Netbook freezes randomly

I have been following up but not so lucky.
I had a day were everything looked bright but then it started freezing again. I have now put the HDD on PIO. It takes a year to boot, hopeless to play music but so far (since last night) it has worked flawlessly. I also enabled DEP again (so far the only thing that I can confirm made a difference, though not a complete fix)to stress it more. If this holds water, it will help circle in on Nick_in_Wash's theory.

I did not check if safe mode runs in PIO. Maybe this is what makes the difference. Nice if others are willing to try also. Will report back ASAP should I get a freeze. I am using Yahoo Webcam to stress the system as this has been a sure way of getting trouble.

Then the next step would be to find a workaround, as running in PIO is not a solution.

UPDATE: It just froze.
Now to try and find something else to try.

 

Thanks, DrNo.

i'm actually not a doctor - it's just my screenname.

I checked and found both those devices in the device manager but they already had the driver version 8.8.0.1001.

Do you have any idea if doing a clean install of XP could help avoid any further freezes?

Any other ideas?

Are you really happy with XP's performance on your 751?

.

 

Yes, mine too. =/
And the drivers still are the "Intel(R) SCH Family PCI Express Root Port - 8110/8112" and "Intel(R) SCH LPC Interface Controller - 8119". =/

Dr.No, are you sure that the driver I need to download is "Chipset_Intel_8.8.0.1011_XPx86_A.zip" from acer support?

Ps: Acer will do nothing about these freezing bugs? What "really good" support do they have! This is my first and last notebook I buy from them. >=(

 

They will tell you to send it in for repair. It's about a 50% chance that they will actually do something that fixes the problem. So some people have sent it in and got back non-freezing computers. Others have sent their computers in twice, with no luck. They don't seem to have a standard method of fixing this issue and seem to do different repairs on different computers with differing outcomes. A really poorly managed repair system.

 

At least those are the drivers I'm using... and my 751 does not have the freezing issue any more

Yup, as somebody else mentioned before: XP is quite snappy on the 751. Of course, opening complex software (e.g. Word 2007, Opera Browser with several open tabs and so on) can take a couple of seconds, but the overall performance is indeed satisfying.
Let's face it: Netbooks where never meant to run any modern OS; even Windows 7, which is really an improvement when it comes to efficiently using system resources, can not compete with XP on a Netbook (performance-wise). Frankly, I find it hard to see any point in selling a version of the 751 with Vista pre-installed; it is impossible to get Vista to perform on a decent level on a Netbook (CPU, GPU etc.)... Acer really screwed up there...

 

[/quote]

Yup, as somebody else mentioned before: XP is quite snappy on the 751. Of course, opening complex software (e.g. Word 2007, Opera Browser with several open tabs and so on) can take a couple of seconds, but the overall performance is indeed satisfying.
Let's face it: Netbooks where never meant to run any modern OS; even Windows 7, which is really an improvement when it comes to efficiently using system resources, can not compete with XP on a Netbook (performance-wise). Frankly, I find it hard to see any point in selling a version of the 751 with Vista pre-installed; it is impossible to get Vista to perform on a decent level on a Netbook (CPU, GPU etc.)... Acer really screwed up there...[/quote]


I suspect that Acer was kind of stuck in that Microsoft set the limit on display size at 10" for netbooks. Depending on who tells the story, if you wanted to make an 11" netbook, you either didn't get to use the XP Basic at it's discounted price, or you didn't get to use XP Basic at all and were forced to use Vista. Today you can get an 11" netbook with XP, but it didn't start out that way. You may remember that when the 751 was introduced, there was a significant number of upgraded Vista drivers immediately available on the Acer site. I have wondered if Acer decided to play hard ball with Microsoft about the use of XP and had not intended to use Vista at all on the 751. Bottom line, Microsoft won that one and the 751 rolled out with Vista and some pretty raw drivers that needed to be upgraded pretty soon after introduction.

