In this guide I’ll explain how to take apart an Acer Aspire 5100 laptop. I’ll show how to remove major internal components.

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In the next article I’ll explain how to. First of all, make sure the computer 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. Removing DVD drive: 1. Remove one screw (red circle) securing the drive. Push the drive from the case with a flathead screwdriver. Pull the drive and remove it. Removing hard drive: 1.

Pull the hard drive to the right side until it’s disconnected from the motherboard. 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 Aspire 5100 had a 80GB 5400RPM SATA HDD installed. You can upgrade it to a larger capacity HDD or SSD. Removing memory modules: 1. Carefully spread latches on both sides of the memory slot until the module pops up at a 30 degree angle.

Pull the module out by the edges. Acer Aspire 5100 has two memory slots. You can install up to 4GB RAM total. Up to 2GB 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. Spread latches on both sides of the wireless card same way as you did with RAM modules. 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. Carefully disconnect fan cable from the motherboard. 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 overheating.

You can blow off dust using canned air. Here’s how you can between the heatsink and CPU. Removing laptop keyboard. In the following steps I’ll explain how to disconnect and remove the keyboard. Lift up the bezel with a flathead screwdriver as it shown on the picture below. Remove the bezel. Remove two screws securing the keyboard.

Carefully lift up the keyboard, it’s still attached to the motherboard. The keyboard is connected to the motherboard via a flat ribbon cable. Before you can remove it completely, you’ll have to unlock the connector and release the cable. 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 connector, you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard. Now you can release the cable and remove the keyboard.

Thanks a lot for this tutorials, I happen to have the same model of this Acer Notebook, so it was pretty cool to find a tutorial on taking it apart. I´ve read around that it´s possible to replace CPU on this notebooks.

My processor as you know, is the Turion X2 with 1.6Ghz and L2 cache of 512k. I´m a 3d animator and I use Maya to animate 3d rigs. It obviously run a little slow, specially when I´m working on the graph editor. Takes ages to move a keyframe. I belive my processor is the TL-50. I would like to replace for a TL-60, which is 2.0Ghz and has L2 of 1MB. Since they´re are for socket S1, I think it could work, but would be nice to know about someone that has acctually done that ( if you know or have done yourself).

Also is there any chance to replace for a faster graphics card. Mine is the Radeon 1100 128mb shared. Bye and thanks •. I have an acer 5100-3583. The CD/DVD drive is very sluggish and won’t read half of the time. The 3rd party warranty we got is no help at all so we are going to replace the drive.

I looked at SlimDrives and they have SATA and IDE/Atapi. NewEgg has a nice Sony that has an ATAPI interface. Which one do I need to get? I think the latter, but I wanted to confirm. Also, I see that you just push the drive out. Does it mean that the new drive will just push right in without the use of any additional cabling?

Dawna, I looked at SlimDrives and they have SATA and IDE/Atapi. NewEgg has a nice Sony that has an ATAPI interface. Which one do I need to get? I think the best way to find a new replacement CD/DVD drive is using the manufacturer’s part number or drive model number.

Remove the faulty drive and take a look at the sticker. Try to find the manufacturer’s part number.

Search for this part number on the Internet. Also, I see that you just push the drive out. Does it mean that the new drive will just push right in without the use of any additional cabling? That’s right. There is no cable between the drive and motherboard. The optical drive plugs into the connector on the motherboard. You’ll have to transfer the mounting bracket from the old drive to the new one.

I tried Hitachi’s drive fitness test ( off Hiren’s utility Cd ) and got random characters filling the screen. I tried to install Ubuntu server just as a test, and the installer reported a bios error. But I don’t see any new bios’s available. It failed to install past me setting the keyboard. So, I tried Seagate’s seatools for dos, and the new drive is fine.

I then zeroed the whole drive ( as Vista would crash with the partitions I had setup ), and managed to install vista. However, when I tried to enter the user account name, the 5100 froze on me. Third time lucky I managed to create an account. I’ve had the mouse freeze on me, and page fault in non paged memory, and this is with a new stick of DDR2 667 2gb. Which I passed with memtest86+ twice. I installed speedfan and temperature is about 60 deg. So, hardware issues somewhere but not sure what to check next.

Anton, How can I get under the touchpad? Its left button started to work funny recently (it reacts even if I touch it gently).

I tried, but I couldn’t get the upper panel off. Remove the keyboard. Disconnect all cables found under the keyboard. Remove screws found under the keyboard (if any). Remove screws from the display hinges and unplug the video cable. Release the wireless card antenna cables.

Remove the display panel. Remove all screws from the bottom of the laptop. Also, there could be (not sure 100%) a couple of screws on the back, they are securing the hinges. Remove them too. Carefully separate the top cover from the base assembly. Now you should be able to access the touch pad buttons.

akil, My laptop has vertical lines that cause it to freeze up shortly after booting up.Thought it was a virus so i formated my system and it still happens,because my fan blew i think my processor is damaged will replacing the fan make everything ok? Replacing the fan will not fix the problem, I don’t think it’s related. Test your laptop with an external monitor. If you get vertical lines on both internal and external screen, most likely there is a problem with the graphics card.

Just in case. If you have two memory modules installed, try removing them one by one and test the laptop with each module separately. A bad memory module can cause different problems. Matt, hard drive went bust under warranty and when i got my laptop back with a new drive the touchpad wasn’t working fully. Just left click, right click and move cursor I miss being able to use the silver scroll key and being able to scroll using the edges of the pad.

I think you are missing some kind of touch pad management software. Try downloading it from the manufacturer’s website.

As last resort, you can reimage the hard drive using the recovery disc. Reimaging the hard drive should take everything back to factory defaults. Do not forget to back up data first. The recovery process erases everything from the drive. An update on my situation. I spoke with Acer tech support. Who told me it was out of warranty.

They did quote me for a new mobo. In deperation, I bought a new WD 160Gb drive to replace the new Seagate momentus 160Gb drive. I then cloned the original faulty drive to the new drive using a desktop PC ( the sata connections are the same for laptop and desktop drives ). It now works flawlessly.

Either the Seagate tools couldn’t detect the problem, or, there is some critical timing issue that was causing the problem. This is a wonderful site,thanks for it. I have an Acer Aspire 5100-5023 w/AMD Turion 64×2 @ 1.8 Ghz, Radeon Express 1100 -512mb HyperMem, 2GB DDR2. I have been trying to decide whether it is my graphics card or RAM that is unable to keep up with some of the programs I am using because at times the whole system seems to slow to a crawl.

