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In this guide I’ll explain how to take apart an Acer Aspire 5100 laptop. I’ll show how to remove and replace major laptop components such as CD/DVD drive, memory, hard drive, wireless card, cooling fan and keyboard.
In the next article I’ll explain how to remove LCD screen and replace inverter board.
First of all, make sure the laptop is turned off, the power adapter is disconnected and the battery is removed.
Both memory modules, wireless card, cooling and and hard drive can be accessed from the bottom. Remove four screws marked with red circles and loosen two screws marked with green circles. Remove both covers.
You can search for Acer Aspire 5100 spare parts here.
Removing DVD drive:
1. Remove one screw (red circle) securing the drive.
2. Push the drive from the laptop with a flathead screwdriver.
3. Pull the drive form the laptop.
Removing hard drive:
1. Pull the hard drive to the right side until it’s disconnected from the motherboard.
2. Lift up the hard drive.
If you are replacing the hard drive with a new one, you’ll have to transfer the mounting bracket to a new drive.
My laptop had a 80GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive installed. You can upgrade it to a larger and faster SATA drive.
100GB, 120GB, 160GB and 250GB SATA drives should work just fine in this laptop.
Removing laptop memory:
1. Carefully spread latches on both sides of the memory module until it pops up at a 30 degree angle.
2. Pull the memory module by the edges.
Acer Aspire 5100 has two memory slots. You can install up to 4GB RAM total. Up to 2GB memory module into each slot. You should use PC2-533 DDR2-667MHz 200pin SODIMM RAM modules.
Removing wireless card:
1. Disconnect both antenna cables. Grab the antenna cable connector with your fingers and unsnap it from the connector on the wireless card.
2. Spread latches on both sides of the wireless card same way as you did with RAM modules.
3. When the wireless card pops up at a 30 degree angle, pull it from the slot by the edges. Remove wireless card.
Removing cooling fan:
1. Remove two screws securing the fan.
2. Carefully disconnect fan cable from the motherboard.
3. Lift up and remove the fan.
My laptop had a lot of dust trapped between the fan and heatsink. This dust buildup kills normal airflow inside the cooling module and causes laptop overheating. You can blow off dust using canned air.
Here’s how you can replace thermal paste between the heatsink and CPU.
Removing laptop keyboard.
In the following steps I’ll explain how to disconnect and remove the keyboard.
1. Lift up the keyboard bezel with a flathead screwdriver as it shown on the picture below.
2. Remove keyboard bezel.
3. Remove two screws securing the keyboard.
4. Carefully lift up the keyboard, it’s still attached to the motherboard.
5. The keyboard is connected to the motherboard via a flat ribbon cable. Before you can remove the keyboard, you’ll have to unlock the connector and release the cable.
6. Carefully move the black tab about 1-2 millimeters up with your fingernails as it shown on the picture below.
DO NOT SEPARATE THIS TAB FROM THE CONNECTOR, IT HAS TO STAY ATTACHED TO THE CONNECTOR.
If you break the keyboard connector, you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard. Be careful.
7. Now you can release the cable and remove the keyboard.
Static electricity can kill your laptop. I recommend wearing an anti-static wrist strap while working with internal parts of your laptop.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:07 am
I have tried to upgrade my hard drive in an Acer Aspire 5633WLMi without success – the drive gets to the bios screen with the Acer logo but does not boot into windows. I have cloned the new drive using Acronis Migrate Easy 7.0 and HD Clone without success…Any advice
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:49 pm
thanks so much…my harddrive just went caput and I had no idea how to remove it! though, I still have some trouble remove the DVD drive since it’s busted as well…anyways thanks again.
November 6th, 2008 at 9:24 am
what to do if the screen stop at acer bios and automaticlly start entering setup but hang. please help me.
November 6th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Hi, I am fixing this acer 5100 lap top but the clips that holds the keyboard connector are broke,Do you know if there is another way to repair it with out replacing the hole motherboard?
I think that the keyboard works but I have no idea where to purchase the clips you mentioned in step 7.
Gracias
November 6th, 2008 at 10:26 am
GHUGAN,
1. Could be bad memory. Try removing one of the memory modules and start the laptop with only one module installed. Try different modules in different slots.
2. Remove the hard drive. Try entering the BIOS setup when the hard dive is removed. A bad drive could freeze the system.
November 6th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Heri Sanchez,
Do you still have the broken piece? You can try this. Insert the keyboard cable into the connector and put the broken piece too. After that secure the connection with sticky tape. Might work.
November 6th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Ashley,
Not sure what’s going on. Try entering the BIOS setup menu and then load default settings. Can you see the new hard drive in the BIOS? Try rebooting the laptop again.
November 7th, 2008 at 6:50 am
i have an acer 5100 laptop, and i set a recovery, and forgot it. is there any way i could recover the password?
November 7th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Have anyone successfully unmounted the bracket of the original hardrive? In my case it really feels like the screws are glued and I cant get them loose, not even with the help of my good old friend “CRC 5-56″ :\.
I don’t want to take the risk and mount the new drive without the bracket as it functions as pressure protection.
November 12th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Hey there. Thanks a lot for this tutorials, I happen to have the same model of this Acer Notebook, so it was pretty cool to find a tutorial on taking it apart.
I´ve read around that it´s possible to replace CPU on this notebooks. My processor as you know, is the Turion X2 with 1.6Ghz and L2 cache of 512k. I´m a 3d animator and I use Maya to animate 3d rigs.
It obviously run a little slow, specially when I´m working on the graph editor. Takes ages to move a keyframe.
I belive my processor is the TL-50. I would like to replace for a TL-60, which is 2.0Ghz and has L2 of 1MB. Since they´re are for socket S1, I think it could work, but would be nice to know about someone that has acctually done that ( if you know or have done yourself).
Also is there any chance to replace for a faster graphics card. Mine is the Radeon 1100 128mb shared.
bye and thanks
November 16th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Hello, great post. I have the same laptop and my hard drive went dead. I am trying to buy a new hard drive and having trouble what will this laptop fit. The laptop initially came with Hitachi Travelstar 4K120 HTS421212H9AT00 Hard Disk Drive ….i am confused in what to buy like does the laptop take SATA or ATA ..i have no knowledge in SATA or ATA. Pls let me know your thoughts.
THanks
James
November 17th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
James,
A SATA hard drive has two flat connectors. An IDE hard drive has two rows of pins (47 pins total).
If you google for HTS421212H9AT00, you’ll find it’s an IDE hard drive (not SATA).
So, you’ll have to search for a new IDE hard drive for notebook computers.
November 18th, 2008 at 9:56 am
[...] it could be a number of things, but the first thing i would try is to reseat the drive, as is sounds like its come loose. THIS PAGE has an excellent step by step instruction on how to do this. [...]
November 18th, 2008 at 11:42 pm
I’m trying to replace the hard drive in one of these laptops. The WD 80Gb drive has a smart drive failure warning.
I’ve tried installing a Seagate Momentus ST9160821AS 160Gb drive, but the system then becomes unstable. It won’t always boot from the hard drive, or, just get random characters on screen when doing a memtest86+ from an ubuntu boot cd. Is there some incompatibility here?
November 18th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Graham,
Remove the hard drive and run Memtest86+ again. Do you still experience the same problem (random characters) when the hard drive is removed? Maybe your problem is not related to the hard drive at all?
November 19th, 2008 at 7:26 am
I have an acer 5100-3583. The CD/DVD drive is very sluggish and won’t read half of the time. The 3rd party warranty we got is no help at all so we are going to replace the drive. I looked at SlimDrives and they have SATA and IDE/Atapi. NewEgg has a nice Sony that has an ATAPI interface. Which one do I need to get? I think the latter, but I wanted to confirm. Also, I see that you just push the drive out. Does it mean that the new drive will just push right in without the use of any additional cabling?
Thank You.
November 19th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Dawna,
I think the best way to find a new replacement CD/DVD drive is using the manufacturer’s part number or drive model number. Remove the faulty drive and take a look at the sticker. Try to find the manufacturer’s part number. Search for this part number on the Internet.
That’s right. There is no cable between the drive and motherboard. The optical drive plugs into the connector on the motherboard. You’ll have to transfer the mounting bracket from the old drive to the new one.
November 20th, 2008 at 1:24 am
I removed the hard drive and successfully completed two passes of memtest86+.
But when I tried to install Vista, I got two blue screens suggestive of hardware failure. Eg stop 0×07
I’m changing to different memory and will try again.
November 20th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Graham,
Run the hard drive test. I usually use Hitachi’s drive fitness test.
November 20th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
I tried Hitachi’s drive fitness test ( off Hiren’s utility Cd ) and got random characters filling the screen.
I tried to install Ubuntu server just as a test, and the installer reported a bios error. But I don’t see any new bios’s available. It failed to install past me setting the keyboard.
So, I tried Seagate’s seatools for dos, and the new drive is fine. I then zeroed the whole drive ( as Vista would crash with the partitions I had setup ), and managed to install vista. However, when I tried to enter the user account name, the 5100 froze on me. Third time lucky I managed to create an account.
I’ve had the mouse freeze on me, and page fault in non paged memory, and this is with a new stick of DDR2 667 2gb.
which I passed with memtest86+ twice.
I installed speedfan and temperature is about 60 deg. C.
So, hardware issues somewhere but not sure what to check next.
November 21st, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Hi!
How can I get under the touchpad? Its left button started to work funny recently (it reacts even if I touch it gently). I tried, but I couldn’t get the upper panel off.
November 21st, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Anton,
1. Remove the keyboard. Disconnect all cables found under the keyboard. Remove screws found under the keyboard (if any).
2. Remove screws from the display hinges and unplug the video cable. Release the wireless card antenna cables. Remove the display panel.
3. Remove all screws from the bottom of the laptop. Also, there could be (not sure 100%) a couple of screws on the back, they are securing the hinges. Remove them too.
4. Carefully separate the top cover from the base assembly. Now you should be able to access the touch pad buttons.
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I’m now finding that with Vista installed, it tends more often than not to POST. Just a blank screen with the hard drive light on.
I have to remove the power, remove the battery and try again when it will then boot.
I suspect a flaky CPU and/or motherboard now.
November 24th, 2008 at 5:27 am
Graham,
I have the same issue, but with XP. I don’t know what causing it, but just disconnecting power (leaving battery in) for a couple of seconds helps.
November 24th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Are there any guides on how to remove the motherboard?
November 27th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I have a compaq nc6400…the charging point on the mobo won’t charge my battery.
pls anything i can do to correct this?
November 27th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Tunde,
First of all check the power adapter. Could be damaged cable inside the power cord.
Also it’s possible that you have bad battery.
If there is a problem with the power jack, you’ll have to remove the motherboard and resolder the jack. You’ll find laptop disassembly instructions in the official service manual.
November 28th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Hi there,
the touchpad on my acer aspire 5100 tends to stop working after the system boots up. Everything in the system is telling me that it’s working correctly, but in reality it’s not working at all. Do you have any idea what could be wrong?
November 28th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Martin,
Check the touchpad settings, maybe the touchpad is disabled.
For example, on a Toshiba laptop you can enable or disable the touchpad with Fn+F9 shortcut. Maybe you have a similar shortcut on your keyboard?
November 30th, 2008 at 6:07 am
My laptop has vertical lines that cause it to freeze up shortly after booting up.Thought it was a virus so i formated my system and it still happens,because my fan blew i think my processor is damaged will replacing the fan make everything ok?
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Great guide, waiting for RAM upgrade to arrive tomorrow and this is a big help. Have a quick question, hard drive went bust under warranty and when i got my laptop back with a new drive the touchpad wasn’t working fully. Just left click, right click and move cursor… I miss being able to use the silver scroll key and being able to scroll using the edges of the pad. Assumed a driver issue so installed latest drivers but to no avail. I’m running XP. Can anyone help? Thanks
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:17 pm
akil,
Replacing the fan will not fix the problem, I don’t think it’s related.
Test your laptop with an external monitor. If you get vertical lines on both internal and external screen, most likely there is a problem with the graphics card.
Just in case. If you have two memory modules installed, try removing them one by one and test the laptop with each module separately. A bad memory module can cause different problems.
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Matt,
I think you are missing some kind of touch pad management software. Try downloading it from the manufacturer’s website. As last resort, you can reimage the hard drive using the recovery disc. Reimaging the hard drive should take everything back to factory defaults. Do not forget to back up data first. The recovery process erases everything from the drive.
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:52 pm
good instructions for this ACER 5100 laptop But are instructions available to dissassemle the rest of this laptop to access the motherboard and CPU to repair and replace them
December 3rd, 2008 at 3:10 pm
I am trying to instsall a 500gb on an aspire 5100 will I have any problems and do i need to install 4gb mem or will 2 be sufficient
December 4th, 2008 at 9:09 am
Chris,
Here’s what I found for your. It’s the official service manual for Acer Aspire 5110/5100/3100 laptops with step-by-step disassembly instructions.
December 4th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Marcus Evans,
I’m not sure if an Aspire 5100 can support such a large drive.
If your laptop can support a 500GB drive, it’s not necessary to upgrade the memory. It should work fine even with 2GB.
December 6th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
An update on my situation. I spoke with Acer tech support .. who told me it was out of warranty. Thanks Acer. They did quote me for a new mobo.
In deperation, I bought a new WD 160Gb drive to replace the new Seagate momentus 160Gb drive. I then cloned the original faulty drive to the new drive using a desktop PC ( the sata connections are the same for laptop and desktop drives ).
It now works flawlessly. Either the Seagate tools couldn’t detect the problem, or, there is some critical timing issue that was causing the problem.
December 7th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
This is a wonderful site,thanks for it.
I have an Acer Aspire 5100-5023 w/AMD Turion 64×2 @ 1.8 Ghz, Radeon Express 1100 -512mb HyperMem, 2GB DDR2. I have been trying to decide whether it is my graphics card or RAM that is unable to keep up with some of the programs I am using because at times the whole system seems to slow to a crawl. I was sure it was RAM related since the slow-down didn’t start until after I had installed Office 2007, but now I’m unsure since it happens even without Office running. Any thoughts or suggestions? I have considered changing both the RAM and graphics card, could you suggest a possible replacement for the graphics? Thanks.
December 8th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Doris,
Could be a software related problem, maybe your laptop is infected with a trojan or spyware.
Instead or replacing the hardware, I would try to reinstall software first.
Backup all personal files and reimage the hard drive back to factory defaults from the recovery disc. This will take your laptop back to the original default state and you can start from scratch.
December 10th, 2008 at 10:13 am
My acer 5100 starts to boot up but it hits a black screen and it keeps reloading that page. Form my research it seems like the hard drive is dead. Is this the problem or is it something else?
December 10th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Shay,
Could be software related problem. Here’s what you can try.
1.Press F8 button on startup and it will take you to the boot menu. Select “Last Known Good Configuration” and press Enter.
2. Try reimaging the hard drive using the recovery process. This will take your laptop back to factory defaults.
3. Run diagnostics test on the hard drive. You’ll find many HDD testing tools in the Ultimate Boot CD.
December 13th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Laptop was loading xp service pack 3 and upon restart went through startup sequence and stopped at window login. Keyboard, touchpad, usb ports donot work. I can’t login. Will not boot CD either. HD seems to start fine, just all input devices disabled. Help!!!
December 13th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Jim,
First of all try this. Restart the laptop and press F8 when laptop starts. It should take it to the boot menu. Select “Last Known Good Configuration” and restart the laptop. Can you boot now?
December 13th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Keyboard is NOT working on boot up.
December 13th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Jim,
I don’t think it’s a software related problem. If the keyboard is not working on startup, apparently there is something wrong with the hardware (probably motherboard related).
Do you have an external keyboard for this laptop? You can try booting with an external keyboard and access the BIOS setup menu. Set BIOS to defaults.
December 13th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Hello, I have a acer 5100 and I was wondering if I can reformat a laptop hard drive with a desktop computer? I made a back up CD of my acer but it won’t accept it. I screwed up by putting in a partition and put windows vista on it so I had wind XP & vista. The vista was slowing the computer down bad so I used partition magic 8.0 to delete the vista partition and now I can’t enter my windows XP. Can I use the back up CD I made of the hard drive and reformat it through my desktop? Thanks for the help
December 13th, 2008 at 7:09 pm
The only keyboard that will connect is a usb. I have tried an external usb keyboard and it will not work. This problem has been a first for me. I guess I will need to get an usb hookup for the hard drive.
December 14th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Tim,
I would call Acer and purchase a new set of recovery discs from them. It shouldn’t be very expensive.
December 14th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Jim,
That’s a good idea to recover files from the hard drive.
