Acer 6920G
I have spent the last few hours wiping Vista off my laptop and installing Windows 7 on it. I’ve run into a number of issues while re-setting everything up on Windows 7 and I have decided to share the solutions here in the hope that is will save someone some time! Luckily after installing Windows 7, most of the hardware was working and was installed properly. The only few exceptions were
- FingerPrint Reader ( Acer Bio Protection )
- CineDash Media Console and Launch Buttons ( Launch Manager )
Solving Issues with the FingerPrint Reader
One of my favourite little features of the Acer Aspire 6920G is it’s fingerprint reader, on Vista it worked really well and saved me having to type in my long password each time I started up. As soon as Windows 7 was up and running I realised that it was not working at all and that it had not been automatically setup. Looking in the device manager, I could see that there was an “Unknown device” under the “Other devices” section which I believe was the fingerprint reader as after installing the FingerPrint Utility (direct link), it worked. I thought this had fixed it and it had to an extent, but it still wasn’t working completely correctly and kept showing a “Class not registered” error message. The solution to this problem is to install Adobe Flash Player, It is worth noting that to fix it you have to install it in Internet Explorer using the ActiveX method and not the setup utility.
Finally I had one last problem with setting up the FingerPrint utility was that despite scannng my fingerprints many times, it was still not managing to save my fingerprint profiles and it kept giving the error message “Enroll Failed”. The solution to this was to install the “FP_patch” which was stored in “C:\ACER\FP_patch”, Luckily I had backed up the ACER directory before installing Windows 7 so I was able to do this quite quickly although it occurred to me that if you are reading this you may have not saved a copy of it so I have uploaded a copy of the FP_patch directory here. Once you have downloaded and unzipped the directory, you just need to run the file named “fp.cmd”, then it should all be working properly! After running the patch, you will need to start the Acer Bio Protection application and enroll each of your fingerprints.
On a slight side note, I found that running the Acer Bio Protection app ( called System Settings ) under compatibility mode for Vista made it run much faster and smoothly. To put it into compatibility mode, navigate to the Acer Bio Protection Installation directory ( C:\Program Files\Acer\Acer Bio Protection ) and right-click on SysSet.exe. Select the “Compatibility” tab, check the “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” check box and then select “Windows Vista” from the drop down list and click “Apply” at the bottom right of the window. When you next start it, it should work much smoother!
Getting the CineDash Media Console and Launch Buttons working
If you had the problem with the FingerPrint reader and you are now having problems with either the CineDash Media Console or Launch buttons then you will be happy to hear that the solution for fixing these is much easier than the FingerPrint reader!
The first thing that you will need to do is install the “Launch Manager” which can be downloaded off the Acer website here (direct link). This will get the Email, Web and Empowering Technology buttons working with their default settings. If you need to change what the buttons do, you can launch the application named “Launch Manager” in the start menu. Most of the CineDash should also work now as well although I found that the volume control wasn’t functioning at all. I tried the usual restart of the CineDash Console by powering down the laptop, removing the power cable then removing the battery for a few seconds, but this failed, so I then continued to look for another solution..
The solution to my problem was to get the Launch Manager to run in compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 2). To do this go to the Launch Manager Install directory ( C:\Program Files\Launch Manager ), right-click on “LManager.exe”, select the “Compatibility” tab, check the “Run this program in compatibility mode for:” check box and then select “Windows XP (Service Pack 2)”. Finally click “Apply”. Now everything should work properly!
The new solution kindly explained by Ash in the comments is to do the following. I have tried a silly number of solutions including some that I came up with, and this is the daddy of all solutions. It will get your volume properly syncing like it did when you had Vista installed!! Make sure that you follow these exactly, I know you probably can’t contain your excitement, but don’t skip any steps 😉
- Uninstall any previous version of Launch Manager
- Download the Launch Manager here (hosted here) or go to the acer site and find it there. The filename should be “Kilimanjaro_v2.0.00_Vistax32x64_XPx32x64.zip”
- Unzip. Explore the new folder and right-click Setup.exe. Select Compatibility and choose Windows Vista Service Pack 2 from the drop down list, hit OK.
- Run Setup.exe and install. But don’t reboot yet!
- Now locate and explore the freshly installed folder in your program files directory – (probably C:\Program Files (x86)\Launch Manager or C:\Program Files\Launch Manager depending on if you are running 64-bit or 32-bit)
- Locate LManager.exe and right-click it. As in step 2, select Compatibility, choose Vista SP2, hit OK.
- Reboot and enjoy properly synced volume, and fully functioning buttons.
Thanks again to Ash who shared this solution with us in the comments.