I was sure it was RAM related since the slow-down didn’t start until after I had installed Office 2007, but now I’m unsure since it happens even without Office running. Any thoughts or suggestions? I have considered changing both the RAM and graphics card, could you suggest a possible replacement for the graphics? Doris, I have been trying to decide whether it is my graphics card or RAM that is unable to keep up with some of the programs I am using because at times the whole system seems to slow to a crawl. Could be a software related problem, maybe your laptop is infected with a trojan or spyware. Instead or replacing the hardware, I would try to reinstall software first.

Backup all personal files and reimage the hard drive back to factory defaults from the recovery disc. This will take your laptop back to the original default state and you can start from scratch. Shay, My acer 5100 starts to boot up but it hits a black screen and it keeps reloading that page.

Form my research it seems like the hard drive is dead. Is this the problem or is it something else?

Could be software related problem. Here’s what you can try. 1.Press F8 button on startup and it will take you to the boot menu. Select “Last Known Good Configuration” and press Enter. Try reimaging the hard drive using the recovery process. This will take your laptop back to factory defaults. Run diagnostics test on the hard drive.

You’ll find many HDD testing tools in the. Hello, I have a acer 5100 and I was wondering if I can reformat a laptop hard drive with a desktop computer? I made a back up CD of my acer but it won’t accept it.

I screwed up by putting in a partition and put windows vista on it so I had wind XP & vista. The vista was slowing the computer down bad so I used partition magic 8.0 to delete the vista partition and now I can’t enter my windows XP. Can I use the back up CD I made of the hard drive and reformat it through my desktop?

Thanks for the help •. Thank you for this web site and the Acer instructions. I’m repairing a laptop for a co-worker, an Acer Aspire BL51.

She DROPPED the poor thing and the screen came completely off, the WiFi wires broke,and the camera wires broke. I fixed the screen easily enough by building brackets for the hinges; the cable was OK. The other wires will be easy for me. But there is a new twist The battery ran out of juice, so she gave me the charger. It didn’t help, so I tested it and found it was broken. She sent me her other charger, which I tested and know to be working. With it plugged in, the laptop still would not power up, so I let it charge for more than 24 hours.

Still will not power up. Telecharger Les Chevaliers Du Zodiaque Le Sanctuaire Streaming. I tested with the battery in and with the battery out, but no go. What happens when I press the power button is the power light comes on and the fan starts up, then, after about a second, it all shuts off.

That’s it, nothing more. The laptop was working fine before the battery ran out.

I had reconnected the screen for testing and all seemed fine. I can find no loose connections and there is no loose junk inside (I removed something that looked like a pair of super-sized cat claws made of plastic.) Any suggestions?

Is there something about the panel at the top edge of the keyboard which contains the power button, etc. That is critical? I know there is a little button there that tells the laptop the screen is closed. That switch works fine. Surrounding that button, but not touching it, is some foil that seems to be a ground point that should be touching matching ground points on the body of the laptop like a jumper. Jumpering those points did not help. Any ideas you can give would really be helpful!

Ashley, thanks for skipping my question! I didn’t skip your question. I’m just not sure what you are asking about. I am trying to replace a cracked acer 5100 screen and I think i did everything right. However the BACK of the laptop pop’ed off when I was trying to remove the screen. I dont think it pop’ed off by me doing anything wrong to it, is this normal?

I guess it’s normal because you are taking it apart. Just put it back in place as it was before. The back is still connected by two little wires that go through a hinge on the left side of the base of the computer though. They are wireless antennas. Do you think it should just screw back on once i get a new screen? I don’t know. How can I tell without looking at the laptop?

By the way, did you find instructions for taking apart the display panel? I linked to it at the beginning of the post. IML Tech, Thank you for the reply. Did she drop the laptop with the adapter connected? Maybe the power jack is damaged and has to be re-soldered or replaced? I asked about this and she said it was not connected when dropped.

Following your advice, I tested the power input of the laptop and found it to be fine, so I retested the charger. Guess what another bad charger. The laptop connector of the charger has a loose wire and the first time I tested it, I got lucky. Now I know how to make it work long enough, so I was able to finish the repairs to her laptop and get it back to her. Thank you again for the help and keep up the great work! Alan Mcgookin, we have an acer aspire 5100 we had a dvd/r drive and it stopped reading we purchased a new sony drive however it will not read post bios stage abd is not visible in the system requirements Not all optical driver are interchangeable.

It’s possible that your new driver is configured differently. For example, your old drive was configured as “Slave”, but the new Sony drive is configured as “Cable Select” or vice versa. It’s just a guess. When you are replacing the optical drive, it’s better to go with the factory replacement. Can you see the DVD drive in the BIOS when the hard drive is removed? Didn’t see a pic of the BIOS chip.

Do you have 1 or know where it’s located? I’m trying to scrub a hardrive for a customer as they forgot password for BIOS and Windows (media SP2) administrator. There is only a limited account that can’t install or uninstall software. The BIOS must be set to disable boot to USB/floppy/CD.

I tried another hardrive that had XP on it and that wouldn’t work either. Tried all the normal hacks for windows admin but they don’t work. Can I replace the BIOS chip with 1 that allows boot? Please advise.

Signed Locked up tighter than •. I was told today that the motherboard on my acer 5100 needs to be replaced, its under warrenty by staples, they want me to send it to them for repair. Thats fine, but all they want to do is replace the motherboard and reset the hard drive to factory settings. I have to much business stuff to loose that was not backed up from December.

Any chance that the harddrive can be saved or pulled and installed in another computer to retrieve documents? Will replacing motherboard require resetting harddrive? usguvna, My ACER 5100 screen won’t come up, just a black screen. I think the computer is still working but I can’t see what I’m doing.

My research shows I should replace memory (i did get a memory message about 30 minutes before this started) or the video card. Does this sound right? Yep, could be memory problem. Do you have two memory modules installed?

Try removing them one by one. The laptop should start when a good working module is installed.

When you find which one is faulty, you can replace it with a new one. Daryl Miller, Any chance that the harddrive can be saved or pulled and installed in another computer to retrieve documents? Yes, you can do that with an external USB enclosure. Remove the hard drive from your laptop. Purchase an external USB enclosure for notebook hard drives in any local computer store for about $20-30 or even cheap online. Make sure the enclosure matches your hard drive. If you have a SATA drive, you’ll have to purchase enclosure for SATA drives.

