The Acer 5102 Thread

Well some pple on notebookforums.com were able to convince dell to send out os and driver cds even tho they got nothing with the initial computer. I have myself emailed acer about the lack of cds with the system, and im awayting their response to what I can do to get the necessary os and driver cds. Ill let u know what they say back.

 

heh Im having a slight problem. I have an older logitech wireless keyboard that i had plugged into this thing for awhile (which worked) but when i disconnected it, some of the keys on the laptop keyboard were screwy, like M is 0, and 0 is `, and etc etc. if i plug the wireless keyboard in again i can use the wireless fine, but the laptop is screwy.
Can someone please help me rectify this problem?
thanks

 

ohhh I figured out what happend, the function key got stuck, well not stuck the number pad option got turned on, to turn off hold FN and hit F11.

 

Hi

I'm new here (I have no notebook at the moment, so that's understandable ). In a couple of weeks I'll become an exchange student, and for so I need a notebook. I'd like to use some engineering programs, watch movies, listen to music, mp3 handling, internet, videocalling and soft gaming (strategy games mostly). I've seen the Aver 5102 Wlmi in a store and the price appeals to me,a dn I'd like some feedback info from you guys who own it.

The version in the store has 80 Gb PATA and 1 Gb RAM.

So, how is it for gaming?

What about the camera and micro? Could you post a pic to see the image quality?

The software to setup the notebook so the battery lasts longer is available for every model?


What is your general advice? Should I get it?


Thanks

 

hello torator, I have had mine for a week now and I have loaded it with everything i want/need, and I am loving it more and more every day, this is my first laptop, and my curent desktop is very dated. so my opinion is biosed.
IMO this machine is great for movies, it is decent for video games except for the graphic intensive, kind of choppy playing a fps like Prey, but good with xpand rally, and good with civilization 4.
I find the mic is about the same quality as one you would find at a doller store, and I personally am quite happy with the camar, does everything a camara is suppose to do. But again I would compare it to one of the cheap webcams on the market.

Except for the little problems that i have had which were completely my fault, I give this laptop 2 thumbs up for the money. I will be using it for school in Sep myself and should work perfectly.

theres my 2 cents and hope it helps

 

5102 tweaks- video-
Perhaps we should start a 5102 tweak/setup thread or something?!
I have noticed a few good posts from deltafx1942 and others and
have a lot more info you all may be interested in now as well after using this
thing for a month or so on a trip.

I have removed most of the junk processes and re-partitioned, etc!
Will go into more details, but was wondering-

What are the exact URLs for all the latest drivers you have been using
for the 5102? Are you using the Europe stuff, etc?

IE: What exact video drivers has everyone been using? Seems the stock (report video as 200m drivers work ok (they come on it!)). I am leaning toward changing them to see if there is any performance diff, etc, but can't seem to find where the the latest good ones are being updated at so:

WHERE is the best place to get the latest ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 drivers for the Acer Aspire 5102WLMI or similar?

Also, where are you getting your other drivers?
Ie: exact URLs and are you using some of the stuff from AMD for power management instead and what URLs/versions. Acer ePowerManagement (one of the few useful non-ms boot processes appears to be .NET and a tad buggy and slow.

Did ANYONE see any difference in changing the video drivers or has anyone heard any official info from ACER or ATI on the newer drivers besides some new problems like sleep mode issues, etc?

 

5102 tweaks- processes/etc-

Started removing all the junk processes from the default install of the 5102 (see below, many imho are not useful, you may want some based on what you are doing etc) and playing with turning them on and off...

COLD BOOT of XP with factory install on 5102 and just useful processes and some other extras like daemon tools, etc (with slower 4200 drive) down to 26 secs, now. Anyone faster?

What shutdown times are others getting and do you know the cause of the delay (AVE 24-34 secs shutdown) is what I am seeing after removing most of junk processes and ePower off or on)

processes like-
skytel.exe
RTHDCPL.EXE
ALCMTR.EXE
SynTPEnh.exe
imjpmig.exe
ntiMUI - NTI CD&DVD Maker7
imscinst.exe
ePresentation.exe - connects to a projector and adjusts display settings
ehtray.exe
cli.exe
azMixerSel.exe
tintsetp.exe
eRAgent.exe
ACERM~1.EXE
LocationFinder.exe
etc,..

