Extensa 5620 Downgrade to XP

I have no problem hitting Fn + Left or Right arrow key. There's no adjustments in Windows itself, but if you change the brightness on battery or charger, it will remember that setting and switch automatically from then on.

 

It Works! Guess i didn't see those buttons.
i was looking at the top, by the Fn keys.


Xp works great, no issues. i would bigly recommend this guide for anybody "downgrading" to xp. :twitcy:

 

I'm just researching this... gonna try keeping vista on and installing xp so can dual boot.

Wondering why using the euro site for drivers... I think the panam site [NA] has more recent drivers perhaps... not sure as same driver versions but more recent dates.

Which is the best way to dual boot install:

A. Install clean xp and then vista [msft suggests this]

B. Keep preinstalled vista and install xp

Anyone know if the following can be done for A:

1. Install xp onto a partition [but leaving the 10 gb recovery partition as is if need to]

2. Install vista [don't have vista dvd as not included ???? Is it possible to use the recovery dvds initially burned along with product key from bottom of laptop to install vista ?????]

If can't do A then B:

1. Shrink vista partition and make two partitions from remaining space... so have 4 partitions [1-recovery, 2-vista, 3-xp, 4-data]

2. Once have xp running then use msft technique to enable vista and xp to show up on boot http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919529

Appreciate everyone's help.

Thanks.

 

can u further elaborate on the proper controller driver? and sry for the vagueness.... here is my situation...after i install my drivers....and then ripped the drivers...then went step by step on installing the drive. i restart change to achi mode and then it crashes...so it seems i am doing something wrong but i have carefully want through the guide

 

Hi... just found your wonderful article about how to go back to Sata setting. Thanks.

 

Glad it was helpful. Here's a little update on it- I've gotten the webcam to work properly! It functions, and Windows logs off / restarts / shuts down fine. You just use the standard 7/1/2001 Microsoft USB Video Device driver. Here's how to install it:

1. First off, if you haven't installed the official drivers yet- don't bother! They simply don't work right. This should work whether it's still an unknown device, or if you've installed the drivers supplied by Acer but have it disabled to avoid the never ending 'hang' when shutting down.

2. Open your Device Manager (right-click My Computer-> Properties-> Hardware tab-> Device Manager)

3. Right-click the webcam and choose Update Driver. Choose not to connect to Windows Update this time, and hit Next. Choose Install from list or specific location, and hit Next. Select Don't search, I will choose driver to install and click Next.

4. At this point you should see "Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware." If an option listed below is "USB Video Device," select that and hit Next. This is an older, default Microsoft driver, but it works just fine.

If it doesn't list that option, or only shows the Acer driver options, try unchecking Show Compatible Hardware. The driver should come standard with your XP installation- at least it did on my XP Pro SP2 install. If not, do some Windows Updates and see if it acquires the driver then.

Let me know if anyone has any issues with this! I still may never actually use the webcam feature, but at least everything on my 5620 works 100% now

 

ok here is a brand new one
i successfully installed xp with every thing working!

then ... i thought .. hey .. i have a 64 bit machine .... let me put xp 64-bit ... and so i installed it ... but obviously .. i wouldnt get the drivers right ... so ...
does any one have the drivers for 64 bit ...

I got the memory card reader from the backup cd, and sound card installed except the bus (sound card is still an issue)
rest .. the nework and wireless cards, chipset and webcam all are in serious need of drivers .... any one?

 

Hmmm....
XP is working great, amazing guide. however, i noticed that windows charges my battery to 100%, and continues charging. i reed somewhere that this is bad for your battery, and i was wondering if there was any way to change it. (vista would charge to 99%, then stop charging) is there a utility i can download?

feedback or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

rsrcomputer:
you can shrink the drives easily using gpart live cd. the recovery partition is useless as far as i can tell (for burning "system default" disks?), so you can delete it.

your recovery cds dump all the data on the first partion on the drive, erasing anything else that was there.

so, you could install xp on one partition, then "dump" vista onto the first partition.
in order to boot the vista OS, you MAY have to use gpart to "boot from first partion". then, you can repair the MBR and dual boot.

