My last hope goes to you guys

I've got an Aspire 5738ZG that's been acting out for some time now. No it's not hormones...

Once a day, twice a day, sometimes weeks between, it freezes in the most peculiar way. I'll be watching a movie, listening to music, playing a game and everything stops, but the sound still goes on... though distorted and in slow motion. Only way to solve it is to reboot, though once or twice I waited it out and it came back to life.
I've already sent my lappy to Germany for repairs, and it came back the same way. Now I'm thinking drivers, or maybe a codec? Could it be my software that's the assailant here? It gets kinda hot also, and so is the adapter when using it for more than a few hours, could it be a faulty, dusty fan or heatsink? I think not though, since the germans cleaned it thoroghly (at least it said so in the receipt)

I've tried writing here before and on several other forums, but the only answer I get is to do a recovery. Done that, check.

I bought it online, and they won't give me a refund, nor will they replace it so that's out of the question.

Please help, someone?

Specs:
Windows Home Premium x64
Pentium Dual Core @ 2.30 GHz
4G RAM
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650
Realtek HD

Thanks in advance

 

Welcome to the forums ... I had one of these devices & the main problem of that model is that the intake vents are closed so it overheats like crazy ... can you download hwinfo64 and check the temperature of the CPU & GPU of the laptop ?

 

I'm thinking you have a faulty SMD chip. If you already done recovery and have all drivers up to date including bios, it has to be a faulty chip.

 

I downloaded the software, and here's what I got:

Core0: 53C with 28% usage, Max: 60C with 58% usage
Core1: 53C with 32% usage, Max: 60C with 57% usage
HDD: 48C
GPU: 55 - 60C
GPU fan speed: 30%

The note I got fom the German repair centre said that they had cleaned the fan, so it's not a dust issue at least

Does these figures help any?

 

As for light usage these seem to be fine ... a little high ... but nothing alarming ... but I assume that on heavy load you may be reaching the danger zone ... but since you say it has nothing to do with the usage then temperature wise that is not your problem

Before I gave Acer my laptop for a replacement it was acting very weird it used to hang like urs but sometimes it didn't open after the shutdown and I had to wait for hours or days in some cases ... the problem was the HDD-Mobo connection ... can you download HDTunePro and post the HDD report to see if there is anything alarming ?

 

I checked the HDD and everything looked ok. I caved and talked to Acer support, and yes, it's going off to Germany for the third time. My warranty expires in September, som I'm thinking of getting Acer Advantage, considering all this crap I had to put up with so far...

Thank you all for your help, it means a lot.
Sincerely, dia

 

You are welcome ... It's always better to make the best out of the warranty

 

I'm not sure if this could be the cause but I've had similar problems with decreased fps while playing games and it was due to Windows performing a scheduled run of Windows Experience Index (or something like that). And like you've mentioned it will go back to normal if you wait it out (if this is the cause of course). When/if it happens again, check in task manager if "WinSAT.exe" is running.

 

Is it possible that Acer warranty service is similar to Dells?

If so, once your machine has been sent in 3 times for the same issue, you can usually get a new laptop as a replacement.