New Laptop: Acer Extensa 4420-5237

Picked this up at best buy today for $499. So far I like it, especially for the cost. It didnt have too much crapware installed, its peppy and the first run yeiled ~3 hours battery life.

Couple of questions:

1. How do i get rid of the blank partition? Is there a utility to remove it?

2. Does the ATI Xpress 1250 have dedicated or shared or combined memory? Online i see 256mb dedicated plus shared... but it seems weird that a low end laptop would have a 256mb of dedicated video ram.

3. Anyone else have this laptop? What luck have you had with it so far? Is $499 a good deal for it IYO?

Specs:

AMD Athlon(TM) 64 X2 1.8 ghz
14.1" WXGA widescreen LCD with CrystalBrite technology
2GB PC2-5300 DDR2 SDRAM
160GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
Double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW
ATI RADEON X1250 Up to 896MB HyperMemory

 

I got one myself today... also BB for $499. I like it, the 14.1" screen is just right... I was afraid it might be too small because all my past PCs were 15.4".. now I think 14.1" is the best choice. Oh, the pics on BB website do not do this pc justice... the finish and execution has an European(BMWish) feel to it... the paint on the cover and surface is kind of a charcoal-gray metallic with mica silver mixed it, nice firm keys, a few chrome trimmings.. the only thing is the paint is rather thin compared to HPs(I suspect it will be more prone to scratches and fading around the palm rests). Last week I passed on an HP dv6704us for $549.. it had same everything except it had Athlon 64x2 TK-57, 15.4" screen... so I feel I got a good deal this week.

The only thing I don't like about this pc is the fan runs a lot... even when no program is running. Even doing nothing the fan turns on every 30sec... it doesn't get hot and the noise is more annoying than alarming.

And regarding your question... ATI 1250 is not a discrete video card, however, from my research on here and other forums it outranks GMA X3100 and GeForce 7150M.. I have played games on HP dv6707us fitted with 7150M and I really can't tell if one's better than the other.

My question is does anyone have the same pc and do you have problem with the fan like I do? I've been doing some research and some have suggested that the fan problem can be fixed by shutting down some start programs on the Windows Defender- my question is which programs should you turn off and not compromise features/security?

Aside from the fan constantly running I would rate this pc a very good buy... fast, excellent detail, vibrant graphics, palm rest stays cool, compact... hey, even the Vista is not terrible like many have commented

 

By blank partition I assume you mean the hidden partition or PQ Service?

If I have understood your question correctly then it is strongly advised that you do not erase or fiddle with this partition as it contains the Acer recovery utility which allows recovery of you OS in event of everything going pear shaped

If you are referring to the D partition than, IMHO, I would also leave it intact because that is what you would use to store valuable documents, files etc.etc which will not be lost should you decide to restore your system using the Acer Recovery tools.

I hope this makes sense

Cheers,
Theo

 

I just got this same notebook for same price yesterday and believe you are talking about the blank data partition. You will be able to get rid of this by doing the following:

1. Click on 'Start' and then right click on 'Computer' and select 'Manage'.

2. Once the Computer Management console loads, click on Disk Management and you should see three partitions on the hard disk. The first is the hidden recovery partition that TeeJay 44 mentioned. I agree that you should leave this alone, as this will let you reset the notebook to the day it was first turned on should you have need/want to do this. The second partition will be your system c: drive and the third will be the blank data partition that TeeJay 44 also mentioned. There are a few different theories about how to best partition a hard disk, and I actually like separating my OS/programs from data.....however, if you want to delete this blank partition...

3. Right click on it and select 'delete partition' (I believe.....writing this from my Windows XP work machine and so don't have my notebook with me to check).

4. You will now have that much unpartitioned space and so can expand your system partition to take up the unpartitioned space. To do this simply right click on the system partition and select 'expand' or similar.

One nice feature Vista has that XP doesn't is the ability to resize your partitions from this Disk Management console.

