Aspire iDea 500

Okay, I've attached another file to this post that will blind flash your VG.8PG06.001 / 8600M GT to BIOS version 60.84.62.00.29 and then reboot the system once flashing is complete (hopefully with some display output). Same procedure as the backup only this time it will flash, it should not require any manual input.

If after 10 minutes there is no sign of auto reboot or display output press "Y" once, wait a minute then press "Y" again and wait for 10 minutes then power down and restart.

If you still get no display we will need to verify that the flash took place by doing another backup, if we verify the flash took place and we still have no output then I would have to say the card is dead. In this case I'll send a 3rd file to restore the card to its delivered state and you can try to RMA with the seller.

This is done entirely at your own risk, I cannot offer any guarantee.
Thanks again, John.

I followed the instructions, but no display during or after the procedure.

I attach the backup.rom retrieved after the flash, but it looks as if the card is dead or otherwise incompatible. It seems that RMA is the route forward, but would like to reflash the original, if you can help as offered.


Thanks for all this help for what looks like tilting at windmills. Where to next?
 

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  • BACKUP.TXT
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Well your backup confirms that the BIOS did actually flash, assuming they sent you a genuine VG.8PG06.001 if its still not working then I would have to say the card is DOA.

I've attached a file that will restore your card to the BIOS you received it with before you RMA, if you do a backup again post flash i'll be happy to verify it flashed again.

It might be worth trying another card from the seller if they offer an exchange option but if it was me i'd be looking for another supplier.
 

Attachments

  • nvflash02.zip
    1.6 MB · Views: 104
Well your backup confirms that the BIOS did actually flash, assuming they sent you a genuine VG.8PG06.001 if its still not working then I would have to say the card is DOA.

I've attached a file that will restore your card to the BIOS you received it with before you RMA, if you do a backup again post flash i'll be happy to verify it flashed again.

It might be worth trying another card from the seller if they offer an exchange option but if it was me i'd be looking for another supplier.
I have opened a dispute with the current supplier but am not hopeful based on your previous experience.

I have ordered another card from a German supplier on eBay.

More fingers crossed.

Once again John, thank you for all your help.
 
So how easy is it to upgrade the motherboard ?


I have an iDea 500 + T7200,2gbram, 1tb WD green and a new psu which has been going strong for a few years. It's starting to feel slow but that's probably win 8.1's fault.

I've been thinking about buying and installing a mobo from the 520 + 8600M + an extra GB of ram + maybe an ssd or hybrid drive. Install W10 while i'm at it.
This would be the final upgrade

But looking at it i'm wondering how easy it is to remove the mobo and especially connectors/backplate.

Does anyone have experience with this ?
 
There is a full disassembly procedure in the service guide, Acer iDea 510 (PDF). Be very careful removing the motherboard, it would be easy to damage a couple of surface mount components on the bottom of the board. Don't forget if you change the motherboard to an MXM capable one, you will also need the MXM heatsink and fan assembly - part number HI.S500C.002.

The upgraded specification on my main Acer iDea is as follows:
  • Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 2.33GHz Socket M - SL9SD
  • ATI Mobility Radeon HD2600 512MB - 55.SAG01.001
  • Samsung 3GB DDR2 800Mhz SODIMM (1 * 1GB & 1 * 2GB)
  • Panasonic BD-RE Slim IDE Slot Loading Blu-ray Drive - UJ-225S
  • Broadcom Mini PCI 802.11n Wi-Fi Card - BCM43222 + Additional antenna
  • G.Skill Falcon 64GB SATA-II 64MB Cache SDD - FM-25S2S-64GBF1
  • Windows 10 Professional
With this configuration the system performs perfectly for Blu-ray, general media playback etc. and seems fine for light day to day tasks. I've done these upgrades over the years, they are not cost effective but I've always liked the look of the system :)

Check out my Acer iDea 500/510/511/520BD Upgrade Summary.
 
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Hi John, if you're using Windows 10 what are you using as the media centre replacement? Just curious, I quite like Media Centre but not sure what to do if I ever upgrade from Windows 7.

