Dead keyboard, touchapd and USB on Acer Aspire 5100

Status
Not open for further replies.

shortstop20

Guest
Messages
251
I have an Acer Aspire 5100 here with dead USB ports, dead built-in keyboard and dead touchpad. Won't work in Vista, can't enter BIOS, can't even use touchpad/mouse when booting to Ubuntu Live CD. External mouse and keyboard doesn't work either.

I tried the Fn + F7 button on the keyboard, it's supposed to turn off the touchpad, but that does nothing either.

I've read from searching Google that a few people have used a PCMCIA card with USB ports to get an external mouse/keyboard t work, but for the owner of this computer, that's just a temporary solution, they need it to be portable.

I removed the HDD and battery to see if that would make any difference, and it didn't.

I'm kinda at a loss, do I purchase a PCMCIA card and try to update BIOS? It seems like it has to be a hardware issue since USB, touchpad, and keyboard don't work in Vista or Ubuntu Live CD, or even during POST for that matter.

Opinions?
 
I take that is out of warranty, as PCMCIA has been gone for awhile now. That has to be a problem with the board. It has to be a capacitor or chip blew on your motherboard. I'd take it apart and look for any internal damage.
 
I'd estimate this computer is approximately 3 years old. No warranty that I know of, unless they have extended warranty that they didn't mention, but I doubt it.
 
If it were just the keyboard or touchpad I'd say take it apart and re-seat the keyboard and touchpad connectors, but with USB also out I'd suspect a problem with the board itself. When I took my laptop apart to put thermal paste in, I had a hard time getting the keyboard plugged in just right without knocking the touchpad cable loose.
 
I agree, I really think the mainboard is probably toast.

I'm going to fiddle with it a little more, maybe I'll get lucky.
 
I also has exactly the same problem. mine acer aspire 5100, 3 years old, previously I was experiencing problem with the touch pad for couple of months. and at last it happened. I was working with the laptop (accessing the Internet)the display suddenly went white. I turned off the computer with the power button it boots up normally without errors and stops where we have to enter password. Keyboard, mouse, touchpad all dead (cant even turn on num lock), can not enter bios as no keyboard. I was running XP (dual boot with vista). Im going to fix PCMCIA usb and bios reset using J2. Pl tell me if any sucess from you, I ll do the same.

J2 bios reset done but no change.

a solution founat last :
"this has been one of the most reported problem with the 5100 model. i have 2 of them, and they have done the same thing! one i had 2 find and install a new mainboard-400 bucks! not very cost friendly. i did post a solution more than a year ago, but it is a work around that let me use the acer with the dead keyboard,touchpad,usb- you must buy a pcmcia usb card, it goes in the slot on the left side of the acer 5100. then a usb mouse and keyboard will work. (you can get this cardbus adapter cheap, as 400 bucks is 2 much. these pcmcia cardbus card come with 2 or 4 ports. this will let you use the pc, it has been a great solution for me and a lot of others, been in use over a year like this. acer is no help, unless you wish 2 spend a large amount of $. the one with the new board lasted about 8 months before the usb port stopped working for the second time, i then got a second cardbus usb card and have usb again. sorry for your problem.. good luck! do as i say and the acer will work again.( a problem model) just search for pcmcia usb cardbus you will find many 2 choose from- i picked the ones with the NEC chipset, as these are reliable! be well!"
 
The bump of the topic was jsut fine. It was specific to the exact same make and model machine and they asked the OP for a response. While they didnt get one, they did find a solution and posted it for others to see as well so that they too can resolve their issues. There is nothing wrong with doing that.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom