Upgraded F3200 to Turion ML-34!!! - Page 4

Hi, I'm happy to find this little group of F3200 modders. What I have done so far is to put in 2GB of Corsair DDR400 RAM in mine. It works perfectly and BIOS auto detects it at the faster speed. So not only can you put 2GB on your system, you can put in faster RAM at the same time rather than the stock DDR333 speed. The Vista Windows Experience Index is CPU=3.7, RAM=4.4. It's rock solid and I highly recommend this upgrade. The part number is VS1GSDS400. Newegg has it for $99/stick: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145562

I am now going to make the jump to a new CPU--an MT-40 that I have ordered already and should have within a week. In preparation I upgraded the BIOS to 3C25 (this is the latest Ferrari 3400 BIOS). It worked in the F3200 except for one thing, it would not respond after going into a sleep (I run Vista 64-bit). So I backed to 3A32 (latest Ferrari 3200 BIOS) which cleared the problem and I will use this when I upgrade the CPU.

After the latest reports I am a bit nervous about whether this will be successful or not. I'll add my experience to the fray when I get the MT-40. By the way, newegg has the MT-37 for $60--that's a steal, but no MT-40. I found a MT-40 elsewhere for $200. These two should be the best 2 CPU's you will ever be able to pu in the F3200 since the socket (754) is end of life and thus dual core is out of the question. I guess you could alo go ML-44, but one thing I like about the MT series is the low heat output. The stock 2800+ is just gets hot under the palm and makes a lot of fan noise so I am hoping the MT processor will solve those things.

to the new member that keeps trying to post in this thread but it doesn't go through:

PLEASE read your email at the address you registered on here from and stop trying to post with the report button!

Ferrari 3200 memory upgrading up to 2GB with TURION

Hi:

I've got the same issue as well as you've got. When installing memory modules with more than 512MB to 1GB, system detects only up to 512MB per 1GB module installed on both memory sockets. So, BIOS informs that system has 2GB of RAM by keeping memory test pressing the F2 key entering to BIOS setup.

So, when Operating System boots up loading itself on to memory: all it's ok while OS loads data on the first GB of RAM addresses but when it try to allocate more memory than the first 1GB, the system fails and then it reeboot or it hangs up. (not all present memory are usable).

These is my opinion based on my experience. Acer would have to release a new BIOS to fix this problem although they aren't force due to FERRARI 3200 was intended for ATHLON 64 low power profile platform dispite of BOTH kind of processors: The TURION and the Athlon64 one have the memory controller embedded and then it decide which memory would work with laptop despite of northbridge CHIPSET setup (for the FERRARI 3200: Via Apollo K8T800).

So, I think there are two ways to make Ferrari work:

- First: If you want install more than 1GB RAM (2x512MB on each memory socket), you should keep your ATHLON 64 2800+ CPU (rev. CG) or 3000+ CPU (rev. CG too) according to the ACER service manual I've got.

I tried to upgrade the CPU with an Athlon 64 3000+ CPU (removed from an Acer Ferrari 3400+) from eBay but same issue as well as with the TURION one CPU. I think it's because it isn't rev. CG

- Second one: Install a maximun of 1GB RAM (up to 512MB per memory socket) including support for the DDR400 PC3200 memory. Issue comes from memory recognition from each memory socket (up to 512MB per each one).

With this plan, I don't know how to proceed. If keep my Athlon 64 2800+ with 2GB RAM or 1GB RAM with the TURION MT-37 I have.

People, let me know if someone understood could modify the latest BIOS released by ACER in order to SUPPORT memory upgrade up to 2GB with TURION platform.

Regards,
David from SPAIN.

I agree it appears a BIOS limitation and we cannot expect Acer to ever release an updated BIOS. However, I wonder if it is possible to flash a newer, generic VIA K8T800 BIOS (or even a BIOS from HP, Dell, or whever else uses this motherboard) into the F3200 instead of limiting ourselves to the Acer F3200/3400 BIOS?

Sorry to say I think you should be nervous... my latest wild guess was to order a 1GB module PC3200 (400 MHz) from A-Data but it doesn't work at all in my upgraded F3200 with Turion MT-37 ;( So for now I'm stuck with 256+512 MB which is the largest combination I've got working.

I would also NOT recommend the 3C25 bios from the F3400 as this didn't work at all with my Turion MT-37 on F3200 (I got black screen and no boot). Right now I'm using 3A32 and everything works fine except for the PowerNow transitions which doesn't seem to work at all, the Turion runs at full speed regardless if it's on battery or not. I've installed the appropriate Turion driver from AMD but that didn't change anything. Despite this the Turion is not as hot as my Mobile 2800+...!

I will try RMClock though, this hopefully will work in almost the same way.

Hi:

I got running my Ferrari 3200 with the AMD Athlon64 3000+, pulled from a Ferrari 3400. For that, I upgraded my laptop with the 3C25 Ferrari 3400 BIOS and then I got the AMD3000+ working with 2GB RAM. Before, with the 3a32 Ferrari 3200 BIOS I had same problem with the AMD3000+ proccesor as well as TURION MT-37 one while counting the amount of memory the system hangs.

But when testing the TURION MT-37 with the latest 3C25 Ferrari 3400 BIOS, black screen only can be seen. This issue another user posted it.

Could Ferrari 3200 be updated with the Ferrari 4000 series BIOS? The 4000 comes with a TURION ML series from manufacturer although memory and others peripherals such as memory sockets come installed in dissimilar ways comparing to the F3200 board one.

Well, Finally I think I got my F3200 with the Mobile Athlon 64 3000+ 90nm. Oakville core that seems to be that it generates lower heat than the Athlon64 2800+ 0,13uM. with 2GB DDR400 PC3200 Kingston memory sticks. I'm tired of waste money on memories, proccesors, time, etc.

Regards.