As stated the video is onboard and thus shared with system RAM....so not a gaming machine.....but obviously gamers aren't looking at $500 notebooks. If you won't be doing extensive gaming, audio/video editing, 3D modeling, and/or other high end pursuits the graphics should be fine. Vista performance score is a 3.0 due to the onboard graphics.....all other components are scored between like 4.5 and 5.5.

As stated, I also just bought this notebook. I ran out to Best Buy just to look at it after seeing the ad in the Sunday paper. I didn't even need a notebook as my two-year-old 15.4" Acer was still meeting my needs......but after looking it over I had to get it. I agree with engsohere that the 14.1" size is the perfect balance size-wise between big enough to watch a movie and small enough to easily carry. The finish and overall design is also pretty nice....definitely doesn't look like a $500 notebook. I also really like the gently curved keyboard and the USB ports on three sides. My previous Acer notebook (Aspire 1691wlci) was nothing but great (routinely got 4 hours of use from the battery when using NHC). I also overclocked it from stock 1.6 to 2.13 with pin mod, so it worked out well for me. The only negative things I have to say about this notebook so far are:

1. It's a little thick......would be nice if it was closer to the MacBook Air.....but then again, I'm no Mac fanboy and definitely enjoy having the $1300 difference in my pocket instead of Steve Jobs.

2. Some of the preinstalled Acer software is a little annoying, some is useful. Not sure yet if I'll uninstall the empowering stuff as it doesn't have all the options that would be nice for network and power settings.

3. It comes with some third-party junk, but really not that bad. I probably only spent about 30 minutes uninstalling junk. This is a heck of a lot better than the experience I've had with any Dell desktop/notebook.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this notebook. What you get for the money is better than anything else I've seen among sub $700 notebooks, and not just by a little but by a lot. If you can get it at Best Buy (or wherever else) for $499, you got a great deal. If you can only get it for list of $650, it's still solid. If anyone knows of better specs/price, definitely post as this would be helpful to those looking for a budget notebook.

Andrew

 

I haven't noticed the fan doing this, but have only been around it for half a day and so wouldn't be surprised if the fan kicks on and off a lot. There are a couple of options for dealing with this.....

1. Get a notebook cooler which in theory will lower the overall temps and thus keep the fan from being so active.

2. Use Notebook Hardware Control or other software to adjust speed at which the processor is running. If you are only browsing the web you really don't need all the processing power....so you can set NHC to throttle this down. The slower the CPU runs the less heat and the less heat the less need for cooling. I like using the 'Dynamic Switching' setting which will automatically adjust the CPU to what I'm doing. Generally when I have it on this setting the notebook fan won't come on unless I start doing something fairly intensive like converting video. I know there are other programs out there for doing this same sort of thing, but only have a fair amount of experience with NHC.

Good luck,

Andrew

 

Andrew, thanks for the solid feedback. Well, this morning I did some testing and timed the fan cycle- this was done with nothing running and no browser open- the result is as follow...

16:13 off
16:49 on
17:22 off
17:56 on
18:33 off
19:08 on
19:50 off

putting an object underneath the pc yielded the same results...

Basically the fan turns on/off everything 33-38 sec.. this is just unacceptable for a new pc. I bought this pc because my friend has an HP dv6707us running on Athlon 64x2 Tk-57, and it's dead quiet- the fan only turns on during start up and it's almost unnoticeable, also it doesn't run during web surfing or game application. I thought this pc would deliver similar performance, but I guess HP have better fan design... either that or my unit is defective. I'm considering returning the pc to BB, but they do charge a 15% restocking fee.. plus I'll be hard pressed to find another 14.1" sized pc in this price range with 2GB, 160 HD, ATI 1250.

I really don't think the cooling fan would make a difference in the case since the fan is running with nothing on... and I don't want to spend extra money on software to fix this problem... not belittling your input, Andrew, but I got this pc because of the great value- now I'm not so sure anymore. To be fair, this is somewhat nitpicking... like I said before, it's more annoying than alarming.

Andrew, I would still like to know your experience with this pc after you get fully acquainted with it. If possible could you time the fan cycle under the same condition as I did in my experiemnt? If everything's OK with yours then I will consider returning mine for another one.

