Acer Gemstone Blue 6920G Freezing?

A

azwebs

New Member
I recently got a new Gemstone Blue series 6920G with the following specifications:

  • Core 2 Duo T5750 2.0Ghz
  • 3GB DDR2 RAM
  • 250GB 5400RPM HDD
  • 16" 16:9 HD TrueLife CineCrystal Display
  • Blu-Ray Reader/Writer
  • ATI Radeon HD3650 512MB
  • Windows Vista Home Premium
  • New CineDash Media Console (media controlling touch panel)

Those are the main specs. The only other thing that it came with is all that shitty Acer stuff that's preinstalled.

The first laptop I had got taken back to the shop, because the CineDash console and networking (wireless and wired) were not working. I got a replacement machine, and all seemed to be working fine, although there were sometimes short, random freezes. Over time, these gradually increased. I then installed Ulead VideoStudio 11 Plus, intending to finish a project I had been working on, and the computer froze completely, when importing a 2.19mb xVID video file into a new project. The program now returns an error every time I start it. For a quick combination of the video and an audio track, I tried to use Windows Movie Maker, which also gave me the same problem (crashing, and then prevented from being executed. Prevented by Windows. I was using it for about a day, before I saw the greater problems. As a matter of note, it took me nearly SEVEN HOURS to install Crysis.

I have since restored the operating system and all files and begun reinstalling my programs. This takes several hours. When I was finished, I rebooted for AVG, a couple of games and Windows Update. When the machine came back to life (or not as it were), the computer was extremely slow, taking nearly 10 minutes (rather than the usual 30 seconds) to load Windows. I thought it was due to updates, but when I finally got logged on, only a few of the programs I installed would execute. Crysis, Call of Duty 4, Unreal Tournament 3, FEAR, Ulead VideoStudio 11 Plus, @Promt translator, Windows Movie Maker, Windows Media Player, Mozilla Firefox (but not IE, that didn't start at all). There was also some other stuff, but I don't have the time or patience to list them all, and the forum probably doesn't allow posts with lists nearly a twenty foot long.

Does anyone have any ideas that I might be able to try, because its a good laptop for only £700, and I wanted to keep it. However, if I'm gonna have problems, its gonna go back and I'll have the money back for something else. Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:
concorde

concorde

New Member
The unfortunate thing is that if you send in a laptop back to the manufacturer and for some reason it can't be fixed, they'll pull off a "reconditioned" one off the shelf and send it to you. I don't know what CineDash is, but if the wi-fi wasn't working (esp. if it was integrated) they will just give you a refurb and keep yours to work on and either give away as a replacement or sell out of their outlet division (Dell Outlet, for example, sells reconditioned machines)

Do you have an antivirus? Also, previously I didn't know what Crysys was but I guess it's a game - a really resource-intensive game. I guess games in general are resource intensive, so is the laptop able to run these games? And you mentioned that it took seven hours to install the game- was it off the disc or was it via online?

About the freezing up - you are either running too much processes and programs, you have a virus, or there is a serious hardware problem. Also remember that laptops are not as speedy as their desktop counterparts - for example, the hard drive is 5400 RPM generally vs. the 7200 in desktops, so it takes a bit longer to install, save and find files. The processor is going to be slower than one in a desktop, and you won't have the latest and greatest video cards no matter how much you spend.

You mentioned that you have a very long process list. That might be the problem in itself.
 
A

azwebs

New Member
I haven't sent it back to the manufacturer - its been back to the retail outlet at PC World. CineDash is a touch enabled panel offering media controls. Here's a picture.

4d2fba41d0.jpg


I do have antivirus. I have AVG 8.0.156 Internet Security Suite Pro (firewall, antivirus, antispam, antimalware etc). Windows Defender and Windows Firewall are also active

Crysis is a game from EA. Requirements are as follows.

crysisxa3.png


Once installed, the game played fine at native resolution on medium settings (1366 x 768 native). Average fps was 23-35fps. The installation was made via the disk drive, a Mashita blu-ray drive (working fine because I used it to burn the backup DVD's).