Useful Links
Acer Aspire 6920G (Official) Drivers – ftp://ftp.work.acer-euro.com/notebook/aspire_6920G/vista/Drivers/ Update: It looks like Acer have updated their website and this link no-longer seems to work. You can access all of the drivers and applications here now http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/downloads_gd.html, you will need to select “Notebooks”, “Aspire” and then “6920G”. Thanks for the link tim 🙂 I have updated the links in the post to copies that I have uploaded here!
If this helped you or you have any comments on this post. Please leave a comment! 🙂
UPDATE ( 11/07/2011 ): Windows7 Drivers are now on the Acer website here!
If you have reached this point and have not managed to solve your problems, I highly recommend Cambridge Laptop Repair, they performed a laptop screen replacement for me after I managed to drop this laptop! They service the whole of the UK!
September 26th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
Hi Paul,
All the drivers and utilities you should need are on the acer website here http://support.acer-euro.com/drivers/notebook/as_6920G.html.
For the fingerprint scanner, you probably just need the fingerprint utility, and for the acer e thing I believe you need the Empowering Technology Framework and Acer Mobility Center add-on. I’m afraid I can’t check this on mine as I don’t have it with me at the moment, but I believe this is correct.
Ben
October 9th, 2010 at 11:22 am
Hello. My girlfriend has a 8920g. And sinsce we installed Windows 7 on her computer the Cinedash touch control indeed stopped working.
Now we followed your instructions to the letter, but still the controls are as dead as they ever were.
Everything else works perfectly.
Any thoughts?
October 27th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
The blu-ray drive has stopped working on my 6920 and I spent ages trying to solve the problem, eventually took it to a PC engineer and was told the drive needs replacing.
I’ve ordered a replacement DVD drive from ACER, as I dont really use the blu-ray, but how easy is it to take the old drivee out and put a replacement in. I was hoping a “push, click and out” but I can’t work out if that will actually work?
Any advise much appreciated?
October 27th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
Hi Tom,
I’m afraid that I haven’t had the back off mine, so am not really in a position to give any advice – sorry.
Ben
November 18th, 2010 at 2:07 pm
I found out that if you do an upgrade from vista to windows 7 instead of a full install. Evry thing except the fingerprint reader will work just fine.
Frank
January 19th, 2011 at 8:33 am
Hi again,
I posted earlier regarding new batteries not charging and I found the reason why: I installed Win 7 and shortly after my batt stopped working, so I went on ebay and bought 2 different ones, with more mHa than my original, but they would not charge. After investigating further I realized that the batteries I was purchasing were “8 cell” and the original is 6 cell, so I purchased another aftermarket battery that is 6 cell and voila! it charges fine and lasts about the same as original.
Although I read somewhere that this laptop can charge both 6 and 8 cell batteries, that may not hold true to one that is running Win 7.
Just wanted to let everyone know about this find
February 9th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
To Chris,
I have the exact same battery problem with two different batteries yet my original still charges – the only difference is that I’m still running windows Vista – both new batteries are detected and Vista says “charging” though they are not.
My original battery was 14.8 and my new ones are also 14.8V – I’m assuming then they have the same number of cells?
How were you able to figure out the number of cells your batteries had?
March 25th, 2011 at 6:04 am
Rdz,
the battery that came with the laptop is a 6 cell, and the ones I was trying to install (the aftermarket) were 8 cell. When I was searching for replacements, they were clearly advertised as 6 or 8 cell, and because I wanted the most mha, I went with the 8 cell (which had more mha than original) but the 6 cell ones had the same mha as the original batt, so that’s how I figured it out.
good luck!
March 26th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
Thanks Chris,
See my original battery is 14.8V and 4800 mah.
The two replacements I got were both 14.8V with 5200 mah and 4400 mah. Both don’t charge.
The only batteries I can find that are 4800 mah like my own are actually a different Voltage, 11.1V or 10.8V.
Still trying to figure it out!
May 8th, 2011 at 7:29 am
i have acer 6920g mode i have the problem that my laptop get restart on every 2 hours and some time it’s get hang .what is the solusation .pleace help me.
July 9th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Link to fingerprint utility is not correct link. It is a duplicate of the launche manager link.
July 11th, 2011 at 9:51 pm
Thanks Jack. That’s fixed now. It looks like Acer have put up the Windows 7 drivers now anyway though. The link is at the bottom of the post.
Ben
July 29th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
The cinedash fix worked for me initially, but now, after a few restarts it’s stopped working, and the panel no longer controls my media stuff. I’ll try the fix again by reinstalling :s.
A couple more queries – has anyone here ever had this random problem where you’re on your laptop normally, and then suddenly it’s like somebody’s holding down your left or right arrow key, (which is kind of annoying when you’re on msn and trying to explain why you’re typing backwards)this problem doesn’t go away until you restart, which is really annoying.