1. Purchase an external USB enclosure for notebook hard drives.
2. Remove hard drive from the failed laptop and install it into the enclosure.
3. Connect the enclosure to any working computer via USB and wait until your hard drive is detected and installed.
4. Transfer files.
December 15th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Oh man, thank you so much. Such a simple suggestion solved my touchpad problem. Sometimes you get stuck in comfortable routines. I repair desktop and laptops. The touchpad on my new-to-me Acer Aspire 5100 stopped working, except right at the desktop for a couple of seconds at bot. I’ve been trying to resolve this for 3 days. I had no idea there was a ‘fn’ toggle to disable it, right there in front of me on the ‘f7′ key! Thanks a bunch, dude!
December 17th, 2008 at 7:50 am
Hy,
I’ve got problems with my usb. All ports seemes to be dead. It’s the same laptop with yours, do you have any idea how to repair them? They appear in windows but when i plug some device in one of them stops and say unrecognized device. I’ve read a lot of posts about usb on acer and seems that is a big problem. Do you have any idea on this? Could they be disabled or changed without to change motherboard?
Thanks,
Vali
December 17th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Is there a manual availeble for installing bluetooth (internal)? Because i’ve got the button, but the hardware is just forgotten
December 17th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Tom,
Maybe in the service manual? Comment 36.
December 19th, 2008 at 1:35 am
Thank you for this web site and the Acer instructions. Great stuff!
I’m repairing a laptop for a co-worker, an Acer Aspire BL51. She DROPPED the poor thing and the screen came completely off, the WiFi wires broke,and the camera wires broke.
I fixed the screen easily enough by building brackets for the hinges; the cable was OK. The other wires will be easy for me.
But there is a new twist… The battery ran out of juice, so she gave me the charger. It didn’t help, so I tested it and found it was broken. She sent me her other charger, which I tested and know to be working. With it plugged in, the laptop still would not power up, so I let it charge for more than 24 hours. Still will not power up. I tested with the battery in and with the battery out, but no go. What happens when I press the power button is the power light comes on and the fan starts up, then, after about a second, it all shuts off. That’s it, nothing more. The laptop was working fine before the battery ran out. I had reconnected the screen for testing and all seemed fine. I can find no loose connections and there is no loose junk inside (I removed something that looked like a pair of super-sized cat claws made of plastic.)
Any suggestions? Is there something about the panel at the top edge of the keyboard which contains the power button, etc. that is critical? I know there is a little button there that tells the laptop the screen is closed. That switch works fine. Surrounding that button, but not touching it, is some foil that seems to be a ground point that should be touching matching ground points on the body of the laptop like a jumper. Jumpering those points did not help.
Any ideas you can give would really be helpful! Thanks.
HNKelley
December 19th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
hello,
your website helped a lot, thank you.
i have a question though.. I am trying to replace a cracked acer 5100 screen and I think i did everything right. However the BACK of the laptop pop’ed off when I was trying to remove the screen. I dont think it pop’ed off by me doing anything wrong to it, is this normal? I dont want to go on a buy a whole new screen if the back of the computer is broke now.
December 19th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
(in addition to the comment above)
lol sorry
the back is still connected by two little wires that go through a hinge on the left side of the base of the computer though. do you think it should just screw back on once i get a new screen?
December 20th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
HNKelley,
Did she drop the laptop with the adapter connected? Maybe the power jack is damaged and has to be re-soldered or replaced?
I don’t think so. You said the laptop turns on when you press on the power button. Apparently, the power button board is working properly.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:04 am
Hi,
I dropped a book on my open laptop on the key board. the screen went blank and when i boot it up the screen is still black. I tried hooking it up to an external monitor. nothing happened. the hard drive light doesnt flicker and when i touch the caps lock key and the numlock key nothing happens.
Help?
Thank you
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:25 am
Emily,
Check the memory module. Maybe it popped up from the slot. Try reconnecting the module.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:57 am
thanks for skipping my question!
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:11 am
Ashley,
I didn’t skip your question. I’m just not sure what you are asking about.
I guess it’s normal because you are taking it apart. Just put it back in place as it was before.
They are wireless antennas.
I don’t know. How can I tell without looking at the laptop?
By the way, did you find instructions for taking apart the display panel? I linked to it at the beginning of the post.
December 24th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Laptop Tech,
Thank you for the reply.
I asked about this and she said it was not connected when dropped. Following your advice, I tested the power input of the laptop and found it to be fine, so I retested the charger. Guess what… another bad charger. The laptop connector of the charger has a loose wire and the first time I tested it, I got lucky. Now I know how to make it work long enough, so I was able to finish the repairs to her laptop and get it back to her.
Thank you again for the help and keep up the great work!
HNKelley
December 26th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
I want to upgrade my computer to 4GB from 1GB but I am afraid I will lose the programs I already have. Is it possible to switch without a problem. I have acer 5100-3583
Than you for your help.
December 26th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Inez,
You will not loose any programs. Your programs are stored on the hard drive, not in the memory.
December 27th, 2008 at 4:49 am
Hi all can someone please help we have an acer aspire 5100 we had a dvd/r drive and it stopped reading we purchased a new sony drive however it will not read post bios stage abd is not visible in the system requirements if any 1 knows how to fix please drop a line on the site kind regards
A
December 28th, 2008 at 1:40 am
Alan Mcgookin,
Not all optical driver are interchangeable. It’s possible that your new driver is configured differently. For example, your old drive was configured as “Slave”, but the new Sony drive is configured as “Cable Select” or vice versa. It’s just a guess.
When you are replacing the optical drive, it’s better to go with the factory replacement.
Can you see the DVD drive in the BIOS when the hard drive is removed?
December 28th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Hi, Has anyone replaced the motherboard for the Aspire 5100???
December 30th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Nice site!
Didn’t see a pic of the BIOS chip. Do you have 1 or know where it’s located? I’m trying to scrub a hardrive for a customer as they forgot password for BIOS and Windows (media SP2) administrator. There is only a limited account that can’t install or uninstall software. The BIOS must be set to disable boot to USB/floppy/CD. I tried another hardrive that had XP on it and that wouldn’t work either. Tried all the normal hacks for windows admin but they don’t work. Can I replace the BIOS chip with 1 that allows boot? Please advise.
signed
Locked up tighter than…
December 31st, 2008 at 1:41 am
My ACER 5100 screen won’t come up, just a black screen. I think the computer is still working but I can’t see what I’m doing. My research shows I should replace memory (i did get a memory message about 30 minutes before this started) or the video card. Does this sound right? Where is the video card?
Thanks.
December 31st, 2008 at 1:46 am
Also I did try connecting to an external monitor but didn’t get anything screen wise.
December 31st, 2008 at 10:22 am
I was told today that the motherboard on my acer 5100 needs to be replaced, its under warrenty by staples, they want me to send it to them for repair. Thats fine, but all they want to do is replace the motherboard and reset the hard drive to factory settings. I have to much business stuff to loose that was not backed up from December. Any chance that the harddrive can be saved or pulled and installed in another computer to retrieve documents? Will replacing motherboard require resetting harddrive? Thanks
January 2nd, 2009 at 9:15 am
I have a laptop acer 5100 that makes a clicking noise coming from the fan. It stops sometimes, but it later goes berserk. It doesn’t sound like the hard drive. And I opened it up, cleaned out the dust and it still won’t work. There is not a computer technician guy out here to help me. Any idea? I am not sure if I need to replace the fan
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Thanx Folks. You’ve saved my laptop
January 3rd, 2009 at 3:03 am
hi i have a problem with my acer aspire 5100…i can only use it for 2 hours max! after 2hrs of use the mouse, keyboard wont respond anymore and the sound stop working too…when i turn it off and on again there’ll be no display. but if i let it off for a couple of hours and turn it on again its back to normal lik nothng happened…whats the deal with it?
January 3rd, 2009 at 10:42 am
Nice Guide.
My Acer Aspire 5635 WLMi keys, (minus) key and (apostrophe) key behave strangely. Whenever a textbox is made activate these two keys start typing automatically into the textbox continously.
1) Is it a hardware fault?
2) I have connected a external keyboard and the problem persists as the built-in keyboard is active. So can i disable the built-in keyboard. I run WinXP.
January 3rd, 2009 at 11:17 am
usguvna,
Yep, could be memory problem. Do you have two memory modules installed? Try removing them one by one. The laptop should start when a good working module is installed. When you find which one is faulty, you can replace it with a new one.
January 3rd, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Daryl Miller,
Yes, you can do that with an external USB enclosure.
1. Remove the hard drive from your laptop.
2. Purchase an external USB enclosure for notebook hard drives in any local computer store for about $20-30 or even cheap online. Make sure the enclosure matches your hard drive. If you have a SATA drive, you’ll have to purchase enclosure for SATA drives.
3. Install your hard drive into the enclosure.
4. Connect this enclosure to any other working computer.
5. The hard drive will pop up in “My Computer”. Now you can access your data and save it.
No, normally replacing motherboard doesn’t require reimaging the hard drive.
January 3rd, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Ian,
Heat related issue? Can you hear the fan spinning? Maybe the fan stopped working and the laptop freezes because of overheating. Check the fan.
January 3rd, 2009 at 12:53 pm
hussain,
Sounds like you have stuck keys. If that’s the case you’ll have to replace the keyboard. Yes, it is a hardware failure.
I don’t think that you can disable the keyboard through software or BIOS settings, but you can disconnect the internal keyboard cable from the motherboard and use just an external keyboard.
By the way, if you still have the same issue when the internal keyboard is disconnected from the motherboard, there could be a problem with the keyboard controller on the motherboard. In this case you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard.
January 3rd, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Heat related issue? Can you hear the fan spinning? Maybe the fan stopped working and the laptop freezes because of overheating. Check the fan.
yes the fun is working when it happens, the thing is, windows didn’t hang when it happens cause when i press the power button windows shutsdown normaly..
:/
January 4th, 2009 at 1:53 am
Thanks for the reply Laptop Tech.
Will try disconecting the internal keyboard and check.
January 4th, 2009 at 5:15 am
Thanks a lot,
Now I had the guts to open it, however I think its too late, my USB ports and cam are dead, I think due overheating:S
I watched my cooler of the laptop, and indeed it was full with dust… AND!!!!! The dust was black…. How strange…
Thanks anyway
January 4th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
I need to find and replace the CMOS battery. Is this possible without sending it back to Acer?
January 4th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
hello hope u can help me,i’ve just been give acer 5100.half the programmes wont open keep get loads of errors, sorry to say but know very little about computers, have no recovery disc tired systems recovery no joy. tired tuneup 2009.
thank you.
January 5th, 2009 at 12:26 am
ian,
Also, that could be memory related problem. Run memory test and see if it comes with errors.
If you have two RAM modules installed test your laptop with each module separately. Remove one and test the laptop, then remove the second one and test again. Does it fail the same way with only one module installed?
January 5th, 2009 at 12:31 am
ray,
Sounds like a software problem and you’ll have to reinstall the operating system. Call Acer and purchase the recovery disc from them, it shouldn’t be very expensive. Run the recovery disc and reinstall everything back to factory defaults. It should fix the problem.
January 5th, 2009 at 12:38 am
Michael Burgess,
I believe you’ll have to disassemble the whole laptop and remove the motherboard. I think the CMOS battery is soldered to the motherboard.
January 5th, 2009 at 7:55 am
My 5101AWLMi originally had one 512 MB RAM stick.
I just installed an upgrade from Crucial (2 x 1GB sticks).
It only reports 1GB of RAM though. Any thoughts why it only sees half of the new memory ?
January 5th, 2009 at 11:33 am
I have an aspire 5100. It crashes everytime it goes into windows. Won’t open in safe mode. Bios password protected I don’t know the password. Tried some standard back door passwords no luck. For $150.00 Acer will remove something off the hard drive which we remove the bios password. Someone mention something about jumpers but I don’t have any idea. I have a windows xp disk but I can’t access the cd drive. Anyone have any ideas or potential backdoors for Phoniex bios.
January 5th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
thanks for the reponse!
ok i’ll the memtest though i already tried the second suggestion you gave(tried to tun the lappy with one memory at a time and still the same problem)
will inform you tomorrow thanks!
^_^
January 6th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Hi, I’ve been searching for a site like this for nearly a year! Well done on the photos and descriptions.
I have a problem with the Logitech built in webcam. There seems to be a faulty USB connection to it. Can you point me to the internal connections to the webcam please? Its for the Aspire 5610.
Many thanks in advance.
Kev
January 6th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Kev,
I don’t know that of the top of my head, but this cable will be coming from the display panel.
You can remove the keyboard bezel and take a look at the cable coming from the display assembly.
There should be LCD cable, wireless antenna cables and webcam cable. Follow the webcam cable to the connector.
January 7th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
i hope u can help me, i have a akhter arima m621 uc,i have been to the main web site found spec on it but can’t find what it is, e-machine or gateway
i am after sercive repair manual.i am after upgrading the harddrive from 40g to what ever it will take plus upgrading the drives.
thank you.
January 8th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
ray,
I’m not familiar with this model, but if it takes a 40GB drive, it will take a larger drive too.
I think you can safely install 60GB, 80GB, 100GB or 120GB drives.
January 10th, 2009 at 2:57 am
I have an ACER 5610.
When it boots the hard drive light stays on and the POST runs, but after a while it has a number of PXE errors and says Operating system not found.
When i hit the power button again and restart the machine it will run OK.????
I have tried a BIOS flash to version 3.60 which worked fine and have just done a full restore but the initial problem still remains.
Could it be the sign of the hard drive on its way out or a motherboard problem??
Thanks
January 10th, 2009 at 6:29 am
I’m soooooo glad I found this site! And I think it’s awesome that you’re answering questions.
I have an Acer 5100… I bought it in 06, it crashed in under a year, and I ended up fiddling with it, then putting it aside. I want to resurrect it now, and I’m willing to replace whatever, but I’m not sure what the problem is.
When it *does* boot (from ‘last known good config’), the pointer freezes and then the screen turns white or fills up with lots of vertical blue and white stripes.
I’ve tried restoring it to factory settings, both with and without recovery disc, but when I go into BIOS to change the boot order first (I get a PXE error, and I saw elsewhere that boot order is the prob) the BIOS page crashes and turns gray with black stripes.
I’m sure something is seriously wrong, but I have no idea what it is. Some people say motherboard, others say hard drive. Thoughts?
January 11th, 2009 at 7:54 am
This is a very good site. Just had a problem come up yesterday with the keyboard not working for my aspire 5100. Fortunately I found your site and read the pointers. Using your very clear instructions I removed the keyboard and reconnected it in case there was a bad connection. That did not fix the problem. Next, using an external keyboard connected to the USB found that everything else works fine with the computer. Is there anything else you would suggest I check before replacing the keybaord?
January 11th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Hi,thank you very much for your help,just changed
my lcd converter on my acer laptop according to your helpful hinds and diagnostic knowhow,EVERYTHING is aok,i thinks i just saved a boundle of $$$$.Thanks again GUS
January 11th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
tim,
Try reconnecting the hard drive. Maybe it’s not making good connection with the motherboard. Unplug the hard dive and plug it back in. Test the laptop again.
January 11th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
shani-o,
Sound like a problem with the graphics card. The graphics card is integrated into the motherboard and cannot be removes, so it’s a problem with the motherboard.
I don’t think it’s related to the hard drive. The laptop crashes when you are in the BIOS setup menu. At that time the hard drive is not working. This problem is not related to the hard drive.
January 11th, 2009 at 11:20 pm
Brian Gasiorowski,
So, the laptop keyboard stopped working at all? Do you know if the keyboard stopped working only in Windows? Did you try entering the BIOS setup menu and testing the keyboard in there?
Your keyboard failure is not common. Usually laptop keyboards do not fail like that. In most cases you can get some faulty keys, but not the whole keyboard.
Try reflashing the BIOS with a newer or even the same version.
Unfortunately, I don’t know for sure what’s wrong with your laptop. Could be just a bad keyboard or could be a faulty keyboard controller on the motherboard. The only way to find out is installing another working keyboard. If it doesn’t fix the problem, most likely it’s bad controller, which means you have to replace the whole motherboard.
January 12th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Re: response 100.
Thanks for the quick response.
I have on a few occassions re-seated the hard drive, re-seated the RAM and cannot work it out. When you chose the F12 boot menu the 120GB seagate drive is not available in the boot menu. The light is constantly ON for the hard drive and it is spinning but the heads are not clanking. I even tried cleaning the pins on the hard drive connector with a cloth. Should i try contact cleaner??
Again just now i pushed the power button and restarted the machine again and she came up normally. AHHHH, damned confused…
Any ideas??
Tim
January 12th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
I just cleaned the hard drive contacts and also placed a small piece of EPP foam at the end of the hard drive to push it up with constant pressure against the contacts. Will let you know if that fixed it once it is powered off and left overnight. Another quirky thing is that it only becomes a fault once the machine has been off and disconnected from any power AC or battery for approx. overnight??
Thanks for your very helpful website. Great work.
Tim.
January 12th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
I’m having trouble with my Acer Laptop. The touchpad mouse is not working, but if I attach another mouse, it works fine. But the keyboard will not work. None of the buttons will work, and the fan keeps running. Do you think the internal keyboard cable is loose, and if it is, how can I fix it? Thanks in advance.
