Aspire 5050 - Upgrade Wifi card - Bios no Post

I tried to upgrade my daughter's Aspire 5050 WiFi card

From: Atheros AR5006EG
To: Intel 3945ABG
Reason: The Atheros doesn't support WPA-AES encryption (only WPA-TKIP) and I need to use AES encription from my DIR-655 hub to atain 130mbps on my newer Dell laptop with wireless "n".


Problem: After installing the Intell 3945ABG into the Aspire, the computer will not start....BIOS will not post

A google search listed one hit about the BIOS being locked for the Wifi card on some Aspires.

Does any one know if a BIOS upgrade will allow me to install the Intel card?

Does any one know if I can upgrade to a wireless "n" card that will work in the Aspire 5050 without BIOS upgrade?

thanks

 

first i would remove the offending card...
then update the BIOS with the newest bios for your model

then if you still have issues try the card in a different laptop if possible

BTW an ATHEROS AR5008 (5Ghz) when paired w/ your DLINK 655 will smoke any other WIFI card available http://www.atheros.com/pt/bulletins/AR5008-3NXBulletin.pdf it does support AES
i hear all the time of HP being BIOS LOCKED to certian hardware... but this is the first mention i've seen of an ACER being BIOS LOCKED

i think you have a DEAD card that is keeping the pc from booting

EDIT::

get 2 AR5008-3NX cards to replace the current ones and then you can get UP TO 300mbps

 

bigozone,
The Intel 3945ABG that I'm trying to install in my daughter's laptop is working in my Dell Vostro 1500. This is why I'm suspecting the BIOS, because when I transfer it over to the Aspire 5050, as soon as I power on, the screen stays black.

However I'm hesitating to update the BIOS

Instead I like your idea of upgrading to the AR5008-3NX
Do you know if this card is compatible with the Aspire 5050? (without touching the BIOS)

Also, I found a neat website which scans your computer for BIOS information and recommends compatible BIOS upgrade revisions

http://www.wimsbios.com/manuf/acer.jsp

I did go to the ACER Europe site and found a few different versions of BIOS updates, but I wasn't sure which was the safest one to go with

thanks

 

man i had a LENGHTY POST i was composing and it disappeared!!!

WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT BIOS VERIONS?

there is a WINFLASH version of the BIOS FLASH but before doing anything... let me know what your CURRENT BIOS version is before you do anything

i have found a refrence to WIFI INFORMATION being updated in an older version of the BIOS... but NEWER BIOS FILES ALWAYS contain all previous fixes unless they had to be removed due to compatibility problems... so i need to know what BIOS you have to know if you have the updated WIFI INFO.

first we MUST know what BIOS VERSION you currently have installed

This link from wimsbios.com will run a program that reports your your current BIOS VERSION

that link in your last post is just trying to sell you a BIOS (you'll get an email soon from them if you haven't already)... while that may be what you need... but before i paid for a CUSTOM BIOS,,, i'd try to FLASH your acer with the MOST CURRENT BIOS FILE (that is for the ASPIRE 5050) READ all directions before flashing... make sure the POWER is plugged in and the battery is fully charged if you do try to flash your BIOS on your own

 

bigozone
Existing BIOS info:
PhoenixBios v1.3309

also Windows Vista Home Premium
IGb Ram
AMD Turion 64 Mk-38

 

the link above is for version 1.3315

so it is 6 revisions newer.. but the infofile for this model is kinda vauge on changes made

i'd update my BIOS using the winflash

but the you may feel more confortable w/ dos....

 

bigozone

I upgraded the BIOS to v1.3315 as you suggested
The upgrade went well - no issues

I haven't tried to re-install the Intel 3945ABG yet (to see if the BIOS would post), because I found a way to make my network work in a mixed environment

To recap (in case any one else has this problem)
SYSTEM
Router: DIR-655 "n" capable
Laptop #1: DELL Vostro 1500 - WIFI Intel 4965 ABGN, XP PRO SP3
Laptop #2: ACER Aspire 5050 - WIFI Atheros AR5006EG ABG, Vista Home Premium SP1

PROBLEM:
The ACER Atheros WIFI card will not work if set to WPS Personal - AES. I wanted to do this so that I could have my router output WPS-AES to my DELL (TKIP limited to 54mbps......AES can go to 130mbps....a limitation of router I think)

SOLUTION:
On my router, I found that I could set security to
Security mode: WPA Personal
Encryption: AES and TKIP <<<<<<<<<this was the solution

