Dedicated Graphics Card Missing?!

[frankieafp]

Hi all,

I am new here and am not sure how novice you can be to get help, I am down there somewhere.

Anyway I just bought an ACER 5553G Laptop from PC World and it is a Refurb. Having got it home for a bargain price (so I thought) I instantly played with the options and carried out my performance index. Dissapointingly it came up as 4 for graphics. I immediately thought how can that be with my super ATI Radeon dedicated HD 5470 card installed, with 2175mb hypermemory (so says the sticker next to my right hand).

Having hunted for the card in the system devices fields there appears to be no sign of it and all i can find is the 4250 hd card that is also supposed to be there....

I have tried downloading drivers from the AMD and Acer websites but all seem to just reinstall the 4250 card and the 5470 doesnlt get a mention.

Have I bought a duff, do I just need to install it properly or am I looking in the wrong place?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Frankie

 

[EvanDavis]

Have I bought a duff, do I just need to install it properly or am I looking in the wrong place?



Frankie

Hi and welcome to the forum. No you haven't bought a duff at all. The Acer Aspire 5553G comes with either ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470/ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250, but not both. In your case yours comes with ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250

 

[floppybootstomp]

Plainly you have a lesser graphics card than you expected.

I suggest you take the refurbished Acer laptop back to PC World (now there's a combination of words designed to make you shiver) and discuss the issue with them.

Good luck

 

[frankieafp]

Thanks for the quick replies both.

My initial thought was I must have misread the spec, but I have the specification sticker on my wristpad in front of me now and it states the card inside is a HD 5470. Also the reviews of the laptop show that it contains both cards as one is always on and the better card only comes on when needed for gaming etc.

I have been in to see the "knowhow" people at PC World and left thinking with their knowhow customers are better off buying from ebay!

My choices seem to be send it back or try and find the card, I am trying the latter as I only paid £330 for it on a 25% off special, so appreciate this sort of card would usually not be available at this price and would prefer to just fix it myself....if the card is not there I may as well give up the ghost though.

does anyone have a tip for finding out out if it is there but not installed?

thanks again

Frankie

 

[bootneck02]

I think I would download the 4250 drivers and install them, if that does not work return it to PC World for them fix or refund your money.

 

[EvanDavis]

It is quite possible when the laptop was refurbished it may have been labled wrong. This is PC world after all. I have had a few Acer Laptops in the past and reviews show just as the image above, two graphics specs, but trust me on this one, there can only be one.

 

[EvanDavis]

frankieafp to save any arguement can you post the laptop serial number/model number etc and I will tell you exactly what graphics are in the laptop.

 

[frankieafp]

thanks all, I suspect you are right Evan Davis - the serial number is SNID:02205493125.

thanks for your time on this.

Frankie

 

[EvanDavis]

WHOOOPS !!!! I am going to have to take back what I have said so far. JUst read a review properly. Seems it does have both. It runs on the lesser card until you want to play games, then you have to manually set it to use the better card

 

[frankieafp]

Ah, that sounds positive, hopes are back up!

So do you know how I would set it manually - would I just get a prompt?

Thanks again

 

[EvanDavis]

Ah, that sounds positive, hopes are back up!

So do you know how I would set it manually - would I just get a prompt?

Thanks again

I am just busy downloading the user manual and I will have a quick flick through and let you know

 

[frankieafp]

thanks for doing that, really appreciate it, starting to realise my IT skills need vast improvement

 

[EvanDavis]

Ok here we go, to the top right above the keyboard there should be a button marked "P" hit that and it should activate the HD 5470, it will only work though if you have mains power connected. If running off battery power it will revert to HD 4250 Watch a video here http://www.trustedreviews.com/Acer-Aspire-5553G_Laptop_review

 

[frankieafp]

thanks EvanDavis, but sadly no joy with the P button. It just launched a table that offering the choice of opening a number of software programs - this suggests the card is either missing or not connected perhaps?

 

[EvanDavis]

thanks EvanDavis, but sadly no joy with the P button. It just launched a table that offering the choice of opening a number of software programs - this suggests the card is either missing or not connected perhaps?

From what I can make out, the card only comes into play when there is 3D intensive graphics needed or high end gaming, otherwise it just stays with the lower end graphics.

 

[frankieafp]

That may be worth a try. I have a copy of Call of Duty, a fairly old one, so will install and see what happens when I try to play it.

Hope yhou don't mind but I will come back and let you know how I get on tomorrow.

Thanks again for all your help today, especially considering what I got from the people at PC World, who I paid for the product! I am extremely grateful to you.

Good night