Thanks again

 

I was referring to the D:... I guess that is a good point that itll keep your documents, though along time ago when i played with partitions it always seemed like things would get corrupted...

 

I picked one of these up yesterday at BB and so far so good no issue with the fan running, in fact it is mighty quiet compared to the old Inspiron 8000 that this laptop replaced, I can barely hear it.

I noticed that there is a Bluetooth On/Off Switch at the front of the case but no internal Bluetooth module, any idea which module works with this unit?
And how to go about installing one? I removed the back cover but could not see any socket or how to mount the module.

 

yeah, i took off yahoo toolbar, norton, and office right away. The e software at first looked like it was going to have to go, but after playing with it for a bit, i may just keep it...

 

My laptop appears to kick on the fan every 2-3 minutes, not every 30 seconds as yours did.

 

I was thinking about the same thing, least something to try after warranty expires!

I also agree, the fan is quiet on the acer.

 

I had this notebook in class tonight and noticed the fan was turning on and off a lot.....though it is pretty quiet when it is on. Still, it is noticeable, so I think what I'll do is use Arctic Silver 5 on the processor/heatsink. I did this with my last Acer and definitely noticed a drop in overall temps, and also in how often the fan came on. Don't know why I didn't think of this before.

I probably won't have time to do the fan on/off time test and also redo the processor/heatsink with Arctic Silver until this weekend. Once I do this I'll post back with my results.

One last thing engsohere....the software I was referring to, NHC, is free.

Andrew

 

Andrew, thanks for that info.. I think without question the fan operation on this pc is subpar at best. And last night while surfing it bogged down for no reason and then the pages stopped loading altogether.. even the Windows browser stopped working.. after reboot everything is working fine now.

Another minor annoyance- if you shut it off and leave the charger plugged in you can hear a low humming noise.. it's almost like a mini fridge running.

Don't get me wrong, I still think this little pc has a lot going for it, but the quality is just not up to HP or Lenovo standards. I'm not taking any chances with this pc.. the fan problem will not get better and I will wash my hands and take it as a lesson learned: you get what you pay for. I will wait until next week when it goes back to regular price and sell mine for what I paid.

 

Maybe you have better ears than me, but i do not find the volume of the fan too annoying. I do agree that the fan goes on more than my other HP. I had a fujitsu and this fan is half the volume of the fan noise on that one.

Hands down, this laptop is better than the HP DV2000 that i paid 650 dollars for last week when it was onsale at best buy. The HP came with a ton of crapware, was slower even though it sported a turion processor. I dont know what else to say.

 

Got mine today. The first thing I did was blow away VISTA and installed XP pro ("Hasta la Vista-Vista"). As far as I'm concerned, Vista is still in Beta, (you are just the unpaid tester). Vista is a great idea and eventually it will replace XP, but not anytime soon. At least not until after SP1 or SP2.

Second of all, this thing SCREEMS on XP!!!! Yes, it screams. Running this on Vista is like driving your car with a trunk full of bricks. All that eye candy is needless overhead. And it doesn't really support everything like XP does.
Enough about XP.

My last laptop was a Sony Vaio. I loved it, small 13 inch screen and a 4.5 to 5 hour battery life. But it cost $1500!!! This one is a little bigger and $1000 cheaper. So far it seems like I made a great buy. Only time will tell.

 

We bought the Acer 4420 at Best Buy the other night. On this unit the fan does run a lot, it's a bit noisier then my Toshiba.
It could be that a bios update would bring better fan control. That's what helped my Micro Express 66B PC heat sink fan noise problem. Also I think the AMD's are known to run with somewhat more heat then the Intel Core 2 Duo's. My performance settings are on default which is "balanced".
I believe tapping F2 at bootup takes this machine into Bios setup. I will report back with what Bios version I have and would like to hear from anyone who might have any version that would be different.
Overall this does seem like a lot of laptop for the money.

 

As it turns out the Bios is verion 1.16 on this Acer 4420. What else could be different that makes some of these 4420 laptops run with a busy fan and some not so busy? My CPU useage is between 1% to 10% while I'm typeing this and the fan is still running more then it is off.

