PC Troubleshooting Advice

Post Your Computer Related Problems here

Although sometimes I might not be able to solve your issue I can probably point you in the right direction.

FAQ:

My laptop is hot even when not doing anything:

First Download and Run HWMonitor to check if it is really hot internally.
Also a hot laptop can result in sluggish gaming performance as the computer detect high internal temperature and attempts to reduce performance to reduce the temperature increase.

Hot CPU/GPU Possible Solutions:

• Check you have AMD Processor Driver Installed IF YOU ARE USING WINDOWS XP.

• Download Acer Fan Control and decrease the temperature for the Fan to Activate so the fan will spin more often to bring down the temperatures.

• For advance users

1. If you have sent it for repairs open it up and replace the thermal paste using a better brand like Arctic MX2 the technician probably didn't replace the thermal paste when they dissembled it.
2. Replace the default thermal pads and thermal paste to a high quality type such as Arctic Cooling MX-2 or Arctic Silver 5 after dissembling the laptop.
3. Run Acer Fan Control Utility while gaming.
4. Tear away the air filter at the bottom of the laptop to allow better air flow (I did this)
5. UnderVolt your Processor

Hot GPU only Possible Solution:

• Check if PowerMizer is enabled
• Replace the default thermal pads and thermal paste to a high quality type such as Arctic Cooling MX-2 or Arctic Silver 5 after dissembling the laptop.
  
• Run Acer Fan Control Utility while gaming.
  
• Tear away the air filter at the bottom of the laptop to allow better air flow (I did this)
  

Acer Aspire 4530WebCam shows nothing:

WebCam solution

• Use the Bison AP Driver the SuYin one is really problematic and the Bison Driver Work on the WebCams

Driver Error Messages:

Possible Solutions:

• Update Microsoft DirectX

• Search and Update Display Drivers (Check What Graphics Card you possess)

1. For Nvidia GFX card use Nvidia Driver or use this Universal Recent Nvidia Driver don't worry about stability as Nvidia Drivers are always very stable even the Beta Ones
   

Enhance Your Laptop Experience:

• Update your Device Drivers (Check all the links for the device driver for your particular laptop model)
• Drivers to Update:
• Chipset, Audio Driver, Display Driver, Touchpad Driver, Wireless Adapter Driver
• Optimize Synaptic TouchPad
• Use Windows Vista Tweaker to disable extra programs you don't need
• Uninstall Trialware from Acer (If you have trialware preloaded from the disk image)
  
• Run Disk Clean Up and Sdelete to Zero unused harddisk space(Write Zeros to unused Space)
• Tweak Firefox and Internet Explorer
  
• Edit the Acer Aspire Shortcut Buttons to point to the programs you want to launch
  
• Remember to burn the recovery partition to DVD if your laptop comes with Vista Preloaded
• Make Windows Start Faster
  

Encounter Weird Laptop Behaviour:

Hardware Reset:

• Remove all power sources including Battery and AC Adapter.
  
• Press and Hold Power Button for 60 Seconds.
  
• Turn on Computer.
  

Possible Solutions:

PLEASE FLASH YOUR BIOS ONLY WHEN YOU NEED THE FIX, DO NOT HAPPILY FLASH WHEN YOU LIKE IT ACCIDENTS CAN OCCUR.

• Update BIOS Acer Aspire 4530 BIOS 1.3334 here (1.3335 has a weird bug)

Need to Recover Preloaded Acer Disk Image:

• Try to recover it first by holding Down Alt-F12 on Boot (With D2D Recovery Enabled in BIOS (F2)) if it doesn't work follow this

I installed Vista myself but get a Blue Screen of Death if I selected AHCI Mode in BIOS

• Solution

I want to install Windows Xp in AHCI mode but Windows Xp cannot detect Disk Driver when BIOS is in AHCI mode

• Solution
  

Solution

If you encounter Blue Screen Of Death, note the error messages + Check the Event Viewer logs and post the offending files below.If the BSOD occurs randomly it can be due to damaged RAM.

Run memtest86 to test for faulty RAM.(Press F8 in Vista to select Memtest86 test)

Wireless Not Detected Properly.

• Make sure you install the launch manager with the wireless driver.
• The launch manager switch is tied to the wireless card operation.