Terribly disapointed with Aspire 1802SWMi

I ran the test and here's what i got, pretty similar to markiet

HD Tune: TOSHIBA MK8025GAS Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 14.5 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 27.5 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 22.7 MB/sec
Access Time : 19.5 ms
Burst Rate : 28.4 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 1.5%

i wonder what this means, will test on another system to see what i get. If anyone knows if this is normal or if there is a way to improve let us know.

Thanx

 

Everyone that runs the HDTune program on their Aspire 1800 series notebook, please post your specs here. Also, please take a look at the Info tab in the program and indicate what UDMA mode your HDD is running at.

Thanks.

-Vb-

 

i tried turning all the power settings to "NEVER" and rebooted - made not difference the controller still says UDMA2 in system hardwar properties and hdtune still says that it is UDMA2.

Is there someother power management software on the PC?

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Jiminy

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Davila
GEORGE

You will NOT see a bluetooth adapter in the device manager. You have to install drivers first. IF you have a BT card, all you have to do is press the (blue) BT button to enable it. Then you will see the install wizard for the BT card.

This noise you speak of, is it a vibration? I get a little vibration when I did your "ring" test. The vibration is on the right side of the palmrest in between the numberpad and acer sticker. This could be caused by me taking out the battery. A little pressure and it's gone. Speakers work fine and the subwoofer is sweet on doom3 demo.[]
/george

<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

1) As I mentioned in earlier posts, I did press the bluetooth button and the reply I got was "No Bluetooth Device"

2) Yeap, it is vibration that I get and it is quite annoying, though it is not fixed on several buttons. Most of the times the sound (as a result of vibration) comes from the area you mentioned but that is not 100%. Many times I got vibration from the caps lock key, or the tab key, even from the escape key. And yes; if I merely touch the vibrating keys the sound stops, but the sound resume immediately after I remove my hands from the keyboard.

Looking forward to your comments, even if you haven't come up with a solution to my problems.
Thanks in advance

PS: Sorry it took so long for me to reply.

 

Hi to everyone I'm new in this forum and I buy the 1802 next week.
I'm from Italy so please don't laufh me about my english writting skils.
I'm very surprised to know that the drive is looked at ATA2 but I'm confident Acer and intell change this situation.
The benchmarch you have done it's not so bad .
My ATA5 disk in office have average transfer rate of 36.3MB/s and at home with 2 7k2 ATA6 disks in raid 55.2MB/s .
If you try to run sandra and compare the results to other 2.5" disks the value it's correct.
Ata 100 It's only a theorycally value bus could reach but there aren't disks capables to reach it.
What I'm surprised is to know that DVDRW is set as slave in the same bus of disk because every assembly a PC know that the best is to have it as master in the second ata channel to dont have pause to refill the buffer.
Of course use the DVDRW only with AC supply.
I'm quite sure that 18002 it's the best solution to have a desktop replacement notebook.
What I ask now is if the 1802 is noisy?
[ ]

I suppose so!

 

Anyone have tried to instal this version of chipset driver 6.1.0.1008.
A gigabite motherboard GA-8I915P-G use:

Intel 915P chipset
Processor
1. LGA 775 for Pentium® 4 Processor
Chipset
1. Northbridge : Intel® 915P
2. Southbridge : Intel® ICH6
So I suppose that they have the correct driver for the ich6.

Try it and post what happen ok.



I suppose so!

 

Hi folks,

Here is my HD Tune results. The main problem is the Min Rate. On this run, it went 5 times below 5.0 MB/sec with the lowest rate drop to 1.0 MB/sec. Once, I even acheive 0.3 MB/sec, yes 300 KB/sec... I can't beleive it. Of course, I have no other specific program running at the same time.

HD Tune: TOSHIBA MK8025GAS Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 1.0 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 27.6 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 20.4 MB/sec
Access Time : 22.7 ms
Burst Rate : 17.2 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 4.0%

I have to contact Acer Support, but being very busy lately, I didn't manage to do it by now.

