TM8104 + Vista + new drivers = still have problems (o2micro)

[BitBasher]

I did a clean/fresh install of vista retail on my Travelmate 8104. Out of the box, it worked quite well, the only things that appeared "missing" are:
- sound driver
- pccard/smartcard drivers (o2micro)
- bluetooth

I don't care about bluetooth, so I just ignored it. I downloaded the vista driver update package from Acer in Europe, and I installed the newer realtech sounds drivers. They work reasonably well, but I can't get the speech recognition software to bind to the built-in mic in the 8104. I can control the mic level and volume (ya know when you get that nasty feedback squeal) but the stupid wizard for speech doesn't ever seem to hear me.

Now, the o2micro pccard/smartcard drivers are a real pain. They just are not working. I've installed both of them, and device manager lists the 3 controllers (the 3rd item shows a yellow bang). I tried re-installing the drivers, uninstalling, etc. No matter what I try to do, these new o2micro drivers for Vista do NOT seem to work at all. If I insert a smartcard or compact flash card, I get Vista saying it's finding the device, but it never binds the device to a storage volume and I don't get a drive letter.

I'm wondering, does anyone have a TravelMate 8xxx series notebook running Vistsa AND did you get the pccard/smartcard drivers working at all? I'm now wondering if the drivers provided by Acer simply do not work, or if they don't install cleanly for some other strange reason.

Thanks,
Bit.

[GBNZ]

Well, same here... no way using built-in mic and no way reading cards such as sd or xd...where is the cf reader in TM 8104 ??
Anyway hope someone can give good news about audio and cards..
Paolo

[dubmaster]

I have exactly the same problem on a Tm8100 WLMI, do note that wi-fi cards work, big problems also with a audigy2 zs pcmcia soundcard. Yellow ribbon and bluescreen whenever you touch the device properties.

Also the mmc/sd card slot doesn't work.

o2micro or acer must definitely do something

bye

[hans30]

i have the same problem. did domeone find a resolution?

[skypine27]

Same problem with card reader on TM8104 (see sig), after doing format / then clean Vista Ultimate (32 bit) install.

[JRSCCivic98]

Acer has Vista drivers for all this. It's been posted on these forums numerous times.

[dubmaster]

did you test those drivers ? As far as i know (last week) acer drivers ARE the problem.

Did Acer released an update lately ?

[GBNZ]

Acer has vista drivers downloadable from his ftp site (don't know online) BUT these driver do not work for :
1 ) Internal microphone
2 ) SD,xd micro card reader
None of these drivers seems apparently to be not working, but :
1) Using internal microphone result in no audio
2) Cards inserted in reader are seen as new hardware but never get initialized and the content isnot accesible
So, again, if some1 has news e's welcome

[JRSCCivic98]

I take it you've already tried the ones here?
http://secure3.tx.acer.com/VistaDownloads/AcerSeries.aspx

I had no issues with the card driver for my Ferrari. You're just not installing them right. Some of these drivers you can't just hope on running setup to make it "user easy". Also, have you updated the BIOS to go along with things. Some BIOS updates change the way the hardware reports itself to an OS. Just something to think about.

[dubmaster]

O2Micro Flash Memory Card Driver 3.00 (http://secure3.tx.acer.com/Vista/O2Micro%20Flash%20Memory%20Card%20Driver%203.00.zip) O2Micro SmartCardBus Reader Driver 3.0.0.8 (http://secure3.tx.acer.com/Vista/O2Micro%20SmartCardBus%20Reader%20Driver%203.0.0.8.zip)
are exactly the same old ones. Bios might be an issue but my 8100 came in from service last month with a brand new motherboard, bios 3c22 was installed. The release names of bios are confusing, acersetting reports 3c22, the download says zf1a3f07.
I would not flash the pc with the same code, that seems like an unuseful risk to me.
The Ferrari has another chipset for pcmcia, that's why you did not experience problems

[fR3Ak]

I have the same problems with the pcmcia slot on my tm8104. Three devices, and one with a yellow bang. Also there is an unknown base system device with a yellow bang too.

