Notebooks & Netbooks

[dcal52]

I have a new Acer laptop (Aspire E1-572G-6854 / Intel Core I5-4200U / AMD Radeon R7 M265 / 8GB DDR3 L memory) purchased in early March 2014.  Being probably overly paranoid of hard drive failure I had the vendor replace the laptop’s standard one with a Toshiba solid state HD (using the original HD for USB backup storage).

Unfortunately the sleep mode function for the laptop does not work as it is supposed to. I’m hoping someone here will be able to help.

As further background, the problem shows up in a number of ways, as follows.

1. When the screen goes to sleep, it is not possible to wake up the computer, other than by using the power button to shut it down (pressing 4-5 seconds until the power lamp shuts off).  I then obviously have to use the power button again to start up.
2. On a few occasions the computer did awaken, but only after waiting for several minutes, and then other problems persisted as follows;
   1. On startup, a dialogue box appears on the desktop stating “No AMD graphics driver is installed – or the AMD driver is not functioning properly.  Please install the AMD driver appropriate for your AMD hardware”.  This seems to get resolved when the computer is restarted. 
   2. Programs I had been working on typically have not shut down properly, and I have to go through the process of “recovering” the latest changes through auto-saved copies.

This all results in wasted time, and certainly defeats the whole concept behind the sleep mode. And it has affected the ability to cycle the battery as recommended to properly condition it.

My online research has included;

• Acer knowledge base and forums
• Windows knowledge base and forums
• General browser searches (for solutions to similar problems)

I have seen a variety of theories for similar laptop problems as reported that point the finger at one or more of Windows 8.1, graphics card drivers, bios, background programs etc, but unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a consistent solution, and I haven’t found the specific one that works in my case.  My conclusion is that it depends on the specific computer and its’ configuration.

One suggestion was to turn off the “Fast Start” option in the control panel / power options / system settings.  I have done this but it has not solved the problem.

Other observations;

• Bios is version 2.13, which is current per the recommendation on the Acer downloads site)
• Chipset driver (Intel)
• The recommendation is 9.4.0.1026 (Dec 19, 2013)
  • I have not however been able to find where I can determine what my version is.  When I attempt to automatically identify and find drivers through the Intel Driver Update Utility, it gives the message “This device is unknown or unsupported. Please contact the manufacturer for possible updates” ,and states in the help “Intel provides generic versions of software and drivers. If your computer manufacturer altered the features, incorporated customizations, or made other changes the Intel Driver Update Utility may not recognize the device. Please contact your computer manufacturer for the latest updates and technical support information.”
  • I am thinking though that given the relatively young age of my computer it should be up to date (?)
  • AMD R7 M265 VGA
  • • driver as installed was/is 13.251.0.0 (12-Jun-13)
    • the Acer download website says it should be 13.152.0.0 (11-Oct-13) ie. an earlier version
    • When I attempt to update the driver software through the device manager in the “search automatically for updated driver software” (including online) option, Windows tells me that the driver software is already up to date.
    • Is there a possibility I should be reverting to the older driver?
    • Intel VGA driver is “HD Graphics family” per Windows “System information”
      • driver as installed was/is 10.18.10.3412 (22-Jan-14)
      • the Acer download website says it should be 10.18.10.3355 (19-Dec-13) ie. Again, an earlier version
      • When I attempt to update the driver software through the device manager, Windows again tells me that the driver software is already up to date.
      • However, In checking the Driver Update Utility on the Intel® website, it says it should be 10.18.10.3496 (29-Jan-14) ie even more recent than what is installed (confusing … at least to me)
      • Windows updates
        • From what I can determine my computer is up to date; it is set for automatic detection and installation, and this seems to be functioning
        • On one Microsoft forum I saw a reference to a fix to a similar sleep problem that consisted of a standard windows update (KB 2919394). In checking for the installed updates on my computer, however, this had already been installed.

I would really appreciate any suggestions anyone can offer

[JackE]

>>>Being probably overly paranoid of hard drive failure I had the vendor replace the laptop’s standard one with a Toshiba solid state HD (using the original HD for USB backup storage).>>>

Did the vendor wipe the original HDD clean?

Jack E/NJ

[dcal52]

Hi Jack

No he didn’t wipe it clean … another bit of a long story I’m afraid.. I was going to try running Ubuntu through the USB 3.0 using part of the original HDD (1 TB)  (not really sure how this would work, but I have used Ubuntu a bit in the past and wanted to get more experience with it) so I asked if he would partition it for me. My plan was to allocate about 20% to Ubuntu and use the rest for my Windows backup. Instead Ubuntu was installed to the full disk.  I haven’t been able to get to Ubuntu through Windows boot manager (only shows Windows option)

I can’t see any space at all on the original HDD through the USB so there is no NTFS or other Windows partitions, I think it is probably ext3 (?). I haven’t been able to boot through the USB so I’m thinking now I will eventually try to install Ubuntu on the SSD (with dual boot option) but my priority now is to get the sleep issue resolved.

