Netbook freezes randomly

To anyone experiencing random freezes: could you please try running an EXTENDED GWScan on the Hard Disk (this can be downloaded from http://support.gateway.com/s/HARDDRV/Mi ... su46.shtml)

I bought two AO751h in October 2009 and both have suffered from random freezes - no amount of tinkering, different OS, bios or driver updates have ever fixed the issue.

On Acer Support's advice I just ran a GWScan on both netbooks and both had the same results:
- QuickScan: no problems found
- Extended Scan: SECTOR RELOCATION ERROR (error 226): contact technical support

Basically the HDs on both netbooks have the same failure and both need to be replaced - just wondering if anyone else's temperamental netbooks have the same failure.

 

wel.. i wish it was was windows 7..though its vista.. ! which i would love to upgrade to 7 if anyones had experience with it..?

and thanks for the link! had got most of the stuff off myself!

 

amityrock, there's a thread on that somewhere here.

also, just an update, with the z530 I haven't had any freezes [about a week of use], even after somewhat intensive use, watching video constantly, with like 10 programs open
[using coreplayer/mpc hc] works pretty well
haven't restarted, just hibernate/sleep


thanks for everyone's advice and threads and also gma500 driver work [for linux]

 

heh, just fell of my bike a few hours ago, and the netbook is fine

also, it seems to get amazingly hot running on battery even more so than on A/C

 

Obviously, I have no idea what percentage of A075h1 notebooks have this problem, but you guessed it I'm one of many.

I have no intention of wasting my time on fixing the problem (unless Acer supplied me with a simple download). It is apparent that there is a major flaw in our notebooks. Mind you, if acer had a download, they couldn't gaurantee the notepads would stay working long enough to
complete successfully.


When I buy anything, I expect it to work to a reasonable standard. I can usually check my emails and send one off before a crash.

However, if all that you want to do is read through this forum that has no single miracle cure, I think that you find the acer is perfect. I have beeb on this forum reading through for over an hour and it hasn't crashed once. In the previous 5 months it hasn't lasted 30 minutes.

It is going back on Monday 24th May at 10am (GMT). If you can all do the same and flood them with every
faulty acer, maybe the stick will be big enough.

We can all argue our case for a return and fix simply by logging on to this forum in the store when you take it back.

Of course if you think buying on line is a great idea, it's live and learn time.

Stop looking for solutions and take it or send it back.

I should add that I have no faith in acer support services as I have had no joy in getting any response from them at all.

I will only be back here when they have fixed it, replaced it or refunded my money.

Don't live your life in computers...................................live in the world.

Bob Bobwood, Nottingham, UK

 

Bob,

I too was one of the many with a freezing Netbook. It was gifted to me for x-mas and after messing with it for two days felt it best to ask the gifter to return it for a different make/model altogether. I liked the computer other then the freezing and would have kept it, but alas I ended up with a Lenovo S10 series machine and couldn't be happier.

I tried contacting Acer and they're support numerous times and have NEVER run into support staff so, for lack of a better word, "dumb". You can pretty much consider Acer support useless.

All I can say is good luck with yours and I hope they replace whatever components necessary to stop it for you. I can say for me, it would have to take something pretty enticing for get me to even consider Acer again.

 

Hello,

The only solution is to change the motherboard.. After 6 months of suffering ... at last my netbook is now fixed!!
No more randomly freezes @ Windows 7 Ultimate...
I changed motherboard at Info-Quest, a Greek Acer Service Provider.

Regards,
ActiveA

 

It's really nice to hear that ActiveA! I hope your netbook is fixed for good!
Have you bought the netbook from Info-Quest, or did they just repair it acting as a service center? Did they switch the mobo with the new one, bearing the 1,6GHz CPU?

 

I have a Aspire netbook which conveniently started to freeze just after the warranty ran out. At first it was random but now it freezes completely on each boot at the welcome page. I have run erecovery per Acer recommendations which worked for about half a day. I note that this subject has now reached the amazing total of 77 pages on the Acer forum without a word from Acer themselves. One would think (hope) they would have taken note of this problem and advise what the solution or solutions might be. They must know by now. Anyone have any magic words from Acer?

 

I had my netbook AO752h repaired just today is back
the Processor has been changed to Z730 and no freeze since!!

 

To those in Australia with the 751h, just goto the Acer website and submit a ticket saying your laptop is locking up constantly. After verifying the warranty and no further questions they agreed to repair. I sent mine back (no cost) and they replaced the motherboard (confirmed different serial number) and changed the cpu from z520 to z530, had it back in just over a week. No lockups so far...

 

Dear Friends,
thanks a lot, for this useful forum.
I would like to confirm that I had my computer back from assistance and they changed the CPU from Z520 to Z530 and it works fine no freeze.
So pals I think the solution is take your ACER AO751h back to assistance and check that they changed the CPU.

