Acer 8371/3810 Owners Thread

Culinia · 21 Dec 2010 at 19:24

Well I got mine today (8371) and trying to put on the Windows XP using the discs that came from Acer. As you can probably tell bad move. Bad move indeed. It takes like an hour to install because it's a custom xp discs (2 dvds and 1 bootable cd) i.e. pre-installed OEM crap on it.

Point being that after waiting for all this to install (it does this automatically) and the drivers (does this automatically too) it failed to install both gpu drivers.

My question is this: how do I install the drivers in the proper way do I for example disable the gpu in the bios and install one at a time like that?

Have you guys updated the bios when you first got it - I have not yet only because I wanted so see if it was working etc first.

Thanks for any replies.

ps @AmDaMan bad luck there dude

fraxos · 21 Dec 2010 at 19:38

I would stay well clear of installing all the bloatware that most manufacturers tend to put on their laptops (or install discs in this case). If you can go for a freash install.

On a slightly different subject, it looks like Santa won't be nice to me this year, so no SSD for me. So the question now is the following: I would like to do a fresh install of W7 but torn as to whether the standard Seagate hard disc is good enough or whether I should save for a Momentus XT. Any suggestions?

Additionally,as per dragonuk suggested, I could buy the Kingston half-slim SSD and use that as the boot drive but I have heard that is a pretty poor drive. Does anyone have any experience of this?

Calneon · 21 Dec 2010 at 20:26

Have a question. This is my first time reinstalling Windows on a laptop, looking to install Windows 7. I'm looking at the Acer support site with all the drivers, and there are LOADS of drivers. There's like 8 driver downloads for the fingerprint alone, though they look like different versions. For 3G there's (among others):

3G_Qualcomm_Gobi2000_v1.1.18_Win7x86x64.zip
3G_Huawei(EM770W)_v2.0.3.827_Win7x86x64.zip

How do I know which one to install, or do you install both? A git of guidance here would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

This is the site BTW: http://www.acersupport.com/us/en/product_support.aspx?tab=1

e36Adz · 21 Dec 2010 at 21:47

Install Win 7, and it should install most the drivers. Check in device manager to see what still needs installing, just download and install those. You don't need to install both if their are two available, I would just install the gfx card drivers, and then run windows updates, then check device manager again to see if anything is left.

BTW what laptop have you got?

MrMark · 21 Dec 2010 at 21:53

Win 7 install without DVD/CD drive

Hi,

Should get my 8371 this week and I intend to do a fresh install of Win 7 x64 Ultimate. Can this be done from a USB stick or some other way without a DVD/CD drive?

I have Win7 as an iso file.

Thanks
Mark

Horrordee · 21 Dec 2010 at 22:03

Anyone else found that after installing the latest BIOS on the 3810 that the blue light at the front no longer displays the battery usage? In fact, it doesn't even light up at all ...

chrismscotland · 21 Dec 2010 at 22:19

fraxos said:
I would stay well clear of installing all the bloatware that most manufacturers tend to put on their laptops (or install discs in this case). If you can go for a freash install.

On a slightly different subject, it looks like Santa won't be nice to me this year, so no SSD for me. So the question now is the following: I would like to do a fresh install of W7 but torn as to whether the standard Seagate hard disc is good enough or whether I should save for a Momentus XT. Any suggestions?

Additionally,as per dragonuk suggested, I could buy the Kingston half-slim SSD and use that as the boot drive but I have heard that is a pretty poor drive. Does anyone have any experience of this?

I installed the 500GB Momentus XT in my 8371, I was going to put it in my old netbook but its just amazing in this, takes seconds to boot and runs very very quickly, certainly faster than the standard drive.

Calneon · 21 Dec 2010 at 22:53

e36Adz said:
Install Win 7, and it should install most the drivers. Check in device manager to see what still needs installing, just download and install those. You don't need to install both if their are two available, I would just install the gfx card drivers, and then run windows updates, then check device manager again to see if anything is left.

BTW what laptop have you got?

8371

e36Adz · 22 Dec 2010 at 00:38

Calneon said:
8371

Then after a win 7 install, you will only need the ATI and fingerprint reader drivers. Read the thread fully, both have been linked in here. I also installed the AHCI drivers since I fitted mine with a SSD.

Culinia · 22 Dec 2010 at 12:38

edit: seem to have got it working now anyway

- does anyone know if you can update the gpu driver while keeping the graphics switch in place

JLJ · 22 Dec 2010 at 18:48

Anybody know if this would fit into a 13" laptop bag specifically the Crumpler Salary Sacrifice. Thinking of upgrading from a NC20....

chrismscotland · 23 Dec 2010 at 16:49

Has anyone had any keyboard issues at all with their 8371? Mine seems to be having some issues detecting that I have kept the key pressed down sometimes (delete key when deleting multiple characters)

Phoenix999 · 23 Dec 2010 at 18:53

I've got a problem with the 3810. having some problems connecting laptop to 1080p tv. Im using the hdmi connection to connect to the tv but for some reason im getting 1inch black border all around the screen.

Anyone know a solution to fix this?

dragonuk · 24 Dec 2010 at 00:23

Make sure tv is set to full pixel or exact scan or something like that. 1 to 1 pixel mapping you need

kevpuk · 24 Dec 2010 at 10:34

dragonuk said:
Make sure tv is set to full pixel or exact scan or something like that. 1 to 1 pixel mapping you need

Yep, as above ^^ - my Samsung TV has a setting for HDMI called 'Just Scan' ....

Culinia · 24 Dec 2010 at 10:51

chrismscotland said:
Has anyone had any keyboard issues at all with their 8371? Mine seems to be having some issues detecting that I have kept the key pressed down sometimes (delete key when deleting multiple characters)

No I have not noticed this I will check today. I have had sometimes a problem of the keyboard making funny noises when typing. It can be made again by gently tapping the keyboard (not so much to depress it/register a stoke) but it makes some sort of clicking noise.

cokecan · 24 Dec 2010 at 11:53

kevpuk said:
Yep, as above ^^ - my Samsung TV has a setting for HDMI called 'Just Scan' ....

if using the ATI card then it can also be the catalyst drivers. In the Catalyst Control Centre there is an option to adjust scaling and for some reason this is usually set to -15% by default (!). setting it back to 0 will fill the screen properly

huyster · 24 Dec 2010 at 12:27

huyster said:
Hi dragonuk, any chance you can get this BIOS up soon?

Hi dragonuk, any news of the modded BIOS for Vista?
No prob if you can't be bothered to do it; just tell me so I'll stop bugging you.

Horrordee · 24 Dec 2010 at 15:23

My new 3810TG took 4.5 hours to charge earlier today - is this normal? I have updated to latest bios which is actually meant to fix battery charging isues - however 4.5 hours of charging seems crazy to get it to full!

kevpuk · 24 Dec 2010 at 15:30

huyster said:
Hi dragonuk, any news of the modded BIOS for Vista?
No prob if you can't be bothered to do it; just tell me so I'll stop bugging you.

Wasn't the modded BIOS originally for Vista ? I thought the Win7 'version' was what had been requested.....?