NOTE: you should delete vista before installing xp, and install xp on a partion other than the first one.

 

Actually, I'd suggest the reverse- LET IT CHARGE.

When your battery meter says 100% but keeps charging, I'd leave it alone. It WILL stop charging shortly. There's lots of built-in protection to keep it from overcharging. Just because the software is reporting 100% doesn't mean the hardware shouldn't finish off. If you unplug your machine every time it exactly hits 100%, you're actually decreasing the battery life over time. If it's been 30-60 minutes and it STILL is charging... then you can worry But don't concern yourself about it too much. Completely charging and discharging your battery is the best way to keep it healthy and last longer.

 

crazy2be:

Appreciate your help. I'm hoping to upgrade to xp over the weekend [this would also give me more options for free firewalls, anti-virus sw, etc.] Probably comodo or online armor, avira, avg as, spy blaster, etc.

Did contact acer and they no longer provide recovery media and nor would they provide, even if pay, xp media.

Hopefully my presumption is correct that can install xp since have xp drivers on acer sites.

From most of the research I've done it seems to be best to install xp first and then vista... i.e. recommended to install older windows first... true?

Reasons I want to keep vista:

In case need to send laptop for repairs can simply format xp portion instead of reinstalling vista. Don't mind keeping recovery partition as is.

There actually may be some sw on vista from acer that might want to use [does anyone here keep the empower and related sw?].

Perhaps better question is what sw did everyone un install [I personally took off norton, office 2007 trial].

Notes:

I have a vista express upgrade dvd for a toshiba laptop that has never been used. Could this be used to clean install vista but using vista key available from welcome center screen... think under more details?

Or at least to repair vista if needed?

**************

Lots of questions [note prefer to have clean install of xp while ok with dumping vista [could possibly use the toshiba vista dvd but then need to install acer drivers, sw, and toshiba might also have bloat ware ]:

Would the following process be good:

1. Using vista shrink the vista partition [presently have 3 partitions, 10gb recovery, 70gb vista, 70gb data] to 35gb or whatever possible and create new partition(s) as wanted.

So now have say 5 partitions [10gb recov, 35gb vista (C), 20gb xp (D), 40gb data (E), 45gb (F) for whatever]. No separate program files partitions because tried that on desktop and even though installed all applications on PF part there are still some programs that installed part of their "code" on windows partition. Besides I generally need about 2gb or bit more for programs.

2. Install xp on partition D and related drivers.

3. Dump [using recovery dvds] vista on partition C. Would this still work after installing xp and not erase xp?

4. Would dual boot work as is or need to do any repairs, etc.

5. Is there any harm in installing xp not on first partition but on second active partition? Would any program installations be "confused" by this even if specifically install on partition D? Any better to install xp on partion C?

Excuse long post and welcome and thanks for any help!

 

Anyone have a problem getting the USB ports to work properly? They worked when I first got XP loaded, but then I installed the chipset drivers and now they don't work anymore. There are lots of entries in Device Manager like
"Intel(R) ICH8 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2830" , etc, but then several with the yellow exclamation point that are just "USB Root Hub". I also haven't found a driver that will install for the ethernet connection or gotten the audio to work using any of the already posted methods. Is it possible there are different revisions of the 5620?

 

wow am so amazed most they arn,nt dual load model that have vista buiness and xp pro on them

 

rsrcomputer:
ok., a few comments.
- a guide(you've probably seen this one)
http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp

-first, you can't use vista to shrink partitions, you need to boot off a CD. the vista CD works, but is very limited in it's functionality. as i said before, i would recommend the Gparted live CD ( http://gparted.sourceforge.net). free, and easy to use.

