The Acer is a disappointment thread

Having originally heard good things about Acer, and hoping that I've picked an underdog company that makes underrated quality laptops, I bought an Acer Aspire 5602WLMi in the summer of 2006.

It was good for the first month or so. Then one day, as I was trying to configure wireless internet, the Aspire locked up for ten seconds. Then it was fine.

The next day, it did that again. Then again, a few hours later.

The Asame problem is congenital. The laptop freezes for almost exactly ten seconds, then reverts back to normal operations. Sometimes it may after effects that cause it to be slow for a few more seconds.

There is a longer history to this. Additionally, the Acer Aspire occasionally initializes (after turning on or reverting from hibernation) without sound. It cannot detect the sound card. It is very irritating.

To my best knowledge, ACER REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE THIS ISSUE. Having called tech support several times, they always claim that it is being causes by a program in the background eating up system resources, and recommend reformatting the computer. However, there seems to be no clear fix to this issue.

Other peoples' experiences with this error:

1
2
3
4

This is a video of this phenomenon here.

In the last hour, this laptop has locked up no less than five times. I can't even write this post without the stupid laptop locking up, causing my music to spasm horrifically.

Why not call tech support?

I have. They claim it is a software-related issue, and offer unhelpful fixes.

Why not send it in for repairs?

Even if I could make do without this laptop for a few weeks, according to reports by many others so far (check the second page on link 2 from above), it would be a fool's errand. Hardware fixes from Acer themselves do not solve this issue.

I write this both with malice toward Acer as well as sorrow; my first desktop was an Acer, and it was quite good. I just can't believe the shoddy problems with this laptop that goes unrecognized by the corporation. Acer should not be behaving in a way that makes people want to do this to their laptops.

 

The reason why you are getting crappy support is that now Acer is combined with Gateway. Gateway has the worst support you could imagine and some of it rubbed off on Acer now. For your actual question, im not sure. You may need to upgrade your memory (RAM) to 2GB, if you have that already, well..... either way, wait for more replies to the post before you make any actions.

Hope I could Help

 

I don't agree with that comment at all. I have a couple of extremely cheapo desktops built by a company also "combined" with Gateway - eMachines. Though my two computers are hardly worth crowing over, the service I received the one time I requested help, was very good. BTW, nothing was wrong with the machine; I wondered about the feasibility of upgrading the CPU and got a very quick response to my email.

@OP: sorry for the sidetrack of your thread. Have you checked your Event Viewer after the freezes? You might at least get a hint at what's causing your problem by having a look.

 

Using Vista?
What's your WiFi/Sound card type?(Brand & Chipset)
Do you try to update your drivers?

 

Agree......

ACER Tech Support never disappoint me

 

I'm using XP. Event Viewier reveals nothing (check out the video the person with the same error as me created- the system is unable to detect any errors or programs that take up a lot of system resources). I have the default WiFi and sound card type as the Aspire 5602WLMi from Costco. I update my drivers regularly.

I'm fairly certain that this is a hardware issue.

 

What are your core temps?

 

I can also vouch for good Acer tech support. They have been nothing but excellent to me the couple times I've had to use them. All my problems were resolved quickly and without a hitch.

 

No one has mentioned this... but it might be a virus.
Did you try reformatting system and reinstalling XP?

Anyway, I can tell you that Dell at least is equally useless when it comes down to this type of problem. Software-related issues easily baffle tech support.

I've great experience with Acer Taiwan. I requested an OS language switch and Acer quickly did it for free.

 

This is an actual issue between Acer laptops and windows updates. I don't know which update causes the issue, unfortunately. I work at a small town computer shop, which sells acer, and we've been experiencing these problems for a long while now. The trick that usually works for us is using system restore to go back before the set of windows updates and see if it corrects the problem.


The OP is correct in that Acer refuses to fix the problem. The do acknowladge it however, but give no support to fix the issues.

 

YES, YES, YES. Take a glance at the links I've linked. This is a shared error that seems to hit Acer Aspires, and is definitely not a software issue. There appears to be something inherently wrong with the hardware on certain Acer laptops. Reformatting the system does absolutely nothing to stop it.

 

don't buy acer again, I won't,

When I 'destroy' my acer, do you think a chainsaw would do more damage than that sabersaw? lol or maybe I could borrow my friends shot gun... I can't wait until my warrenty ends... then I will send whats left back to acer...

I don't think you can possible get worse than acer support

 

Check the temp of the computer, I had an acer and compaq momentraily freeze for about 20 seconds, 3 or 4 times in an hour, and both were a fan/overheating problem.

 

PC Wizard 2008 says my processor temperature is 49 degrees Celsius. That's normal, isn't it?

 

Yes It's normal.

 

So, looks like my laptop is still f-ed up. Okay, it just did that again when I was typing just now. I encourage anyone who would like to help skim over any of the links of the pages I had in my post. Maybe you could help find some clues.

 

Try core temp to monitor CPU temp .BTW all depend on your ambient temp

 

Both Core 1 and Core 2 are at 43 degrees. ACPI Thermal Zone 51 degrees. Hard Disk temperature 37 degrees.

 

You are cool .don't worry

 

So, looks like my computer (as well as many others') are suffering from a hardware issue that Acer refuses to recognize. I wonder if there's some legal recourse to that?

 

What's the problem? Explain please.

 

Read the opening post of this thread.

 

Sorry i forgot it

 

Well, thanks anyways. This board isn't as helpful as I thought it would be.

 

I've looked through, I can't see if you've tried a complete reinstall of Windows without all the Acer crap? You should and see if it makes a difference. Could be a conflict. Also, download "Core Temp", run it, and see what IT says about your CPU core temperatures. And if you haven't done so already, take the back off the computer and blow it out with canned air with emphasis on the CPU fan.

 

Celestialnaut take your fight here: [email protected]

Maybe Paul can help you. He is on a mission to force Acer to resolve service/other issues.

And that video link about Acer destruction is old. A scenario which smacks of rich kids destroying something they probably never worked for. Take the fight to Acer or let Paul help if you are mad.

Cheers,
Theo

 

Thanks for the recommend.