Install your hard drive into the enclosure. Connect this enclosure to any other working computer. The hard drive will pop up in “My Computer”. Now you can access your data and save it. Will replacing motherboard require resetting harddrive? No, normally replacing motherboard doesn’t require reimaging the hard drive. Bosch Serial Number Location Drill here.

hussain, (minus) key and (apostrophe) key behave strangely. Whenever a textbox is made activate these two keys start typing automatically into the textbox continuously.

Sounds like you have stuck keys. If that’s the case you’ll have to replace the keyboard. Yes, it is a hardware failure. I have connected a external keyboard and the problem persists as the built-in keyboard is active. So can i disable the built-in keyboard.

I don’t think that you can disable the keyboard through software or BIOS settings, but you can disconnect the internal keyboard cable from the motherboard and use just an external keyboard. By the way, if you still have the same issue when the internal keyboard is disconnected from the motherboard, there could be a problem with the keyboard controller on the motherboard. In this case you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard. ian, after 2hrs of use the mouse, keyboard wont respond anymore and the sound stop working toowhen i turn it off and on again there’ll be no display. But if i let it off for a couple of hours and turn it on again its back to normal like nothng happened Also, that could be memory related problem. Run memory test and see if it comes with errors.

If you have two RAM modules installed test your laptop with each module separately. Remove one and test the laptop, then remove the second one and test again. Does it fail the same way with only one module installed? Also, that could be memory related problem. Run memory test and see if it comes with errors.

If you have two RAM modules installed test your laptop with each module separately. Remove one and test the laptop, then remove the second one and test again. Does it fail the same way with only one module installed? Thanks for the reponse! Ok i’ll the memtest though i already tried the second suggestion you gave(tried to tun the lappy with one memory at a time and still the same problem) will inform you tomorrow thanks! Kev, I have a problem with the Logitech built in webcam. There seems to be a faulty USB connection to it.

Can you point me to the internal connections to the webcam please? Its for the Aspire 5610. I don’t know that of the top of my head, but this cable will be coming from the display panel. You can remove the keyboard bezel and take a look at the cable coming from the display assembly. There should be LCD cable, wireless antenna cables and webcam cable. Follow the webcam cable to the connector.

I’m soooooo glad I found this site! And I think it’s awesome that you’re answering questions. I have an Acer 5100 I bought it in 06, it crashed in under a year, and I ended up fiddling with it, then putting it aside. I want to resurrect it now, and I’m willing to replace whatever, but I’m not sure what the problem is. When it *does* boot (from ‘last known good config’), the pointer freezes and then the screen turns white or fills up with lots of vertical blue and white stripes.

I’ve tried restoring it to factory settings, both with and without recovery disc, but when I go into BIOS to change the boot order first (I get a PXE error, and I saw elsewhere that boot order is the prob) the BIOS page crashes and turns gray with black stripes. I’m sure something is seriously wrong, but I have no idea what it is. Some people say motherboard, others say hard drive. This is a very good site. Just had a problem come up yesterday with the keyboard not working for my aspire 5100.

Fortunately I found your site and read the pointers. Using your very clear instructions I removed the keyboard and reconnected it in case there was a bad connection. That did not fix the problem. Next, using an external keyboard connected to the USB found that everything else works fine with the computer. Is there anything else you would suggest I check before replacing the keybaord?

shani-o, When it *does* boot (from ‘last known good config’), the pointer freezes and then the screen turns white or fills up with lots of vertical blue and white stripesthe BIOS page crashes and turns gray with black stripes. Sound like a problem with the graphics card. The graphics card is integrated into the motherboard and cannot be removes, so it’s a problem with the motherboard. Others say hard drive I don’t think it’s related to the hard drive.

The laptop crashes when you are in the BIOS setup menu. At that time the hard drive is not working. This problem is not related to the hard drive. Brian Gasiorowski, Just had a problem come up yesterday with the keyboard not working for my aspire 5100. Fortunately I found your site and read the pointers. Using your very clear instructions I removed the keyboard and reconnected it in case there was a bad connection. That did not fix the problem.

Next, using an external keyboard connected to the USB found that everything else works fine with the computer. So, the laptop keyboard stopped working at all? Do you know if the keyboard stopped working only in Windows? Did you try entering the BIOS setup menu and testing the keyboard in there? Your keyboard failure is not common. Usually laptop keyboards do not fail like that. In most cases you can get some faulty keys, but not the whole keyboard.

Try reflashing the BIOS with a newer or even the same version. Unfortunately, I don’t know for sure what’s wrong with your laptop. Could be just a bad keyboard or could be a faulty keyboard controller on the motherboard. The only way to find out is installing another working keyboard. If it doesn’t fix the problem, most likely it’s bad controller, which means you have to replace the whole motherboard. Re: response 100.

Thanks for the quick response. I have on a few occassions re-seated the hard drive, re-seated the RAM and cannot work it out. When you chose the F12 boot menu the 120GB seagate drive is not available in the boot menu. The light is constantly ON for the hard drive and it is spinning but the heads are not clanking. I even tried cleaning the pins on the hard drive connector with a cloth.

Should i try contact cleaner?? Again just now i pushed the power button and restarted the machine again and she came up normally. AHHHH, damned confused Any ideas?? Getting back to your question to me (# 102 above), the laptop keyboard doesn’t work at all.

When this problem first came up a few days ago I also had an issue with a few startups that did not proceed all the way to the windows login prompt but started a continuing series of loud beeps. I eventually did get to point that laptop was starting up properly up to the login prompt screen, then along with using the seperate keyboard connected via USB was able to login and the computer worked fine. However, sfter one day of success with the seperate keyboard, I’m now back to the issue that startups do not complete (do not get to the login screen) and the continuing series of load beeps commence. I need to unplug and remove battery to get the the computer to power down. I’ve not checked the bios. I think I’ve read some things written above about this, but at this point am not really familer with how to do this or if i can do it without being able to get through login. tim, I have on a few occassions re-seated the hard drive, re-seated the RAM and cannot work it out.

When you chose the F12 boot menu the 120GB seagate drive is not available in the boot menu. The light is constantly ON for the hard drive and it is spinning but the heads are not clanking. I even tried cleaning the pins on the hard drive connector with a cloth.

Should i try contact cleaner?? Again just now i pushed the power button and restarted the machine again and she came up normally. AHHHH, damned confused It sounds like either you have a faulty hard drive or there is something wrong with the hard drive controller on the motherboard. Unfortunately, the only way to find out which one is causing it is testing the laptop with another known good hard drive. If you experiencing the same problem even with anther hard drive, apparently it’s bad controller on the motherboard, which means you’ll have to replace the whole motherboard. Brian G, However, after one day of success with the seperate keyboard, I’m now back to the issue that startups do not complete (do not get to the login screen) and the continuing series of load beeps commence. I need to unplug and remove battery to get the the computer to power down.

