How to add Bluetooth to your Timeline 3810T and other interesting tidbits with the machine

I've that antenna: TYCO Laptop Wireless Mini PCI PCI-E Internal Antenna (aukcja 390109688161) - aukcje eBay.pl | Zakupy bez granic!

Mounted in the back of lcd screen under original wifi antennas.
Reception is very good altough gps doesn't work on this antenna (at least for me - ordered new antenna that works with gps too)

Dismounting lcd is very simple and easy I've added 2 antennas and placed cables in 30minutes.

 

Interesting.
The seller seems to say wifi and no mention of HSPA/UMTS, but for 4 euro given your feedback I will take the chance.
Explanation/picture of cable routing would be great.

 

Today/tomorrow I'll be dismounting notebook and replacing antennas (I bought hitachi antennas and they have better reception, only found them in Poland - Antena GSM / GPS - Hitachi - Wewn?trzna - GW - FV (1609621408) - Aukcje internetowe Allegro ), I'll make some photos while dismounting and place them here.

But my problem with gps still exists, sierra mc8780 won't get any signal.
I've installed newest aircard watcher, upgraded firmware to newest, disabled TRU-install and tried different antennas, I'll try today on open space without any buildings but I don't think that's the matter.

 

As I said, short picture-based instruction how to place antennas behind lcd.
Firstly we have to do everything as in first post.

 

Thanks for posting the photos.
I've not understood the difference of the 4th and 5th.
The 5th is with the GPS-enabled antenna while the 4th is the original placement of the first set of antennae?
If it's the case do the new set enable the GPS fix?
As sooner rather than later I plan to move from the twin ssd+hybrid to an SSD-only solution I'll dismantle the notebook only once to put the antennae and remove the 30GB ssd.

 

4th are my first antennas(not original - tyco), gps didn't work for me on them
5th are second antennas which are suppoused to work with gps but they still don't
I don't know maybe there is something wrong with my mc8780 but I can't get any gps signal altough gps is enabled (checked with at commands) and I can get gps messages. Don't know what is the problem, but I have bluetooth gps so it isn't such a big problem for me (however it would be nice to get gps working)

 

Hey Joelby!

Thanks for the reply. The report I posted was a pre-sandforce report that was dead-on accurate about the OLD OCZ SSDs and Samsung SSDs. Things have changed quite a bit in the previous few years so that both OCZ and Samsung have started making SSDs with good random read/write performance. As it stands, the newer SSDs are generally all pretty good!

 

Okay so now we know that this:
Kingston SSDNow V-Series Review: 30GB | bit-tech.net
SSD fits the mini/micro/whatever extra SATA slot on the 3810T.
Has anyone identified another model with a small form factor PCB that would work?. I have a feeling that if one exists, the largest it would be is 64GB, but I haven't identified one yet. Anyone?

 

Hey I just wanted to clarify something you said here just to be sure, and to make sure someone doesn't make the mistake and buy an uSATA drive, instead of the correct mSATA drive.

I think the size of that Kingston Vseries 30GB SSD is Half-slim or half-1.8. Are they the same thing?
Here is an example of half-slim mSATA
Kingston SSDNow V-Series Review: 30GB | bit-tech.net
Transcend Ships mSATA and Half-slim Solid State Drives for Small Form-factor Devices | techPowerUp
Toshiba unveils ultra-slim SSDs | bit-tech.net

Here is an example of half-1.8 uSATA
Sandisk SDSA3ED-064G 64GB half 1.8 uSATA Micro SATA SSD | eBay
It has a different number of pins as the Kingston that we know works, I believe because it's a uSATA connector and not an mSATA connector, right?

Also, has anyone tried a mini-PCI-E SSD in the slot at the top right? There are a ton of mini-PCIE SSDs on the market. Can you use those as an OS disk, in the top right slot - The slot most people are using for a 3G modem right now?

It's my understanding that there are actually 3 extra slots on the 3810T.
1) The mSATA half-slim slot for an SSD (Like the Kingston Vseries 30GB) at the middle right.
2) The mini-PCIE slot at the top right that people are putting 3G modems in at the top right.
3) The bluetooth cable connector at the bottom.

 

Not sure if anyone is even reading this thread anymore, but oh well lol.