The latest acer vista drivers do not work. Also, other vista drivers for the same controller by other manufacturers won't install.

However, the original xp drivers do install and will add the unknown base system device as part of the pcmcia controller. All yellow bangs disappear and all seems working with the interface.

When you plug a card into the socket, the card is recognised, drivers are installed, but it always has a yellow bang saying the device couldn't find enough free resources. This is the same with the 3 cards i have tried in it so far.

It seems to help toward solving the problem, but unfortunately doesn't cure it. The xp drivers were installed from my windows xp partition in \system32\ as i am dual booting vista and xp.

If i get any further, i'll post up any information i can find.

[jowe333]

Incredible! This is exactly what I have been experiencing since installing Vista Business back in December. Same 3 entries with the third highlighted, non working microphone no matter what and if I try to install the BIOS zf1a3f07 (downloaded today) I get to reboot windows without anything more than a flicker of blue. Current BIOS is 3c22.

I have recommended Acer for over two years now. In the office I'm right now there are 16 acers, from the 8100 to the 8210. And I have to say that I just don't think I'll keep recommending Acer any more. And by the way, the 16 in this office are just one set of all the acer notebooks bought because I recommended.

But there is hope, at least I'm not alone. I know, silly comfort, but hey! I was going mad trying to fix these problems.

I'll follow up any new posts on the thread. In the mean time I will write to Acer support right away and also mention a link to this thread. Others please do the same. We need this fixed. :)

[kylelondonuk]

Hi. i am having the same issue with the O2 card reader but thanks for the info about using XP drivers just to clean up device manager temporarily :)

as for BIOS issues, i FINALLY found the answer to fixing the TM8100's green/colour-changing-boot screen after installing vista. it's a bios issue to do with ATI X700, and a guy has patched the 3C22 bios that most of you probably have still on your TM8100s, and it works perfectly. link: http://home.arcor.de/dapicard/Bios.rar

However, i couldnt install it within vista, either with winphlash or in DOS using phlash16.exe, just kept saying my system didnt match the bios. so i temporarily went back to xp, flashed the 3C22 modified bios and then back to vista and now no boot problems. (i have ultimate so used the complete vista backup which made this all very easy, otherwise i guess switching back to xp then back to vista to flash a bios is just very annoying).

hopefully will help a few ppl get past the green screen boot problem, but i am still waiting for a WORKING acer bios release and O2 card reader driver release, since i also couldn't flash the 3f07.wph bios from acer's vista downloads website (either in winphlash or DOS).

[kylelondonuk]

Oh... i also fixed my internal microphone built into my TM8100. basically you have to go into the Realtek HD Audio Manager in Control Panel, then in the top right click "Device Advanced Settings", and choose "separate all input jacks as independent input devices". this means the internal mic and the Mic In jack at the front of the TM8100 appear as TWO input devices, and you can then select the built-in mic as the default input device. and it works! (it seems when the two mic inputs are tied together vista ignores the built in one in favour of the 3.5mm Jack.) let me know if you have any issues with getting sound out. also once you've made this change in the realtek panel you can mute the mic as normal etc etc.

[jowe333]

Ok, I can split the two input jacks, but from there, what exactly do you get and what options do you check in order for it to work? What names do you get for the mics?

In my case, once that's done, and without leaving the Realtek HD Audio Manager, I get the tab that before was titled "Microphone" as "Mic in at rear panel (Pink)" and within that tab the recording volume all the way to the top and the playback volume muted.

I then ok that window and go straight into skype to test it out. There, under "Sound devices" -> "Audio In" there is "Mic in at rear panel (Pink) (Re" but that doesn't seem to work. All I can select apart from that is the "Windows default device" which doesn't work either.