 

WHy did everyone have to mention the fan? Now i notice it too one of those things!!!

 

I haven't noticed the fan, guess I should turn off the tv.

I picked up one of these at BB yesterday and I am very happy with it. Good quality etc. I also wiped off vista in favor of xp. Problem I am having is with the audio, or should I say lack of.. Everything went smooth, I did end up using the Omega video drivers as the ati drivers from Acers site didn't work for me. But other than the audio issue all the other drivers from Acer's site worked. I have downloaded the audio driver from Acer, and also a driver from the Realtek site. In device manager I have a 'flag' on that says something about high definition audio bus?? I searched and checked out a couple microsoft hot fixes but they didn't help either. I am fairly confident that I have the correct drivers but for whatever reason they won't work. I even reformated again so I could install the audio drivers first, but also no go. If anyone has any tips I sure would appreciate some input.

thanks

 

Try downloading Speedfan and see if the fan can be controlled.

Otherwise, google for undervolting tutorials to bring the temperature lower (and the fan should kick in less often)

 

Have you tried the hotfixes that came with the driver? It should be KB888111. If you're installing 64bit then you'll need KB901105 for 64bit.

 

i bought a 4420-5237 yesterday at bb. i was very pleased to find a 14.1" laptop with 2 gigs of memory at such a low price of 499. i do hear the fan come on a lot, as mentioned previously, however i do not find it loud or annoying. i had previously purchased on the acer laptpops from wm that was designed by bmw, with 3 gigs and 15.4" screen for 698. while the 3 gig model was a bit peppier and booted quicker and had way, WAY better sound, i much prefer this 14.1 inch model. the sound, as mentioned already, is very low and hollow. i think this is a good buy for the specs. i do want to get rid of this vista. it's my first experience with it... i don't really like it too much. i'd like to install xp. should i upgrade at least 1 of the 1 gig ddr's to a 2 gig, or even both to 2 to boost to 4? would that make a difference on xp?

 

Hey guys, I tried to do the xp downgrade and my new 4420 keeps shutting down and restarting randomly. I get the blue screen but it flickers so fast I can't read the message.

I also suspect that this might be the ATI driver, so I'm wondering how all successful people installed the ATI driver? Did all of you not use the catalyst? And if you did use the catalyst, did you first install the video driver using device manager and then the catalyst or just run the catlyst from the ATI program?

By the way, when you formatted and repartitioned, what program did you use? Did you do a full format or a quick format?

For all who decided to get rid of the catlyst, did you use safe mode to get rid of it?

PS: I had no problem with the realtek sound driver. You need to use the setup.exe program in the .zip file and not try to install it with device manager.

-Andrew

 

I too picked this beauty up at BB on Sunday. IMO, you would be hard pressed to find a laptop that matches this one for the kind of money. 2 GB of ram is really unheard of at this price point. I do notice the fan comes on but it is about every few minutes. Very tolerable. I just can't say enough about this unit. It is an incredible deal.

 

Unless you're using 64 BIT windows, you won't get what you want. I don't believe windows can address more than 3GB of ram. If you go to 4 not sure what would happen, but it won't help. Second thing, I don't recall if the 4420 is dual channel ram or not. If it is, by going with unmatched ram you would actually slow down the speed the ram works at.

 

I GOT IT!!! XP is finally running beautifly and stable. Anyone wanting to update to Windows XP, DO follow the following tips!!!

1. On Vista, use acers e-recovery system to do a full backup of the factory system on the 2 dvds. You must do this-- that way if you have to send it for service in you can put vista back.
2. Download all XP drivers (modem, SMbus, ATI, bluetooth, etc) from acer.com FIRST and copy them to a separate CD/DVD BEFORE formatting HD.
3. Use ACER's downgrade .iso and run it prior to installing XP.
4. When you install XP, do a full format (not quick) and start fresh with ALL partitions!
5. After XP is installed, you have to manually copy and install all drivers into a file C:\drivers that you create. then you have to individually use the setup programs (except ATI video, the Modem, and USB)
6. Use device manager and Windows update to install the USB drivers. It will find them on the internet.
7. DO NOT INSTALL ATI CATYLIST! Just use device manager to install the ATI driver in the ATI file. Then install SMbus that you downloaded from ACER's site. THEN insteall omega drivers which is AWESOME.

good luck-- its worth it. The system FLIES with XP

-Andrew

 

Where is the "downgrade ISO"?
What is the file called?