What if you unplug the internal keyboard and use the laptop only with the external one. Can you boot to the login screen this way? Will it make continuing series of load beeps on startup when the internal keyboard is disconnected from the motherboard? From question #109: Hi, I opened up the keyboard and noticed the cables were not loose and installed fine. After putting everything back together, the computer started to work fine. But then the next day, it was the same problem again, with the touchpad and keyboard.

That’s what its been doing, one day it will work fine, the next it won’t, meaning the touchpad/keyboard. How do I enter the BIOS setup menu? Is that when I turn the computer on, it says “Press any key to cancel disk scan” or something like that? If so, the keyboard doesn’t work for that either. “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! Gary, 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. 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. Garth, 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. That could be software related problem.

Try reinstalling Windows from the recovery disc. Do not forget to back up all personal data before you run the recovery process. If you still experience the same problem (no internal or external sound) even after reimaging the hard drive back to factory defaults, there could be a problem with the sound board which is most likely integrated into the motherboard.

Thanks for your response to my question about screen brightness. Do you have any further comment on my question #121? I wrote: 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! matthew, i have an acer aspire 5100 and im going to put in 2X 2gb RAM, are the ports for the ram in the same place or is one under the key board like on some laptops Both memory slots are in the same place. Both slots could be accessed through the door on the bottom.

You can see both RAM modules on the third image. Also my screen often gets a blue line of pixels along the right side of my screen only about 2mm, i was wondering if this was because of the LCD screen or something to do with a setting on my laptop? Sounds like a problem with the screen. jeffy, I have a ACER 5100 and my computer is blank. It sounds like it is running. I tried hooking it up to another monitor and still doesn’t work. Just the power light is on and I hear the fan.

Power off the laptop, remove the battery, unplug the power adapter and wait for a minute. Plug in the adapter and try turning it on. Remove RAM modules one by one. Test the laptop with each RAM module installed into each slot separately. One of the RAM modules could be bad. Try starting the laptop without the hard drive and DVD drive. If nothing helps and you still have the same problem even after removing/reseating RAM and removing HDD and DVD drive, most likely there is a problem with the motherboard.

My Aspire 5101 died supposingly during WinUpdate, I was afk. Now the laptop goes on from the power button and gives power to cpu, dvd and even the hdd seems to be spinning from what I could hear. Problem is the screen is blank and doesn’t even let me to the bios, nor does boot from DVD/CD. So should I just take out the hdd and throw the rest away or what? I appreciate any suggestions, already got the usb-keyboard idea by reading the earlier comments, thanks.

I can’t locate the laptop’s manual so I haven’t got 100% accurate info about what’s the BIOS button on these, Home, Insert, Esc? My Aspire 5101 died supposingly during WinUpdate, I was afk. Now the laptop goes on from the power button and gives power to cpu, dvd and even the hdd seems to be spinning from what I could hear. Problem is the screen is blank and doesn’t even let me to the bios, nor does boot from DVD/CD.

So should I just take out the hdd and throw the rest away or what? I appreciate any suggestions, already got the usb-keyboard idea by reading the earlier comments, thanks. I can’t locate the laptop’s manual so I haven’t got 100% accurate info about what’s the BIOS button on these, Home, Insert, Esc?

=) EDIT: Jeffy, Did you update your Windows just before? Your problem seems to be the same. I just tried to boot without DVD and HDD. I have been getting the BSOD and memory dump. It appears the issue only happens when I turn the computer when I am using it. If I keep it on a flat surface, I don’t seem to have an issue. Most recently, I received the BSOD and when trying to start the computer, the BIOS does not see the hard drive, if I turn the computer, it does see it, starts to load windows, but then I get a black screen.

I can only assume it is a hard drive error, or mother board issue. Anyone else have this problem? Brendan, I have been getting the BSOD and memory dump. It appears the issue only happens when I turn the computer when I am using it. If I keep it on a flat surface, I don’t seem to have an issue. Most recently, I received the BSOD and when trying to start the computer, the BIOS does not see the hard drive, if I turn the computer, it does see it, starts to load windows, but then I get a black screen.

I can only assume it is a hard drive error, or mother board issue. Anyone else have this problem? Could be memory related problem: 1. Bad memory module. Loose connection between the memory module and slot.

Defective memory slot. Try reconnecting the memory module. Move it into the empty slot if you have any. Do you have two modules installed? Test the laptop with each module in different slots separately. Mike F, I have a acer 5100 and it says resource conflict 4 times on startup then won’t boot into windows but restarts.

Try minimizing the laptop. Remove hard drive, DVD drive, wireless card, modem, etc one of these parts could be bad and causing the problem. Leave just main components needed to boot the laptop: motherboard, CPU with the cooling module, memory. If you still experience the same problem with the bare bone system, apparently it’s related to the motherboard. If that’s the case, you’ll have to replace the motherboard. I have a really weird problem with a 5100. The POST was reporting the HDD as gibberish and not booting, so I thought the HDD was duff.

I replaced the HDD with the same model and buttoned everything back up, but it was still reporting gibberish. Now here’s where it gets strange, I removed the memory/cpu cover to check that nothing was loose I quickly tried it while the cover was off and it started up fine, as soon as I replaced the cover it started reporting the HDD name as gibberish and wouldn’t boot. I tried this several times and it was consistent, with the cover off it booted, with the cover on it wouldn’t. I gave it a thorough once over looking for shorts, but there was nothing obvious.

I even tried replacing the screws one at a time and not tightening them as much, but to no avail. Before I completely strip it down I was wondering if this was something you may have come across before or whether you may have an idea as to what is going on. Many Thanks •. My daughters’ Acer Aspire 5100 (BL-51)”died” suddenly upon startup (i.e. It just didn’t start).As seems to be the case with a few others computers here, upon pushing the power button all lights come on the fan runs for about 10 seconds, the harddrive seems to spin, and then everything just stops (the fan continues to run at low speed).

In order to get the fan to stop, the power button needs to be pushed and held for about 5 seconds. During this process there is no bios screen or anything else that shows up on the monitor – it stays black. When I first took the computer apart there was quite a bit of dust packed in the fan/radiator area – that has been cleaned. In addition, when this first happened I was led to believe that it was probably a bad processor due to overheating. I replaced the processor to no avail.

