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    Aspire 8920 Owners Lounge

    Discussion in 'Acer' started by Prof Jacko, Jun 14, 2008.

  1. Prof Jacko

    Prof Jacko Notebook Enthusiast

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    BIOS update 1.06 is now available on the acer support site, anyone tried it yet?
     
  2. alobbr

    alobbr Notebook Enthusiast

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    i have not. have you tried downgrading to xp sp3? did it work out smooth no driver issue?
     
  3. alobbr

    alobbr Notebook Enthusiast

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    i decided to just reformat with a clean vista sp1. no more unnecesary apps. does anyone know which driver for the cinedash media controler?
     
  4. Prof Jacko

    Prof Jacko Notebook Enthusiast

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    I don't think there is a driver, I think the BIOS handles it, if not try the launch manager driver.

    I installed Vista Ultimate 64 bit, only driver not available is the one for the modem.
     
  5. mookill

    mookill Notebook Geek

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    let us know how you go with that - i am planning on doing a fresh install aswell.
     
  6. Whiskey Jak

    Whiskey Jak Notebook Enthusiast

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    Personally, I didn't do a whole reinstall thing, simply took the time to remove what I didn't want, remove unnecessary software from the start up list, downloaded a few freewares like Avast! and Advanced WindowsCare V2 Personal and updated the rest and it works absolutely fine. Boots up really quick, performs well at all times. I really love this computer.

    And I never used Vista before and at least for the moment I'm having absolutely no problem with it once I tweaked a few features and options.
     
  7. alobbr

    alobbr Notebook Enthusiast

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    yes your right about the launch manager. although in my device manager there is still 1 unknown device. must be the camera. ive only installed one of it. should i install the other one? what is the diff with 64?
     
  8. hoggie

    hoggie old boy

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    who's serving the tea in this lounge ? :D
     
  9. Whiskey Jak

    Whiskey Jak Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hi guys, I've run some test on System Requirements Lab "Can You Run It" for the curious gamers out there who are wondering if the 8920 can handle their game of choice. I'm using picoodle.com to host the images for the first time so I don't know if they keep it for long and if the service is reliable or not. If there's a problem, I'll change the hosting site and edit the post.

    AOC
    [img=http://img37.picoodle.com/img/img37/4/6/17/t_CanYouRUNItm_c1833ae.png]

    Crysis
    [img=http://img28.picoodle.com/img/img28/4/6/17/t_CanYouRUNItm_731a8d9.png]

    Mass Effect
    [img=http://img29.picoodle.com/img/img29/4/6/17/t_CanYouRUNItm_e75141b.png]

    WOW BC
    [img=http://img29.picoodle.com/img/img29/4/6/17/t_CanYouRUNItm_743c1a2.png]

    COD 4
    [img=http://img37.picoodle.com/img/img37/4/6/17/f_CanYouRUNItm_7d33a5e.png]

    TF2
    [img=http://img34.picoodle.com/img/img34/4/6/17/f_CanYouRUNItm_fb03980.png]

    Company of Heroes OF
    [img=http://img32.picoodle.com/img/img32/4/6/17/f_CanYouRUNItm_0c0640d.png]

    Unreal III
    [img=http://img33.picoodle.com/img/img33/4/6/17/f_CanYouRUNItm_0d57db8.png]

    Also, as soon as I can get some slack, I'll go around and finally write my own review of the 8920, which will probably be quite positive since I'm thoroughly enjoying this laptop.
     
  10. MacAndrew

    MacAndrew Newbie

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    Please help! Anybody knows where I can find a US/UK keyboard for this laptop to replace the French one it came with? I sent an email to Acer support and after one week still no reply.
    Any info will be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
     
  11. wywern209

    wywern209 NBR Dark Knight

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    guess my suspicions were correct. some guy who wrote a review on bestbuy.com said he could play crysis on full HD. LIAR! i think he doesn't even have the laptop!
     
  12. wywern209

    wywern209 NBR Dark Knight

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    whiskey jack. those pics are good but have u actually tried out the games on it? if u do have those games can u post some results?
     
  13. wywern209

    wywern209 NBR Dark Knight

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    u can probably get it if u call acer CS. didn't u order an english one?! or did it come with the wrong one?
     
  14. Whiskey Jak

    Whiskey Jak Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey Wyvern209, I'm not especially a PC gamer, I might get one or two of them before year's end but probably not any shooters. You might try to hit theacerguy.com I think some guys over there actually tried some of these games.
     
  15. Daxcallagher

    Daxcallagher Newbie

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    hello fellow 8920 owners, i have a question for you.

