Acer Aspire One mini computer problem with Astro and XP

[mancow]

I just picked up one of the new mini Acer Aspire One mini computers that run XP. It's an amazing little machine. 1.6 Ghz, 1 Gig ram and 120 GB hard drive.
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product. ... d=10575196

I installed AstroSaber/XTS3000 from a thumb drive. It seems to install correctly but when I go to run it I get an error that says (The system cannot find the file specified). A Microsoft error box is then displayed after clicking OK. The error report states ModName: rui50c.dll.

WTF? I don't get it, any ideas?

[Hartley]

Hi,

This has been answered before - if you don't have a "com port" identified by having a USB-to-Serial adapter installed, it will do this.. I also just got one of those - once you install the cable, all is FB..

Hartley

[mancow]

Huh...that's a new one to me. I'll try it when I get home. Thanks! I tried everything from different revisions of the program and installing and uninstalling etc..

BTW, how do you like the computer. I am super impressed so far. I can't believe how fast it is. I expected it to run like a big Windows mobile 5 Motorola Q phone or something along that line. But, it's a little powerhouse.

This is one of the neatest things I've found in a long time and the price is amazing.

[Hartley]

I like it a lot, though I haven't really taken it any further than the local coffee shop yet. I bought a neoprene zip case and it's easy to schlep around, especially compared to my old 15" ballast. I got mine as a highly portable web/email machine plus programming tool - I'm not sure I'd want to write a book (or type in a 300-channel codeplug) with it, but it works fine for email and surfing, and it sits just fine on a car seat or cabinet-top for programming. Yes, the price is amazing for what you get!

What I'd really like to find is the bigger battery - mine came with the little one and 2.5 hours is sometimes a bit short.

73 DE Hartley

[mancow]

The bigger battery would be nice. But, then again that 2+ hours is a decent amount of time for basic dicking around.

The only problem I'm having (despite the astro issue I asked about) is with my Alltel Q9C phone. I can tether it out to my HP DV1000 series laptop just fine and use it as a modem. I has mobile 6 on it and the only thing needed is activesync. It uses activesync's NDIS drivers to make the connection. But, for some reason it shows a connection but there's no connectivity. It's really pissing me off since the prospect of mobile internet on it using my phone is the main reason I got this thing.

[N4DES]

I like mine as well and posted the same query a few weeks ago after loading CPS on it. Otherwise it works great on the wifi as I sit on the sofa surfing the net and other applications that I loaded work fine on it.

One question I do have, being I haven't had a chance to pick up a USB to serial adapter is, do I have to re-load the CPS or will the loaded version recognize the adapter and make the appropriate adjustments?

I agree that the battery could use a bit beefing up and haven't found a good source for the larger replacement even though I have found many blogs that talk about it but they never give a location to purchase one. Even on the Acer website I haven't found the higher capacity replacement as of yet.

Mark

[Hartley]

Hi Mark,

It will start up and work fine once you have the cable plugged in - no need to reinstall. I don't think it dies if you pull it out, but I haven't tried that. Interestingly, only the Astro 25 stuff does this trick - the Astro Spectra and A-Saber/XTS3K don't seem to care.

There are plenty of big batteries on eBay, and a few elsewhere on the web, but they're all coming out of China/Hong Kong and NOT "Acer". I haven't decided if I want to take a $90 chance yet..

73 DE Hartley

[mancow]

We were messing with this thing last night and tested against my DV1000 series and a friend's newer Toshiba. My DV has a Centrino 1.7 Ghz and I'm not sure what the other one was but I think it was a dual core Pentium. The little Acer kept right up there with them. It was even a bit more efficient than my DV but a bit less than the Toshiba. We were surprised to find that the Atom processor is a dual core type. I think they could sell more of these if they advertised the performance as being right up there with a regular sized PC.

[N4DES]

Hi Mark,

It will start up and work fine once you have the cable plugged in - no need to reinstall. I don't think it dies if you pull it out, but I haven't tried that. Interestingly, only the Astro 25 stuff does this trick - the Astro Spectra and A-Saber/XTS3K don't seem to care.

There are plenty of big batteries on eBay, and a few elsewhere on the web, but they're all coming out of China/Hong Kong and NOT "Acer". I haven't decided if I want to take a $90 chance yet..