I’ve also checked the memory modules by swapping their positions, reseating them and trying to startup with one at a time. Any ideas or next steps in trouble shooting? Thanks in advance •. Skippy, The POST was reporting the HDD as gibberish and not booting, so I thought the HDD was duff.

I replaced the HDD with the same model and buttoned everything back up, but it was still reporting gibberish. Sounds like a problem with the IDE channel on the motherboard. I removed the memory/cpu cover to check that nothing was loose I quickly tried it while the cover was off and it started up fine, as soon as I replaced the cover it started reporting the HDD name as gibberish and wouldn’t boot.

I tried this several times and it was consistent, with the cover off it booted, with the cover on it wouldn’t. Is it possible that you are using wrong screws? Maybe they are too long and when you put them in, one of the screws is touching the motherboard ans shorting something? Here’s another guess. The motherboard is failing and apparently there is a bad solder joint somewhere on the motherboard. When you install/remove screws you actually flexing the motherboard making it work/fail. I guess in order to narrow down the problem, you’ll have to remove the motherboard, build the laptop on your bench (outside the case) and find out if it works this way.

Before I completely strip it down I was wondering if this was something you may have come across before or whether you may have an idea as to what is going on. Nope, I’ve never seen something like that before. Please post here if you will find the solution. dave p, upon pushing the power button all lights come on the fan runs for about 10 seconds, the harddrive seems to spin, and then everything just stops (the fan continues to run at low speed). I replaced the processor to no avail. I’ve also checked the memory modules by swapping their positions, reseating them and trying to startup with one at a time.

If it’s not memory or CPU, most likely there is a problem with the motherboard. Here’s you can try.

You can remove the motherboard (looks like you’ve done before) and assemble a basic system outside the laptop case. All you need is the motherboard, CPU with heat sink, memory and external monitor. Try turning it on.

If still nothing, most likely the motherboard is bad. If the laptop starts with video and works fine, start assembling it back together piece by piece and test after each installed part. John Edwards, I have a friend’s Acer Aspire 3100 laptop and it has an issue where the laptop freezes whenever any usb device is inserted. It then has to be turned off to commence operations. At first I thought (was hoping) it was software related but after reloading the OS ans all the drivers I still have the problem. If the laptop fails the same way with many different USB devices, then most likely you have a problem with the USB controller which is integrated into the motherboard. I guess you’ll have to replace the motherboard or use the laptop as is.

Also, you can try updating/reflashing the BIOS. I’m not sure if it’s going to help but at least something to try. I have fixed computers for a living for the last 15 years full time so i know a little of what I am talking about though I do not work on laptops full time. This is a defective product and the culprit is most likely the motherboard. I have worked on two of these.

Here are the symptoms: USB stops working CD/DVD stops working Keyboard/mouse fail Black screen BIOS errors- PCI errors usually Time setting in bios lost Freeze if you get it to boot It is not a BIOS issue,OS issue, memory issue, hard drive issue, cd issue, keyboard issue, mouse issue. I have tested/replaced all of these. It is a motherboard issue- defective from the manufacture.

This is a progressive issue- whatever you have will get worse. Cut your losses. Pull the hard drive and put the data somewhere else. I have purchased for my employees/family/clients 30 Acer products over the last few years but I WILL NEVER PURCHASE ACER AGAIN!

BUYER BEWARE! Jose, my acer 5100 has problems with the keyboard, touchpad and us ports. They just don’t work. I think It is a board problem. Do you think it is the end of this laptop? Turn on the laptop and try entering the BIOS setup menu.

I’m not sure which keys you should use, try Esc, F1, F2. This will tell you if the keyboard works in the BIOS. Can you navigate the BIOS using keyboard keys? If the keyboard works fine in the BIOS setup menu, your problem could be related to the operating system. Try reinstalling it from the recovery disc.

If the keyboard do not work on the BIOS level, there could be a problem with the motherboard. I have the acer aspire 5100 and I play the sims 2 alot and I wanted to upgrade my video card at one point. Is that possible or is it built into the motherboard? Im also have issues with my DVD-r/CD-r drive. Fists problem with it is sometimes it cant find the drive unless I open and close it or if I go to Hardware changes and just refresh till it finds new hardware. 2nd problem is when it is working I cannot burn a dvd or cd.

I can put files in to burn but when I click burn it says there is no dvd/cd in the drive. With that all said should I just buy a new dvd/cd drive for it? I know once I read it could be the lens in the player thats not letting me burn. But not sure let me know what you think. I have a weird situation with my acer 5100.

A friend connected a 3G device, and the system asked something like ‘hit enter to continue’. But now the keyboard does not respond; no touchpad either; I attached a external kb but no response, external usb mouse, nothing either; I turned off the notebook, but it loads back into windows and asks the same question; I tried to force in safe mode, but can’t press F5, F8, neither enter bios setup thru F2, cause there no keyboard response. So I thought the only chance would be resseting the bios – oened the bottom but I can’t see any battery, jumper, nothing? I tried to interrupt boot sequence thru battery removal, nothing; and installing a new windows, but it asks for ‘press C to continue’ WTF? Thank you for any ideas!!! Rod – Brazil •. The laptop boots into Vista no problem and runs it no problem (except noisy fun and sluggish graphics), but if I try to install an OS (any) laptop powers off at the loading setup files from DVD, it also powers off after ~7% memtest.

After it powers off, if you try to run memtest again, it will power off almost immediately, even if you enter BIOS, and will not load Vista (will give a physical memory dump screen). The only way to circumvent this would be to do a total power reset unplugging all sources of electricity, and then it would boot normally again. I run the memtest with the stock memory that came with it, and still same problem. Any thoughts? Why are their MBs so bad, and who makes the best ones, also what do you think about Asus vs Acer) •. Rob, I have a weird situation with my acer 5100.

A friend connected a 3G device, and the system asked something like ‘hit enter to continue’. But now the keyboard does not respond; no touchpad either; I attached a external kb but no response, external usb mouse, nothing either; I turned off the notebook, but it loads back into windows and asks the same question; I tried to force in safe mode, but can’t press F5, F8, neither enter bios setup thru F2, cause there no keyboard response.

So I thought the only chance would be resseting the bios – oened the bottom but I can’t see any battery, jumper, nothing? I tried to interrupt boot sequence thru battery removal, nothing; and installing a new windows, but it asks for ‘press C to continue’ This is a really weird problem. Sounds like a 3G device damaged the motherboard somehow.

