Acer Aspire X3950 User manual

Acer
Aspire X3950/X5950
Service Guide
PRINTED IN TAIWAN

ii
Revision History
Please refer to the table below for the updates made on this service guide.
Date Chapter Updates

iii
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 by Acer Incorporated. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language or computer language, in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual or otherwise, without
the prior written permission of Acer Incorporated.

iv
Disclaimer
The information in this guide is subject to change without notice.
Acer Incorporated makes no representations or warranties, either expressed or implied, with respect to the
contents hereof and specifically disclaims any warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular
purpose. Any Acer Incorporated software described in this manual is sold or licensed "as is". Should the
programs prove defective following their purchase, the buyer (and not Acer Incorporated, its distributor, or its
dealer) assumes the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair, and any incidental or consequential
damages resulting from any defect in the software.
Acer is a registered trademark of Acer Corporation.
Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.
Pentium Dual-Core, Celeron Dual-Core, Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, Celeron, and combinations thereof, are
trademarks of Intel Corporation.
Other brand and product names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

v
Conventions
The following conventions are used in this manual:
SCREEN
MESSAGES
Denotes actual messages that appear on screen.
NOTE Gives additional information related to the current topic.
WARNING Alerts you to any physical risk or system damage that might result from doing
or not doing specific actions.
CAUTION Gives precautionary measures to avoid possible hardware or software
problems.
IMPORTANT Reminds you to do specific actions relevant to the accomplishment of
procedures.

vi
Service Guide Coverage
This Service Guide provides you with all technical information relating to the BASIC CONFIGURATION
decided for Acer's "global" product offering. To better fit local market requirements and enhance product
competitiveness, your regional office MAY have decided to extend the functionality of a machine (e.g. add-on
card, modem, or extra memory capability). These LOCALIZED FEATURES will NOT be covered in this generic
service guide. In such cases, please contact your regional offices or the responsible personnel/channel to
provide you with further technical details.
FRU Information
Please note WHEN ORDERING FRU PARTS, that you should check the most up-to-date information available
on your regional web or channel. If, for whatever reason, a part number change is made, it will not be noted in
the printed Service Guide. For ACER-AUTHORIZED SERVICE PROVIDERS, your Acer office may have a
DIFFERENT part number code to those given in the FRU list of this printed Service Guide. You MUST use the
list provided by your regional Acer office to order FRU parts for repair and service of customer machines.

vii
System Tour 1
Features 1
System Components 3
Front Panel 3
Rear Panel 5
Internal Components 6
System LED Indicators 7
System Utilities 9
CMOS Setup Utility 9
Entering CMOS setup 10
Navigating Through the Setup Utility 10
Setup Utility Menus 11
System Disassembly 25
Disassembly Requirements 25
Pre-disassembly Procedure 26
Main Unit Disassembly 27
Removing the Side Panel 29
Removing the Front Bezel 30
Removing the Heatsink Fan Assembly 32
Removing the Processor 34
Removing the Optical Drive 36
Removing the Hard Disk Drive 39
Removing the Power Supply 40
Removing the Memory Modules 42
Removing an Expansion Card 43
Removing the Front I/O and Card Reader Boards 46
Removing the Mainboard 49
Removing the Top Bezel 51
System Troubleshooting 53
Hardware Diagnostic Procedure 53
System Check Procedures 54
Power System Check 54
System External Inspection 54
System Internal Inspection 54
Checkpoints 55
Viewing BIOS checkpoints 55
Bootblock Initialization Code Checkpoints 55
Bootblock Recovery Code Checkpoints 56
POST Code Checkpoints 57
DIM Code Checkpoints 59
ACPI Runtime Checkpoints 59
Error Messages 60
Memory 60
Boot 60
Storage Device 61
Virus Related 62
System Configuration 63
CMOS 64
Miscellaneous 64
Table of Contents

viii
USB eModule Error Messages 65
SMBIOS eModule Error Messages 65
CPU eModule Error Messages 65
MPS Table (Multi-processor) eModule Error Messages 65
Beep Codes 66
Index of Symptom-to-FRU Error Message 67
BIOS Recovery 72
Undetermined Problems 74
System Block Diagram and Board Layout 75
System Block Diagram 75
Mainboard Layout 76
FRU (Field Replaceable Unit) List 79
Exploded Diagram 80
X3950 FRU List 82
X5950 FRU List 90
Technical Specifications 93