Cheers,

Paul
 
I read somewhere that people have managed to extract media centre and imported it to windows 10 without any hiccup. Google around.
Otherwise your next option is KODI. I'm using it for about a year now and not looking back :)
 
Hi John, if you're using Windows 10 what are you using as the media centre replacement? Just curious, I quite like Media Centre but not sure what to do if I ever upgrade from Windows 7.

Cheers,

Paul

I'm using MediaPortal at the moment, I've been meaning to try Kodi at some point though.

I read somewhere that people have managed to extract media centre and imported it to windows 10 without any hiccup. Google around.
Otherwise your next option is KODI. I'm using it for about a year now and not looking back :)

I did a brief test using this patch on another HTPC, it seemed to work but I was a very brief test. There is a thread on this here over at MDL.
 
Hello John,
I'm using google translator to speed up my writing and also because my English is not very exciting ...
I have a question related to acer idea 510. In one of the last post you describe your configuration and I noticed that you have installed an ATI video card, namely the Radeon HD2600. I purchased an equal board to replace the original one (in my case Nvidia was hurt) but unfortunately I can not operate the PC if off the ati drivers and boot the machine with the standard windows drivers (Win 10). Otherwise the system is unstable and crashes after a few minutes. I have the latest BIOS available and I did more research to find working drivers but to no avail.
Given the experience that it is clear from your posts, you have any suggestions for me?
Thanks in advance.
Maurizio (Italy).
 
I can confirm I am using Windows 10 drivers provided directly from Windows Update, they have been perfect for me even for some very light gaming applications. I have found the ones from the AMD website to be a little troublesome, they only worked well for me under Windows 7.

Can you confirm the part number of the HD2600 you purchased or link me to the site you purchased it from? I use part number 55.SAG01.001, this card is for the Acer iDea 520BD which has the same motherboard as the 510. This specific card has been running well for roughly a year for me under Windows 7 and 10.

The crashing could indicate the card is overheating, it might be worth checking and reapplying the thermal compound. Can you provide the MXM temperate that is reported in the BIOS?
 
Gonna go for the CPU upgrade, SL9SD T7600's are now only £16.68 on ebay so it's a no-brainer!
 
Gonna go for the CPU upgrade, SL9SD T7600's are now only £16.68 on ebay so it's a no-brainer!

Yea, The T7600 gives the system the kick to keep it useful. In combination with the right graphics card and Windows 10 they still do the job. I've recently added a USB DVB-S2 tuner for Freesat HD, works very well for the rare occasion I want to watch broadcast TV. That said, my main 510 I've had from new is coming up on being 10 years old (manufacturing date of December 2006) so it will have to be replaced at some point as 4k content support is out of the question.

I'm keeping an eye on eBay for a 500/510 in reasonable condition to set aside for a future Mini ITX mod project, not too worried about the paint work on metal part of the case because I can fix that but the plastics need to be in very nice condition.
 
Does anybody have the BIOS r02-c2 bin file, Acer have removed all traces of the Aspire Idea from their site, including drivers and BIOS files!

I think it's just the support pages that got changed, the FTP itself is still up for the moment and the BIOS is located at ftp://ftp.acer.co.uk/Archiv/desktop/aspire_idea510/bios/idea510-R02-C2.rar

Full Download Directories:

ftp://ftp.acer.co.uk/Archiv/desktop/aspire_idea500
ftp://ftp.acer.co.uk/Archiv/desktop/aspire_idea510

To be on the safe side I've backed up the entire contents of the FTP directories listed above, if they ever go offline I'll put a mirror up somewhere.
 
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I think it's just the support pages that got changed, the FTP itself is still up for the moment and the BIOS is located at ftp://ftp.acer.co.uk/Archiv/desktop/aspire_idea510/bios/idea510-R02-C2.rar

ftp://ftp.acer.co.uk/Archiv/desktop/aspire_idea500
ftp://ftp.acer.co.uk/Archiv/desktop/aspire_idea510

To be on the safe side I've backed up the entire contents of the FTP directories listed above, if they ever go offline I'll put a mirror up somewhere.

Thanks John - I tried a few places that linked to the FTP site but none worked, so I assumed that was offline as well - must have been duff links as the above worked. I even 'spoke' to an Acer support bod via on-line chat from their website and he stated there was no archive and there was no way to get the BIOS for a legacy product anymore!

