Windows 7 (7057) on Acer Aspire One

I'm running Windows 7 build 7057 (appears to be RC1) on my $299 Acer AsipreOne netbook from Costco and it works great! Win7 even found the built in Webcam! The latest install went just fine, booted off my USB key and did an upgrade from the earlier version of Windows 7 I was running (build 7000). Only problem was there were 4 devices listed as "Base System Device" in device manager on the machine -- they'd been unknown in build 7000 too.

In device manager these devices were listed as Vendor 197B and device 2381, 2382, 2383 and 2384. For those googling, this would be device IDs (as an aside, anyone know of a centralized list of these?):

  • PCI\VEN_197B&DEV_2381
  • PCI\VEN_197B&DEV_2382
  • PCI\VEN_197B&DEV_2383
  • PCI\VEN_197B&DEV_2384
Everything seemed to work, so I wasn't that worried about it, but I hate having unknown devices. So after some digging I determined that Vendor 197B was JMicron so I guessed these had to do with the card readers on the netbook. This was odd since the card reader was recognized by Win7, but then again, I'd tried to use an SD card for ReadyBoost, and while Windows found the device, and tried to create a ReadyBoost file on it, Windows would always then pull the file off, saying there had been an IO error.

A little hunting led me to an FTP site for JMicron's drivers, specifically ftp://driver.jmicron.com.tw where, within the /jmb38x/XP_Vista folder there are a list of drivers for the missing devices. Odd, since these are WHQL certified drivers, I would have thought that the centralized Microsoft repositoy in the sky would have found them. Maybe because they're certified for XP and Vista but not Win7?

I downloaded the JMB38X_WinDrv_R1.00.26_WHQL.zip driver and installed it. Worked like a champ! I now have four JMicron devices listed under the "Memory Technology Driver" branch on the device tree, and readyboost now seems to like my SD card too!

Added 15 Oct 09 I'm upgrading my netbook to the RTM version of Win7 and I see that JMicron now has version 34 of the drivers out, and they are Win7 certified now. Available at the same download location.

Posted by Walden on Thursday, March 26, 2009

34 comments:

  1. Thanks for the tip. That worked great on Windows 7 Build 7077. I had been having shut down, sleep and freezing problems before installing these drivers. Device Manager also showed the three System Base Devices and now those entries are gone.

    The Acer One now properly shuts down and goes to sleep.
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  2. Thanks, I was having the same problem and now is working great.
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  3. pcidatabase.com

    Great source for figuring out what drivers are what
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  4. I really appreciate the tip. Now I can try readyboost myself, and you sure saved us a lot of work hunting down the drivers.
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  5. Great post. Thanks.

    The SD card reader now works(in readyboost too), and the freezing has stopped

    I'm running duel boot xp & win7 on 160GB AAO.

    I still have 4 unknown base system devices though. Could these be the multi card reader? help would be appreciated.
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  6. Have got an AOA110b (1.5GB RAM) which runs Xubuntu 9.04 well but wanted to test W7.

    So installed W7 RC1 Build 7100 and was struggling with performance untill finding this blog.

    Now readyboost enabled without error using a 4GB SDHC system much more responsive.

    Nice one thanks for digging and sharing this.
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  7. Works in Windows 7-RC (7100) and Acer Aspire 2930. Thanks!
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  8. Good work guys,enjoy the new Windows
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  9. Meow! It Worked Fine W7 32-bit RC-7100 build.
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  10. Hey thanks, had the same problem with the same netbook. Googled the hardware ID & this site was on the first page. Instant solution!

    Cheers
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  11. Have the AOne with 8gb SSD (CF card) and 1.5gb ram, running Windows 7 Ultimate (RTM MSDN) on it. The entire system works like a champ.

    The card readers worked perfectly, even allowed me to use one as readyboost but the fact that I had 4 unknown base devices kept bugging me so I went searching and this page was the first hit :)

    Downloaded the latest driver, installed it and the unknowns disappeared and I now have 8 JMB38X devices in the category "Memory technology driver".

    Machine seems to be completely unaffected but I'm at a peace of mind. :D
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  12. One stupid question.

    Just installed WIN7 in my AAO, everything's working fine and I'm downloading these drivers now.

    The thing I want to ask is how do I get the webcam to start. In WINXP there was a "shortcut" @ My Computer but in 7 I can't find it.
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  13. Sweet.. Thanks!
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  15. Thank you friend!
    I just installed JMB38X_WinDrv_R1.00.34_WHQL and it works beautifully.
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  16. The driver JMB38X_WinDrv_R1.00.34_WHQL works great with Windows 7 Ultimate on my Acer One AOA150BGb.
    I was afraid having to go back to Windows XP, because of all the blue screens.
    Thank you very much!
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  17. Thank you so much. I was also able to use the driver JMB38X_WinDrv_R1.00.34_WHQL.zip on my Aspire One AOA150-1679 running Win 7 ultimate. I able to use the memory card slow now. Thanks again!!
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  18. I am sure it will be really useful to have the solution in hand in case if you find any trouble in future. I have just started using Windows 7 so trying to get my hands on ASAP now.
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  19. Got readyboost working on 8gb Sandisk SDHC card - didn't realise it was a driver missing, thought it was a slow SD card that didn't meet spec. Saved me some money, cheers!
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  20. Very Helpful thanks a lot. It was the only drivers missing after the installation of windows 7 today on my aspire
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  21. Fixed me too on a First Generation AOA150... you da man!!!
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  22. Thanks, fixed problem with W7 x64 on a Lenovo 3000 N500 with this driver:
    ftp://driver.jmicron.com.tw/jmb38x/XP_Vista_Win7/

    Thanks again
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  23. Great, works excellent!
    Thanks!
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  24. AOA110 8GB SSD Tiny7... This solved my unrecognized base system devices. Thank you very much!
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  25. I'd like to offer this man a medal - in fact it was difficult to find the file specified, as the version has been subsequently updated, and v34 is no longer available. But if you go here ftp://driver.jmicron.com.tw and click through the card reader sections, you'll get the v50 or later. Now, if I could only get my function key on-screen display stuff working, I'd have a perfect netbook.
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  30. Thanks!!!!!! from Germany.
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  32. Great post. Worked on a RT 7 Lite install on Acer Aspire One ZG5
    ReplyDelete
  33. Im having heaps of trouble getting the webcam to work on my AOA150 (ZG5) running win7 ultimate. Everything else works fine. any assistance would be appreciated.
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  34. WORKED TODAY. 1-29-12 to stop base device pop ups. Ver 60 Thank you all.
    ReplyDelete

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