    I have my second Acer Aspire Gemstone Blue 8920G in as many weeks. I sent the first one back after taking it out of the box to discover it emitting an annoying high pitch sound.
    after phoning the Acer Tech Support they informed me there was a problem with the Screen Globe and to send it back.
    Acer quickly replaced it with a new one but the replacement is nearly as bad as the first notebook.
    I now have a new replacement emitting the same sound. when you turn the screen off it goes away and when you vary the brightness of the screen the pitch of annoying tone varies along with it.

    has anyone else out there had similar experiences with their acer gemstones????
    im thinking about sending this one back and just getting my money back and going with a whole different manufacture.
     
  16. mookill

    mookill Notebook Geek

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    no such noise or sounds coming from mine.

    send it back tell them they have not fixed the problem - be firm but polite.

    let us know how u go
     
  17. Whiskey Jak

    Whiskey Jak Notebook Enthusiast

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    No such problem on my end. Sorry pal!
     
  18. Whiskey Jak

    Whiskey Jak Notebook Enthusiast

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    I've posted this in the 8920 review, but I'll also try my luck here since it was here that I wanted to post this in the first place.

    Has anyone found a good laptop case in which the 8920 fits? I don't plan on moving it that often, but when the occasion arise, I'd like to have a bag so I can transport it safely, whether I take my car or the bus/subway.

    Any luck?
     
  19. Prof Jacko

    Prof Jacko Notebook Enthusiast

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  20. ppanedas

    ppanedas Newbie

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    Help me please.
    I returned my first 8920 with a big problem in the screen, now with the new one I made a clean Vista Ultimate 64x, SP1 and original drivers instaltion, also a clean XP SP3 one (some problemes with the video drivers but I fixed with the beta 175.63 drivers), the big problem is that in both SO my machine freezes for up to 1 minute, then get back ok and all app continue running, and from time to time a get a blue screen in vista...
    Someone with the same problem?
     
  21. Fisken

    Fisken Newbie

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    Hello guys! Does any of you know the PLL For this computer? I dont really want to tear it apart for it hehe :D
     
  22. CQSTELUSH

    CQSTELUSH Notebook Consultant

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    ...and the one for 6920 also. :D
     
  23. Whiskey Jak

    Whiskey Jak Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey guys, I know that I asked before but I was wondering if more people got lucky in the interval and found a good travel bag for this baby? I haven't found anything worthy of my hard earned cash yet up here in Canada...
     
  24. surfguy17

    surfguy17 Notebook Geek

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    im looking for the same thing as well.


    also i was just wondering. can u put another hard drive in this laptop?
     
  25. aleicgrant

    aleicgrant Notebook Evangelist

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    there are two bays available. I oughta know, I just put in two 500gb Samsung drives for 1tb of space !!!!!!!! mooo ha ha
     
  26. surfguy17

    surfguy17 Notebook Geek

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    how much did one of the drives cost u?
     
  27. aleicgrant

    aleicgrant Notebook Evangelist

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    I found them for $200 each on ebay.

    they are expensive and quite frankly the 320gb drives can be had for about $90 but its the price you pay for having the latest I guess.

    They will drop in price eventually
     
  28. kelvin1950

    kelvin1950 Newbie

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    It will fit into this case comfortably: TCC008EU Targus XXL Notebook Case
     
  29. Occas

    Occas Newbie

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    Hey all. Had my .309 now for about 5 weeks now and for the most part am enjoying it. As a long time XP user I'm surprised how much I've actually enjoyed using Vista. Perhaps SP1 has ironed out a lot of the complaints? Rarely had any crashes and they were software, not OS. About the only OS issue I get is that fairly frequently rundll32 (I think) crashes when opening some programs but I just close it and it never actually affects anything that I can tell..

    The main reason I'm posting here is to see if anyone knows anything about the new CUDA and Physix support Nvidia have enabled in their cards with the new driver 177.83.

    http://www.nvidia.com/object/geforce_9500M_gs.html

    This page clearly shows that my/our card is supported. I tried the download available off their homepage but it seems to not support mobile chips. Further investigation of their driver section says that the individual notebook manufacturers are responsible for releasing their own flavour of the updated drivers.

    What do you think our chances are that Acer will release a new version for us to include CUDA and Physix? I've sent their support centre a message asking the same question, so if and when I get a reply I can fill you all in if you like. The main reason I got this laptop was that it was much better for gaming than others I looked at, so if Acer don't pull their finger out and help us gamers out I'll be pretty pissed off, hey!
     
