Acer Aspire One AOA110L 500GB hard drive mod
by subacati
When I bought my computer, I specifically went looking for one that came with Linux. (Yeah I know I'm a nerd, so what? :left:)
The only one I could find was the Acer Aspire One AOA110L netbook. This little computer comes with Linpus Linux Lite :yuck: and a tiny 8GB ssd! :insane:.
I quickly replaced Linpus with Ubuntu, but at the time I had no way of replacing the ssd. :awww:. …
I came across this drive mod by tnkgrl a long time ago and i"ve been looking for a 1.8" drive ever since. The only one I've found in South Africa so far is this one.
Needless to say, at 8000 Rand for only 64GB I'd be better off spending 8000 Rand on a new computer! :rolleyes:.
Then, while I was up in Bethlehem last week I found a 500GB usb 2.5" hard drive! for ZAR800! :hat:.
That's ten percent of the price for nearly ten times the space!!! :yikes:.
I remembered this 2.5" hard drive mod so I bought it! :happy:.
Now in that mod they use a sata cable, but since the drive I bought had a built-in usb to sata converter, I simply cannabilised the sata connector from that! :up:. Of course, it wasn't perfect since the connector was a vertical mounting type and I needed a horizontal mounting type, but I made it work anyway! (it only took 15 hours! :faint:)
Now I learned something about sata connectors and the Acer Aspire One while doing this.
The following diagrams show the pin layout for sata.
The data side has seven pins, three of which are ground connections. The power side has 15 pins five of which are ground connections. On the Acer Aspire One motherboard, none of the ground connections have holes all the way through! :left:. That's right, you can't really connect the ground pins because there are no holes for them. (a suitable surface mount connector might work though!)
So how can this work? Well, all the ground pins on the the drive are connected to to chassis of the drive, so Acer just decided that the chassis is already a big enough ground connector! :rolleyes:.
Acer has also left the three 3.3v connectors solid, so there appears to be no easy way to get 3.3v to the drive. But don't worry, sata drives actually only use the 3.3v if there is no 5v connection, as would normally be the case in a modern embedded device.
The other pin that can't be connected is pin number 8 on the power side. For some reason, this connection is also solid. :up:.
So to sum up;
Connect pins 2, 3, 5 and 6 from the data side, and connect pins 7, 9, 11, 13, 14 and 15 from the power side. Make sure the drive's chassis is in good contact with the metallic coating on the inside of the Aspire One's case, or connect connected via a grounding cable by securing it to one of the M3 mounting holes on the side of the drive. (the other end of the grounding cable to be soldered or secured to a suitable ground connection.)
Now my netbook has a little more storage space!! :D:happy:.
Update
I was having intermittent problems relating to the Hard Drive after installing it!
Dec 13 11:44:01 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 41.820048] ata1: lost interrupt (Status 0x50) Dec 13 11:44:01 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 41.820684] ata1: soft resetting link Dec 13 11:44:01 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 42.456961] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133 Dec 13 11:44:01 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 42.456982] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0 Dec 13 11:44:01 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 42.457015] ata1: EH complete
Dec 12 16:38:43 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7228.001078] ata1: lost interrupt (Status 0x50)
Dec 12 16:38:43 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7228.001121] ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
Dec 12 16:38:43 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7228.001135] ata1.00: failed command: FLUSH CACHE EXT
Dec 12 16:38:43 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7228.001158] ata1.00: cmd ea/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 0
Dec 12 16:38:43 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7228.001162] res 40/00:00:00:4f:c2/00:00:00:00:00/40 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
Dec 12 16:38:43 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7228.001172] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Dec 12 16:38:43 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7228.001201] ata1: soft resetting link
Dec 12 16:38:43 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7228.652911] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
Dec 12 16:38:43 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7228.652942] ata1.00: retrying FLUSH 0xea Emask 0x4
Dec 12 16:38:43 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7228.653347] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
Dec 12 16:38:43 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7228.653384] ata1: EH complete
Dec 12 16:41:59 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7424.008353] ata1: lost interrupt (Status 0x50)
Dec 12 16:41:59 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7424.008386] ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
Dec 12 16:41:59 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7424.008397] ata1.00: failed command: WRITE DMA EXT
Dec 12 16:41:59 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7424.008412] ata1.00: cmd 35/00:88:a0:fc:53/00:00:23:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 69632 out
Dec 12 16:41:59 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7424.008415] res 40/00:00:00:4f:c2/00:00:00:00:00/40 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
Dec 12 16:41:59 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7424.008422] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Dec 12 16:41:59 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7424.008441] ata1: soft resetting link