He did provide a flash drive with what I believe are recovery files on it (it’s labelled “recovery”, has about 240 MB used).  I’m wondering if it also might be what I should be trying to boot up from to get into Ubuntu but I haven’t really tried yet as I don’t want to mess up the recovery files, if that’s a possibility.  And at this stage the Ubuntu thing is more just an educational exercise for me.

So I’m prepared to reformat the original HDD in NTFS or whatever  if that can be of any use.

Appreciate your interest

Dan

[JackE]

Hi Dan, I know you probably won't like this. But I guess what I was really asking is if there was any way of putting things back to factory-fresh condition with the original HDD recovery partition to see if the sleep issue resolves? 

As for what you want to do with Ubuntu, I suggest that, instead of multi-boot or a separate stick boot, you seriously consider a virtual environment. Right now I'm running Win98SE, WinXP, and a SuSE distro as guests under a Windows host using VMWare's Player freeware. I'm doing this primarily to run legacy hardware and software that won't run properly or at all under Win7/8. They can all run at the same time as well as communicate thru the local network.  Just a thought.

Jack E/NJ    

[dcal52]

Hi Jack

Thanks for the suggestions.  No I guess going back to Factory fresh condition isn’t particularly appealing but if that’s the best option at this stage then so be it. Before doing that though, I might try installing a couple of the drivers I was hesitant to try as mentioned in my original post, just as a long shot.

I don’t want to be pessimistic but it seems to me I have had the sleep issue problem since day 1 so I am thinking there’s a good chance reverting back won’t really solve my problem (?)

Do you think it’s possible that the problems I am experiencing are just inherent with Windows 8.1?  After I posted initially, I noticed a later post for a computer same model as mine (only 4 GB RAM rather than 8) with problems that look to me could have similar causes. (see http://community.acer.com/t5/Notebooks-Netbooks/Sleep-Graphics-drivers-problem/m-p/229818/highlight/... ) 

ACE pioneer finlux made the comments

“Due to big changes that Microsoft made in 8.1, not all hardware is compatible with it. I'd suggest to back up all your data & revert back to 8.0 from your recovery partition or media. This will solve your problems.

If you decide you want to try 8.1 again, I'd uninstall all graphics drivers before installing 8.1. Then reinstall the latest ones. This MAY help or may not, it's one of those "Try it and see" moments.”

Unfortunately I’m quite sure I can’t just revert to 8.0 as mine came with 8.1

Regarding my planned Ubuntu installation, I appreciate your comments and will definitely try the virtual environment route per your suggestion.  I think I had read somewhere that speed can suffer in this type of setup but if you find it acceptable I can’t imagine that someone like me wouldn’t.

It may be a day or two before I get back to post how things have gone with the “sleep disorder” plans but I will do that

Thanks again

Dan

[JackE]

Hello again Dan. If you think you might've had this issue since before you had the vendor switch to the SSD, it should be covered by the Acer warranty. The only fly in the ointment is getting it back to 8.1 on the original HDD to verify this is indeed the case.

Jack E/NJ

[dcal52]

Hi Jack,

I’m still hoping I can get this resolved but my laptop is putting up a fight!

I backed up my personal files etc preparing to go back to “factory fresh” per your suggestion, using the recovery stick provided by the vendor. 

I thought I would start by selecting the “Refresh” option, but when prompted by Windows to “Insert Media” because “Some files are missing.  Your Windows installation or recovery media will provide these files”

But then inserting the Recovery stick per above resulted in the message “The media inserted is not valid.  Make sure to insert your Windows installation or recovery media”

For the heck of it I created my own recovery on another flash drive I had just to compare the files and sizes, and they looked about the same (242 MB) so it seems to me anyway that the one supplied by the vendor was intended to be a recovery stick … it just doesn’t work.  I haven’t bothered to try a refresh with the stick I just created as that would seem to me to be pointless, given that the idea is to go back to factory fresh (?)

So my next step is to try to get some help from the vendor beginning with a new recovery stick.  By the way I had also emailed the vendor with a request for suggestions to my laptop sleep problem before I posted to the Acer Community originally, but no response.

Anyway, I’ll let you know what develops

Thanks once again

Dan

[JackE]

Dan>>>“Some files are missing.  Your Windows installation or recovery media will provide these files”

But then inserting the Recovery stick per above resulted in the message “The media inserted is not valid.  Make sure to insert your Windows installation or recovery media”>>>

Dan: I need clarification. Some (probably all) files were missing because you're running the refresh option from the SSD, correct? And you're trying to recover to the SSD,  not the HDD, correct?

Jack E/NJ

[camilcze · Accepted solution]

Uninstall the graphics driver and install the ones from the Acer website, the first intel, then they should win 8.1 go to sleep

[dcal52]

Hi Jack,

yes I'm running the refresh option from the SSD and not the HDD as you have assumed.  I was hoping the SSD might have been provided with hidden recovery files at the time it was installed by the vendor (is that how it's done?) but I'm not sure how to tell for sure. Unfortunately I'm a couple of hours drive from where I bought the computer so not that convenient to just pop in to see them.  

The HDD was reformatted by the vendor for Ubuntu.  I'm guessing the reformatting probably wiped out any hidden recovery files(?)

thanks

Dan