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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.
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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 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 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 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 8th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Kortz,
Here it is: http://tinyurl.com/m8ugsk
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 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 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 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 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 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 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
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.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.