From now on I am off this thread as I solved my problem. Good luck.

 

luck guys here, i'm from brazil, and acer support here totaly suck!!!

they have no ideia about this problem. If i invite my AO751H, they will probaly send the netbook or import the CPU from another country.

The worst is, my AO751h have no warranty, my father bought two cheaper from a guy who import the netbook with low taxes.

 

I wrote a couple of weeks ago that I'd only be back when the problem was fixed.

So here I am, with a notebook that hasn't frozen (or suffered any kind of hardware problems) in two days. It was on for over 8 hours overnight downloading 58 updates
from microsoft. No problem.

It was returned to packard bell in the uk, they e-mailed me to say that they had rececied it. Within 24 hours I had another e-mail telling me it was fixed and would be with me within 3 days. It arrived the next day.

The report sheet says; "Replaced the Mainboard HDD recovery performed and tested"

I don't care that I now have two drives on it Acer(C) and Data(D).

I can't fault the service that I have received, and really should have sent it back sooner.

The worst thing I now have to deal with is removing Messenger (what the hell is that for ?) and google. I hate this symbiotic life Acer and Google seem to have.

Good luck to everyone who has just landed in this forum and is going through the same problems.

I have searched high and low looking for the solution to "Aspire One A7510h Freezes" and there is no easy solution other than to send it back.

I'm not even going to cross my fingers.

Bye.

 

I find it interesting that there seems to be at least two different solutions (both hardware) to the problem. I am in Australia and mine has just gone back to Acer end of last week. I started out without any problems but then slowly the freezes started creeping in. Scrolling in my browser (Chrome) or in MS Word seemed to be the major trigger. Skype Voice calls also had a very high "success" rate.

The length of this thread alone shows that there is a problem that is not user caused. Also, try and type "Acer 751h" into Google and see the suggestions that come up. "Acer 751h freezes" is one of the first that comes up. This would indicate that a lot of people are looking for a solution to this problem. When I first started looking around the "freezes" suggestion was even higher up the list than "reviews".

I'll report back as soon as mine comes back from Acer.

 

Here is a little update from my part;

For those who have been here long and remember well, they will know that I had a 751h that froze all the time and was a pain to use. After trying all the suggested tweaks I ended up buying new premium RAM for my machine. That was last fall and I have not had the freezing problem since. What I have experienced just the last month or 2, is that it once in a while, it hang while starting up. Sometimes I had to start it 2 or 3 times to get it running. But as soon as it got through the Windows logo, it never hang.

Considering that I had a few weeks left of warranty, and all the successfull repairs by replacing the MB with the Z530 one, I decided to open a ticket.
I put back the oem HDD, RAM, and WIFI card, ran the Acer recovery to reset the HDD, installed Yahoo Messenger, and within minutes of running webcam, I got the old dreadful freeze back.
I got email reply the next day that it was approved for warrany repair. Acer not being further than a good hour drive away, I decided to deliver myself rather than risk shipping.
I was a little surprised talking to the people in the repair reception as they claimed to be unknown of any freezing problems with the 751h. I did make it very clear to them that I would not accept anything but a replaced MB. I guess thats just their policy not to admit anything. I must say I left there feeling a little uncertain.
Anyway, the next day, I got another email that the repair was finished and ready to be picked up. It did not contain any information as to what had been done. I did not get any wiser logging in on my repair ticket on the Acer website so I placed a call to the customer service who could confirm that the MB was in fact replaced.

Picking it up, they told me that there was a problem with the Z520 CPU and that it was now replaced with the Z530 that was downclocked for stability reasons. Before I drove off, I started it up, confirmed that the Acer XP system info said Z530 1.6Ghz @ 1.33Ghz. I also put in the simcard and ran yahoo webcam for a while to see that it was stable.
Arriving home, HDD, memory, and WIFI was quickly replaced to my setup and everything work fine. Win7 system info shows Z530 1.6Ghz @ 1.6Ghz.
Intel Graphics Properties does show the processor speed to be 1,33Ghz. I am not sure where this downclocking takes place.

Now, after using for a week and a half, I can say it behaves exactly as the old Z520. I cannot sense an improvement anywhere. I guess one cannot expect anything with the same CPU architecture downclocked to the same speed. I have not done any OC'ing yet.

Now, what I did experience with the new CPU, is that while having a couple of webcam conversations open, it FROZE while opening Google Earth. This happened repeatedly.
So my conclusions so far, Z530 is more stable but still not where it should be.

Anybody else experienced this with their Z530 repaired computer?

I have a few days left of warranty but I am unsure if there is any point in bringing it back.
Other than the webcam/Google Earth combination, its fine.

CMEIDE

 

OK, OK, I just couldn't keep away.

