Cannot renew the BIOS to V1.33 on my Aspire 7520.

Noah123
Noah123 Member Posts: 4 New User
L.S.,

I gave my niece an Aspire 7520 with windows 10. Unlucky enough, she pulled out the power supply while the battery was broken. So new battery, but there were problems. I found out that the bios was not accessible, so I wanted to upgrade the BIOS from V1.31 tot 1.33.
The BIOS files on the Dutch driver site supplied me with a winphlash 32 bit version. From internet I found a 64 bit version (I installed for the time being windows 7 basic 64 bit), but I get a warning "Image file %s is not valid or is damaged. Platform signature not found in the interface. Error code -103"
What do I do wrong?
Some statistics:
I used winphlash version 1.0.3.5
the bios version I tried to install is ic50133.WPH

Best Answer

  • Noah123
    Noah123 Member Posts: 4 New User
    Answer ✓
    Solved. Bios upgrade will only work with (windows7) 32 bit version operating system on the Aspire 7520. I succesfully did.

Answers

  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    (1) Can you access the current 1.31 BIOS by tapping F2 IMMEDIATELY after turning machine on? (Don't wait for ACER logo)
    (2) Is the machine otherwise running OK with the current 1.31 BIOS?


    Jack E/NJ

  • Noah123
    Noah123 Member Posts: 4 New User
    intermittently I can enter the BIOS. Yes it runs now with windows 7, but I had the idea there were problems with windows 10. I would love to upgrade it.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    A BIOS update for your laptop should only be applied if it exhibits problems running WinXP, WinVista or Win7. It should NOT be applied to an otherwise functional Win7 machine due to the risk of undesireabable side effects or bricking/disabling the machine and should be considered irreversible if things go wrong.

    So you can certainly try Win10 on your machine without updating to the 1.33 BIOS. BIOS 1.33, 1.31 & earlier are all written during the WinXP era. None should have any impact on installing Win10 if Win7 currently seems to be running OK.

    Most seemingly intermittent problems entering the BIOS menu are mostly due to tapping the F2 key when the ACER logo appears. On most laptops, tapping F2 is often too late when the logo appears. Many laptops require pressing and hold the F2 key, then pressing the power key to turn the laptop on. 

    Jack E/NJ

  • Noah123
    Noah123 Member Posts: 4 New User
    Answer ✓
    Solved. Bios upgrade will only work with (windows7) 32 bit version operating system on the Aspire 7520. I succesfully did.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    Thanks for the report. Hope it makes a positive difference in performance. :)

    Jack E/NJ

  • Noah123
    Noah123 Member Posts: 4 New User
    Frankly speaking: it is a bit slow but it definitely works.
  • JackE
    JackE ACE Posts: 44,868 Trailblazer
    edited January 2022
    Well yes, this is to be expected for a WinXP era laptop. It's design and components are nearly 20 years old! It would probably run quite fast under 32-bit WinXP :)  

    Jack E/NJ

  • StevenGen
    StevenGen ACE Posts: 12,065 Trailblazer
    edited January 2022
    Noah123 said:
    Frankly speaking: it is a bit slow but it definitely works.

    Just as a suggestion and if you are prepared to go to this stage to run Win-10? I don't know if this 7520 has an Intel or an AMD CPU as they came with both and the higher end model is the Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 while the AMD Sempron 3400+ or 3500+ or 3600+ that can be upgraded with the higher end AMD Sempron 3800+ that will give you 20% more performance, as you can still buy these CPU's on eBay like here AMD Sempron Mobile 3800+ for US $14.99 and then upgrade its RAM as the Aspire 7520 supports maximum memory size 4G (into 2x sockets at 2x 2GB SODIMM modules) for 64bit OS at 533MHz or 677MHz 200-pin soDIMM. Best is to use the Crucial System Scanner that will give you all the newer memory modules and even a 2.5” SSD, if you want to upgrade to that as a 2.5” SSD drive would give you at least 50% improved preformance and be an excellent upgrade to increase the speed of this old laptop as there could be other newer memory upgrades that operates with this instead of its old dinosaur spec 533MHz or 677MHz 200-pin soDIMM RAM  =) try all that if you want?