-second, you can use your recovery CDs, but they will only dump their data to the first partition and delete anything that is there. it will not repair the MBR, or anything else. you have to use easy BCD. you also need to use this to add a windows xp boot entry to the boot loader screen. ( http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1)

-third, You can only have 4 partitions on a Drive, so you might have to delete the Recovery Partition. (you can have extended partitions, and Logical Partitions under them, but i'm not sure how that works)

-There can be issues with Drive E or D getting mixed up, and programs attempting to install to the C drive. However, i haven't had any issues with this as of yet, and it would only be old programs that would do that. although, even if it installs on the wrong drive, What would be the Big issue? especially if it is just a small program.

-not sure about the express upgrade CD, never tried it.

make sure you backup your vista partition before proceeding. all data will, or can be, erased or corrupted.

 

Thanks for info crazy2be.

Thought was gonna do the dual boot on weekend but decided to get more info.

From reading the other posts I understand that the recovery partition [that Acer set up] might need to be "repaired"... is this the case even if install xp on partition d i.e. does installing xp on any partition corrupt the acer recovery partition?

Wouldn't mind deleting the recovery partition... anyone know if this would void warranty in any way... don't see why but don't wanna give any excuse to Acer in case need warranty repairs.

Made two sets of recovery dvds [acer factory default] and applications... supposed to be simple as booting from dvds [I hope] in case need to restore.

Does the application dvd have all the programs/utilities originally on computer? This way can do clean install of vista [vista on partition c, xp on partion d] and only install needed or wanted applications.

From an e-mail that I sent to Acer got the impression that not all applications or utilities available with restore dvds are available with application dvd... but I haven't figured out what's missing.

Anyone else have same specs as mine: extensa 5620-6389 T5450 c2duo with 1gb and 160gb hd... when scan with crucial it says max 2gb ram but the e settings tool bar says 4gb...

if the latter then would allow me to eventually put in a 2gb stick and keep one of the 512mb stick... from what I've read 2.5 gb non-dual should be about same as 2 x 1gb dual but wanna keep option of getting another 2gb stick later to max at 4gb [even though windows would only report about 3.2gb].

Thanks all!

 

From what I've read, these machines can accept 1GB per slot, 2 GB total maximum.. Anyone seen anything that says different?

 

rsrcomputer:
i have no idea about the recovery partitions, or what their use is. i just deleted mine, with no issues whatsoever. however, i would backup the contents of the partition, and make sure i write down all the details about the formatting of the disk.

you can boot from the cds. no options to customize though. just asks you if you want to recover...

i have the same laptop as you, and was planing to do the same ram upgrades. (user guide) http://csd.acer.com.tw/acer/URMUL1.NSF/1af87a750eeeb70f0825628f006e0bfc/4a11edf1b8eb51ec48257356002e186b?OpenDocument

 

Subground:

Check under e settings... mine says 4gb max even though crucial scanner says 2gb max... the crucial scanner says it was not able to complete scan 100%... when I emailed acer they came back with 4gb max.

crazy2be:

How is xp with 1gb only... i.e. is ram upgrade really needed?

Will you be putting 2gb stick in each slot or just one 2gb stick and leave one 512mb stick... either way pls let me know if see good deal on net.

There have been some deals on newegg and frys but was worried about compatibility whereas crucial sells for more $$ but gurantees compatibility. The deals in newegg were for crucial memory but the model # could not be mathed to anything on crucial's web site.

Did you re-install all the acer sw like the acer empowerment toolbar, nti cd/dvd maker, etc.

Thanks

 

rsrcomputer:
i was planning to replace one of the 512 sticks with 2GB. however, it is not really that necessary for xp. the only reason you would need more ram is if you use photoshop, or play games. games use a lot of ram, since the graphics card uses ram as video memory.

as for compatibility, you shouldn't have to worry to much, as this is a fairly new laptop, and i think ram is fairly universal. you could take it somewhere they guarantee compatibility though. i would do memory express...

i didn't install any of the acer stuff, as it is fairly useless in my option. i also couldn't find it on the application backup CD, so i didn't bother. if you can think of a reason to install it though, go for it. i just didn't see and reason to.

hey, while your dual-booting, why not triple boot? install Ubuntu today!:GEEK:

 

crazy2be:

Mostly using for internet, office, and perhaps occasional photo editing/video editing... no games

So think will keep 1gb for now and get more ram [one 2gb stick] when on sale perhaps when can combine with google $10 checkout rebate.

