The Acer 5102 Thread

I don't know what the problem is. It could be bad ram, my hard drive, a malicious program, or a combination of bad ram and a bad HD. I highly doubt it's a malicious program.

 

go to your hard disk manufacturers webpage and look for a diagnostic utility. all major vendors have one. they check for surface and crc errors so you can determine if your problem is logical or physical.

 

I think my notebook's hd is a hitachi. I look on the hitachi website and i can't find the utility. do you see it?

 

I dont know which bios or drivers your using. Did you ran any updates lately?
I've got Bios: 2.83 and latest Ati drivers (doubt that its ati, think its the bios). But because i'm running Vista, i presume that we have the same problem.

 

There's something called HD Tune that can check for errors also.

 

diagnostic utilities for hitachi and other manufacturers:

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287#hitachi

look for your particular HD brand to find a suitable diagnostic utility

 

so, no answer for the FPS spikes yet huh? damn, i even bought an antec laptop cooler.....it really keeps the laptop cool, but the problem persists, damn

 

yesterday i put on our laptop last bios and everything is gone ok

today i noticed that on acer site the Bios 2.83 is disappered...
anyone knows something?

 

The bios is still there look at the bottom of the page and look under the heading
Bios for MS Windows XP....it has been relocated to the drop down menu no need to fear

 

ah ok ok sorry!

 

hardware problem..

 

I just wanted to let you aspire 5100 series(5102 included) users know that acer released a number of new OEM drivers today for this notebook series. You can look through the acer euro FTP site, the direct link is here ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/aspire_5100/driver/

The new drivers have the date 4/24/2007. Check you current driver numbers and compare to see if these are newer than the ones you currently have. Pick through and get what you want, or if you choose you can keep your current drivers.

I want them to update that chipset +VGA driver because using the cat 7.4s from ATI is causing strange errors to occur like the screen just randomly going off as well as other random issues. Also with the 7.4s I cannot use certain 3D screen savers that I know work with the original release from acer, dam OEM drivers!! Well until they hopefully update them I am going back to the given acer display driver.

Edit: Some of these drivers are not from 2007 but mid to late 2006 but atleast they are better than the older ones.

 

I have heard that active x controls does not eork on amd . Is this true?
cuz i need the notebook for programing?

 

I have wanted to get Acer 5102 but i have heard that amd does not supots active x controles. Is this true?

Plesa send me postback as soon as posible

 

Where did you hear this nonsense from ? Active X works on all windows based X86 or X64 machines.

An active X control is a Microsoft term that is used to denote reusable software components that are based on Microsoft Component Object Model (COM).

I.e it has nothing to do with processors. If it did IE7 and IE6 along with a multitude of other Microsoft software etc would never work on AMD based systems and this doesn't happen.

I hope you are new to programming...cause otherwise I would think you would know this...

 

You know what? the Acer has the worse support I have even seen.

HP and DELL, can check your current drivers by running activex in your laptop, and then tell you if there are a newer driver.

It doesn't make sense you have to check your current app version and compare it with the ones in the Acer support site.

Why on the earth they don't even put the new driver in the support site instead of checking the FTP site and announce the driver just got released with it's release date?

 

ive sent an email to acer, i think ill send my laptop to see if they can repair it

 

Thanks for the heads-up. Unfortunately, as I was unpacking some of the archives, my Virus Software deleted a virus from the LAN software update...

lan_realtek_V5.649.0615.2006.zip contains W32/HLLP.Philis.ini

McAfee rates it as low risk, but figured I'd share this info (even though this driver update is a few months old - someone else must know about this)... I recommend a manual virus scan of your laptop when you can get to it...

 

I FOUND THE SOLUTION TO THE FPS PROBLEM
ITS AN OVERHEATING Issue because of the graphics card being built into the computer CPU.

I opened up my computer case and inside near the fan/cooling system there was a fistfull of dust. like literally. a fistful
bought a air shooting can and clean up all the dust
FPS problem is gone.

 

you sure about that kkc777?? just compressed air and FPS is gone? really?

 

If your FPS problem is really gone KKc777 then it would explain why I have never seen the FPS problem on my 5102. I keep my notebook clean inside and out. I open it up every few weeks and clean out everything fan, memory contacts etc.

If that doesn't work then perhaps there really is a hardware issue with some 5102s...

 

My god!!! its true!!!....i just bought compressed air, cleaned everything around the fan, and the FPS drops are gone!!!! awesome!!!

 

thank you thank you
you're far too kind.

