Acer 8371/3810 Owners Thread

e36Adz · 4 May 2011 at 15:22

chris10230 said:
customer service were very good if you get the details Friday I would say by mid next week it will be back with you. Given you send it off quickly. I would not say they will care. With me and their warranty sticker they said as long as nothing is broken they do not mind them being removed. So I doubt that they will say anything about it as a HD mod does not equal a broken screen. But service is good, better than what a remember from horror days before

That gives me some confidence anyway thanks, I will report back in due course.

e36Adz · 5 May 2011 at 12:20

Update: They have confirmed it's still in warranty. I just need to ring UPS to collect it now, will give them a call later today.

EDIT: UPS just came by to collect it now at 3pm, an hour after I rang them, not bad!

Matt` · 5 May 2011 at 18:41

Guys, I've been frustrated by the EURO and DOLLAR keys above the arrows bottom right of the keyboard.

Worked out I could disable them by editing the file:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Launch Manager\MMKEYBD.CFG

Key 22 = 1,E0,56,E0,D6,F511,Wireless LAN Disabled
;Key 23 = 1,E0,33,E0,B3,F508,Euro Symbol
;Key 24 = 1,E0,34,E0,B4,F509,Dollar Symbol
Key 25 = 1,E0,24,E0,A4,F5F9,Stop

Thanks to http://www.emtek.net.nz/blog/2008/06/29/remapping-acer-euro-key/

Kill the LManager.exe task (or restart) and the key will be disabled.

e36Adz · 6 May 2011 at 16:52

Update: Received a text message from Acer today saying the laptop has arrived at their repair centre. I think I may have it back by Tue/Wed at this rate which is very quick considering I first contacted them just 2 days ago!

When I get it back I am considering selling it as it isn't used that often.

lewism · 7 May 2011 at 21:40

The screen issue seems common place on this laptop. Acer service was good, but again i've had several laptops 5+ years old and never came across a screen issue like it. For a laptop designed for business and priced at £800 to begin with I guess some of us were fooled into thinking we were buying quality.

e36Adz · 8 May 2011 at 00:03

We have had quite a few laptops in this house ie. my brother and sister, and I've never come across this issue before either. How would you normally fix the backlight on a laptop screen, does the whole screen need replacing or is it easily repairable?

haz_pro · 8 May 2011 at 00:38

On my old HP it was a "inverter" (iirc) that needed replacing. That was LCD not LED though, so might be different?

EDIT: Just done a bit of research and it seems LED screens do not require an inverter. Therefore i guess a screen replacement would be necessary :-|.

lewism · 8 May 2011 at 10:48

e36Adz said:
We have had quite a few laptops in this house ie. my brother and sister, and I've never come across this issue before either. How would you normally fix the backlight on a laptop screen, does the whole screen need replacing or is it easily repairable?

Brand new screen replacement, it'll state it on your repair note.

hilals · 9 May 2011 at 06:08

bios password after trying to configure biometric security!

I got a problem. I bought the 8371, tried to configure the biometric thing, then at the step where they ask to choose a bios password I clicked on cancel and now I cannot access bios. I get 3 tries then it says "System Halted". I flashed a new firmware here (the modified one in this thread) and I still cant access. I guess my only choice is to pay 150 and get it to Acer?

Thank you.

e36Adz · 9 May 2011 at 10:52

Well I should have it back very soon, received an email at 9:30am from Acer saying it's been repaired and shipped.

jacksonliam · 9 May 2011 at 21:57

hilals said:
I got a problem. I bought the 8371, tried to configure the biometric thing, then at the step where they ask to choose a bios password I clicked on cancel and now I cannot access bios. I get 3 tries then it says "System Halted". I flashed a new firmware here (the modified one in this thread) and I still cant access. I guess my only choice is to pay 150 and get it to Acer?

Thank you.

could try Remove battery and charger and opening it up, locating the CMOS battery (either watch battery or green thing attached by 2 wires can't remember) and removing it for 10 minutes.

There may be a jumper (some pins) you can connect to reset CMOS and sometimes there are seperate ones to reset bios password too.

The service manual here http://www.2shared.com/file/11248109/3ec574e8/Acer_Travelmate_8371_8331_Serv.html may have some info on resetting the CMOS or BIOS password.

Jakg · 10 May 2011 at 11:14

My second 8371 was collected yesterday, decided to get a refund and spend a little more to get something with an i-series CPU in there.

e36Adz · 10 May 2011 at 15:55

Jakg said:
My second 8371 was collected yesterday, decided to get a refund and spend a little more to get something with an i-series CPU in there.

What happened to it originally and to the second one, and after how long?

Mine has just been returned, very quick service by Acer I have to say. Will test it out this evening when I get home.

hilals · 11 May 2011 at 07:07

jacksonliam said:
could try Remove battery and charger and opening it up, locating the CMOS battery (either watch battery or green thing attached by 2 wires can't remember) and removing it for 10 minutes.

There may be a jumper (some pins) you can connect to reset CMOS and sometimes there are seperate ones to reset bios password too.

The service manual here http://www.2shared.com/file/11248109/3ec574e8/Acer_Travelmate_8371_8331_Serv.html may have some info on resetting the CMOS or BIOS password.

Thanks for the response. That's the first thing I tried and it didnt work. Has anyone gotten this problem where cancelling the biometric security setting before entering a password leading to a bios locked by password?

e36Adz · 11 May 2011 at 14:18

Screen seems good as new again, but are Acer replacing them with identical screens because if so, surely the same thing will happen again in a few months?

chris10230 · 11 May 2011 at 19:37

e36Adz said:
Screen seems good as new again, but are Acer replacing them with identical screens because if so, surely the same thing will happen again in a few months?

Don't say that! You will Jinx it lol

e36Adz · 11 May 2011 at 20:49

chris10230 said:
Don't say that! You will Jinx it lol

Lol seriously though, if it happens again I'll be gutted if it's out of warranty. I am gonna try contact Acer for info regarding the replacement screen.

Think I recall someone mentioning they extended the warranty, how much did it cost?

chris10230 · 11 May 2011 at 22:18

There are a list of them here, several of them but they don't seem to be too bad in price, against the cost of another repair out of warranty

http://www.acerdirect.co.uk/Laptop__Warranty_Packs/prod.asp

Jakg · 12 May 2011 at 16:56

e36Adz said:
What happened to it originally and to the second one, and after how long?

First one had total backlight failure after 29 days.

Second one had intermittent backlight failure in part of the screen, if pressure was applied in certain points. Not the end of the world, but after the first one broke I didn't want to take the "it breaking out of warranty" risk. This was with me for 4 months.

Was really hoping for an 8732, but got a stupid deal on a 4820T instead (£279 refurb).

jacksonliam · 18 May 2011 at 19:46

Jakg said:
First one had total backlight failure after 29 days.

Second one had intermittent backlight failure in part of the screen, if pressure was applied in certain points. Not the end of the world, but after the first one broke I didn't want to take the "it breaking out of warranty" risk. This was with me for 4 months.

Was really hoping for an 8732, but got a stupid deal on a 4820T instead (£279 refurb).

I saw that deal, was very tempted and was gunna offer my gf chance to try it out and if she didn't like it I'd swap her my 3810TG. But she won't buy anything referbished and those don't have dedicated graphics like mine does!