Dec 12 16:41:59 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7424.653843] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
Dec 12 16:41:59 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7424.653861] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
Dec 12 16:41:59 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7424.653891] ata1: EH complete
Dec 12 16:42:45 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7470.017151] ata1: lost interrupt (Status 0x50)
Dec 12 16:42:45 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7470.017195] ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
Dec 12 16:42:45 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7470.017212] ata1.00: failed command: FLUSH CACHE EXT
Dec 12 16:42:45 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7470.017241] ata1.00: cmd ea/00:00:00:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/a0 tag 0
Dec 12 16:42:45 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7470.017247] res 40/00:00:00:4f:c2/00:00:00:00:00/40 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
Dec 12 16:42:45 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7470.017261] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Dec 12 16:42:45 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7470.017289] ata1: soft resetting link
Dec 12 16:42:45 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7470.660817] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/133
Dec 12 16:42:45 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7470.660831] ata1.00: retrying FLUSH 0xea Emask 0x4
Dec 12 16:42:45 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7470.661222] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
Dec 12 16:42:45 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7470.661252] ata1: EH complete
Dec 12 16:43:57 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7542.016069] ata1: lost interrupt (Status 0x50)
Dec 12 16:43:57 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7542.016111] ata1.00: limiting speed to UDMA/100:PIO4
Dec 12 16:43:57 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7542.016124] ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x6 frozen
Dec 12 16:43:57 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7542.016139] ata1.00: failed command: READ DMA EXT
Dec 12 16:43:57 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7542.016160] ata1.00: cmd 25/00:40:40:03:0a/00:00:3a:00:00/e0 tag 0 dma 32768 in
Dec 12 16:43:57 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7542.016164] res 40/00:00:00:4f:c2/00:00:00:00:00/40 Emask 0x4 (timeout)
Dec 12 16:43:57 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7542.016175] ata1.00: status: { DRDY }
Dec 12 16:43:57 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7542.016199] ata1: soft resetting link
Dec 12 16:43:57 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7542.656980] ata1.00: configured for UDMA/100
Dec 12 16:43:57 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7542.657005] ata1.00: device reported invalid CHS sector 0
Dec 12 16:43:57 qlue-AOA110 kernel: [ 7542.657056] ata1: EH complete
I suspected that it wasn't grounded adequately, so I opened up my netbook again and added a proper grounding cable! It's been working fine since then! :up:.
subacati 
I've a AOA150 anyway and untill I've got some more reliable backup for what I have I'll put off reformatting or partitioning. Have you noticed?! Everything needs updating these days not just Windows. USB3!? :no:
Originally posted by Frlmnk:
It should, but it's debatable how much power you save in practice because access time for flash is about three times that of a sata hdd.Originally posted by Frlmnk:
Yes, sata is faster than e-sata and e-sata is about twice as fast as usb2. But I hear that usb three will be faster than sata! :left:.Originally posted by Frlmnk:
I opened it up carefully, the way I always do! :p.But I cracked open the plastic case of the hdd because it was held togethe with tabs and didn't use screws! :whistle:.Originally posted by Frlmnk:
The motherboard on the AOA110 is the same as that on the AOA150, except that the AOA110 has a pata zif connector and no physical connector for sata, while the AOA150 has a sata connector and no physical connector for the pata.The ssd drive in these machines have slow write speeds, a common flash problem, so when swapping kicks in the only way forward is to hard power-off the computer and reboot! (not good for the operating system's integrity) With the sata hdd, I don't even notice the swapping. So that means that my computer won't be locking up quite as often anymore!! :yes:.
P.S: If anyone needs an 8GB ssd with a zif connector, I have one I no longer need! (a similar, 16GB one could cost ZAR870) :p.
I've been bummed 'cause mine has a hard drive. I figure flash would use less battery with my cell connection. The drive seems to in in perpetual motion waiting for the signal to catch up with the cpu. I've got an external drive(for backup) and a disc reader but have been able to find direct usb connection types. Used a seperate device to connect to another drive that had sata, but, it was store bought. I fried the power transformer in the heat so now I don't bother. :doh:What I thought of doing was partitioning the drive and dual booting, with ubuntu as a field option. I just haven't been able to get around to it. I've been either devoting electricity to other uses or passed out in the heat. The only reason I blogged so much last summer was because I was flat on my back in the shade from 9 till 3 everyday and had more solar than storage. I just used the BlackBerry. I take it you cracked open the case on the Acer and plugged into the spot where mine plugs, but did you mount it internally and if not, why not just use the usb(purely rhetorical, they suck)? BTW is it faster than the usb? Seems to be more data connectors.