Anyhow, so far the boot time and performance and feel of the laptop is
way faster... Still have more to do and perhaps a guide with numbers, etc, is needed.

Btw, deltafx1942 did you ever run complete memory tests like memtest86 and what were your results? Latest memtest and memtest+ both versions, have failures, correct?

 

I'm not using Euro. Go to this site: Support

That should get you all the drivers that you need.

 

Also, I didn't run memtest, since i don't want to burn .iso.

FYI that I disabled cli.exe on startup. You don't really need it for ATI to run.

 

Ok, I finally got my shutdown to be fast! So much nicer now!
Anyone have any idea what this does, or why this works:
Acer ePerformance Managment-Speed-[X]Turbo Shutdown (30-> 8 secs shutdown)
Woah, what a difference!

I tried BootVis-Optimize-Boot Time and still 25 secs for boot. Anyone
faster than this? Btw, this is all that is running now-
Startup- (these are only ones enabled)
ePower_DMC
Boot
RTHDCPL
SynTPEnh
LManager
daemon
Acer Empowering
deltafx1942 what about you? Anyone else?
Anyhow, woah, what a diff it makes to tweak this system with
the slower rpm drive! This machine is great when tweaked!
Awesome battery life/performance tradeoff for the casual gaming, etc.

Acer ePerformance Managment-Performance Enhancement
Should I enable this? What does it do exactly?

Acer ePerformance Managment-UnToggled Disk Defragmentation
What is this defrag? When does it run?

deltafx1942 are you no longer running any ACER tools like ePower, etc?
If so, what are you missing now? Can you see easily how much battery
is remaining and have it auto-set brightness and LAN on/off, etc
based on if you are plugged in or not? The ePower config is nice.
I saw your guide and was leaning towards using AMD utils instead myself
but not sure if worth it. What are the tradeoffs?

deltafx1942 writes-
> Also, I didn't run memtest, since i don't want to burn .iso.
IMHO, you should still run memory tests on any new computer. You can
have other weird problems and behavior with slight memory errors.
Esp toward the end of your range, etc. System may seem fine except
in some cases. I have seen this more than once.
Not just for burning isos, but certain apps may not work right that
use more memory in a certain way and perhaps your hibernate, etc. If you
get a chance, it is easy to run memtest. If anyone else can run memtest
on this model laptop, please let me know your results and the version you used.
It is a free dl. memtest and memtest+ are both good.

 

I'm not running any acer utils except eRecovery, but then, it's not actually running. For batt life, I just look at the batt meter provided with XP on the taskbar. I'm still getting 4 hours of casual use on batt. However, I can't super boot or super shutdown like you. It takes me usually 20 blue bars to load up. I'm not noticing any difference except fewer process without Acer. However, since you've already have very few processes running, i'd say keep your utilities.

 

I tried to install AMD's powernow but it wouldnt install. I gave up.

I formatted my system removing the hidden partition and used a freinds xp pro cd to install xp. It wouldnt accept my cd key so i used one i found floating around the internet. Then i installed all the windows stuff including genuine advantage. It then directed me to microsoft where i changed my cd key to the one printed on the bottom of the laptop.

I have not installed any acer software but i did install all the drivers needed. I wanted to keep all the junk off here making it faster and basic.

The only thing i could get to work for me from AMD was this:

AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Mobile Technology Driver for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 Version (x86 and x64 exe) 1.3.2.16 - Allows the system to automatically adjust the CPU speed, voltage and power combination that match the instantaneous user performance need. Download this Setup Installation program (EXE) to automatically update all the files necessary for installation. This package is recommended for users whom desire a graphical user interface for installation. This .EXE driver is a user friendly localized software installation of the driver designed for end-users. This driver supports AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Mobile Technology on Windows XP SP2, Windows 2003 SP1 x84 and x64 Editions.
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_14098,00.html

Ive been thru to much to remember, but i think thats the only thing i installed or could get installed from AMD's stuff.

I am getting over 4 hours on battery just surfing. That goes down epending on what im doing.

