NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Acer Forums › Acer Notebooks › Problem with the Acer 1710 Notebook series
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Problem with the Acer 1710 Notebook series

post #1 of 22
4/4/04 at 3:20pm
Thread Starter 
I recently purchased an Acer 1712 and I wanted to warn any people thinking of buying one to wait until a few issues are resolved. The main issue I'm having is with Power Management.

The disk drive spins down every 5-10 minutes and if you're playing a game, editing video or even surfing the net the drive will pause for 2-5 secs as it spins back up.

This realy sucks, especially for gaming.

I've disabled the power management features in XP but it still spins down. The BIOS is absolute crap. No features at all. You can change the power down LCD brightness and thats about it. I'm hoping they release a new bios soon or this machine is just about useless for gaming, video editing or 3d rendering.

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I talked to Acer support a few minutes ago and the guy told me he heard this a few times today and that he was going to pass it on to the engineers on Monday.
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 22
4/4/04 at 11:33pm
I also just purchased a 1712 and am experiencing the same problems. Every 10 mins or so the game I am playing "freezes" for a couple of seconds. Up until now I have been just ignoring it but now that ransaak has brought it I just wanted to say that it is happening to me too. I hope there is some fix for this. Other than this problem, I still like this "notebook."

Ransaak, plz keep me informed on any updates to this situation. Thanks
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 22
4/4/04 at 11:58pm
Thread Starter 

I know exactly what the problem is

The problem is the restricted bios and the fact that "Hard Disk Spin Down" is enabled with no way for us to disable this feature. I guess they're worried that end users will create more harm than good. They really should have left video card and power management options available in the bios.

Our only hope is that they release a new bios soon. I'm going to try to get through to an engineer in support tomorrow and hopefully they realize this is a problem and have another bios available to download.

I really like this notebook too other than this "showstopper". When the disk isn't spinning down, it's a great machine, very fast and good FPS.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 22
4/5/04 at 10:28am
Thread Starter 
Anyone else who has this issue, I'd recomend calling 1-800-816-2237 (Acer Support) and letting them know this is a problem for you. I'd assume everyone will experience the disk spin down problem eventually since it's enabled in the BIOS.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 22
4/5/04 at 11:52am
Ack, I hope they fix it soon.

I'm hoping to get a 1710 series by mid June (hoping they come out with an AMD 64 version of the 1710 series).
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 22
4/5/04 at 11:58am

Pausing Problem

Yeah, I got the 1712 and I'm having that same problem with pausing. I changed the power management and so far games stopped pausing, but in regular windows I still have the problem. I hope they plan to do something about it.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 22
4/5/04 at 12:13pm
Thread Starter 

Interesting

jchimpo,

You changed the Power Management in Windows or in the BIOS?
Reply
Reply
post #8 of 22
4/5/04 at 12:54pm

Hard drive pausing

I changed power managment in windows. I haven't had it pause in games since then. I was playing ut2k4 loaded with bots and couldn't get the pause to happen again. In regular windows, it still happens and gets annoying but it's bearable since it's not critical.

I have downloaded all the windows updates and other than that I don't know why my computer would be any different from the other 1710's.
Reply
Reply
post #9 of 22
4/5/04 at 1:07pm
jchimpo, since you have so many things loaded, you're probably accessing the HD frequently and thus the power management doesn't spin down the HD?

That's the only reason I can see why it doesn't happen in game for you.
Reply
Reply
post #10 of 22
4/5/04 at 1:10pm
Thread Starter 

Just got off phone with support

I just got off phone with technical support. It was your typical support non-technical guy. He said he'd "pass on the issue to the engineers." Somehow I doubt this will actually make it to the engineers unless I call 5-6 times. Keeping my fingers crossed either way.
Reply
Reply
post #11 of 22
4/5/04 at 1:15pm
If one of you talk with Acer engineers, can you ask him if this beast support without problems a full 250GB HD without using other bios/controllers/software add on ???

Many many thanks.
Reply
Reply
post #12 of 22
4/5/04 at 1:20pm
The thread has been forwarded to the proper Acer channels to look into.

