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Acer Aspire 13xx - ATI Upgrade Guide
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snowcrash
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Joined: 19 Dec 2004
Posts: 156
Location: UK Occasionally
  Acer Aspire 13xx - ATI Upgrade Guide
PDF Version of the guide - at the end of the article

======================================


Introduction
The guide shows examples of the upgrade being performed on an Aspire 1355xv laptop.

The graphics card was upgraded from the standard Aspire S3 VGA (which is ok but steals 64MB of system RAM to operate) to the an ATi Radeon 9200 Mobility with 64MB RAM(which is an optional extra on this series laptop).

The VGA cards in these laptops are in the form of an Add-On Daughterboard, so changing them is quite easy. Literally opening up the laptop and swapping the parts over.

The author of this document accepts no responsibility for damaged caused to any equipment by following the instructions on this page. You undertake such a job under your own risk.

This was all collectively worked out by the excellent members of the VIA Arena Forums, if it wasn't for them I wouldn't have got this far! Cheers Guys..




Tools Required:
- A small phillips screwdriver
- A small flat screwdriver
- Some thermal paste


Upgrade Guide:

My Acer Aspire 1355xv - waiting for its surgery... Soon it will be as powerfull as a, uhm, a mid-range desktop system Mr. Green
Image 1


Laptop as per usual
Image 2

First Remove the battery (and any cards, CDRoms etc).
Then open up the RAM upgrade panel (2 screws), take out your memory sticks (green arrows) and leave the cover off.
Start removing the screws on the underside of the case (red arrows)
Image 3

Better view of removing all bottom case screws (red arrows)
Image 4

now flip the laptop to it's rear. Remove the 3 screws (red arrows)
Image 5


Flip the Laptop back to the normal position.
Fully push screen back.
Pop out the plastic section with the power button etc on (blue arrows) - These are clipped in, and release straight up.
Image 6

Unscrew all the screws on the top (Red arrows).
Lift the keyboard up (it will still be connected to the mainboard on a ribbon cable). If you wish remove the ribbon cable from the keyboard to the mainboard (Lift up the plastic tab clamping the ribbon cable in).
Also remove the board with the power button (etc) on. Lift it off its connector.
Image 7

Move the keyboard, case surround, and screen out of the way. You should now see the Heatsink and Cooling System (the big Silver bit in the middle with the fan).

Unscrew the Cooling System (red arrows), and disconnect it from the mainboard (there are 2 small connectors for the fans (green arrow) - pop them out.
Image 8

Almost there
Here is the Guts of the Beast. Red Circle = CPU, Blue Circle is VGA Card. Yellow Circle is where the VGA card attaches to the LCD panel.

Next, remove all the screws holding the VGA card in (red arrows). Near the bottom of the card (on the underside) is a connector - this is where the card is plugged into the mainboard. To remove the card just pop it out (by lifting up).
Image 9

Lift crappy card from laptop!
Image 10

Now carefully remove the LCD Panel connector (It lifts out - you see a pattern here Wink ) be very gentle.
Weeeeee heee! put crappy VGA card on shelf or somewhere. Twisted Evil
Image 11

Guess which one is which...
Image 12

Hmm one of them looks a bit more complicated, like a good graphics card Very Happy
Image 13

Now put the ATI card in (be careful here, line the card up with the connectors on the underside) and press down firmly.

Put the LCD connector on the card.

Screw the ATI card into the mainboard.

Now notice the CPU.. (I have cleaned the old Thermal Paste off)
Image 14

Now look on the reverse of the Cooling System.

The are with the blue marker is the CPU heatsink. Now I also removed the old Thermal Paste off of here.

I have also placed a yellow arrow on the photo to show where the contact patch with the ATI chip is. There is already on the heatsink a heat pad - so I left that as is.
Image 15

I put some new thermal paste on the CPU.

And then rebuild the laptop (reverse of the instructions above ...)
Image 16

Turned the laptop on - and - viola!

Windows is loading
Image 17

Looking Good..
Image 18

Device Manager confirming the ATI is in ..
Image 19


Note the RAM is now correct (the ATI is NOT using the System RAM, like the old crappy card).
Image 20



This document was created on my Aspire Laptop with ATI VGA card upgrade

The End

Good Luck!

Written By Snowcrash - 20/05/2004

PostPosted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 12:06 am
Last edited by snowcrash on Sat Dec 24, 2005 7:23 pm; edited 14 times in total
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snowcrash
Site Admin


Joined: 19 Dec 2004
Posts: 156
Location: UK Occasionally
 For Questions and Feedback goto this thread:

http://www.laptopmods.co.uk/viewtopic.php?p=3

PostPosted: Mon Dec 20, 2004 12:43 am
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