 

After many trials and errors I finally figured out how to stabilize my laptop. Below are my steps in hope they can help others:

1. Replaced my harddrive with a Hitachi Travelstar 500GB @ 5400 rpms (SATA)
2. Added "Gaming 2GB DDR2-800 (PC-6400) SODIMM"
3. Installed AA1FanControl ( http://www.computentsystems.de/aceraspireonefancontrol/ )
4. This one seemed to make the most difference, Disabled the Graphics card driver. Now it uses the Windows default @ 1024x768

Other things that helped that I learned from others on the list:

a. Disabled all the features on the touchpad
b. Throttled down the CPU with RMClock
c. Changed the boot to /execute

Again the one that looks to make the most difference is the disabling the graphics card. What got me to finally do that was that I noticed activity while the screen/mouse froze. Now it's surprisingly more responsive than before. Below are the steps on how to do that:

1. Right-click on My Computer and select Properties
2. Click the Hardware tab.
3. Click the Device Manager button
4. Expand Display Adapters
5. Right-click on Graphics Accelerator and select disable.
6. You will need to reboot but make sure you enable "Enable write combining" and Full hardware acceleration in the Display Properties in the Troubleshoot section, after rebooting.

Hope it helps others,
Paul

 

I have the Apsire 751h (blue) with the Seagate 160 GB Harddrive and just wifi (no bluethooth)
First of all I have installed "Tiny XP 09" (google it) No Internet Explorer, No Outlook, No Media Player... lots of drivers, lots of tweaks...etc
I Installed all the Acer supplied drivers including the chipset drivers...

The problem I had was that the 751h was locked up with a black screen and required 6 second power button reboot... but this only seemed to happen in standby or when I wasnt using it at all. It runs hot when this happens... then yesterday it finally froze while I was using it. So it sounds the same as everyone elses problem.

I just updated the Bios to 3206 today and so far 3 hrs on battery playing video over wifi and with the webcam open and NO lockups yet.

Here is what I have changed.

Bios 3206
Tiny XP 09 no IE and no OE and no WMP
Using DirectX Diagnostic Tool I disabled DirectDraw and Direct3D
Installed the PowerDVD 8 program This allowed me to play h264 video with Media Player Classic
Disabled all Visual styles i.e. make it look like Win2K
Applied the Persistant Brightness Registry fix and set screen to a medium brightness (full brightness is way to bright)
Disable power saving stuff: no screen blank, no HDD shutdown, and no standby - unless I press the power button.
FireFox 3.5 (of course)

I think it was the BIOS 3206 that has helped the most

I will update if I get any freezes using this config.

BTW the background that comes with tiny XP is cool

 

Just using generic drivers in xp, i.e. disabling graphic device, works without any lockup. But only works with 1024x768, not 1366x768, and it looks horrible. Anybody knows a way to use the right resolution with generic drivers?. I wouldn't care about the lack of performance with generics.

The best way to reproduce the freeze I've found is scrolling over a word 2007 large document, with av pag and re pag keys. I don't know if on 2003 works too, but when it freezes it allways do after a few seconds doind what I say.

I've tried all bios and all intel drivers, and freezed.

If it's something about the intel drivers, I don't know why the asus 1101ha doesnt freeze, as I've read.

 

Changing the clock speed changes the frequency of the lock ups but does not completely eliminate them. Running with base video (1024x768) is NOT a solution since the aspect ratio does not match the screen.

Awaiting my rebuild discs. When I am eventually required to send the machine to Acer for repair, it will be accompanied by a warning letter that states that if the machine does not come back with the lockup situation corrected, the next notification they will receive will be a copy of a letter to my State Attorney General with a complaint about knowingly selling defective units -- these problems have been occurring since the were first sold and I bought mine in August.

At this point I will gladly accept a refund and will return my system for them to dispose of properly.

 

I have tried jplatt09’s recommendation of disabling DirectDraw and Direct3D, and it works great! My suggestion of disabling the graphics card seems to also turn off the sleep function, which is unfortunate unless there are better Vga drivers out there.

I’m not sure where to locate and how to apply the Persistent Brightness Registry fix, but would be definitely interested in knowing.

Thanks,
Paul

 

Disabling the Graphics Acceleration options on Vista does not appear to be possible (i.e., the command button on the Troubleshooting tab is disabled). If anyone knows how to do this, I'm all ears.

Changing the clock is not working
Various BIOS updates are not working (3204, 3206, or 3208)
Updating the few drivers that are out of date (I purchased in August) is not working
Running on VGA only gives 1024x768 and that is not an option since I purchased this for its 1366x768 resolution

Acer sent recovery discs, but I'm not about to plunk down $40 for an external reader since it's not my fault the system is busted.

