Problems with Acer Ferrari 3000!!

Hi all,

This is going to lengthy, so I apologize in advance.

Recently, when I boot up, I get the following error in the DOS screen, and a loud Beep. Some of the information below might be redundent, but I do not know what exactly is the problem, so I thought I might as well include the information from the whole screen.

===============================================

PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.0
Copyright 1985-2002 Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
All Rights Reserved.
BIOS Version ZI3 Q3A22

VIA VLink KM400 (VT8378+8235)
CPU = mobile AMD Atholon(tm) XP processor 2500+
639K System RAM Passed
510M Extended RAM Passed
57706K Cache SRAM Passed
System BIOS shadowed
Fixed Disk 0: Hitachi_DK23FA-60
ATAPI CD-ROM: HL-DT-ST DVD-RW GWA-4040N
Mouse Initialized
ERROR
0271: Check date & time settings
WARNING
0251: System CMOS checksum bad - Default configuration used

Press <F1> to resume, <F2> to Setup

===============================================

F2 just brings me to the BIOS page, and I can exit and it will login to XP.

F1 will also login to XP, but for some reason, my date is reset to Jan 01 2002 (same problem if I were to press F2 and login to XP after exiting BIOS).

Someone told me that if I hear a Beep while booting up, it might be due to bad RAM, so when I click "Properties" on "My Computer", I still detect 512MB RAM.

Can anyone help? I still seem to be able to use my laptop as per normal.


As a side note in an unrelated issue.
When I first bought my laptop, I updated to SP2, and since then, my bluetooth has not been working. When I boot into XP, I get a message that tells me "Bluetooth stack not found". And when I click on the Bluetooth button on the laptop (next to the wireless button), I get the following message "No Device". I have tried reinstalling the drivers that came with the CD, and also tried downloading drivers from ACER's support page, but could never get Bluetooth to work again.

Last question.
I use my laptop to play WOW, and due to having only 512MB of RAM, I lag like crazy within the game especially if there are lots of other players about. So I added another chip of 512 into the system, and when I login to the game, I get a black screen with only the mouse pointer. The system did not freeze, and I can actually move my mouse pointer over to the "OK" or "Cancel" buttons within the game and click on it to exit back out to Windows (Note: I cannot actually see the buttons, but am remembering the button position on the screen). When i remove the new ram, everything goes back to normal. I have tried 6 different generic RAMs, all matching manufacturer's specifications, and even tried a Kingston RAM thats supposedly to be made just for this laptop. All with the same problem. With the new ram chip in place, I can boot into Windows fine, and it even detects 1gig of RAM. It is only when I try to enter the game when this problem occurs. I have also tried removing my original 512 RAM chip, and using 2 x 512 chips of the exact same make but to no avail.

Can anyone help?


Once again, sorry for the lengthy post.

Thanks in advance.

 

For the date issue - that is odd - perhaps System Restore is set to restore it to the same settings every time you boot, might want to check that. I'd try loading the setup defaults in the BIOS.

If you hear a beep, that is nothing to worry about - I hear beeps on some computers after they finish loading the BIOS. Could try running Memtest to see if your RAM is bad, although from what I gathered from your problem description, it doesn't seem that is the case.

If you feel comfortable, open the notebook and reseat the bluetooth card. Sometimes that is a quick fix. Also, try completely uninstalling the card - as in, go into the device manager and uninstall it, along with any drivers. Make sure that the Btooth is not disabled in the BIOS.

As for the RAM issue...sounds like that might be fixed by a BIOS update - check Acer's website.

 

I guess i can try doing some of the things you suggest,

but its wierd, because it just started doing it by itself all of a sudden when i booted it up one day.

I am positive no one meddled with any BIOS settings.

 

My daughter reported very nearly identical behavior with her Ferrari 3000 but it occurred after a glass of water went through the keyboard ("it was the cat Dad..."). After it dried out, when she started it up, she got the loud beeping, and had to go through the Bios to start up. Both prior to the water and after, she also saw the Bluetooth error message as you reported.

There was one additional problem I noted in that the "tap to select" feature of the mouse pad wasn't functional.

I didn't get the laptop until a week or so after the water went through. I did a number of things, and the result is now things seem fine. Here is everything I did:

1) Unscrewed and opened all of the doors on underside and removed and reseated the cards I could get to, including the battery.

2) I gave the keyboard and mouse pad a good cleaning by wiping with a cleaner, and vaccuming out the keyboard.

The water didn't seem to do any damage that is evident yet. I do think it some how brought on the beeping issue. I suspect it was related to one of the connectors I fiddled with.

Hope this helps.

 

About the bluetooth:

I tried to flash my BIOS with a newer version. I successfully updated my BIOS but i get the same error...

Is there any on-line guide/web site for inspecting and/or making repairs to laptops?

 

greetz friend twilight

Known problems with XP SP2 and bluetooth

"Your Bluetooth Software license does not include use with this Bluetooth Device"
or "Cannot find bluetooth device" errors.
See ---> http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?ForumId=8&TopicId=2200

If it works not post here, I will return to aid

my best wishes to you

 

Sounds like your CMOS settings are not saving. Perhaps you could check the CMOS battery. Also if you can find the clear CMOS jumper maybe it's set incorrectly although I don't know how this would be the case.

 

I installed in the past SP2. Its not the problem in the software, its in the hardware.

I runned Linux in my laptop. SuSE 9.3 Pro with the driver to make the hotkeys working.

But it just dont work/activate.

I continue to get the error "No device".

I used the recovery CDs bundled with the laptop with no results.

thanks for the help BTW.

P.S. How can I find the bluetooth card to reset it? There is always a reset button in every intergrated to the motherboard bluetooth in laptops?