Steps to a happy XP experience

burti,

select "format to FAT" on windows XP installation and it will automatically format it to FAT32 since the SSD is more than 2GB

 

thank you both gAbS and techie.
after purchasing one, my knowledge on computers, OS, file systems have been improving
I wish I bought a much more user friendly netbook and not spend hours in this forum.
But also I can't imagine what would I do if this forum didn't exist.

 

Just to let you know my experience converting the US version to Win XP Professional SP3. I did this on 2 units in one night and order may have varied slightly but all steps are as below.

Upgrade to 1.5G RAM
Made BIOS change to turn of D2D
Install from XP SP2 CD and external USB CD Rom
Turned off page file
Turned Off System Recovery
I DID NOT turn of disk caching, not sure why everyone is stating you should as it is actually designed to help slow harddrives.
Noted indexing was never installed and hibernation was not active or even an option.
Installed all drivers from ACER Europe Site
Turned off Power save on WLAN (you should do this on all PCs you have - Much faster and less then 1% battery difference)
Upgraded to SP3
Installed most other windows updates
Went in Add/Remove Windows Components and cleared out Games, Outlook Express, Mouse Cursers, and Backgrounds.
Install Office 2003 (Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Excel)
Install Adobe Reader and Flash Player
Disk Cleanup run on SSD
Defrag SSD
Set My Documents to use 1Gig SD Card (all I had handy will upgrade later)
Set up RAM Drive for IE (will explain why later)
Installed Sprint SmartView (tether to Blackberry for mobile internet)

I really did not see a difference between SP2 and SP3, maybe SP3 boots a fraction faster but I really could not tell. The only difference I did see was before I turned off the paging file, I had minor hesitations before that (fractions of a second but noticeable). The D2D BIOS change was made before the install so no idea on performance changes.

I did set up a 384Meg RAMDrive, but it was more for space then speed, this way I do not have to remember to empty IE temp or other temp files to save space. Thinking of moving windows temp files also, just need to see if after an install and reboot if any software may need it to keep some file for completion of installs.

Currently I have 3.09Gis left on the SSD, that is after I synched Outlook with my exchange server.

Really the whole thing went rather smoothly, a pleasant surprise after reading some of the stories on this board. Only time I noticed any slowdown at all was before the paging file was turned off. Runs like any other laptop I ever had if not faster, boots in about 30 seconds though I never put a watch to it, programs open instantly, faster then my desktop or other laptop. I am a network consultant by trade, but I never had to use any special knowledge to get things working, any weekend computer tinkerer or knowledgeable user should be able to do this, hardest part was adding the memory.

For those who wondered when opened it up I did note I had the Intel SSD, and when checked it is running in Ultra DMA Mode 4. I upgraded with the Kingston ValueRAM DDR2 PC5300 1Gig (KVR667D2S0/1GR) from Best Buy for $27.99.

 

you might want to try foxit pdf reader over acrobat reader - it's much less resource heavy than acrobat is.

good to hear you're having a positive experience though . the slowdowns on my AAO have 'slowed down' significantly, as in they're happening much less frequently now. i expect that the majority of slowdowns happen when installing/uninstalling things. to install xp, for example, it took me somewhere in the ballpark of 2 hours.

 

Hi:

Just got the US version. Blue, 8GB Intel SSD, 512MB RAM, Limpus, etc.
Upgraded RAM to 1.5GB.
Upgraded to WinXP Pro SP3. (used obsolete xbox 360 HD-DVD usb drive- ) to install XP.

Followed same procedure as UTS decribed.

This baby is running beautiful. It's very snappy. No hipcups

Also, upgraded to the latest BIOS ver. 0.3114.

I'm extremely happy with this purchase.

 

Hi guys

I've collected all the tips that you all have posted in a spanish blog...

http://electrolinks.blogspot.com/2008/0 ... e-con.html

(Blog en español para acelerar la Acer Aspire One con SSD)

 

I think squareflaps is right... Tinyxp is the way to go... I followed his instructions, except I chose the bare install w/out IE/OE/WMP and w/out drivers... then I just removed the default mozilla firefox and installed the firefox portable application and other portable applications from www.portableapps.com My setup is way WAY faster than it was when I tried a default installation of WinXP SP2 and made all the recommended changes.

Gluck to the rest of you guys... Thanks squareflaps!

Z

 

UTS, how did you put My Documents into your SD?

thanks
roy

 

Guys,
I'm very happy to found this forum. Now my AA1 is much much faster.. Damn it..!! This is it!!

 

One thing that really slows the boot time of the Aspire One down is the security software that you have to put on. Is there any recommended security software to use on the Aspire One that won't have much performance impact?

I currently have AVG 8.0 + Windows Defender + Comodo Firewall Pro 3.0 and it boots to a usable state after three minutes, which is relatively long.

 

ooops double post sorry

 

i would like to install xp, but I don't have the cd....
so next i'll try Pclinuxos and/ or Mandriva Linux

http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=1410 my question....

http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1379 my question for windows xp cd...

thank you,
Waterbirdx

 

Thats easy, just insert the SD card into your PC, I used the left side slot as it fits flush. Go to "My Computer" find the SD card Drive letter and create a folder named "My Documents" or whatever else you want it to be on the card. (You don't have to create a folder but it helps if you move something else to the card later.)

Then right-click on the "My Documents" icon on the desktop and choose properties, in the properties window make sure the target tab is selected and type in the drive letter and folder name (ex. D:\My Documents) in the target line and click the move key, tell it yes to move everything to the new location.

Thats it! the advantage of doing it this way is all your programs should now default to saving documents on the card, so you don't have to remember to change the location when you save something.

 

WOW! Thanks UTS. That's great! Now I can point my docs to other folder than Ms' default.

 

Just reinstalled win xp sp2 from NTFS to fat32 and turned off d2d in bios. After turning off paging and system restore and installing all the drivers I am very happy with the speed . Sure it cannot match the normal notebook speed (my 3 y old centrino is much faster), but it is acceptable. Fat32 is way much faster than NTFS, it is worth reinstalling the windows. Even the installation is faster in fat32.

My start up time is about 60 second and turning off takes about 40 second. However stand by and waking up only takes about 10 sec. I installed full win xp pro sp2. It eats around 2 Gb of ssd.

 

Firstly I would like to say thanks for all the tips in this thread, they have helped me loads setting up xp on my one

Secondly, anyone who still has battery issues, you need to download batt.dll (seatch google) and add it to your c:/windows/system32 folder, the reinstall the drivers in device manager, it should find them automatically, and you will now have your power icon back on in the system tray

Good luck

 

does the batt.dll, make the battery icon reappear?

 

Thank you very much! I've solved my battery problem thanks to your link and the file i've downloaded!

And thank you to everyone for all the tips!
I installed XP on my aspire one and it was awfully slow, I reinstalled with D2D disabled and now it's perfect!

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

(this forum is great!)

 

Hi, I am middle of doing the survey buying Aspire One.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I found the market currently is given 120GB hard disk, is it anyway using Window XP and in NTFS format still can maintain the speed/performance?

If format the hardisk to fats, it make the available hard disk space left 4Gb, thus the balance of the harddisck seem useless and wasted.

How bad the performance it would be if I remain in NTFS format (120GB Hard disk) but do all the disable prefech,cache write and etc.?

:shock: :shock:

Or should I look for other notebook?

Shinyo

 

I think you are a little confused, the 120GB model already comes with Windows XP installed and you have no need for any of these procedures to save space or speed up the AA1. All the Tips you are reading here are users making XP work on the 8GB SSD model that normally comes with Linux installed.