I think transcend has a 64GB half-slim SSD which would work in the half-slim spot on the 3810T. I would order it, but they don't ship outside of the continental US, and I'm not there.

Welcome to Transcend Online Store


EDIT:

OMG I found it! URL removed -- Bad SSD, do not buy!
Just pulled the trigger on this. I'll update when I receive it and report back whether or not it worked! (That is if anyone is actually still reading this thread lol)

 

I've a bit of a problem, my sim card slot went down. Sierra aircard watcher says "no sim card", it was happening during last month but usually I had to restart modem and sim card was visible, now it went completely down. There is connection with modem but I've no clue how to check whether it is modem fault or sim card slot really is broken.

Any clues?

 

You could open it up and see if there is anything funky going on with the cable. When I just opened up my 3810T I noticed there was a little crease in the cable where a piece of metal was hitting it.

GL.

 

I've oponed, even digged up to sim card slot, unfortunatelly after closing the case nothing changed. Problems started during vacations where was pretty hot and sometimes I kept laptop on bed and it got hot. Could temperature kill sim card slot? Is it possible to "repair" ?

 

Hmm. I don't think temperature could do that. Water or discharge could though. Have looked on ebay to see if there is a replacement of some sort? Try calling here and see if they can help you (They do US too)
Acer Store by Jtec - Search Results for ""SIM Card""

 

***WARNING! The Transcend SSD listed in this post is terrible! The 4K-12K random read speeds are in .1 to .5 Megabyte range. This SSD does have TRIM, but has ZERO cache and also doesn't even have a wiper tool. It's garbage! This means that the SSD stutters every 5-10 seconds and pauses for 1-3 seconds during every operation! It's actually slower than my SATA spindle harddrive to install an OS on. Beware.

I ordered a Transcend 64GB half-slim SSD from here: Memory Depot - 64GB Transcend Half-slim SSD, and it is detected.

I have the Acer Timeline 3810T SU9400 laptop (GS45). I've already modified it with a Bluetooth adapter, and also a modded bios. This time I'm adding 8GBs of Corsair RAM, and the 64GB SSD!

The part number for this SSD is:

TS64GSSD25H-M

The SSD worked immediately upon install without changing any settings either in windows or in BIOS, however, you do have to make one small, minor "mod" to the case in order to get it to fit--It's no biggie, check the pictures below.

I have not yet installed windows on the SSD, but will do so soon! I don't expect any problems as I have formatted, tested a read and a write to the drive.

The Installation & Unboxing:



This is a really small SSD. It's about as wide as my iPhone 3GS. It's listed as half-2.5", but it's really half-slim. You may not be able to see it in this particular picture, the SSD uses Samsung ICs.


Here I've highlighted the built-in SSD mini-SATA riser in the 3810T. This is where we'll install the Transcend. ***See the beginning of the thread for a detailed explanation on how to open your laptop


Here you can see a closer view of the SATA slot for the half-slim SSD. ***IMPORTANT: There is a small holding clip on the right side of the case that is meant to lay on top of the SSD and secure it in place. In the previous post by "hopelessness" in this thread, the Kingston 32GB SSD he uses does not have any problem fitting because the ICs are not at the right edge of the SSD. With the transcend, THEY ARE!
Therefore, you have to take a utility knife and slice a bit of the clip away so that the SSD can fit snugly in. See the pictures for how much plastic I removed. With a sharp utility knife the plastic slices like butter.


After you slice the SSD holding clip a bit the SSD fits perfectly into the slot! Also notice that there are 2 screw holes on the blue SSD riser board. You can remove these screws, then remove the riser, then insert the SSD into the SATA slot, then replace the entire riser+SSD assembly into to case. Also note that there are two small plastic pins that come up through two holes on the SSD PCB. These should fit perfectly, otherwise you haven't shaved enough plastic off of the SSD holding clip.


Then close her up, reboot and you're done! Yay! At the same time I installed the SSD, I also installed 8GBs of Corsair RAM, and a 7200mAh battery, And boy does she fly now! I'm getting 8 full hours of usage now. What a great little laptop!


To my knowledge, this is the first time someone has reported using BOTH an internal 64GB mini-SATA SSD and an IDE HDD (in the normal HDD bay) on the 3810T. It would be really cool to see if someone could use the mini-PCIE slot to install a SECOND SSD!