Originally posted by Frlmnk:
In your case, I'd recommend that you only do security updates unless you need a specific update for something that doesn't work. (i.e: bug fixes)here's a link you might find usefull! :up:.http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=10510Here are photos showing some differences between the ssd and hdd version. Note that the hdd version is missing the zif connector in the motherboard. The case is also slightly different and I had to remove some mounting posts and bits with a dremmel to make space for the hdd!
If something wants to update I get an annoying popup whenever I boot or use the software anyway. then there's often glitches because I don't have the update. I just need to schedule in a visit to the library and use their wifi. It gets done in no time that way. I'm just like 6 months behind in quite a few programs.
I don't think I have a computer that isn't sata. I don't even remember what my original computer had, but it was an HP Pavilion 6830 with a 10G hard drive and when I first got it, 64MB of memory! 600 processor. I thought 10 Gs was a humongous sized hard drive. 😆 I don't think my dual booted Acer has ever had to use swap. I still have about a gigabyte of useable memory. Aadil, Mint 10 upgraded it's kernel and has been doing updates ever since and my Mint 10 has been doing weird and irritating things. Just not acting right, and not as fast as it was. I don't like that. I can't remember how many pins my Acer or Compaq have. One section has 4 pins, but not remembering number of pins in the large section.
With Ubuntu, if you're six months behind on updates you might as well get the next version. :p.Linda, sata has several different types of connector for different purposes. The four pin connector is the old standard power. Most drives still have that for backwards compatibility. The data connector has seven pins. So if you have a sata drive with a four pin plug and another, bigger plug, then you have a fifteen pin connector on your drive that's not being used. :up:.I only have 512M ram that's embedded on the motherboard. I do have an empty ram slot that can accept a further 1G of ram but I haven't got around to buying ram yet. :left:.Computer shops around here want you to buy a new computer, not upgrade your existing one.
I guess that`s the way you learn about things but I would simply buy and external ssd drive (1TB available here already) and putt all the stuff I need there. But I must admit, 8GB is not enough at all :faint:
The problem with ssd is the slow write speeds. Although I realise that improvements are being made all the time. I have an external 1TB hard drive, but it's often not convenient to carry that around with me.One way where the difference in write speed was painfully obvious was when I installed Ubuntu on this hard drive. :left:. With the ssd, installation takes about an hour to an hour and a half. With the hard drive, installation was over in twenty minutes. :hat:.(updating still took forever though but that's limited to the bandwidth of the internet connection. :left:)The slow write speed means that swapping virtually locks up the computer with the ssd :faint:. But with the hdd I didn't even notice the swapping! :yes:.I was actually able to do several things while installing and updating where before I'd have to wait for synaptic to finish before starting anything or I'd risk having swap kick in and freeze the computer! (not good when treating or installing software! :insane:)I wasn't expecting the performance to improve so dramatically. :hat:.The other problem with the ssd is that it connected via a pata zif connector. Pata is slower than sata to begin with. (I don't know why, parallell is traditionally eight times faster than serial but in this case it's the other way round. :left:)And as I pointed out in the post, buying an ssd for ZAR8000 to upgrade a ZAR2000 computer to be the equal of a ZAR3000 computer just doesn't make financial sense! :faint:.
If your computer's performance has improved that greatly, MadSci, it seems to me the problem I'm experiencing on the internet is due mainly to the cell connection via the usb. I must admit there are times when the phone alone loads much faster than the netbook. That may very well be a recognition thing. The netbook trying to do what a fullsized computer is capable of. The phone leaves off half of the functionality. Unfortunately, even just using the thing as a learning tool these days requires a high speed data exchange with a parent site. That's the reason for all the upgrades too. :psmurf: might as well just sign off until my nuclear fusion reactor is back on my side of the street. Does anyone else feel cold?
Originally posted by madscientist:
That seems to be the case about everything here. And don't forget the warranty and the service deal.
