Netbook freezes randomly

Official Reply From Acer Australia

Hey Everybody,

An official reply from ACER AUSTRALIA was posted a few days ago on another forum with what they suggest as a software fix. See below:

"Thank you for visiting our helpdesk support.

I will be assisting your enquiry today.

Issue / Problem Description:
The system will hang up or freeze intermittently. This issue is likely to be caused by an inconsistency in the BIOS version and audio driver.

Solution:
Update the BIOS version (v3211 or later), and Audio device driver (v5.10.0.6024 or newer) from the Global Acer Driver & Download page.

I strongly suggest you to run an eRecovery after updating the BIOS. Once system has been restored to factory settings, you will need to update the audio

driver version and check if the problem still persists. Performing a system recovery will eliminate any other potential software problems which could

contribute to the freezing symptom.

Instructions:
1. Visit the Acer Support website, click on the “BIOS” tab and download the latest BIOS version. ( www.acer.com.au under Service & Support tab under Drivers

& Downloads ).

You should be able to flash the BIOS from Windows using the files supplied in the downloaded zip folder.

Warning: Acer is not liable for any failed BIOS updates where customer has not followed the instructions accurately. Ensure your unit has the power adapter

connected before proceeding with the BIOS flash.

After successfully updating the BIOS, you will required to download the latest audio device driver from the same website.

Click on the “Driver” tab and you’ll see the “Audio Driver” by Realtek. Download this file to your computer.

You will need to uninstall the currently installed version of the Audio device driver before installing this new version.
To uninstall this you will need to click on: Start -> Control Panel -> Progams (Uninstall) -> select (Realtek) Audio Driver and click on Uninstall.

Install the new version and reboot the machine.

Has this resolve your issue?

Thank you and have a great day.

Best Regards,

Technical Support Department
Acer Computers Australia"

I've just carried out the instructions and don't know yet whether or not this does fix the problems in XP but thought this may help others.

Cheers.

 

Well, I'm still here (and still freezing...) purchased in August of '09. Worked great until Oct.'09 then started freezing randomly. Quieted down around Jan'10. It was months since a freeze. Now I can reproduce it easily!. I've recently updated my audio/lan/wifi/gma500 drivers as well as the 3212 bios update and have done all of the troubleshooting in the previous 68 pages...

I just built a Windows Home Server (WHS) running Power Pack 3. If I try to back up this laptop it will freeze consistently before getting past 8%. I've tried about 30 times over the past 4-5 days with no luck. This happens using either WiFi or a physical network connection. WHS using Volume Shadow Copy so it is HDD and network intensive. Very little video usage.

Aside from the act of running the backup software, the only difference for me over the past few months is that I am running off of AC and in presentation mode. I'm using running off the battery in maximum battery.

Anyone know if I can purchase a motherboard to put into this? I'd rather do that then pay the shipping, be without the laptop, and risk other 'collateral damage' as previous posts have described.

 

This may be premature, but the above fix has totally stopped the freezing for me. I am running Windows 7 and have 2 gigs ram. On the Acer website they do not have audio drivers for Win 7. I downloaded the Vista ones. I uninstalled the audio driver from the device manager, rebooted, then installed the Vista audio drivers by running in compatibility mode for Vista SP2. Tried this the day the guy posted it and has not froze once since. Was freezing at least once a day before that. Also turned off power saving on the graphics and turned on performance mode on the graphics control panel.

 

Well, I can confirm that the fix from Acer Australia that I posted above does not work for under XP with BIOS v3211. I haven't yet tried the Vista drivers under Windows 7 as error404 has - I've tried both the Windows 7 audio drivers and the Realtek HD Audio Drivers (r2.44) from the Realtek website, and the system crashes the same was as it does in XP.

The freezing is very easy to replicate. Simply install Skype and open a video call with another Skype user (who must have a webcam) and the ACER will freeze sometime between 4 and 30 minutes (most consistently between 8 and 20 minutes) of the call. The freezing is less predictable when surfing the web using Chrome or Opera but will eventually happen.

There are a number of programs that PC techies use to stress test the stability of computers and I have tried a number of these and they all fail on the ACER 751H under both XP and Windows 7. For those interested, you can try for example PRIME95 (see http://www.playtool.com/pages/prime95/prime95.html) - this program should run on a stable computer for at least 24 hours and theoretically forever without a calculation error, but returned an error in less than an hour on the ACER. Armed with this proof of lack of stability, I have been offered a full refund for the unit I have purchased. If you try it, use the Taskmanger to make sure the processor is being used at 100% (press Control-Alt-Del when Prime95 is running the torture test and look at the performance tab).

Error404, can you tell us what version of the BIOS you are using? And would you be interested in performing at least the Skype video call test to see if your unit truly is stable (I'd be happy if it could complete a 1 hour video call without freezing).

So the seach for a truly stable ACER 751H continues.

 

I forgot to mention that I have tried the Skype video call and Prime95 stability tests on 3 ACERs and they have all failed.

 

Have you also changed the graphics settings to turn off the power saving technology and also the other setting to enable performance mode? those seemed to help out a lot on mine. i might be able to do a video call this weekend. never used skype before so you'll have to walk me through it.

 

Also I have the 3211 bios

 

Opera v10.51 is the new Chrome (always wanted to say that)
v10.51 freezes my 751h (When hardware acceleration of the graphics card is on)
Sticking with v10.50

 

error404,

To do the Skype test first download skype at www.skype.com (it's free).

