Acer TimelineX 3820TG Owners Lounge. Info, benchmarks, tweaks, mods and upgrades

Hey all, any answers to this?

Hey all, I have had my 3820TG for a couple weeks now and I am curious. Is there a way to leave the touchpad and wifi OFF, even after restarting the computer? Seems like every time I turn my computer on, I have to turn off the wifi and the touchpad again.

Thansk!

 

None that I know of. You could just disable it in Device Manager, but it is more of a workaround.

 

mmm... fyi... my i5-460M @ stock clock gets me 6.8 too...

Graphics 6.7 @ stock
RAM 5.9 @ 4Gig
Hdd 5.9 @ WDC 750GB drive: WD7500BPVT-22HXZT1

 

My WEI looks like this:
6.9 - Processor [i5 M480 stock]
5.9 - RAM [4GB stock]
6.7 - Graphics & Gaming [10-12_mobility_vista_win7_64_dd_ccc_ocl]
6.8 - HDD [with SSD KINGSTON SNVP325S2128GB]

Also, could you check your AC Adapters [the power brick] and tell me if you hear any sounds from it; mine, when charging, makes a crack noise, similar to a hard disk drive working?!

 

Wow! The 480M gets a higher WEI than my 540M.



Oh ... no noise from either of the 2 power bricks I have for my Acer.

Bronsky

 

I though I made a mistake, but I didn't:


The sound from the power brick is most noticeable if you put your ear close to it.

 

its not supposed to sound like this. you should RMA it...

the last time a power adapter sounded like this for me was my mobile phone charger, it worked for quite a while but died all the same

probably have to do with Clock speed.... 480M has a higher default clock speed than 460M and 540M which are both 2.53Mhz parts

 

Acer Aspire TimelineX 3820T/3820TG BIOS recovery (by prikolchik)

This guide was posted because Acer Technical Support refuses to admit that BIOS recovery is possible on this laptop. This guide should help unbrick your system after an unsuccessful BIOS flash. Knowing the correct steps to take will make BIOS recovery a breeze.

By following this guide you take all the responsibility for whatever stupid thing you do. This guide is specifically for Acer Aspire 3820T/3820TG (and possibly 4820T/4820TG) with Phoenix BIOS. This guide could work for other Acer model with Phoenix BIOS, but you will need to supply your own BIOS.WPH. IF YOUR BIOS IS NOT PHOENIX, THEN THIS GUIDE IS NOT FOR YOU.

BIOS Recovery
An interruption during a BIOS flash procedure (e.g. a power outage) and flashing incorrect BIOS will both cause the system to become unbootable. You need to access and execute the boot block program to reboot the computer and recover the regular BIOS firmware.

Observe the following when performing a BIOS recovery:

• Make sure the battery pack is installed and AC adapter is connected to the system during the BIOS recovery and BIOS flash procedures. BIOS flasher checks to make sure that both are present.
• The Crisis Disk should be prepared in a system running the Windows XP 32-bit (preferrable) or Windows Vista OS. WILL NOT WORK ON WINDOWS 7
• It might not work on some USB storage devices, but might work with on others. It is recommended to use brand name (Kingston, SanDisk, etc) USB flash drives as opposed to no-name ones.

Creating the BIOS Crisis Disk in Windows
1. Prepare a removable USB storage device with a capacity size greater than 10 MB. Note that all data on the USB storage device will be cleared during the creation of the Crisis disk.
2. Set up a system running the Windows XP (preferrable) or Windows Vista OS and plug in the USB storage device into an available USB port.
3. Decompress the Crisis Package Source. (CRISIS DISK - Phlash16_v1.7.0.18_DiffSize Download, mirror1, mirror2, mirror3)
4. Replace BIOS.WPH with correct BIOS for your system. (one included in the archive is v1.13 for 3820T/3820TG)
5. Right click on WINCRIS.EXE and then select Run as administrator.
6. From the drop down list choose the correct drive you want to create Crisis disk on. WARNING: Make sure you choose the correct USB storage device or you might end up formatting the wrong one.
7. Keep the default settings and then click Start button.
8. When the pop-up warning dialog box appears, click OK to create the Crisis disk.
9. Click No if you do not want to create another Crisis disk.
10. Eject and reconnect the USB removable storage device, and make sure it contains the following three files:

• BIOS.WPH
• MINIDOS.SYS
• PHLASH16.EXE

11. If the three files above are not present, try creating the Crisis disk using a different USB storage device or try creating it on Windows XP.


Performing a BIOS Recovery
1. Turn off the system.
2. Disconnect all the peripherals. Make sure battery (charge of at least 30%) and AC adapter are both connected.
3. Connect the USB storage device containing the Crisis Disk files to the system. You can use any USB port.
4. Press and hold the <Fn> + <Esc> keys (this is the BIOS recovery hotkey), then press the Power button.
5. Keep holding <Fn> + <Esc> for about 10-15 seconds. The USB drive access LED will flash for 2-3 seconds as it is recognized by the system. Then it will flash for about 4-8seconds as the system copies the BIOS in the RAM. The BIOS recovery process begins and the screen should remain blank. It takes about 60-90 seconds to flash the BIOS. When the process is complete the system will automatically reboot.
6. If the system does not reboot after 5 minutes, press the Space-bar or any other key. If this doesn't help, close the screen lid and wait until the system goes into Standby mode. Then open the lid and wait until computer turns on or press Power button.
7. Disconnect the USB storage device from the system.
8. If the recovery procedure was successful the system should POST. If unsuccessful, repeat the steps with a different USB storage device.
9. If the system POSTs, then perform a BIOS flash procedure to update the BIOS firmware to the latest version. Refer to Running the Flash Utility section below.

If after many tries you cannot seem to recover, then please look for other recovery methods specific to your model. And in the worst case, you are going to have to send it to Acer.

Running the Flash Utility
This describes how to update the BIOS to the newest version. Personally, I prefer flashing by a different method: creating a DOS bootable USB flash drive with HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool

1. Rename the BIOS file to "XXXXXXX.FD". (It is unknown whether the name actually matters, so keep it as "JM31113.FD" for 3820T/3820TG.)
2. Copy the "XXXXXXX.FD" file to a bootable USB device containing the Crisis Recovery disk files. Refer to section Creating the BIOS Crisis Disk in Window above.
3. Turn off the system and make sure both battery and AC are plugged in.
4. Insert the USB storage device containing the renamed BIOS file and the Crisis Recovery disk files to any USB port.
5. Press and hold the <Fn> + <Esc> keys (this is the BIOS recovery hotkey), then press the power button.
6. Release the <Fn> + <Esc> keys after POST.

This guide is based on the official Acer Service manual SG_Aspire_3820T_3820TG_04282010.pdf page 77.

 

Hey - I'm just about to order this laptop since my old HP is dead and have given up. I was just wondering about a few things.

1) Does anyone know of some sort of docking station for this unit.I tried searching the thread but found no real answers on it.

2) I might've asked about this before, but, what would be your recommended SSD to apply to this laptop. I'm looking for something around 120gb or such. I might consider more since i recently got a little more money to spend.

3) Edit: Found a Zeroshock IV at http://www.gearzap.com/zeroshock-iv-advanced-laptop-case-13-3.html and ordered that instead

Thank you!

 

then why he has higher score then my 620m which also has 2.67ghz default clock
while his turbo to 2.93
and mine go 3.3ghz
and mine has more cache

why mine get 6.8 and his get 6.9