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Acer 8104 setup questions...

post #1 of 11
2/14/05 at 11:26pm
Thread Starter 
I just got my 8104 Travelmate. Sweet notebook. Very fast. Very quiet. Pardon the typos, but I'm still learning the keyboard. Now for the questions:

1.) I have not done a clean install yet, but I did convert the C: drive from FAT32 to NTFS. I noticed that the laptop ran an Acer tool the first time I booted windows that installed drivers, patches, and reset the font size. Does anyone know where this tool is? And can I set the font size back (this does not appear the be the large/small font settings in the display control panel).

2.) The system disks that came with the laptop only restore the system to original state, which I assumes means two FAT32 partitions again. Is there a way to use the laptop activation key with a normal windows XPSP2 install CD or an MSDN XPSP2 install CD?

Thanks in advance.
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post #2 of 11
2/15/05 at 12:41am
you can use any professional xp OEM cd wiht ur cd key and do a clean install if u want
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post #3 of 11
2/15/05 at 12:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by katorga
1.) I have not done a clean install yet, but I did convert the C: drive from FAT32 to NTFS. I noticed that the laptop ran an Acer tool the first time I booted windows that installed drivers, patches, and reset the font size. Does anyone know where this tool is? And can I set the font size back (this does not appear the be the large/small font settings in the display control panel).
Acer tools are spread all over C: drive. Most of the stuff is in C:\WINDOWS (batch files), some things in subdirectories of C:\WINDOWS and C:\WINDOWS\System32

To reset font size (it's really not font size), go to Display Properties, Settings tab, click Advanced button, there on the General tab select 96 dpi setting in combobox. Click Apply. There you have it.
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post #4 of 11
2/15/05 at 2:21am
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the quick answers. Got one more question: any clue on where the Intel 2915ABG management tool is?

We use cisco WIFI gear at work with CKIP and LEAP. Allowing windows to manage the wifi connection means I can't log on, but when I try to install the 2915 drivers from Intel the install crashes. File is wireless_9.0.1.0_-_generic_tic_90281.exe from Intel. Has anyone installed the Intel driver package on the 8104 successfully?

Guess my next try will be to remove the Acer 2915 drivers before trying to install the Intel one's again.
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post #5 of 11
2/15/05 at 2:38am
Thread Starter 

Found it

Woot found it on the drivers CD. The Intel 2915ABG management tools and cisco extensions are not installed by default nor are the installed when the driver is installed through the menu.

Exploring the cd and manually installing the Intel tools worked fine.
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post #6 of 11
2/15/05 at 12:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by katorga
Woot found it on the drivers CD. The Intel 2915ABG management tools and cisco extensions are not installed by default nor are the installed when the driver is installed through the menu.

Exploring the cd and manually installing the Intel tools worked fine.
I have not installed it myself - builtin Windows wireless tools work for me and support WPA-PSK, which I use. I had some trouble with Intel Wireless ProSET 9. Other people reported too that ProSET 8.1 worked better than 9. Let us know how your setup is doing. I'm trying to figure out if the problem I had can be attributed to ProSET or to my routers.

I typically visit ftp://ftp.acer-euro.com/notebook/ for various driver updates. Sometimes Acer puts new driver with a new laptop model and does not update the same driver for prevoius ones. That's a nice place to check for new versions. You have to do some research though and often I discard stuff after I downloaded it from there (appears to be not what I expected).
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post #7 of 11
2/15/05 at 2:17pm
Thread Starter 

ProSet 9

The drivers on the CD are proset 9, and I see some random oddness with them where it looks like they keep dropping connection to my old apple airport (802.11b) and immediately pick up. But I see no evidence of this playing online games on the 8104, something to watch tho. The drivers on the CD do work well with the cisco infrastructure at work.

The latest proset 9 package from Intel won't even install on my system. Creates the install directory then crashes before doing anything else.

Eventually I need to do a format and clean install of the OS, but for the time being I have just converted the FAT32 C: drive to NTFS.
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post #8 of 11
2/15/05 at 2:48pm
If I buy an Acer 1804/1803, what is the first thing I must do? Cause I am getting confused cause all of you are partitioning, installing this and that, reformat etc etc! I would probably prefer to have NTFS but what are the steps and how do I still keep the Acer software there if I cleaned it off like you guys are? What if it is left as is? Why do you all change it? Thanksssssss.
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post #9 of 11
2/15/05 at 3:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Selmor
If I buy an Acer 1804/1803, what is the first thing I must do? Cause I am getting confused cause all of you are partitioning, installing this and that, reformat etc etc! I would probably prefer to have NTFS but what are the steps and how do I still keep the Acer software there if I cleaned it off like you guys are? What if it is left as is? Why do you all change it? Thanksssssss.
When you buy a car, you don't start immediately to modify/improve it unless that's what you've been doing for while and are quite good at.
Just take it easy and don't change anything unless you want/have to.

The kind of things we discuss here, like repartitioning, using programs to optimize/monitor, are not specific to particular laptop models. There are sites on the Web that explain these things in detail. It's typically done by computer enthusiasts to customize their computer to the highest degree possible. Many of us came to our current setups over the time - takes several months sometimes to find all the applications that you like and that are working together nicely. What works for some, may not work for others.

Snorre on this forum put a nice post regarding programs he recommended for Acer Ferrari. I don't have a link - don't remember. A big part of it is applicable to most other laptops out there.
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post #10 of 11
2/15/05 at 3:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DarthAcer
Snorre on this forum put a nice post regarding programs he recommended for Acer Ferrari.
http://notebookforums.com/showthread...002#post434002
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post #11 of 11
2/15/05 at 8:49pm
Thanks? What I really wanted to know is...is there a reason why you all are reformating the drive that came with the 8104/8103? I hear someone talk about Acer having two partitions one with something and so on so forth.
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