Acer Ferrari 3200 review (just a few pics/couple benches) - Page 51

Oh geeezz Snore, I'll wear out my clicker doing that. hehehe
But luckily I have an extra, (Brand New) Ferrari mouse that I haven't taken out of it's wrappin' yet.
So as I find 'em I'll do that. It's the least I can do for the vast amount of info you've shared.
Thanks Dude!

Two questions :
1. Does anybody have any suggestions for a sleeve/cover that will fit the Ferrari? It doesn't have to have padding or anything; mainly I am just tired of attracting attention with the bitchin paint job! (something you can keep on while using it)

2. My hard drive seems to have ground to slug-like speeds. On my HD -Tach test, it was running around 3 mb/sec sequential read and burst, and showing 99% CPU utilization for some reason. I've run a bunch of Trojan-hunters, and anti-spyware programs and have not come up with anything. I can't seem to pinpoint anything abnormal on my System Config. window either...the cpu just seems to rev up to 90-100% at random times, and everything starts to sputter! Any ideas before I have to clean install ?

Thanks!

Wow, thanks that's awesome so please keep 'em coming!

Perhaps this one:
http://www.ebags.com/shaun_jackson_d...m?modelid=9444

Try updating the chipset drivers and defrag your hard drive.

Hi Snorre!

Have you tried to use the Arctic Silver 5? Does it help to reduce the heat?Thanks!

Kensington makes a really nice case. I found one at CompUSA.

It has sleeve inside that will fit the Ferrari and you can carry that around. Inside that is another padded sleve but it's too small.

Otherwise it's a really nice case.


Snorre, I got that Corsair memory you suggested. I noticed an immediate improvement.

I also wanted to click on those icons you mentioned but can't see them. Maybe I neded to be logged in, I'll look after posting this.

I've also applied some of your tweaks but could not follow everything and I thing some software has been updated. I did have a question those. Is there a simple way I can determine just what I tweaked up and a general overalll listing of what all my hardware is doing. A freeware prog perhaps. Basically, it's running great but I don't know what I have done. I could post some screen shots of settings if you think that would help.

Thanks,

Tom

umm...ferrari.wav plz anyone?!

Done! (Let me know if you have any problems with it.)

That wave file is a nice touch, too bad they didn't carry that theme all the way through, (like: chequered flag cursor, air wrench sounds etc.) Especially when shutting down the system they should have used the "Pit In" air horn combined with the sound of an F1 Ferrari coming into the "Pit Box" and then shutting off the engine.

appreciate that Duke Audi life wasnt the same b4 the startup sound

No I haven't, but I guess it would help to reduce the max CPU temperature a few degrees Celcius at least.

Thanks to you and everyone that added to my reputation

I know, the display driver GUI got a different layout now with the Catalyst Control Center. The same options are still there, but the locations have changed slightly. When I got more time I'll update the guides affected by this.

Edit: I've now updated all my guides:
http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=41052

Good idea, perhaps someone here should put together a proper Ferrari theme for us?

Btw, for those of you that are interested in Windows XP x64 Edition I've put together a list of all available 64-bit drivers that are compatible with the Acer Ferrari 3200/3400 here:
http://notebookforums.com/showthread...381#post620381

Note that even the 64-bit Broadcom 802.11g WLAN (BCM43xx) driver is finally available now

Finally got it!!!

... aaaaaand the machine arrived yesterday!!! Wooohoooo, what a monster! Well, with a bit of beginners problems, I now seem to have a normally operating notebook.

I reinstalled with a clean Windows XP CD (integrated Service Pack 2), and used the drivers suggested by Snorre in a very earlier post (God, this thread is so loooong!!!)

Unfortunately it came with 3y27 BIOS (don't remember if it's y it's called), so the fan is kicking in pretty often. But I don't care, I don't know how it is, without this BIOS version, so I don't care

I can put 3 fingers on this notebook:

1. Very lousy speakers!!! (Compared to Compaq Presario 700EAs JBL Pro speakers), but I actually anticipated this
2. WPA security doesn't work well with my D-Link 624+ router.
3. The mouse is cool, but very "plasticy"
4. I cannot boot to my USB-key, nor the 4in1 card reader (tried formatting a 32mb MMC card (Hitachi). The USB key is known good, as it works on Dell Optiplex GX270 computers. Please everyone, write to Acer about this. This HAS to work! Partition Magic wan'ts a writeable driveletter in DOS.

Snorre!! How do one see ones reputation???