Originally posted by Frlmnk:
Having some experience with accessing the Internet by using a cellphone as a modem, I've found that it's best to lock the cellphone to either 3G/UMTS or the standard, slow GSM signal. Not all phones offer this option, but it's worth a try! And using a proper 3G usb modem also improves results quite a bit. Here in South Africa, 3G is the most common way to get an internet connection. ADSL is available at a price, but you have to have a landline first. (billed separately :irked:)And ADSL is at a lower bandwidth than current 3G bandwidths! :rolleyes:.We don't have 'cable' at all here. The only other option is a satellite connection offered by Sentech, but that costs so much that it's only viable for enterprise server uses! :insane:. (and then there's the cost of the equipment! :faint:)
You know, when I get on the bus? I don't ask if their using a Cummins or not. I have a 2 year contract and I kinda have to take what I can get. I don kno what kina big hotshot you are der bu I don haf much pull here. I still don't pull in 3G and they're advertiseing 4G. It's often more of a local infrastructure problem here. You, I would think, tend to get new installed. Whereas, Tucson has to wait it's turn until all the big cities have been upgraded. And I don't want to get into the tear jerker of what a hassle the class struggle is here 'cause I ain't got none. :coffee: :bye:
Oh yeah, I forgot! I once had a Texas In st. Programmable calculator, spent early morning hours, key punching data cards in a self study lab and in '89 bought a Commodore Vic20 for $20! It played pong!But I've never done anything like that before! :eyes:
Originally posted by Frlmnk:
They've been falsly advertising 4G in America before the first 4G tests were even begun. :p.Originally posted by Frlmnk:
The claimed coverage and what signal is actually available is two different things! :rolleyes:.
True. Don't you just love the iphone, android and whatever comercials. Or don't don't you get it? :lol:I still haven't figured out what tablet to swallow.
Christmas Graphics
@Tom. I don't watch tv. (too lazy)as for Apple, they're an good example of a successfull company with mediocre (my opinion) products. Compared with competitive products, the iPhone is less advanced and more expensive than many of the smartphones that it out-sells. This indicates that it is better marketed than comparative products. :up:.@Kimberly. Thanks. :up:. (although I don't celebrate Christmas. :left:)
How is it you do your comparisons? Only wanna know? :lol:Here I can not fairway avoid comparisons between the corpus callousum and the prostate. :p
Thats ok, Qlue. There are a lot of people that don't celebrate it, but its the thought that counts.
Originally posted by Frlmnk:
I let Mik do the technical comparisons and the the price factor is blatant! :p.
I saw one at Best Buy that was priced at 799.00 USD :eyes:
I've been looking at tablet pcs. What do you think of them Aadil? Are they just a fad, or is it the next step up from the smartphones, iphones, androids and such? They kind of intrigue me. But SO expensive!
Originally posted by MadSci:
I've been trying to answer this all day, but, the bus kept coming before I got done. Could you clarify what the hell you mean? 😆 please, before I sic Groucho on you.
Originally posted by L2D2:
:no:.The difference between a netbook and a tablet is that one has a touch screen and the other has a keyboard! :left:.Although many tablets come with embedded operating systems like Android. The Meago tablets are likely to be somewhat more functional though!http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_personal_computer#LinuxOriginally posted by Frlmnk:
Mik is My Opera's resident phone guru! He can tell you what's what about phone technology! :up:.And I don't know about the USA, but in South Africa, anything from Apple is three times the price of anything else! :rolleyes:.The iPhone is the most expensive phone you get. And it's not even a true 'smartphone'! :irked:.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N900This is actually a smartphone. A tablet pc is bigger, about the size of a netbook! :rolleyes:.
Post Update!I was having some intermittent issues with my hard drive! It seems that it wasn't grounding well through the chassis, so I added a more definite grounding cable! That seems to have solved the problem! :up:.
Does it still fly crooked like that Grummin Albatross around my neck?HAD to go do updates at the library. My carrier told me to, spankings make me 😥 , my battery lasted one hour. Got I done though. :up:Along with a long new one from Adobe. Haven't been reading about any trojans so that one may be ok. Back to metal shop. :bye:
Ouch! :insane:.I had something wierd happen last night. Mouseemu became uninstalled all by itself. :confused:.If your touchpad stops working the way it should, go into synaptic, search for mouseemu and reinstall it. :rolleyes:.
:confused:.My philosophy is, "Every man for himself!!!" :insane:. (and God help ye all! )
So many conflicts so few real resolutions. What else is new?So what is your real philosophy? Your a sinner but at least your dealt with in a capitalist market?Nothing left to get on with?
Get off my ship? BTW you did
Get off my ship?