How to dismantle Acer Aspire 4530 (And Fix The WebCam Problem)

If your WebCam sometimes works and sometimes doesn't
Chances it is due to the lose wiring of the WebCam USB Cable
When you open/close the lid the Cable loses connection

To fix it you have to dismantle the front panel (There is no tearing of warranty sticker in the process)

Edit: Now I am trying a new solution 

It is actually very simple 

Use the Bison AP Driver instead of SuYin 

It works better as shown here.

The full guide to dismantling Aspire 4530 is available here

The front panel is boxed in blue

This is how to dismantle front panel

1. Unscrew the screws circled in red
2. Gently using a flat head screw driver gently lever the clips boxed in green

Additional tips
If the rubber pads boxed in blue drops out
Do not panic and send back to the service centre
They are attached to the laptop using double sided adhesive tape
Simply clean the surface and replace the pads using new double sided adhesive tapes

• You should see a gap between the front panel and the body of the laptop

1. Using the flat head screw driver detach the front panel gently
2. You should see the front panel exposed

1. Again Gently detach the keyboard by pushing it upwards and then outwards towards you
2. Do not pull the keyboard there is a flat cable still attached to it

1. If you need to replace the keyboard this is it
2. Continuing you should see 2 wires (left and right) running from the LCD through the hinge

1. Gently pull (just a bit will do) and loosen the wires to ensure the wires are not strained at the hinge part so when you close the lid the wires will not be strained
2. Remember to tighten the connectors while you are at it
   
3. Replace everything and reboot

The Picture below therefore should be the antenna of the Atheros Wireless Card

___________________________________________________________________

Additional Pictures of Internal Ports

Read More

Nvidia PowerMizer

PLEASE NOTE:
Since Nvidia driver Geforce version 185.XX, perflevelsrc is no longer used for controlling GPU throttling.
In Driver Version 19X.XX the GPU performance control is in the control panel.

If your graphics card is running overheating frequently when monitored using HWMonitor and you happen to be using Nvidia Graphics this post is for you

Note:
PowerMizer is a feature created by Nvidia to save power and reduce heat on Graphics Card
PowerMizer is built into all the graphics card
It is optional for Desktops because Desktops have infinite power from Wall Sockets and manage heat well
However it is very essential for Notebooks as they have to conserve power and produce less heat when no intense graphical application is running

Run “Regedit”

Go HKEY_Local_Machine\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Video\{ Your graphics adapter}000 and 0001

To locate the registry entry expand all the entries until you see one with lots of registry setting That will be the the registry containing your Graphics Options

Right click on the right Window to create a new DWORD 32bit value
The value name change to “PowerMizerEnable” value select “1″ in hexidecimal
Repeat
The value name change to “PerfLevelSrc” value data “3333″ in hexidecimal

Reboot
Verified using GPUZ and HWMonitor

The Result

After PowerMizer is activated successfully you should see the GPU Clock drop below default clock at idle

Optional:

If you want finer control over PowerMizer change “PerfLevelSrc” values to achieve desired effect

• PerfLevelSrc=0×2222 - fixed PowerMizer mode (and appropriate fixed frequency) is used for battery power source and fixed PowerMizer mode is used for AC power source, these PowerMizer modes may be the same or different

• PerfLevelSrc=0×2233 - fixed PowerMizer mode is used for battery power source and adaptive clock frequency strategy is used for AC power source

• PerfLevelSrc=0×3322 - fixed adaptive clock frequency strategy is used for battery power source and PowerMizer mode is used for AC power source

• PerfLevelSrc=0×3333 - adaptive clock frequency strategy is used for battery and AC power sources

Read More

Tweak Vista with Ultimate Windows Tweaker

You may want to customise your system information screen with your own photo?

Optimize your network by removing QOS share you don't use it normally anyway
Media sharing is a new function which no one uses in Vista

You might want to disable the irritating Windows Error Reporting
You can also disable Windows Media Centre (it is not Windows Media Player)
Disable autoplay will help prevent virus infected thumbdrives from invading your PC

Time to shutdown is displayer in seconds each interval represent 1 second
Turn off ready boost if you do not have a ready boost flashdrive or if you are not using it at all
You might want to leave force unload DLL on as application may share DLL
Disable Tablet PC input if you are using a Laptop or PC
Disable the Windows ZIP function if you are using Winzip etc
If you keep your files tidy and seldom search for them disable it
Enable PAE
Again you might want to disable the irritating error reporter

Speed up the menu display speed

WinVistaClub has a excellent freeware tool for downloads here
Tweaks that are worth considering are boxed in red and black

Read More

How to optimize Vista Boot

Using Windows Vista Disk Defragmenter
Starting with Windows XP and continuing in Windows Vista, the Prefetcher service will automatically optimize the location of the boot files in your hard drive using Windows Disk Defragmenter. However, this occurs only after a certain number of boots and when it gets around to it (because it runs only when your computer is idle).
Microsoft has a talented team working on the Prefetcher service that even took into consideration your system boot changes. For example, you might install an updated device driver or add new hardware. To solve this problem, the systems will re-defragment the boot files every three days.
Tip: Windows keeps track of the last time that it has optimized the boot file so that it can calculate how often it should run the boot defrag. If you are interesting in finding when the last time was that the boot defrag was run, open regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Prefetcher, and then look for the key named LastDiskLayoutTimeString.
An operating system that takes care of itself? Yes, Windows is getting smarter and smarter. However, there is still one problem: There is no possible way to directly initiate a boot defrag. The only way is to leave your computer on for a little while without using it at all. If you are impatient and do not want to wait, I have a solution for you.
As I mentioned earlier, the system will initiate the boot defrag only when the system is idle. Typing in a command that will start the boot is not possible. However, you can tell your computer, even when it is not idle, to process the idle tasks. This will indirectly start the boot defrag. Because the boot defrag is most likely not the only idle task waiting to be run, other processes will be run, too, which can cause your computer to appear to be doing a lot of hard work—from a few minutes up to half an hour—as it completes all tasks. During this time, your computer should not be used for any intensive activities such as playing games. If you try to use your computer while the idle tasks are being processed, you will notice slow performance until the tasks are completed.
Perform the following steps to process all idle tasks:

1. Click the Start button, type cmd in the Search box, and press Enter.
2. When the command prompt opens, type
3. Rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks and press Enter.
   