The application dvd I burned does seem to have most of the sw... empower, nti, etc. so may try clean install vista and then install drivers and preferred sw.

Got some answers from acer concerning warranty and recovery partition:

"Thank you for contacting Acer America. Deleting the recovery partition does not void your warranty, however please keep in mind that you must have a copy of the recovery backup discs to restore the system. To retrieve all of the pre installed software you will need to use all of the backup recovery discs. You are allowed to mix and match the amounts of ram in each slot and Acer does sell memory."

I'm fairly beginner about computers and windows... throwing Ubuntu into the mix would confuse me more.

If not mistaken Ubuntu is supposed to be more secure re: viruses, spyware, etc. Are there specifc sw applications for viruses, firewall [if needed] for Ubuntu?

Always like to learn... any good websites you suggest for Ubuntu?

Thanks.

 

lol, ubuntu is neat, but more of a fun thing to use then a practical os, for me at least. interesting idea though. more about that here and here.
i tried it for a bit, but the drivers weren't included, so i could only detect networks by wireless. i would do xp and vista first, then try ubuntu on a weekend. and, as the guide says, you can reinstall xp if something doesn't work. my understanding is that you should be able to boot xp from the boot menu.

oh, you might want to read this forum article about Linux on the 5620

personally, i don't see any reason to keep vista. i was going to keep it, because dx 10 is only compatible with it, etc. then, i got xp. once i started using xp, i deleted vista, but kept the partition (so if i wanted to install vista on it, i could). alternatively, you could make a data partition to put all your valuable stuff on if you ever wanted to "upgrade" to vista.

about the disk...
mine had folders for most of the applications, but the wizard says it only has windows vista software. didn't bother messing with it.

 

Hi All

If you want to buy memory for laptop, DON'T GO at Best Buy EVER!!!
They charge you for 2GB for about 210$ - 230$!!!

Go online http://shop.kingston.com/modelsinfo...s=40408-Acer-Extensa+5620+Series&SUBMIT1=Find

Free shipping. Lifetime waranty! Best memory in the world (home use). There are Kingmax, Corsair... but Kingstone is Kingmax... )

Good luck with 2GB upgrade for 60$

 

hi guys couldn;t get back for a while but i am still missing my dvd drive...any help u guys?

 

so here is the problem located HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\Properties

delete the upper filters that you'll find there

by the way, is not my work that, I've readed form here or from here

Hope it will work for you.

 

Update... finally tried dual boot xp and vista. Did make 2 sets of default system and applications dvds and also used trial version of acronis true image to get image in case ever want to put original vista as is.

Aim to have xp on part d and vista on part c with acer rec part at front.

Installed xp and then had some issues with drivers. Shows I'm beginner as initially tried to update drives thru device manager.

Realized had to simply extract zip folders and run setup.exe... had downloaded many files so not sure shich ones to install and in which order.

Figured best to install chipset then modem [else the broadcom or intel drivers don't seem to work] then lastly the ahci using CharredPc's excellent instrucs.

Didn't install ati driver... as duh... have intel video.

Then installed vista but got ntldr when try to run xp

Tried several things, wasn't interested in getting vistabootpro so simply reformatted all of hd and installed xp on partitions c and 3 more partitions [d for data, e for cache/temp/downloads/page, f for various... maybe vista later on].

Ended up with clean xp install and several menu items that didn't have before such as broadcomm asf and intel proset wirelss... probably had drivers before but not applications to tweak... oh well wireless works but using intel program to configure as don't seem to have that option with MS program as did before.

Didn't install any of the acer programs yet... might later... probably enet and epresentation... did install acer launcher. Will probably also install the NTI dvd burn sw.