So now I'm running in mixed encryption mode
The ACER is set to TKIP and receiving at 54mbps
The DELL is set to AES and receiving at 130mbps

On my dell, I did a speed test in wired and wireless mode - for both tests I'm getting about 4.9 Meg (typical for Sympatico)

Eventually I'd like to get 300mbps on the DELL - however reading in this forum, there may be issues with this (see link)

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=168136

Thanks for the help

 

cool glad you found a solution to your issue,, and good to hear the BIOS flash went well!!

congrats

 

sorry to revive this thread, but I will be upgrading my laptop's CPU and RAM in the upcoming days. My BIOS version is v1.3109, and I'm wondering where you are getting the 1.3315 BIOS? I went on Acer's Canada site, and the download section doesn't work :/ . I found a link to v1.3109 off of some third-party site but I'd rather not go there. Anyways, which BIOS is the latest, and where should I download it from?

I have an Aspire 5050 with a TL50 and am looking to upgrade to a TL64. This is still running on mediacenter XP, but I received the vista upgrade CD from Acer in the mail, shortly after I bought the laptop.

 

everyone here gets files from

support.acer-euro.com

ACER keeps thier euro customers up to date since they charge them so much!!!

try there if you have no luck PM me and i'll try to find it for you

 

Cool, I found the Drivers there. However I'm having trouble downloading the software to run the BIOS update. I tried downloading they're image for a boot CD, but it turns out that was for acer servers?

Btw, will the latest BIOS allow me to use the TL64 CPU? its a 65nm proc as opposed to the 90nm TL50 that I have now.

 

ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/aspire_5050/bios/3315.ZIP

that is the direct link to the bios you asked about...

have you flashed already??

if not,, when you do (if using windows flash... CLOSE ALL PROGRAMS even the stuff in the taskbar or systray) do that before running the winflash software so as to prevent any conflicts that could occur

 

i have not yet. thankyou for the link. But you haven't answered my other question yet. Any idea if this socket will support other Turions? I mean, they're all S1; Its the cache and fabrication process that differs. I'm wondering if this notebooks mainboard will be compatible.

 

i have no clue about that AMD cpus are not my thing.... and i couldn't find anything in a quick google search

maybe later i can check that for you in detail

 

thanks man, I appreciate it. I tried googling it too, and to no avail. Everything seems like it'll work, but I don't want to take a chance. I'll wait for your response if you end up finding some specs

thanks again

 

it may work, but at this stage it seems acer only offers the TL60 as the best amd cpu. it may work ok with the new bios, but you won't know for certain without trying it or doing lots of searching to see if anyone else has...

this may be of some help http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=219107

 

Well I did a little more research and found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turion_64_X2

Apparantly there are a few versions with the same cpu model # with different cores? **** amd... In any case, Apparantly the fastest is the TL68 clocked @ 2.4ghz as opposed to my 1.6ghz. It also has twice as much cache (2x256 to 2x512), and a smaller fabrication process (usually signifying cooler temperatures, but at 800mhz faster clocks that may will most likely not be true). I'm still trying to google if people have tried the Tyler core (thats the 65nm SOI one), but if I can't find anything, I might just stick with the 90nm ones, there's a TL-64 there, but again; i'd rather the smaller fabrication chip.

 

Also thankyou for that link, it seems I should be able to upgrade to even the newer CPU's! . Just to be safe though, I'm going to wait a bit and see if anyone has actually tried this, or knows for sure that it can be done on the Aspire 5050.

I think I'm going to replace the fan and all the thermal paste on the massive heatsink on my board when I replace the CPU, anyone know what sort of fan to expect in there? I'd like to find a replacement that pushes a little more CFM at lower noise levels.

 

I know amd is different to intel, but i upgraded my original celeron 540 60nm cpu to a core 2 duo T8100 45nm cpu with no probs at all...so i can't see why amd would be much different...maybe only bios issues?

 

Yeah I would hope so too . In any case, I may only opt for the TL58. Luckily there's one on ebay for very cheap (@ $2.00 right now) and local, so I can pick it up. I'll let you guys know how it goes with a picture work log

 

cool,, i like pictures....

i know i'm currently working on an ASPIRE 4530 w/ a TL60... which is a nice little machine, but i can't believe that this is ACER's TOP of the line AMD CPU offering..

it's fast,,, but not that much faster than my T5450!!!

still waiting to test the GRAPHICS

 

nice! I wish I could upgrade my graphics... **** integrated crap . Yeah AMD procs blow to be honest, waiting on K10 architectures before I even touch AMD again. I'll be sure to inform you guys once i start the repair/upgrade