Aspire 5520 Sound Problems

Hi,

Im have very irriating issues with my Acer.

I have upgraded to Windows 7 x64 (a fair while ago) and rencently it has started to come up with "No sound device installed" over the speaker icon in the sys tray.

This happens about 50% of the time when the computer has started up.
It never has any issues once the sound is working.

When the sound is not working "Sound, Video and Game Controllers" in Device manager is missing and i cant find the "Reltek HD Audio" device any where else in device manager.

It's just had a freash install of the OS and is still not working reliably.

It's got the latest Win 7 x64 drivers from RelTek

Any ideas?

Cheers

Dave

 

I'm messing around with a 5536 on which I have installed Win7 64-bit from a Microsoft image. I installed the Realtek driver from the Acer site, and this cured a lot of problems with the Realtek generic driver. For example it gave me Stereo Mix as a source, which wasn't showing on the original MS installation.

I'm sure this is no help, but you never know.

I'm now trying to investigate XPMode with old audio programs. Playback is OK so far, but recording seems only just possible and I've had unrecoverable crashes, except by ctrl-alt-del on the host system.

 

Nope, ive got the latest drive from the Realtek website, and installed it.

no joy...

 

I was actually suggesting that you get the Realtek driver from the Acer site, rather than the Realtek site. I've had problems in the past with older Acers where the unbodged by Acer drivers didn't work quite right.

It is a long shot, though.

 

Hi,

Sorry i miss read your post, i had a look on the Acer website and for the 5520 running on windows 7 ultimate 64 it doesnt list an acer specific drive for the RealTek HD Audio.

Cheers

Dave

 

This could be useful, Acer Support - Download Drivers
EDIT:
Ignore this post, it's for Vista HP 32bit. Sorry.

 

Bump please

 

Well, I know I have been little help so far, and I am surprised that there is no Acer specific driver for that machine. I couldn't see any chipset drivers either, and that is usually the other suggestion.

FWIW, HD Audio consists of two halves. The Realtek half and the half that is part of the motherboard chipset. The two halves communicate by a serial data link. I believe that if the entry disappears from device manager, it's more likely to be the chipset part that has misbehaved, but what to do about this is anybody's (or someone more clued up than me's) guess.

 

Hi,

Thanks for the info, NVIDIA do the chip set drivers AFAIK, i'll try reinstall them tonight..

Is there any deffinative way to know if the problem is hardware or software?

Cheers

Dave

 

Hello, Donk '82.

I had an Aspire 5520G. On 26.04.2010 died. He was doing the audio thing before and that was so annoying that i wished it to die. Finally he managed to do so.

There is no driver on acer website because it is already contained in Windows Installation CD . Anyway, i think not the driver to be the real problem, but some faulty hardware.

In my case:
1. The problem appeared on both win vista sp2 32bit and win 7 32bit (dual boot).

2. It was not a single problem: also USB malfunctioning from time to time. And sometime loop reboot (but i was still able to access BIOS) until I was putting an USB 3G modem in it (happend only when i didn't had wireless internet connection).

3. In Romania there is a forum with a topic about AS5520G having reboot in loop problems (with no possibility to access BIOS or to shut down without taking off the battery), it seems it is the gravestone for this model. There are more than 15 RIPs in there.

In my humble opinion, the laptop overheats because it has poor cooling system. The CPU and VGA do not suffer, because they are built to manage high temperature, but the motherboard takes all the heat hits.
One time i managed to see a 110 C degrees on MCP (passively cooled by the same aluminium piece that conducts the heat from the CPU to the cooler).

If you reached the part with the missing sound, i think that your motherboard has already some ireverrsible heat damage. It won't get better. I would advise you to try the following trick to see if this is the problem: let your laptop in cold air for 15 minutes, then try start windows. Whenever i did so, i had sound on my OS.

If becomes true for you to, try selling it cheap and add money for a new one, usually not a Acer (for example I shifted to Toshiba Qosmio X300).
Good luck! and PM me if you need to know more about my experience with this garbage...

PS: i would not advise anyone to buy an acer laptop. It has cheap components and it is built cheap. I was disgusted to see how easy i could break the case parts in to fit the garbage bin.

If anyone needs spare parts, contact me.

 

Hi,

I tried reinstalling NVidia Drivers, that didnt help...

um02122,

It is always more likely to work in the morning after it has been switched off all night, it doesnt work 90% of the time when restarted (after update etc).

Unfortunatly i think you might be on to some thing.. Is there any low level diag tools out there that would anaylise my hardware and tell me if it is banjaxed or not?

Cheers

Dave

 

I found very useful Everest Ultimate Edition, unfortunately it tells you just what he finds, so not an word about the sound board. At most, you can compare a before with an after system report and see what has modified. Also useful for telling you sensors reported temperatures.

Other tools that are more accurate on their little piece are: Cpu-Z and Gpu-Z (free).

The only thing I found out of order in my AS5520G was a burnt smell on the back of the motherboard coresponding to the MCP. But nothing visual.

Try the suggested test even after intense use and tell me the result. If positive, reserve money for a new one.

 

um02122,

I did some tests, the sound had been working all day since my wife started this heap up this morning, i got home restarted it - No sound.
Turned it off and left it out side for 1/2 hour (around 8 deg C) and bingo worked first time.

Looks like my motherboard is on the way out then....

Cheers

Dave

 

Hi,

Just downloaded everest ultimate, my MCP is running at 75 Deg C with not much load upon it, i think i might remove the cooling system and see if the heat sink paste has hardened or is non existant.

Must be some thing i can do to cool the little bugger down?

Cheers

Dave

 

To be honest, your temperature on MCP was a low one after my laptop standards. Usually I had that temperature only after dust cleaning and paste replacement. Otherwise stood at 95-105 C.

So try dust cleaning and paste replacement.

 

Hi,

After doing an Everest stress test, the MCP and processor were getting pretty hot, 90+ deg C.

I decided to take the cooling system apart:

Removed back cover
Removed fan assembly
Removed heat pipe

I noticed that the heat sink compound on the processor was set hard like concrete and there wasnt much on the processor, - in some places none.

I noticed that the silly little sticky pad on the MCP wasnt in very good shape.

I notice that probably due to manufacturing tolerance the heat pipe at the MCP end wasnt really compressing the little sticky pad and thus giving good heat transfer to the cooling system.

The fan was clear of dust, the heat exchanger was clear of dust, but, in between the two was full of sh1t.

I decided to do the following to fix it:

Clean fan, heat exchanger and any other dust.

Clean the processor and MCP die with isopropyl alcohol

Measure the gap between the MCP die and heat pipe pad - Manufacture a copper pad to brige the gap.

Bend the copper pipe very slightly to add a bit of compression to the MCP die.

Apply all new heat sink compound.

I ran the Everest stress test again and the MCP didnt go above 52 Deg C.

The computer run like new and i havent had any problems with it yet (touch wood)

Thanks for all your help.

Cheers

Dave