Netbook freezes randomly

Google chrome is also excellent.
At first I thought this netbook is S-L-O-W but when I intalled google chrome, its so much better now. Not perfect but definitely better than IE 7 or 8.

 

I agree with you 100%!!! Even when my netbook is just sitting without opening any programs at all, it freezes.
I thought the temperature's got to do with it but nope. Even when I am in a room with AC, still freezes. ( I also use a chill mat under it so it will lessen the heat underneath)

I've read reviews from people who send their units for repair and there are a lot of horrible stories.
From the store where I bought this netbook, they suddenly pulled out all the 11.6 Acer 751. Its not available anymore.
I wonder if those other people who bought it also returned it for a replacement or demanded refund because most of these models are defective.

Good Luck with your netbook. Pls. update us if you get a new one or the refurbished one. Thanks!!

 

Get this:

The Acer reps told me they never send replacement systems. They only make repairs. Fine. But here's what happened next.

They put in my request to send in the computer for repair as: "HDD - Defective Sectors" and the description of the problem basically makes it sound like I'm a whiny customer and that there really isn't a problem.

What the heck? They had me take the battery out and hold the power button down on three separate occassions. As you all know, all this does is flush excess power from the system circuits. And it didn't help any of the 3 times. Previously, they had me restore the HDD from the recovery partition. Now the guy actually wanted me to restore from the recovery partition AGAIN, even though that didn't work the first time! When I tell him I've done that once already, he puts in a bogus repair statement, which I get a confirmation of via email!

How can I trust sending this in for repair!? They'll probably just run a scan on the HDD and send it back. At my shipping cost to them!

 

YIKES!
Same thing happened to me. That's all they can give out to help you and nothing seems to work.
I am afraid to send my netbook to them since I've read many horrible stories from their customer support.

I've heard stories that when they send it for repair, they end up getting their LCD's smashed when they return it to them.
If I can't get to fix this thing, I may have to sell it for a lower price to someone. I am so frustrated with this problem.
I regret getting an acer over a samsung or a dell.
ACER customer support sucks... and that is why this is going to be my first and last purchase from ACER.

 

Check out the new Dell 11z

 

I just got off the phone with Acer support for my new 751. It is locking up randomly too, but I have only had it for 7 days now. It appears to lock up more frequently when I am charging it.

Anyway tech support said I have voided the warranty of my laptop because I removed windows Vista and installed windows XP. What kind of cockamamie is this?

Never in my life of dealing with computer companies have I heard this line...

Unfortunately I have bought it online and cant just go swap it.

 

That's not true. You can install any operating system of your choosing. Call back and speak to another tech support agent. I actually had to call back so they could add appropriate notes to my repair order (see post in large letters above), because the first moron listed it as bad hard disk sectors, rather than reporting the freezing/power-loss problem.

I can only hope that the repair people are better than the customer service people. Otherwise we are all screwed.

By the way, has anybody gotten a system back from the repair shop?! Please give us a report!

 

Hello guys,
I had relevant improvement making these actions:
1) disable not used communication port; wireless and PCI
2) Hard disk defrag

Computer seems working better now. Can somebody of make the same, test it for a period ad share results?

Thanks for collaboration
Flavio

 

I have managed to get further with my issue. I have figured out that Itunes always seemed to be installed on each OS installation that locked up. After sucking it up and restoring the default Vista install, I started to notice new errors in the event log.

Windows Search
A device attached to the system is not functioning. (0x8007001f) c:\xxxx\ITUNES LIBRARY

Now the netbook appears to freeze when both the iTunesHelper and Windows Search are indexing files. My guess is that iTunesHelper is locking a file windows search is attempting to index rendering it inaccessible. I have disabled windows search indexing and refrained from using itunes and have not had any freezes today.

I will post back if this situation changes.

 

I have never had itunes, but still my original 751 crashed randomly.
After reinstalling XP, Win7 and trying several drivers and SW settings without any luck I sent it to ACER for repair - they replaced the mainboard and the memory (took 3 weeks) and now it seems to be stable.

One thing I forgot to try before sending back my netbook is to go back to BIOS 3202. The replaced motherboard has this version, the freezing one was updated to 3206 immediately after I bought it. It may worth a try....

 

That's excellent news. The only other repair story I have seen was a failure (twice failed) where they updated the BIOS and then replaced the HDD. neither fixed the problem: viewtopic.php?f=87&t=17008&p=100645#p100645

Mine is in the repair shop right now. I hope they get it right!

 

Hi Guys,
me again.