 

aight...now to the games, warcraft3 or C&C generals, anytime kkc777, just let me know

 

for me its MOH SH, COD, NBA Live and NFS Carbon

 

Hey guys, I have been reading this forum for a few days now and I wanted to join in and lend a hand wherever I can. I have a 4 month old machine now, its going ok, I don't use it for gaming though. One thing though, when it starts up, once it's logged in, it takes a very long time for things to get going. It is worse because I am visually impaired and have to wait for a screenreader software to load ... my god it uses soooo much memory!! but i was wondering if any of you could tell me which .exe files i really really need to start up for the realtech audio system? for example, i see an icon in the system tray but it is also in the control pannel, so which process is it that controls that so I can take it off the start-up process and thus declutter my system tray? Please could you verify though that that .exe file won't make my computer do horrible things once i restart though? I mean I really really need this computer to be opperational at the moment, im doing my finals at uni!

Also, about all these heat problems that you've been discussing, I have noticed that putting something in the usb slot next to the fan on the left of the computer did make it a lot hotter, especially when running Windows Media Center. but i havent tried it since i took off the acer power utility and loaded some of the AMD thingies. I'll keep you posted, but for now the system does seem much cooler and quieter for general running. Any other useful tips will always be helpful. I'm not new to computing but i've had laptops die on me rather quickly in the past so I want to take care of this one!

thanks for all the really useful posts,
keep up the good work.

p.s. is there anyone out there who like me doesnt have a camera on ther 5102? it seems that this model has very many sub-types its sooo confusing!

 

Too all of you out there with overheating problems, a can of air won't fix your problems. Mine was overheating for months, I went to upgrade the memory and noticed dust around the fan unit, I took off the fan and the dust had built up inside the fan. the can of air will blow some of it out but your much better off taking it apart and cleaning it out completely. My overheating problem went away TOTALLY, it's not even warm now... Now for the memory problem, I have upgraded to the 2.83 bios do I still have to use crucial or hynix memory? or is it more stable with other brands now?

 

Mine was having the overheating / FPS glitches too. After reading up here I took apart my laptop. Here's what I found:



Seems to be running MUCH better now

 

How did dust build up so quickly for you guys?

I had mines since August and no dust or heat problem here.

 

Wow that is what I call dust !! No wonder you people have been getting FPS stick ups if you have that much gunk blocking your vents anything can happen. Never let your notebook vents or fans collect that much dust and debris it will obviously cause the overheating problems listed here! This also explains as I said before why I have never had the FPS problem, my vents and notebook internals are always kept immaculately clean, I even wipe down the outside of my notebook everyday with a damp cloth.

 

Please, could someone help me on BIOS upgrade? I've tried to flash version 2.83 using flash32, after shutting down AVG and stuff, and I get the message "error code 122 - driver failed to provide access to the BIOS memory".
Then I tried to do it on windows xp safe mode, and I got the message "error code 2 - lacking administrator privileges".
Can somebody help me?
Thanks

 

Hello again, does anyone know of a programme, not the Acer one, that can control screen brightness? I know that you can use the function key plus arrow keys, but I am visually impaired so cannot see when the screen changes brightness. I really would like to concerve battery life by turning the screen down but I will never know where the brightness is at. Please if anyone has suggestions or knows a place which would could they point me in the right direction?

 

I think Only Acer service center can help you with it.

 

I've just submitted, let's wait for the answer...

Thank you Arabian!

 

to those who think there is no overheating problems with this laptop are dead wrong. My video card has been overheating since day one. Yes, some of you are experiencing problems with air obstruction, but that doesnt mean that is the only possible case. I am just curious what others have scored on the Windows Experience Index that comes with Vista, for those that have installed vista. I'm getting a subscore of 2.2 because of the graphics performance. Plus, when running Aero I get a long pause occasionly when opening windows. Please post back, because it could help me with my case with acer.

 

djriptide is your X1100 driver up to date with acer's latest release for vista? You can find the latest drivers here ---->

http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/as_5100.html

ATI 8.352 is apparently the latest driver released

Also you did not mention if you have atleast 2Gb of ram or if you have 1Gb or less, remember the X1100 is integrated and will steal your system memory and vista is a huge memory hog itself! If you got one of those 512mb versions of the aspire 5100 series upgrade your memory IMMEDIATELY 512mb will cause vista to struggle! 2Gb is what you really need to comfortably run vista these days especially if you leave all those acer applications running (empowering framework)

I personally would not pay much attention to that vista GPU (graphics performance) score as Intel GMA 950s are consistently out scoring ATI and nvidia integrated cards, and as well all know the GMA 950 is sub-standard to ATI's X200/X1100/X1150 or Nvidia go6100/go6150 series...

 

oh, no my problem predate installing vista. i have 1.5 gb, and that seems to work fine. i have the latest catalyst driver...ive sat mine up to an air conditioner and it functions better...trust me, mine over heats...has since day one. thanks anyway, i was just wondering what the score was for comparison sake. oh and by the way, the xpress in xpress 1100 isnt the same as a radeon x1100...thats a different, more powerful card if I'm not wrong. in other words, this thing could actually be worse or at least on par with those intel cards.

