orionbg Posted January 2, 2011 Report Share Posted January 2, 2011 Hello All First topic here and hope that I have not mistaken the section for it! I have a brand new Acer Aspire 5742G laptop with Core i5 460M CPU and Geforce GT420M GPU. I've been reading that the GT420M is Optimus compatible and it is up to the manufacturer to wire the Intel HD Graphics from the CPU. I see that there are 128MB of RAM that are used for something (8GB Installed (7.78GB Usable according to Win7 64bit). The GT420M have its own 1GB of RAM so I presume the missing RAM is for the Intel HD Gfx. I can't see it in Device manager nor will the Intel HD Graphic driver install! On the other side there are BIOS Updates on Acer's Support site that have fixes related to Optimus! I've downloaded the newest BIOS but still no change! Ideas anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP13 Posted January 2, 2011 Report Share Posted January 2, 2011 Is there a video ram option in the BIOS? I have one called NVIDIA Frame Buffer Size which determines how much system ram is used for the GPU. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orionbg Posted January 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2011 Is there a video ram option in the BIOS? I have one called NVIDIA Frame Buffer Size which determines how much system ram is used for the GPU. No there isn't! The GT420 Doesn't use system memory. It have 1GB DDR3 Dedicated to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP13 Posted January 3, 2011 Report Share Posted January 3, 2011 No there isn't! The GT420 Doesn't use system memory. It have 1GB DDR3 Dedicated to it. Well usually the BIOS has memory options relating to the integrated card. If there is a memory size option in this BIOS try putting it to the lowest setting or off if you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orionbg Posted January 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2011 No there isn't! The GT420 Doesn't use system memory. It have 1GB DDR3 Dedicated to it. I've never seen a Laptop with such an option! This one have ext VGA card. It is not in the chipset so the system BIOS have nothing to do with it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BP13 Posted January 3, 2011 Report Share Posted January 3, 2011 The Intel HD is integrated is it not? And maybe the option looks something like mine: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orionbg Posted January 4, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2011 I've never seen a Laptop with such an option! This one have ext VGA card. It is not in the chipset so the system BIOS have nothing to do with it! Yes, it is integrated in the CPU. But according to the OS there is no Intel HD Graphics adapter! On the other side I have 128MB or RAM Missing and I'm positively sure that Acer are using the same MB for the whole Aspire 5742 series! There are no options in the BIOS about VRAM and I think that they just didn't enable the optimus technology in it! The Intel HD is consuming RAM but it is not there (at least according to the OS)! I'm trying to understand what did Acer do wrong (maybe on purpose)... After all the model is not advertised of having optimus on some sites and as having it on others! All the BIOS Updates on Acer's support site have something to do with optimus! It is a big mess! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest fiveaces Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 I have one of these also and can't get optimus to work either. However I can get the OS to recognize the Intel HD - use device manager to uninstall the Nvidia card and on the restart the integrated graphics will be live and kicking. Until you reinstall the discrete adaptor, then it disappears again. Now can anybody use this knowledge to figure out how to get optimus to work? It's beyond my capabilities. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest x-online Posted January 7, 2011 Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 Hi guys, I have the same model and the same problem above and i STUPID upgraded the BIOS 1.07 to 1.11 which somehoe DISABLED the NVIDIA 420M... great... I rang acer to find out how to rollback the bios and NO you can't.. has to send it back and apparently if you do upgrade your bios without their permission over the phone, you just void the warranty!! Yes mine rolled back to INTEL HD graphic driver as well: - tried uninstall > restart > system restore/reinstalled it back in.... - Tried disabled > restart > missing driver, 800 x 600 resolution... - reinstall the driver from the CD > doesn't work - download the driver from the nvidia.com > doesn't work - Reformat with the default e-recovery > nvidia card doesn't recognise now only thing i can think of why NVIDIA doesn't work is coz i upgraded the bloody BIOS ... FYI i'm tipsy while writing this true story after spent hours n hours to get it fix lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orionbg Posted January 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 The problem with mine is that the OS only see the nvidia GT420M video adapter and not the Intel one! Mine was originally with 1.05 BIOS and then I upgraded to the last one 1.11 but I still only see the nvidia one! And 128MB are still missing (used by the missing Intel HD Adapter) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 This problem is the same for me... one major gotcha: newegg was advertising optimus with this laptop when I bought it off their site. I'm very frustrated about this-anyone got any input in regards to this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tuxguest Posted January 8, 2011 Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 Hello, I have the same laptop. I use version 1.09 and the NVIDIA graphic card works as well as the one from Intel. And it automatically chooses the NVIDIA card, if needed. The missing RAM is used for the Intel graphics. I made a screenshot. But it´s the german version of Windows, so I don´t know the names of the english system. Sorry. It can be seen at the taskmanager. There choose the 4th tab from left at the top and open the "Ressourcemonitor". There choose the tab for the RAM. Screenshot at http://www6.pic-upload.de/09.01.11/a3px8gunt6ol.jpg I hope I could help a bit. The problem with the BIOS update is, why I don´t install them, even if they fix a big problem. Lost an tower pc with doing an update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Hey guys, I FOUND A SOLUTION! after several hours spent on the phone with Acer support (only about 20 minutes of which were actually spent with people who knew what they were talking about); it was decided that you HAVE to send the laptop back. Things that don't work: Bios updates/any kind of messing with bios (including updates for vga bios) recovery to factory settings (before AND after bios updates) reinstallation of latest nvidia and intel drivers So in short: you have to send the laptop back. If you bought it within the last month, you won't have to pay shipping at all, otherwise you have to pay for