Some tips:

Definitely take CharredPc's great advice to burn drivers on cd/dvd/sd/usb and perhaps some sw also [firewall, av, as, etc.] so have all installed before going online.

There are various sw out there to find your vista key that acer used to activate vista. Once have this can do clean install. If don't have media can borrow BUT only should install version of vista originally on laptop using YOUR preactivated key. Can also get media from MS for less than $10 with no key but already have. Could use key from bottom of laptop but then probably need to call MS to activate everytime you clean install. IMHO this is ok as reinstalling version of vista originally on your laptop using your key... pls if any legal minds out there let me know if not ok.

OT, frys has 2gb stick for $15 after rebate plus s/h... I'll probably wait for rebate less deal.

Thanks all for your help!

 

First off, big thanks to CharredPC for the original post!!!

It looks like aznplayer213 and I may be the only other one having problems. Luckily, I finally got it to work!

I want to emphasize the point to only install the AHCI drivers to ONE controller. While using the IDE BIOS mode, my device manager shows there are two controllers: "ICH8M Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 2850" and "ICH8M 3 port ATA Storage Controllers." (I had problems because no one mentioned seeing a "3 port" controller) The key is to know which of the two controllers to manually update to the AHCI drivers.

The way to do this is to figure out which controller is connected to your HDDs. The other one is connected to the DVD drive. When you look at Device Manager by Connection (View->Devices by Connection) you'll see that one is for the HDD and the other is for the DVD drive. On my laptop, I found that the "ICH8M 3 port ATA Storage Controllers" was for my HDD and the "ICH8M Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 2850" was for my DVD drive. The key to get AHCI to work, only manually install the "82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller" driver to the controller that is connected to your HDD (in my case, the "3 port" controller). Leave the other controller connected to the DVD drive alone, as this remains "ICH8M Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 2850" even after enabling the AHCI BIOS mode. Once you change it, Windows will immediately ask you to reboot, which you say "yes." Then change the BIOS mode to AHCI. Windows should boot without a BSOD. Windows will then ask you to reboot again after it finds the new hardware.

aznplayer213, I ran into your similar problem with the disappearing DVD drive. To get the DVD drive back, uninstall the "ICH8M Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 2850" driver, and then scan for Hardware Changes and let Windows install the default driver. Doing that for me got my DVD drive back.

 

thank you so much i'l give it a try...!

 

after three long months my pc is back in working order...thnx guys!

 

Hello,

I have TravelMate 5720, and I did follow all instruction in this thread, and everything was fine. All drivers are set correctly including AHCI.

However, when I try to restart/shut down my laptop, the system freezes.

Any help is really appreciated.

Mike

 

this link has info on switching back to achi mode after installing in IDE mode.

sorry for the lenght and clutter, it's not my page,, just a page i know of which has a lot of info on downgrading Acer's from vista to xp

http://soulpass.com/2007/11/10/inst...essional-sp2-on-acer-aspire-5315-2153-laptop/

good luck, i know the answer is in there somewhere.

bigozone

 

First off, thanks CharredPC for the great walk through. I follow most of it, but I feel like a total idiot right now. I can't seem to figure out how to update my bios correctly...or even at all following the link you posted on your revised guide.

If someone could please include a step by step procedure one could follow to update their bios I'm sure it would give me the kick I need this horrid operating system off my machine.

(I am running the exact same model as Charred: Acer Extensa 5620-6830 from best buy)

Sorry to sound like a total newb

 

No problem The following is how to update the BIOS on an Acer Extensa 5620 from within XP. From within Vista, you will likely have to hit Allow, Accept, Authorize, and whatnot a few dozen times to perform the same steps... gotta love Vista!

1. Right-click here and choose "Save target as..." (or "Save link as," depending on which browser you are using). That should save the file v1.32.zip to your PC.

2. Navigate to that file (on your desktop, or wherever you put it). Right-click, and choose Extract All, Next, Next, then Finish. You should see the extracted folder in front of you.