So now you guys don't have to take any chances. Just be assured that this works!

UPDATE:
So, I still haven't quite figured out which controller this SSD is using, but I DO know that there is not any write cache onboard at all. This means that the SSD will stutter in Win7x64 pro even if you align the partition correctly, and apply SSD tweaks. In addition, I *think* it might be using one of the older Jmicron controllers that does not support TRIM. In addition, Transcend is a crappy enough company where it does not even offer a firmware update or a wiper program.

***However, this is the only 64GB SSD I have been able to find that fits the half-slim slot. Therefore, I looked for a workaround. One thing that helped was eliminating the onboard cache in the Hard disk properties (Since there isn't one, just an ECC cache), however, stutter was still present sometimes. So, I downloaded a free beta of a program called "Fancycache" from romeobox software which delays writes to the SSD in a "Ramdisk type of cache" and then intermittently sends those writes to the SSD when there is downtime, or whenever you specify in the config. Beware that this solution IS DANGEROUS because if there is a power outtage, you will lose those writes in your cache, and they will NOT be saved to your SSD. This could lead to data loss, or at worse (but very possibly) a corrupted OS.

It's a stop gap solution until we can find an SSD from a reputable company (i.e. not transcend) that will fit in the half-slim. Oh well the whole experience was still fun, but I'm no longer using the SSD as an OS drive, because it is just completely unsuable. If I had a NAS this SSD would be perfect, but alas, I don't. Any current spindle/platter drive would be faster and more responsive. DO NOT use this SSD as an OS drive in a non-server system. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

 

Hej thats a nice little tutorial, at the moment i`m using the Kingston SSD and probably i will order the 64GB Transcend because 32GB for Win7 is not very much^^

 

I would probably hold off for a bit on buying the transcend SSD if I were you. I'm noticing less than optimal performance and some stuttering to be honest. I think that it could be that the SSD does not support TRIM!! I'm unsure whether a firmware update will be released, but there is absolutely no downloads (not even a datasheet) available for this drive on the transcend website. I don't know if buying it was the best decision...

 

Just as a warning to anyone who is going to buy a half-slim SSD,

it looks like the Transcend SSD25H-M series
suffers from random write stutter issues which make the drives completely unusable as an OS drive.

I haven't tested the Kingston, but a review I read at bit-tech here: Kingston SSDNow V-Series Review: 30GB | bit-tech.net
states that the SSD does in fact have random write stutter even though it also supports TRIM. In addition it does have a cache, so it's probably better than the Transcend (edit: see post below).

The Transcend version that I have, not only has absolutely horrendous random write stutter (makes it completely unusable as an OS drive - my 5400rpm 320GB WD Blue is much, much, much more responsive), it also does not support TRIM, and also does not have any wiper.exe program or firmware updates available. Additionally there is NO cache onboard!! So uhhh, avoid at all costs.

The transcend SSD is not acceptable, and the kingston is rather small for an OS. Looks like we'll have to keep looking for others...

 

So far i have no problems with my 30GB Kingston and now i`m using it since about 6 months. Readrates are much better than the HDD the acer came with. Writespeed is a bit better (about 10MB/s) than the HDD.

 

That's really good to know, and very reassuring.

The Transcend SSD I bought has a random write rate around 1.2 Mb/s - 1.5Mb/s when it's CLEAN.
When it's been used for a while and Tony Trim has not been run, it hits 350Kb/s - 0.9Mb/s. Abysmal!

Good to know the Kingston works...maybe I'll try it out and do a direct comparison of the two.

That being said, the Transcend would still be a fine drive for a NAS or for server storage...just sucks for an OS.

 

Just one thing. I dont know if you were discussing it, but why cannot you use INTEL 310 80GB (mSata) to mini pci-e. It will not boot from it?

 

Would that go in the mini-PCIE slot where the 3G card would currently go? I don't know if it would boot from it or not...I haven't tried it to be honest and I'm not sure if anyone else has. If it did work, that would be another way to have 2 HDDs. I'd be really interested to see if it did work though.

