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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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December 7th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
i have the acer/aspire 5100-3357 with amd turion 64 mk-36 (2.0 ghz, 512kb l2 cache and 120gb hdd.
I need to upgrade and I cannot get a straight answer from acer unless I pay, since I am out of warranty they will not even giveme upgrade info.
Can anyone help so that I can upgrade my memory and harddrive?
December 5th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Hello, i have the acer aspire 5100, and about 6 months ago while surfing the internet the mouse froze and does not move any longer. I can still turn on the laptop but cannot log onto any user name. I also believe the keyboard is broken somehow, because while on the log on menu it does not register the caps or number lock keys on the keyboard bezel. What can i do to fix this? Thanks
December 5th, 2009 at 9:06 am
I have acer aspire 5102 with 2Gb RAM and ati radeon x1100. Can I install windows 7 with Aero? thanks
December 4th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Do you still have that DVD drive? If so, isn’t there a tab in the back of the drive, where the connector is? I’m trying to find a photo of this drive on ebay, but only ones for Toshiba or Gateway seem to have this tab. Trying to figure out if I can make one, or just buy a used one.
December 4th, 2009 at 1:12 am
Hi i have acer aspire 5102wlmi. While bootingup i get “0200 Fixed disk failure”. I changed the HDD but the problem persists. i guess the HDD controller is gone.is there any way to change it ? if socansome one post instructions/pics. has anyone facedthe sameissue.
To run the laptop, i have a small wedge down the right hand corner under the screen. If i move my laptop my HDDgoes for a spin for 10 mins thencomes back or sometimes hangs completely.
any help is appreciated
December 1st, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Gilian Hermse,
I looks like the sound card is bad. Unfortunately, you cannot replace the sound card because it’s integrated into the motherboard.
December 1st, 2009 at 11:52 am
I have got the same laptop my dvd drive keeps falling out …
and it flases opens etc… but is not recognised by bios or system ANY SOLUTION PLEASE
November 30th, 2009 at 8:04 am
Hi,
i’ve bought an Acer Aspire 5102 WLMI (it’s just the same as the original 5100, only with different stickers) from a friend of mine. I’ve bought it very cheap because the sound wasn’t working.
I thought it was a driver issue because that friend isn’t that good with computers, and i repair and sale them for living.
So, i i went to the hardware properties, and indeed, there was no sound-card installed, but there wasn’t a piece of hardware what wasn’t installed, so i thought it was the problem of the OS (Vista Home Premium with no services packs) So, i grabed the Recovery DVD’s and started recovering. With a new version of Vista updated to SP2, still no sound card installed, or a alert with the unkown hardware. So i downloaded Everest Ultimate, he couldn’t find a sound card either. Then i booted up from a , some older, Ubuntu Live DVD, he could find the sound ( An ATI/Realtek sound card, wich does make sence because of the ATI chipset.) But i could not get any sound from it, Ubuntu said that it was his own fault because he didn’t have the right drivers.
Now i’ve installed Windows 7 Ultimate, and still the same problem under Vista?
I tried to get the latest BIOS on it (3.-) but there isn’t a feature to enable/disable the sound. What can i do?
November 29th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Almeida,
Was it faster before? Maybe you have too much software running at the same time? Maybe your laptop is infected with spyware?
I don’t know if increasing RAM will help because I don’t know the operating system you are running and how much RAM you have installed already.
I’m sure that replacing the CPU will not help a lot.
November 28th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Hi
My laptop is working very slow now a days. When surfing on the internett, playing songs from my extern hdd. What can I do to make it faster? I`m thinking to increase the RAM, by inserting two AMD Athlon 2,8 Ghz or similar. What do you recomend?
Thanks for your support.
November 27th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
murat,
I doubt that you can do this. 128MB is your maximum and it’s allocated automatically by the system. I believe you cannot boost it up to 256MB.
November 27th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
gaurav chauhana,
1. Try loading default settings for the BIOS.
2. Try reflashing/updating the BIOS.
If steps 1 and 2 do not help and the laptop still cannot see the hard drive and optical drive, most likely you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
November 27th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Randy,
You said your son was using laptop with a musical USB keyboard. Most likely he has to load some kind of special device driver for this keyboard.
I’m thinking maybe the keyboard driver is causing this problem?
Try uninstalling this driver if you can or reinstall Windows from scratch. If all USB ports start working after reinstalling Windows, it’s a software related problem.
November 27th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Jeannette,
You cannot upgrade the video card in this model. The video card is integrated into the motherboard. You are stuck with what you got.
Also, there is no way to install an additional video card.
November 26th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
I have this laptop. Can the video be upgraded, ie installing an additional video card?
November 25th, 2009 at 8:18 am
I have 2 Acer 5100 laptops with basically the same problem. One was my son’s that he was using for college. I liked it so much after setting his up that I bought one for myself. After 2 years or so he reported that his stopped working. I told him to bring it home with him and I would fix it. I did not have any luck so I gave him mine. He called 2 days later and said that mine was doing the same thing. I had used mine daily for almost 2 years with no problems whatsoever so I suspected something in his environment. After a lot of questions and answers I believe that I isolated the problem to a full size USB keyboard (the musical variety) that he had plugged into both of the laptops. The keyboard had an AC adapter but my son did not use that, so the keyboard was drawing all the power from the USB bus.
That said, both of the 5100s lock up when you attach any USB device to any of the USB ports. One of the units will actually unlock if you remove the USB device, reinsert it and then remove it again. The second 5100 has to be crashed and rebooted. Have you heard of this problem before? Is there a separate USB board or module off the motherboard or do I have to replace the entire motherboard?
Thanks – Randy
November 25th, 2009 at 12:10 am
i have an acer laptopmodel-5100.but my loptop not working properly .i know what is the problem of laptop.my laptop motherboard not sense the harddisk and cd-rom.i think my laptop ATI got damage.so plz tell me what should i do thank.
November 24th, 2009 at 10:23 am
hello there. do you know how can I share my RAM with my graphics card? i have aspire 5100, 2GB of RAM and ati radeon X1300 on the board. it uses 128MB of graphics memory, i want to boost it up to 256MB. thanks…
November 24th, 2009 at 3:23 am
I downgraded to version 2.84 which was the only one I could downgrade to. I originally had version 1.xxx. Still doesn’t work. I’ll run on 2 gigs. I have a new problem, now the touchpad doesn’t work. It’s funny, I have 3 Acer laptops and never had one bit of a problem untill now. Oh well, I’m going to either replace the touchpad or buy a new laptop. Acer’s been good to me so far but if things are going to start going I mine as well cut my losses before they mount up.
BTW, I love the site, thank you for your help, happy holidays!
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?
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 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 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 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 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 4th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Thanks to this site, it helps me a lot and save money for the repair of laptop!
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!
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 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 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.