Using Intel 6.2.1.1001 driver, I did try to replace the generic Windows IDE driver by Intel one (setup -INTELIDE). It works but didn't change anything regarding HD performance issue. Interface still stuck in U-DMA 2 mode.

Thank you all for your input. Keep posting... We might end up with something... I hope so [ ]

Jim

 

Try to unpack the setup file with winzip and you have the singular ini files to use manually in changing drivers.
I'll try as soon I have bought aspire 1802.
I know there are some problems but I'm confident to solve and I like to much it to dosent buy.
[ ]

I suppose so!

 

Hey guys,

I just got a pre-order copy of GuildWars [ ] (awesome game), but the CD won't read in my drive [ !]. Tried it on my desktop and it works fine . Does anyone know if this could be a firmware problem or something else [?].

Drive Specs: HL -DT-DT DVDRAM GSA-4080N

Any help wil be grately appreciated.

EDIT: it worked, just had to re-insert it

 

I had try using the burner to burn CD, but when it read up to 31%, it report "Power Calibration Error", and the process failed. So is there anyone know what is the problem... Had called Acer Malaysia, but they haven't got the answer.

 

What I'm surprised is the single ata channel, the reasons you don't enable the second ata channel is because there isn't the second ata chanell.
915P+ICH6 allow you to use 1 ata channel (2 pherifericals) and 2 sata channel.
915P+ICH6R 1 ata and 2 sata raid.
Please could you see inside the notebook if there are sata connectors?
Hard disk 2.5" sata is availlable now from toshiba.
May be that is the final soluction.
Acer has to thing about it.
Anyway the 1802 it's a good product enough I think.

I suppose so!

 

Could anyone try the memory bandwidth of 1802?
The ram has to be in dual channel so the sandra benckmark has to be good.
I'm really curios on it.


I suppose so!

 

Hi guys, remember me. I'm the one with a 1802wsmi that is not equiped with a bluetooth
I've been in constant contact with acer support the last week.
First they didn't realise that there was a sticker stating the presence of a bluetooth as a standard, then they came up with a fabulous statement which goes like this "There isn't a bluetooth with that laptop" and finally they requested a mail which i did send along with a photo of the sticker.
Anyway I'm still waiting for their next "reply"
By the way, how can we upload photos?

 

I believe that this has a predcott.
- How is the heat? Does it get uncomfortably hot and how is the fan noise?
- Where are the fans located and are they always on?

 

I run EVEREST Home Edition to test ram performance

RAM Read: 3813 Mb/s
RAM Write: 1602 Mb/s
RAM Latency: 2.5/3/3/7

Cheers
Jim

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by ilratman

 

Everyone write about performance but please write something about heat & noise of Acer1802:
- heat
- noise
maybe someone records sound sample.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by limerro

 

Hy folks

I was in a dealer shop here in italy and try 1802 he want to sell me.
Result is:
Hd effectivelly is in ide2 mode but I see that the value of trnasfer rate it's correct and in my opinion there isn't problem with hd.
The ide controller drivers is correct and system recognized correct southbridge, so i dont understand why only ide2 could be used.
In my pc i have a dvd reader and an hd and first is ide2 and second ide5!!!!
The problem could be the dvd writer that need a good bus speed that a single ide channel can't give him.
Anyone could try to use an external usb hd to burn a dvd?
The ram is in dual channel but not reach a good transer rate.
It's very strange to see so different value in reading vs writting, usually has to be the same.
The monitor it's bright and seems very good in quality.
I used it for an hour and the fan processor never started so I don't know if it produce noticable noise.

Thanks Maurizio

I suppose so!

