upgrading bios/ repairing acer aspire 5920g laptop

hi all,

i write here because i have decided to repair my old acer 5920g laptop which insofar, shows the following problems. Model is 5920G (814g25mi) with intel wm3945ABG <--- dont know what that is.

1. No LCD signal, i see nothing when i boot. The fan/cooler runs smoothly at startup, then it stops. I believe,
that a message appears on screen with an error or asking to boot VISTA i.e. normal, safe etc.
After a minute approx, the fans start spinning again and never stop until i shutdown, i assume this means
machine works....

2. When i put a win7 install boot dvd in the drive, it starts repetitive beeps/ tones and does not stop until
i shutdown/ remove the damn dvd from drive. Maybe i need to change Dvd drive as well...
After i remove DVD from drive boots like 1).

I tried various tricks, like removing ram, battery, cleaning graphics card, put thermal paste, clean dust etc.
, holding down power button for 30sec and whatever i read on the web as solution, apart from baking the
card, which i dont want to do it.... Nothing again.

3. I decided to go for a graphics card change... and see if the Lcd works= i can see what is going on further.

card has a small gap close to the edge oc card contacts. what mxm is this ?
model is nvidia p407, vg.8pg06.005, barcode 8718272686 printed on a sticker .

I know nothing about MXM compatibilities though, as well as what card brand/ model/ Ram to choose.
My pc has 4GB Ram, BIOS never updated,. I also heard to upgrade with a new card the Bios needs update with
some models... BUT how am i going to update the Bios if the card works & current Bios does not recognise it ?

4. I have 2Ghz Dualcore processor and if i can upgrade this as well, I would like you opinion on all the above, and some help to see how to update bios later on, if needed and what to look for/ choose to purchase please.

I was also read on web to buy, thermal pads instead of thermal paste and Heatsink copper Shims, but these shims need to be placed in between processor and Heatsink plate, and dont know the thickness and how many i should put, including dimensions of copper pieces.

Any help will be awesome at this point !

 

The card is MXM-II type. The list od successful updates can be seen here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/acer-mxm-models-and-cards.396320/

Does the notebook work with an external screen (as in can anything be seen on it)?

The "intel wm3945ABG" is a Wi-Fi card.

BIOS can be found on Acer support site. Version 3813 seems to be the most recent one - it's here.

 

right now nothing can be seen. I tried the VGA connector, nothing, then i tried pressing the combination to direct to external monitor (VGA) did not work.

I measured the power supply AC/DC with multimeter and is ok. Found today the tech. manual for this model and says, if errors without sound occur, 1. power issue, 2. LCD issue maybe inverter, 3. hdd.
I tried to see if the laptop hdd (Vista), connected to a desktop pc (win 7 ulti) will work, and when DTP pc boots, starts win7, then shows a screen saying ;this is Acer model, then asks to check windows OS VISTA for problems.

I tried reading the hdd with partition tools, and is readable, has 1 primary active volume.

I am thinking of baking the card, now just to see if i have a chance to show something on screen... or install i.e. win7 on the laptop harddrive via DTP (desktop tower) pc, not sure about what drivers get copied, and if acer will boot....

Any good reliable info on how to bake the card, temp, minutes etc. Maybe i have to try this as well....

As for the BIOS thanks for the link i will see to download it, and maybe with a bootable usb, i can see if monitor switches on.... dont know, too complex but maybe so simple to solve on other side.

What do you suggest to this puzzle ?

 

I don't think it's a BIOS issue nor is it likely to be a screen issue.
It's likely that the card is gone - these were prone to it.

You may try baking it - here are some tips. It did not work for me when I tried to save a card in a laptop I was given to fix - I had to buy a new one.

One thing though - if Windows worked correctly, it should have started in the background - you would have seen blinking HDD LED and would have heard the HDD (and heard Windows start sound if you haven't had it disabled). If nothing like that happens, the notebook might be stuck before POST (which may happen with a failing card).

You might want to check if those beeping sounds can be recognized as one of the error codes - I think service manual has some of those listed.

 

ok... i am back from card baking procedure.

indeed it is the card ! after baking it 9min @ 200 degrees Celcious, i managed to startup, format with windows 7 and restart.

It seems the cause for the continuous dvd drive beeps was the graphics card for a reason !!!

Now dvd works ok.
BUT what it does not work is some broken keypad keys, and some keyboard keys.

I saw my System bios version is v1.3813 and VGA bios is nvidia 60.84.62.00.40
intel core duo 2.1Ghz processor, i think is T8xxxx. Can i also replace the processor and
what model ?

Anyway, the good news is that nothing else at the moment is failing..
What card model would you advise me to replace the current card with ?

 

-here is the answer: http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/acer-mxm-models-and-cards.396320/

...
-also you need ''5920G_MXM_V3.WPH''

...
Confirm that the 9600M GT 512Mb DDR3 (VG.9PG06.006 G96-630-A1) works on Acer 5920G with bios 5920G_MXM_V3.WPH
Thank you very much http://forum.notebookreview.com

 

hi guys!

i want your final before-purchase opinion on which of the two ATI 3650 cards would you choose? I decided to get a 3650 to allow me to watch some videos better maybe...

1. Plus 3D ATI HD3650 MXMII VGA, 256MB DDR3, model VG.86M06.002, processor M86-M
2. ATI Mobility Radeon HD3650 MXM II VGA, *1GB DDR2* RAM, Model VG.86M06.006

apart from the model differences and RAM, i see that types are DDR2 and DDR3 ?
All say work with acer bios.

The cards dont have the metallic X-like heatsink ? Do i need to order one of these as well?
I will buy copper pieces as well, any thickness proposals and how many to stack ?

I have no clue whether 1 or 2 produce more heat or last longer. Any answers are valuable !

I got the bios as stated above, so in case i need to update, i am fine upto this point.

 

Please update 8935g with Ati HD 6770m (red board) - successfully installed with no bios/vbios mod

 

thanks for your tip kostyarik !

 

My pleasure =) I fact i think i misplaced my post, originally i wanted to post it to common acer upgrade thread =)