3. Open the Winflash32 folder, and run CLB-132.EXE. It should prompt you to click OK to flash your BIOS with the latest version. Make sure all programs are closed / saved first, because as soon as it's done, it will reboot your laptop without asking! The update process takes several minutes, and there's no real status bar. Just wait and be patient


If Vista just flat-out refuses to let you update the BIOS using the above method, then you can try running CLB-132.bat. That might work around it.

Hope this helps you out. Let me know if you run into any trouble. As a last-ditch you can always boot to DOS and do things from there, which I can walk you through if necessary.

-CharredPC

 

After following your exact instructions on how saving and unzipping the file
I tried running CLB-132.exe and got the error:

"WFlash Error
Open flash.sys Fail"

I thought maybe it was the ****ty extractor I had so I downloaded Winzip and got the same error.

I proceeded to open the command line and run the batch file but that also failed and resulted in the following error message:

*** WinFlash Will start , please wait .......***
The system cannot find the path specified.
'CLB-132.EXE' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

then it went back to prompt.

I feel like I'm missing something super obvious.

If you can offer any advice I would greatly appreciate it.

 

Well after digging around in the files I found out the batch file was crap anyway, it had the wrong file path specified so I fixed it, but then I ended up at the same error as before where it failed to open flash.sys

Any help at all would be appreciated

 

Wow Charred PC! Can I just say that it's people like you that make me love the internet!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! (sorry for shouting everyone, you can take the earplugs out now) Thanks for working this all out, spelling it out so well and sharing it with us woefully Vistafied suckers. Vista is a sham, no doubt about it...

So I bought an Acer Aspire 7720-6604 from NewEgg a month ago and didn't realize at the time what a dog of an OS Vista is when I bought it. Worse still, this nicely priced gem from NewEgg came bundled with Vista Ultimate! Yikes McGikes! 64 bits of incompatible-with-every-piece-of-software-I-own.

So for everyone else out there that got shafted with the 64bit version of Vista, Charred PC's very detailed instructions work fine. And Acer really does do a nice job of making it easy to back everything up. Follow those instructions carefully.

A couple of issues I came up with on the way to XP:
For some reason, when I installed the chipset drivers the first time not all the components installed. I was stuck for some time with a mysterious "SM Bus controller" with no driver installed. I merely re-downloaded the chipset drivers from Intel and tried again after installing all the other drivers and now its working okay.

Another problem I had was that, unlike the 32bit flavor of Vista, the 64bit version doesn't have all the XP compatible drivers packaged with it. So there are still a couple of items I need to find drivers for.

If anyone can help me here, I was not thinking and didn't write down every piece of hardware in my device manager before beginning the rebirth, I don't know where or how to find out what drivers I should get for these two devices:
"Modem Device on High Definition Audio Bus" and
"Network Controller"

Other than that, I'm really happy with my Acer, thanks to Charred PC.

Oh, and PS: my USB camera seems to work fine with the native XP drivers.

Cheers,
Mr. Pickles

 

Mr. Pickels,, try this for your modem...

the following was copied from this website:
http://soulpass.com/2007/11/10/inst...essional-sp2-on-acer-aspire-5315-2153-laptop/

Modem Driver Installation
Extract the Agere modem drivers zip archive somewhere on the Acer notebook.

http://files.soulpass.com/acer/agere_modem_driver.zip
http://soulpass.com/blog/gallery/screenshots/acer/modem/

Click on your “START” menu
Right click on “My Computer”
Click on “Properties”
Click on the “Hardware” tab at the top
Click on “Device Manager”
Right click on “Modem Device on High Definition Audio Bus”
Click on “Update Driver…”
Click on “No, not this time.” Click Next.
Click on “Install from a list or specific location (Advanced).” Click Next
Click on “Don’t Search. I will choose the driver to install.” Click Next.
In the list on the “Hardware Type” page, highlight “Modems”. You may have to scroll down. Click Next.
Click on “Have Disk…”
Click on “Browse” and navigate to where you extracted the Agere Modem drivers. Highlight the “agrmdv32″ file and click Open. Click OK.
Highlight Agere Systems HDA Modem. Click Next.
Click Yes on the “Update Driver Warning” dialog.
You should now have a working modem.