 

Hello all,

Under the system properties->hardware->device manager, the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers node there are 2 entries: One is "Intel(R)82801 FB/FBM Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 266F" and the other is "Primary IDE channel". I suppose that the hardware wizard detects 2 controllers. If you notice the primary ide controller, you''l see that there's and irq number assigned to it, whereas there's no irq no. in the intel 82801 controller. I'm no hardware expert so does this makeany sense to you? Since thereis no irq on the intel 82801, that means that it's not enabled. Maybe there lies the answer to the udam2 problem?
thx

 

Hello everyone,

I'm new here. I'm from Belgium. I'm the proud owner of a Acer 1714SMi.

But I'm thinking of buying the 1802. But after reading all your complains, do you think this is a wise thing to do?
After all, the 1714 has a quicker CPU, more RAM, larger HD, ....

@ George,

In Belgium the 1802 has standard Bluetooth incorporated.

Greetz, Basix

 

About the udma 2 problem, visit

http://csd.acer.com.tw/SI/Download2.nsf/0/0cafe0c3f42902d848256f1700320eaf?OpenDocument

this is the bios upgrade to version 2.2 (mine was 1.4). The documentation states that this bios is for ECQ60 model numbers. Mine is CQ60, but it worked. The udma 2 setting has changed to the correct udma 5; dvdr setting remains udma 2 as it should be. I haven't benchmarked the hd yet so I don't know if there is any actual change in the transfer rate.

 

Hi,guys,
I found the model is like this(http://www.digitalspyders.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=4307)
Manufacturer: Acer
Manufacturer# LX.A2905.034

after reading all your posts,I'm confused whether I'm supposed to buy it.....
However,I think it might help if you enhance the memory to 1G or higher

 

It's a good news but in my opinion After upgrading bios ATA5 increase only the burst rate of hd.
The problem persist because it's very difficult burn a dvd 8x with the unit in slave.
Anyone has tried to burn dvd or cd?
Please post here results of that.
Thaks



I suppose so!

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by o_parallos

 

anyone knows if the memory is upgradeable to DDR2? the 915chipset supports it.

 

WHO has solved the problem with the standby problem?

After stand-by the notebook is not able to boot windows, i´ve tried this with recovery installation and also with a new xp-pro version. The ugly thing is if you not set the standby mode to disable your work is done if you not have saved earlier.

 

HAd anyone try to benchmark the notebook by using battery power instead of A/C. I had try all the "power management" even "always on", the sisoft benchmark result is still dropping to a level equavelant to P4 1.2Ghz.... And acer still cannot figure it out what is the problem. Will someone try to benchmark the notebook using battery power? thanks...

 

guys - i loaded the new firmware - i had a slight heartattack when it rebooted to a black screen but a pwr of/on fixed that.

hdtune now reports ata 100 and all looks to be correct.

my hdtune perf stats BEFORE were:

Transfer Rate Minimum : 14.5 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 27.5 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 22.8 MB/sec
Access Time : 19.3 ms
Burst Rate : 28.4 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 1.7%

the new stats AFTER are:

HD Tune: TOSHIBA MK8025GAS Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 2.7 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 27.5 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 22.2 MB/sec
Access Time : 19.4 ms
Burst Rate : 68.9 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 2.1%

so it only really makes a difference with burst rate, but i feel happier with the upgrade.

 

Now try to burn a dvd another time, has to be better than last time.


I suppose so!

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Dee

 

Hy folks
I have only a simple question?
It's a stupid question I know it.
How to upgrade bios without a floppy disk?
Never I used a pc without it.
Thanks

I suppose so!

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by o_parallos

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by ilratman

 

i don´t know why you ignoring the problem from wakup from standbymode!
The screen will stay black, the hd control led still on.
And this happend on every 1802 i have tested.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by aspire1802

 

20 min i have wait, then it smells like electric smok. Therfore i have never wait longer then 2 min.