Chapter 1 1
Features
Below is a brief summary of the computer’s many features:
NOTE: The features listed in this section is for your reference only. The exact configuration of the system
depends on the model purchased.
Processor
One LGA 1156 socket
Intel® Core™ i3-530/540 processor
Intel Core i5-650/660/661/670/750 processor
Intel Core i7-860/870 processor
Intel Pentium G6950 processor
Chipset
Intel P55 Express chipset
Memory subsystem
Four DDR3-800/1066/1333 MHz DIMM sockets
Supports single channel or dual-channel memory mode
Maximum of 8GB supported
Media storage
Super-Multi DVD drive
BD Combo, BD-ROM, BD-RW drive
SATA hard disk drive
Serial ATA controller
Embedded SATA controllers
Two SATA ports
Audio
Realtek ALC888S-VC HD Audio Codec 7.1
Three audio jacks
Networking
Intel PCI-E Gbe LAN controller PHY
One Gigabit Ethernet LAN port (RJ-45)
PCI I/O
PCI Express x16 bus slot
PCI Express x1 bus slot
System Tour
Chapter 1

2Chapter 1
I/O ports
Front
Five USB 2.0 ports
Headphone/speaker-out/line-out jack
Microphone-in jack
9-in-1 media card reader — CompactFlash® (Type I and II), CF+™ Microdrive, MultiMediaCard
(MMC), Reduced-Size MultiMediaCard (RS-MMC), Secure Digital™ (SD) Card, xD-Picture
Card™, Memory Stick™, Memory Stick PRO™
Rear
PS/2 keyboard port
PS/2 mouse port
Three audio jacks
HDMI port
Six USB 2.0 ports
Gigabit LAN port
VGA/monitor port
Operating system and software
Operating system
Windows 7 Home Premium x64
Windows 7 Home Premium X86
Windows 7 Home Basic X86,
FreeDOS
Linux LL95
Applications
Acer eRecovery Management
Acrobat Reader
Acrobat Flash Player
Arcade Deluxe
Cyberlink Power Director
McAfee Internet Security
MyWinLocker
Microsoft Works
Nero 9 Essentials
Power supply
220-watts (115/230V AC) PFC or non-PFC power supply
Dimension and weight
Dimension (DxWxH)
X3950: 367.8 x 100 x 281.5 mm (with bezel)
X5950: 367.8 x 100 x 281.5 mm (with bezel)
Weight (estimate)
X3950: 8 kg
X5950: 8 kg

Chapter 1 3
System Components
This section is a virtual tour of the system’s interior and exterior components.
Front Panel
X3950
No. Icon Component
1
USB 2.0 ports
2
3 Front I/O cover
4 Microphone-in jack
5 Headphone/Speaker-out/line-out jack
6 CF I/II (CompactFlash Type I/II) slot
7 Media card reader
8 Drive bay door eject button
Press to open drive bay door and access the optical drive.
9 Optical drive bay door
10 HDD activity indicator
11 Power button/power indicator

4Chapter 1
X5950
No. Icon Component
1
USB 2.0 ports
2
3 Front I/O cover
4 Microphone-in jack
5 Headphone/Speaker-out/line-out jack
6 CF I/II (CompactFlash Type I/II) slot
7 Media card reader
8 Drive bay door eject button
Press to open drive bay door and access the optical drive.
9 Optical drive bay door
10 HDD activity indicator
11 Power button/power indicator

Chapter 1 5
Rear Panel
No. Icon Component
1 Audio in or side speaker jack
2 Gigabit LAN port (10/100/1000 Mbps)
3 Key hole
4 Lock slot
5 Power connector
6 Power supply (Photo shows PFC power supply)
7 PS2 keyboard port
8 PS2 mouse port
9HDMI HDMI port
10 VGA/monitor port
11 USB 2.0 ports
12 Microphone/speaker-out/line-in jack
13 Line-out jack
14 Expansion slot (Photo shows graphics card and network card)

6Chapter 1
Internal Components
No. Component
1 Optical drive
2 Memory
3 Expansion cards
4 Mainboard
5 Heatsink fan assembly
6 Power supply

Chapter 1 7
System LED Indicators
This section describes the different system LED indicators.
LED indicator Color LED status Description
Power Blue On S0/S1 state
Blue Blinking S3 state
— Off S4/S5 state
HDD activity Blue Blinking S0/S1 state
LAN activity Blue Blinking S0/S1 state
LAN port network
speed LED (left)
Amber On 1000 Mbps link network access
Green On 100 Mbps link network access
— Off 10 Mbps link network access
LAN port network
connection LED
(right)
Green On Active network link
Blinking Ongoing network data activity
Off Off-line network

