Acer Aspire TimelineX 4820TG/5820TG Modded BIOS (Insyde)

There is a modded BIOS available for Acer Aspire TimelineX 4820/5820 (T/TZ/TG/TGZ). The mod was done by mask89 over at Russian forum forum.ixbt.com. Here is the original post (in Russian).

Both 4820/5820 share the SAME BIOS

BIOS IMAGE WAS NOT TESTED. IT MIGHT BRICK YOUR COMPUTER. TRY IT AT YOUR OWN RISK!
That being said, if BIOS flash is bad it should still be possible to recover.

Acer Aspire 4820/5820 original BIOS v1.23 (for recovery)
- this image can be used to recover notebook if it does not boot after flashing to the modded BIOS.
Download: ZQ1X64.fd.zip / mirror1 / mirror2

Acer Aspire 4820/5820 modded BIOS v1.25: by mask89
- Added Integrated graphics option to Switchable graphics: (Integrated/Discrete/Switchable)
- Unlocked hidden menus Advanced and Power BIOS Setup
- Unlocked AHCI Option ROM Support and USB RMH Mode
- Added UEFI boot support. Now you can boot via EFI Shell.
- Fixed problem with entering BIOS and Acer logo
- From Main removed Quiet Boot and Network Boot, now you can find them in Boot tab.
Download: Acer_Aspire_4745_4820_5820_v125_UEFI_more_options.rar

Acer Aspire 4820/5820 modded BIOS v1.23: by mask89
- Added Integrated graphics option: (Integrated/Discrete/Switchable)
- Unlocked hidden menus Advanced and Power
- Added UEFI boot support. Now you can boot via EFI Shell.
Download: ZQ1x64EC_mod_v2_UEFI_BOOT.rar / mirror1 / mirror2 / mirror3

So far, this BIOS was tested on 4820TG by Licht at forum.ixbt.com (here). He reported that it works great, except the BIOS setup sometimes freezes and computer has to be manually restarted.

Please leave a comment on whether this works for you or not. It would also be of great benefit to the community if you posted photos of the unlocked menus.

How to flash the BIOS: (for Insyde BIOS only)
You need to have some kind of storage media with BIOS recovery file on it. You can use USB flash drive, SD memory card (via built-in card reader) or CD to store BIOS recovery image. For Acer 4820/5820 BIOS recovery file name must be ZQ1X64.fd. This is very important, because if file name is different then it WILL NOT WORK.. Just copy the BIOS file to an >>empty<< USB drive or SD card (FAT16/FAT32 formatted) and you have created recovery media.

Then do the following:

1. The notebook must be turned off.
2. Plug in the thumbdrive into USB port or insert SD card into the card reader. They must have BIOS on them.
3. Press & hold Fn+Esc key while powering the notebook by pressing the power button. Keep holding the Fn+Esc key.
4. When you see laptop's LEDs flashing or notice activity on the thumbdrive's LED indicator, release Fn+Esc key.
5. The BIOS file will be read from USB drive into notebook's memory and flashing will begin. You will NOT see any activity. Screen will remain blank. This is completely normal.
6. Flashing process takes about 2-3minutes. Once BIOS flashing is complete, your notebook should automatically restart. Wait at least 5 to 10 minutes. Only interrupt the process if there is no response from the notebook for more than 10 minutes. If that is the case, then shutdown the notebook manually by pressing the power button. Power it on and see if the BIOS flash succeeded. If not, try the flashing process again with another USB stick and make sure you did all the steps correctly.

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If flashing did not work, then try another USB stick, make sure BIOS filename is correct and make sure all the steps are done in correct order.

If your computer does not boot with modded BIOS
Do not panic. It is possible to bring it back to life. Simply follow the above procedure, except this time you flash to the unmodified original BIOS image that you can download at the beginning of this post.

Cheers!

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Acer Aspire TimelineX 4820TG/5820TG Modded BIOS (Insyde)