 

Why Acer doesn't bother to update their Cat to 7.4 for XP yet?

 

I emailed them about it already and they said to me they aren't updating it because the driver it shipped with makes the machine work as advertised, therefore they have no intentions of updating it. That plus the fact that OEMs are now pushing vista as their OS of choice therefore they are going to slowly "look the other way" on XP drivers ...

The acer tech that responded to my email actually suggested that I use omega drivers but they said acer in no way supports those drivers (then why are did they tell me to try them ).

Anyway I am still using the released driver from acer which is now over a year old. The desktop driver found on AMD/ATI site is for the desktop version of the X1100 and while it will install on the 5102 it will cause several issues... Maybe if enough of us pressure acer they would do something!

 

ati has a driver for the xpress 1100 under the integrated drivers. It works in my machine just fine. Before, I couldnt even install a driver that wasn't acers. I again, still have the fps drops but I'm pretty sure this is a hardware problem and your 5102 needs repaired. I'm gonna be sending mine away tomorrow. I'll let everyone know how it turns out.

 

I removed the Acer ATI version, then installed ATI integrated driver 7.4 but it doesn't see my xpress as 1100 but as 200m, and there is error with .Net.

So I decided to stay with Acer ATI driver for now.

Did you see any changes since you used ATI cat 7.4?

 

Hi Guys

Sorry to be such a noob, but could anyone who has upgraded their memory give me a heads up as to how I can access the memory slots on the acer 5100 series please?

Am I right in thinking that they are under the keyboard?
If so, how do I get at it?!!

Thanks for the help.

 

The memory slots on the 5100 series aren't located under the keyboard. You need to look at the bottom of the notebook and remove (unscrew) the largest panel, you will need a screw driver to do this. Once the screws are out pry the panel off and there are both memory slots.

 

I have just installed vista premium on the 5102 and i am having a few problems wondering if anyone has any suggestions....?

1. vista takes like 10 mins to shut down and about 5 to bootup...

2. I downloaded msn messenger and it will not let me run it completly...it will open and run in the back ground but will not open for me to sign in... i opened task manager and it will not end the process....


3 can any one confirm that this memory will work with the 5102 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145097

 

Thanks for that. I have a sticker over one of the screws that will invalidate the warranty if it is broken. Seems a bit unfair for Acer to make me lose my warranty just because I want to upgrade some memory...?!

 

I was sorting having the same problem after installing Vista. Took forever to load up and forever to shutdown. Here are a few tweaks you can do to help your boot-up and shutdown.

Before you try any of this first create a RESTORE POINT - Very Important, encase you mess up. To do this hit the Windows button, click ALL PROGRAMS, then ACCESSORIES, next SYSTEM TOOLS, finally SYSTEM RESTORE. A pop-up will appear, hit CONTINUE. Now the System Restore feature will open (might take a while to open), once it opens look to the bottom of the box and you will see 3 words in blue "open System Protection", click on it and just hit the CREATE button. Once the restore point is created you can continue to the tweaking.

Hit the Windows Button and in the START SEARCH section at the bottom type msconfig, hit CONTINUE and your System Configuration Box will open. Click on the START UP tab first and deselect any program you do not want booting up at start up. If your not sure what the program does you can leave it selected.
I personally disabled all of them except for SYNAPTICS (which is the mouse) and Microsoft SIDEBAR (just expand the COMMAND TAB to the side to see what the process is called. e.g. C:\Windows\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe/autoRun).
Next click on the SERVICES TAB. Ok here I deselected all of the Acer based programs because I dont use them, to recognize them just look for any service that has and "e", e.g. eLock Service. Other services I deselected were Cyberlink RichVideo Service, and LightScribeService Direct (because mine did not come with a Light Scribe burner). After you are done simply hit APPLY and OK, it will prompt you to RESTART or NOT TO RESTART. If you want to see if your boot up is any quicker you can hit the APPLY and RESTART option.

Hopefully this helped. I boot up in a flash now =)

PS: you can also defragment your drive, this might take a while so do this when you have a lot of free time. I did it at night time.

 

do not send it too quickly to repair, the x1100 x200 had bad perf under opengl due to the fact that ATI is not supporting the opengl part of this chip check if your lack of fps is not due to this issue.

 

Ive just upgraded my laptop memory to 2 gigs, ive seen that a lot of ppl had issues upgrading memory, so i thought that maybe i should share the memory i bought (cuz it worked with no issues) i bought it on circuit city, it had 90dlls instant savings and its kingston...costed 60 dlls each

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/King...31002/catOid/-12995/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

 

can someone help me post a thread

 

This has nothing to do with the 5102...
Anyway just click on "new thread" at the top of the main acer forum page to start a new thread