Acer MXM BIOS Mods and discussion (was: x920G vs. 9600M GT)

[.NetRolller 3D]

@discovery45: You have a dead card. The external display should work even without patching.

[discovery45]

@discovery45: You have a dead card. The external display should work even without patching.

so it's a bad news....
The seller certified me that the card was working (he said that he tested it on 5730G).
Unfortunately, I think that the mainboard has a problem.
The card I currently have is actually the second card he sent me. With the first card, the external display was not working too but as it was not the card I wanted (it was a 9600m gt with 1Go DDR2), I thought that it was the cause.

do you think that the mainboard could be faulty, even if windows boots?

could you please explain me clearly how (which tool, keystroke, etc.to blind flash the SBIOS with a USB key?

[Jack.Straw]

Sorry for the amateur question, but I need help flashing my bios with your MXM modded version. I downloaded your .fd file for my 7720g. Then I went to acer and got the official bios for the same version (1.45). I expected to get a winflash utility and an .fd file, but instead ended up with only a single exe (ICL50145.exe). It doesn't appear to use any external .fd file or allow me to choose one.. it just wants to go ahead and flash it. So I cancelled that.

Next i found an acer utility called winphlash. That seems to be a bit old, and will not install on my vista system. (why I click the setup.exe nothing happens at all)

EDIT: Ok, winphlash suddenly decided to install once i closed my browser after posting this thread.. heh. However, it requires bios images with a .WPH, .RO2, .ROM, or .WP2 extension.

Would you mind pointing me in the right direction? If i have to flash the bios via CD or USB, that's fine... but i would prefer to do it from windows if possible.

Thanks for all your time and help here on the forums!!
-Scott

[.NetRolller 3D]

WinPhlash is for Phoenix BIOSes only. Yours is an Insyde BIOS - get InsydeFlash to update it.

[Jack.Straw]

WinPhlash is for Phoenix BIOSes only. Yours is an Insyde BIOS - get InsydeFlash to update it.

Netroller, thanks! I had trouble finding InsydeFlash from any reputable source (like Acer?), so i ended up downloading it from RapidShare. I ran the utility with your updated bios file but the processes (any my computer) froze at about 85-90% completed. I waited a long time hoping it would snap out of it, but it never happened.

So, i downloaded the official 1.45 bios update from the Acer euro site. I renamed your bios file to match the official one and burned it, along with the fla exe and batch file included in the official download, to a CD. I then used the Fn+Esc method described in a different thread.

Result: great success! No more MXM beep warning on boot, and according to other threads this update should fix the audio problem that has plagued this notebook since i bought it several years ago. Thank you sooo much for your time and efforts here!!

[.NetRolller 3D]

Actually, all you need to burn to the CD is ICL50HW.FD, no need for DOS boot or Fla$h1t.exe.

[discovery45]

so it's a bad news....
The seller certified me that the card was working (he said that he tested it on 5730G).
Unfortunately, I think that the mainboard has a problem.
The card I currently have is actually the second card he sent me. With the first card, the external display was not working too but as it was not the card I wanted (it was a 9600m gt with 1Go DDR2), I thought that it was the cause.

do you think that the mainboard could be faulty, even if windows boots?

could you please explain me clearly how (which tool, keystroke, etc.to blind flash the SBIOS with a USB key?

@.NetRolller 3D, what do you think about my problem?

[.NetRolller 3D]

@discovery54: Don't bother blind-flashing. At this point, this is definitely NOT a BIOS issue. It's either a dead MXM card, a broken motherboard, or a faulty charger (too much ripple/noise in the charging voltage can make the MXM card malfunction).

[Filrainman]

Hi
Please, could someone download this file:
Aspire 6920G (Phoenix, with unlocked menus): request download ticket | ifile.it
and upload to another server?

[discovery45]

@discovery54: Don't bother blind-flashing. At this point, this is definitely NOT a BIOS issue. It's either a dead MXM card, a broken motherboard, or a faulty charger (too much ripple/noise in the charging voltage can make the MXM card malfunction).

so the only solution is to test with another vga card.
I may have the opportunity to test the laptop with a 9600m gt coming from a msi laptop. I assume that this card is compatible with the 9920g. any idea?

Regarding to idea of a fulty charger, the card should work when the laptop is on battery, shouldn't it?

do you see another way to identify my problem?