I've discovered the problems people have been having with the ATI xpress card on these machines is certainly software based. Most likely the catalyst software. Even on my last machine, I disabled it and almost uninstalled it, save for a few useful functions the Control Center had.

Also, can anyone tell me what the driver files are called for the following?

Ethernet controller
Mass Storage controller
Modem device on high definition audio bus
SM bus controller

I'm running the AMD X2 processor as opposed to the intel processor if that helps.

This is a great machine, but configuring it for XP has been a bit of a pain.

M.

 

thanks for the advice! i knew there was something about 64 bit, but couldn't recall. so, vista isn't 64 bit, eh? speaking of vista... i've had my unit randomly log off and reboot "configuring updates" w/out any permission to do so.
is this one of those "things" about vista? i'm thinking i should switch to xp.

 

the unit just shut itself off spontaneously just now. ????

 

That's pretty odd. When you say shut off, completely off or reboot? Was it plugged in when this happened? If on battery, I've noticed the warning doesn't always present for a low battery. Did it shut off because the battery got below the critical point? It may also be something bad in the ram. You may want to check this http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=399 out. It talks about memory testing and has a link to a tester you can down load.

 

I just bought one a couple days ago. I was formatting a disk (over an hour ago), it said not to interrupt now the screen has gone blank and it seems to be froze?

 

I would suggest you read the link from my previous post. I hadn't fully read the whole thing myself and found this that may be very helpful "Memory Diagnostics Tool for Vista

* Hit the start button (control-ESC) and type "memory". The new Vista start button will automatically present and highlight "Memory Diagnostics Tool" so you just need to hit ENTER.
* It will prompt you to reboot now or run the memory test later.
* On the next reboot, the test will automatically run in normal mode twice.
* You can use F1 to customize the testing options.
* Select "Extended" memory test.
* Tab twice to jump to the repeat settings. You can set the number of tests to 0 to have it run indefinitely until you hit the ESC key.
* Hit the ESC a few times to break out of the testing cycle and boot Vista.
* Find the error report at C:-Windows-System32-LogFiles-MemDiag (replace - with backslash since wordpress refuses to show the backslash character) "

On other computers I've had, when my memory was bad, it would reboot. From this article, it sounds like freezing is another possibility.

 

Ethernet Controller: Lan Marvell

Mass Storage: Card reader drivers for xp

Modem Device: agere modem

SM Bus: SM bus driver

 

by the way, did anyone figure out how to resolve the fan issue? The fan runs constantly when i put it on my mattress on my bed but when i put it on a desk its on and off every 30 seconds. driving me crazy

 

Just out of curiosity, did you download these drivers on the Acer site, or from the individual manufacturers sites?

I can only find the vista drivers for these items on the Acer site. Did you just use the Vista drivers?

Thank you for all your help!

M.

 

I think I may have just answered my own questions there.
Do you need to have automatic updates turned on in order to download and update drivers from the device manager?
I'm retarded and can't remember if you do or not.

M.

 

no. And on the acer site.. you can find the xp drivers in the same location as the vista drivers. be sure to get the xp drivers. Broadcomm is the wireless fyi.

 

anyone figure out how to fix the fan?

also, what are your color settings? I had to bump the gamma down to about 0.9

the colors are definitely too red. Anyone have a calibration device?

 

just had it randomly reboot. frustrating.

 

Thanks for the tips! I had the blue screen problem too, and was able to get a photo with my digital camera before the system rebooted. It's a infinite loop problem in ati2dvag. Upgrading to the Omega drivers solved the problem!

