Games freezing on Acer Aspire 7551G

[jamnut]

Hi, new here so sorry if this is the wrong category to put my query in, but here goes:

Just got a new laptop;
Acer Aspire 7551G,
AMD Phenom II X3 Mobile Processor N380 (2.1GHz),
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 (1GB - up to 2815MB),
4GB DDR3 Memory.

And have installed a good few games; the Stalker series run perfectly on the highest settings with only bearable FPS drop, but playing 3rd person games has become a bit of a problem. With GTA IV, Dead Rising 2 and Assassin's Creed II I've been able to play the game for up to an hour without a single problem, most of the time on the highest settings, but then randomly the game will freeze and produce a really weird sound like the audio has got stuck and render the laptop useless, no movement whatsoever from a mouse, controller, nor ctrl+alt+del will work so a manual restart is neessary.

I've tried to pinpoint it out but the only solutions i can muster are that the 64-bit Windows 7 I'm using is at fault or the GPU is running hot. A friend recommended this place to help me so here's hoping you can solve the problem.

Thanks.

 

[apache_lives]

overheating issue perhaps - not using it on a bed or anything are you?

run hwmon in the background and see what temps your getting with idle (leave your laptop for ~5 minutes) and max load (game for 10 minutes etc) - processor ~80 max and video ~90 max, any higher and you may have issues

also perhaps update drivers and bios, in the bios there may be a setting about the fan (always on) etc, and perhaps software to force the main fan speed up higher and earlier etc

 

[Guest]

i have the same laptop with similar problems, i solved mine bby fitting a seagate momentus XT 500gb replacement hard drive, reinstalled from backup disks no problems, system is much faster, boots to win in 14 sec no game stutter or freezes

 

[Guest]

CAN CPU BE UPGRADED IN THESE LAPTOPS? they would then be a beast!

 

[Fadekyn]

The 5650 isn't designed to run those games at the highest settings. So odds are it's an overheating problem with the gpu freezing up.

For example, I'm on a family members low end lappy right now, if I watch videos online the screensaver kicks in from time to time, when I switch back the sound repeats like a stuck CD and the system freezes for about 5 sec because the GPU can't handle the switch. I'm thinking you're over taxing the 5650 on GTA and such. GTA is notorious for high GPU loads on high settings.

Grab a laptop cooling pad and set the gaming settings to medium for those last three games to see what happens. Also, not sure what the program is called, download a CPU/GPU temp tracker. Who knows, you could have got a bad thermal pasting job. You can also upgrade your RAM, Toms just ran an article saying that 4GB is the minimum now and that a lot of tasks are starting to use that up pretty easily. RAM is at it's cheapest price ever and should hit it's lowest price point by the end of Feb through the end of April.

Lastly, when was the last time you used a can of air to clean out your vents?

 

[Fadekyn]

CAN CPU BE UPGRADED IN THESE LAPTOPS? they would then be a beast!

I don't understand the terminology, but I'm pretty sure you have to find out if your board is based on MXM. Regardless, from what I've read, the other more knowledgable people on the site have said it's not really cost effective. Since if you're gaming the major work is done by the GPU and most CPUs now cruise through their tasks if they're above a dualcore. With only a few games just appearing that use quadcore. It's been argued that the money you would have to spend on the CPU upgrade would be better used towards a full lappy upgrade.

 

[pugil]

i've been having this same issue. and i'm guessing its not the temp. i run all apps and this happens. does anyone know how to flash the bios to 1.11 from the acer site? I am on the aspire 7551g-5821. aside from this problem the laptop is amazing.

 

[Fadekyn]

Which bios? The regular Bios or the vBios? If you're havin temperature problems you might need to flash the videocard vBios.

Go check out notebookreview.com, they have a laptop section segmented into each manufacturer. After that you can usually find your computer under the owners lougne link of the respective manufacturer page. There should be plenty of info. Best bet is to check the FAQ or things you should know thread once you're in there. That's how I found info for my Asus G73jh.

 

[jawwad007]

i've been having this same issue. and i'm guessing its not the temp. i run all apps and this happens. does anyone know how to flash the bios to 1.11 from the acer site? I am on the aspire 7551g-5821. aside from this problem the laptop is amazing.