Why buy acer, The laptop boots into Vista no problem and runs it no problem (except noisy fun and sluggish graphics), but if I try to install an OS (any) laptop powers off at the loading setup files from DVD, it also powers off after ~7% memtest. After it powers off, if you try to run memtest again, it will power off almost immediately Could be overheating.

Take a look inside the heat sink. Do you see a lot of dust inside? Blow off dust using canned air. Clean the heat sink and test the laptop again.

There is a good chance that cleaning the heat sink will fix your problem. Mike Merriman, I have an ACER 5100, for several months now the touch-pad has not worked, I have checked that the software is loaded O.K. Also for several months the Power ON, HD Caps Lock etc lights go out when the laptop has been of for about 10 mins, recently the speakers have started to crackle if the Laptop is moved, if the case if flexed the crackeeling stops for a while but the Laptop hangs. It’s really hard to tell what’s going on with your laptop. Could be some kind of grounding issue but in order to narrow down the problem, it’s necessary to disassemble the laptop and take a closer look inside.

Could be loose connection somewhere on the motherboard. There is no simple answer. Hi, I have two broken acer aspires and now on my third it is not from manufactor issues. It is that my dear wife keeps manageing to drop them and bust the dc power port off. So my question is I have tried to search the part number for my 5100z and come up with nill.

The other is an 5610z witch i can get the part but can not solder to save my life. I guess my questions are 1. For the 5610 where can i get an external case for my hard drive? ( bought 1 from R.S. And it was the wrong one.) 2. Could you point me in the direction for a new power card for my 5100? ElliottB, I have an Acer 5100 that has been acting strangely lately.

It works fine but sometimes it hangs and I have to disconnect the power cord, the battery, and wait for a few minutes. Then everything works until it happens again.

I suspect that the CMOS battery is the culprit. I really doubt that your problem is related to the CMOS battery. I believe the laptop should work even if the CMOS battery is dead or removed at all. What do you mean by it hangs and I have to disconnect the power cord, the battery, and wait for a few minutes. The laptop will not start at all, it freezes or what? I repair laptops full time and have to say that the acer aspire 5100 must be one of the worst laptops ever to come from acer.

Dave, Upon powering up, my 5100 runs for about 5 seconds, then shuts itself off. Strangely enough, after another 5 seconds or so, it restarts itself, and repeats the cycle over and over.

It doesn’t post, so it’s not an OS or software issue. It does this whether on battery power or a/c.

Would it overheat that quick? Bad motherboard? I don’t think it’s overheating. Check memory modules, try reseating them. Try starting the laptop with only one module installed. Remove all devices you can access: hard drive, DVD drive, etc Try starting the laptop without them. If nothing helps, probably it’s related to the motherboard.

Anglina, I dropped my acer laptop and now the screen is pitch black. The power button turns on 4 a few seconds but the screen wont turn on and then it shuts off. What do i do??? I’m not sure if you feel comfortable doing that, but I would recommend taking the laptop apart and reseating all cable and internal components. It’s possible that your laptop will not start because something is loose inside. First, try reconnecting memory modules and test the laptop.

It shouldn’t be very difficult but might help. I got a problem with my Acer 5100 yesterday, my lappy was okay. Only my bluetooth device wasn’t recognized, the bluetooth light never worked. The nite of that day, i was using my acer but something happenedthe screen coloured stripes crash appearedso i forced to turn it off by press hold the power buttonafter i turned on it back, all of components such as keyboard,touchpad, and usb do not working any more, but the bluetooth device came back normali ve tried the f2 button at bios but not any effectedsame as the ctrl holding and fn+f7all of them didnt make some effects how i solve this problem?? Is this hardware problem? Should i take this to the acer? Hello, I must say I was very happy to have found your site and to read some of the upgrades that I can do for my Acer!!

Thank you about a week ago I was plugged into the internet w a wired cnction, i tripped and the ethernet cable was ripped out of the port on the side of the comp. Now if i try to cnct to the internet through the same port the green light by the port only lights up 10% of the time if that. If the ethernet cable is plugged im no longer able to cnct to the int. Do you think this may be something i can fix myself like replacing the port?? Or would I be wiser to take it into a comp prefessional? Thanks for your time, Vida •.

Short version: I think I’m screwed. Longer version: Haven’t been able to boot my system for 18 hrs or so. In SAFE mode, the list of system files always halts at agpCPQ.sys. My bonehead guess would be that the next file is trashed.

WORST: When I try to launch D2D recovery using ALT-F10 (having checked BIOS for D2D enabled), I get a brief msg indicating that the system is entering recovery mode, but then–the WINXP load logo, and things grind to a halt. Have attempted disconnecting/reinstalling the battery; the hard drive; the memory sticks.

Any thoughts??? Vida, about a week ago I was plugged into the internet w a wired cnction, i tripped and the ethernet cable was ripped out of the port on the side of the comp. Now if i try to cnct to the internet through the same port the green light by the port only lights up 10% of the time if that.

If the ethernet cable is plugged im no longer able to cnct to the int. Do you think this may be something i can fix myself like replacing the port?? Or would I be wiser to take it into a comp prefessional? In most laptops the eithernet port is soldered to the motherboard. In order to find out what is wrong you’ll have to disassemble the laptop and take a closer look. Can you do it yourself? If not, I would take the laptop to a professional repair shop.

I have the same problem as #52 – Vali: A 5102WLMi Aspire notebook, and all 3 USB ports show OK in Device Manager, but can’t recognize any device plugged into them. Tried Chipset Driver updates, BIOS Phlashing, several different OS clean installs – no go! Googling shows quite a few people with this problem, but Acer doesn’t own up to it being a regular issue they should fix.

A PCI adapter serves to some extent, but bandwith doesn’t seem big enough for my Logitech webcam – it freezes after a few seconds, and stays frozen. Help, somebody! Hi, On our aspire 5100 we installed 4 gb ram (2x2gb) about a year ago.

At that time it was running vista home premium (the version which was pre-installed). Windows recognized 3.25Gb of ram. We formatted, and reinstalled win vista (original, came with laptop), but now vista only recognizes 2.3gb of ram. Re formatted again installed xp this time. Only 2.25gb are recognized. In bios all 4gb are recognized.(3.8 to be exact) We tried to switch ram modules around, same thing, even replaced one with a 1gb module but still, windows only recognizes 2.25gb.What is the problem?

Hi, a beer was tipped over onto my laptop and I caught it very quickly – it was a small amount and I popped off some of the keys and wiped under them. It was near the shift key on the right lower side of the keyboard. For a while the screen wouldn’t show anything legible and then after a few days it worked fine until now. The screen is very jumpy and grainy but you can still read what’s on it.