 

You can not use mSATA SSDs in the mini-PCIe slot, i think i can remember to have red that both types of interfaces are only physical compatible but have different pinlayouts. But better search on the net for further information

 

Yeah, I seem to remember the same thing. In order to use the Intel version in one of the netbooks, you needed a special pin adapter that came from intel. Oh well, in the end, I ordered another half-slim SSD from SSD, Compact Flash, SDHC, SD, Flash Drives, and more | My Digital Discount. The people working their have ensured me that the half slim SSDs have the same performance as their mSATA SSD, which are reviewed here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...gitalssd-bullet-proof-128gb-msata-review.html

It obviously won't outperform an intel, but it does seem to be solid enough to work well, and be a sizable upgrade from a platter. Together with the fact that half-slim SSDs are super rare, it could be a good find (unlike that garbage transcend half-slim I bought which was terrible.)

I'll post again when I get the drive and install it, and do a complete review with benchmarks etc. from a clean windows 7 pro install on a 3810T

 

Something new about the MyDigitalSSD ?

 

Hey Fr3@k,

I got the MyDigitalSSD 128GB and have installed it. It's snappy! I mean, it's no intel powerhouse, but it is definitely worth the price. I'll be posting a full review in the Aftermarket upgrades forum this weekend, but in short:
In terms of half-slims on the market, since there are only about 4-5 of them available in retail, this one is the best so far (I've used 3). It uses a Phison S5 controller, which is not cutting edge or anything, but it gets the job done, and does it for cheap (NCQ + TRIM Supported). There was a slight issue with manufacturing, where their fabricator used an S3 controller on some of the modules instead of the S5, but the staff at MyDigitalSSD worked very quickly to rectify the problem, so their customer service stepped up, and I believe at this point they've returned all of the S3 modules and now are only selling the S5. Stay tuned I'll post the link to the review here.

 

Ok thanks a lot, that sounds great. I´m thinking on getting one of these SSDs, because 32Gigs for Win7 isn`t enough

 

Hey, I'm writing a full review with benchmarks here:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sol...half-slim-sata-solid-state-disk-reviewed.html

Also, the manufacturer let me know that noone will be in danger of receiving an S3 model, all of those have been replaced with S5s. I have to say, they corrected the problem quite quickly.

If you absolutely need a half-slim SSD, then the MyDigitalSSD half-slim is the one you want to get. It's a good little drive.

 

Hi,

nice review!! Really thinking of getting it, so you have exactly this model??
MyDigitalSSD 128GB 50mm Bulletproof mSATA SSD | My Digital Discount

I consider only getting the 64GB version as for me it should suffice ( MyDigitalSSD 64GB Bullet Proof Half Slim SATA II SSD | My Digital Discount)

Do you think the speed should be similar or are there differences to expect??

And installing it in the 3810T is easy? Remember there were some pics somewhere but could not found them anymore)

Cheers
joemmi

 

Hey joemmi,
The first link for the 128GB version that you posted is the wrong one. That link is the mSATA version - you want the half-slim version

The second one (64GB) looks good. That's the half-slim version and should give you comparable performance to the 128GB drive, except that with less memory modules on the drive (due to decreased capacity) the drive can be a *touch* slower because there are less parallel pipes for reads and writes.

 

Hi Vihsadas,
thanks! Ordered the 64GB Half Slim one and will install it and comment on your review, but should work fine I hope.
So once installed, it got recognized in the Bios, Format it e.g., using a USB stick made bootable with Win7 will install it without problems or do I have to kill the old Win7 partition on the internal HDD first??
Excited to get the little beast!!
Thanks for your info sharing!

 

Just wanted to report back after I received the 64GB SSD of the one mentioned here: http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/mydigitalssd-64gb-bullet-proof-half-slim-sata-ii-ssd/.
It costs 119$ (plus 35 since I had it shipped to Europe).
Shipped within 10 days plus one week travelling and got here.

Disassembling as described in the first post was actually pretty easy.
Ony thing I had was that the top did not come completely of since there seemed to be a connection near the 2.5 harddrive which would not come off (I had it replaced by acer so maybe thes did something there).
Still, I could sneak the SDD in, very easy.

One small thing, as the metal chassis is right on top of it, I wondered if one should /should not have some kind of insulation over the SSD? I ended up putting a little piease of tissue on top of it.

Battery Life still need to check, at this very moment I disconnected the charger and after 15mins it reads "8h48"....let's see how it actually turns out but I am pretty sure it didnt decrease the battery time ;-)


In one hour I had it installed plus Win7 running!