January 13th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
I have a problem where I must apply pressure on the left side of the track pad. If I don’t the computer will begin to run very slowly and eventually freeze. Any suggestions? I have an Acer Aspire 5100. Thanks!
January 13th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Getting back to your question to me (# 102 above), the laptop keyboard doesn’t work at all. When this problem first came up a few days ago I also had an issue with a few startups that did not proceed all the way to the windows login prompt but started a continuing series of loud beeps. I eventually did get to point that laptop was starting up properly up to the login prompt screen, then along with using the seperate keyboard connected via USB was able to login and the computer worked fine. However, sfter one day of success with the seperate keyboard, I’m now back to the issue that startups do not complete (do not get to the login screen) and the continuing series of load beeps commence. I need to unplug and remove battery to get the the computer to power down. I’ve not checked the bios. I think I’ve read some things written above about this, but at this point am not really familer with how to do this or if i can do it without being able to get through login.
January 13th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
tim,
It sounds like either you have a faulty hard drive or there is something wrong with the hard drive controller on the motherboard. Unfortunately, the only way to find out which one is causing it is testing the laptop with another known good hard drive.
If you experiencing the same problem even with anther hard drive, apparently it’s bad controller on the motherboard, which means you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard.
January 13th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Gary,
I guess the first thing to try will be reconnecting the touchpad and keyboard cables, just to make sure it’s not a connection related issue.
By the way, did you notice that your internal keyboard is not working only in Windows. Can you enter the BIOS setup menu and navigate the BIOS using arrow keys?
January 13th, 2009 at 10:16 pm
wes,
Try reconnecting RAM modules. Remove modules one by one and test the laptop with each RAM module in each slot separately.
It’s possible that one of the slots is failing or one of the RAM modules is not making good contact with the slot.
January 13th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Brian G,
What if you unplug the internal keyboard and use the laptop only with the external one. Can you boot to the login screen this way? Will it make continuing series of load beeps on startup when the internal keyboard is disconnected from the motherboard?
January 14th, 2009 at 7:02 am
From question #109: Hi, I opened up the keyboard and noticed the cables were not loose and installed fine. After putting everything back together, the computer started to work fine. But then the next day, it was the same problem again, with the touchpad and keyboard. That’s what its been doing, one day it will work fine, the next it won’t, meaning the touchpad/keyboard.
How do I enter the BIOS setup menu? Is that when I turn the computer on, it says “Press any key to cancel disk scan” or something like that? If so, the keyboard doesn’t work for that either.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Thanks for the help!
January 14th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
I have an Acer Aspire 5100. It boots but first I hear 1 beep followed by 2 beeps then all of the regular normal sounds but the screen remains blank throughout the boot. I’ve tried connecting to an external monitor but it doesn’t feed to the external. Is it the motherboard or something else?? Thanks so much. M
January 15th, 2009 at 11:15 am
i have a acer 5100 i was having problems with some of the programmms you suggested a recovery dics. but i found afile containing recovery booster(full back up)
so i click ok. said restart computer. on restarting, it gets as far as windows logo then went back to bootin up,, got to windows logo again
just keeps going on and on repeating its self .i can get into set up but dont really no what to do.
many thanks if you can help ,ray
January 15th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
“I have a problem where I must apply pressure on the left side of the track pad. If I don’t the computer will begin to run very slowly and eventually freeze. Any suggestions?
Try reconnecting RAM modules. Remove modules one by one and test the laptop with each RAM module in each slot separately.
It’s possible that one of the slots is failing or one of the RAM modules is not making good contact with the slot. ”
Tried what was suggested and unfortunately that didn’t help. I tried removing the hard drive and that didn’t help either. Any other suggestions? The spot that i apply pressure is just to the left of the track pad. Thanks for the help!
January 15th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Gary,
Usually you press Esc, F1 or F2 key as soon as logo appears on the screen.
January 15th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
markj,
I don’t know what this error code means for an Acer 5100. Could be bad memory or video card.
Try reconnecting memory modules, removing them one by one and starting the laptop with each module separately.
January 16th, 2009 at 7:08 am
I disconnected the inner memory module and booted…nothing not even a beep. I removed the outer and inserted the inner and booted and nothing except a clicking sound from the cd drive. I let this go for a few minutes then it shut itself off. I reinstalled both modules rebooted and it continued with the clicking sound. I spanked the bottom of the PC…that’s right spanked it, shut it off, pressed on the inner card and started it up and SHAZAM! It works! Thsnk for all your help. MJ
January 16th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Hi, I can get into the BIOS Setup menu, is there anything that I need to do on there to fix the touchpad/keyboard. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. What could be the problem. Thanks again in advance. This is regarding my touchpad and keyboard from question #112.
January 17th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Hi Laptop Tech,
As you suggested (response 111) I unplugged the internal keyboard and booted up with just an external keyboard attached. The PC started up fine. I will try to use it this way for a couple days to make sure no other problems arise. If all keeps working well it looks like probably I should go ahead and try to replace the internal keyboard. Anything else you think I should check first? Thanks for all your help!
January 18th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
One more question, while using the external keyboard my screen is fairly dark. Is there a way to brighten since I don’t have the “normal” keys from the laptop keyboard available for this purpose?
January 18th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
I reloaded my driver for the audio to work on my acer 5100. It is saying device working properly, i’m not hearing any audio either from the speakers, headphones nor the output jack.
January 20th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Gary,
If the keyboard works 100% in the BIOS setup menu, but fails intermittently in Windows, that could be software related issue. Try reinstalling Windows.
If the keyboard fails in both BIOS and Windows, I rally cannot tell without testing the laptop with another working keyboard. Could be just a bad keyboard, or could be bad keyboard controller on the motherboard.
January 20th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Brian G,
Can you change screen brightness through power settings in the control panel?
January 20th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Garth,
That could be software related problem. Try reinstalling Windows from the recovery disc. Do not forget to back up all personal data before you run the recovery process.
If you still experience the same problem (no internal or external sound) even after reimaging the hard drive back to factory defaults, there could be a problem with the sound board which is most likely integrated into the motherboard.
January 21st, 2009 at 2:23 am
Problem with Acer 5100. Keyboard error message displayed when booting or keyboard will be unresponsive after sometime. There are times that I can get into the BIOS settings screen, but the system will hang-up after a while. Also, there’s a buzzing sound coming from the speakers. Is there such a thing as a “grounded” keyboard?
January 21st, 2009 at 4:02 am
Thanks for your response to my question about screen brightness. Do you have any further comment on my question #121? I wrote:
As you suggested (response 111) I unplugged the internal keyboard and booted up with just an external keyboard attached. The PC started up fine. I will try to use it this way for a couple days to make sure no other problems arise. If all keeps working well it looks like probably I should go ahead and try to replace the internal keyboard. Anything else you think I should check first? Thanks for all your help!
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:59 pm
i am trying to replace the dvd on an aspire 9410, just so i don’t break anything else. any tips?
January 28th, 2009 at 5:19 am
thank you very much; with your help I could remove my fan and clean it
January 28th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Can I replace the current HDD in my Acer Aspire 5100 laptop with laptop HDD from any brand and model as long as they are same types of disk? such as Western Digital, or Seagate etc? or does it have to one defined by Acer?
January 28th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Graeme,
Sure you can. Just make sure the new drive has the same interface. If you have a SATA drive installed, your new drive also must be SATA.
January 29th, 2009 at 12:49 am
hi there i have an acer aspire 5100 and im going to put in 2X 2gb RAM, are the ports for the ram in the same place or is one under the key board like on some laptops, also my screen often gets a blue line of pixels along the right side of my screen only about 2mm, i was wondering if this was because of the LCD screen or something to do with a setting on my laptop? sometimes it goes away after the screen saver comes on…
January 29th, 2009 at 10:25 am
I have an Acer 3100 – it’s almost the same as 5100. Mine has PATA hdd – but another 3100 on my company uses SATA hdd. On the bios setup it shows 2 controlers (SATA & PATA). Is it really possible it has both interfaces?
January 29th, 2009 at 10:43 am
matthew,
Both memory slots are in the same place. Both slots could be accessed through the door on the bottom. You can see both RAM modules on the third image.
Sounds like a problem with the screen.
January 29th, 2009 at 10:46 am
Alex,
I guess SATA for the hard drive and PATA for the CD/DVD drive. Just a guess.
January 29th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Hi, I have a ACER 5100 and my computer is blank. It sounds like it is running. I tried hooking it up to another monitor and still doesn’t work. Just the power light is on and I hear the fan. I first thought maybe it overheated but the fan is working. Please help if you can
January 29th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
jeffy,
1. Power off the laptop, remove the battery, unplug the power adapter and wait for a minute. Plug in the adapter and try turning it on.
2. Remove RAM modules one by one. Test the laptop with each RAM module installed into each slot separately. One of the RAM modules could be bad.
3. Try starting the laptop without the hard drive and DVD drive.
If nothing helps and you still have the same problem even after removing/reseating RAM and removing HDD and DVD drive, most likely there is a problem with the motherboard.
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:05 pm
My Aspire 5101 died supposingly during WinUpdate, I was afk. Now the laptop goes on from the power button and gives power to cpu, dvd and even the hdd seems to be spinning from what I could hear. Problem is the screen is blank and doesn’t even let me to the bios, nor does boot from DVD/CD. So should I just take out the hdd and throw the rest away or what? I appreciate any suggestions, already got the usb-keyboard idea by reading the earlier comments, thanks.
PS. I can’t locate the laptop’s manual so I haven’t got 100% accurate info about what’s the BIOS button on these, Home, Insert, Esc? =)
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:07 pm
Jeffy, Did you update your Windows just before? Your problem seems to be the same.
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:22 pm
My Aspire 5101 died supposingly during WinUpdate, I was afk. Now the laptop goes on from the power button and gives power to cpu, dvd and even the hdd seems to be spinning from what I could hear. Problem is the screen is blank and doesn’t even let me to the bios, nor does boot from DVD/CD. So should I just take out the hdd and throw the rest away or what? I appreciate any suggestions, already got the usb-keyboard idea by reading the earlier comments, thanks.
PS. I can’t locate the laptop’s manual so I haven’t got 100% accurate info about what’s the BIOS button on these, Home, Insert, Esc? =)
EDIT: Jeffy, Did you update your Windows just before? Your problem seems to be the same.
I just tried to boot without DVD and HDD.
February 4th, 2009 at 7:07 am
Hi – I have a acer 5100 and it says resource conflict 4 times on startup then won’t boot into windows but restarts. found the fan full of dust. maybe overheated chipset. does anyone know of this problem and a fix. otherwise I will sell laptop for spares. everything else is good
February 5th, 2009 at 11:32 am
I have been getting the BSOD and memory dump. It appears the issue only happens when I turn the computer when I am using it. If I keep it on a flat surface, I don’t seem to have an issue. Most recently, I received the BSOD and when trying to start the computer, the BIOS does not see the hard drive, if I turn the computer, it does see it, starts to load windows, but then I get a black screen. I can only assume it is a hard drive error, or mother board issue. Anyone else have this problem?
Thanks,
February 5th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Brendan,
Could be memory related problem:
1. Bad memory module.
2. Loose connection between the memory module and slot.
3. Defective memory slot.
Try reconnecting the memory module. Move it into the empty slot if you have any.
Do you have two modules installed? Test the laptop with each module in different slots separately.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Mike F,
Try minimizing the laptop. Remove hard drive, DVD drive, wireless card, modem, etc… one of these parts could be bad and causing the problem. Leave just main components needed to boot the laptop: motherboard, CPU with the cooling module, memory. If you still experience the same problem with the bare bone system, apparently it’s related to the motherboard. If that’s the case, you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
February 6th, 2009 at 7:03 am
I have a really weird problem with a 5100. The POST was reporting the HDD as gibberish and not booting, so I thought the HDD was duff. I replaced the HDD with the same model and buttoned everything back up, but it was still reporting gibberish. Now here’s where it gets strange, I removed the memory/cpu cover to check that nothing was loose I quickly tried it while the cover was off and it started up fine, as soon as I replaced the cover it started reporting the HDD name as gibberish and wouldn’t boot. I tried this several times and it was consistent, with the cover off it booted, with the cover on it wouldn’t. I gave it a thorough once over looking for shorts, but there was nothing obvious. I even tried replacing the screws one at a time and not tightening them as much, but to no avail.
Before I completely strip it down I was wondering if this was something you may have come across before or whether you may have an idea as to what is going on.
Many Thanks
February 6th, 2009 at 8:46 am
My daughters’ Acer Aspire 5100 (BL-51)”died” suddenly upon startup (i.e. it just didn’t start).As seems to be the case with a few others computers here, upon pushing the power button all lights come on the fan runs for about 10 seconds, the harddrive seems to spin, and then everything just stops (the fan continues to run at low speed). In order to get the fan to stop, the power button needs to be pushed and held for about 5 seconds. During this process there is no bios screen or anything else that shows up on the monitor – it stays black. When I first took the computer apart there was quite a bit of dust packed in the fan/radiator area – that has been cleaned. In addition, when this first happened I was led to believe that it was probably a bad processor due to overheating. I replaced the processor to no avail. I’ve also checked the memory modules by swapping their positions, reseating them and trying to startup with one at a time. Any ideas or next steps in trouble shooting? Thanks in advance
February 6th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Skippy,
Sounds like a problem with the IDE channel on the motherboard.
Is it possible that you are using wrong screws? Maybe they are too long and when you put them in, one of the screws is touching the motherboard ans shorting something?
Here’s another guess. The motherboard is failing and apparently there is a bad solder joint somewhere on the motherboard. When you install/remove screws you actually flexing the motherboard making it work/fail.
I guess in order to narrow down the problem, you’ll have to remove the motherboard, build the laptop on your bench (outside the case) and find out if it works this way.
Nope, I’ve never seen something like that before. Please post here if you will find the solution.
February 6th, 2009 at 10:52 am
dave p,
…I replaced the processor to no avail. I’ve also checked the memory modules by swapping their positions, reseating them and trying to startup with one at a time.
If it’s not memory or CPU, most likely there is a problem with the motherboard.
Here’s you can try.
You can remove the motherboard (looks like you’ve done before) and assemble a basic system outside the laptop case as it’s done in here:
Laptop is dead. How to troubleshoot the problem.
All you need is the motherboard, CPU with heat sink, memory and external monitor. Try turning it on. If still nothing, most likely the motherboard is bad. If the laptop starts with video and works fine, start assembling it back together piece by piece and test after each installed part.
February 7th, 2009 at 12:19 am
hi,
i dropped my acer aspire and now the battery charger won’t fit in the hole properly.. i think the component inside is pushed too far in.
any way of this being fixed?
February 7th, 2009 at 10:03 am
Dani,
It’s necessary to disassemble the laptop and take a closer look at the power jack. Is it fixable? It depends on how badly the jack/motherboard are damaged. You cannot tell without removing the motherboard.
February 7th, 2009 at 10:46 am
hi,ihave an acer aspire 5650 and the cdrom has stopped working,the device manager says it is working,looked at the event viewer and there is an error code id 11 the driver detected a controller error on device cd rom0,also went on microsoft help and it says replace the wire,but there is no wire as you no,slots onto the motherboard.my cdrom is a matshita dvd ram uj845s would be glad of your help thanks rob
February 7th, 2009 at 11:21 am
rob hadcroft,
Have you tried booting the laptop from a bootable CD? Can you?
If the laptop boots from a CD but the CD/DVD drive doesn’t work in Windows, it’s possible you have a software related problem and Windows has to be reinstalled.
February 7th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
I bought a used Acer 5100 and I cannot get the keyboard to function at boot. With out that I cannotinstall my OS to make the cd work or even access the setup function. I suspect that it was flashed wrong. Is there a way to reset the bios or cmos? Other than that the mobo may just be dead or a power chip that I cannot replace.
thanks
February 7th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
p.s.
I did try another known good keyboard
February 7th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Jack,
I’m not sure if it’s going to help but you can try using an external USB keyboard.
February 8th, 2009 at 9:13 am
Hello Sir
I have a friend’s Acer Aspire 3100 laptop and it has an issue where the laptop freezes whenever any usb device is inserted. It then has to be turned off to commence operations. At first I thought (was hoping) it was software related but after reloading the OS ans all the drivers I still have the problem.
What do you think? Do you have a solution and if so, can you let me know what I can do to renmedy this?
February 8th, 2009 at 10:04 am
John Edwards,
If the laptop fails the same way with many different USB devices, then most likely you have a problem with the USB controller which is integrated into the motherboard. I guess you’ll have to replace the motherboard or use the laptop as is.
Also, you can try updating/reflashing the BIOS. I’m not sure if it’s going to help but at least something to try.