Could I get some circuit board cleaner and take the key board off perhaps? Great tutorial and well photographed! Doug Seton, a beer was tipped over onto my laptop and I caught it very quickly – it was a small amount and I popped off some of the keys and wiped under them.

It was near the shift key on the right lower side of the keyboard. For a while the screen wouldn’t show anything legible and then after a few days it worked fine until now. The screen is very jumpy and grainy but you can still read what’s on it.

Apparently, you’ve damaged the motherboard. Could I get some circuit board cleaner and take the key board off perhaps? I doubt that cleaner will help.

You’ll have to remove the top cover and take a closer look at the motherboard to find out what’s going on. I you find corrosion, you’ll have to replace the motherboard. Bought my son a laptop, Acer 3634Wlmi.The laptop picture is dim(You can just make itout).Currently it works with an external monitor, so I bought a second hand screen and replaced the other 1.Still the same problem. Managed to get another 3634, which had screen flicker.

I replaced that screen with the second hand screen and the screen works perfect. So know I know the problem in the other 3634 is elsewhere, somewhere in the base.Any ideas?? Both laptops work excellently.

Thx in advance Iain. P.S Have checked all connections from screen to base(only 3 lol), and all fine •.

Carl, I have a used acer aspire 5100, every now and then the screen either goes black or white with horizontal gray lines. I reseated the lcd connecter and still same thing. Should i replace the lcd or is it a inverter issue? You still can see the screen and it’s bright even though it has only horizontal lines, so it’s not related to the inverter. You’ll have to test your laptop with an external monitor. If external video works fine, you have either bad LCD (most likely) or bad video cable (less likely).

I’ll be as clear as I can. First Acer 3634 has dim screen.Works fine with external monitor. I got a second hand screen(whole display).We will call this Fred. I changed whole display, Just disconnected 2 wireless and mobo connection. I then connected up Fred to first Acer.

The result is the same(dim screen). I have second Acer 3634. This has a screen with colours running vertically across screen in lines, but if you hold top corner of screen(squeeze)you get clear picture. So I replaced whole display with Fred, same procedure as above. Second Acer now works fine.No problems. So I can deduce that first Acer problem is not inverter or backlight because Fred works in second Acer. I haven’t gotten around to testing first Acer screen in second Acer.

But from Fred I know screen is not problem. Any more info you need please ask. Thx again Iain •. Hi, wonderful site! I have an Acer Aspire 5100 running Vista Home Premium, 32bits, at 1.8ghz. I recently had the RAM upgraded from 2gb to 4gb, replaced with identical product. The new 4gb shows in BIOS and System Information but still only shows original 2gb on Task Manager Performance and system is not using the added memory.

Acer wants to charge big money for a phone call because warranty has expired. Do you have any ideas on what might be happening or how to get the system to actually ‘use’ the added memory? Any help at this point would be much appreciated. hello mr tech first of all very very good quide. Here is my concern I have an aspire 5515 is very very close to the 5100 visually its almost the same thing but inside it came with a amd athlon single core 2650e clocked to 1.60 ghz 3 gig of ram vista 32 bit and a built in ati radeon x1200.

Iain Foster, First Acer 3634 has dim screen.Works fine with external monitor. I got a second hand screen(whole display).We will call this Fred. I changed whole display, Just disconnected 2 wireless and mobo connection. I then connected up Fred to first Acer.

The result is the same(dim screen). I have second Acer 3634. This has a screen with colours running vertically across screen in lines, but if you hold top corner of screen(squeeze)you get clear picture. So I replaced whole display with Fred, same procedure as above. Second Acer now works fine.No problems. So I can deduce that first Acer problem is not inverter or backlight because Fred works in second Acer.

You are correct. It sounds like the first Acer laptop has a problem with the motherboard.

Fred assembly is working fine with the second Acer laptop, so Fred has no problem with LCD or inverter. I guess you’ll have to replace the motherboard on the first Acer laptop. Doris, I recently had the RAM upgraded from 2gb to 4gb, replaced with identical product. The new 4gb shows in BIOS and System Information but still only shows original 2gb on Task Manager Performance and system is not using the added memory. Try upgrading your Vista to SP1. Make sure the laptop has the latest BIOS installed. Update the BIOS if needed.

Check out other downloads available for your laptop, maybe Acer issued some kind of update which improves the system performance. Here’s an example.

I had an HP Pavilion dv5000 notebook and the CPU speed never was reported correctly in the system properties. I tried everything to fix it but nothing worked. Finally, I fixed it by updating the BIOS to the latest available version. I think my hard drive is toast on my Acer Aspire 5100.

It won’t boot, comes up with a menu recommending “Launch Startup Repair” or “Start Windows Normally”. Neither seems to do the trick. The hard disk light comes on for awhile, then goes our.

If I launch Startup Repair, it flashes an unreadable (very quick) blue screen, then restarts all over. Starting Windows normally just doesn’t go either. My question is, does it sound like the hard drive?

If so, can I replace it with a comparable SATA drive and use my factory rrestore disks to make everything good again? Thank you, Jeff •. Hello, I have an Acer Aspire 5100 I’ve only had it for a little over a year and I guess it got a virus and shut down and it had black screen with words saying somehting about scan. My son was using it at that point so not sure. I tried to shut down and it was slow it took hours to go to window screen.

I called acer but the restore didn’t work. I thought I had a recovery disk stuck it in to override and it worked fine but color looked different.

Come to find out it was sons Dell XP because the key code wouldn’t work. I called Acer to pay for a recovery disk, they sent it and it was loading everything went through like 45 minutes and then said it was writing the files and finishing and then black screen. Why did it work with the Dell XP but not teh original recovery disk?

What can I do now? Hello IML Tech, Many thanks for the tech support you offer.

I purchased Acer 5100 in Nov 2006 and it was opened last week for the first time to upgrade RAM from 512 MB to 2 GB. It is working fine. Yesterday I was surprised to see a small dipression, a centimeter wide, on the panel caused just below the function key. It appears that the panel has melted from inside and I think it due to over heating. I am worried about the safety of my system. I have cleaned the fan and the ventilation using a vacuum cleaner.

Should I attempt to clean the heat sink. Would you recommend cooling pad to take away excess heat? Please suggest. josie millington, having terrible problems with my daughters acer aspire 5100, keeps hanging soon after start up, cant do anything with computer except turn it off First of all, I would suggest testing laptop memory and hard drive.

You can run Memtest86+ and test RAM. By the way, if you have two memory modules installed, try removing them one by one and test the laptop with each memory module separately.

