Acer Aspire Revo R3600 and Windows XP.
by henryl
Having installed XP on the Revo without much of a problem, I was really surprised to learn how badly supported Windows XP is by Acer. No drivers are listed on their UK website, and finding the exact hardware specifications for ethernet and sound was a bit of a chore.
After a couple of hours trawling I managed to find them and have listed them here with download links:
Graphics (nVidia ION 9400): Download from nvidia.co.uk
Chipset and LAN (nVidia ION): Download from nvidia.co.uk
HDMI Audio (nVidia ION): Download from nvidia.co.uk
Wireless LAN (Atheros): Download from dw.com.com (Cnet)
Sound (Realtek ALC662): Download from dw.com.com (Cnet)
The Acer Aspire Revo R3600 is more than capable of playing 720p and 1080p video theough the nVidia 9400 GPU. H.264, VC-1 and MPEG-2 video formats are compatible. To take advantage of the nVidia GPU you will need to take the following steps.
First, download and install the Gordian Knot Codec Pack to handle audio and video decoding, and Media Player Classic for playing videos.
Next, you need to set up Media Player Classic. Open MPC and press O, opening the Options window. Click Playback > Output and check the VMR9 (renderless) radio box. Then go to Internal Filters and check the Matroska and MP4/MOV checkboxes. In Subtitles, select Desktop from the Maximum texture resolution drop down list. This will ensure that subtitles will appear smooth and clear.
That’s it, your Revo is now set up with the correct drivers and is ready to tackle almost any video you can throw at it. If you don’t have any HD video to test your setup, visit h264info.com and download one of the H.264 encoded trailers. Both the 720p and 1080p videos should play back flawlessly.
For web video running through Flash you may find this post useful, although please note this guide is for Windows 7.
Please let me know if any of these are dead links by leaving a comment below.
Comments
Hi guys,
thanks a lot for this page. Saved me hours of pointless Googling.
Especially the tip in the comments about changing the hard drive type from AHCI to IDE was crucial. I would recommend adding that to the main article.
I did need to update my BIOS, which wasn’t easy too because i had no working OS on my Revo. I made a USB boot disk using a FreeDOS image with Unetbootin and copied the BIOS files to that. That did the trick.
You may need to change your HD type from AHCI to Native IDE in the bios. Look here: http://journal.x86.co.uk/?attachment_id=155
Hello Sir..
How can you post or at least email me how to install XP on R3600? Ive tried few things like USB xp install, but it cant seem to detect my HD.. thanks for your help.
-Dominic
thanks very very much
Thanks mate! What a nightmare. Must have been about 3 days wasted trying to work this out. Anyone else trying to do this i recommend going straight for the SATA settings in Integrated Peripherals. From then on everything seems to start working. Not quite there yet but hope is restored! Thanks again.
Hello henryl,
This article was very helpful to me.
Thank you.
I usually just take the stuff I need and leave, however I wanted to take a moment to say a big THANK YOU for an excellent thread and entry. This was very useful and saved me a lot of time and pain also.
Thanks for your efforts!
- Brett
I just want to say thank you very much!! you also saved my life. i spent ages trying to get my revo to work properly. i had Ubuntu and i couldn’t get it to play videos smoothly. it was also a nightmare trying to install anything. i followed your instructions for getting xp working and it now works a treat.
One thing I will say is that I NEEDED an external cd drive to install the drivers as it won’t recognise USB until the drivers are installed – catch 22!
This page should be linked on any other website mentioning revo!!
Your a life saver… Much thanks!!
Thanks very much all! Was having the same problems installing Windows XP on my Revo 3600, and this thread was the last missing piece.
I’ve tried the Ubuntu Netbook Remix as a platform for running XBMC, but the codec support wasn’t great, and I want to see if Windows XP has better support for the iPlayer and flash video. Fingers crossed!
Hi Henryl! Problem solved!
I upgradet the BIOS and the option now is available
Thx for your help!
Hi cesc, on the Integrated Peripherals page you should be able to change the SATA mode to Native IDE, as shown in this screenshot: http://journal.x86.co.uk/?attachment_id=155
For some reason on your photo the option is greyed out, I don’t know why this might be… Have you changed the hard disk?
Thx henryl, but i don’t find the option for change from AHCI to IDE
There’s 2 screens of the options I’ve on the BIOS
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/2936/ahci.jpg
http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/4108/integrated.jpg
Argh! I need XP on this machine!!! Help me ;)
Hi cesc, you shouldn’t need the SCSI drivers to install XP. Make sure you’ve changed the hard disk type in the system bios before starting the install. It needs to be changed from AHCI to native IDE, otherwise the install process will stop.
Hi,
I’m trying to install Win XP on the Revo 3600 but i don’t have the SCSI drivers for install the OS
Any solution? I’ve an original Win XP Pro SP2
Thx
[...] Acer Aspire Revo R3600 and Windows XP [...]
Hi luca, I have exactly the setup you describe and it works well.
H Marcos,
720p and 1080p content should both play smoothly in Media Player Classic – I went through the steps again and it’s fine.
I can only suggest that you try installing the Gordian Knot codec pack again. Another problem may be that the video is encoded wrongly and is not compatible.
Thanks for providing this info, makes things much easier
However, on my 1GB Revo 3600, 720p playback is still choppy even after doing exactly what you’ve instructed here.
Is it supposed to pay 720p MKV perfect on XP?
hi,
sorry for my bad english.
I also have a revo r3600 with xp pro sp3 running. I have a lot of problem with MPC HC and VRM9 (renderless) render : I have a lot of tearing with mkv files. With your driver setup MPC HC with VRM9 work fine ?
This ALSO applies to the R1600 revo. The R1600 doesn’t have wireless LAN so you don’t need that driver.
And at least on the USA acer site, they DO have drivers for download for XP. I reinstalled XP to get XP pro, but for some reason the acer network driver from thier webpage isn’t working so I’m going to try the one on nvidia site that you linked.
Thanks!
u ve really helped me
much appreciate it
tkx!
Wow thx for these they are a pain and dont seem to be listed on the Acer website!