Acer 8371/3810 Owners Thread

[huyster]

Wasn't the modded BIOS originally for Vista ? I thought the Win7 'version' was what had been requested.....?

The modded BIOS had the SLIC 2.0 replaced with 2.1 for Win7.
This is fine if you're installing and activating a new Windows (any version) licence but if, like me, you're staying with factory activated Win Vista, then the Vendor details no longer matches the licence so Windows gets deactivated.

 

[Horrordee]

Anyone with a 3810TG -how long does it take you to fully charge from empty? Took me like 4 hours the other day, maybe nearer 5. I wonder if this is a fault... I have the latest BIOS revision :/

 

[Gray-Fox]

Now if people have installed the latest bios 1.28 (which you should as it has a lot of good changes) you will see that the fan speed is quite loud and the fan is always on when connected to AC power.

I have modified this latest bios to change the Fan Settings on AC and Battery and also added additional settings in the bios menu as well as SLIC2.1 . In the bios menu, you just need to set the User access level to FULL to show all options. You can now choose ATI Only and Intel ONLY as well as switchable graphics. This means you can install the latest drivers for each graphics adapter and change in the bios when needed.

If anyone is using my old modified bios please upgrade to this new bios as my old bios has a few issues.

MODDED BIOS DOWNLOAD - http://www.mediafire.com/?qsn4aoovoba2kuo
ALTERNATIVE DOWNLOAD LINK - http://www.2shared.com/file/arRt9weV/BIOS_Acer_8371_128_Modified_Qu.html

Only use this bios on 8371 laptop.

These are the temperatures set for the bios:

(CPU TEMP)
Min Max FanSpeed
45C 50C 20% (You can't hear 20% fan speed)
55C 60C 40%
62C 70C 50%
72C 80C 70%

(Thanks to advan20092 from notebookreview and IXBT Forum for help with modifying fan table)

Let me know how people get on with the bios. You will notice a big difference in the fan noise on battery and it also doesnt turn on all the time when you insert AC adapter.

Is this for the 3810 or the 8371, or both?

 

[tbz_ck]

Anyone with a 3810TG -how long does it take you to fully charge from empty? Took me like 4 hours the other day, maybe nearer 5. I wonder if this is a fault... I have the latest BIOS revision :/

i'll run mine down and then let you know.

CK

 

[tbz_ck]

I installed the 500GB Momentus XT in my 8371, I was going to put it in my old netbook but its just amazing in this, takes seconds to boot and runs very very quickly, certainly faster than the standard drive.

You tempted me. Christmas money spent on a Seagate 500GB Momentus XT for the 3810 and then to utilise the existing 320GB HDD I bought a USB Enclosure (went for a USB 3.0 for futureproofing)

I have Acronis TI 2011 so disk cloning should'nt be an issue. Should save a re-install

 

[tbz_ck]

i'll run mine down and then let you know.

CK

Right then

Best test I could manage was to run it down to 16% before I went out, charge it, and see where it got to when I got back. So, went out at 3.40pm, got back at 6.55pm and it is at 99%.

My guess is this, that the last percent probably takes an age to "register" but the battery itself is pretty much fully charged within the first couple of hours.

I certainly noticed a difference between the shipping bios and the newer bios on the Acer website with respect to charging times being drastically reduced.

 

[aaron_yume]

I'm considering buying the 3810TG myself (can't find a cheaper 8371) before the new year and the VAT increase to replace both my main PC which I'm having to sell and my Samsung NC10 netbook which has done me good for 8 months of traveling around the USA and Mexico (minus the white screen issues) but is really underpowered for a lot of additional areas I'd like it to perform in.

How much worse is the screen on the 3810TG from the 8371 or say how does it compare to the one on my NC10? How is the gaming performance? I'd like to at least be able to play say something like Tomb Raider Anniversary on it (even if its only the lowest settings).

It will be taken back to Mexico with me to continue traveling and will be my long term Computer over here for several years, so it does need to last and will no doubt end up being put to unexpected uses.

 

[chrismscotland]

You tempted me. Christmas money spent on a Seagate 500GB Momentus XT for the 3810 and then to utilise the existing 320GB HDD I bought a USB Enclosure (went for a USB 3.0 for futureproofing)

I have Acronis TI 2011 so disk cloning should'nt be an issue. Should save a re-install

Hope you like it, my 8371 is fantastically quick with the Momentus XT

 

[tbz_ck]

I'm considering buying the 3810TG myself (can't find a cheaper 8371) before the new year and the VAT increase to replace both my main PC which I'm having to sell and my Samsung NC10 netbook which has done me good for 8 months of traveling around the USA and Mexico (minus the white screen issues) but is really underpowered for a lot of additional areas I'd like it to perform in.

How much worse is the screen on the 3810TG from the 8371 or say how does it compare to the one on my NC10? How is the gaming performance? I'd like to at least be able to play say something like Tomb Raider Anniversary on it (even if its only the lowest settings).

It will be taken back to Mexico with me to continue traveling and will be my long term Computer over here for several years, so it does need to last and will no doubt end up being put to unexpected uses.

