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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.
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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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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
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?
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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