If I then go to Control Panel -> Hardware and sound -> Sound -> Manage Audio Devices, I get, under the recording tab a "Mic in the rear panel (Pink)" option and nothing else. If I right click on that window and select "Show disabled devices" I can now see "Stereo Mix"

Selecting the "Mic in the rear... and clicking on the "Properties" button under the Driver tab I see Driver Provider: Realtek Semiconductor Corp., Driver Date, 01/12/2006, Driver Version: 6.0.1.5334.

In any case, I haven't been able to get the mic to work, everything else, seems to work.

Again, if you could explain in detail what options you had selected and maybe what driver you are using, I would certainly appreciate. Right now, mic is the most missing bit, followed by the card reader. Thanks!

[kylelondonuk]

Hi.

OK well first, forget about the (pink) microphone as thats just the jack for putting an external one in. i simply set the other microphone (the internal one - which is just called "microphone" in realtek audio manager) as default, by click the Set as Default button under the "Microphone" tab (then a tick appears on that button). then make sure mute isnt chosen (i.e. no red cross through the speaker symbol next to microphone's volume). then put the volume up a bit. then save and see what options you have under skype. i dont actually use skype so havent tested the mic with it... but it works on msn. there is a slight weirdness about whether or not you need playback muted to get any sound at all. try it without playback muted, the one thing different between vista nand xp is i dont get the feedback that i used to when the microphone was enabled..

if you have no luck i'll install skype and test it out there. let me know

Kyle

[jowe333]

Ok, here is where there is a difference. After I split them up, the tab for "Microphone" dissappears. The only tabs I can see are these 3: Digital Output, Speakers, Mic in at rear panel (Pink).

Update: What drivers do you have? Where did you download them from? I remember mine being downloaded from Realtek. Maybe I should try to get the exact same ones you have.

[kylelondonuk]

im using latest realtek from their website. release 1.65. but its always worked even with older ones. if you cant even see the second microphone in the realtek panel when you do "Split up devices.." then there's obviously a different problem between what i had and what you had, so not sure i can help out there. it seems like yours isnt detected at all...

[jowe333]

Got it! I updated the driver to 6.0.1.5397, downloaded directly from Realtek's website (R1.65)
http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=24&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false#High%20Definition%20Audio%20Codecs
ftp://202.65.194.212/pc/audio/Vista_R165.zip

That driver was released on the 13th of April. Also, I don't know if before it was the Acer HD Audio Manager.... well, actully I'm certain it was the Realtek HD Audio Manager, and now, after the update, it is the Acer HD Audio Manager. Great stuff. After 5 months with Vista Business I finally get the mic to work! ;)

Update: Oops, you just mentioned it! Thanks again!

[jowe333]

Now, if we could only get the Multimedia card reader to work! (SD, XD, etc)

[JRSCCivic98]

Use the XP drivers for the card reader. DON'T RUN THE SETUP program, just point device manager to the directory you extract the drivers to. I don't understand why it's so hard for you people to just do that. It works fine!!! The problem is you guys keep wanting to run the freaking setup/install programs that come with them. DON'T DO THAT if the drivers are not designed for Vista!

[GBNZ]

Jowe333 same here, same tests same results, internal mic not working

[Ridley]

I've also been having lots of trouble regarding the TM8104 and O2Micro drivers. As far as I can tell, there are no driver downloads even on O2Micro's official site. I've searched hours and found nothing, even after trying Dell's copy of the drivers, the card reader refuses to work.

I was able to get the Accelerator to be recognized by using WinXP drivers, as stated previously in this thread, but nothing beyond that yet... I also e-mailed both O2Micro and Acer today, hoping for a response soon.

[jowe333]

GBNZ, I _do_ have the mic working now. Follow the instructions:

1. Download latest drivers (see previous post)
ftp://202.65.194.212/pc/audio/Vista_R165.zip

2. Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Scroll to the bottom and select Acer HD Audio Manager

3. On the Acer HD Audio Manager window top right corner click on "Device Advanced Settings" and from the two options given, choose the bottom one "Separate all input jacks as independent input devices." and click ok.