@Try To change The transistors It really helps Aloootttt :0 i done with mine get never any heating issue ur stucking ur freezing problem but my personal advice is change tha Laptop 500gb 5400RPM too 7200 RPM hard drive it really helps in booting fastly and for transfering data fast > Well I think this helps You !!!!!!!! Regards Jawwad .........!!

 

[shumaa1]

Hi, i know this is old, but i have the same laptop and spent months trying to find the solution, it was driving me mad, so i hope this helps other people who find it, and yourself if its still a problem.

I spent so long searchign google and reading through forums!

I tried everything from drivers, reinstalling windows, direct x, cooling pads etc etc and it would still crash with most games.

In the end i read that HP have the hd5650 set to 450/750 (or something) and acer have it set to 550/800, so i got curious and lowered it to 500/800 and voila, not a single hiccup.


Good luck

Hi, new here so sorry if this is the wrong category to put my query in, but here goes:

Just got a new laptop;
Acer Aspire 7551G,
AMD Phenom II X3 Mobile Processor N380 (2.1GHz),
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 (1GB - up to 2815MB),
4GB DDR3 Memory.

And have installed a good few games; the Stalker series run perfectly on the highest settings with only bearable FPS drop, but playing 3rd person games has become a bit of a problem. With GTA IV, Dead Rising 2 and Assassin's Creed II I've been able to play the game for up to an hour without a single problem, most of the time on the highest settings, but then randomly the game will freeze and produce a really weird sound like the audio has got stuck and render the laptop useless, no movement whatsoever from a mouse, controller, nor ctrl+alt+del will work so a manual restart is neessary.

I've tried to pinpoint it out but the only solutions i can muster are that the 64-bit Windows 7 I'm using is at fault or the GPU is running hot. A friend recommended this place to help me so here's hoping you can solve the problem.

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Hi, i know this is old, but i have the same laptop and spent months trying to find the solution, it was driving me mad, so i hope this helps other people who find it, and yourself if its still a problem.

I spent so long searchign google and reading through forums!

I tried everything from drivers, reinstalling windows, direct x, cooling pads etc etc and it would still crash with most games.

In the end i read that HP have the hd5650 set to 450/750 (or something) and acer have it set to 550/800, so i got curious and lowered it to 500/800 and voila, not a single hiccup.


Good luck

I'm a bit of a noob, what does that mean and how would I do it? My acer keeps hanging when I'm working with big files in photoshop or playing games that I should be able to play.

 

[shumaa1]

I used AMD GPU Tool:

http/downloads.guru3d.com/AMD-GPU-Clock-Tool-v0.9.8-download-1985.html

install, run, under "engine settings" change the value to 500 (works for me, might be different for you, experiment) and under memory clock change the value to 800 then click set clocks.

If you have the same problem as myself this should sort it, also youll have to do this every time you restart your laptop!

Let us know how you get on.

 

[Guest]

Cool thanks for that, Been having a lot of problems with this. I've been testing it by playing duke nukem forever, and It has drastically increased my play time. Not hanging the machine at the moment, I'll need to run it on a couple of others to see how it has helped.

I've actually dropped it to 450-750, and I'll be increasing slowly until I find the threshold.
How do you keep your machine from running so hot, Mine idles at +-65 degrees celcius on the CPU and GPU, And did you get the LED LCD screen?

 

[shumaa1]

Cool thanks for that, Been having a lot of problems with this. I've been testing it by playing duke nukem forever, and It has drastically increased my play time. Not hanging the machine at the moment, I'll need to run it on a couple of others to see how it has helped.

I've actually dropped it to 450-750, and I'll be increasing slowly until I find the threshold.
How do you keep your machine from running so hot, Mine idles at +-65 degrees celcius on the CPU and GPU, And did you get the LED LCD screen?

Yeah got LED

I bought a laptop cooler since i spend a fair bit of time gaming with it, idles around 50~ and under load highest so far is CPU 88C and GPU 76C, which seems..scarily hot givin im using a cooler, but no crashes still so guess its normal.

Glad you got it sorted .