After the return of my notebook which was successfully repaired, there are just a couple of things that are worth noting about reinstalling certain items on Vista.

1/. As soon as you receive your repaired A0751 back, check that the date and time are correct. I missed this completely and when I tried filling in the Acer Registration
form I got lost in a calender that wouldnt go past June 2008 ! This is obviously how old my replacement hard drive is.

2/. IE8, had 58 important udates, which took nearly 3 and a half hours to download and install. Now I was happy with IE7, but the European Union have forced Microsoft
to give everyone a choice of 12 Browsers to choose from. You cannot remove this choice and every time you boot up you are told about it until you actually make a
decision. Moving up to IE8 brings the big update package, which you cant break down into more manageable chunks.

3/. Microsoft Security Essentials had a large update that took around 35 minutes to install.

4/. And from microsoft as well comes Windows Live Messenger with it's seemingly irrepressable appearence. I found a site with various long-winded and hopeful solutions
and the best solution seemed to be to simply rename its folder so it couldn't find it on bootup.

Here it is:-Computer >> Acer(C) >> Program Files >> Windows Live >> Messenger. Simply right click on the Folder icon and select Rename. Then rename it
MessengerDisabled. It's easy to find if you ever need to use it.

5/. Google; Unlike Acer I am not joined at the hip to google and wish never to see it again. Having forgotten how to remove it it took me about ten attempts and then I
found it under;- Tools>>Internet Options and then it's relatively straightforward.

Removing PowerDVD from a notebook with no DVD Drive makes sense to me and it will also speed up any Scan, as will the removal of those Oberon Games.

At last I have a notebook that does what it should. I have no feeling of impending doom. As a unit it aint half a bad little computer. Acer may have made a few quid from this computer, but they wont be getting any repeat business from me. Nor will the actual mega-chain that sold it to me and then washed their hands with it.

Anyway, this problem is probably confined to perhaps a six month period of production and fewer and fewer people will visit the this particular forum. I just hope that they get to the last two pages which have concentrated on return and repair rather than finding a DIY fix.

I needed to get this off my chest because try as I might I can't contact Acer directly. When I fill in the necessary form it wont let me enter more than 3 digits in the SNID slot. So if anyone with any gumtion from Acer is looking, get in touch with me and I'll fill in the Acer Satisfaction Survey.

Ask me what you could have done better and I'll write you an essay. Ask me what you could have done worse and I might just be scratching my head about that. No, no....
it is actually great when it works. And yes...........now it works.

I'll be seeing you.

 

Well, I got mine back from repair at Acer Australia. The report says: The unit has been diagnosed as having a Mainboard issue where a function has failed. Due to the listed faults we have replaced the following parts: Mainboard. [...]

I cannot confirm that it is now all perfect, I have only had it back for a few hours and my freezes were not that frequent (maybe 2 or 3 per week). I just thought I let you all know what happened so far and I will provide another update in a week or so.

I must say I am very impressed with the service I have received. Logged ticket online, someone got in touch with me via the support ticket thread within an hour or so. I answered a few question (just serial numbers and the like, nothing technical). Then I was emailed a prepaid courier label that I printed out and stuck to the box. I took the box to the nearest post office and they delivered it to Acer. All trackable online and all free of charge. Five days later I get an email that it has been couriered back to me.

So, no complaints about Acer's service from my end, quite in the contrary. I only hope that this mainboard exchange now fixed the problem. I will let you guys know.

 

Hi GuHaid, nice to know that they replaced your Mainboard,.. please do let me know if your 751H is fixed. I am from Australia too,..and after I updated to BIOS 3212, it's getting worse!! so disappointed with ACeR.. Thanks Guhaid

I just wondering ...it seems like this forum is not so busy with discussion about 751h freeze problem anymore. Does this mean that all of you who had problem with ACER 751h have already solved the freezing problem, or just throw the netBook in the bin, tired of this and bought new other brand?

 

No worries, I will certainly report back. It will be a little while, say 10 days or so until I can make a proper judgement. At the moment I hardly have time to work on the 751, but next week I will be on it quite a lot.

If yours is locking up, I would just send it in. If you look at nachoman's post further up, he sent his in and they also changed the main board. In his case the processor was also changed which was not done with mine. So that leads me to believe that the issues are not all caused by the same thing (or there is no official fix procedure for this problem and various technicians are poking around at different possible solutions - I don't know.)

I actually have two of those 751s and so far only one has had the locking problem. The other one is used by my wife and has been very stable from the beginning - so far at least. They are set up identically (one was made from an Acronis image of the other). She never uses Skype though (which was one of my main lockup candidates) and maybe she scrolls less vigorously than I do. Or maybe only some units do have this problem.

In any case, give me a few days and I promise I will be back. If you have any Oz specific questions, just send me a PM.