February 8th, 2009 at 10:23 am
I have fixed computers for a living for the last 15 years full time so i know a little of what I am talking about though I do not work on laptops full time. This is a defective product and the culprit is most likely the motherboard. I have worked on two of these. Here are the symptoms:
USB stops working
CD/DVD stops working
Keyboard/mouse fail
Black screen
BIOS errors- PCI errors usually
Time setting in bios lost
Freeze if you get it to boot
It is not a BIOS issue,OS issue, memory issue, hard drive issue, cd issue, keyboard issue, mouse issue. I have tested/replaced all of these. It is a motherboard issue- defective from the manufacture.
This is a progressive issue- whatever you have will get worse. Cut your losses. Pull the hard drive and put the data somewhere else.
I have purchased for my employees/family/clients 30 Acer products over the last few years but I WILL NEVER PURCHASE ACER AGAIN!
BUYER BEWARE!
February 8th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Laptop Tech,
Just to let you know that I’ve fixed my Acer laptop fully by purchasing and installing a replacement internal keyboard (bad keyboard was the only problem). This relates to my question #98 and your response #102. Thanks for your help!
February 8th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Hello, my acer 5100 has problems with the keyboard, touchpad and us ports. They just don’t work. I think It is a board problem. Do you think it is the end of this laptop? any advice?
February 9th, 2009 at 12:42 am
Jose,
Turn on the laptop and try entering the BIOS setup menu. I’m not sure which keys you should use, try Esc, F1, F2. Can you? This will tell you if the keyboard works in the BIOS. Can you navigate the BIOS using keyboard keys?
If the keyboard works fine in the BIOS setup menu, your problem could be related to the operating system. Try reinstalling it from the recovery disc.
If the keyboard do not work on the BIOS level, there could be a problem with the motherboard.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
I have Acer Aspire 5100. I am facing the two problems. First one is, when I press the power button some time it is show own but hang after that. The light is on on the power button but no processing is done. Second when I am working on it or move the laptop from one side to another side the screen hang up. Please guide me at my email id how I solve this problem.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
My another problem is that Laptop comes with Microsoft Vista Operating system. Now I want to change with Window XP. Where I get the drivers of my laptop Acer Aspire 5100 with Windown XP. Please guide at my email id. Thanx.
February 11th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Hello
My scree is bad on my 5100 where can I purcase one and is it hard to change myself. I also need to purcahse a power cord.
Thanks
alan
February 12th, 2009 at 8:50 am
I have the acer aspire 5100 and I play the sims 2 alot and I wanted to upgrade my video card at one point. Is that possible or is it built into the motherboard?
Im also have issues with my DVD-r/CD-r drive. fists problem with it is sometimes it cant find the drive unless I open and close it or if I go to Hardware changes and just refresh till it finds new hardware. 2nd problem is when it is working I cannot burn a dvd or cd. I can put files in to burn but when I click burn it says there is no dvd/cd in the drive. With that all said should I just buy a new dvd/cd drive for it? I know once I read it could be the lens in the player thats not letting me burn. But not sure let me know what you think. Thanks!
February 16th, 2009 at 6:30 am
161. John Edwards,
/*
I have a friend’s Acer Aspire 3100 laptop and it has an issue where the laptop freezes whenever any usb device is inserted. It then has to be turned off to commence operations. At first I thought (was hoping) it was software related but after reloading the OS ans all the drivers I still have the problem.
*/
Hi,
my usb are broken (i’ve tested in XP & linux)
buy a pcmcia/usb adapter (i’ve do it)
February 19th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Nice site! I have a weird situation with my acer 5100. A friend connected a 3G device, and the system asked something like ‘hit enter to continue’. But now the keyboard does not respond; no touchpad either; I attached a external kb but no response, external usb mouse, nothing either; I turned off the notebook, but it loads back into windows and asks the same question; I tried to force in safe mode, but can’t press F5, F8, neither enter bios setup thru F2, cause there no keyboard response. So I thought the only chance would be resseting the bios – oened the bottom but I can’t see any battery, jumper, nothing? I tried to interrupt boot sequence thru battery removal, nothing; and installing a new windows, but it asks for ‘press C to continue’… WTF? Thank you for any ideas!!! Rod – Brazil
February 20th, 2009 at 9:24 am
The laptop boots into Vista no problem and runs it no problem (except noisy fun and sluggish graphics), but if I try to install an OS (any) laptop powers off at the loading setup files from DVD, it also powers off after ~7% memtest. After it powers off, if you try to run memtest again, it will power off almost immediately, even if you enter BIOS, and will not load Vista (will give a physical memory dump screen). The only way to circumvent this would be to do a total power reset unplugging all sources of electricity, and then it would boot normally again. I run the memtest with the stock memory that came with it, and still same problem. Any thoughts? (p.s. why are their MBs so bad, and who makes the best ones, also what do you think about Asus vs Acer)
February 22nd, 2009 at 7:38 am
hi…i have Aspire 5100 n i need help with problem….for some reason my laptop starts making loud noises…it sounds like its grinding something…i believe it to be the fan got dust n i opened it up to clean it but it was clean…so now i have no idea what to do…i cant use my laptop cuz this noise is making me have headaches.
Plz help!!!!
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:47 am
hi could someone help please, i was using laptop (not heavy handed)when the left touchpad button decided to collapse i have took the top off to try and reconnect but have had no joy , what shall i do?
February 24th, 2009 at 9:36 am
I have an ACER 5100, for several months now the touch-pad has not worked, I have checked that the software is loaded O.K. Also for several months the Power ON, HD Caps Lock etc lights go out when the laptop has been of for about 10 mins, recently the speakers have started to crackle if the Laptop is moved, if the case if flexed the crackeeling stops for a while but the Laptop hangs. Please Advise
February 24th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Correction
Also for several months the Power ON, HD Caps Lock etc lights go out when the laptop has been ON for about 10 mins, etc
February 24th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
From Post 108.
Hi guys, i can report that the problem with my Aspire 5610 must be the controller on the hard drive. I installed a new 160GB sata Samsung drive and the machine boots correctly and straight away. Unlike needing a second start as in the past. Thanks for your advice. Now I am happy again..
Tim
February 24th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Rob,
This is a really weird problem. Sounds like a 3G device damaged the motherboard somehow.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Why buy acer,
Could be overheating. Take a look inside the heat sink. Do you see a lot of dust inside? Blow off dust using canned air. Clean the heat sink and test the laptop again. There is a good chance that cleaning the heat sink will fix your problem.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
To comment 170,
If the cooling fan started making noise, cleaning it will not help. You’ll have to replace the fan.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Mike Merriman,
It’s really hard to tell what’s going on with your laptop. Could be some kind of grounding issue but in order to narrow down the problem, it’s necessary to disassemble the laptop and take a closer look inside. Could be loose connection somewhere on the motherboard. There is no simple answer.
February 25th, 2009 at 1:23 am
Hi,
I have two broken acer aspires and now on my third it is not from manufactor issues. It is that my dear wife keeps manageing to drop them and bust the dc power port off. so my question is I have tried to search the part number for my 5100z and come up with nill. The other is an 5610z witch i can get the part but can not solder to save my life. I guess my questions are 1. for the 5610 where can i get an external case for my hard drive? ( bought 1 from R.S. and it was the wrong one.) 2. could you point me in the direction for a new power card for my 5100?
February 25th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Kevin,
Do you have a SATA or IDE hard drive installed into your laptop. Here’s the difference between these two hard drives.
I’m not sure what you call the power card. Is it the power jack? You can buy it on eBay.
February 26th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
I have a similar problem at that of Theresa. My 5100’s factory UJ 850 DVD drive used to disappear every now and then. I would have to go to the device manager and refresh until it came back, but now it’s gone and won’t return. What can I do?? I am not convinced that it’s the drive, becuase it’s light is lit and when a disc is put in it spins it’s heart out. What’s going on??
Thanx in advance and I appreciate your forum.
February 26th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Done365,
First of all, try booting from a bootable CD. You can use Windows installation CD, live Linux CD, etc…
If the laptop boots from a bootable CD but the drive will not appear in the My Computer, most likely it’s a software related problem.
You can try this method to get the drive back:
CD/DVD drive stopped reading all CDs and DVDs
In most cases removing the UpperFilters/LowerFilters registry entries works well.
February 27th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
how to find bluetooth on aspire 5100 and change it ?
February 28th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
nabil,
In order to access the bluetooth module in an Acer 5100 laptop, you’ll have to remove the motherboard. The bluetooth module plugs into the connector which is located very close to the audio jacks.
Here’s the service manual for Acer 5100. Take a look at the page 66.
March 2nd, 2009 at 5:45 pm
i have a similiar acer….5610z and its meesed up….i took it apart and can clearly see the piece that u plug the charger into on the motherboard is broken off from where it was soldered….ive been searching and havent found the answer….is it possible to just take the memory and hard drive out of that one and buy a shell witha motherboard and put my old harddrive and memory into the shell? can u even buy a shell of a laptop??
March 2nd, 2009 at 6:20 pm
hi i have the same laptop when i turn it on i get 3 beeps but no
display, any advice?
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:01 am
Justin,
You can try resoldering the broken power jack back to the motherboard. Take a look here:
Repair laptop power connector yourself
I guess it’s possible but basically you’ll have to buy a whole new laptop.
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 am
David,
Could be memory error.
Try reconnecting memory modules. Try removing modules one by one and test the laptop with each one separately.
March 3rd, 2009 at 2:21 pm
I have an Acer 5100 that has been acting strangely lately. It works fine but sometimes it hangs and I have to disconnect the power cord, the battery, and wait for a few minutes. Then everything works until it happens again.
I suspect that the CMOS battery is the culprit.
Also the hard drive is partitioned into two drives and both drives (C D) are less than 10% empty. I don’t know if this has any bearing on this condition but I thought it worth mentioning.
March 3rd, 2009 at 2:41 pm
ElliottB,
I really doubt that your problem is related to the CMOS battery. I believe the laptop should work even if the CMOS battery is dead or removed at all.
What do you mean by it hangs and I have to disconnect the power cord, the battery, and wait for a few minutes.
The laptop will not start at all, it freezes or what?
March 5th, 2009 at 8:54 am
It freezes. I cannot re-start it unless I remove the power cord and battery, and then replace them.
Once the screen went into bluish green horizontal stripes and had to be re-booted.
I have also noticed that occasionally the system clock on the task bar loses time.
March 7th, 2009 at 12:56 am
Thanks for this guide, it has helped me replace my Acers keyboard.
Micky
March 7th, 2009 at 11:31 am
ElliottB,
Test laptop memory, you can run Memtest86+
Read this post: How to make and use memory diagnostics disc to test laptop RAM
If the test comes up with memory errors, it’s possible that one of the modules is bad.
If it’s not memory, there could be a problem with the video card/motherboard.
March 8th, 2009 at 7:59 am
how do i remove the ram modules? theres 1GB in the laptop, i want remove the 1GB and put two 2GB ram modules (4GB)
Thanks
March 8th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I repair laptops full time and have to say that the acer aspire 5100 must be one of the worst laptops ever to come from acer. It has all of the acer faults combined in one machine, i had one come in the other day and could not do anything with it, constantly freezing up solid even when i managed to get half way throu a re-install so i remembered something a fellow tech said about a memory test or something with linux so fed up i tried to install it and it did,the whole program straight away, the usb ports and keyboard still did not work so i put a pcmcia usb card into the slot and atached a mouse and that worked also, i’m thinking now “this must be my lucky day dont push it ” but i did and via another lan card connected to the internet and downloaded the usb ,keyboard and touchpad drivers, sadly the usb ports still dont work and i cannot get the webcam to work Yet,but have got further than i ever expected to.
I gave it another push and re-installed vista on it and am writing this on it at the moment(never thought i would be)
I will post more info if i get any further with this long term project(the customed just donated it to me yesterday for science).
I hope some of this makes sense,
chow Tango
March 13th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Excuse me, do you notice that silver button below the mouse area? Well um, mine doesn’t work or at least I don’t know what it is for lol – Could you elaborate as to what this button does? Thank you! ^-^
March 13th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
took my accer 5100 apart to fix ac plug and now i dont remember where two wires go ones white one black coming from lcd screen i think they connect to someplace on motherboard
March 15th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
sony0193,
1. Carefully spread latches on both sides from the memory module.
2. The memory module will pop up at a 20-30 degree angle.
3. Pull the module from the slot by the edges.
4. Replace it with a new one.
March 15th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
bob,
These are wireless antenna cables. Both cables connect to the wireless card. You can see them on the picture 5.
March 17th, 2009 at 3:35 am
Any idea how to change the touchpad on this laptop?
March 17th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Upon powering up, my 5100 runs for about 5 seconds, then shuts itself off. Strangely enough, after another 5 seconds or so, it restarts itself, and repeats the cycle over and over. It doesn’t post, so it’s not an OS or software issue. It does this whether on battery power or a/c. Would it overheat that quick? Bad motherboard? Thanks.
March 19th, 2009 at 3:07 am
I wish to upgrade my Acer 5100 HDD, however, I think its partitioned, as I have C: & D: showing in “My Computer”. What software would you recommend to clone my HDD to a larger capacity one, which will automatically create C: & D: on the new larger drive?
Thanks in advance
Micky
March 20th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
I dropped my acer laptop and now the screen is pitch black. the power button turns on 4 a few seconds but the screen wont turn on and then it shuts off. what do i do???
March 21st, 2009 at 4:31 pm
I have a Acer 5610z that was given to me. I need to reset the BIOS password. I understand that removing the CMOS battery won’t work, and the security chip
must be replaced.
Any truth to this?
Your help is greatly appeciated.
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Micky,
You’ll have to remove the top cover assembly.
Here are three general steps:
1. Remove all screws from the bottom of the laptop.
2. Disconnect cables located under the keyboard. Remove screws, if there are any.
3. Separate the top cover from the base assembly.
When the top cover is removed, you can access and replace the touchpad.
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Dave,
I don’t think it’s overheating. Check memory modules, try reseating them. Try starting the laptop with only one module installed. Remove all devices you can access: hard drive, DVD drive, etc… Try starting the laptop without them.
If nothing helps, probably it’s related to the motherboard.
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Micky,
For cloning drives I usually use Norton Ghost 2003.
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:22 pm
Anglina,
I’m not sure if you feel comfortable doing that, but I would recommend taking the laptop apart and reseating all cable and internal components. It’s possible that your laptop will not start because something is loose inside.
First, try reconnecting memory modules and test the laptop. It shouldn’t be very difficult but might help.
March 24th, 2009 at 3:19 am
I got a problem with my Acer 5100
yesterday, my lappy was okay. Only my bluetooth device wasn’t recognized, the bluetooth light never worked. the nite of that day, i was using my acer but something happened…the screen coloured stripes crash appeared…so i forced to turn it off by press hold the power button…after i turned on it back, all of components such as keyboard,touchpad, and usb do not working any more, but the bluetooth device came back normal…i ve tried the f2 button at bios but not any effected…same as the ctrl holding and fn+f7…all of them didnt make some effects…
how i solve this problem??
is this hardware problem?
should i take this to the acer?
thx
March 24th, 2009 at 10:15 am
Thank you, thank you, thank you!. Although I have an Acer Aspire 5610z, your instructions saved me time and money. Great job! Thx
March 24th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Thank you!
I have an Acer Aspire 3100 and these instructions helps me so much!
Good Job!!!
March 24th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
My Aspire 5100 just stop working tonight. I went to turn it on and nothing happened after I pushed the power button. When I plug in the power supply, the front light comes on, but the power button does not turn on the laptop. I unplugged it from the power supply and removed the battery for 5 minutes, but that did not fix it.
Do you think it is a bad power button? Kind of strange it just stopped all of a sudden.
Bob
March 24th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Disregard my last question. I did a search on “acer laptop will not power on” and found the answer.
Remove the power plug and battery. Hold down the power button for about 30 seconds then plug in the power cable. I pushed the power button again and the laptop turn on and booted up fine. Really weird problem. I wonder what causes it?
Bob
March 24th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Dhanta,
Can you enter the BIOS setup menu and try using the keyboard in BIOS. Can you? If the keyboard doesn’t work in BIOS, most likely it’s a hardware related problem.
Is it still under warranty? If yes, definitely send it for repair to Acer.
March 24th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Bob,
Yep, that would be the first think to try if your laptop stopped booting. It works well and not only on Acer laptops.
What causes it? I don’t know.
March 25th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Hello,
I must say I was very happy to have found your site and to read some of the upgrades that I can do for my Acer!! Thank you
about a week ago I was plugged into the internet w a wired cnction, i tripped and the ethernet cable was ripped out of the port on the side of the comp. now if i try to cnct to the internet through the same port the green light by the port only lights up 10% of the time… if that. If the ethernet cable is plugged im no longer able to cnct to the int. Do you think this may be something i can fix myself like replacing the port?? or would I be wiser to take it into a comp prefessional?
Thanks for your time, Vida
March 25th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Hey,
I have a Acer Aspire 5100-5023 with a ATI Radeon Xpress 1100. Is it possible to upgrade it to something better? If it is any suggestions. Thank you.