FWIW, I didn't use the downgrade ISO - I just deleted all partitions and created new ones. Also, during the XP installation, I did a quick format.

Bill

 

I can't stand the fan issues. The laptop is going back if it is not resolved in the next 7 days. I wrote to Acer and installed speedfan to no avail. I wrote to the speedfan guy. The issue is that the fan comes on at 36 degrees celsius and cuts out at 32. I think there is either some way to control the fan through software.

 

I FIXED THE FAN!!!!

I FIXED THE FAN!!!!

12 hours later and I DID IT. It now runs constantly on low and i can turn it off and on manually. I am fine with the low hum.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. If anybody cares to know... let me know. I may be the only one who cares.

 

and look!! da da da!! I fixed the fan1!

and check out my graphics mods. This laptop is now hot.

 

Why don't you just post your fix to make it easy if somebody decides they want to make or consider the change? Is it something easy to do/undo? Just share the knowledge.

 

Hehehe. Hey I have spent hours of this tearing my hair out. I just wanted the gratification of someone saying "please help me fix the fan." Often, nobody says thank you. Anyway.... here it is. The drumroll please.

Disclaimer: I'm not sure if this will work in Windows Vista but it works perfectly for me in XP. In Vista, you might have to back the system up and then uninstall e-power management.

1. Go to Acer's website and go the drivers section of the [/I]Acer Aspire 3610[/I] yes I said 3610. Download "e-manager 1.0.29.44" and install. A new desktop icon will appear. Open the program, click "Acer settings". DO NOT select "Display device" because this will momntarily crash the computer.

2. Click "Boot Options."

3. Click "Fan Always On

4. Click "Apply."

5. Watch as the annoying fan turns on and stays on and never shuts down! Watch your laptop stay cooler than ever. You don't even need to run e-manager again.

If you want the fan off when you shut the lid, you will need to set the hibernate mode in power options and hibernate instead of shutting down. If you don't have a hibernate icon in the start menu, when you go to start ---> turn off, hit shift and it will come up.

I am just glad that fan has stopped going on and off and on and off and on and off.

Enjoy!

 

Did a complete reformat and followed Snoopys advice, and now I've got a sweet laptop running XP at sick speeds! Mine's been on for at least 12 hours now and no blank screen. Almost zero problems total (any problems I've had have resulted from general bugginess I've noticed happens when you freshly install XP and go on a mad install rampage of all your favorite software and such). Took me a minute to realise that the rest of the XP drivers were on the European site. What a pain that the American site doesn't have all of them.
Thank you Snoop!
Personally, the fan thing doesn't bother me much at all but thank you for the fan fix in case it turns out to bug me later.

M.

 

Great! Glad to hear it's working out for everybody. I'm starting to love this laptop, especially the clicky keyboard.

Is there any way I can put my suggestions in a sticky? If so I'll write with more specificity.

Anyway, I actually think it's a good idea to run the fan on low at all times. The reason is that I've been watching the temperatures with a temperature monitor, and running the fan on and off, on and off simply keeps the core only a few degrees from getting too hot and going into protect mode, where everything spontaneously shuts down to prevent hardware damage. This will happen as well if you are "suffocating" the fan, like having sitting the laptop on a deep mattress.

 

Just bought this laptop tonight, I like it so far.

I want to know what programs can I erase? I ditched NIS, Adobe, Microsoft Word and a couple other programs as well.

Can I erase all that Acer stuff and can I erase that SQL stuff as well?

 

I just picked up this laptop yesterday as well - I previously had an Acer Aspire 3000 that fit my need for a laptop, although it had poor battery life.

Right off the bat this is my first experience with Vista and I had a horrible time connecting to my home network until it ran through all the updates (be forewarned - update). I shutdown the management utility Acer provides because I read mixed reviews, but I was wondering what everyone uninstalled also. It seems that there is something constantly running and draining a bit of CPU.

The fan doesn't really bother me, but I think I will make it run constantly like some of the other posters in this thread have.

Hopefully a few more people post up some tricks. I may eventually load XP up, not sure I like Vista and there are a few programs I use for work that will not work with it anyway.