 

I'm not sure how to disable DirectDraw and Direct3D in the default installation of XP home... I used Tiny XP 09 with is bundled with a "DirectX diagnostics" shortcut or something like that: see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/190900..

Try typing "DXdiag" at the Run prompt.

The Persistant Brightness Fix is a reg file located in the driver package when downloaded off Acers website... it may have been the dirvers for Vista, but it had the reg file in it

Try creating a txt file with this line in it and name it fix.reg or something like that and double lick on it
===========
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\LPCO\PersistenceBacklight\]
"DisablePersistenceBacklight"=dword:1
===========

it worked for me.

 

Hello friends, after I installed the 3208 bios decreased significantly the crashes. But now and then came back to crash.Today the new sound driver that Acer has just released version 5.10.0.5905 - 24/09/09)
http://global-download.acer.com/GDFiles ... en&SC=PA_7
Using Windows XP Professional SP3 and Flight Simulator 2000 played for 10 hours without any crash.
I have contributed ...

 

Updating Realtek Audio driver to version 6.0.1.5854 has probably fixed the freezing problem while using the webcam with Yahoo Messenger on my Blue 751h netbook. (Windows Vista, Seagate 250GB HD)
Disabling Screensaver is also recommended.

Before updating Audio driver, netbook will freeze in less than 10 minutes after turning on webcam in Yahoo Messenger
Now I can use the webcam for 2 hours without problem

 

FYI, the latest version is 6.0.1.5943 dated 9/22/2009

 

Ditto here. Now I only had a few freezes while the netbook has been idle, no programs running.

 

Friends, unfortunately not a problem sound driver. The Netbook was connected to nearly 24 Fligh Simulator 2000 and not frozen. My wife was using Word 2003 and caught out of nowhere. I try Windows Vista SP2 with this new bios.

 

I'm having EXACTLY the same problem.
I spent an hour reading most of the 218 posts on this subject and I still didn't get a clear answer...
1. Have anybody found ONE solution that eliminated the problem COMPLETELY, for more than 2 days?
2. This problem is running from July; Was there any formal reply from Acer? Haven't this problem was discussed by the media?
3. Those who changed a computer> Did it help?

Thanks

 

I have been following this thread and tried all the suggestions but nothing has resolved the freezing totally yet. My freezes were almost always, although not every time, when I would move the cursor over the vertical scroll bar. Just passed over the vertical scroll bar would trigger the freeze that only a power off would resolve. I could not predict when it would strike but it was always within a few hours of use, sometimes within minutes.

The only thing that has allowed me to use the system for days at a time (I leave the system on all the time) is to disable the graphics driver and use the generic XP driver. Yes, that means running the display in only 1024x768 but at the moment that that beats risking a lock-up while composing a long email in Outlook which is where I usually would see the system freeze.

I do not us a screen saver or let my system go to sleep and my system has only frozen 3 times since I changed to the generic driver more than a week ago. Nothing else helped including turning off DEP, turning off display acceleration and power saving features. I have since turned everything back on and only disabled the display driver via Device Manager.

All three times the system locked after changing to the generic driver my display lid was closed (I have the system set to "do nothing" when the lid closes). The only thing closing the lid does (I thought) was just turn off the display light. Once the curser was just sitting on my desktop and only Windows Explorer and Firefox were minimized but running.

But even more interesting the other 2 times the display lid was closed and it froze when the Windows Home Server tray balloon displayed the message "A Backup is about to Start" (or something like that). The backup failed of course but I thought it was very strange it would freeze just sitting there doing nothing (Explorer and Firefox were again minimized but running at the time). I have never had the system freeze if the display lid is open. Windows Home Server backup works fine when the display lid is open. But every time I've closed the lid the system freezes when that balloon message pop-ups from the tray in the lower right corner.

So I have no idea what having the display lid closed would have to do with anything but being 3 for 3 for freezing every night I've left it closed and running fine 24x7 as long as the display lid is open for the past week seems significant.

I'm running the latest drivers from the Acer web site for XP Home and the latest BIOS as well.

Jesse