John
March 25th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Thanks laptop tech for ur respond…
No, I cant…I couldnt get into the bios setup…all keys on board didn’t work anything…because i shut the power off at BIOS, now after booting, the windows error recovery appeared but still i couldnt choose any option…then it entered to startup repair command box…but still i couldnt do anything about it…
I dont know if the warranty is still valid or not…currently, i live in Indonesia but this laptop was sent from US…My brother bought this laptop around 1,5 years ago and he doesnt know where the book warranty is…
But, I got info that Acer has Acer Care Service in my city…maybe, i’d like to give them a call..
thx
March 27th, 2009 at 4:53 am
Short version: I think I’m screwed.
Longer version: Haven’t been able to boot my system for 18 hrs or so. In SAFE mode, the list of system files always halts at agpCPQ.sys. My bonehead guess would be that the next file is trashed. WORST: When I try to launch D2D recovery using ALT-F10 (having checked BIOS for D2D enabled), I get a brief msg indicating that the system is entering recovery mode, but then–the WINXP load logo, and things grind to a halt. Have attempted disconnecting/reinstalling the battery; the hard drive; the memory sticks.
Any thoughts???
March 27th, 2009 at 5:20 am
FOOTNOTE:
Before attempting to restore the drive using the default recovery image, I backed up my crucial data using a SATA enclosure to another machine
March 28th, 2009 at 4:31 am
Update: Using another machine in my household, I created a Ubuntu install disc, and ran a user session on my Acer Aspire 5100 from the DVD drive. After logging in as root, I copied the SATA drive to device null, expecting to encounter a slew of hardware errors. There were none! My best guess now is that I’m infected with a virus of some sort.
March 29th, 2009 at 9:45 am
Vida,
In most laptops the eithernet port is soldered to the motherboard. In order to find out what is wrong you’ll have to disassemble the laptop and take a closer look. Can you do it yourself? If not, I would take the laptop to a professional repair shop.
March 29th, 2009 at 9:46 am
John,
I don’t think so. I believe the video card is integrated into the motherboard and you cannot remove/replace/upgrade the card. You are stuck with what you have.
March 29th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Jim Brokaw,
Maybe you have a faulty hard drive? Try testing the hard drive with Hitachi’s drive fitness test.
March 29th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Laptop Tech,
Thanks for the suggestion. No joy however. I created an ostensibly bootable CD using the ISO image for the drive fitness test I downloaded from Hitachi, and verified that my dvd drive is at the top of the boot sequence. However, I was unable to launch the DFT–the machine proceeds to boot from the hard drive. Hard to imagine what could cause this except some sort of windows-based virus. No problem booting using the Ubuntu CD.
March 31st, 2009 at 2:13 am
Hi,
I have the Acer Aspire 5100 and have no problems with it. However, I want to transfer what has been filmed on a camcorder to the laptop but this model doesn’t have the 4-pin IEEE 1394 port. How do I go about this?
Thanks in anticipation for your help.
David
March 31st, 2009 at 8:57 pm
David,
You can buy a PCMCIA card for your laptop with IEEE 1394 ports. You plug this card into the PC slot in your laptop and get 2 IEEE 1394 ports.
Google PCMCIA IEEE 1394
April 1st, 2009 at 4:21 am
Better luck this time–I burned the CD again and was able to run the Hitachi DFT. It indeed reported an error without further detail, and referred me to my drive mfr for diagnostic tools. Oddly, the Seagate Tools pkg showed no errors at all. At this point I’ve ordered recovery media from Acer. (And that’s another issue–why should I have to pay for recovery media when the partition on the drive is nonfunctional??)
In any case, thanks for your help!
April 1st, 2009 at 7:25 am
Thank you for your great site. I have an acer 5100 laptop. my son has it overseas and will be sending it home to me because yesterday the screen started flickering. today, he turned it on and the screen is very dim and he can hardly see it at all. The laptop is running fine except for the screen problem. I told him to send it home and I will look at it. If you could give me some ideas of what this could be and where I would look for the problem it would be greatly appreciated.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Dawna,
Most likely this failure is related to the inverter board which is located inside the display panel. I explain how to disassemble the display panel here:
How to remove LCD screen and replace inverter board in Acer Aspire 5100 laptop
Most likely it’s necessary to replace the inverter board.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:31 am
I’m trying to fix my Acer Aspire 5100 and I want to replace my RAM, Hard Drive and Video Card. My question is, what would be best? To replace my motherboard or to buy all of this?
Thanks Alot!
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:58 pm
I have the same problem as #52 – Vali:
A 5102WLMi Aspire notebook, and all 3 USB ports show OK in Device Manager, but can’t recognize any device plugged into them.
Tried Chipset Driver updates, BIOS Phlashing, several different OS clean installs – no go!
Googling shows quite a few people with this problem, but Acer doesn’t own up to it being a regular issue they should fix.
A PCI adapter serves to some extent, but bandwith doesn’t seem big enough for my Logitech webcam – it freezes after a few seconds, and stays frozen.
Help, somebody!
April 2nd, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Hi,
On our aspire 5100 we installed 4 gb ram (2×2gb) about a year ago.
At that time it was running vista home premium (the version which was pre-installed).
Windows recognized 3.25Gb of ram.
We formatted, and reinstalled win vista (original, came with laptop), but now vista only recognizes 2.3gb of ram.
Re formatted again installed xp this time.
Only 2.25gb are recognized.
in bios all 4gb are recognized.(3.8 to be exact)
We tried to switch ram modules around, same thing, even replaced one with a 1gb module but still, windows only recognizes 2.25gb..What is the problem?
April 3rd, 2009 at 5:11 am
Hi, a beer was tipped over onto my laptop and I caught it very quickly – it was a small amount and I popped off some of the keys and wiped under them . It was near the shift key on the right lower side of the keyboard . For a while the screen wouldn’t show anything legible and then after a few days it worked fine until now . The screen is very jumpy and grainy but you can still read what’s on it . Could I get some circuit board cleaner and take the key board off perhaps ? Great tutorial and well photographed ! THanks !
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:46 am
Harry Linssen,
To me that sounds like a problem with the motherboard.
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:51 am
prometheus,
Did you install SP1 for Vista?
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Doug Seton,
Apparently, you’ve damaged the motherboard.
I doubt that cleaner will help. You’ll have to remove the top cover and take a closer look at the motherboard to find out what’s going on. I you find corrosion, you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
April 3rd, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Hi! I just received a “damaged” Aspire 5100. The USB ports, keyboard and mouse pad aren’t working. Apparently the first thing to go down were the USB ports, then the keyboard and pad stopped working as well.
It boots up nicely, but I can´t click on the username to enter the password.
Any ideas??
April 4th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Vero,
Apparently there is a problem with the motherboard. There is not much you can do.
Without USB ports you cannot use external keyboard or mouse.
Without keyboard and touch pad you cannot enter the BIOS setup and check the settings.
I guess you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
April 7th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Bought my son a laptop, Acer 3634Wlmi.The laptop picture is dim(You can just make itout).Currently it works with an external monitor, so I bought a second hand screen and replaced the other 1.Still the same problem. Managed to get another 3634 , which had screen flicker. I replaced that screen with the second hand screen and the screen works perfect. So know I know the problem in the other 3634 is elsewhere, somewhere in the base.Any ideas?? Both laptops work excellently. thx in advance Iain. P.S Have checked all connections from screen to base(only 3 lol), and all fine
April 7th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
I have a used acer aspire 5100, every now and then the screen either goes black or white with horizontal gray lines. I reseated the lcd connecter and still same thing.
Should i replace the lcd or is it a inverter issue?
April 7th, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Iain Foster,
Did you replace just the LCD screen or you replaced the whole display assembly (with LCD screen, inverter, cables, etc…)?
April 7th, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Carl,
You still can see the screen and it’s bright even though it has only horizontal lines, so it’s not related to the inverter.
You’ll have to test your laptop with an external monitor. If external video works fine, you have either bad LCD (most likely) or bad video cable (less likely).
April 8th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
I’ll be as clear as I can. First Acer 3634 has dim screen.Works fine with external monitor. I got a second hand screen(whole display).We will call this Fred. I changed whole display, Just disconnected 2 wireless and mobo connection. I then connected up Fred to first Acer. The result is the same(dim screen). I have second Acer 3634. This has a screen with colours running vertically across screen in lines, but if you hold top corner of screen(squeeze)you get clear picture. So I replaced whole display with Fred, same procedure as above. Second Acer now works fine.No problems. So I can deduce that first Acer problem is not inverter or backlight because Fred works in second Acer. I haven’t gotten around to testing first Acer screen in second Acer. But from Fred I know screen is not problem. Any ideas?? any more info you need please ask. thx again Iain
April 8th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Just to add to above. Both acer’s work fine and boot up normally. On first acer although screen is dim that is only problem, because you can just about make out what u doing on screen. So o/s working normally.
April 8th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Also, as regards to second acer original screen(coloured lines running across screen) until you squeeze in certain place(Top left corner of display). Im guessing some water got into it, or bad connection? I have seen diagrams to seperate sheets and clean the display. Just wondered which prob it was. thx again Iain
April 10th, 2009 at 8:50 am
Hi, wonderful site!
I have an Acer Aspire 5100 running Vista Home Premium, 32bits, at 1.8ghz.
I recently had the RAM upgraded from 2gb to 4gb, replaced with identical product.
The new 4gb shows in BIOS and System Information but still only shows original 2gb on Task Manager Performance and system is not using the added memory. Acer wants to charge big money for a phone call because warranty has expired. Do you have any ideas on what might be happening or how to get the system to actually ‘use’ the added memory? Any help at this point would be much appreciated.
April 12th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
hello mr tech first of all very very good quide.
here is my concern I have an aspire 5515 is very very close to the 5100 visually its almost the same thing but inside it came with a amd athlon single core 2650e clocked to 1.60 ghz 3 gig of ram vista 32 bit and a built in ati radeon x1200.
i’ve been researching and discover that my board uses a s1 socket and that the board and the version of the bios will support a turion x2 prossesor ive been looking to see if anybody has done this and theres some people that claim they swap the athlon for an athlon x2 but the original prosessor only uses about 15 watts and the one that tey claim to change was 55 watts soo i dont think thats true im looking at a turion x2 tl66 2.3 ghz running at 35 watts will this work and will the power supply handle the difference and will the temperature be ok thaks for looking and hope anybody has something to say to me thanks
April 12th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Iain Foster,
You are correct. It sounds like the first Acer laptop has a problem with the motherboard. Fred assembly is working fine with the second Acer laptop, so Fred has no problem with LCD or inverter.
I guess you’ll have to replace the motherboard on the first Acer laptop.
April 12th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Ian Foster,
Sounds like bad connection somewhere on the LCD controller board. I really doubt that you can fix it at home. You’ll have to replace the LCD screen.
April 12th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
Doris,
Try upgrading your Vista to SP1. Make sure the laptop has the latest BIOS installed. Update the BIOS if needed.
Check out other downloads available for your laptop, maybe Acer issued some kind of update which improves the system performance.
Here’s an example. I had an HP Pavilion dv5000 notebook and the CPU speed never was reported correctly in the system properties. I tried everything to fix it but nothing worked. Finally, I fixed it by updating the BIOS to the latest available version.
April 13th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Great site very helpful. having terrible problems with my daughters acer aspire 5100, keeps hanging soon after start up, cant do anything with computer except turn it off, recently reinstalled xp, but this was a problem prior to this also cleaned out fan ,very dusty
thanks for your help
April 13th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I think my hard drive is toast on my Acer Aspire 5100. It won’t boot, comes up with a menu recommending “Launch Startup Repair” or “Start Windows Normally”. Neither seems to do the trick. The hard disk light comes on for awhile, then goes our. If I launch Startup Repair, it flashes an unreadable (very quick) blue screen, then restarts all over. Starting Windows normally just doesn’t go either. My question is, does it sound like the hard drive? If so , can I replace it with a comparable SATA drive and use my factory rrestore disks to make everything good again? Thank you,
Jeff
April 13th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I forgot to mention, I tried using the restore disks and it quit when I believe it was trying to write to the hard drive and stated “Restore Failed”, Reason 0xa000000e.
Jeff
April 14th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Hello, I have an Acer Aspire 5100 I’ve only had it for a little over a year and I guess it got a virus and shut down and it had black screen with words saying somehting about scan. My son was using it at that point so not sure. I tried to shut down and it was slow it took hours to go to window screen. I called acer but the restore didn’t work. I thought I had a recovery disk stuck it in to override and it worked fine but color looked different. Come to find out it was sons Dell XP because the key code wouldn’t work. I called Acer to pay for a recovery disk, they sent it and it was loading everything went through like 45 minutes and then said it was writing the files and finishing and then black screen. Why did it work with the Dell XP but not teh original recovery disk? What can I do now?
April 14th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
I think mine was doing the same as Jeff’s above #253 before I put in the recovery disk.
April 18th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Hello Laptop Tech,
Many thanks for the tech support you offer. I purchased Acer 5100 in Nov 2006 and it was opened last week for the first time to upgrade RAM from 512 MB to 2 GB. It is working fine. Yesterday I was surprised to see a small dipression, a centimeter wide, on the panel caused just below the function key. It appears that the panel has melted from inside and I think it due to over heating. I am worried about the safety of my system. I have cleaned the fan and the ventilation using a vacuum cleaner. Should I attempt to clean the heat sink. Would you recommend cooling pad to take away excess heat? Please suggest.
April 19th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
josie millington,
First of all, I would suggest testing laptop memory and hard drive. You can run Memtest86+ and test RAM.
By the way, if you have two memory modules installed, try removing them one by one and test the laptop with each memory module separately. If the laptop works fine with one of them, but hangs when another one is installed, the second module is bad.
If the laptop hangs with each module, apparently your problem is not related to memory.
Run diagnostics on the hard drive. Remove the hard drive and find out who made it. After that visit the manufacturer’s website and download the hard drive test. Test the hard drive.
April 19th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
JefFLH,
Yes, your problem could be related to the hard drive.
Also, it’s possible you have a problem with memory. Before you purchase a new hard drive, run memory test. You can use Memtest86+.
If you don’t want to test the memory, you can try removing memory modules one by one and run the restore with only one memory module installed. If everything works fine with one of the modules installed, most likely the second one is defective and has to be replaced.
Yes, you can do that. The restore disc doesn’t requires the original drive to be installed. You can install a compatible drive and run the restore. It will reimage the drive back to factory defaults.
April 19th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Angie,
So it took you hours to boot to the desktop? There could be a problem with the hard drive.
Access the hard drive, find out who made it and visit the manufacturer’s website. Download the hard drive diagnostics utility and test the drive. If it fails, you’ll have to replace the hard drive.
If you cannot find diagnostics utility, try Hitachi’s drive fitness test, I linked to it in Useful Links on the right side. Hitachi’s DFT works with many different drives.
April 22nd, 2009 at 2:34 am
I have an Acer Aspire 8920G on wich I managed to spill beer right into the keyboard, some keys arent working after that, might be a minor cleaning job or a replacement of Keyboard, either way I really need to know how 2 properly dissasemble/remove keyboard without causing any damage
April 22nd, 2009 at 11:17 pm
I gotta say I love this acer 5515 its a great laptop for the money. I would like to upgrade my acer’s wireless card to a wireless N, is this possible and if so where or what site could I go to to get a N card to install in my acer? I have wireless N at my home now and I would just love to experience 300mbps. Any help lemme know?
April 23rd, 2009 at 1:21 am
I have a used Acer Aspire 5100, every now and then, it either automatically shutsdown or the screen goes blue with a message saying: “Checking Memory Dump Files”.
What is the problem and what should I do?
Thanks!
April 24th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Hi.
Great site…really easy to understand instructions!
I have an Acer Aspire 5100 and the only problem with it is the CD/DVD drive. It doesn’t read any discs that I put in, but when I double click on the CD icon a box pops up that says the CD is a blank one and do I want to format it. It hasn’t been working for nearly a year now, and until I came across this site I didn’t expect to be able to get it fixed – warranty has run out and it will take too long and too much money. However, I am sure that I can follow your instructions to take the CD/DVD drive out. Now my two questions are…do you have instructions on how to install a new drive? And, do you recommend that I replace it myself? (Is it safe or will I likely break the whole computer? lol)
Thanks in advance for your help!
April 25th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Hello, I am unable to test anything with my hard drive because my computer doesn’t ever get past the black screen. A little back ground, I put in my sons dell xp recovery by accident and overrode everything on acer 5100. I realized when I went to register the prI oduct. My computer worked fine, so I am pretty sure the hard drive works. I called acer to purchase recovery disk and when I received them they went through the process but when it said at the end, the loading all files it went to a blank screen and the fan still runs. I never get past that screen. I called acer paid for their support, they said dell xp is still sitting there and I tried downloading iso burner from another computer onto a cd to load to my acer but nothing happens it still does’t get past the blank screen…I have tried researching but haven’t found anything out there. Can I just purchase a new windows software that overrides everything and get a new product key?