Also, Shaolin, we'll have 250GB hard drives in stock again this week and I'll be able to try one out on the 1712 when I get a chance.
Reply
Reply
post #13 of 22
4/5/04 at 1:24pm
Thanks a lot Adam.

I will wait your test with hope.
Reply
Reply
post #14 of 22
4/5/04 at 1:28pm
Thread Starter 

Thanks alot Adam

Thanks a ton Adam. I felt like I was getting nowhere with there support.
Reply
Reply
post #15 of 22
4/5/04 at 9:00pm
Thread Starter 

Update

Just got off the phone with Acer and they say they're currently working on this issue. The tech support guy said they were trying to recreate the issue and had a laptop with a "don't touch" sign on it. Not sure what that means but hopefully they will figure it out soon. I wish I could actually get in touch with an engineer and explain what the problem is. I think i need to start disguising my voice as they seem to be getting tired of me.

Anyway, hopefully we'll get it resolved soon.
Reply
Reply
post #16 of 22
4/6/04 at 4:57pm
Thread Starter 
Here's the email I got from Acer a few minutes ago.

"Thank you for contacting Acer America. We were able to narrow this down to the Norton Antivirus software. When testing it without it, there was the normal short delay. With Norton installed the delay was longer as Norton would check the hard drive. To discuss this issue further you can try contacting our telephone technical support line at 1-800-816-2237, option 1. Hours of operation for live support are 7am-9pm Monday-Friday and 6am-7pm Saturday and Sunday, excluding holidays. "


I never installed Norton. (It comes with an "installer" on the desktop that prompts for a system CD) I'm going to give them a call tonight and see if they have any plans for a better BIOS.
Reply
Reply
post #17 of 22
4/6/04 at 5:29pm
Thread Starter 

Last post on this sucker

Just got off the phone with Acer...AGAIN. I indirectly got to speak with their engineers through a tech guy. They checked out the BIOS and finally agreed that no option to disable the disk spin down seemed to be the problem (no ****e). Unfotunately, correcting this would require them to rewrite the bios and they have no plans to do that.

I'm going to send mine back and either get the Sager 8790 (no nvidia card ) or the new HP ZD7000.

This machine was almost perfect. Too bad.
Reply
Reply
post #18 of 22
4/7/04 at 6:19pm
Acer is working on a newer BIOS which will allow access to these advanced features.

Given the upcoming holiday and the fact that Taiwan is a day ahead of us I would give them a week or so to have this ready for prime time.

Please hold off on your return requests on these until the new BIOS is released and tested.

Thanks,

-Dan
Reply
Reply
post #19 of 22
4/27/04 at 8:14pm
So its been 3 weeks... ANy word ? My 1712 goes back Friday...
Reply
Reply
post #20 of 22
4/28/04 at 2:28pm
I called twice. First, I was told I'd have to send it in to be looked at. I just couldn't accept that. I called back and found out that they had been receiving problem reports and were just putting things together; It was an intentional BIOS level power management setting that is not user accessible (right now, it's acctually set at 45 seconds without disk activity).

I was also told, by telephone, that a BIOS revision would be addressing this.

I felt better...

In a follow-up e-mail, I requested, in writing, an estimated date of release and notification when the new BIOS I was told about becomes available. The tone changed a bit. The response (April 12, 2004) was the following:

"I apologize for the misunderstanding. Our engineers have been notified of
the hard drive issue and it has been forwarded to Taiwan. If a fix will
be implemented it would most likely be in the form of a BIOS update and
would be posted on our support site at www.acersupport.com. Currently we
have no ETA nor do we have a list where we contact user's to download
if/when a BIOS is released. I apologize for any inconvenience this may
bring."

The "official" response says IF a BIOS update is made.

I didn't feel so good about that...

According to the person I talked to, the spindown was supposed to be seamless - they just got it all wrong.

I understand folks returning theirs. I agree it's a great machine aside from this problem.

My last day to return mine is tomorrow. I'm going to press ahead and hope that they come through with a BIOS revision. Some of the comments I've heard about the company suggest that they will. The e-mail backing away from comments made on the phone scares me.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Acer Notebooks
NotebookForums.com › Forums › Notebook Manufacturers › Acer Forums › Acer Notebooks › Problem with the Acer 1710 Notebook series