Upgrade CPU of Aspire 5741. Is it possible?

The title should say it all: I am planning on extending the life of my acer aspire 5741 and have found conflicting information on the Internet. Drivesolutions.com lists this model's cpu as "Intel Core i3/i5/i7 series (various Speeds)", and other forums suggest that it is indeed possible but that I have to find a cpu that is compatible with my socket. The problem is that I dont know how to do that

Apart from the posibility of upgrading my i3 350M to whatever is best (i5? i7?), would any of you recommend doing it? it there any downsides apart from the careful labour of dismantling the laptop? How do i know if the bios and motherboard/buses are beefy enough to handle the speed of a faster cpu?

Thanks for everything!

 

You will need to determine which highest option was available for your laptop processor wise.
This way you cant go wrong as long acer was using same cooling solution on all of them.
Or you can search for cpu compatible with your socket/chipset but there is no 100% guarantee that it will be supported by bios on your mobo. Have your laptop dedicated gpu? is it switch able with on cpu graphics? This will determine your option for 2/4 core cpu you can use as 1st gen i7 4core have no gpu on board.
It might be long shoot but I believe highest option available in your case will be i7 620m or i7 640m.
They only support 4GB ram per module!

 

Spot on!! I just researched the model Service Guide and they list Ci3330M, Ci3350M (the one i have), Ci5430M, Ci5520M, Ci5540M, Ci7620M (the one you mentioned). So I guess that if it's listed on the srvice guide, it will definitely work, right?

The service guide again quotes multiple possibilities (I never read one of these, so i'm guessing that they account for variations according to countries may be?):

• Intel® HD Graphics with 128 MB of dedicated system memory, supporting Microsoft® DirectX® 10 (Aspire 5741)
• NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 320M with 1024 MB of dedicated DDR3 VRAM, supporting NVIDIA® CUDA™, PhysX™, PureVideo® HD technology, OpenEXR High Dynamic-Range (HDR) technology, Shader Model 4.0, Microsoft® DirectX® 10.1(Aspire 5741G)
• ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5470 with 512 MB of dedicated DDR3 VRAM, supporting Unified Video Decoder (UVD), OpenEXR High Dynamic-Range (HDR) technology, Shader Model 5.0, Microsoft® DirectX® 11, OpenGL ® 3.1, OpenCL™ 1.1(Aspire 5741G)

I have the 5741, not the 5741G, and my device manager confirms that I have the Intel one. Do I have to dismantle the computer to know if its integrated in the mobo?

Also, if the service guide lists both models back-to-back, does that mean that I can "aspire" (pun intended) to switching to a better GPU, like the ones the 5741G models have?

Currently that is not a problem, as I am using 2 modules of 2GB ram lol. I will upgrade asap to 2x4GBram

 

You can't upgrade your GPU and you can't put a quad cire that does not have on-board graphics like Core i7 720QM.
You most likely can upgrade to Core i7 640M or Core i5 560/580M that are not mentioned in the Service Manual having updated BIOS to the most recent one.
These CPUs are not mentioned in the Service Manual because they were no available at the time, but later Acer added their microcodes through BIOS update.

 

I see. The Acer webpage shows different updates to the BIOS, and one of them lists support for i7 640M, as you mentioned.

However, system information tells me that I have v.1.06 of the BIOS. So, when updating, should I upgrade step-by-step to the corresponding next version or can I just update straight ahead to the last BIOS version without trouble?

Thanks again for all the support! This is really helping

 

You should update straight to the most recent version - it has all the improvements and fixes introdued in the previous versions.

 

The latest BIOS update file includes these instructions:


As fas as I understand, I have to boot these files from a USB, right? Then I'll have the option to execute the BIOS.BAT as the instructions suggest, right? I really don't know what "pure Dos mode" is, nor how to get to it (whether from the BIOS or from WINDOWS).

 

You can flash flash in DOS mode but there is a second folder with Windows flasher that you just double click on to upgrade.
Using DOS mode is supposedly safer but I've never bothered with that and I always update BIOS in Windows mode.

 

Well. I'm now writing from my phone...

http://imgur.com/kxxaZNt

The fan is on. Windows does not respond to anything. I'm afraid to turning it off

 

Please help

 

Did this verify error happen after BIOS flash of before (if verifies current BIOS, flashed and checks the flash)?

 

I double clicked the windows file you mentioned. A cmd prompt appeared and showed text too fast for me to read (something about turning on the fan on itself and telling me to power off after everything was done). Then a pop-up appeared instructing me to close programs, save files, not to close the lid and not to plug anything. I clicked OK and this immediately appeared. I don't know I that was the flash or not.