Freezing up. I could be running too many programs or processes. On startup, the Acer software itself comes to about 100 processes including Windows. This is utilizing practically no processing power, but about 48% (roughly 1.5GB RAM).

I don't see how I can have a virus. I did not connect to the internet until I had uninstalled the McAfee Internet Security Trial (60 days), and installed AVG 8.0.156 Internet Security Suite Pro. Unless the laptop shipped with a virus, I don't think I can have got one from anywhere else.

I know desktops are faster than laptops. It took me 15 minutes to install Crysis on a machine with the following specifications.

  • Core 2 Duo T7250 2.0GHz
  • 2GB RAM
  • 200GB 7200RPM
  • 15.4" HD
  • ATI Radeon X1700 512MB (about half as powerful in benchmarks than the HD3650)

I know it would have been faster on that machine due to the hard drive RPM, but otherwise all else is the same. The machine above is an Asus V1JP-AK028E. It comes with none of that preinstalled manufacturer crap.

I know the video card is not the latest and greatest. but its playing CoD4 and Crysis at medium on native resolution (1366 x 768) with good, playable fps.

I can't shorten the process list - it's full of Acer's shit they put on.

  • ePower
  • eRecovery
  • eBackup
  • eDataSecurity
  • eDataLock
  • eEntertainment
  • eGames
  • eBioProtection
  • Acer Arcade Deluxe
  • Acer Game Centre

That obviously creates a few processes. I have uninstalled some of the programs (eGames, eEntertainment, eDataSecurity, eDataLock), and it causes the machine to crash and corrupt Windows.

Please someone, any more ideas on how I could solve the problem.

Thanks concorde.
 
concorde

concorde

New Member
You'd be surprised how quickly a Windows system can get a virus - it's just plain awful. You're taking a risk by installing the antivirus while there is no active one in place until then. The CineDash, from it's appearance, looks like a remote control for 2050 - you might not have a correct driver for it as it is a specialized piece of hardware.

You might want to check on the Acer website to see if those processes are necessary (they might be special drivers, for example) - if you don't need them, by all means remove them. However, you said it crashed and corrupted Windows.
<? Would you be willing just to give up on the preinstalled software and OS and start from scratch (buy a clean, plain vanilla, no-frills, manufacturer [Microsoft] direct copy of XP or Vista ?> because no matter how hard you try, you'll never get that OS configured and working as if it was just a plain, fresh, unbloated copy of Windows.

I have heard that Crysis (the game) needs expensive hardware (quad-core grade) with no less than 3 GB of RAM and at least a 512MB video card - that's what I've heard. I don't play games and I previously didn't know what Crysis was, but when I asked, people said that most of the computers selling today (the average now is a dual core CPU with 2 GB RAM) won't run it at all (or will run it but very slowly)....I guess that's the company's way of trying to get their video game off the shelves quicker because if they tell the truth and say, OK, you need such-and-such amount of RAM and blah blah...people will say, shucks, I have to spend an extra $500-1000 in hardware to play the game...and just will find another game to buy. What they have said there is probably the truth to some extent - but those specs are probably as low as you can go (meaning the lowest you can go before the game can't load on the computer)...it's a marketing scheme...:)

As far as laptops, I guess according to those specs the laptop meets the requirements, but just remember, don't expect the poor little thing to perform like the IBM mainframes with about a hundred Opteron processors sitting in some lab in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico - or even the XPS desktop line from Dell - laptops are meant for temporary, sporadic uses, not continuous and heavy use - however, everybody's throwing out their desktops and replacing them with laptops...
 
B

BlueHornet

New Member
What's up- my first post

What's up, is there anybody else here?
If there are any real people here looking to network, leave me a post.
Oh, and yes I'm a real person LOL.

See ya,
 
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