You will have to create an account / user name (also free).

Then you will need to start a video call with somebody who has skype. Do you know anybody using skype?

Let me know if you have any questions.

Cheers!

 

Both Opera and Chrome cause my ACER to freeze.

Only Internet Explorer seems to work but it's soooooo much slooooower!!!

BTW, I have set the graphics slider that goes between maximum quality to maximum battery all the way to maximum quality.

 

I bought this netbook in january. It immediately started freezing several times each day. I tried everything listed in this forum, updated BIOS, drivers, tried with and without battery, restored system to factory settings.... Nothing would change it. It froze and froze...
I brought it back to the vendor and get it back ten days later. It had been tested and they had found nothing.... No problem !!
I was totaly upset and gave the PC back the same day, stating that I wasn't stupid and that there was indeed a problem... I started the PC in front of the technician and yep it froze immediately using google earth. The man had nothing to say and kept the netbook for repair !
Second time the good one !!
After 10 other days the netbook came back with motherboard changed.
I now have a JV11-ML motherboard with an intel atom Z530 in my 751H and....since then absolutely no freeze !!! YES !!!
So guys, stop trying updating this or that, it won't do anything. There is a known problem from ACER with some of this netbooks, so if you experienc freezing problems just do one thing : bring it back where you bought it and ask for a motherboard replacement.
Nothing else to do : it works just fine !!!
Good chance and give you Acer 751H a second chance !!

 

You could also try using Safari. That is another really good browser that is not nearly as slow as internet explorer. I personally prefer Chrome though because it is so minimal on interface.
And when I say turn off the power saving thing I don't mean just move the slider, There is a checkbox above it that says something about Intel power saving technology. Uncheck that. It seems to work better that way.
And to the guy who says take it in for repair, it seems almost impossible to get Acer to repair them. I sent mine in and they blamed it on liquid damage even though its never been around liquids. They wanted $125 to fix a computer that didn't work from day one. They tried to blame it on something else to get out of repairing it free.
The only thing that worked was doing the fix with the audio drivers and the 3211 bios. It has not frozen since.
Use windows 7 and use the audio drivers from vista. Don't use XP. Be realistic people, developers are not going to use as much resources making things for an OS that is going away. That is like saying to use MSDOS 6.22. Never had a crash on that.
That is probably why this fix is working for me under WIN 7 and doesn't work under XP.
Now the only problem I have is the stupid card reader slot doesn't work and I'm not paying acer $125 dollars for something I can buy for like 10 or 20.

 

Oh and for everyones information, Google earth doesn't crash. Been running it for about an hour straight just jumping from major city to major city around the globe. Also, chat roulette doesn't make it freeze either and that uses both the webcam and microphone like I suppose skype would.
Nothing I have thrown at it so far has made it crash since trying that audio driver fix the day the guy posted it. And it was crashing at least once a day before that.

 

error404

Please test Opera v10.51 for me at the following page

http://www.portablefreeware.com/

If you don't want to install Opera get a zero install mod at the following page

http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?id=507

 

haven't had a problem with opera 10.51...however i installed it from their official website.

 

Hello jissé, can you please tell us which country you are in? I'm wondering whether ACER will provide the motherboard change over in my country. Of course a new motherboard would be a great way to go.

Error404, Safari also crashes my ACER. And the only reason we are persisting with XP is because that is the official operating system that ACER support on my machine. Everytime I speak to them about an issue, they ask me to return the macine to factory settings, meaning the orginal XP installation that came with the machine. They actually won't support Windows 7 on my machine, which is kind of the opposite of what you have said about ACER only supporting newer operating systems (although I doubt they would support DOS either).

Thanks everybody for continuing to try to solve this.

 

You need to get ahold of the LEVEL 2 support. Just keep telling them "I've already done that" when they tell you to do something and keep requesting Level 2 support. They might lie and say there is no one they can transfer you to. Just keep insisting that they can because they transferred you before. You can also use the Web Chat on the Acer support website. Keep asking about sending it in for repair. They seem really reluctant to let you do that, but keep insisting and finally they will give in.

 

I've been looking for this issue about 2 month (
Before this i got my 1st AO751h and its been good for about 5 month or so
My 2nd AO751h got this random freeze issue, after a lot of reading on various forum and blogs. The workaround is different for many people.
For me i try to change my memory from default one, and put some SODIM DDR-II... after that, i try gaming, youtube, HD Video Playback, Prime95, burnout test and so.. after 2 hour no freeze occured. After that I try cleaning up the default memory module and put it back again.. and doin some routine above... and 2 hour still no freeze occured.

Crossing my finger this time, that freeze will no longer happens. :roll:

 

Well today my second Acer 751 returned from the Support Center here in Holland.
The netbook came in with scratches and dents and they replaced the harddisk and thats really odd because the old harddisk didn't have broken sectors or anything else.
Its really bad it has to go this way but iam still keeping my fingers crossed that the store will take the netbook back after 6 months...

 

Re: Netbook freezes randomly and new bios 3212

Hi. I am trying my Acer with the new bios 3212 and everything is perfect!

1) No freezes in Microsoft Word with scrolling pages and with Skype calls!!!!!!!!!!!

2) The VGA port output for external monitor now is ok.

Thanks to ACER that finally solved these issues.

I reccomend to everybody to install as soon as possible the last new BIOS 3212 available on the Acer official website.