YMMV, if these drivers don’t work, try using the Foxconn drivers.

This tutorial was written by IT enthusiast and expert Alex Wells, published exclusively on soulpass.com.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 10th, 2007 at 5:01 pm and is filed under Software, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

 

Thanks Bigozone! Installed just fine. Now if I can only figure out the "Network Controller" driver. Seems like if I have the Broadcom LAN driver installed and it works to get online, I should have it installed though. I'm not worried too much about it, just don't like those yellow icons next to my devices.

 

glad that helped out,,, ya maight even try the network drivers listed on that page... i know they are not for your specific model, but we've found that a lot of the acer drivers are interchangeable with certain models...

since you said Broadcomm i assume you mean the Physical lan adapter (the rj 45 cable) connector on the laptop and not the WIFI adapter is that correct?

i'll see what i can dig up for ya

later,
bigozone

 

I downloaded the wireless adapter now from the website, but Windows says that it's not the driver for my hardware. I'm stumped.

But now I have a new issue. While my system seems to be running XP fine, is stable (no BSODs), it seems REALLY sluggish. It's no where near as fast as my old P4 3ghz Toshiba Satellite. What's going on?

 

you may have a different WiFi adapter than the one on that site,,
the 2 other possibilities would be Broadcomm and the Intel.

first uninstall the driver that is not working, do this from the driver tab of the device manager... then download (from acer's website) the other drivers (broadcomm and intel) and try each one until you get one that works

as far as what could be causing sluggishness, it's hard to tell, i'd suggest the 3 finger salute ({crl}{alt} {del}) and click on the process tab inside the Task Manager... look for a process that is "Overly Active"... the system idle process should be 90% or higher,, and any other process that is in the double digits is most likely causing your problem... let me know how it goes

later,
ken

BTW i found this link to acer drivers POSTED BY Skibums,, it may help you find the correct WiFi drivers...

http://www.acerpanam.com/synapse/fo...m/us&siteid=7293&areaid=7&formid=3394#results

 

Thanks again Bigozone. I visited the PanAm site for drivers and found an Intel Wifi adapter that looked promising. Unfortunately it's also 154mb and I'm in Indonesia on a "DSL" connection that runs more like a dial up. So the wi-fi is going on the back burner for now.

Right now the big issue is the sluggishness of my new laptop, for which I've decided to start a new thread rather than steer this one off any further.

 

I have an unusual problem. I followed the guide step by step and I'm not computer iliterate but has anyone else getting a problem where you get black or sometimes colored bars across your screen and your computer locks up? I have triple checked the steps repeatedly and to no avail I can't seem to fix this problem and its annoying the heck out of me when I'm playing a video game or trying to type up a report for class. Anyone have any suggestions to fixing this?

Things to Note that I have done.
I have upgraded my memory to 2GB.
I have also Purge my cache and performed scans on my protected files. sfc /scannow

Maybe cooling? I really honestly don't feel many fans going or much airflow from this computer and I'm very curious to if heating is a problem.

I get a weird screeching noise when it locks up too from the speakers which brought me to my 2nd attempt to fix it, the audio drivers. I've updated them and even used the OEM drivers. Nothing works.

I have also reinstalled Windows XP twice now. same exact issue and I'm about to take this computer on base and have some fun at the range with it.

