how to get to acer aspire 3000's CPU?

Hi... I own an Acer Aspire 3000 (technically called "Aspire 3004WLCi") running an AMD Sempron 3100+. Honestly, I can't complain about this machine. For the price, it does great (knock on wood). However, I am beginning to run DAW music software that is taxing the CPU. I've found an AMD Turion on newegg that's really cheap and meets the configuration of my laptop. Before I purchase the turion, I thought it would be a good idea to see if I can actually GET to the processor on my laptop.

That's where I'm running into a roadblock. Even after all screws are removed, the bottom of the laptop won't come off. I've searched high and low for a schematic or something that will illustrate HOW to get into the my acer, but with no luck. The manual on acer's website is lacking in that department.

Does anyone on this forum know how to crack the Acer's shell and get to its processor? Thanks in advance for any advice you can give

 

This would probably be better put into the Acer forum.

That said, you sure it's worth your time to do this? Are you absolutely sure the CPU is the limiting factor of the software? Do you have at least a gigabyte of RAM? It's a pain upgrading the CPU in any notebook, and if you don't get benefit from the upgrade, it'd be even worse.

 

Looking at the $60 MT-37 on newegg? I just purchased the same thing (hopefully ariving today).

I can't help on the acer case side, but on mine it is underneath the keyboard. Good luck, should be a nice upgrade.

 

Thread moved to the Acer section

 

Yep, I'm looking at the $60 MT-37 on newegg

To answer Pitabred's Q: I have over a gig of RAM in my computer... my first thought was to up it to 2 gigs. But after reading the Ableton Live manual, I discovered upgrading the CPU would be more beneficial to me. Additionally, the MT-37 Turion at $60 is cheaper than any gig of RAM I can find.

If only Acer's website had detailed instructions on how to open up their machines. I know HP's resources are in-depth enough to provide instructions (of course HP is a larger company).

By opening one door on the bottom of my Acer I can SEE the CPU, but it's covered with a heat sink that's screwed down. And wouldn't ya know it... one of the screws is behind the plastic casing.... so I either get a special screw driver and pry up the casing a bit (which has some give, but one has to be careful not to BREAK the casing), find out the proper way to do it, or hire a knowledgeable person to install the new CPU.

 

That should help.

http://www.eserviceinfo.com/downloadsm/16545/Acer_Aspire 3000-3500-5000.html

 

I also have the same laptop, and as I havee upgraded to windows vista, my PC is even more processor hungry than before. Also I have checked the thermal ratings for my processor (sempron 3000+) 65W and for a more powerful Turion processor, which has a thermal rating of only 25W, meaning my battery life would be extended by about two fold. I have taken a look on the previous post, but can't bring myself to take apart my laptop by aid of an exploded diagram! I have already tried everything I can think of to get at the processor. I was trying to take out the two screws from the processor heatsink that I could and then shift the whole arrangemant round so that I could get at the processor. That quite simply didn't work.
If anyone has any advice regarding this, or know anyone who can perform this upgrade for me, please get in touch.

 

just keep in mind that the processor is actually a pretty small part of the overall power usage in a laptop. (The screen is the biggest.) So upgrading to a lower TDP CPU will at best only have a small improvment in battery life.

I also don't think that your laptop Sempron is 65W. My guess is you are looking at the desktop version. There are some "mobile" semprons that have a TDP of 62W, but these are generally marketed for small form factor PC's, not laptops. If Acer put 62W Semprons in a laptop instead of the 25W version, I'd be pretty ticked.

 

Nonetheless, I need the extra power, my current processor only had an L2 cache of 128kb, however the Turion had 1mb. I am probably going to start calling my local computer stores tomorrow, as it is seeming quite unlikley that I am going to attempt to perform this upgrade myself. I'm just not quite sure how much they're going to charge me, as I am only willing to spend £30-40 on the labour at max. Is this realistic? If it ends up being more I think I might as well just buy a whole new system.

 

I realize this thread is ancient, but since searched a bit without finding any answers I thought I leave an account of my CPU upgrade for the 3000 in case anyone else is considering it.

I chanced it, and bid on an ML-34 Turion to upgrade the Acer 3000. The process took a screw driver, some heatsink compound, a small hex wrench, and a pair of needle-nose pliers.

Finding the CPU is easy, just remove the big panel on the bottom where the CPU Fan is. The CPU is secured by 3 screws clamping the heatpipe down over it. As someone else mentioned that 3rd screw is trouble.

After probably 20 screws, removing the keyboard, dvd player, hard drive, etc I still wasn't getting the bottom to release. So I said screw it, and brought out the needle-nose. I simple twisted the plastic piece covering that third screw up so I could get my screw driver in there and removed the screw. Nothing broke, and it popped back into shape just fine. I put the 20 screws back in place and cursed at engineers I've never met. I do that a lot when working on laptops.

Anyway, with the 3 screws loose, you can wiggle the heatpipe and fan out entirely after unplugging the power. Then you can use the hex wrench to release the CPU from the socket and replace it.

Since the Turion CPU has a slightly bigger layout, I stripped off the foil and existing heatsink compound, buffed the copper clean with a paper towel and then added new compound and put the assembly back in place. It helps to do the tough 3rd screw first.

Replaced cover, battery (take this out before you start) and it fired right up and worked perfectly. CPU temp idles at about 40c, and hasn't gotten higher than 60c. This would have been a 10min job if not for the time wasted trying to get the bottom off.

It's definately faster, and feels a lot more responsive than it did. The CPU fan kicks on a bit more, but it was definately worth the $30 upgrade. I assume the 37 would be even better, but I can verify that the 34 works fine.