  30. Sirius389

    Sirius389 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I ordered my 8920-6837 from Amazon.com this afternoon, it will ship in 2-3 weeks, maybe sooner. I'm really excited about it. I went to Micro Center to get it today but they didnt have any due to the shipment issue with having the wrong model in the box. Then they tried to push off a more expensive HP laptop off on me which didnt come close to the Aspire. So, until i receive it i guess i am a future owner?
     
  31. leoneill

    leoneill Newbie

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    Few queries about this laptop:
    1. If I have created all my backup discs, do I need those other 2 partitions on the harddrive? I assume they're for recovery purposes?

    2. Can you assign the CineDash Media Console to any other programs? I don't like acer arcade at all! If so... how? Keypresses dont register when trying to assign.

    3. My machine has a few times shown the XP logo rather than the Vista one at boot up then appeared to load only arcade deluxe!? What the hell is that all about?
     
  32. AndrewM

    AndrewM Notebook Guru

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    not sure about 1 and 3, but I just tested the Cinedash without AcerArcade installed, and it works with Mediacentre and Mediaplayer.
     
  33. TehSuigi

    TehSuigi Notebook Virtuoso

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    1. One partition is the Vista Recovery Environment and system backup image. Keep it, as it'll allow you to fix Vista if you encounter certain errors. The other houses the Acer Arcade Deluxe Instant-On function. If you don't want it, feel free to delete - just make sure you have a full PC backup in case things go awry.

    2. When Acer Arcade isn't installed, the controls work with Windows Media Player or Media Center (i.e. the Arcade launch button opens WMC).

    3. That would be the Arcade Instant-On function I mentioned above. When you press the Arcade button instead of the power button (or occasionally if the HOLD button is active), you'll boot into a version of Windows XP Embedded and launch immediately into Acer Arcade. I found that it had the nasty side effect of nuking my Vista installation's system restore points, so I got rid of it after I did a clean install of Vista Ultimate.
     
  34. leoneill

    leoneill Newbie

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    Thank you very much for your responces. I have a 10 GB partition at the front of the drive and a 5 GB one at the back. I assume this 5GB one is this Arcade Instant On thing? I'll be getting rid of that and the Arcade Installation.
     
  35. leoneill

    leoneill Newbie

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    I was having problems with my card reader in Vista from day 1. I thought it was a physical fault with the drive but when i found out it worked fine in Linux I downloaded the lastest driver from the acer website which has fixed it. Just thought someone may find this useful if they are experiencing the same issues.
     
  36. adk66

    adk66 Newbie

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    Looks like I did just what you mentioned. I hit the Arcade instant on button and any Vista restore points were wiped out. Now all I get is Startup repair which does nothing.
    I did make a set of Acer backup recovery DVD's but it looks like I will lose all other apps during recovery .
     
  37. Geckspades

    Geckspades Newbie

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    Hi,
    I bought the Acer 8920g (T5750 processor) with GeForce 9500M GS.
    I have a big problem, when gaming (Guitar Hero 3, Pes 2009, Race Driver Grid, ecc..) after a while happens that the framerate drop heavily. Then appears the message "rundll32 has stopped working".
    I tried to recovery the system many times but nothing changed.
    Always using acer original driver, they said to me to remove improvement for the audio system but nothing changed.
    What video driver should I install? From acer website there are these drivers:
    -VGA_nVidia_8PGS_8ESE_v7.15.11.7451_vistax32
    -VGA_nVidia_8PGS_8ESE_v7.15.11.7451_vistax64
    -VGA_nVidia_9PGS_9PGE2_9EGE_v7.15.11.7561_vistax32
    (there aren't specific driver for Vista SP1)

    I have Vista home premium (32 bit) with Service Pack1, someone can link me where to download the right drivers?
    Thank you
     
  38. TehSuigi

    TehSuigi Notebook Virtuoso

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    Those drivers will work just fine.
    I had issues with the rundll32 message on my system while I was still running the stock 174.51 driver. I upgraded to 175.61, and haven't had a problem since.

    Try installing the VGA_nVidia_9PGS_9PGE2_9EGE_v7.15.11.7561_vistax32 package.
     
  39. Geckspades

    Geckspades Newbie

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    where I can find 175.61?
    Are they included in the VGA_nVidia_9PGS_9PGE2_9EGE_v7.15.11.7561_vistax32?
     
  40. TehSuigi

    TehSuigi Notebook Virtuoso

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    That's the one, Geckspades!
    You can tell by looking at the last five digits of the long driver number - v7.15.1 1.7561.
     
  41. Geckspades

    Geckspades Newbie

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    ah ok thank you so much I'll try it :D