April 27th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Hey, i dont understand why you need to remove the hard drive, dvd, wireless card and all that just to clean out the fan. I took the panel off the back of my acer and used a knife to clean some dust inbetween the fan and the bronze part and my computer is running much faster now.
Can someone explain if i can clean it out more without removing all those other parts (dvd, wireless card, hard drive, ram, keyboard, etc.)
Thanks
April 27th, 2009 at 9:44 am
Chris,
You don’t have to remove all these parts. In my guide I explain how to dissemble the laptop, not just clean the fan.
You can remove just the cooling fan and clean it with compressed air.
April 28th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
i bought a 2nd hand laptop cheap because it had a problem with its keyboard. i ordered a keyboard in ebay and replaced the old keyboard.
but it doesnt work. i try to readjust the connection and sometimes i get stuff like
wd;t and thats it in a text pad or sometimes
00000000000000
or
]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
and it goes on..
what am i doing wrongly?
April 28th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
i replaced my laptop keyboard, however it doesnt work. i try to readjust the conection, then sometime i get my pc beeping as if a key is held, i open text pad it show 000000000000000 or sometimes ]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
whatever
April 28th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
when i remove keyboard i noticed that one side of the keyboard connector is disconnected while the other is still conected but i can still lock the keyboard together with the mother board. however it doesnt detect the keyboard or it make as if its holding some keys… any work around?
May 1st, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Is there any reason why you could not go upto a 320GB hard drive on a Aspire 5611AWLMi? It’s currently got 80GB and upgraded to 3GB RAM. Cheers.
May 4th, 2009 at 12:24 am
i disconected the keyboard and using a usb keyboard however i again notice that sometimes it just go crazy and start holding on [[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[[
May 5th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
raj,
Is it the same problem as you experienced with the internal keyboard? Sounds like a faulty keyboard controller on the motherboard.
May 5th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Iqbal,
This is relatively new laptop and I think it can handle a new 320GB hard drive without any problem.
May 5th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
raj,
If the laptop didn’t work properly with the old keyboard and a new one didn’t fix it either, apparently there is a problem with the keyboard controller on the motherboard. Most likely you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
May 6th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
How do you access the CMOS battery? Where is it located? I need to have some stuff reset
May 12th, 2009 at 2:28 am
I have an acer aspire 5100 its about 2 years old and about a year back I put an extra gig of ram in it but now it wont start with both cards in the slots it only works with one ram in the first slot waht should i do?
May 13th, 2009 at 8:25 am
I HAVE AN ACER 5515 AND SOME OF THE KEYS ARE STUCK. EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE IT WORKS AND AM ABLE TO LOGIN. BUT MOST OF THE TIME IM STUCK AT THE LOGIN SCREEN DUE TO KEY BEING STUCK AND NOT BEING ABLE TO INPUT PASSWORD. ALSO WHEN NOTEBOK STARTSUP I HERE BEEPING. IS THERE ANYTHING AT ALL I CAN DO TO CHECK AND FIX THIS WITH REPLACING KEYBOARD
May 18th, 2009 at 7:12 am
hi, this is really useful website. do you offer advice? i have an acer 5100 series, approx 3 yrs old. just developed a problem with it, keeps freezing/locking up. i’m convinced this is a hardware fault. i originally thought the hard drive was packing up so i changed it from a 100gig pata to a 250gig pata, doubling the ram mem from 1gig to 2gig at the same time. i ran the recovery disc which reinstalled xp media center back to original factory settings. problem still keeps occuring though. you can tell when it’s going to happen as the sound played by the computer is distorted. any ideas? i took it to repair centre and they just said it was fine after running windows updates. took it home, hey presto problem re-occurred about 2hours later. the repair centre said they reseated the processor. i think it’s motherboard related, probably a dry joint? don’t have enough pc savvy to go any further though. any advice would be greatful. steve
May 19th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
><
I think my laptop is overheating but I’m not sure.
It starts to boot up but then i start to hear a weird messed up clicking/beeping noise,
which seems to be becoming from the speakers.
Shortly after, most of the time before I get to the account selection screen, it locks up, the screen goes black or the mouse/keyboard just stop working.
The cpu fan kicks on for a couple seconds then it goes off and a couple seconds later it comes back and stays on.
Any idea what it could be?
I’ve taken it apart partially and blown out all the dust but it still doesn’t work.
May 27th, 2009 at 3:58 am
Hi, i have an Acer aspire 5100 with dual core 1.6 cpu (laptop not working) and an Acer aspire 5100 single core 2.0ghz cpu (working), the question is can i put the dual core straight into the single core without any problems also would it be worth doing it?
Thanks
May 27th, 2009 at 4:03 am
Hi, i have an aspire 5100, core duo 1.6, 2gb ram, the problem is i left the laptop on when i came back the led on the power supply was flashing and the laptop was off, now with a new, correct power supply it shows no sign of power at all, i have stripped it down and checked the power socket on the board and checked for burn marks but nothing!
Hope someond can help?
May 28th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Ant,
Sounds like a problem with the motherboard. It’s possible that you have a blown power fuse. In most cases you can find the power fuse somewhere close to the power jack. You can check the fuse for continuity with a multimeter. If the fuse is OK, I guess you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
May 28th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Mark,
I think you can do that if both motherboard have the same socket. I’m not sure if it will be necessary to reinstall Windows or the new CPU will be detected and configured automatically.
May 29th, 2009 at 4:30 am
Hi All,
I have Acer Aspire 5100 laptop with (AMD Turion Processor-2GHz,60GB-PATA HDD, 1GB DDR2).I bought it 2 years back,now it’s working fine.
I want to upgrade the laptop. Please tell me upto how much RAM and HDD I can upgrade.
My expectation is HDD – 250GB and RAM – 4GB.
Is it suppot SATA HDD.
Please suggest
Cheers,
Tusar
May 31st, 2009 at 10:19 am
Hi there,\r\n
my acer aspire 5100 laptop’s does not boot (even with a boot CD). The repair centre has said that the hard disk is the problem. The solution recommended is replacement of the hard disk (with the old hard disk be returned to me for recovering data) or they ”redo” the current HD but at the cost of all data loss.
i want to replace the hard disk as I do not want to lose the data. Can you pl guide how do i go about doing this and also recovering the data from my current hard disk. The laptop is currently not starting at all.
Can you pl advise.
thx/amit
May 31st, 2009 at 1:09 pm
tusar,
You can install 4GB RAM. 2GB module into each slot.
You have a PATA hard drive installed, so you cannot upgrade to SATA because it has a different connector. Any large PATA hard drive should work just fine. I think you can go with 250GB.
May 31st, 2009 at 3:25 pm
amit,
I don’t know how badly your hard drive damaged but you can try the following method.
1. Buy an external USB enclosure for laptop hard drives. Make sure to choose the right one. If you have an IDE hard drive installed, you’ll have to buy an IDE enclosure. If you have a SATA hard drive installed, you’ll have to buy a SATA enclosure.
2. Remove the hard drive from your laptop.
3. Install the hard drive into the enclosure and connect it to another working computer.
If the hard drive damage is not too bad (maybe a few bad sectors), you should be able to access it through My Computer and back up the data.
June 6th, 2009 at 9:56 am
hey all, i have an aspire 5100 cant set the time clock any more guess the battery needs changing on the mobo like a pc but i been told cant be changed. but sounds like you guys changing lots of things here so any ideas pls or can i change the mobo and upgrade to a dual core to speed things up a bit still on a single core 1.6 ghz
June 6th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
rhino,
What do you mean you cannot set the time clock? You cannot enter it at all or the time sets back to defaults when you restart the laptop?
I believe the CMOS (RTC) battery is soldered to the motherboard. Yes, you cannot unplug the battery like in a desktop computer, but you can unsolder the old one and solder a new one (if you can find a replacement battery).
June 7th, 2009 at 2:25 am
HI, can you help me? I need a new body case for my Aspire 5100. Is it posible? where can i buy a new body case? will it be easy to changed?
June 7th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Cornel,
By the body case you mean the bottom case assembly? Check out here: Acer 5100 bottom case assembly.
It’s not easy to change. You’ll have to disassemble the whole laptop and remove every single part.
June 8th, 2009 at 8:52 am
yes i mean it resets when i boot up, and like you said finding the little sucker is an issu. Thats why i thought about a mobo upgrade can it be done is it self explanitary i have built many pc but never fiddled with a lap top
June 8th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Hey, do you happen to know what make and size the cmos chip is may have found somewhere but dont want to pull apart just yet
thanx agaun for all your info
June 8th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
I need to replace Acer Apire DC Power Jack. Is there any further instruction available that I can follow to reach the broken DC Power Jack ( or reach the motherboard) ?
June 8th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Kortz,
Here it is: http://tinyurl.com/m8ugsk
June 11th, 2009 at 1:40 am
One of my notebook’s usb ports is not working, the one next to the power jack. Another one at the back is working. What might be the problem? Should I replace the power jack+2 usb ports attachment or can I get that usb port fixed?
June 11th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Hey,
A friend of mine had a little problem with the right click, so somehow she tried to open it with her nail file (please don’t ask me why!) and since then she doesn’t have any sound on her computer. Now I wasn’t there when this happened, maybe a driver problem occurred at the same time, I don’t know. I should go to her house next week so I’ll figure it out.
Do you know if I can fix the right click?
Do you know if a cable for the sound is going near this pad?
Thanks
Phil
PS: I’ll might find somewhere in my house a usb mouse anyway
PPS: I’m reading everything here, but it is going to take some time!
June 11th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
@ Phil
Speakers’ cables and and the part attached to mainboard are close to touchpad so she might somehow have broke a cable or sth. You should take it part and see. It’s very easy and explained above.
I m still waiting a reply to my problem as well…
June 12th, 2009 at 11:12 am
I have an Aspire 5100 that seems to come on, but the screen doesn’t light up. I have connected it to a monitor and tried the Fn/F8 key and still nothing.
I think the video card is integrated into the moboard, right?
Is it hard to change/worth changing a motherboard on a 2 year old laptop?
Thanks.
June 13th, 2009 at 5:20 am
Hi all-
Would anyone happen to know where I could get a replacement CMOS battery for this machine? Or even what kind of battery I would need to get?
Thanks in advance
June 14th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
i get beep beep when i start my acer aspire 5100, it only starts when i put pressure to left of keypad, then if i make slightest movement when im using it it freezes and i get a blue screen. i’ve replaced the hard drive but still getting same problem, from reading other posts it sounds like motherboard is knackered or has a loose connection!
Where is the CPU chip???
as i have read other posts that if it has a loose connection it will have the same effect so i want to check it but cant seem to locate it, any ideas??
June 20th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
I just purchased a new 120gb SATA hard drive for an Acer Aspire 5100. My question is the connection for the HDD looks different from the connection in the laptop. Are all SATA HDD compatible or do you need a certain make/model?
June 21st, 2009 at 9:45 am
Ben,
Both connectors have to match. Apparently, you purchased an IDE hard drive instead of SATA hard drive. You can see the difference between two hard drive connectors here: IDE hard drive vs SATA hard drive.
IDE and SATA hard drives are not interchangeable. If your laptop requires a SATA hard drive you cannot use an IDE hard drive.
June 21st, 2009 at 12:09 pm
my acer 5100 laptop keyboard and touchpad has froze up on my , i use it at all but i can still turn it on ,
June 23rd, 2009 at 12:27 am
acer tavelmate 2300
want to look for Keyboard Connector part on motherboard as i can fix it but want to buy parts as dont know where to find the connector parts.
June 24th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
c bo,
Can you use the keyboard in BIOS? If you can, you might have a software related problem. Try reinstalling Windows from the recovery disc.
June 24th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
ryan,
Maybe it’s bad memory module or defective memory slot? Do you have two memory modules installed? Try removing them one by one and installing into different slots. Test the laptop with each module installed into each slot.
June 24th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
I always get lcd screen vibrates the picture when laptop getting hot ..starting by noise like GSM wave on TV. an then everything mix in the high vibe, the vibration cannot stop until i turn it off and wait till it cool.
I already check the flexible cable an it socket, it is looking good nothing bad connect.
I also do the memory check, there is no error .
Can you explain me how to repair it..??
Thanks in advance
May The force be with you
-Dodi Suwardi-
June 24th, 2009 at 11:57 pm
uppss…Forget to write my notebook type, it is Acer Aspire 3680. celeron 1.7 Ghz 1Gb memory
-regard-
-Dodi Suwardi-
June 25th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Hi, I really think I have a problem. My Aspire 5100 has 2 problems but I think they are connected because they happened at the same time, apparently when you try to boot the computer up most of the time the screen does not come on but you can hear the fan and you can see the power light on. And number 2 is that when the computer finally comes on it sometimes freezes and turns to a blank screen of what ever color I was looking at with vertical lines. Is this a software problem or may I need to buy a new laptop.
this has been going on for a couple weeks now, any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
P.S. I have had this computer for about 2 years now
June 27th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
What is the slot under the plastic to the left of the cooling fan for? It looks like you could plug some kind of expansion card in there but what kind??
June 29th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Mike,
I don’t have this unit in front of me and cannot see the slot, but maybe it’s for the Bluetooth card?
July 2nd, 2009 at 4:49 am
i have recovery cds for the acer aspire 4315-2535
there is an error message after first disk is installed
but a windows xp cd trial will work
any way to get the vista cds to work
July 2nd, 2009 at 7:22 pm
I’m having the same problem with my Acer 5100 Aspire as ryan :
“i get beep beep when i start my acer aspire 5100, it only starts when i put pressure to left of keypad, then if i make slightest movement when im using it it freezes and i get a blue screen…”
Every ten or so reboots will work and I am able to access Windows and everything else as normal. However, if I have more than one application is running my comp will freeze for over 20 minutes and then power off. Sometimes I get the blue screen (of death). Afterwards, and everytime that I’d attempt to restart I’d see the pxe rom media test failure error that prompts me to check a cable. All of this led me to believe that my HDD may be corrupted. Recently, I have found that if I squeeze the sides of my laptop (discovered out of frustration) during boot up that windows will start, half of the time abnormally, but my comp seems to respond to pressure.
If there is anyone who has any insight on this issue and can help me out I would greatly appreciate it. I dont wanna replace my HDD if this same thing will keep happening…
July 4th, 2009 at 9:55 am
I got myself a free ( broken down ) acer aspire AS5101AWLMI,
it has the following problem:
in the bios there is no HDD or DVDrw visible ….it’s just blank. Replacing the HDD gives the same result.
Also did a succesfull bios upgrade, new CPU, new ram, but the problem remains with the following error:
PXE-E61: media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: exiting PXE ROM
after some adjustment i’ve turned off the LAN booting option, removed the HDD & DVDrw an managed to install Ubuntu from an USB stick to an USB stick and IT WORKS!!!
now i can use the laptop with my USB stick as an HDD with Ubuntu…
It’s not ideal sollution, slow booting, freezing up for a couple of seconds and more minour stuff.
But i still want to get the HDD and DVDrw working again, so i can install windows 7 on it….
anyone had any idea what the problem is and if it’s something that can be fixed?
any help will be most appreciated!
Donovan
July 6th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
I’ve got the exact same problem as c bo— my acer 5100 keyboard and mouse pad are frozen. If I take it apart, what would i need to look for in terms of what to fix?
July 6th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
nicole,
First of all make sure your problem is not related to software. Can you use the keyboard in BIOS? If you can, try reinstalling Windows. It’s possible that you have software related issue.
July 6th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Donovan,
Apparently the IDE controller on the motherboard is fried and because of that HDD and DVD drive are not detected. There is not much you can do except replacing the motherboard with a new one.
July 7th, 2009 at 5:41 am
i have an acer laptop and when i turn it on the key board and mouse are completely frozen i tried another mouse and key board and they wouldnot work either is there any thing i can do to fix it?
July 11th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Acer Aspire 5100- spilled coffee on the keyboard- Shift key sticks- so can not enter password-
Is there any way to run keyboard diagnostics ? Thanks, jeff
July 12th, 2009 at 11:23 am
I have an Acer Aspire 5100 laptop of which the keyboard and the touchpad will not respond.
Steps that I have taken:
Fn+F6
Fn+F7
Hard reset:
I have also performed a hard reset (taking the battery out and unplugging the AC power cord, then holding down the start button for sixty seconds, then restarting the computer with out a battery but with the AC plugged in)….
Uninstall of devices through Device Manager:
I have checked the device manager and both devices are running properly…I have uninstalled them and reinstalled them through the device manager….
Install of new drivers
Reinstall of Windows Vista
History:
This same thing happened a couple of weeks ago and I was able to fix it then…I thought that I fixed through uninstalling and reinstalling in the device manager, but it didn’t work this time…I was thinking also that maybe deleting them in the registry might do the trick….I have a USB Keyboard plugged in right now and a mouse….