I went thru a lot of tweaks trying to get the system from bogging down. The best thing i did was get rid of all the junk it came with. The rest of what i did was just a bonus

 

First time poster. Been lurking for a couple weeks while deciding which notebook to buy. I decided on the Acer 5102WLMi. I'm a long time desktop user/upgrader/tinkerer, but this is my 1st laptop PC. I was going to go with a Compal, but I eventually came to terms with my needs vs wants vs my budget and got this PC. Seems like a good deal for the price. I just hope the ATI X1100 will run Vista Aero Glide.

I purchased mine yesterday from the local TigerDirect.com Outlet Store. Wouldn't you know it, today the laptop doesn't show up on their site. Luckily I had this link bookmarked for it. Mine is different from the CC version in that it came with a 100gb 5400 rpm PATA drive, 512mb RAM, no camera, and a bluetooth switch on the front. I downloaded the bluetooth drivers from the Acer support page, but haven't yet tried to use it. I don't know if there is even a bluetooth card in the PC.

I ran into some trouble getting the updated video drivers, but eventually got them loaded. I haven't yet worked on streamlining the boot process to get rid of memory resident programs, but that's on my short list.

Along with the notebook I purchased an extra Corsair Value Select 512meg ram stick. When I installed it the notebook would no longer boot up. It would get through POST, then attempt to start Windows, then go back to pre-POST. It would just keep going through this until I eventually had to shut it down by holding the power button for 4+ seconds. No idea why that ram wouldn't work, but I'm going to swing by the TigerDirect store today and exchange it for one that will work, or just return it. I know I could probably have ordered it cheaper elsewhere, but I got it rolled into my 6-Mos no interest financing.

I also got the TigerDirect Depot extended warranty. $170 for 2yrs beyond mfg's warranty. When I registered my PC on Acer's site of course I saw that I could have gotten an extended warranty from Acer for less. I didn't even consider that, but I think with the TD warranty they'll pay shipping both ways. Hopefully I'll never have to find out.

Oh - also got a new Vonage wireless router/phone adapter. It was simple to transfer my current Vonage service to it and also to get the wireless network set up and secured.

I'm sure I'll have alot of questions along the way for all you seasoned laptop users. I'm pretty happy so far with my PC. I'm looking forward to tweaking and optimizing it so it runs as best it can.

 

The thing is tho that a 2 year extension (past the 1 year initial waranty) costs $125 from Acer directly, and $95 on newegg.com

 

deltafx1942 writes-
> I'm not running any acer utils -cut-
With ePower I can set a bunch of things to give good battery life, etc.
But, I want to get rid of it also. .NET, slow, bad interface, etc...
Can you auto-set these on log-in and how-
CPU Speed- Medium, High, Max
Wired LAN ON/OFF
CardBus ON/OFF
-Do the above make a big diff on battery life anyhow?
LCD brightness- 0-100%
-I think this has a big impact so can you auto-set that?

LMBfishingCT writes-
> I tried to install AMD's powernow but it wouldnt install. I gave up.
I think deltafx1942 wrote a short guide on how to do this. Mostly
I think the order was important. deltafx1942 didn't you get this all to
work good?

gtoddh writes-
> First time poster. Been lurking for a couple weeks while deciding which
> notebook to buy. I decided on the Acer 5102WLMi.
Hope to see more posts I think you will like your 5102.
What do you run on it mostly?

> I ran into some trouble getting the updated video drivers
I hear new drivers may be available for the 1100 from ATI now.
Which version you using? I am using the older one, the
ATI Chipset Driver 8.251 for ATI X1100 (not factory tho)
Also are you using the catalyst control center or not? I use to use my
ATI machines without it as the .NET2 is sluggish and big. Try just
the ATI control panel w/o the catalyst and tell me if you like it a lot better.

deltafx1942 and anyone else, how long (in seconds) does your machine take
to shutdown?

 

I couldnt find anywhere where deltafx1942 wrote about getting power now to work. Some one asked in the thread about some more details and those details were never posted.

My shut down and startup are pretty fast. Very comparable to my 3000+ desktop system. Though i havent timed them yet.

Ive seen deltafx1942 post about 20 blue bars, which is not a good measure to use. I see my bar only a few times and it does not stay going steady. Mine takes a couple short pauses.