I had an NC10 and i have the 3810, the 3810, even with the glossy screen is miles better. It only suffers in direct strong light, but if you like movies it's utterly brilliant. Performance is miles better than the NC10 too

 

[aaron_yume]

Cheers tbz_ck. That's put my mind at rest and yeah I really love being able to watch movies; especially while on long over night bus rides where they play horribly dubbed into Spanish movies etc, so this should be perfect for me.

The light outside during the day is generally quite bright compared to the UK, but I've never really had much issue with my NC10's screen even though I do generally try to never really use my NC10 outside as it's just like advertising "Hey, come and rob me!".

 

[KyleMac]

What's the screen quality like on either the 3810 or 8371? Even without the Radeon the 8371 for £350 seems good value vs the 3810 for £390 and a glossy screen.

My mum wants a laptop mostly for listening to music and watching movies in the shed/cabin but sometimes for also working on graphics when travelling. She's not got a super expensive or calibrated monitor on her desktop but it's just that the screen on my dad's ~5 year old Dell Inspiron and our current EeePC are so terrible that she doesn't believe that a cheap laptop would be any better. Greys are blue and they're both so blurry. If the screen sucks she might as well get an Ion netbook for £100 less.

 

[tbz_ck]

What's the screen quality like on either the 3810 or 8371? Even without the Radeon the 8371 for £350 seems good value vs the 3810 for £390 and a glossy screen.

My mum wants a laptop mostly for listening to music and watching movies in the shed/cabin but sometimes for also working on graphics when travelling. She's not got a super expensive or calibrated monitor on her desktop but it's just that the screen on my dad's ~5 year old Dell Inspiron and our current EeePC are so terrible that she doesn't believe that a cheap laptop would be any better. Greys are blue and they're both so blurry. If the screen sucks she might as well get an Ion netbook for £100 less.

Whether the 8371 or 3810tzg, the screen for a graphics professional will of course be lacking in terms of colour reproduction. The glossy screen suffers from viewing angle issues (as do virtually all glossies) so you don't get decent colours unless you are sat smack in front of it. For the budget though these are good general purpose laptops. I'm in the process of fitting my new momentus XT to my 3810tg to make disk access just that little bit quicker.

Played some games over the holidays, Lego batman works ACE on this laptop, however Prince of Persia Two Thrones thrashes the living daylights out of it!

 

[mentalmike]

Got my 8371 crimbo day, clean installed a 64bit windows pro install. Have managed to get all the drivers to install ok off the accer website apart from the bluethooth driver. When I try to install it says it can't detect any bluetooth device. Anyone have any trouble with this or did you use a different driver? Thing that is concerning me is that I can't see any refference to it in device manager.

 

[chris10230]

Got my 8371 crimbo day, clean installed a 64bit windows pro install. Have managed to get all the drivers to install ok off the accer website apart from the bluethooth driver. When I try to install it says it can't detect any bluetooth device. Anyone have any trouble with this or did you use a different driver? Thing that is concerning me is that I can't see any refference to it in device manager.

try hitting fn + F3 to turn on BT? Simple but you may missed it....

I did it then windows just went through and installed everything for you

cheers

 

[mentalmike]

that sorted it! Cheers!!

 

[MasterPlan1]

Just wondering, has anyone had to call Acer support for this laptop, or any other laptop? Just the LCD inverter has gone on mine, and I was wondering how good they are at dealing with repairs.

Annoyingly, it's showing as out of warranty on the site so I can't do it there - even though I bought it in Jan last year. I guess it was because I bought through a reseller.

 

[karl800]

OCZ Vertex 2 for 3810

The drive needs to be a half slim SSD and you remove the case.

For example this SSD is compatible (maybe others too) they sell it here - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-011-KS . You have to open the case and then you get the half slim ssd.

Look at the picture below. This is what its like when you open the kingston ssd that is sold above and remove the case. The ssd you buy has to be this size when you open it to fit.

You just unplug the board and plug it in directly to the laptop inside.

Hi Does anyone know if this drive will be the same size as the one quoted above.
OCZ Vertex 2 "25nm Edition" 80GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTX80G) [OCZSSD2-2VTX80G]
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-067-OC&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=910
As the one above seems a lot slower.
Cheers
Karl

 

[johnnyfinlandia]

Help .. updated BIOS to 1.28 (from Acer) but fan is always on .. is there a better version for the 3810TG ?
Thanks
John

 

[feenster99]

Are these still available at the ~£350 mark or have they all gone now? I *think* I had found the supplier you guys used, but they are all out of stock / discontinued....

If they are still around, could someone PM me the link (or email in Trust)?

 

[fanphobic]

Hi,

I'm a happy 8371 user - in fact I was so pleased I bought another for my wife.

However one little thing concerns me. I'm using dragonuk's BIOS fan fix, which he kindly modified for the integrated graphics version of the 8371. This switches off the fan entirely and even at 60C, it doesn't kick in. I think it's only gone as high as 61C (as far as the accuracy of Core Temp goes) even with a heavy workload. Right now with a light load but quite a few apps open, it's hovering at 44-47C, again with no fan. The front of the machine is slightly warm (but not nearly as hot as my old Mac Book Pro gets).

Should I be worried that it's operating without a fan for its whole life? I don't mind a reduced machine lifespan but if it burnt out in a few months that would be a pain.

Thanks for any thoughts!