Acer X1200 BIOS update - Broken HDMI Audio

I just installed the R01 A3 BIOS update from Acer, and now my HDMI port's audio no longer works. Has anyone else had this problem / know of a solution. Also, if anyone else has an X1200 that they haven't updated yet, would they be willing to make a copy of their BIOS using WinFlash and send it to me so I can downgrade? Acer insists the only way to fix my computer is to mail it to Texas, which I would like to avoid if at all possible.

Are there any yellow or red flags in the Device Manager?

I would mail the computer. I think Acer knows somethings about this model that you do not, and they are not going to tell, for risk it will get into the media.
Let them fix it right, rather than void your warranty.

Acer's response is probably a canned one - their first-level support is trained to simply tell you to mail the machine in even with minor issues, so they can just wipe it/send it back to you.

If you do send it back, make sure you don't have any data on there you need, because there's a high chance they will wipe it.

If you don't send it back, my advice would be to downgrade your BIOS.

You may also want to try and get ahold of higher level Acer tech support, and start searching for a better answer.

What is your technician's reasoning for this:

"If you don't send it back, my advice would be to downgrade your BIOS."

What do you expect to accomplish for doing that, based upon what you know so far?

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic75555.html

Because it was working prior to the BIOS being upgraded. If you knew anything at all about troubleshooting, you would know that if you make a change and something breaks to attempt reverting the change to see if it un-breaks.


Anyone who would suggest not attempting a BIOS reversion is a bad tech.

same thing happened

I bought 2 of these computers. Here is what happened to me.

They were both working great except for the fact that the network card would just turn off after awhile on both of them, and then it would not auto-sense when I plugged in the network cable. I had to disable/renable lan in bios to get it to work again.

Acer told me to install the bios upgrade, which I did on one of them, and it fixed the network card problem, but now the HDMI port is not working. There are no yellow flags in device driver, it just always says 'not plugged in' in the nvidia contrl panel, and it always shows the digital connector in the audio device section , not the HDMI connector like it does on the one that I did not upgrade the bios on.

I am sorry I bought these. Now I have one where the network card always stops working and another one that the HDMI port is not working, which is the only reason I bought it in the first place !


I will create a copy of the bios on the one that I did not flash and send it to you, if you tell me what to do.

FYI my system broke in the same way - updated bios and no HDMI audio, exact same symptoms. I don't know how to copy your bios fastvince, hopefully someone will chime in. Does anyone know how to escalate this issue with Acer so they are at least aware of it? talking to the tech drones dumps our complaints into a black hole it seems....

I just flashed my bios this morning and this is what I was greeted with....not exactly what i expected just getting off of work.......oh well maybe they will fix it.....my question is, how come it still sees the Realtek audio hdmi driver but not the Nvidia one?

*****s

yes they are *****s . If you look up '*****' on WIKI, I bet you will find a picture of an Acer support person on there somewhere

I should have known better than to buy this as soon as it came out. I am really down on myself for buying 2 of these. :blackeye:

I hope they know about the problems and will fix them soon. They really worked good when I first got them. Now I have 2 that won't work right, one with a network card that goes to sleep and never wakes up, and the other one has the the HDMI audio port that does not work. It is past the 2 weeks since I bought mine at best buy, so I can't take them back.

Maybe I will try to sell them to x-girlfriends. They won't need the hdmi port on the one, and I can put an old 100m network card in the other one !

I am almost at the point that I am willing to take a lost on these and just build one good one from scratch.

always best to build u're own, and if u shop, u can get what u want cheaper and better parts.

I called acer today and reported the problem - I got a reasonably accommodating first level tech that didnt try to get me to reinstall drivers ad naseum and told me my complaint was being escalated to the senior techs. hopefully it goes somehwere. I gave them the url of this thread as well. Hopefully someone from acer actually investigates and is able to address the issue.

If someone with the know-how could advise how to back-up a bios in visa64 with no floppy drive, hopefully someone can upload a pre-patch bios so we can get our sound back!

thanks

introuble,

Thanks for calling them and reporting the problems, let's see what happens!

I think I can save a copy of the bios from the one I did not flash using winflash, and post it here. Then you can use winflash to load it to yours.

I will try it and post it if it works...


nickc,

yea, I should have done it that way. Just had brain fade...getting old....

Any luck on this? Just bought an X1200 and can't get the hdmi audio to work at all. It has the A03 bios.
I love the computer, However it is basically useless to me if I don't get the HDMI audio to work. I cant seem to access Acers drivers site either, Is it me or is it down?

Near as I can figure,

The sound is outputting, It is outputting to a non existant SPDIF port (You know the one blanked out by the case). The setting in the bios to enable or disable HDMI audio output has 0 effect now.

Acer support hasn't done jack for me, except give me stupid solutions, Like reload vista, reload drivers, turn up the volume on the tv etc..

Have any of you folks had any better luck?

I agree, that is what it seems to be doing.

I have not had any luck with the one that I flashed the bios on, still no sound from HDMI port. On the one that I did not flash the bios, the sound on HDMI works, but the network card does not.

Still waiting for Acer to post a fix.

Hey all, just came back to check in on this thread (I subscribed to it, but for some reason I never got an e-mail saying there were responses).

I'm actually glad to see that other people are having this problem and reporting it to Acer, as it means there's some hope that they will release a fix! I noticed that the BIOS update is no longer listed on their download site, which leads me to believe that they've taken notice of the problem and are working to fix it. I just wish Acer would be a little more forthcoming with info.

Hey Fastvince,
I would love a winflash of the A2 Bios if at all possible, I don't use the nic on mine as I have a wireless connected to it. The HDMI audio on the other hand is a huge nuisance to me since there is no other easy way of outputting surround.

On that note I gave loading XP on the system a try thinking it might be an issue with vista drivers, The same exact thing happens to me in XP, Sound playing but not outputting to HDMI.

I will try acer again tommorow and see what happens, maybe they will get tired of me and fix it

I would really like to know if there is anyone out there with the A3 bios and working sound.

I have not had time to mess with it lately. I will save a copy of the A2 version using WinFlash to nite and post it. email me at fastvin@mail.com directly if you need to get in touch with me.....thanks

I would also like a copy of the a2 bios, let me know when its ready
Thanks