4. Now back on to the Acer HD Audio Manager window, you will see the following Tabs: Digital Output, Speakers, Mic in at rear panel (Pink), and Microphone. Click on the Microphone tab

5. Click on Set Default Device.

6. Ok on the Acer HD Audio Manager window.

That's it, your internal mic should be working. If the Set Default Device button was greyed out, that's ok, it just means that it was already set as the default device ;)

[jowe333]

JRSCCivic98 (http://member.php?u=110141) I've tried what you said and still no luck. Maybe the devil is in the details, so here they go:

1. Downloaded pcmcia.zip from ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/notebook/travelmate_8100/driver (ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/). That's for Windows XP. If there is anything wrong, this should be it, as what I'm installing is the PCMCIA drivers, not the memory card reader, but anyway...
2. Tried to update the driver (the O2 micro that showed a yellow warning in the device manager) by pointing to the extracted folder but since what was installed seems was newer, that didn't work.
3. Told it to pick up the disk from the manufacturer. That found the .inf and installed the drivers.
4. Tried at that point with a memory card and no luck. The PCMCIA adapters (3 of them) do not show now a yellow warning (before there was one with a yellow warning), but under Other devices there is the Base system device (with warning sign) and another O2 Micro with warning sign.
5. At this point Vista is asking to install drivers for new hardware found, so I let it. After it is done it has added the O2 Micro device under Other devices to the Smart Card readers branch, with the full description of O2 Micro SmartCardBus SmartCard Reader.
6. Try a memory card and no luck.

Other things that I can try are to now tell the O2 Micro SmartCardB... to update from the downloaded pcmcia.zip... but thought I would post first.

Update: Tried the last thing, updating the O2 Micro SmartCardB... with the pcmcia.zip drivers and after forcing it, it went ahead. Still no luck. Driver version for the O2 Micro SmartCardB... shown is 3.0.0.302, date 25/10/2004. What's yours, JRSCCivic98 (http://member.php/?u=110141)?

[jowe333]

By the way, I got an answer from Acer, just for your information:

Hello, Thank you for contacting Acer.

Regarding your enquiry,

All available drivers, updates and manuals for all Acer products can be obtained from our FTP site:

ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/

You will need to navigate to the folder for your product series on this FTP site.
(e.g. for an Aspire 1662 notebook you would need to choose the 'notebook' folder and then the 'aspire_1660' series folder)

Here you will find the latest updates, drivers and applications available for your device. Acer Technical Support is not able to supply any updates, drivers or applications other than those included on the supplied CDs or available from our site. We are unable to supply beta versions of the drivers for your device or give an ETA for new drivers.

For Vista drivers not listed on the main ftp site there are some additional drivers and upgrade downloads currently available from the following URL,

ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/pub/

In the case of drivers; all the Acer drivers for your product will be reinstalled by doing a system recovery from your recovery cd set, by doing a Disk2Disk recovery if supported by your machine, or can be installed separately from the System CD (the first cd of your recovery set).

Regards

[dubmaster]

The quick fox jumped over the lazy dog-.

sigh

[GBNZ]

Ok, audio problem finally fixed , thanks to jowe333. Mine steps are a bit more complicate but are the following :
1 - Uninstall Realtek hd audio drivers
2 - Reboot without audio (win tries to detect but fails)
3 - Install drivers downloaded from the following site
4 - Enable in advanced realtek tab separete different outputs and set microphone as default

Raltek audio download page (http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=24&PFid=24&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false)and exact ftp for version 1.66 (ftp://202.65.194.211/pc/audio/Vista_R166.zip)
I'm currently trying drivers for 02micro cardbus reader with no luck at the moment....i'll let you know

[dubmaster]

Paolo, thanks a lot for your efforts, it's incredible that two companies like Acer and O2Micro do not apply to solve this problem. I can't use a PCCard Audio card and i can't use the SD card reader. Maybe it's time for a little class action ?

