Acer Aspire 8930G Owner's Lounge

[BunsenHoneydew]

Well, another vote here for a complete re-installation of the OS on a 8930.

On my machine, World of Warcraft was playable at 1920x1080 resolution, but only on lower settings. If I put everything on "High", I would get 3-5 fps, not good! I'd already removed all of the software which I didn't use, so there shouldn't have been any bloatware left behind.

I installed the Windows 7 beta (build 7000) on a partition, having heard good things about performance, copied my WoW folder from the Vista boot drive to the Windows 7 boot drive (just in case!), ran the WoW repair.exe and then launched WoW. 1920x1080 resolution, every video setting on "High", 30-40 fps!

I thought there would be an improvement, but this is ridiculous, so out with the old, and in with the new.

I gathered all of the drivers and software I'd need, and this weekend I nuked the existing Vista installation, formatted my C: drive and installed Vista from scratch. Strangely, the license code from underneath the computer wasn't accepted by the installation. I triple checked it and so did other people, but the installation wasn't having any of it. Luckily, I have an MSDN subscription through work, so I grabbed a key from there (that's where I got the Vista DVD from the in the first place) and went ahead. Re-installed all of the drivers, e-launch software, Arcade Deluxe etc. etc. Fired up WoW, 1920x1080, everything on "High", 25-35 fps!

Now I know that my new installation has everything on it that the Acer build has, so everything *should* be the same, but it obviously isn't. Something in the Acer build is definitely wrong, as you can see by my frame rates. I have no idea what it is, but I'm happy with my system now!

So, in conclusion:

• Don't be afraid to nuke the Acer Vista installation and install your own.
• Make sure you back everything up that you need to keep before you do this. I have already installed a second SATA HDD, so this bit was easy.
• Make sure you have all of the drivers and software downloaded and ready to go. I'd already copied the entire set of software and drivers from the Acer ftp site to my second HDD, for easy access.
• I have no idea why my license key didn't work during the installation, but I'm glad I had access to a different one!

Steve

[BunsenHoneydew]

I'm thinking about buying an 8930. Can anyone tell me what games are like to play a non native res. Is it still clear?

I tried changing the resolution of WoW, to try and increase my fps, and the result was nowhere near as sharp as the native resolution. YMMV.

Steve

[Freezy]

I tried changing the resolution of WoW, to try and increase my fps, and the result was nowhere near as sharp as the native resolution. YMMV.

Steve

Stick with wide screen resolutions, having too much pixels never hurt anyone ;-)

[Orlbuckeye]

Well, another vote here for a complete re-installation of the OS on a 8930.

On my machine, World of Warcraft was playable at 1920x1080 resolution, but only on lower settings. If I put everything on "High", I would get 3-5 fps, not good! I'd already removed all of the software which I didn't use, so there shouldn't have been any bloatware left behind.

I installed the Windows 7 beta (build 7000) on a partition, having heard good things about performance, copied my WoW folder from the Vista boot drive to the Windows 7 boot drive (just in case!), ran the WoW repair.exe and then launched WoW. 1920x1080 resolution, every video setting on "High", 30-40 fps!

I thought there would be an improvement, but this is ridiculous, so out with the old, and in with the new.

I gathered all of the drivers and software I'd need, and this weekend I nuked the existing Vista installation, formatted my C: drive and installed Vista from scratch. Strangely, the license code from underneath the computer wasn't accepted by the installation. I triple checked it and so did other people, but the installation wasn't having any of it. Luckily, I have an MSDN subscription through work, so I grabbed a key from there (that's where I got the Vista DVD from the in the first place) and went ahead. Re-installed all of the drivers, e-launch software, Arcade Deluxe etc. etc. Fired up WoW, 1920x1080, everything on "High", 25-35 fps!

Now I know that my new installation has everything on it that the Acer build has, so everything *should* be the same, but it obviously isn't. Something in the Acer build is definitely wrong, as you can see by my frame rates. I have no idea what it is, but I'm happy with my system now!

So, in conclusion:

• Don't be afraid to nuke the Acer Vista installation and install your own.
• Make sure you back everything up that you need to keep before you do this. I have already installed a second SATA HDD, so this bit was easy.
• Make sure you have all of the drivers and software downloaded and ready to go. I'd already copied the entire set of software and drivers from the Acer ftp site to my second HDD, for easy access.
• I have no idea why my license key didn't work during the installation, but I'm glad I had access to a different one!

Steve

Your key didn't work because that key goes with the Acer licensed copy of Vista. That key goes with the version of Vista on your restore dvd's.

[gbailey141]

Hi all,

Hoping somone can give me some help. I have an 8930G and can't seem to get the HDMI output to work. In the settingsI am unable to set it as the default. I have just updated the latest 9700MGT drivers as I was having problems playing my Blu ray discs. If anyone can point me in the right direction It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Gavin

[meansizzler]

I have a 6935G, the 8930G is just too big, but was wondering if anyone has opened theirs up would like to see where the 3rd wifi/wimax antenna is placed?, also a picture of the tv tuner with cable attached, as my model does not have the tv tuner, also how do the built in 5.1 speakers sound?, the 2.1 setup on my 6935G sound great,

[sith_space]

Anyone could recommend any good backpacks for 8390G monster ?

18"4 isn't very popular size and i dont want to carry it in my current backpack, that is suited for 15"4 and 17" kind of laptops (i had Toshiba Satelite before).

Would be good if the backpacks werent ridiculously expensive, something up to £50 for example. I've seen someone recommending that Targus TXL617, but i can't seem to find it anywhere in UK (only links to US stores that'd ship to UK, which would cost twice the original cost of the backpack itself :E).Thanks in advance

[Freezy]

Anyone could recommend any good backpacks for 8390G monster ?

18"4 isn't very popular size and i dont want to carry it in my current backpack, that is suited for 15"4 and 17" kind of laptops (i had Toshiba Satelite before).

Would be good if the backpacks werent ridiculously expensive, something up to £50 for example. I've seen someone recommending that Targus TXL617, but i can't seem to find it anywhere in UK (only links to US stores that'd ship to UK, which would cost twice the original cost of the backpack itself :E).Thanks in advance

I couldn't find the backpack I have now, but apart from the color i think it's this one:
http://targus.com/uk/product_details.asp?sku=TCB001EU

Even though it says 17 inch, it can snugly fit the 8930 (although it wont be very well protected at the top of the bag)

Mine is black and dark metallic blue.

[chriscatt]

Hi, I have one of those bags and the 8939 fits nice and snug into it. Also the targus warrenty is a lifetime one, and they don't ask for the bag to be returned or quibble over the reasons for making a claim. They just ask for some details and the tag inside the bag to be sent to them and they'll then replace it. I have done this three times now for different Targus cases and have been impressed with their service...
Chris

[somebodyelse]

I have tried both the Intel Wifi driver from Acer's ftp and Intel's site, but both of them have not been able to activate the Wireless-N speed on the 8930.

All my HPs connect to the same Linksys Wireless-N router at >120Mbps speeds, but the Acer 8930 is capped at 54G. Is anyone else having the same experiene? Does anyone know of a workaround?

Mine was capped at 150Mbps (using D-Link DIR-855 Quadband router and drivers supplied by Acer).

Getting latest 12.4.0.21 drivers from http://www.station-drivers.com/page/intel%20lan-wan.htm got me this - nice and stable 300Mbps, using WPA2 w/ AES: