AS5920 Owners Lounge

Thought I would start one up so we can keep a thread with up to date information in it.

Anyone have a good list of what bloatware is best and safe to remove off the default install?

Best XP, Vista 32, and Vista 64 drivers for either OC'ing, stability, or stock performance.

Where to find XP drivers
New Vista drivers
Bios updates
Anything you can think of
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Found this at one of the reviews. For the Acer Arcade causing MCE Controls not to show:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Start Menu:

Change “HideTV” value to 0

 

There is actually very little bloat-ware assuming you find the ePowering Utilities useful (as I do)

All I removed when I first got my 5920 was
-Norton Security Centre 3 month trial
-Microsoft Works
-Microsoft Office 2007 Trial
-Office Activation Assistant
-Adobe 7 (Not latest version)


Software I kept were
-Yahoo Toolbar for IE (Acer Customised)
-NTI Backup Now! 4.7
-NTI CD & DVD Maker
-Power Producer

The best display drivers seem to be 158.45, which can be overclocked, but are still very fast at stock speeds and using the "quality" settings in the Nvidia Control Panel.

The 162.18 drivers have better image quality on default settings, but with a performance hit naturally, quality settings cause games to run slower than with the 158.45 drivers. Nvidia Control Panel using the 162.18 drivers takes about 90 seconds to open every time.

Latest BIOS - 3706
Most manufacturers have new updated Vista Drivers on their websites, so check there before installing software off the CD.

Acer XP Drivers-
ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/aspire_xp_not_authorized/

This is some free essential software you may want to install when you first get your laptop, or if you have to reinstall. Its best to keep a folder on the "D:\" Partition holding this software to save you downloading it all again.


Tips:
-If you remove Norton Security Suite, you must run the Norton Removal tool, otherwise IE 7 will run very slowly. I think this is because something from the Norton IE7 add-on is left behind.
-If you install AgeOfEmpires 3, which installs "Macrovision InstallShield" software in the Control Panel, Windows will block it running at start-up, and display annoying pop-up bubbles everytime the computer is started. Use "SoftwareManagerUninstall" (see screenshot) avaliable from here
http://consumer.installshield.com/kb.asp?id=q111006
to remove it.
-Attaching removable hard drives 50% of the time causes the laptop to try and enter sleep, and fail because the hard drive refuses to spin down. This leaves the laptop on, but the display will not turn on again, requiring a hard reboot. To avoid this, remove external Hard drives before entering sleep mode.

 

Ahhhhhh, thats interesting to know thanks, I thought that because it took so long for the control panel to come up that it was a faulty install and so I got rid of the driver.

 

Useful Free Tools........

Use CCleaner to clean your HDD and Reg problems(CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool)

Auslogics Disk Defrag is designed for fast optimization of today's modern hard disks(1000% Better than Windows Built-in tool

Auslogics Registry Defrag is an extremely useful program to keep your registry as compact as possible

 

I've updated the bios, got some new drivers but haven't switched yet.

Trying to get the HD-DVD drive to work. Only HD-DVD i got so far is Planet Earth. It reads, but Arcade Movie Player and PowerDVD Ultra won't play it. My guess is it needs to download the current decode but they just sit there. I've downloaded the newest Arcade update off acer site which reinstalled the whole thing. Anyone else having problems?

Went and got Full Metal Jacket HD (freaking hillarious movie) and its working fine. Guess its something about the Planet Earth disks.

 

Hey Daleon,

I have the same problem with "300". It is a combo disc-- "HDDVD/DVD" and when it is put into the drive there is a nasty knocking noise as if something is trying to close but cant. It eventually goes away, I start arcade and go to play movie, and then if I'm lucky I get the prompt that a critical component is needed. I have still not seen this component even though I have downloaded it at least a hundred times. After I click ok to download the screen just stares at me and does nothing. Very frustrating as I can get the DVD side to play and I have gotten "Babel" to play (it is HDDVD only). Let me know if you run across anything.
I was thinking of trying PowerDVD Ultra. Deluxe does not play HD. This I found out after downloading trial. Oh well...........

 

Yea I get the same thing, knocking noises then asks to download an update and then nothing. Really annoying.

It doesn't play in PowerDVD Ultra either though.

 

I am trying to update acer arcade. There is a newer version on acer support site, but when I go to download, it gets about 1/3 thru and justs hangs there. Should I uninstall arcade first and then install new version? Also, it is a zip file. Should I save and then unzip, or just run? Thanks for the input. DAve

 

Save the zip file to your desktop; it is over 300 meg in size. Once saved; unzip and run setup.exe.

 

From where can i download new arcade?

 

Its at the acer us website downloads. Didn't notice any difference with it though.

 

link please

 

http://www.acerpanam.com/flex/acerdrivers/bin/drivers.html?CFID=3337608&CFTOKEN=93157053

 

thanx it's not available on acer euro site

 

Installed new acer arcade, flashed bios with 3706. Went out and bought "Hot Fuzz", it is a combo disc-- HDDVD/DVD. It played fine. FF and RW seem to be working a bit better. Still noticed some lag in the playback at times.

So I guess I can rule out the combo disc being the problem. Maybe I just have a bad copy of 300??

Anyway, does anyone know how to update the firmware of the HDDVD drive without the Acer disc? Thanks, Dave

 

And yes...i will get my own today night
It will be a 302G16N, which has both BT and Robson
Otherwise here in Hungary there are 2 kinds of 5920 now. A 302G25 and 302G16N.

 

I tried the acer arcade, and it was AWFUL...

The laptop was off, and it loaded. Everytime I use it I see a Windows XP BOOT screen??? What is that doing there? Then after about 30 seconds, 15 seconds short of booting up Vista, the media options appear. It runs sluggish.

When I try to exit, instead of the laptop turning off, it boots into Vista, defeating the point entirely...

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong, but is it supposed to perform like this? Why is there a Windows XP screen everytime I use Media Arcade?

*Does the new Acer Arcade stop booting Windows XP first?

 

i downloaded the robson driver and bison driver and avg free said there was trojans in the downloads!

 

Checked both files with Kaspersky AV 6 and NOD32 2.79- both are clean.

 

damn avg and its false positives!

 

what is the e - power utilites?

 

It's an utility that let you set different power schemes. You can control the GPU and CPU performance and the LCD backlight.

 

so its like an overclocking facility?

 

No, you cannot overclock the CPU or GPU with the utility. You can only underclock them.

 

I did find a fix for the HDDVD drive firmware, it is on HP's site:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-52374-1&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=3442974&os=2093

Sorry I did not post back here sooner, but I was so excited I started a separate thread and forgot to put 5920G in the subject header. The drive does not make that clunking sound anymore and "300" plays perfect.

 

Hi all! Is it normal that i have a 4000kB/s copy speed from dvd-rw to hdd? If not, what should i do, to reach higher speeds?

 

Can you tell me is there any hiddend disc partition which you can use for back-up? i have 150 Gb but i can only use about 130 Gb.

 

Yes.Acer have hidden data partition (10GB D2D Recovery partition).You can't delete that partition and you can access to it from your boot screen

 

As far as I remember there are even 2 hidden partitions on my disk...

 

No Only one hidden partition

 

2 partitions

File System not mentioned

1. EISA configuration (Capacity 9.76 GB)
2. Primary Partition (Capacity 3.24 GB)

Both the partitions are hidden. You will find it in Disk Management.

 

Sorry I have only one hidden partition

 

Dont want to hijack this thread but thought one of you would know. anyway, has anyone here run COD2 on one of these in DX7 and what was your average FPS?
im seriously looking into buying one of these after all the reviews but thats the only question holding me back

 

Never try COD2 But STALKER and SplinterCell-DA works fine and no lags

 

I am sure it will eat through COD2 with no issues.

Anyone know about adding a bluetooth module? Possible, how hard, and where you can find one? I got the 1.5 ghz US version and really could use some BT.

 

After windows reinstall still getting blue screens with "driver irql is not less or equal". Any advises?

 

It doesn't eat through COD 2. It runs at about 23 average FPS on native res with 4xAA and Trilinear filtering. The Russian levels are most demanding with all the snow, other levels such as British the 5920 handles with ease, the frame rate can go up to 39FPS depending on characters on screen, smoke etc... Or about 35FPS steady at 1024x768.

 

i play co2 .....you just need to turn the shadows down and the game works a treat(in dx9)... in dx7 it should run excellent!

