Netbook freezes randomly

I purchased mine from amazon.com. I live in USA.

 

The RAM solution worked for me.

True it's wrong to need to fork out for RAM and I questioned investing more money on something that seemed to be inherently faulty... but yes, the RAM is the cause. The original 1Gb NANYA caused freezing, a Kingston 2Gb which I had in at the time of posting last caused freezing (that even got recognised as 1.5Gb, not 2!).

I currently have a premium Crucial 2Gb PC2-5300 in and I am now over a day of success. I've left Google Earth spinning in the background all that time - something sure to make it freeze within 30 seconds previously.

I've also got a Hynix 2Gb PC2-6400 on order (which I also believe fixes it) but I'll put that in the laptop I stole the crucial from instead of swapping - now I know this 751h is good to go.

So yes, RAM is the cause (and fix)

Best of luck.
DAn

 

I think that's a bit black and white. I had replacement RAM in my 751h, and it still froze. Personally, I think the whole system is just a little bit close to a whole bunch of tolerances, and so a bit too much heat, stress, RAM, whatever is enough to push it into a freeze.

 

I think you are spot on with your assessment. If it was one cause, sure a whole bunch of partially quite computer literate people from all over the world here in this forum or at least Acer would have figured out a solution by now. It really all points into the "multiple causes" direction. I too have changed my RAM but that did not change a thing.

Having said that, Dan, it would not surprise me if the RAM change made a difference on your machine.

 

That's very interesting that you tried the stock RAM and a Kingston RAM and it froze, but with the Premium Crucial RAM it worked. Can you let us know how it goes in another week? Also, if you have time, can you try using Skype too?

 

ACER REALLY FIXED THE COMPUTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I got my netbook back and they actually upgraded the motherboard to a Z530 running at 1.6 gigahertz. The old motherboard was a Z520 running at 1.33 gigahertz.

So far it hasn't froze even after using Skype with video for 3 hours. I also tested some other programs for the last 5 hours and everything works.

Here is a copy of my receipt from Acer...
http://www.mediafire.com/?nsab5hpx9j4btf9

 

FYI - this is a copy of the letter I sent with my computer....

Attention Acer Technician:

The problem with this computer is that it freezes randomly. I’ve tested the RAM and Hard drive and I am 100% sure they are okay. The computer freezes randomly with the preinstalled software Word or Internet Explorer. I also tested the computer with other software such as Firefox, Opera, Skype, and Magic Jack and they all freeze.

Here are the average amount of time these programs freeze when I am using them. Please note that when I ran these test, I only installed one program at a time. Also, when I tested it with a different program, I did a fresh install of Windows XP.

Skype – this program freezes about 5 times in a 1 hour conversation. (Freezes when talking to somebody.)

Magic Jack – this program freezes about 3 times in a 30 minute conversation. (Freezes when talking to somebody.)

Opera – This program freezes about once every hour. (Freezing occurs scrolling up and down a web page.)

Firefox – This program freezes about once every hour. (Freezing occurs when scrolling up and down a web page.)

Internet Explorer – This program will freeze about two times when surfing the internet for an 8 hour session. (Freezes when scrolling up and down a web page.)

Word – This program freezes about once every 7 hours. (Freezes when scrolling up and down a document.)

I also did a 24 hour torture/stress test with Orthos and Prime95. Here are the results.

Orthos – it passed the 24 hour stress test. I only ran this test one time.
Prime95 – I ran the 24 hour stress test 4 times. 2 times it worked fine and the other 2 times it froze in 11 hours.

The results of the stress test mostly pointed to the motherboard or the Operating System. Windows 7 was tested and the computer still froze. There was not enough time to test every program in Windows 7, like how XP was tested. However, there was enough testing to point the problem at the motherboard.

This is the 4th time I am sending in this laptop for repairs. If it is not repaired correctly this time, it will be returned back to the store with the managers blessing.

x?x?X?x?
p.s. Please trying running Skype for 15 minutes and the computer should freeze. That is the program that I use the most and it freezes the most.