Fingers crossed I don't brick my 10 year old 500 - bought new and has been pretty much trouble free for a decade, just one replacement PSU. Has been upgraded from XP to Vista, then Win 7 and now has Win 10 running fairly well on an SSD. Mainly used for Kodi, music and occasional family Internet browsing pumped through a 56" Philips Cinema wide TV!

Thanks again.
 
BIOS updated successfully - had to use a slightly newer version of Winflash (v1.92) as the packaged version didn't detect the Award BIOS properly. It even worked on Windows 10, so impressed with that!

Have upgraded RAM from 2GB to 3GB, and will think about taking the CPU up to a T7200. They still come up on ebay from time to time at a great price. Not sure if it's worth going up to the T7600 for the difference in cost though?
 
That's odd, I've upgraded a few 500's with the version packaged with the BIOS without issue. It could be that the packaged version did not like Windows 10 so I'll keep that in mind if I ever upgrade another 500.

I ran my 510 for a year or so with the T7200 on Windows 7 and it was fine at the time, that said I'd be really tempted to go for the T7600 over the T7200 because they have really dropped in price over the past 18 months.

Best price on eBay right now for T7600 - SL9SD is £12.99 + £3.00 P&P - Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile T7600 2.33 GHz 4M 667 Dual-Core Processor Socket M SL9SD 735858190077 | eBay

There is also the option of a T7400 - SL9SE for £4.98 + £2.00 P&P - Intel Core 2 Duo SL9SE T7400 CPU 2.16GHz/4M/667 Processor 5032037007122 | eBay

And lastly the T7200 - SL9SF is shockingly £1.72 with free P&P - Intel Core 2 Duo T7200 2 GHz Dual-Core CPU Processor SL9SF LF80537T7200 735858190053 | eBay
 
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Hi there, happy to find some guys still relying on the good old iDea...just like me...until yesterday :(

My idea 510 does not boot anymore (to HDD): "...BOOT FAILURE...". It still boots from the optical drive. I checked with a Rescue CD, the HDD is still accessible this way, I also tried the old original Harddisk with Vista on it (I still had this HDD around...), but the same here. So I don't think the HDD is damaged (bootloader,...). Some other strange symptoms: Can't enter BIOS or Boot selection screen anymore, the system does not recognize my keypress. The system fans run on maximum power, once the boot error message appears. It appears to me to be some kind of hardware failure. Some years ago I've already replaced the damaged PSU, so I don't think it's this again? What do you think, do you have any further clue for me?

kr, jack
 
That's a new one on me, I've never seen a faulty PSU produce those symptoms on an iDea but if the correct voltages are not being supplied odd things could happen.

My first thing to try would be to clear the CMOS, see pages 67-70 in the service guide to locate the jumper - http://htpc.jwaiv.co.uk/sg_aspire_idea_500_510_book.pdf Alternatively you can fully disconnect your 510 and remove the battery for 5 minutes, this should have the same effect as shorting the pins on the jumper. If this helps then enter the BIOS, load setup defaults and then save and exit and see what happens.

Just out of interest, can you confirm that the keyboard is still paired to the 510? It should respond to CTRL+ALT+DEL after the boot failure message and reboot. If it does not respond try bringing the keyboard closer to the 510 with both powered on and press the RESET button on the back of the keyboard, the keyboard LED will flash for a few seconds until it's connected. If it's still not responding after this it might be worth trying a wired USB keyboard if you have one.
 
Hi John,

I've been quite busy since then so I didn't have time to check my IDEA until now. So that's the result: After trying to remove the CMOS battery I've noticed that the system didn't switch on anymore after reconnecting the PSU cable, the front display was dark too. So I tried to replace the PSU with the old faulty one I still had (had a standby/hibernate issue, but it still "worked"). I was quite surprised when the IDEA booted again... So I will try to get a new/refurbished PSU, I think that's the cause.

kr, jack
 
Sounds like good news then :) There are a lot of new old stock PSU's on eBay at the moment but if your ok with a soldering iron it's possible to repair these PSU's just by replacing a few dead capacitors. I've repaired one myself but that was when the PSU's cost £80+, these days you can get them for around £20.
 
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