 

Hi guys,

I've had the 5920 a couple weeks now, and there are 2 things that are really bugging me...

1. When I watch video files using software other than WMP11, I see highly visible lines on the edges of certain objects like the details or edges of people's faces. It's almost like games that aren't anti aliased, it's very annoying. But for some reason it does not occur in Windows Media Player 11. I'd prefer to use Media Player Classic, but those lines drive me crazy!

Also: The loss of quality when watching video in full screen seems more apparent on this LCD than my previous laptop's screen. As if the LCD isn't optimised for stretching video, I remember reading a review that mentioned a specific word that's used for this characteristic.

2. The LCD colour seems fine in normal windows usage and games, but when I watch video, the colours seem very washed out when I view the LCD directly, I tend to try to slant it upwards so I'm looking at it from a lower angle, thanks to the terrible viewing angles of this LCD it makes everything appear darker and more contrasted, making video look better, but at a cost to some visual information which is lost.

Anyhow, just wanted to know if any of you guys have similar experiences and what you might have done to improve things on this laptop.

Oh yeah, every time I boot up, that Acer empowering technology initializing installation windows starts up and then goes away after a couple seconds. Very annoying.

Thanks!

 

Hi,

i'm about to buy a as5920-6474 but i'd like to have feedback from current owner of that laptop about problems, pros ans cons, durability, noise from the fan or the hard disk ??

Thanks

 

funny u guys talking about cod2 when this notebook runs cod4 with little to no signs of fps lag

 

i know its old but all you need to do is turn off soften smoke edges and the russian lvls run fine.

 

Hey folks...

Any of you know where I can download the Empowering software for the 5920? My machine came with a base linux install and I asked for XP Pro on it. But as far as I can see, all the downloads from either the US or European sites of Acer for this Empowering software are Vista-based. DO you guys think I should get Vista Home Premium on the machine? I'd rather not because (1) its a real pain to re-load all my files and software and (2) I have this Office 97 Ultimate student offer which if I read the EULA right allows me to install it twice only - I did it once on my Vaio which suddenly died on me and the second time I did it on this machine.

So, what do you guys recommend and can you give me some pointers on that XP version of the EMpowering software?

Thanks in advance.

SOLVED, which is to say I have got the XP version of that Acer Software.

 

Graphics driver query:

I'm using some old laptopvideo2go.com drivers (169.04) and can't get my head around the choice of drivers now available on that website! I was hoping some 5920G owners could tell me which drivers work well for them.

Seems like there are drivers:
- On the Acer website
- Through windows update
- Laptopvideo2go.com

I guess the modded lv2go drivers are the best performers? But how do you decide which series to use - 167.xx is the "laptop branch" according to their forum, but people use 169.xx and 17x.00 too!!!! How is that possible?

I'm not interested in overclocking and I have stock BIOS still - which drivers have good game performance and stability? I'm looking at 174.31 now...

Thanks!

 

hi! i've just bought my as5920 and i really need to replace Vista for XP SP2.
I'd appreciate any help, because I was told more than just a Win XP CD is needed to do it.
Thank you all!!

 

just follow this link, and search this forum for advice

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...on-your-pre-installed-windows-vista-computer/

 

Hi all, I have just bought this laptop and I am trying to output via HDMI to a Toshiba 37" LCD TV but can`t get the picture to go fullscreen. I always have a 2" black border around the four edges of the screen. It is as if it is not being scaled properly and the picture isn`t very sharp.

Anyone else had the same problem and if so how did you fix it ?

Thanks

 

OK...a quick question here...

You know how the usb port on the right hands side by the dvd drive bay is awkwardly placed - to put it mildly...!

What I want to do is to use a laser mouse, which I want to fit into that usb port. Currently, the usb stick for my mouse is too big in the sense that it prevents the bay from opening. So, I use it on the left-hand side.

Do you folks know of any laser mouse with a usb stick that is thin enough to use on that that port?

Thanks

PS: VX Nano (Logitech) perhaps?

PS: Gotta be one of those portable mouse! For some reason I find them very comfortable! Thx.

 

I have the logitech v320 and works just fine. Does not prevent from opening dvdrom drive.

 

with my 5920 i got a free acer mouse -model-MP0930A21 and it fits just great- the dvd tray opens with no problem.