For the ones in worst conditions (freezing everythime and everywere) I suggest to change RAM module first. I do the same (with new module of 2GB) and now my 751 seems another computer. Honestly, I had info from IT technician where he told me that freezing depends (95% of times) from RAM with defect. In fact, if it's temperature problem when you re-start immediately for computer temperature is not changed at all. Why it re.start? If it motherboard issue it should be like lamps. It's broken for ever and nothing else.

I mean when computer goes to write into a specic section of RAM with defect there is not action/answer and it freezes.

As title of this forum issue is Randomly. RAM indeed !!!

I hope it has sense.
Thanks
Bye

 

that quite a deduction.. well... i think i will need to exchange my little netbook...

i had done everything, change my ram, installl another drivers, reinstal vista, uninstall vista and install xp, xp drivers, a extra fan for heating everything thata you mentioned on this thread has been donde by me, but NO GO lol =], this just doesn't seem right, acer AO751H is a no go pc until Acer makes a fix of this, hope if anyone gets a solution for this, any new ideas? i haven't instaled windows 7 but if XP crashes, why W7 shouldn't do it? am i wrong?

PD: have I thrown away my store warranty by instalein another OS?? should I reinstal Vista before returning it?

 

Well, I finally broke down and sent mine back today. Unfortunately even after uninstalling itunes it would still lock up. Less frequently, but lock up never the less.

I too tried swapping out the ram and HD. Neither of these fixed the issue. It seems that there is something wrong with the hardware on these devices.

 

sorry... can i use norton ghost to resotre my previous system on my little netbook??, i mean, i have another one, can i clone it's hardrive and then make a restore to another one?? it's making me nuts, hope this doesn't disturb anyone... can anyone help?? i have made a little google but have no answer.. sorry... don't shout to me lol =]...

 

Mine froze up for the first time yesterday. I own this netbook for three days now and'I've used it for aprox 5 hours.

The first freeze happend after installing Google Chrome. I was also checking out the noise of the fan when the power cable is attached. So I removed the power cable a few times en plugged it back in. At that moment it froze!

The 751h came with Windows XP SP3 and I've upgraded my RAM to 2GB.

I think this is a very disturbing thread and I really hope it's software related. :|

 

Hi fellow 751 owners,

I may have found a way to significantly increase stability on the AAO 751h, if not to create a stable system altogether. Though I have not yet used my netbook long enough to conclude that my approach truly eliminates the freezing-problem, I have not had any problems ever since I disabled the "Data Execution Prevention" that is implemented into the Atom CPU. It would seem that the "Data Execution Prevention" in addition with minor flaws in the design of the 751's hardware can lead to more severe problems than usually encountered. Anyway, perhaps some of you could try out if any improvement can be achieved by disabling this feature.

For users of Windows XP, the process of disabling the "Data Execution Prevention" is rather simple:

1.) Find the "boot.ini" file located in the root section of your hard drive partition containing the OS (c:\ usually)

2.) Switch off the file's write protection

3.) Open the file and look for a line containing "/NOEXECUTE=OPTIN"

4.) Change "/NOEXECUTE=OPTIN" to "/EXECUTE"

5.) Save changes and reenable the write protection

6.) Reboot your system

CAUTION: By disabling the above feature, you are disabling a security feature of your system. Make sure that any anti-virus software you have installed is up-to-date !

Regards,

DrNo

Edit: Still no crash/freeze so far, usage time app. 6 hours.

 

So the end of the line should read /execute /fastdetect ?

or

/execute=optin /fastdetect ?

Better to ask first

 

/execute /fastdetect

And update: Still no freeze, definitely better stability than before

(BTW.: I went back to Bios version 3302 before trying this out, so I'm not sure if this trick, in case it really does create a stable system, will only work with that specific Bios version. If it does not work for you, you may want to try out if going back to 3302 helps.)

 

I tried /noexecute=alwaysoff and it looked promising. I have never since the first time after I install Yahoo Messenger (first time cam worked maybe 30 minutes) had the cam working for more than 3 seconds. Now it worked a few minutes, then the pc froze, but just when I was about to hold the power button, it unfroze again! I have never experienced that before. It then worked for maybe 10 minutes before it froze solid again.

It seldom freezes when I am not using the webcam.
I can still shut off/on the lcd backlight while its frozen but everything else is non-reactive.

I will try the /execute now.


Edit: It looks very very promising. Cam has been ok for more than half hour now. I had Yahoo hanging at first because I try alot of options but the pc did NOT freeze yet!!!

Still running perfectly!!!

Hmm well, it finally did freeze. But there is no doubt this made a difference.