I have been using notebook hardware control, to monitor and figure this notebook thing out. This happens to be my first one. I cant get my cpu temps with this program, but thats ok.

Im not sure if its the program or the amd drivers i installed, but i can set the cpu to all kinds of settings. Dynamic switching is one of those. I think that is a battery saving thing there. There is also some things for controling the ATI clock that seems to set the clock to 100mhz when running on battery instead of 300mhz when running plugged in.

Honstly, i dont think the ePower crap is nessasary. The ATI chipset driver is more important. It makes no sense to me, having acer software control power settings rather than using the same basic settings that are in xp to begine with.

 

PowerNow! is built into the cpu. If you set your battery settings to portable, then it automatically engages powernow! and manages CPU speed for you, thus saving batt.

 

No crap!! I just went back and re-read what you wrote. Now i understand. You had me searching and downloading stuff i shouldnt have. I tried the PowerNow! Dashboard and it stunk. Wouldnt read half of what it displayed.

Thanks for clear if eye ying

 

Try Core Temp....
http://www.thecoolest.zerobrains.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=137

 

> It makes no sense to me, having acer software control power settings
> rather than using the same basic settings that are in xp to begin with.
I believe it lets you do some things you can't normally do. This is why
the only thing I am running now from ACER is the ACER ePower process.
It lets you have different configurations saved under different
names, etc, so when you boot your machine when it is not plugged in for example,
it can automatically run like this:
CPU Speed- Medium (800 vs 1600mhz) -save batt
Wired LAN OFF -save batt
CardBus OFF -save batt
LCD brightness- 40% -save batt
Etc... -save batt
If you don't want those, you can select another configuration you have saved
-or- manually adjust these on the fly. Problem is, it is slow, a bit buggy,
.NET, loads the whole eToolBar whenever you want to adjust things, etc.

Is there ANY other good way to do the above stuff as I would like to avoid
ePower. I don't like how you can't easily see how much battery is
remaining on the taskbar without having all of the eToolBar on the desktop!
(Which loads in the e-stuff into the background, etc)
It also automatically turns the winXP battery display off.

Anyone use a good battery monitor or konfabulator or similar you can suggest
to see power and time remaining at a glance that is nicely implemented?

deltafx1942 how long (in seconds) does your machine take to boot and shutdown?

 

It takes me about ~30-40 seconds to boot up, depending on the day. Some days it's fast, others it's slow. On shutdown, it is usually close to 1 minute. Funny thing is that I have only 44 processes upon shutdown, and it still takes long. I haven't tried changing the power settings to desktop, maybe that would speed things up since the cpu would be running faster. But in the end, a few seconds here and there isn't worth all the trouble of finding stuff to tweak. I have always believed that as long as your computing experience is enjoyable, then speed is only relative.

 

Does anyone else catch the web cam light blinking every once in a while?

Im wondering why, and how to turn it off?


Also, is there a way to stop my wireless from turning off when the system goes into standby?

 

Ah, here we go with the AMD drivers. This must be the thread i was missing. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=70992&highlight=5102

I dont remember which one, or both drivers listed there i installed from AMD's site.

I think i only installed "AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Mobile Technology Driver" after a fresh install of XP.

My system is down to 223 MB for memory usage and 36 processes. It takes a whopping 10 seconds for the pc to turn off once i hit shut down.

It takes a little longer to boot though. I see 11 blue bars go by and i counted to 64 seconds before getting to the desktop.

AMD Dual-Core Optimizer says, "help improve some PC gaming video performance". Thats sounds like something i need to get in here since i will be doing some light gaming.

I guess i will go do a backup and install the rest of what you list in that thread and see what happens.

 

I've been playing FEAR Combat just fine these past few days. The graphics are amazing for an integrated.

 

I have finally found a grievance with this laptop.. Call my silly for actually using it on my lap, but the **** thing gets killer hot when i do, mainly becuase the fan on the bottom is directly where my knee is. sooo

Question 1: up to what temperature is safe for the processors.

Question 2: Is there away to control fan speed on the fly? (either and or both the fan on the side and bottom)

Question 3: has anyone come up with any mods that help disipate the heat more?