Also, I can not use the keyboard, even before Windows boots up…
July 12th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
My 5100 doesn’t power up one day, just completely dead, anybody has this experience?
It’s only 1.5 years old, not the battery for sure as I’ve tested it on another similar laptop…
Fuse? Power unit?
Thanks.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:40 am
hey hows it going im just wondering whats wrong with my laptop(acer aspire 5100) every time i play games it has this big lag for a few minutes then i goes back to normal then dose it again so just tell me what to do to stop it from doing it Please
July 16th, 2009 at 4:44 am
“Would anyone happen to know where I could get a replacement CMOS battery for this machine? Or even what kind of battery I would need to get?”
go to any supermarket/hardware store/camera shop and they will have the battery you need. its just a 3v lithium battery. its a small round coin-like battery, normall used in watches and cameras.
read this so you know how to replace it.
hope it helps even though its a month later than when you posted.
July 17th, 2009 at 4:53 am
Well…since LapTop Tech doesn’t really help you guys with the usb,touchpad and keyboard issue I’ll try to give you a hand. First of all this particular model of Acer is a piece of crap….if you google a little bit you’ll find that there are litteraly thousands of people with the same problem. It’s apparently a motherboard issue that Acer was aware of from the beggining. If you’re able to enter BIOS then a simple OS reinstall will do. For the ones that aren’t able to enter bios at all well….there’s one last (not so great) solution. Use a PCMCIA USB card and use and external keyboard and mouse. And you’ll also find out that the webcam is no longer working(since it uses also a usb connection to the motherboard). Afterwards if you want to reinstall the OS it will get interesting…since you cannot actually “press any key to boot from CD or DVD”. You’ll have to format the HDD first,externally (because then the installation from the CD will start automatically). Hope this helps you guys.
PS: There’s one last solution…Change the motherboard (200$ ..not such a great price though)
Cheers
July 18th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
help! i have an acer 5515. the mouse was working fine yesterday morning as i was taking a bunch of programs that i don’t need off my computer. the same day when i use it at night, MY MOUSE DOESN’T RESPOND. the mouse only works if i press F8 and go to system repair (the first option). i know from reading some articles that this is a software issue, but how can i fix it if i can’t get past the password screen (keybord doesn’t respond on safe mode, safemode with networking, etc.) idk how to format my computer, i don’t have a backup disk,and i don’t have a way to put windows back on my computer (the computer came programed with vista already on it) and i don’t want to wreck it for good
July 18th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Lauren,
You can try starting the laptop with an external USB keyboard. There is a chance that it will work.
Start in safe mode. If the external keyboard works login and use system restore. Restore the operating system back to the day when it worked properly.
July 18th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
Thanks Catani84 for your suggestion.
I agree. If the touchpad and keyboard stopped working in Windows, try booting the laptop is Safe Mode and find out if they work in Safe Mode.
If the touchpad and keyboard work in Safe Mode but not in Windows, most likely it’s a software related problem. Reinstall Windows from the recovery disc.
July 19th, 2009 at 12:25 am
Tom
I think in an Acer 5100 the CMOS battery is soldered to the motherboard as in many other newer laptops.
July 19th, 2009 at 12:44 am
Zak,
It’s hard to tell what is wrong. It’s likely that your problem is software related. Have you checked the laptop for viruses and spyware?
July 21st, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Hey What is the empty slot underneath the black film above the memory?
July 22nd, 2009 at 5:14 am
I am having the same problems as several of your other customers, keyboard unresponsive, and I can’t help but notice the “copout of an answer” that is being given to most of the consumers with this problem! When the keyboard on a laptop that is prctically brand new goes out and it is a motherboard issue, that only suggests one thing to me, and others I am sure, and that would be that your laptop is a waste of my hard earned money as well as my time in even considering the purchase! I am curious if there is gonna be a recall on the items seeing as its obviously a manufacturing issue? I spent a hell of alot of money buying this poorly thought out contraption only to be met with disappointment at the answer to how it can be repaired! Never again will I consider your product as its obviosly not worth the taxes I paid on it , let alone the purchase price!!!
July 23rd, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Hi, I am trying to reset the bios, by taking out the cmos battery. I found a battery underneath the wireless card, is this the bios cmos battery ? It seems to be glued on, how can I take it out please ?
The aspire 5100 laptop wont post, The problem started when I used a toshiba charger (which had the same output 19v _ 3.42A) now the laptop starts for 1 second and then turn itself off after 1 second without posting, can you please give me some advice ?
Thanks so much.
kenny
please feel free to email me at kencheung26@hotmail.com or post here and I will check again.
This is very urgent, any help would be much appreciated.
July 23rd, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Hi Tech,
Thanks for helping me, I have just spent a sleepless night reading about AC/DC and polarity, I am quite sure that this Toshiba AC/DC Adaptor 19 v 3.42 A center positive adaptor should have worked with this Acer 5100. Do you have any clue why this isnt charging or posting ?
Thanks again,
Kenny
July 24th, 2009 at 4:12 am
Hi laptop Tech,
I have made some progress thank you, now I can turn on the laptop.
Now I am having difficulty reformatting the harddrive using xp home cd, it loads all the drivers from the cd “set up is loading files” but it freezes at the “set up is starting windows” stage, I have tried using different ram but the problem still persists.
I am reformatting it because I suspect a virus is causing boot issues – it freezes everytime at the windows start up logo screen and safemode will not work either – please help me ? I am running out of time.
thanks,
Kenny
July 24th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
this is now the second night i have not slept, i have tried a lot of things and this laptop will still not reformat, I am still stuck at “set up is starting windows” stage
pressing alt and f10 with d2d turned on in the bios will not give the factory restore option, instead it beeps once and the screen stays black with a single white flashing cursor. In a moment of absolute rage I took it out and plugged it into my desktop, reformatted the entire disc, wiped it clean, stuck the harddrive back into the laptop, ran the xp cd…..still freezes in the “set up is starting windows stage”
I tried to install xp on it using my desktop, this time it gets past the “set up is starting windows screen” but 20 seconds later after the windows logo screen, it gives this blue screen error
0×0000007B (0xf78A2524 0Xc0000034 0×00000000 0×00000000)
I am not sure it this is relevant. I sspect I am missing a sata driver or something. I am so tired, the pressure is really on, if anyone can help me, I will be beside the computer. Thanks.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Great I have been making progress with the help of my friend Bob. By using Windows 7, the computer is now up and running again…..Hurray !!
Just letting you know that Windows 7 is an exceptional piece of software, well worthwhile checking out.
Now all I am missing is the web cam drivers. Can’t complain tho, at least the seemingly impossible situation was resolved by windows 7.
Come on Linux ! catch up !
ken
p.s. if you have a copy of the web cam drivers, it would be much appreciated. the driver isnt on acer’s website.
July 27th, 2009 at 7:42 am
It really hard to put the black tab back in together
July 29th, 2009 at 4:09 am
Hi,
How can I replace the power jack on an Acer Aspire 5100? I’ve been able to confirm that both the battery and ac adapter work. At first, when I giggled the power cord, the power light would flash on and off sporadically. Now I’m not getting anything.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers!
Sean
July 29th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
hi., i would like to no how to restore my computers memorie to like wen i first got it with nothing on it but what it came with
July 31st, 2009 at 9:34 am
yaaay..! you are a nowadays hero..!
; )
really, thank you for being the one who share and teach all this vital information.
cheers,
daniel
August 2nd, 2009 at 9:32 am
I have an Acer Aspire 5610z laptop, and all of a sudden when trying to power it up, it turns on for about 30 seconds, you can hear the CPU fan turning… then the fan just stops, and nothing boots up, nothing on the screen at all…
does anyone know what is going on, or how i can fix it?
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:03 am
I have an Acer Aspire 5633 which looses internet connectivity after a random period of time. It does not matter whether it is wireless or via ethernet cable. I have to reboot during which it starts a disk check. Also noticed it is not keeping the time or date whenever I update it. Any idea what is causing the problem?
August 3rd, 2009 at 8:06 am
Also forgot to mention when asking the laptop to shutdown, nothing happens for 2 minutes then it shutsdown?
August 7th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
i have an acer aspire 5100. i let my brother borrow it for a few months and he returned it f.u.b.a.r.’d! i’m getting an error message. rescorce conflict
ERROR
Resource conflict – PCI in slot 03
Bus: 06, Device:04, Function:00
what does this mean??
when i press f1 to continue the windows loading screen comes up but it wont do anything else.
help please!
August 10th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
Hi,
I have an Acer Aspire 5100. The left mouse button. broke. The plastic underneath is broken i think. Can I get another part or can I just use a Wireless mouse instead.
Thanks
August 13th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Hi… I have had my laptop for about 2-3 years now, and lately(has happened 1-2 times) I will return home from work and open my laptop, only to find that my screen is black and I can’t really do anything. Well in the past, as this happens I just turn it off and turn it back on and the screen turns back on. Now, it hasn’t turned back on, so I plugged my laptop into the monitor upstairs and it works, so I have figured out that it is the screen somehow. So, I am wondering… how do I know what to replace…? The Inverter, or the screen itself? The screen is completely black, there is nothing on it, it is not turned on…
August 13th, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Also, minor problems that I could use help with…
-USB ports no longer work, except for the single port on the left side of the keyboard near the ethernet plugin, and even that one doesn’t work consitently. When I plug things into them it says “computer unable to recognize device” and it does this for anything i plug in there..
- MY CD-ROM drive hasn’t been detected for almost a year now. It is just no where to be found… can’t play/burn cds because its as if I don’t even have a drive…
August 13th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Joe,
If the laptop works fine with an external monitor but there is nothing on the LCD, most likely the problem is somewhere inside the display panel.
I don’t think it’s related to the inverter board because you have no image on the screen. With a failed inverter you should get at lease a very faint image. In your case the screen is completely blank, so it’s not the inverter.
It’s possible you have:
1. Bad connection between the video cable and LCD screen/motherboard.
2. Bad LCD screen.
3. Bad video cable.
I would try reconnecting the cable first. Reconnect on both ends, on the back of the LCD screen and motherboard. There is a chance to fix the laptop this way.
August 13th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Joe,
Could be software or hardware related problem. Try reimaging the hard drive from the recovery disc. If USB ports still fail even after you reimaged the hard drive back to factory defaults, it’s a hardware problem.
Also, could be software or hardware issue.
Can you see the CD/DVD drive in BIOS? If you can, find a bootable CD or DVD. You can use Windows installation CD, life Linux CD (Knoppix for example), recovery disc or any other bootable disc. Try booting your laptop from a bootable disc. If you can boot the laptop from a CD/DVD but the drive doesn’t appear in Windows, most likely it’s a software related problem. Try this fix from Microsoft.
August 13th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Thanks for such a quick response, I am going to turn my laptop off now and mess with the cables some more, I suppose and hopefully this will fix the problem. Thanks again.
August 13th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Hmmm…Just put my laptop back together and the screen still doesn’t want to work, I tried disconnecting/reconnecting all the cables…and still nothing. So it seems I am going to have to buy a new LCD screen..even though I don’t have the money for it.
I don’t have the recovery CD, can I download one somewhere?
August 13th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Nassiml,
I believe this plastic button is a part of the top cover assembly. You’ll have to replace the entire top cover assembly in order to fix it.
Or… you can use an external USB mouse.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Joe,
Is LCD completely dead? Does it change color at all when you turn on the laptop (you might test it in a dark room)?
Does the laptop still work fine with the external monitor?
August 13th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
I have an Acer Aspire 5610z laptop, and all of a sudden when trying to power it up, it turns on for about 30 seconds, you can hear the CPU fan turning… then the fan just stops, and nothing boots up, nothing on the screen at all…
would you know what is going on, or how i can fix it?
August 13th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
wallis,
Could be memory failure. Do you have two memory modules installed? Try removing them one by one and start the laptop with each module separately.
August 13th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
First of all thanks for the site. Much valuable info!!
I’ve got an Acer 5050 with a bad power jack. I’ve seen tutorials on replacing a jack in general, but nothing for the 5050. The lappy was dropped on its side part of the jack was broken off. I’m more than ready to replace it, but none of the tutorial jacks look like mine. Any suggenstions…
August 14th, 2009 at 4:27 am
Hi Laptop Tech,
Do we have to donate money in order to get an opinion? (See post #340, July 29)
Thanks,
Sean
August 14th, 2009 at 8:16 am
Hi. great-site.
I was wondering if you have any experience of ACER ASPIRE 9301AWSMI? Mine has recently stopped driving the external display. I have obviously tried all the software configs to make sure nothing has messed up, and they all seem fine. The laptop appears to think the monitor is there when it is plugged in, but the monitor is not actually being driven (it’s fine when tested with another PC).
So, I would like to open things up to see if there are any bits that can be replaced, or at least removed for inspection. i know the VGA connector has some play in it, so I’m wondering if something could have come loose.
There are numerous screws underneath but I’m a little anxious about just undoing everything.
If you could advise that would be most welcome.
Thanks, Martin.
August 15th, 2009 at 6:07 am
Some time ago I asked your advice regarding the built in web cam on the Aspire 5610. I’d like to thank you for helping me out with this problem on this infernal laptop. The advice that you gave fixed a problem which a whole building full of tech guys couldn’t sort.
The problem is the web cam works only intermittently. The reason is that the very small wires are routed through the base of the lid, under the right hinge, under the panel leds and plugged onto the m/b at JP38. The exact spot at where these tiny wires are prone to bending is at the hinge area and this should be the first place that people should look where connection problems are occurring.
Many thanks.
Kev
August 15th, 2009 at 6:45 am
My laptop charger is not working and i bought a new acer charger but still not working. i don’t know what to do next. please if it the fault of the power system what should i do. Acer Travel mate 4200
August 18th, 2009 at 3:10 am
I have an acer aspire 5100 series. I broke the screen but using your guide i replaced the screen with no problems. However, i attempted to install a payg usb modem and it crashed the laptop (froze). Since then it always crashes on the windows xp loading screen (freezes and does nothing) whether on safe mode or last known good configuaration or normal. i have opened the pc and cleaned the fan.
i suppose the next step is to attempt to format and re-install but i have documents which i need to retrieve from hard drive.
excellent website
August 18th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Petrocles,
I don’t think that LCD replacement is related to laptop freezing in any way.
You can get your files using these methods. Back up your files and run the recovery disc.
August 19th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
I have an Aspire 5100 and have had an issue with intermittent and random shutdowns. I think I have cured this but now upon switch on, everything appears to start but I have a blank screen. I have subbed a new screen in with the same outcome, not sure if the hard disk is going live though, would replacing this be your next step? Help anyone, it’s driving me mad!!
August 20th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Chris Shepherd,
Check the memory module. If the laptop starts without video, the first think to check is RAM.
Make sure it’s connected correctly. Try reconnecting RAM modules.
Try removing RAM modules one by one. Test the laptop with each one separately.
August 24th, 2009 at 4:57 am
Firstly, thanks for getting back to me, really appreciate it.
I should point out that I did have a power connection problem which I believe is resolved now, although it did result in a failed restore which half formatted the hard drive. Even so, I would expect the message ‘nltdr is missing’ and be able to access BIOS to run from back up.
Have tried all permutations of RAM installation with no success. New hard drive has come and been installed, (waste of money but they’re pretty cheap these days) and it didn’t work.
The unit powers up, appears to try to reference the hard disk but obv there is no OS to load and because I have a blank screen, which flashes on start up but nothing else, I can’t tell it to boot from disk. Any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
August 24th, 2009 at 7:51 am
I have an Acer Aspire 5670 and am experiencing intermittent problems. Sometimes when I start it its fine, most times the mouse and keyboard does not work, when the keyboard doesn’t work sometimes the wireless internet and usb ports don’t work either. I have not idea what is wrong with it. Also, I have an Acer Aspire 5000 that won’t even turn on, the motherboard needs to be replaced. Would I be able to put the motherboard from the 5670 into the 5000?
August 27th, 2009 at 3:46 am
Hi, I’d like to replace my external hard drive and really appreciate the advice you’ve provided… can you tell me what I need to do back up wise before I do this– and is it something that you believe a total newbie can do without wrecking the laptop?
Really appreciate your site.
Many thanks,
Lucia.
August 27th, 2009 at 3:50 am
Oops, meant to write that I want to replace my laptop (Acer aspire 5103) internal hard drive and need your advice about what to do back up wise before I attempt this… also, could you advise me whether 250 gb is the biggest memory it will take or could I go higher?
(at present have 2gb ram).
Really appreciate your help.
August 27th, 2009 at 9:15 am
Lucia S,
It depends. I don’t know what you want to keep from the old hard drive. Most people keep just “My Documents” folder which includes “My Pictures”, “My Music”, “My Videos”, “Favorites” etc…
If you don’t want to keep anything, you don’t have to make any preparations. Simply replace the hard drive and run the recovery disc to reimage it back to factory defaults.
If the laptop works fine with a 250GB drive, it should work fine with any other larger drive. I think you can safely use 320GB or even 500GB drives.