Here are the benchmark compared to the 640GB Western Digital Drive I have installed:
(Note that I firstly installed the firmware update!!)

Traditional HDD:


64GB SSD hald slim:



Really feels much nicer now to work with, plus, it is now 100% silent and no vibrations at all when not using the WD HDD!! (I put all most relevant docs I am using plus all music to the SSD so hardly use the big one).



-Even when not accessing the WD hard drive, I hear a clicking noise from time to time that was not there when I only had the 2.5 Disk installed (I used QuietHDD, but now it does not resolve it) EDIT: using wdidle3.exe from WD with parameter /D disabled the clicks, now its all quiet. Only my desktop lamp makes noise (did not know before ;-) )


Thanks to MyDigitalSSD & Vihsadas for his great review!!

Cheers!

 

hi there, I removed the glued tape and inserted a sim card.. why it isn't working?

 

Does your notebook have the actual 3G modem?
The fact that it does have a sim slot doesn't mean it does have a modem- some models do other's don't depending on a configuration you bought.

 

well the model is: 3810tz-414g32n

can you please help me? and if it doesn't have the 3g modem, which is the original one that comes with 3810 laptops?

 

This particular unit doesn't have a 3G modem as far as I can see.
There ere two modules used on it QUALCOMM 3G MODULE GOBI2000 (Acer part number LC.21300.011) and OPTION 3G MODULE GTM382EL (OPTION is a name of the company, Acer part number LC.21300.007).

Mind you there were also normal antennas (Wi-Fi only) and combo antennas (Wi-Fi and 3G) so you may have to replace it too.

Service manual: http://tim.id.au/laptops/acer/aspire 3810t 3810tz.pdf

 

ok thank you very much! which one is the best between Qualcomm and Option? Will I be able to use the slot behind the battery? Do you know the part number for the combo antennas?

 

I have no idea which is better. Part number for the antenna is in the service manual.

 

Recently modded my 3810t with a backlit keyboard (inspired by the thread How to add a backlit keyboard to 3820t,ironically). It wasn't the hardest thing to do but the tabs need some filing, and as for the keyboard, I sourced it from alibaba.com for a great price ( [email protected], refer to Robert).

Cost me less than 30 usd, as oppose to the rip-off price on ebay. Shipping wasn't the fastest, and in fact the keyboard shipped to me was of wrong model. But they shipped me the correct one right away after complaining. I sold the wrong keyboard and paid for the shipping, again. But fair enough.

Anyway, the highlight of my post is to let anyone interested in fixing this keyboard, the source of my power for the keyboard. As of any 3810t, there is a unused half slim ssd port. I measured the output from the flexible cable and soldered wire to it. For some reason I cannot solder the negative terminal to the same flexible cable's ground ( this will result in 0 voltage), hence I ground it to the metal cover right under the keyboard. Works perfectly.

The advantages of sourcing from there are :
1) You can choose 3.3v or 5v for brightness
2) You do not have to mess with the mainboard. Flex cable can be purchased on ebay if you screwed up.
3) Keyboard's light goes off as computer goes into sleep mode

So far so good. Hope this post will help someone out there. Good day.

 

Hey there! Just wondering if you think this mod will work with an OS loaded SSD already loaded into the half-slim slot! (That's what I'm using).

 

Just wondering if the OP still has the original pictures ? They were incredibly useful and I'd love to use them for my bluetooth module and SSD install.

Thanks!

 

I still refer to this thread as it is useful. Im still using this laptop, mine is a AS3810TZ with bluetooth mod.

I am thinking of getting the Half-slim SATA II drives recommended but see that they are out of stock. I have seen this:

SSD Disk Half Slim series SATA II : Xstra 128GB Solid State Disk SATA II Half Slim series MLC-H6201

Is this a suitable alternative? Do you think it would work ok? I dont really understand the whole thing too much as I havent followed developments of SSDs but I would hate to have an experience like the Transcend drives that another user described (Vihsadas).

If not Ill just wait for the 64GB recommended ones come back in to stock even though I prefer a 128GB.

Thanks guys, Ill keep ready this until my laptop dies!

 

Why would you want to use a half sized one? Just got a normal sized Toshiba 64GB and it works fine.

I would like to know about that Bluetooth guide too