One more thing, the powersupply gets **** hot to, anyideas to get it cooler?

thanks

 

I've not had problems with the laptop getting to hot however I have noticed the powersource getting extremely hot as well however though.

 

deltafx1942 writes-
> I've been playing FEAR Combat just fine these past few days.
> The graphics are amazing for an integrated.

Please tell us your graphics settings for the game. I want to try it too.
Also what resolution are you using and how many fps?
Btw, can you easily set any of the following now that you have no acer
eSoftware installed:
CPU Speed- Medium, High, Max
Wired LAN ON/OFF
CardBus ON/OFF
...
What other games and settings have you seen good performance from?
We should make a list of what runs smooth at what settings on the 5102.

rolling7z writes-
> Call my silly for actually using it on my lap, but the **** thing gets
> killer hot when i do, mainly becuase the fan on the bottom is directly where
> my knee is.
Does it get as hot on a desk? My guess is no. Because mine doesn't.
You can put a book under or what I use is a beanbag thing with a flat top, then
the thing stays cool on my lap for gaming. Always runs cool for everything
else. It is by far the coolest running laptop I have ever had. Owned many.
The brother of this unit with the ATI1600 (real GPU) gets way hot.

 

I can turn the LAN off, and my cpu speed is automatically managed by AMD. I can't turn the CardBus off though.

 

thanks ill have to find something flat that i can shove in my laptop bag.

definetly is a gripe though, having to do something extra just to use something that was ment to do without said object.

Lol that sounded better in my head, that **** exchange rate is messing with my two cents again

 

Can you play warcraft III with this laptop? is it enough the video card it has to play games like warcraft or not? I'm thinking about buying it. Thanks in advance.

 

actually speak of the devil yes you can, Im playing warcraft 3 right now, plays great, except for the struggling with the touchpad (im new to laptops). just make sure you got lots of battery or have it plugged in, becuase when it gets really low itll freeze the game and your progress in the map is gone.

FYI xpand rally plays good,
Prey plays good with graphics toned down abit
flight sim 2004 is awsome,
civilization 4 is decent aswell.

 

Thanks for answering my question. I'll buy this laptop in a couple of weeks and I wanted to know what games can be played well in it and thanks to you I know some. Thanks again.

 

I've had a problems when I close my lid. It seems the screen shuts down and the keyboard becomes unresponsive, but the power stays on full speed. Actually, it seems my battery drains at a faster rate than in use. When I lift the lid there is no way to get it out of this mode, but to shut it down. Any one else have this problem? Any solutions?

 

It probally goes in to stand-by/sleep mode with lid is closed. You can turn off these setting by going to power settings in control panel. Or the easier way is to use Acer E power management.

 

I've tried turning the stand-by option off. I still have loose the screen and keyboard functionality, but other systems continue to run. I can't tell which because I can't see what's going on.

 

Max Payne (the first one) plays great on the 5102. Just have a little sound cracking. Veitcong2 also plays well.

I wish NHC could get all update to support this system. I installed it on my wifes 5601 and it detects everything.

 

Hello,
I bought the Acer 5102 afew weeks ago and after reading through this thread I tested against the issues in this thread and I have not had any. Mine has no problem going in and out of sleep. It is kind of slow even though I have stopped some of the Acer utilities from loading at startup. Does anyone have a list of the Acer utilities that are okay to stop? I tried to uncheck ePowerManagement, but then I was unable to start the Windows Power Options from Control Panel. Is there a way around this? Another thing, I thought it was running just MCE, but found out it is running XP Pro/MCE. Also, does know if there are 64 bit drivers available yet? cheers

 

Forget about 64 bit untill vista is out

 

I just got a 5102 from the Circuit City deal and I'm having a bit of buyer's remorse. I may be able to get a simarly spec'd Dell e1505 with Core 2 Duo and a dedicated graphics card, but there coupons always expire so fast.

Anyways I'm wondering if the ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 will be able to run Windows Vista? Maybe I'll just have to do without that **** aero glass feature.

Also I'm a bit worried about the 4200 rpm drives. I'm wondering if I should just replace the drive with a 7200 drive, or just use an external hard drive (especially since I am not comfortable performing surgery on my laptop).