73 DE Hartley

Thanks....I'll see if I can pick up a converter next week when I'm off from work and try it out. Looking forward to having something small and compact to take to hamfests and out to the car to reprogram the mobiles from time to time. A case should be opened on MOL as I'm sure we aren't the only ones who have experienced this issue. Maybe 12.00.01 or 12.01.00 CPS will fix it.

I'm not ready to take an aftermarket chance for the battery either. I'd rather pre-plan my portable computing outings and deal with the low batt situations when it comes up.

Mark

[N4DES]

Hi Mark,

It will start up and work fine once you have the cable plugged in - no need to reinstall. I don't think it dies if you pull it out, but I haven't tried that. Interestingly, only the Astro 25 stuff does this trick - the Astro Spectra and A-Saber/XTS3K don't seem to care.

There are plenty of big batteries on eBay, and a few elsewhere on the web, but they're all coming out of China/Hong Kong and NOT "Acer". I haven't decided if I want to take a $90 chance yet..

73 DE Hartley

CPS came right up as soon as I put the driver/converter in...isn't technology wonderful!

[mancow]

Mine is running great now. This thing is great for programming. No more lugging around huge heavy cumbersome laptops.

[N4DES]

Mine is running great now. This this is great for programming. No more lugging around huge heavy cumbersome laptops.

Isn't that the truth. Went to a free flea today in Broward County and met up with a friends where one of them needed his xts5K updated. Long story short, sat in Danny's for some chow n chat afterwards and this lil laptop was the perfect fit for the occassion.

[mancow]

Well...mine is now 10-7.

It got hung up when I had too many things running I guess. It wouldn't respond to a C,A,D and I was only left with a hard shutdown via the power button.

When it came up again I got the black and white boot options menu. Every option leads me to a brief BSOD that loops back around again. I can't see what the BSOD is saying because it's too fast.

Now WTF am I to do. I hate to return it with stuff on the HD. There really isn't anything too sensitive on there but there are passwords and some stuff pertaining to work that I don't want floating around god knows where.

Since there is not optical drive how the hell do you go about doing any sort of OS maintenance or reloading? The only factory backup resided on the hard drive in a separate partition.

I do have XP pro and some USB sticks. I saw a USB boot option in the bios. Could I load the XP install stuff on one and try that?

This really sucks.

[mancow]

Fixed the problem.

I took it back and got another one.

[CTAMontrose]

AWESOME! this is just hte fix i was looking for... i upgraded mine to 1.5gb with a 320gig hdd... vista ultimate.. runs great but hte CPS issue was driving me NUTS!!

[Smoke eater]

I bought one of these little Acers in hopes of having a smaller package to carry with me to the field. I have MotoTrbo, DTR, and Professional Series CPS loaded onto it and it works just fine but.... I can't get my MTS 2000 CPS ver.R02.02.00, Astro 25 mobile and portable CPS ver. R12.00.00 to work properly. I've downloaded them all from M.O.L. onto a thumbdrive and attempted to load them to the laptop with no success. I've tried uninstalling and re-installing the software, plugging the USB RIBless cable in and then starting the software but no joy. When I attempt to start the Astro 25 CPS I get a warning sign that says, "The system cannot find the file specified". I then click the "OK" button and I get to the "Welcome to Astro 25 CPS" screen and I click on "Start using CPS" button. After I do that I get the same system cannot find the file specified warning. What gives? Anyone have a clue? I bought this thing to to my field programming so I wouldn't have to carry an 8 pound Dell Latitude (company owned) with me. I have an H.P. Pavilion DV4 with Vista (personal computer) for everything else, if I can't use the Acer for programming the thing is useless as it's too small for everyday use.... for me anyway. Thanks in advance for any help you folks can provide.

[Hartley]

Scroll up to the top of this thread and read the discussion about available serial ports - this should fix your problem..

[Smoke eater]

Unfortunately the answer to my question is not in the fact that I'm using a USB to Serial cable but, I'm using a genuine Motorola USB cable part #HKN6184A. The problem I was having was getting my computer to recognize the cable when I plugged it in. I did some experimenting and found that the cable has to be plugged into the radio first, turn the power on the radio second, and then let the computer recognize the USB cable. After the this the software works fine and I'm able to open both Astro 25 mobile and portable CPS versions R12.00.00 without a hitch. My MTS 2000 CPS seems to work just fine too.....