Regards.

BTW. I'm in italy too.

[JFvergara]

Any updates on the situation with the PCMCIA Slot?

I am running Windows Vista Ultimate on my 8100 and I am also having problems installing my Audigy 2 ZS which is quite important for me.

Any updated drivers or am I just missing something?

[dubmaster]

JF, no updates yet, the soundcard i was talking about is exactly an Audigy 2ZS. I'm using it with traktor dj studio. At the moment the only way to play music with that notebook is booting in Xp (dual boot). Luckily i'm using a second pc to play music (an old Dell inspiron running XP Sp2). I did not check Creative labs, but as long as the pccard slot isn't working properly it's useless to update drivers. Also a working SD slot would be nice.

regards

[JFvergara]

Yeah.

I dual-boot XP pro and Vista Ultimate so I can go into either OS but I'd like the ability to use my media on Ultimate.

There needs to be a solution for this. Perhaps one of us needs to contact Acer to have them try and actually fix this problem for us.

[jowe333]

Already did that, see their reply in one of my previous posts in this thread. But I would imagine if more of us wrote and pointed to this thread for information we could maybe achieve something. Worth a try and writing the message takes only a few minutes.

[dubmaster]

I wonder if the person who replied for Acer really tested the solution. Acer position is totally blind, they repeat the same song: drivers are available, everything is working fine.

Probably nobody ever tested a TM810X/O2Micro with Vista.

[jowe333]

That's probably the case, but they don't care. It shows. And there is little that can be done. But I am in the process of purchasing a laptop today and I was originally going for Acer (Ih have been recommending them for quite a few years now). Guess what? The only requirement I have now is for it _not_ to be an Acer. And that's even if these issues ever get resolved. So if anyone has any suggestions, feel free: Entry laptop, no more than £500, but if it is below £400 better. Not an Acer.

Speaking of brands, any suggestions either? Apart from Apple, which is now my favourite one, but in this case I need something cheaper than the cheapes option for an Apple laptop.

[DarthAcer]

There seems to be a new version of O2MICRO drivers for everything (including Vista) on the www.station-drivers.com

[jowe333]

I just get a corrupt .exe from there.

[jowe333]

Release 1.67 of Realtek drivers are out (ftp://202.65.194.211/pc/audio/Vista_R167.zip)

[Drio]

There seems to be a new version of O2MICRO drivers for everything (including Vista) on the www.station-drivers.com (http://www.station-drivers.com)

Do they work on TM8104?
Cannot afford to learn by trial at the moment

Thanks in advance

Cheers

Drio

[Drio]

And more general what does and doesn't work in Vista (for TM8104)?
I am also interested in Bluetooth, etc..

Thanks

[jowe333]

Save yourself the effort. They don't. But if someone has extra time to run another trial, better.

[jowe333]

Bluetooth works. PCMCIA doesn't seem to work from what others say (I don't have a PCMCIA card to try). Memory card reader doesn't work. Everything else seems to work just fine.

[VicViper_]

Hey guys.

I just came over this site when i was searching for vista drivers for my Acer TM8104 WLMI. I no longer have a "base system device" on the device manager because i forced the vista driver from Acer, so now its a known device, smart card reader.

i now get this message:
This device cannot find enough free resources that it can use. (Code 12)
If you want to use this device, you will need to disable one of the other devices on this system.

sorry for bumping this, i know its a few weeks old... i was hoping acer could give us some drivers :/

[kekkos]

Hi all,

I'm not sure if this is the right thread to post but I have few solutions to your vista problems.

If you have TravelMate 8100 with PATA hard disk then you are out of luck and you can't install the latest firmware 3f07.wph since this one is only for SATA models. I've heard stories about bios S3C23 for PATA models and I was confused since there is no such bios on Acer's website. After some searching I came across it. It seems to do a good job keeping the machine much cooler. You can download it from http://rapidshare.com/files/36323653/3C23_SLIC.zip.html.The file has .bak extension since is backup taken using WinPhlash. This file also has acer's SLIC for those they know what i mean...