Does anyone know if the notebook fans on this laptop suck in air or blow out air through the bottom? And what laptop cooler would you suggest going with it? I'm thinking Vantec LapCool 2 or 3.

Does anyone else find the lack of a dedicated volume button annoying? Seriously.

Uh thats it. Sorry for all the questions.

 

don't worry about vista. As far as I remember, 1100 will be fully capable of running aero glass. However, I also read that Microsoft will be classifying notebooks and PCs in 2 categories - those just capable of running it(vista capable) and those capable of running it smoothly(premium sticker or something...) at full settings.

 

Modern if you go to ATI's site and MS's as well they have vista compatibilty tools set up but I know the laptop will run the beta version they are giving out to developers I have a friend that boug the laptop for testing purposes.

 

Hi there, I am going to buy this laptop today and was wondering if anyone had any experience running Ubuntu on it (or even Ubuntu 64-bit SMP). I hear the power management is a problem, but else...

Any other Linux experiences are welcome too.

Thanks in advance!

 

Hope someone can set me straight here.

I have one of these units. I am quite satisfied with it's performance after tweaking. One thing seems amiss. I am running the Omega Drivers (latest version) and it reports my graphics card as a 200 series. Is there any cause for alarm that I might be missing out on performance, or is it simply a matter of symantics? I want to make sure we are getting every last inch from this machine.

 

Rob just curious any reason you aren't using the updated drivers from Acer itself?

 

Force of habit I guess. I have been enamoured with the Omega series with my desktop. They have been optimized to cut the fluff and get down to the nitty gritty of performance. I have had great results with the drivers in the past with my desktops. This is our first laptop upgrade since our Toshiba Sattelite died. I have no hard feelings towards that machine, it lasted 7 HARD years.

If ditching the Omega's and running the drivers from Acer is the fix, I am in. I just want to find out if I am doing something stupid, as has often been the case in the past.

 

I called Acer about this very thing and was told it was indeed just a matter of symantics.

Mine was showing as a 200 as well, but I was told it was only showing that way...that it was still an 1100 and was operating that way. (Whether true or not I can't swear to it).

Downloading and installing the ATi driver (and only the driver, not the whole giant control center), fixed the problem as far as it showing as an 1100.

Also interesting to note, the driver version on Acers website is the same number (8.251) as the one I already had.....until you look a little closer after the DL and realize the last three or so numbers are a *slightly* newer version.

Anyway, it 'fixed' the 'problem'.

 

Hmmm... I don't think I will be gaming on it as it is more of a video editing and photoshop system for us in the field. Still, I might get a benchmark on it and see what it posts against other similar systems. If it is no problem with performance, I will just ignore it.

Thanks.

 

Hi guys. I am a complete noob when it comes to computers specially Laptops. So, I just got my Acer 5102 from online at circuitcity.com recently and I am really confused here,
I checked general settings and I see,
AMD turion 64X2 797MHz processor
896 MB of ram
and 2 disks one C:\ and D:\ each 53GB total of 106.

When I bought it, they advertised 1.6GHz with 1GB of ram with total of 120 GB of Space. The laptop says 5100 at the lower right of the monitor but they have attached a sticker with the specs that i paid for at the lower right side of the keyboard.

 

Yes because windows and the hidden partition occupy some hard drive space, and the integrated grapihics some ram too.

 

I have bought the 5102WLMi two weeks ago (I live in The Netherlands) and it has been working perfectly ever since. My problem however is that I cannot run the Acer tools anymore. ePower, ePerformance, ePresentations, eSettings, ePerformance. None of them seems to work. However when I launch each of them the application will show up in my task manager processes list, but not in my applications list. This is very irritating, because I cannot adjust my CPU settings anymore and therefore my only option to control battery life is via the icon of ePower (which does work), but my only options are the basis options. If I lauch ePowermanagement it simply doesn't respond.

Another problem is the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1. It causes me trouble everytime I shutdown my laptop. I've been googling around a bit and the only solution found is to uninstall .NET Framework 1.1. Unfortunately that is the program needed for the Acer applications .

Could anyone give me some advise about this?