Now one guy told me with xpsp2 the problem will not exist anymore (before he had same the prob). I will give that a try.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by aspire1802

 

Ran the BIOS update using the windows method. Ran the HD tool utility and got these results:

HD Tune: TOSHIBA MK8025GAS Benchmark

Transfer Rate Minimum : 10.5 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Maximum : 27.5 MB/sec
Transfer Rate Average : 22.2 MB/sec
Access Time : 19.4 ms
Burst Rate : 68.5 MB/sec
CPU Usage : 1.9%

Only diff, like markiet said earlier, is the burst rate increase (had 28 before). It's all good.[ ]

 

I ran a search with google. this is the twaian site of acer, and true,
I couldn't find anything in the us/uk sites myself. bit of luck I guess?

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Davila

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by zchean

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by o_parallos

 

BTW -i'm having the suspend problem now as well - never noticed it before.

It suspends ok but when it retarts the screen stays black and the HDD light just sits there flashing

 

BTW - just upgraded to 1gb of RAM - went for 2 x KIngston 512mb - makes a massive difference to StarWars Galaxies and Doom3

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by markiet

 

I had the screen twice go blank when i use the Arcade mode to watch dvd, though the PC had power up, but no screen n had to restart it again b4 i can get the screen back. Its hard to ask ACER Malaysia to dignosis the problem as it not happen so often. So it might not be WINXP problem.

 

Hey Guys, I was wondering if you've heard about the new mobility PCI express x800 that ATI just released. What i want to know is if any one has been able to open their laptop to the point of being able to see how the card is installed in this system. I Get as far as i can (Take all the visible screws out), but i can't seem to get the keyboard all the way off. I found an Aspire 1800 schematic but it still didn't help. Any ideas? tutorials?

Or should i start a new modding topic dedicated to such a thing or is there one already?

Dee

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Davila

 

I own an Acer 1802WSM notebook and I think I may be one of only a few people here. I'd like to say that I like this laptop and I have not had many issues with it like those that I have read in this topic. The only problem I can relate to is the standby bug sometimes occuring (the notebook not coming out of it correctly) but I solved that by not letting it go in to standby at all.

Sound has always been good although like others have stated I'm not sure about the built-in "subwoofer" but since I always use a good set of headphones to listen to music this is not an issue for me.

The only grumble I have is while the CD/DVD drive is in operation the system sometimes grinds along at a snails pace. But its only a grumble and for a notebook I think this is expected.

The GFX card is good although you cannot update the drivers with ATI's own installer but with some modifications you can get their new drivers to work okay. I have noticed that Acer have released a GFX driver update but I do not know how effective or recent those drivers are compared to ATI's own.

I've also updated the BIOS to version 2.50 with no problems or issues to report. It is best not to do this if you have a faint heart, on reboot you will only get a black screen until you reboot it again. This update is downloadable from Acers site also.

I have also updated Intels drivers and all is working under Win2K3 OS. I don't tend to play games with my notebook but I have had Doom3 installed to see how it performs and its quite reasonable. If it were to be used to play games I would seriously consider the memory upgrade to 1GIG to boost performance.

Stability and fan noise are fine. I've had this notebook - stood alone - running for four days solid processing an application using full priority to it at 100% CPU time. It never crashed.

Unfortunately I do not have bluetooth. When I was looking at the notebook in the shop it had the bluetooth tool installed and there is a bluetooth icon on the front display of the notebook. Obviously I automatically thought this would come with it and did not think to ask further. Its no big deal since I do not have many bluetooth devices to use with it but I do feel like I have been slightly mislead in to thinking it was an option fitted with it.

All-in-all I am happy with this notebook

Ted.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>
i'd be really interested to know if anyone has been that adventurous - or knows any Acer engineers!!

or at leats if we can find out if the X600 is soldered onto the Motherboard and therefore not easily upgradeable.

i'd love an x800 in my '1802 - heat allowing!<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>


Yes, the 1802 uses the X600 PCI-E vidcard but it is not upgardeable. Sager is already shipping a PCI-E notebook in the new NP9860 with an upgradeable card.

http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=49132