Basil Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Was not sure whether this belongs here or in Chatterbox, but as I believe some use the Acer netbooks in their motorhomes I thought it relevant. I put the Acer on charge when, for the first time, the battery went completely flat and to my dismay it would not charge showing only a flashing red charging light, dead or defective battery according to online manual. Assuming the battery had gone I went online to look to order a new one. After looking at the cost I thought I would check the forums first to make sure and discovered that there is an inharent fault in the Aspire that can be corrected by reflashing the BIOS. Apparently it will only show up if you allow the battery to go completely flat, as the BIOS as was cannot recognise a completely flat battery hence why I have not had a problem before as I have always been using the netbook when it tells me to plug in the charger. So no new battery required, a lucky escape as putting in a new battery it would have appeared to have corrected the problem. The download for the upgrade is available from the Acer site and it downloads an automatic installer with the BIOS flash and a tool to check whether yours needs it or not. If anyone needs any further info just ask. Hope that helps someone. Bas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonB Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 We have an Acer Aspire 5720 laptop which we use in the motorhome. You do not say which model of Aspire you have. Does this problem apply to all of them? Is it only netbooks? I had a look at the Acer UK website support downloads, but without knowing which model you refer to I could not be sure if I was looking at the same thing. Not being an expert I do not want to do any damage! Sheila B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted August 23, 2011 Author Share Posted August 23, 2011 Hi, ours is an Aspire One netbook, but it appears the same/ similar problem has occurred on others according to some of the forums I have looked at. If you go to the Acer download section and enter your computer details (type and model) it will tell you if there are any updates available. You can do this without having to change anything on your computer, only after choosing to download and run the download would any changes take place so it is quite safe. Bas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike88 Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 These Acer Aspire machines are hopeless. The wife has an Acer Aspire One notebook and I have spent hours trying to stop the damn thing from cutting off by installing different anti virus software, moving the router closer to the computer (now in the same room) and loading and reloading microsoft downloads all to no avail. My Toshiba works faultlessly from the same router but these Acer machines are renlowned for being tempremental in many respects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Basil Posted August 23, 2011 Author Share Posted August 23, 2011 Sorry that may be your opinion but it is certainly not mine. Ours has been absolutely brilliant and fautless since we bought it until this problem arose which is easily cured. The WiFi in particular is very good and sensitive, picks up and connects the best of any we have and that includes a Toshiba, Compaq and a tablet, So I have not found any problem with it whatsoever and I can to some extent see how this particular BIOS fault could have been missed during testing. All credit to Acer for making it easy to correct. Bas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
art338 Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 I have an Acer Aspire 5315, its about 3-4 years old. I've never had any problems with it. The battery has been flattened several times but there have never been any following faults. One big nuisance is that its slow, I have almost no loaded info or pictures to reduce its running. I assume all the automatic downloads just clog the works. Is there a way I can clear all the unnecesary clutter and revert to 'as bought'. I'm aware this might cause me virus problems but I've decided that I only need it for writing and no service at all. Whats the BIOS? art Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 1footinthegrave Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 All PC's be they laptops, or desktop systems will at some point suffer from slowing down for any number of reasons, but as a friend who is a Microsoft certified engineer often says it is mainly through as he puts it "user abuse". People install all manner of junk, like anti malware programs, poorly written anti-virus software, toolbar extensions, the list goes on and on, many of these programs are constantly running in the background. Art to get it back to how it was is fairly simple, use your system restore disks that would either have come with the machine, or as is often the case now, having read the instructions with your laptop you may have been prompted to create a restore disk, or disks. REMEMBER though you will lose everything on your machine, so you need to make a copy of all of your stuff, like pictures and documents on to either disks, or a usb device, like a memory card or stick BEFORE you attempt it As for the BIOS this really is something that the majority of people should leave well alone unless they are fully competent, flashing the BIOS can lead to you ending up with an expensive door stop. Most BIOS updates are best left to technical people that fully understand what they are doing. There are a number of built in tools such as system restore, disk defragmenter, chkdsk, to improve performance, also un-installing both software and windows components that you do not use, and doing a disk cleanup can all help improve performance. But there is only one certain way to get your machine back to how it was, and that is a to use your restore disks. Failing that you need to reformat and re-install Windows assuming you have the disks of course, even this can prove confusing for the average user given that you'll be confronted with options on doing a re install that may leave you scratching your head. If you manage to do all that, make the first thing you do to install anti-virus software, AVAST is free to download and use, or your bank may now be offering "free" anti-virus. Also for your online banking security Trusteer Rapport is also free. AVG is another free program, but in my experience does slow some machines down. NEVER click on any links that say stuff like "click here for a free scan" that's the fastest route to problems. As for Acer machines, both I and my Daughter have Aspire models and they have been excellent. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
art338 Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Thankyou for that, the Acer I have is a secondary machine for writing only, I do have AVG installed but little else and certainly never get involved with unrecognisable messages. I'm not sure I ever had any restoration disks. I most certainly do not understand computers but use them well for what I need. I do occasionally remove unwanted items and I will no doubt check again. Like many people I assume there are always 'new updates' being aimed at us, my opinion of them is that someone is trying to justify his employment position. I'm sure many are not needed. I do a lot of picture adjustments but keep those on a memory stick so as not overload the system. If you have read any of my posts over time you will have noticed that I'm very much an anti buying person so not a lot gets past me. I went to Ireland last year and used a dongle with the Acer which worked very well when there was even a very weak signal, so some parts obviously work well, of course I have nothing to compare it with except a new and large Sony desk machine, but I notice even that seems to be slowing. Thanks art Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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