My final question is this – I managed to lose some screws from the back of my laptop when I whimsically attempted to take it apart. Since I lost my battery I’ve been running my laptop like a PC, yet since I lost those screws it turns off when the laptop is moved – is it affordable to get replacement screws of the right specs?
Thanks for taking your time to read this guys! Any help much appreciated
August 24th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
This is really lame. You deleted my post in which I talked about my own issues with Window 7 on Acer.
That’s a pathetic way of dodging an issue, and if you couldn’t help me you could’ve just said so instead of deleting my post.
I’d like to see your response to this, although I doubt you’ll have the nerve to make one.
September 9th, 2011 at 2:25 am
Hi! I got the acer 6920g and still with Vista and my CineDash stop working everything, I got to use the volume controle on the screen. Please help me.
Paul
September 9th, 2011 at 3:53 pm
Hi! Ben, I did what you have said to someone els, that removed my batterie and the power cable and waited 10 sec. and it work, the CineDash Media Consle works perfect. Thanks
Paul
September 26th, 2011 at 10:51 pm
Alex: Firstly, to address your seccond reply; I have to manually approve all (first) comments on this blog now since I started getting so much comment spam (over 1000 per month!!). When users first make a reply, I believe you see it, but it’s not actually live on the site until I approve it. So I hadn’t deleted it, I just hadn’t approved it. I have to admit that I have rather neglected my site for the past few months due to a heavy work load.
To address your first reply: I’m afraid that I haven’t seen an issue where the keys get ‘stuck’ before. Secondly, It shouldn’t be too hard to find the screws, a quick sears on ebay turned up a whole host of suitable screw packs for under a tenner.
September 26th, 2011 at 10:52 pm
Paul: I’m glad it worked for you 🙂
November 15th, 2011 at 7:47 pm
does anyone know how to solve my problem?
i can’t play games since i installed win 7. please help
November 15th, 2011 at 7:52 pm
every time i start to play an online game ,it shows me the message
January 16th, 2012 at 12:27 am
AARGHHH I feel terrible now. I’m very sorry to have been so rude, it was extremely selfish of me, I totally misread what happened, I’m not used to blogs lol.
Thank you for your responses to my problems in spite of my rudeness, I recognise that you don’t have to do this at all and you probably have lots of other stuff on your plate as well as this blog arghhhh im so sorry D:.
The “stuck key” problem seems to be something to do with the cinedash, as it seems to stop after i repeatedly stroke the circle in the opposite direction of where the cursor keeps moving. Weird, but it’s definitely managable now, as I don’t have to restart anymore!
I checked for the screws, and as you said there are screws for my 6920g, yet I noticed they were different shapes (some were longer than others) and they were colour coded – is there any way to tell which screw goes where?
January 27th, 2012 at 2:35 am
Hi Alex,
No worries, I’m over it lol. Sorry for the slow reply again. If you take a pic, point out the missing screws and mail it to blog0112@ben90.com, I’ll take a look at mine and see if I can give you some more info.
Ben
February 20th, 2012 at 10:10 pm
Hello Ben
How do I change the fingerprint on the Acer Aspire? When we got the laptop I did not set it up immediately then my daughter set hers up now we can’t change it back to mine?
Thanks,
Mary
March 4th, 2012 at 4:25 pm
Hey,i cant get my audio jack to work on Acer Aspire 6920G(Windows 7),i’ve installed every drivers showed in Acer’s website(cause it has the Windows 7 version).Btw,how to delete Windows Vista from my laptop,i’ve set it to Multi Boot.
December 6th, 2012 at 7:30 pm
Hi I have upgraded from Vista to 7 on my Acer 6920 and found the DVD drive wont play DVDS but will play CDs and DVDS fine after re installing Vista the same and I have lost the DVD package that it came with I think I just need to borrow the original DVD bundle and I will be a happy boy please email me at craigmcdougall@hotmail.co.uk if you can lend them to me I ill pay all postage and ensure you get them bact asap and ill offer $10 for your time many thanks
Craig
March 24th, 2013 at 12:22 am
If you are having trouble with the volume on your Acer 6920 CineDash Media Console before you try anything else be sure the Virtual Surround sound button is on. I was having trouble and thought to try that and voila, fixed
Dareau
January 8th, 2014 at 7:51 pm
Thanks for this!
February 23rd, 2014 at 4:53 pm
hi, ive updated my acer aspire 6920g laptop from vista to windows 7 and cant get a blu-ray film to play. any more. any help would be most welcome. many thanks
May 22nd, 2014 at 10:14 am
Hi i have just bought the acer aspire 6920g
off ebay through looking online i notice it
was originally vista it says win 7
Is now installed im wondering will
the graphics now be messed up for
using the bluray drive? Would you
advise me putting it back to vista?
Thsnkyou so much for this post ig
i do run into issues i now know
hopefully how to fix them