August 30th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Hi
I have Acer Spire 5101AWLMi. From building had 512 ram and 6 months before I upgrade to 2GB ram and worked perfectly. Now suddenly does not recognize the 2 ram and must be only one in the ram slot to boot. Otherwise, with the 2 ram on their slots doesn’t even boot and doesn’t open to give access at bios. So I have to put only the one ram to work. I try the ram on other laptop and works fine. I also test the HD and works fine as well. Could you please help on that?
August 31st, 2009 at 5:47 am
I would like to know how to replace a defective wiring from the integrated webcam on an acer aspire 5100. It seems like there is a lose connection cause the webcam come on and goes off everytime the screen is tilted.
September 1st, 2009 at 2:11 am
I accidentally dropped my laptop,when booting it up im getting a message saying file may be damaged it gives option to start up windows or to automatically repair itself, tried both options but none working,have also tried when starting up f8 options ie last good configuration etc,my final try was my manual (i want to restore my computer to its original settings without a recovery cds) it set up to do this but failed also now when starting up im just getting a blank screen HELP
September 1st, 2009 at 2:52 am
hi i need hellp my acer aspire 5100 is playing me up i keep geting a error code 200 can you hellp plesssss
September 1st, 2009 at 10:55 am
Not sure if you can help, i’ve got an Aspire 5103 Laptop and my left hand touchpad button has physically boken so that the plstic button is dropping loosely below the surface and gets jammed. Can the touchpad be easily removed or do you know anywhere where touchpad reaplacements can be obtained ?
Thanks
September 1st, 2009 at 11:03 am
Andy Buckingham,
I’m looking at a Toshiba laptop with exactly the same problem right now.
I believe this button is a part of the top cover assembly. You can buy a replacement top cover here. This part is $30.
September 1st, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Forgot to say in note its a acer aspire 5315
September 8th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I am attempting to repair a Aspire 5100 series, model BL51. Here is my current issue: originally the laptop was giving a missing file error when booting windows XP. Decided to dump and reload windows for my friend. However when I got the laptop home I find that it does not detect the Hard Drive or CD-ROM. I pulled the hard drive and Cd-rom both out and plugged them back in thinking maybe my connection got loose with no luck. I plugged the hard drive into a pc (using a cool little adaptor) and can see that the drive is ok. However I still cannot get the laptop to detect the hard drive or cd-rom drive. I can hear the cdrom spin and I think I can hear the hard drive spin. But no luck on detecting either one. Not sure what my next step should be. Is it possibly the motherboard? How expensive is a new motherboard for this laptop?
September 10th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Sean H,
Enter the BIOS setup menu. Can you see drives in there? Try loading default BIOS settings. Try reflashing the BIOS.
September 13th, 2009 at 5:10 am
Hi, i have an aspire 5100 and for the last 5 days i have a problem with it. i change its position or angle for example if i take it from the table to put it on my lap it freezes. If i keep it on the table everything looks fine and it works normally, but everytime i change its position it stops responding. thanks.
September 15th, 2009 at 9:51 am
when i boot the laptop it sporadically locks at a black screen which continually scrolls through the message below.
INTEL UNDI, PXE-2.0(build 082)
FOR REALTEK RTL8139(X)/8130/810XPCI FAST ETHERNET CONTROLLER v2.13(020326)
PXE-E61: MEDIA TEST FAILURE, CHECK CABLE
PXE-M0F: EXITING PXE ROM
it wont go any further. if you shut it off it will reboot to the normal desktop or it will do it again. it has on occasion made it to the desktop and flashed over to this black screen and displayed the same message.
the laptop is 2 years old and has nothing fancy on it. it has also been wiped clean once of all NON OS files and programs. the system now looks as if it just came from the store.
September 15th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
I need to replace a fan on my ACER- Aspire 5100 BL51
I found those two
http://www.laptoprepairco.com/itemdetails/itemdetails.asp?ref=1254&category=fan
http://www.laptoprepairco.com/itemdetails/itemdetails.asp?ref=1282&category=fan
the thing is that my fan has a number ending in 2K00.
Questions:
1. Will any of those fans fit my laptop?
2. Is it better to buy new or pulled part?
Thank you.
September 15th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
i have an acer aspire 5100 laptop. It has been spilled with water after that it doesnt boot up but the power indicator would light up even I after I dried it up many times. CAN YOU PLS HELP ME…? thanks!
September 19th, 2009 at 1:08 pm
Loriane,
Most likely you damaged the motherboard and it has to be replaced. It’s necessary to disassemble the laptop and take a look inside to find out what else is damaged.
September 19th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Pavel,
The description says that fan fits Aspire 5100 model BL51. That’s your model.
I would personally prefer a brand new fan.
September 19th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
scott,
Usually you can see this message when the laptop is trying to boot from network. It happens because:
1. The hard drive is dead.
2. Laptop cannot see the hard drive.
3. There is nothing installed on the hard drive (no OS).
Here are some troubleshooting steps:
1. Enter the BIOS setup menu and make sure the laptop can see the hard drive.
2. Try reconnecting the hard drive. Unplug it from the motherboard and plug back in. It’s possible the hard drive is not making good contact with the motherboard.
3. Try replacing the hard drive.
If you have the same problem with a new hard drive, apparently the motherboard has a faulty IDE channel or defective HDD connector. If that’s the case, you’ll have to replace the hard drive.
First of all, try reconnecting the hard drive.
September 19th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Miahi D,
Instead of moving the laptop, try applying some pressure on different parts of the top cover (keyboard bezel, palm rest, etc…) Will it freeze the laptop?
If the laptop freezes when you press on the top, it’s possible that you have a faulty motherboard. Just a guess.
Also, try reconnecting memory modules. It’s possible that one of the modules is not making good connection with the slot.
September 20th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Acer 5100, the screen started to be black, after while, it’s turn off, when I try to turn on, it just keeps on for some seconds and turn off again, I tried to do different things like remove battery and use the cord only, but nothing happens , how can I fix it?
September 20th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
desiree7790,
Take a closer look at the screen when it goes off. Do you still can see a very faint image on the screen?
If the image is still there, most likely you have a problem with the screen inverter board which is located inside the display panel under the LCD screen. The inverter works like a power supply for the backlight lamp. When inverter goes bad, the screen backligth stops working.
September 22nd, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Hi. I have an Aspire5000 that won’t turn on. I plug in the charger and the green charging comes on but as soon as I hit the power button, the green light turns to yellow, then dark for 5 seconds, and the laptop won’t turn on. Then the green charging light comes on again. Once the power button is pushed, the laptop dies again. Please help.
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Billy Gonzales,
Here’s my guess.
1. Could be faulty AC adapter.
2. Motherboard problem.
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:14 pm
I just checked this web board again and saw you replied to my question. I will try flashing the bios next. To answer your question it does not see any hard drives or cd-rom drives in the bios. Does this sound like a BIOS issue or a motherboard issue? If you think it is a motherboard issue where can I order a new board?
September 22nd, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Sean H,
Most likely the motherboard issue. I guess IDE channels/channel is fried.
That’s a good idea. Who knows, maybe reflashing the BIOS will help.
I’m not working a lot with Acer laptops but I know that the best way to find a replacement part is searching by the manufacturer’s part number.
Not sure when Acer places the part number but it must be somewhere on the motherboard.
Here’s my suggestion:
1. Remove the motherboard and find the part number. Maybe it’s on a sticker in the memory compartment or under the keyboard. It will look something like that: DAZG1SMB8E8. Will be different numbers but same format.
2. Google the part number.
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:09 pm
Hi!!
I have a problem with my acer aspite 5100…when connect any USB (cam, pendrive, external, etc..) in any port the laptop freezes
¿Some idea, causes or solution?
thanks!
p.d: sorry for my bad english
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Hi, I have an acer aspire 5100, it has a bluetooth switch on the front which is not connected to a bluetooth device, i.e. when you click the switch it says ‘No bluetooth device’. I was wondering where to install a bluetooth module if i purchase one, and if you have a guide for it.
Thanks in advance.
September 24th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Sergio_1210,
It’s hard to tell what is causing the problem without testing the laptop. Could be software related issue.
1. Go to the device manager and delete all entries related to USB ports. Restart the laptop and let it re-detect USB ports. Test the laptop if the problem is fixed. If not, go to the step 2.
2. Back up all personal data and reinstall Windows from scratch. You can reinstall Windows from the recovery disc.
If reinstalling Windows from scratch doesn’t help, most likely there is a problem with the motherboard. You’ll have to replace it with a new one or use the laptop as is.
Also, you can try using a PCMCIA-USB card instead of regular USB ports. You plug this card into the PC slot and get 2 or 4 USB ports on the other end.
September 24th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
Bobby Turner,
You can get service manual for Acer Aspire 5100 here.
The Bluetooth module is mounted inside the case. You can see it on the page 66.
The Bluetooth connector is on the motherboard close to the audio jacks. You can see the connector on the top right picture.
The Bluetooth module itself is shown on the same page on the bottom right picture.
September 25th, 2009 at 9:18 am
I saw your answer and i tried to fix the RAM but everything seemed to be alright. Instead after this when i tried to turn on the PC, the screen stays black, the BIOS, RAM check , virtual cache and all of that things that appear when the laptop starts doesn’t show up anymore. also the HDD led is lit up. thanks a lot.
September 25th, 2009 at 9:43 am
A lot of thanks Laptop Tech
Your response has been very helpful!
September 27th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Here’s my problem… today my Aspire 5110 went into standby mode and didn’t wanna wake up when I hit a key.
I had to power down and after that it didn’t make it to the boot screen. I mean, I press the power button, the power and hdd leds light up and the screen stays black. The keyboard is not responding either (can’t access the bios). The cpu fan revs up for a couple of seconds, then drop down to normal speed.
I checked the ram and cpu (since I have a replacement just sitting around), but no luck.
At this point I’m suspecting the motherboard.
Any ideas (before I order a new motherboard)?
Thank you.
September 28th, 2009 at 3:54 am
I have the same problem as Adrian R. if the motherboard is the problem do you have any idea how much does it costs to replace it?
September 29th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Acer Support says it costs @199 to have them replace the motherboard (plus shipping, of course).
They would not sell the motherboard … “not a user replaceable part” .. what a joke…
So the best bet is ebay.
October 1st, 2009 at 4:35 am
Hi, got 5100 and reinstalled windows but now the webcam does not work the light comes on but its just a grey square where the webcam picture should be. I tried installing the driver more than once but still doesnt work any suggestions?
October 4th, 2009 at 8:48 am
i have a aspire 5100. runs really slow since i installed norton 360 want to replace ram. it has 2 512mb now what kind should i get to replace it ? and will i lose any thing or have to reinstall anything?
thanks nick
October 7th, 2009 at 9:32 pm
nick,
Acer Aspire 5100 can take up to 4GB or memory, so you can install up to 2GB memory module into each slot.
You should use PC2-5300 DDR2-667 200pin SDRAM SODIMM modules. In short it’s called PC2-5300 memory for notebooks. By the way, if you run XP, it will see only about 3GB.
Nope, you will not lose anything. All your data is stored on the hard drive, not in memory.
October 13th, 2009 at 12:04 am
hi, aspire 5100 with i believe a dead motherboard. i only used the hdd memory for music, pics, video nothing too personal. should i invest in a harddrive enclosure to access the memory and wipe it? i am selling the dead laptop to an online company. Should i be worried about passwords or anything? thank you for any answers.
October 13th, 2009 at 7:50 am
If you’re upgrading your RAM to 4 GB, don’t flash the BIOS with version 3.15. Earlier BIOS version worked for me after that.
October 16th, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Hey, I have an acer aspire 5515, the built-in wireless card has stopped working. Ive tried all the software fixes I could.
How ever I am curious to know if taking the wireless card out and replacing it will be as simple as the 5100 model., please email back
October 16th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Hello, I got an Acer Aspire 5630. After a restart from safe mode. My laptop wont boot, no bios, CD/DVD drive/fan spin for a while and turns off. The power led just stays on with a black screen.
Is the bios the problem or my motherboard?
October 17th, 2009 at 11:16 am
Hi
I have anAcer D620 eMachine where the power jack is faulty. As it was under warrranty it was sent in to Acer who are claiming physical abuse (??) On searching the internet here in South Africa it appears that this is a relatively common problem. Any advice as they now want about $300 to repair / replace the motherboard
Many thanx
October 17th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
I have an acer aspire 5100 and the first thing that happened while it was still under warranty was the orbicam stopped working. acer sent instructions on how to download an update it never worked. rolling the OS back to windows xp media center edition had it working a few days but then it was out again.Customer service gave me the run around until the manufacturer warranty ran out. Next thing to happen was the usb ports stopped recognizing anything. I was thinking it was a driver issue but i am unable to find any and windows is telling me the drivers are up to date. The final thing to happen was the keyboard and touchpad stopped working pcmcia usb card enabled me to connect an external mouse and keyboard but I will be out of luck when this too fails. While searching for a solution I found that the issues I am facing are common with this series, I am at a loss as to what I should do and where I should look next.
October 21st, 2009 at 5:11 pm
I have an Acer Aspire 3100 and i want to know if ill work without a wi-fi card, because i lost it one time that i tried to change it… pleae answer me via email!!!
thanks!!
October 22nd, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Mad,
The laptop will work even if the Wi-Fi card is removed.
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:14 am
can you help me!!
the thing is that wen i start my pc it gives me an error about a Resource conflict – PCI in slot 03
Bus: 06, device:04, function:00
Bus: 06, device:04, function:01
Bus: 06, device:04, function:02
Bus: 06, device:04, function:03
i have an acer aspire 3100 laptop
pleaseeeeee help me out!
it wont boot to vista
October 23rd, 2009 at 8:45 am
Mad,
Try removing the Wi-Fi card and start the laptop with the wireless card removed. Can you?
If not, most likely this is the motherboard failure.
October 25th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Hi
Is it possible to upgrade the Aspire 5100 video card ? How do I do it ?
I have the Radeon 1100 xpress. Appreciate your help.
October 25th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Zack,
It’s not possible. The video card is integrated into the motherboard and cannot be removed and replaced.
October 25th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
I have an Acer Aspire 5100 with Vista on it. I don’t have a recovery disk because they didn’t supply one and when I went to make one, it didn’t work right and I never got any answers. Well, it was working one night and I got up the next morning and it won’t start-up. I hit the power button and it goes where it show the whit Acer screen with the blue writing. I have no idea how to recover this or anything. Please help. I was looking for the cmos battery but cannot find in hopes that it would reset it. Please Please help me. Thanks.
October 25th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Dowayne B,
Here’s what you can try.
Turn on the laptop and press F8 when Acer logo appears on the screen. Hopefully it will take you to the boot menu.
Select Last Known Good Configuration and press Enter. Wait until the laptop reboots and restores Windows. It might help.
October 26th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Hi. I have an acer aspire 5100 and just looking to upgrade the memory on it. Have you got a link to some that would be suitable please. Looking to go to 4GB if thats possible? Thanks if you can help me.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Ben,
Acer Aspire 5100 will take up to 4GB total. You can install up to 2GB memory module into each slot.
Use PC2-5300 DDR2-667 200pin SDRAM SODIMM.
October 28th, 2009 at 4:10 am
Acer Aspire 5100 will take up to 4GB total. You can install up to 2GB memory module into each slot.
Use PC2-5300 DDR2-667 200pin SDRAM SODIMM.
Thanks.
October 28th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Man, absolutely thanks.
I had to adjust the cable for the LCD cause it was blinking.
Since I knew how to find it… peace of cake with this tutorial.
And the best is that I saved some good money.
God bless ya!
November 4th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Thanks to this site, it helps me a lot and save money for the repair of laptop!
November 13th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
I have a Acer Aspire 5100-5674 / model BL51 and I need to replace the motherboard but on Ebay got many of them.. what’s the reference number or code to buy that match with my laptop?
November 13th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Dario G,
Take a look at the sticker in the memory compartment and search for the motherboard part number. It looks something like this MBABE02001.
After you find the part number, search on eBay.
November 18th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I have a BL51, Aspire 5100. I have 2- 2 gig memory chips and they were working perfect. I upgraded the CPU to a TL-50 and flashed the bios. Now both memory banks won’t work. The laptop will only run with 1 -2 gig chip. It doesn’t seem to be the chips. I’ve switched them and they both work but only at 1 chip at a time. I also put the chip in another laptop and it was fine. Any thoughts on what it might be?
November 19th, 2009 at 8:31 am
randy,
Do you mean one memory bank stopped working completely, or you still can use both banks but only with one module at a time?
November 19th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
My bad, I should have clarified. Only one memory bank works now. The one closest to the motherboard is the only one that works. just seems like a coincidence that right after I flashed to 3.13 it stopped working. Worked perfect before. Thank you for your help.
November 20th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Randy,
Not sure what’s going on but it does look like a coincidence. Is there any way to downgrade the BIOS. Do you want to try that?