinex.wikia.com/

 

You don't need to do this: Install Acer intel gfx drv

Installing the Acer ATI driver automatically includes the Intel driver.

 

for You Power Options - for System Cooling Policy what do you guys have?

passive or active?

 

Yes! You were right, it's an ALPS. I saw the DeviceID and it says SYN0302 so I *assumed* it was a Synaptics.

Thanks for the help!

Regards,

 

I posted this in the wrong topic. Sorry bout that.

 

Ok, I'm using 10.8. I have looked for something like that in the CCC, but I haven't it. I don't have any other monitor to test with, but I will try to hook it up with my projector to see how it looks there.

 

Hey guys, another 3820TG owner here I've just finished reading the topic (whoa, 488 pages..) and wanted to say hi.
Mine is with i5-430M, HD 5650, 4 GB ram, 640 GB HDD and a 9-cell battery. The battery sticks a bit but I think I'll get used to it, since those 6-cell battery prices are insane..

Actually, it seems like I've found a sleeve that could fit the notebook with a 9-cell battery, I think it was not only me who was looking for this. Zeroshock IV seems to be a bit deeper than Zeroshock III (which a lot of people mentioned here before) with 4,5 cm vs. 4,0 cm. (1,8 inch vs. 1,6) in depth. I've bought one from ebay and I'm now waiting to be delivered. So, I'll let you know if it fits asap.

 

Singapore's current sets with the same specs above comes shipped with 750GB HDD..
So emo.

 

@Hendrciskon ... I5-540M is in and the preliminary results are very encouraging. I put my notebook back together temporarily just to see how it worked. I did the switch, paste and CPU last night. Finished up the switch today and am still having trouble routing the extra wires. But, that is really no problem.

Temps look good. The CPU now idles at the same temp as the GPU.

The 540M reaches x23 speeds easily, compared to the 450M which never went over x20. Without any changes to the clockgen used to OC the 450M, it OC'd to nearly 3.1ghz and ran up to 3.77 ghz. I had it running for awhile and then I got a blue screen. I think it needs another clockgen or it needs to be adjusted, it was getting very hot so I decided not to do it again. I think I need to check the thermal connection with the IC Diamond or let it cure a bit. But, the preliminary test is very encouraging.

Bronsky

Edit: I couldn't help it, I had to try it again . Same clockgen with about 85% of the SetFSB slide hit 3.1/3.77. But it is unstable at that speed. Eventually I got a blue sceen and memory dump while running WPrime. It feels like it wants to go faster. I would keep your OCZ RAM if you're going to get an OEM 540M. I think I'm running into RAM issues at 3.77ghz. I think the rest is tweaking. 3.8-3.9ghz speeds are do-able.

Dam ... must have not hooked up the power wire right ... not recognizing the charger. Oh well I needed to take it apart again for the wires anyway. Just nice to know everything else works so well.

 

Good to know for next time,

Thanks!

 

Did you manage to ID the clockgen chip in your 3820?

 

Hi Bronsky that great news. Hopefully with some more testing you'll be able to report back the maximum BCLK you can get on your I5 540m OEM..Might convince me to get an OEM version and try again!

I would say the blue screen is due to not being stable at that overclock. Try a lower setting and do some more tests.

 

I think so. In the middle of the motherboard is the only thing I can see that could be a clockgen. It is a QFP shape made by Novoton with these numbers on the face: #NPCE781BA0DX followed by # 2001B059-AA2-003ABFA. Haven't tried to check these out. I have to find my power problem and fix the wires routed from the new switch.

BTW Hendrickson, I had both the black and white switches in and I like the white better.

Bronsky

 

True ... but both times, it was a memory dump error. I think the RAM is being outperformed. I have plenty of time to diagnose and tweak. I am very pleased so far. Looks like I finally have that mobile work station power I've been looking for.

So far, this CPU actually seems to OC better than the 450M. I guess I'll have an I5-450M for sale soon.

Bronsky

 

Must be the memory failing the over clock. Maybe you might have to try some 1333Mhz rated ram for 3.9+ Ghz

 

The Novoton is a µC and called in the ACPI papers as Embedded Controller.

 

I have a tip for repasting..

I noticed that if I leave the cap on my tube of MX3 and pull back the plunger there are bubbles that form. This means that there are microscopic air bubbles in the paste. Air is an insulator. This is not good.

So...

I pulled back and held the plunger of the syringe while subjecting it to vibration from an electric hair trimmer for about a minute. This resulted in about 2mm of air in the top of the tube afterwards. This is air that would have otherwise been microscopic air pockets in my thermal paste.


Extended exposure to vibration may cause the oil to seperate from the paste, so don't go overboard...