 

if your laptop fan is not kicking in when the CPU temps hit 50c then you will probably need to download the dell fan control program from this link.

http://www.diefer.de/i8kfan/index.html

this is a known issue with the Aspire 5315 model i own and the only way we have found so far to prevent the overheating is use that program. From what i've read this is not an issue w/ Vista due to the way it handles APCI power managment. But when downgrading to XP the OS never polls the heat sensor on MB/CPU(whichever) and because the OS doesn't check it never tells the Fan to turn on... with the above program you don't need to fool w/ any settings, just having it running (sets in system tray.. by clock) it constantly polls the temp sensor and this alone is enough to cause fan function to become operational..

for more info about this and other acer Xp downgrade issuse check out this link below.
http://soulpass.com/2007/11/10/inst...essional-sp2-on-acer-aspire-5315-2153-laptop/

hope that helps you out,
bigozone

 

I'll definitely give this a try, The fan feels as if its barely running which has been a concern to me but yet great since I hate the whirling noises notebooks make. Thank you very much for this. You might have saved this computer from being shot on the range in knox. haha

Reading on that forum, i recognized you need the acer empowerment software for the cpu fan to function properly.

Here is the link to the software needed:
http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/ex_5620.html

Also to boot from that mysterious 10GB backup that acer has follow this(not my work but every little bit helps if you want vista back in the future):

Restoring From The Hidden Partition

It is pretty simple.

* At the Acer screen on bootup, press F2.
* In on of the screens there is a D2D option. Make sure it says Enabled.
* Save your settings and exit.
* At the Acer screen on bootup, press Alt-F10.
* You will prompted from here on where you want to restore or not.

Notes About Restoring the Acer Extensa

The actual restore was only 7 minutes, but everything else seemed to take a long time. There were not a ton of screens to fill in, but there is a few. I let my laptop sit and chunk away through various parts for a few hours.

There are initial users to set up, some registration info, license agreements to accept, and some locale settings.

The most unnerving was that even after I rebooted and logged in for the first time, the screen was black except for a command prompt window that was up and running. I hit Ctrl-Alt-Del and went into Task Manager to see what was going on. The CPU was running around 50% and it did this for quite some time (2o minutes), but eventually I was logged in. I think it was some sort of initial setup.

 

Stryker r you guarding the gold??
i'm on the other end of the state.

for some users when downgrading the OS to WinXP the Acer empowering software has not functioned as desired... that dell fan control prog seems to solve the overheating issues on the Aspire 5315 when running WinXP

that empowering tech software didn't solve the problem when running XP, read the bottom 20 posts and you'll see numerous refrences to that prog i linked to previously.

anyway i hope it works out for you,
bigozone

 

I am on the other side of the state right next to the gold but not technically guarding it. lol I'll keep reading these throughout the day to get a idea of how to fix this issue with my comp.

 

I did find the problem and it was completely off from what I thought. It was a badly Corrupted Registry causing the random lock-ups and stalls I hope. I'm not sure how but I used Uniblue Registrybooster 2 and it found 203 problems and then I defragged it too. all of a sudden my computer runs rock solid and extremely fast. Its kinda strange though that on day 1 of reinstalling xp for the 4th time that the registry was in that terrible of a mess.

I also used memtest86+ off a cd and found no problems with the memory. I hope i'm out of the woods now for problems and Thank you CharredPC for a very good walkthrough.

Currently scanning the computer for viruses and spyware.

 

good work stryker...

 

I have followed all the steps, but when I run c:\ahci\setup.exe -a -pc\, It doesn't extract anything to a C:\Driver folder. Also, in device manager, after unchecking "Show compatible types" I don't see the Intel 82801 HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Storage Controller and thats what I had before the reformat. I have an extensa 5620 too. Could someone please tell me the problem? I have followed all the steps so far and have no question marks or exclamation points in device manager.

 

First, I really appreciate to your post, it's a big help to me. Then I have some little problems that need your help again:
1. I downloaded the BIOS v1.32 from the drivers site but couldn't run it, "open flash.sys failed" appeared as I try to run the clb-131.exe. Would you mind guiding me how to upgrade my BIOS?
2. I formatted the whole HDD without backing up, that's why I won't be able to install the AHCI driver manually in case I can figure out the BIOS. Can I use the driver pack instead? Then how can I handle with it if can?
Thank you so much and wish you can help me, again!
Ps. Mine is also an Acer Extensa 5620-6830