the trip to acer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 Hey guys, I FOUND A SOLUTION! after several hours spent on the phone with Acer support (only about 20 minutes of which were actually spent with people who knew what they were talking about); it was decided that you HAVE to send the laptop back. Things that don't work: Bios updates/any kind of messing with bios (including updates for vga bios) recovery to factory settings (before AND after bios updates) reinstallation of latest nvidia and intel drivers So in short: you have to send the laptop back. If you bought it within the last month, you won't have to pay shipping at all, otherwise you have to pay for the trip to acer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted January 20, 2011 Report Share Posted January 20, 2011 update: got the laptop back-issue not resolved. called acer back, spent about 2 hours trying to reach 'level 2' to find out just exactly why they thought nothing was wrong with the model. Their technicians read the notes, said 'all system tests passed' and said, "we've successfully tested this switching that you're talking about on ATI graphic cards, are you sure the model that you have comes with this ability?" After spending another 15 minutes teaching them about Optimus, they said I have to send it back, and that this time level 2 won't be handling the fix, but 'CSL' (level 3?) will to determine the issue. I can't ship the laptop back now, as school has started. That being said, I worked out a deal with them so that I can send it back over spring break. Knowledge gained: Acer's level 1 are just a bunch of foreign guys who know nothing but to ask for personal information. Level 2 are a bunch of domestic technicians if you're lucky, you might deal with someone who knows something about computers, otherwise, you'll get some schtick who runs some standard tests on your machine and sends it back. I have yet to see what CSL is like. Moral of the story: NEVER BUY ACER AGAIN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest szazoo Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 update: got the laptop back-issue not resolved. called acer back, spent about 2 hours trying to reach 'level 2' to find out just exactly why they thought nothing was wrong with the model. Their technicians read the notes, said 'all system tests passed' and said, "we've successfully tested this switching that you're talking about on ATI graphic cards, are you sure the model that you have comes with this ability?" After spending another 15 minutes teaching them about Optimus, they said I have to send it back, and that this time level 2 won't be handling the fix, but 'CSL' (level 3?) will to determine the issue. I can't ship the laptop back now, as school has started. That being said, I worked out a deal with them so that I can send it back over spring break. Knowledge gained: Acer's level 1 are just a bunch of foreign guys who know nothing but to ask for personal information. Level 2 are a bunch of domestic technicians if you're lucky, you might deal with someone who knows something about computers, otherwise, you'll get some schtick who runs some standard tests on your machine and sends it back. I have yet to see what CSL is like. Moral of the story: NEVER BUY ACER AGAIN Hi, I sadly read this Optimus issue with Acer Aspire 5742G laptop because I'm also about to purchase one for me. Basically it has good parameters and I've not found another laptop with this good performace-price condition. Do you have more info which series of 5742G laptop affected with this issue? Is this country/region or global specific? Is this your model? 5742G-5463G32MN What is your S/N? BTW: How are you satisfied with the performace of gt 420m? Have you tried to OC it? Thanks for you reply and help. szazoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted February 2, 2011 Report Share Posted February 2, 2011 Hi, I sadly read this Optimus issue with Acer Aspire 5742G laptop because I'm also about to purchase one for me. Basically it has good parameters and I've not found another laptop with this good performace-price condition. Do you have more info which series of 5742G laptop affected with this issue? Is this country/region or global specific? Is this your model? 5742G-5463G32MN What is your S/N? BTW: How are you satisfied with the performace of gt 420m? Have you tried to OC it? Thanks for you reply and help. szazoo Hi szazoo, actually the model that I got is the 7200. In regards to OCing it, I don't want to unknowingly break any warranty rules before Acer fixed this Optimus issue, so I haven't tried to OC it yet. That being said, it performs beautifully on heavy games without the need to be OC'ed. I've tried several fps games on it (Crisis, MW2, MoH T1, etc) and all run great on highest settings with small lags in some scenes (like some MoH T1 explosions), so I usually run it on medium to medium-high settings. It does get a little uncomfortably hot when gaming, (even with an aluminum 4-fan base Core Temp reports temps reaching 78 degrees with avg of 74 when playing for about an hour); but as long as the processor isn't being turbo-boosted above 2.5(not playing games or running too many processor-intensive tasks), it doesn't get too hot. The battery life is acceptable, but I'd imagine it would last much longer had Optimus been functioning. I don't think this is a regional problem, but a manufacturing mistake. I wouldn't worry about heating too much for your model though. I was just looking at pictures of it, and it looks like it has the same case as the 5745G, which is aluminum and deals with heating much more efficiently than the plastic case used for the 5742g-7200. The only other factor in regards to performance that differs between the model you are looking at and the one in question in this forum is the RAM: the 5742G-7200 comes with 4Gigs, while the 5742G-5463G32MN is advertised with 3Gigs. Sorry for the late reply, and good luck with your purchase! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest Posted February 6, 2011 Report Share Posted February 6, 2011 When I contacted Acer service in Germany, the people who answered weren´t able to speak German properly. I have the version 5742G-5464G50MNkk. On this model optimus works fine with BIOS Version 1.09 under Windows, but with Linux there´s no way. By installing the drivers from Nvidia the GUI crashes. :) I just can agree to never buy Acer again. If there is no real Linux support and the supporters can´t even speak the language of the country they work for it´s not acceptable. And Acer minimizes the BIOS software too much so that the user can´t choose e.g. if Turbo Boost is activated or not. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunoff Posted June 30, 2012 Report Share Posted June 30, 2012 Hello guys, i have the same problem and i understand that GT 420M does not support The Optimus technology, but GT 540M is. Sorry, but this is sadly true ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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