8Chapter 1

Chapter 2 9
CMOS Setup Utility
CMOS setup is a hardware configuration program built into the system ROM, called the complementary metal-
oxide semiconductor (CMOS) Setup Utility. Since most systems are already properly configured and
optimized, there is no need to run this utility. You will need to run this utility under the following conditions.
When changing the system configuration settings
When redefining the communication ports to prevent any conflicts
When modifying the power management configuration
When changing the password or making other changes to the security setup
When a configuration error is detected by the system and you are prompted ("Run Setup"
message) to make changes to the CMOS setup
NOTE: If you repeatedly receive Run Setup messages, the battery may be bad. In this case, the system
cannot retain configuration values in CMOS. Ask a qualified technician for assistance.
CMOS setup loads the configuration values in a battery-backed nonvolatile memory called CMOS RAM. This
memory area is not part of the system RAM which allows configuration data to be retained when power is
turned off.
Before you run the CMOS Setup Utility, make sure that you have saved all open files. The system reboots
immediately after you close the Setup.
NOTE: CMOS Setup Utility will be simply referred to as “BIOS”, "Setup", or "Setup utility" in this guide.
The screenshots used in this guide display default system values. These values may not be the same
those found in your system.
System Utilities
Chapter 2

10 Chapter 2
Entering CMOS setup
1. Turn on the computer and the monitor.
If the computer is already turned on, close all open applications, then restart the computer.
2. During POST, press Delete.
If you fail to press Delete before POST is completed, you will need to restart the computer.
The Setup Main menu will be displayed showing the Setup’s menu bar. Use the left and right arrow keys
to move between selections on the menu bar.
Navigating Through the Setup Utility
Use the following keys to move around the Setup utility.
Left and Right arrow keys – Move between selections on the menu bar.
Up and Down arrow keys – Move the cursor to the field you want.
PgUp and PgDn keys – Move the cursor to the previous and next page of a multiple page menu.
Home – Move the cursor to the first page of a multiple page menu.
End – Move the cursor to the last page of a multiple page menu.
+and -keys – Select a value for the currently selected field (only if it is user-configurable). Press
these keys repeatedly to display each possible entry, or the Enter key to choose from a pop-up
menu.
NOTE: Grayed-out fields are not user-configurable.
Enter key – Display a submenu screen.
NOTE: Availability of submenu screen is indicated by a (>).
Esc – If you press this key:
On one of the primary menu screens, the Exit menu displays.
On a submenu screen, the previous screen displays.
When you are making selections from a pop-up menu, closes the pop-up without making a
selection.
F1 – Display the General Help panel.
F9 – Press to load optimized default system values.
F10 – Save changes made the Setup and close the utility.

Chapter 2 11
Setup Utility Menus
The Setup Main menu includes the following main setup categories.
Product Information
Standard CMOS Features
Advanced BIOS Features
Advanced Chipset Features
Integrated Peripherals
Power Management Setup
PC Health Status
Frequency/Voltage Control
BIOS Security Features
Load Default Settings
Save & Exit Setup
Exit Without Saving
In the descriptive table following each of the menu screenshots, settings in boldface are the default and
suggested settings.
CMOS Setup Utility - Copyright (c) 1985-2010, American Megatrends, Inc.
►
► Standard CMOS Features
► Advanced BIOS Features
► Advanced Chipset Features
► Integrated Peripherals
► Power Management Setup
Product Information ► PC Health Status
► Frequency/Voltage Control
► BIOS Security Features
Load Default Settings
Save & Exit Setup
Exit Without Saving
:Move Enter:Select
F1:General Help F9:Optimized Defaults
+ :Value//
-ESC:Exit
F10:Save
v02 66 (C)Copyright 1985 2010 American Megatrends Inc
.-, ,.

12 Chapter 2
Product Information
The Product Information menu displays basic information about the system. These entries are for your
reference only and are not user-configurable.
Parameter Description
Processor Type Type of CPU installed on the system.
Processor Speed Speed of the CPU installed on the system.
System Memory Total size of system memory installed on the system.
Product Name Product name of the system.
System Serial Number Serial number of the system.
System BIOS Version Version number of the BIOS setup utility.
BIOS Release Date Date when the BIOS setup utility was released
Asset Tag Number Asset tag number of this system.
Processor Type
Intel (R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 650 3.20GHz
Processor Speed
System Memory
Product Name
System Serial Number
System BIOS Version
BIOS Release Date
Asset Tag Number
@
:Move Enter:Select
F1:General Help F9:Optimized Defaults
+ :Value//-ESC:ExitF10:Save
Help Item
3.20GHz
2048MB
xxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxx-xx
03/22/2010
Product Information
CMOS Setup Utility - Copyright (c) 1985-2010, American Megatrends, Inc.