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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.
Find brand new replacement laptop batteries in stock and ready to ship your way.
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.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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!