Acer AcerNote 350P

Overview

• Microprocessor: Intel Pentium 75/100/120
• BIOS: Acer
• Suspend to Disk: ASTDK Utility
• System memory:
  • 8MB (EDO RAM), 64-bit memory bus
  • Expandable to 40MB (Standard or EDO DIMMs)
• CMOS RAM: 128 bytes, battery backup 256KB Flash BIOS
• Battery Life: 3 Hour Battery Operation (varies depending to usage)
• Data Storage:
  • One 2.5-inch removable Enhanced-IDE hard disk drive ( 12.5mm)
  • One 3.5-inch, 1.44MB diskette drive
• Audio/Video:
  • 1MB video RAM, local bus video with C&T 65545 graphics accelerator
  • 16-bit Sound Blaster-compatible stereo audio
• Video display:
  • DualScan STN color or TFT color
  • 10.4-inch, 640 x 480, 64K colors
  • 10.4-inch, 800 x 600, 256 colors
• Keyboard: 82-/83-/87-key
• Pointing Device: Touchpad
• I/O ports:
  • One 9-pin serial port (RS-232)
  • One 25-pin parallel port (EPP/ECP)
  • One 15-pin CRT port
  • One 6-pin PS/2 keypad/keyboard/mouse connector
  • One type III or two type II PCMCIA slot(s)
  • One buzzer

Upgrade Memory

The total memory size is automatically detected by the POST (Power On Self-Test) routines. SIMM Slot I and SIMM Slot II memory sizes must be the same and can be interchanged. If EDO (Extended Data Output) type SIMMs are to be used, they should be installed at both SIMM sockets. EDO memory is standard with the 350P.

The 350P accepts 2 x 4/8/16MB chips up to a maximum of 32MB, which including the 8MB on-board, gives a total of 40MB.

Password Setting

Lift up the keyboard and locate the SW1 switchblock toward the center top of the unit. Four switches are on SW1. Switch 3 is the password setting.

Known Issues

ASTDK on AcerNote 350P Doesn't Work

ASTDK only works with FAT16 (not FAT32), and sleep manager works with both FAT16 and FAT32. To install Win95 OSR2 with FAT16 file system, you must use FDISK command on a HDD and choose "No" when prompted "Do you want to enable large disk support..." This creates FAT16 on OSR2. The main purpose of FAT32 file system is to allow use of larger than 2GB Hard Disk Drives. With Win95 OSR2 FAT16 with ASTDK V2.0R2.0, it works fine.

Upgrading an Acernote 350PC From 100MHz to 120MHz

It needs two jumper/dip switch settings. They are CPU voltage and CPU speed. The existing CPU of AN350P uses Pentium 100MHz (P54LM/2.9V & P54CSLM/3.1V). The upgraded CPU Pentium P54CSLM-120MHz uses 3.1V, so short J4 (for SB version M/B) or switch1-on and switch2-off on CPU voltage switch SWY1 (for SC version M/B), and switch1-on, switch2-off, switch3-on, and switch4-off on CPU speed switch SW2, as mentioned on service guide.

DOS Sound Drivers on 350P, 370 and 970

The Acernote models 350P, 370 and 970 use an ESS sound chip, to obtain sound in the DOS mode of Windows 95 we recommend the following steps.

Locate the Audio drivers diskettes (created when backing up the system utilities set)

Create a new directory on the notebook then copy 3 files from the first disk ESSCFG.EX_, ESSCFG.IN_ and ESSVOL.EX_ to it. (These files are in a directory ESSSET for 350P and 370, W31.DRV\ESSSET for 970)

For 350P and 370 rename the EX_ files to EXE and the IN_ file to INI

For 970 use the expand utility as follows.

EXPAND ESSCFG.EX_

When prompted for a filename use ESSCFG.EXE, do the same process for the other files, expanding EX_ files to EXE and IN_ files to INI

(The expand utility can be found in the directory D:\drivers\ingame\sidewndr or D:\other\oldmsdos on the W95 companion CD)

Add this line to DOSSTART.BAT using the name of the directory you created in place of pathname C:\pathname\ESSCFG.EXE /A:220 /I:5 /D:1 /B:300 /M:E

You can also add a second line with volume settings (optional) C:\pathname\ESSVOL.EXE /V:8 /L:8 /W:8 /M:0 /C:8 /S:8 /A:8

You can also add these lines to the AUTOEXEC.BAT file of a shortcut that is setup to restart the machine in MS-DOS mode.

N.B. This error only ever affected Windows 95 backup and has been corrected and does not occur on current production machines.