Now installing the above bios will not cure the green screen boot problem, at least it didn't work for me, but I got rid of it by extracting the zip file containing the ATI drivers for X700 and installed the drivers from the command line using the batch file setall.bat (is included in the zip file that you can download from acer's ftp/http server). Installing drivers using the setup file will not solve the problem, you been warned :)

I didn't manage to get my pccard/smartcard working yet but I'm working on it.

I would like to have some feedback from you guys regarding your vista's boot and shutdown times. I didn't use a stopwatch but I'm sure that it takes at least twice the time than XP.

[fR3Ak]

Well, looks like this will never be fixed now by acer or 02micro :(

I have solved the problem myself though, by voting with my feet and buying a nice new Alienware 5550 laptop. Much better build quality, and the 1920x1200 screen is just beyond awesome!

I'll also be recommending that people don't buy acer's from now on as this level of support from a company is disgusting.

Good luck to you guys and gals that are still trying to get a working pcmcia card in vista on the 8104, and if you want a recommendation for a replacement, then don't forget to have a look around the Alienware site.

[NickH]

I know that the last post on this thread was a couple of months ago, but I do have half a solution to the problem with pcmcia drivers on Vista on the TM 810x.

Acer have published an updated BIOS for PATA hard drive machines (3C25)

http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/tm_8100.html

Flash that (I used a DOS bootable CD) and phlash16.exe.
Uninstall any of the Acer provided drivers for 02Micro. In device manager, you should see a "Base System Device" with a yellow bang, and one of the three O2Micro controller entries has a yellow bang.

Download the original XP PCMCIA drivers from the same link as above, but just extract the files; don't run the install. Update the driver of the base system device by pointing the hardware wizard at your extract location. It should turn into the accelerator device. Then update the drivers for the Controller devices by pointing them at the v3.0.0 Vista drivers at the same link above.

Next, in device manager, find the "Intel(R) 82801 PCI Bridge - 2448" device under System devices. Right-click on it, properties, driver, Update Driver. Choose "Browse my computer..." then click "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer". Select the Microsoft Driver (this is the one used by default) and click "Next". Despite the fact that it is the same driver as the current one, Vista will re-install it.

In my case, after a few seconds of Windows reloading all the dependent drivers, your drive letter from the card reader should appear (and an AutoPlay dialogue).

Downside is, once you reboot it stops working, but the PCI Bridge driver re-install seems to work for me every time and actually only takes a minute to do.

I found an article on Microsoft's TechNet that I don't pretend to properly understand, but which talks about changes to the PCI architecture in Vista and how device drivers have to manage resource allocation slightly differently. Apparently it's a "proper" implementation of PCI Express, whatever that is. Anyway, it sounded as though it might be relevant.

Finally I'd like to echo other comments here about Acer's customer services. In the UK they outsource to a third party, who (I discovered by badgering them) actually have no more technical resources to draw on than Joe Public does from the website. They have absolutely no interest whatsoever in finding out what your problem is, only in explaining why it's not their problem and this is made clear in Ts and Cs etc. I complained to Acer's head office and, amazingly, got a call from one of the more senior staff at said third party (can't remember the name of the company). He was an even bigger cretin than the other people I'd spoken to and refused to even acknowledge the possibility that Acer had actually posted drivers that didn't work. I tried to explain the perverse paradox of refusing to accept any support cases that didn't relate to "known issues" but I honestly think he was too stupid to even begin to grasp the principle.

So, never buying Acer again, telling all my clients and colleagues. Absolutely and utterly unacceptable.

I do hope my little "workaround" helps some others. Although I suspect it's the BIOS update that is the main difference, I didn't try the PCI Bridge driver thing until after flashing so don't actually know which of those it was. Machine does seem faster now, though.