 

That's great news Bronsky!! Looks like the i5 540m OEM is the way to go.
Any idea of the difference in battery drainage after the switch ?
They are both rated 35W Compare Intel® Products,
But since yours is O/Ced up the official numbers might be irrelevant.

 

I beleive I have found it in Kindan's flickr...

All available sizes | Close up of GPU and chipset | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Its due west of the GPU, past the VRAM in that pic.

Part number/markings ICS VS3197BL 1014 MAL 0931826

Can't find it on the IDT website...

 

Okay ... notebook is back together. Had a problem that I could not figure out. My 3820TG would not recognize the power adapter when I had the unit reassembled but it was fine when it was apart. I probably took it apart 3 or 4 times to figure it out. A screw had nicked the power cable and when I would screw it in, it would short out the power. It drove me crazy.

The factory paste was terrible on my unit. There was a lot of paste applied, but only a small portion had real contact. I'm more comfortable with the new paste.

Ran SetFSB and the memory dump at above 3.0 base speed and 3.7 turbo is consistent. It is just too fast for my notebook. I seem to be able to run at 2.9-3.0 without having the memory dump problem. Turbo speeds to 3.6 ghz seem okay. Have no idea how stable it will be for real work, but even at 3.5 it is as fast as the stock I7-640M. If I can tweak it above that and run at 3.6 or better, I will be running faster than the 640M. In all I'm very impressed. When I get the time, I'll run a stepped OC running a CPU benchmark to get a better read on stability. Hendrickson, did you use Typhoon to increase the timing on your ram before you replaced it?

Don't know yet about power drain from the CPU. Have no idea how much power I'm saving with the switch cause I still leave backlighting on all the time. I like the backlighting too much to turn it off.
In hindsight, I don't know if I would go through all the effort to add the switch again.

One thing that is immediately noticable is how much heat the left vent pushes. It is hot! But the temps do not show in the core, so the cooling system is doing its job. This CPU is very powerful and extremely impressive.

In all, glad it's done. I think I'm done taking this 3820TG apart for now. Now that I have it exactly like I want it, watch me drop it tomorrow or some moron swipe it.

Bronsky

 

Hi! I have Zeroshock3 for my 3821tg with 9cell battery. It fit's and i hope it's ok and it protects well

 

Glad to hear this. I read it fits but the sleeve seemed a bit stretched.
Anyway, I'm waiting for my Zeroshock IV. I'll post info when I receive it.

 

Hey, is the 9-cell battery worth the cost?
For what it's worth, where could I even order one?

 

So i was running on battery today, with low brightness...................

and my screen well, wasn't dimming or flickering with colour changes.. and i thought wow, it fixed itself..


THEN i noticed that the laptop was running on battery with the ATI card..

so then i switched to the intel graphics solutions, and restarted the pc, and the dimming and flickering appeared again.

then i switched again to ati solution, restarted and no flickering.

maybe it is just me, but i never really tested this.

COULD it be the the intel drivers are not handling the refresh rate properly or something? i wonder

 

Okay Wow - i really think the issue is with the intel graphics!

Boy Genius Report where i had post in earlier post the issue i experienced when scrolling you could see some dimming and brightness shiftning!!

i just did four test with no reboots! and with the intel graphics i could see the dimming and brightness shift

with ATI nothing!

 

Correct me if im wrong (i've seen a lot of mention of this on this thread), but You do know this is a power saving option?

Under the intel panel under power, the 2nd option, you can slide it over to quality or maximum performance (i'm not sure on the exact wording), or disable it all together. I find it can be too aggressive if set to low or you have no background and flick between bright pages and then nothing.

I think i also saw this attribute under the power panel?

It seems to work by checking how much "bright" content is on the screen and dims the screen when there is no bright content because there is no preception of bright backlight when the screen is mostly black content.

Its a power saving function and it saves a lot of power.

 

This has to do with the power saving settings on the intel driver. I don't know what the setting is called in english but I've included a pic from my swedish windows. Uncheck the box and the problem will probably be solved. It was for me at least.

 

Yes this is it. Intel don't make mistakes it's a function.

 

Yeah. It's not a bug, it's a feature!

 

The fabric is pretty soft so it's following the contour of the big 9-cell. You don't even have to use force to close the zip! I guess it's not as well protected as it should be, but I feel pretty comfortable carrying it around in a normal messenger bag. I took a couple of pictures of how it looks when it's stuffed in the sleeve.

 

I've got the Zeroshock IV and its lovely. Smooth finish and holds the Acer perfectly in place. Nice firm gel molds and unmolds after time.

I'm even hoping to fit a laptop cooler on it so i can use it all on my lap which i currently do.

 

Never heard of Typhoon, I used CPU Tweaker Tweakers.fr

My results were varied, but some tweaks allowed me to get higher BCLCK rates.