BSOD a few hours after starting laptop for the las few days

[eric77]

Machine is an ACER 5740G laptop.

- 7 months ago I've installed Windows 7 64. Drivers from here: Download Drivers and Manuals | Acer Official Site
(insert 5740g in the search box and select the aspire 5740g to see the drivers)
- 3 months ago my laptop won't display anything. I've connect it to an external monitor and managed to find the problem: the well known atikmdag atikmpag ati driver issue. Uninstalled and installed the driver and it worked....
- for 2 weeks. Same problem, only now it was a bit harder to solve. Decided to go for a clean installation of Windows 7. Installed the same drivers as above except for the VGA one. Instead of the one recommended there I went for the latest from the AMD website, a generic Radeon GD 5000 series driver. The old one was specifically for my video card: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470.
- soon after installing Windows and drivers I get constant BSODs. I've expanded the atikmpag, atikmdag files with cmd thinking they were the cause. Still BSOD.

I believe the problem might be the old drivers (they seem to be from 2009) conflicting with new Windows files. Should I get newer drivers from elsewhere?

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Hello eric77 and welcome to 7forums!

There is a BIOS update for your laptop model and I would recommend that you update it especially when it says that 1.22 updates the ATI VBIOS and that might be why you have had problems with the graphics. Please go here and enter 5740g into the model:
Download Drivers and Manuals | Acer Official Site

And click the BIOS/Firmware tab and download the latest file.

And here is a guide on how to update the BIOS:
How do I update the bios on my notebook with a bios that uses winphlash%3F

Cheers, Boris

 

[eric77]

Thank you.

The read me file says this: Run "\DOS\DOSFLASH.BAT" to flash BIOS in pure DOS or "\Winflash\JV50128.exe" in Windows x86/x64 OS environment.

I've ran the exe and i got a beep and this error: Flash Bios Fail. (0x4D0)

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Hi eric77.

if the exe failed, you can use the DOS way which means you'll have to put the files from the DOS folder onto a USB stick and update the BIOS that way. Here's a video on how to make a bootable USB stick:


Cheers, Boris

 

[eric77]

What should I expect, will it be more complicated than press x key to continue, etc? Never did a bios update.

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

What should I expect, will it be more complicated than press x key to continue, etc? Never did a bios update.

I'm sorry but what do you mean exactly?

 

[eric77]

What should I expect, will it be more complicated than press x key to continue, etc? Never did a bios update.

I'm sorry but what do you mean exactly?

What I want to know is this, is it a straight forward process? For example, at 2:25 he inputs a text. Should i expect something like this in my case?



Then again, I'm not sure this applies to my situation. He seems to be using an extra utility tool, and that's what requires that text to be written.

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

Hi eric.

I should have linked you this earlier had I found it:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/46707-ms-dos-bootable-flash-drive-create.html

 

[eric77]

I've made it bootable with the hp tool and bootme. It boots from usb but I get this message C:\>_ I'm not sure what I should type here. The .rom file, one of the exe files or the USB flash name? Tried the dosflash.bat, said bad command.

 

[BorisTheAnimal]

eric, do you remember the name of the BIOS file that you copy and pasted onto the usb stick?

I'm pretty sure that is the one you should put in there.

 

[eric77]

I've copied the whole DOS folder on the usb. It contains two subfolders, bios and kbc, and dosflash.bat file.

The bios subfolder contains two .exe files, one .rom file, one .wph file and a bios.bat file.

kbc folder has 12 files, some .txt, two .exe and other files.

So is the .rom file i should input when asked? It has the same name as the one designed for Windows flash but different file extension, the windows one being exe.

EDIT: I've found this guide specifically for ACER laptops

Flash BIOS in DOS mode
How to create DOS bootable disk - post #64.
1) Make sure battery is full for notebook & power cord is plugged in.
2) Boot with DOS bootable disk
3) At command prompt, enter this command:-
Code:
phlash16.exe /x /s /mode=3 bios-filename
Note: Change bios-filename with your BIOS filename, e.g. JV50T109.wph.
4) Wait until it finish & reboot itself or follow the on-screen instruction. DO NOT interrupt the process.


I have a phlash16.exe, and also a wph file. However, I will think a bit about this one. Even though is still a good laptop (i5 6 GB ram) if the motherboard crashes the cost of replacing might be too high considering the age and the overall usage.


Thanks for helping.