4. Your computer will now work on the tasks.

Performing these steps will allow your system to defrag the boot files; however, the boot defrag is done every three days. Processing the idle tasks more frequently will do nothing to help you boot because the boot defrag will not be on your idle tasks lists all the time.

Read More

Does AMD Optimizer Actually Speed up the CPU?

Ok here is what AMD Claims that their Optimizer do:

AMD Dual-Core Optimizer Version 1.1.4 - The AMD Dual-Core Optimizer can help improve some PC gaming video performance by compensating for those applications that bypass the Windows API for timing by directly using the RDTSC (Read Time Stamp Counter) instruction. Applications that rely on RDTSC do not benefit from the logic in the operating system to properly account for the affect of power management mechanisms on the rate at which a processor core's Time Stamp Counter (TSC) is incremented. The AMD Dual-Core Optimizer helps to correct the resulting video performance effects or other incorrect timing effects that these applications may experience on dual-core processor systems, by periodically adjusting the core time-stamp-counters, so that they are synchronized.

AMD Optimizer in Windows Runs as a Service amd_dc_opt.exe

I tested the difference by disabling the service to simulate without Optimization & reenable the service to simulate with Optimization
The results are as shown below using PC Wizard 2008 as a benchmark available here


Benchmark Result With AMD Optimzer using CPU Calculations


Benchmark Result with AMD Optimizer Overall Performance


Benchmark Result without AMD Optimzer using CPU Calculations


Benchmark Result without AMD Optimizer Overall Performance

From the result it can be seen that there is no real optimzation for CPU Calculation and Overall Performance
For Overall Performance the performance change is a 1.5% drop
For CPU Calculations the performance change is a 7.3% drop
It seems that by disabling this feature processing power would be ramped up

However do note that from the Overall Performance Chart
The video performance went up to 2.4% when optimization is enabled
And note the description from AMD Site:
(The AMD Dual-Core Optimizer helps to correct the resulting video performance effects or other incorrect timing effects that these applications may experience on dual-core processor systems, by periodically adjusting the core time-stamp-counters, so that they are synchronized.)

So it seems that the Optimizer did really perform as expected however CPU scores are affected as a result and many complains was the increase in heat generated from the system when optimzer is enabled.
My opinion is that a small increase in performance is not a great exchange for the heat generated that can potentially damage the system and cripple the CPU
Moreover I personally do not play games frequently I will probably keep out this software for a while.

Read More

Need Good Info Regarding Laptops ?

Many people buy at the spur of a moment without really known what they bought this is very true especially computers

They simply equate

• Higher GHZ CPU more powerful
• More RAM more powerful
• More Harddisk more powerful
• Graphics bigger number more powerful???

Sometimes they overbuy what is actually sufficient for needs
You don't want to spend your money on a powerful computer you don't really need
because computer devaluates faster than currency
You bought Intel Graphics because that sales person told you it is good then went home to realise you can't play games with it
You have the common misconception Integrated Graphics can't play game for now it is still generally true but changing soon with the new powerful Nvidia Integrated Graphics that rival even discrete graphics

So I know one website that is really good at giving performance figures and facts because they best represent how good the Laptop is unlike some review which gives stars anyhow irregardless of performance (You want to spend your money on getting most performance)

Graphics Comparison
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Graphic-Cards.130.0.html
CPU Comparison
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Notebook-Processors.129.0.html

Benchmarks
Benchmarks are numbers obtain from using different hardware to run a program to test hardware performance

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Processors-Benchmarklist.2436.0.html

Any queries regarding terminology leave a message i will try to simplify the terms =)

Read More

New Laptop Acer Aspire 4530

1. As a result of bad experience with Acer Tech Support Centre and numerous complains about their Quality of Service

They agreed to replace my old laptop Acer Aspire 4520G with Acer Aspire 4530
It has:

1. AMD TurionX2 Processor 2.1GHZ RM-72 1MB L2 Cache (Codename: LION)
2. 3GB RAM DDR2 5300 667MHZ (Samsung chips)
3. NVIDIA GeForce 9100M G Integrated Graphics (CUDA & NVIDIA PhysX-ready)
4. 320GB WESTERN DIGITAL Scorpio 3200 BEVT 320GB(5400rpm/8MB/SATA) 2.5" HDD
5. Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)(BroadCom)
6. Wireless Adapter Atheros AR5B91 with Draft-N
   
7. Nvidia MCP 77 NFORCE CHIPSET
8. REALTEK HIGH DEFINITION AUDIO
9. LG DVD-RAM DUAL LAYER
10. BROADCOM NETXTREME ETHERNET

It is superior over my previous laptop in everyway HAPPY and it is a cool black in colour

I upgrade the RAM to 4GB and here is the Windows Experience Index results



Processor:4.8
RAM:5.8
Graphics:4.0
Gaming Graphics:4.5
Primary Harddisk:5.3

This is a great performance for a sub 1K laptop =)

Read More