Can I improve performance of my laptop? Windows 7/Acer 7520

[alex_ncfc]

Hi all, I am new here and I have had a brief look around and noticed Fernando's nForce performance packs and was hoping somebody could advise me whether I can improve the performance of my laptop.

I have an Acer 7520 laptop which runs an AMD x2 64 CPU@1800 and has 4GB RAM. The chipset, I believe, is the nForce 610M (with GeForce 7000M Graphics) (although as you can see from my CPU-Z shot below it reads nforce 560)



But I don't believe I have the best configuration. For the most part, I am running the drivers that shipped with Windows 7, but I notice that my disk drives/disk controllers are not using any specific nforce drivers and was hoping somebody could recommend a solution, if there is one. I also get crackling/stuttering sound almost all the time using this laptop.

In Device Manager, for the disk drives I see the below:



The Standard PCI IDE controllers are generic drivers are they not? Would using one of the performance packs sort this out by installing the proper SATA drivers?

Any advice would be great.

Thanks,

Alex

[Fernando 1]

Hello Alex,

welcome at nForcersHQ Forum!

The chipset, I believe, is the nForce 610M (with GeForce 7000M Graphics) (although as you can see from my CPU-Z shot below it reads nforce 560)

To clearify the exact Southbridge chipset of your laptop, you should give me the HardwareID's of the listed "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controllers" (right click onto any of them > "Properties" > "Details" > "Property" > "HardwareID's").
Furthermore I would like to know the devices and HardwareID's, which are listed within the "Storage Controllers" section of your Device Manager.

But I don't believe I have the best configuration. For the most part, I am running the drivers that shipped with Windows 7, but I notice that my disk drives/disk controllers are not using any specific nforce drivers and was hoping somebody could recommend a solution, if there is one.

I will give you an advice as soon as I know the Southbridge details of your Acer laptop (see above).

Regards
Fernando

[alex_ncfc]

Thank you very much Fernando and thanks for the fast response!

Under my Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controllers, the hardware IDs are the following:



For the other controller, the reading is: PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0550&SUBSYS_01261025&REV_A2

Under Storage Controllers I have an entry called "ADCA26XM IDE Controller" which uses driver adca26xm.sys. I am not sure what this device is and I don't even recall seeing it in Device Manager before.

Any help you can provide would be brilliant.

Thank you very much,

Alex

[Fernando 1]

Hello Alex,

thanks for transmitting the HardwareID's.
Your Acer laptop has an nForce 630a (= MCP67) chipset, which is not able to use any nForce IDE driver while running in LEGACY IDE (=P-ATA) mode.
So you don't have any chance to boost the performance unless you are able to set the SATA mode of the SATA Controller to AHCI mode. Enter the BIOS and look for such option. If you can enable the AHCI mode, you should reinstall Win7.
For your system I recommend to install my "Special MCP65-67 nForce Driverpack for Win7Vista", but you will not get much benefit of it as long as you are running the HDD in IDE mode.

Regards
Fernando

[alex_ncfc]

Again many thanks Fernando.

My BIOS on this laptop is very, very limited and has very few options. Without checking right now, I am 99% sure there is no option for AHCI or SATA mode Am I out of luck? Has the laptop always been running in IDE mode?

[Fernando 1]

My BIOS on this laptop is very, very limited and has very few options. Without checking right now, I am 99% sure there is no option for AHCI or SATA mode Am I out of luck?

Yes, if there should be no SATA Controller setting option within the BIOS.
Tip: Join the Acer Support and ask for a new BIOS version for your laptop with the option to enable the AHCI mode of the on-board SATA Controllers.

Regards
Fernando

[alex_ncfc]

Hi, I have just found a forum post with a Modded BIOS for my laptop which claims it unhides the AHCI option in the BIOS. I am going to flash it and see what happens...lol.

Why will I need to re-install Windows 7 after enabling this AHCI option?

Many thanks,

Alex

[Fernando 1]

Hi, I have just found a forum post with a Modded BIOS for my laptop which claims it unhides the AHCI option in the BIOS. I am going to flash it and see what happens...lol.

Good luck!

Why will I need to re-install Windows 7 after enabling this AHCI option?

If you change the SATA mode from IDE to AHCI, you will get a BSOD while trying to boot into Win7 (look >here<). You can prevent the BSOD by a Registry hack, but I always recommend to do a fresh OS installation after having changed the SATA mode from IDE to AHCI.

Regards
Fernando

[alex_ncfc]

Thanks for that useful information!

I will flash it now, as I am feeling adventurous lol. I will do the registry hack for now as I will need to do a lot more work (backing up etc) if I am to reinstall Windows 7, which I will do over the next few weeks. However, if I cannot get into Windows, how am I to do the registry hack? Can I do it before I flash the BIOS?

Thanks

[Fernando 1]

However, if I cannot get into Windows, how am I to do the registry hack? Can I do it before I flash the BIOS?

Yes, you have to change the registry settings before you are changing the SATA mode to "AHCI".
Everything depends on the new BIOS. These are the options:

1. If the SATA Controllers will be be set to AHCI mode automaticly (without any chance to choose "IDE" mode again), you have to run the Registry hack before you are going to flash the ne BIOS.
2. If the new BIOS should let you choose the SATA settings (AHCI or IDE mode), you can run the Restristry later (before you are changing the SATA mode).

Anyway you should do a backup of your important data before you are going to flash the new BIOS.