 

Leave it running for 15 minutes or so. If nothing happens you can force it off but it will probably not turn on anymore (unless you are lucky).
Then you will have to create a recovery USB with BIOS on it (it's in the DOS folder) and use a recovery procedure (Fn+Esc)

 

OK, thanks. Can you tell me step by step, for-dummies, how to do that?

Correct anything wrong you see: 1) download the latest bios update to another computer.
2) put the files of the DOS folder into the USB. (what is the 'recovery' part you mentioned?)
3) plug it in this computer and turn it on so it will boot the USB? (isn't that done through the bios itself?)
4)??? When does the Fn-Esc key combination come into play?

 

Hope this help you: http://www.manualslib.com/manual/479557/Acer-Aspire-5741.html?page=164

 

You should do this:
1. Find a USB thumbdrive no larger than 2GB
2. Format it into FAT (not FAT32 - that's why it has to be no larger than 2GB)
3. Copy file NEW70123.fd to thimbdrive
a) If above fails rename file to NEW70X64.f?
b) If above fails rename file to NEW70X64.fd
c) If above fails rename filr to BIOS.fd
4. Shutdown laptop, remove all USB devices connected, remove battery and powercord
5. Hold power button for 10 seconds, then release it
6. Plug in the USB drive with BIOS
7. Press Fn and Esc - keep holding those and while doing so connect the power plug and press power button.
8. Hope for the best. It might take a while and seemingly nothing will be happening - wait at least 10 minutes. If the notebook reboots in process do not do anything wither unless you see Windows starting.

EDIT: Damn, file name was in the Service Manual. I used Phoenix Tool to read it.

 

You are the best, downloads. I'll try this tomorrow morning and tell you how it went. Silly question: do I have to keep pressing fn and esc at least 10 minutes?

The way I know I succeeded is if I see windows loading, right?

I'll try not to meddle with this advanced stuff ever again hahaha.

 

It does help! Thank you!

 

You can release Fn + Esc once you press the power button.

 

Is it impossible to do it with a USB larger than 2gb?

 

It's impossible to format anything larger than 2GB into FAT and supposedly that is the file system that needs to be used.
You can try with something larger ad FAT32, but I don't know if it's gonna work.

 

It does not seem to work. I did all the steps, but nothing. No matter the name of the file, when i turn on the laptop it stays on for a few seconds, then it shuts down, and then it turns on again for like 10 minutes, after which it just turns off again.

BTW in your commentary you includde an impossible filename (with a question mark in the extension of the file), am I missing something?

Is there anything that I can do at this point? I borught her to a shop an they told me it was a 100€ repair... :s I would like to save them if possible

 

I just noticed that nomatter if the usb is plugged or not, and no matter if I hold fn-esc, the computer goes through this weird process of shutting down and then staying on for 5-10 min before shutting down again (with a black screen of course)

 

Try older bios

Sent from my Redmi Note 2 using Tapatalk

 

@garbanzhell
It's possible to buy a BIOS chip online (usually on an eBay auction), send the seller the BIOS file and ask him to program it.
You would receive a BIOS chip with your BIOS and while it is not socketed, any electronic shop would be able to de-soldier/soldier BIOS chips for much less than 100€. Especially if you just bring them a motherboard and a chip.

 

Well. In the end, I had to pay 70€, but I am very upset. It turns out that the first shop I went to returned my computer mounted and everything seemed fine. That night I tried using the methods you described downloads, to flash the BIOS again to the CPU, and getting the results I described earlier on this thread.

I then decided to try a new shop to see what they could tell me about it. However, before that, as I had recently bought new parts of the upper case and keyboard, I decided to replace them and also clean the interior, since I knew it would be completely filled with dust and fluff.

To my surprise, when I opened the laptop, I found out that the shop technician had not bothered actually connecting everything together as it was. The internal components were all disconnected (speakers, keyboard, USB...). I got angry, connected everything back in place and tried flashing the BIOS again, as I suspected that without the USB ports connected to the motherboard there was not much the USB stick could do.

Sadly, it was still futile, as I learned later, when the owner of the second shop called me, that the BIOS chip was missing. Apparently, the first shop had removed it to test it and "somehow" forgot to solder it in again.

Completely mad, but forcing myself to give them the benefit of the doubt, I went to the first shop, where they immediately called their workshop...

In a surreal turn of events, the second shop was actually the workshop of the first shop, who apparently just work as intermediaries. The ones that left my computer in a disastrous state and without a central component now realized what they had done, and repaired the thing as a first priority it seems. In an effort to calm their embarrassment I got them to fix a couple of minor things. For 70€... which is quite a bit. But I don't even know if I would have been able to fix it in the first place.

Thanks everyone again!

 

@garbanzhell I'm glad that it works in the end. I understand your frustration but you have to admit it is pretty hilarious in a Monty Python sort of way

Sorry I steered you in the direction of flashing in Windows - maybe if I didn't you would have done it from DOS and none of that would have happened.