Some questions

Hi everyone.

It's really great that the community of Ferrari 3200 users is growing, as well as this thread...

Well, I've got some questions about my Ferrari for you, guys:

1. My laptop is currently rather slow. Is it likely that this is caused by the slow hard drive (I have the Toshiba drive)? Does the Hitachi drive really boost the whole system?

2. I still have problems with the graphic card drivers. The only that once suited were the Omega drivers v2590. But even these sometimes crash and I have to uninstall them and stay for a while without any drivers.

3. I have an annoying problem with my pointer. Sometimes, not that often though, it starts moving all by itself (always to the left side if that matters). It doesn't stop even if I move the mouse. After some time it stops as mysteriously as appeared. This is not such a big problem, just sometimes it gets really irritating.

4. While booting, when the WinXP Welcome screen appears, my computer waits quite a while apparently doing nothing (the hard drive does not work). Is it normal? Because of that, the whole booting process takes quite a long time. I encountered this with other computer (not Ferrari) as well. Am I doing something wrong? Any suggestions?

Ok, that's enough for now. Thanks a lot for any help.

Best regards,
Algirdas

Go to "User CP" and see under "Latest Reputation Received". Hold your mouse pointer over the little green reputation dot(s) beneath the avatar for a amusing title

Slow in what regard, slow to start or to use? Spyware & stuff are known to slow down your computer if you don't protect yourself properly, e.g. check out Spybot-S&D:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

If you want to know how the original hard drive (Toshiba MK8025GAS) compares to other available hard drives I suggest you take a look at this review:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/sto...i-25-7200.html

Try updating to the new Omega Drivers 2.5.97a, they work great:
http://www.omegadrivers.net/ati/win2k_xp.php

Check your mousepad settings, they might be set up too sensitive.

No, but if you've used either WLAN or Bluetooth and later disabled them (with the buttons in front) Windows will be looking for them and it thus takes some time for this process to time-out.

Hmm, doesn't seem that I've gotten any reputation ... Because I can't see any "Latest Reputation Received"

Yes. I've been using these for a whole 2 days now ... and I haven't had any issues with them.

I think I'll update my signature in a little, with all the benchmarks I need to run. Furthermore. I've written an email to Acer asking the supporters to forward my request of creating a BIOS where you can boot from a USB-key or the built-in card-readers. I suggest you who read this also do this

For all who wants to know... Warcraft III - TFT runs smoothly in 1400x1050 and 32 bit colors. Flash and Java animations are smooth with this video card and Starcraft, Diablo II, Heroes of Might and Magic III all run smooth too. I also expected them too.

Aaah.. I feel like babbling too much I think

Slow in both regards. Well, I installed the Spybot-S&D, it found some spyware, now I feel more sucure. However, the laptop is not faster. For example, I use LaTeX to write documents and it takes quite a while to compile it. On other computers with rather weaker configurations takes it just a half of a second... Is it possible that this is because I don't have any graphics drivers installed?

Yes, I donwloaded these, but the computer craches once I install them. It crashes when the Windows are loading. I'm sure it's not the fault of the drivers, since they have worked for many of you very well, but I can't find the problem in my lappy either... As you remember, I tried the MemTest v1.86 (not sure; the newest), no errors found. I am going to bring my laptop to the Technical Support, maybe that would help...

Anyway, thanks for help. I appreciate this a lot.

Regards,
Algirdas

I got the same problem (hard drive slow) as Algirdas two weeks ago. I reinstalled Windows two times and finally it got faster. But the fan comes on more often after the reinstallation (without updating bios), any idea? Thanks

The easiest way to check your reputation is just by clicking on the -button beneath your nick on one of your posts.

I'd think so, but it might be something more serious.

Ok, then I suggest that you reinstall Windows preferably using the standard Windows XP CD and not the one provided by Acer (just use the Windows XP key beneath your laptop) and the drivers suggested by me here:
http://notebookforums.com/showthread...768#post403768

done already...

I have already installed Windows separately, because the Acer CDs partition my whole disk into two inappropriate for me partitions and install old drivers. Probably I should consult the Technical Support... Still, I love my shiny red Ferrari.

Thanks a lot anyway. You, guys, have helped enormously. I'm so happy I've found this forum.

Regards,
Algirdas

Linux on Ferrari 3200

I've just installed Linux Mandrake on my lappy. Are there any new/enhanced drivers for this OS? So far, everything goes fine there. Even the graphics card works well!