 

That is great news, freezer, thanks for keeping us up to date. If you look earlier in this thread (around page 76-ish) there are a few people who reported a fix via the CPU upgrade to the 530. That gives me hope that at some stage mine will be sorted out. Considering that a Z530 these days is dirt cheap even in retail, maybe that is the solution. We will see.

 

Thanks freezer, I'm considering updating my case notes to reference yours but also curious to see the aptitude of response from Acer Australia so may leave it.

Regards,

Comms

 

A COPY OF MY RECEIPT FROM ACER.....

http://www.mediafire.com/?nsab5hpx9j4btf9

I hope the copy of the receipt helps some of you guys. I have to admit I was so upset at Acer I was tempted to break the motherboard on purpose. I figure that it was already somewhat broken since it was freezing, I was just going to break it permanently. However, I never broke it because I didn't know how to break it without without getting caught. Also, I was afraid they were going to replace it with another defective motherboard.

PS. I'm 100% sure my computer is fixed now. I just finish running a 2 hour test on Magic Jack with no freezing. MagicJack use to freeze every 10 minutes.

 

I originally had 1 GB of RAM and also upgraded to the 2 GB module recommended by Crucial- I think it was PC2 5300.
Since the upgrade I have noticed a slight increase in performance. Seems to boot up and shut down a little quicker.
Also seems to have less of a video stutter effect when scrolling and other functions on web pages. It has been about ten days and no freezes yet but that is not enough time to judge that problem in my opinion. One drawback is that battery life is shorter but not drastically so. These are all just seat of the pants observations,haven"t done any other benchmarks or tests.
Even with 1 GB of ram I didn"t have any problems with Google Earth

villasbill

 

Hi All,

Received a message on my mobile from Acer Australia to call them for an update on my case.

Here goes...

Update: The support rep said the case notes say they have replaced the motherboard and tested for 12 hours continuously without issue.
I hope they left my 2GB of RAM in there as well (I tried the RAM upgrade as a fix also). They said they will check (I was hesitant to ask because they might attempt the 'that voids the warranty" reply)

Comms

 

Comms, this will be interesting to see what they actually did. Not trying to be negative but it sounds all too familiar. I had my MB exchanged and I was also told that it had been extensively tested. A few hours after booting I had my first freeze again. And Prime95 told the same story.

I can't wait to hear what you have to say when it comes back.

 

HOW TO GET TRANSFERRED TO LEVEL 2 TECHNICAL SUPPORT AT ACER

I thought I mention this for anybody who needs it. There was one time my netbook was returned from the Acer repair center without a work order. I phoned Acer and I got the level 1 technical support that always recommends to reinstall windows. I told them that I needed a copy of the last work order because I was considering a lawsuit since they did not repair my netbook correctly. The customer service representative stated she could not get the last work order, but was going to transfer me to level 2 technical support to assist me.

 

I feel that there should definately be a recall on this computer, I bought mine in April of 2010 and the screen keeps freezing, and when i shut the lid and opened it the screen was cracked, This laptop has NEVER been dropped

 

is the CPU on a ZIF socket? in other words, can I open the unit up & replace the CPU? or is it soldered on?

 

According to this receipt...

http://www.mediafire.com/?nsab5hpx9j4btf9

They replaced the whole motherboard. If you can replace the cpu only, that would be awesome.

 

I don't think there is anything wrong with the screen. It's actually a real nice LED screen.

 

Haven't received my A0751h back yet, just asked for an update via the support portal

Comms

EDIT: Cancel that, I received a missed delivery consignment note when I got home. The netbook is being redelivered Wednesday.
Fingers crossed

 

Got my AO751h back.

Acer note included says: The unit was diagnosed as having a Mainboard issue where it was causing the system to hang automatically. Due to the listed faults we have replaced the following part(s): Mainboard, We have conducted a series of intensive tests over a period of 12+ hours and your unit tested ok.


Mainboard was swapped out but no Z20 to Z30 upgrade for me, CPU-Z still shows the Z20.

Time will tell I guess.

Comms