If the laptop works fine with one of them, but hangs when another one is installed, the second module is bad. If the laptop hangs with each module, apparently your problem is not related to memory. Run diagnostics on the hard drive. Remove the hard drive and find out who made it. After that visit the manufacturer’s website and download the hard drive test.

Test the hard drive. JefFLH, I think my hard drive is toast on my Acer Aspire 5100. It won’t boot, comes up with a menu recommending “Launch Startup Repair” or “Start Windows Normally”. Neither seems to do the trick.

The hard disk light comes on for awhile, then goes our. If I launch Startup Repair, it flashes an unreadable (very quick) blue screen, then restarts all over. Starting Windows normally just doesn’t go either. My question is, does it sound like the hard drive? Yes, your problem could be related to the hard drive. Also, it’s possible you have a problem with memory.

Before you purchase a new hard drive, run memory test. You can use Memtest86+. If you don’t want to test the memory, you can try removing memory modules one by one and run the restore with only one memory module installed. If everything works fine with one of the modules installed, most likely the second one is defective and has to be replaced.

Can I replace it with a comparable SATA drive and use my factory restore disks to make everything good again? Yes, you can do that. The restore disc doesn’t requires the original drive to be installed. You can install a compatible drive and run the restore. It will reimage the drive back to factory defaults.

Angie, I have an Acer Aspire 5100 I’ve only had it for a little over a year and I guess it got a virus and shut down and it had black screen with words saying somehting about scan. My son was using it at that point so not sure. I tried to shut down and it was slow it took hours to go to window screen. So it took you hours to boot to the desktop? There could be a problem with the hard drive. Access the hard drive, find out who made it and visit the manufacturer’s website. Download the hard drive diagnostics utility and test the drive.

If it fails, you’ll have to replace the hard drive. If you cannot find diagnostics utility, try Hitachi’s drive fitness test, I linked to it in Useful Links on the right side. Hitachi’s DFT works with many different drives. Great sitereally easy to understand instructions! I have an Acer Aspire 5100 and the only problem with it is the CD/DVD drive.

It doesn’t read any discs that I put in, but when I double click on the CD icon a box pops up that says the CD is a blank one and do I want to format it. It hasn’t been working for nearly a year now, and until I came across this site I didn’t expect to be able to get it fixed – warranty has run out and it will take too long and too much money. However, I am sure that I can follow your instructions to take the CD/DVD drive out. Now my two questions aredo you have instructions on how to install a new drive? And, do you recommend that I replace it myself? (Is it safe or will I likely break the whole computer? Lol) Thanks in advance for your help!

Hello, I am unable to test anything with my hard drive because my computer doesn’t ever get past the black screen. A little back ground, I put in my sons dell xp recovery by accident and overrode everything on acer 5100. I realized when I went to register the prI oduct. My computer worked fine, so I am pretty sure the hard drive works. I called acer to purchase recovery disk and when I received them they went through the process but when it said at the end, the loading all files it went to a blank screen and the fan still runs. I never get past that screen. I called acer paid for their support, they said dell xp is still sitting there and I tried downloading iso burner from another computer onto a cd to load to my acer but nothing happens it still does’t get past the blank screenI have tried researching but haven’t found anything out there.

Can I just purchase a new windows software that overrides everything and get a new product key? Chris, Hey, i dont understand why you need to remove the hard drive, dvd, wireless card and all that just to clean out the fan.

I took the panel off the back of my acer and used a knife to clean some dust inbetween the fan and the bronze part and my computer is running much faster now. You don’t have to remove all these parts.

In my guide I explain how to dissemble the laptop, not just clean the fan. Can someone explain if i can clean it out more without removing all those other parts (dvd, wireless card, hard drive, ram, keyboard, etc.) You can remove just the cooling fan and clean it with compressed air. raj, i replaced my laptop keyboard, however it doesnt work. I try to readjust the conection, then sometime i get my pc beeping as if a key is held, i open text pad it show 000000 or sometimes ]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]] whatever 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. 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. 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.

Ant, 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! 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. 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. amit, 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. I don’t know how badly your hard drive damaged but you can try the following method. 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. Remove the hard drive from your laptop.

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.

rhino, i have an aspire 5100 cant set the time clock any more 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? Guess the battery needs changing on the mobo like a pc but i been told cant be changed. 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). 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! 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?? 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. 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! 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. 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. I have had this computer for about 2 years now •. 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 •.

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! 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 properlyI 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 thenI thought that I fixed through uninstalling and reinstalling in the device manager, but it didn’t work this timeI 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 •. Wellsince IML 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 interestingsince 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 solutionChange the motherboard (200$.not such a great price though) Cheers •. 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 •. Lauren, 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.) 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. I am having the same problems as several of your other customers, keyboard unresponsive, and I can’t help but notice the “copout of an answer” that is being given to most of the consumers with this problem!

When the keyboard on a laptop that is prctically brand new goes out and it is a motherboard issue, that only suggests one thing to me, and others I am sure, and that would be that your laptop is a waste of my hard earned money as well as my time in even considering the purchase! I am curious if there is gonna be a recall on the items seeing as its obviously a manufacturing issue?

I spent a hell of alot of money buying this poorly thought out contraption only to be met with disappointment at the answer to how it can be repaired! Never again will I consider your product as its obviosly not worth the taxes I paid on it, let alone the purchase price!!! Hi IML Tech, I have made some progress thank you, now I can turn on the laptop. Now I am having difficulty reformatting the harddrive using xp home cd, it loads all the drivers from the cd “set up is loading files” but it freezes at the “set up is starting windows” stage, I have tried using different ram but the problem still persists. I am reformatting it because I suspect a virus is causing boot issues – it freezes everytime at the windows start up logo screen and safemode will not work either – please help me? I am running out of time. Thanks, Kenny •.

this is now the second night i have not slept, i have tried a lot of things and this laptop will still not reformat, I am still stuck at “set up is starting windows” stage pressing alt and f10 with d2d turned on in the bios will not give the factory restore option, instead it beeps once and the screen stays black with a single white flashing cursor. In a moment of absolute rage I took it out and plugged it into my desktop, reformatted the entire disc, wiped it clean, stuck the harddrive back into the laptop, ran the xp cd.still freezes in the “set up is starting windows stage” I tried to install xp on it using my desktop, this time it gets past the “set up is starting windows screen” but 20 seconds later after the windows logo screen, it gives this blue screen error 0x0000007B (0xf78A2524 0Xc0000034 0x00000000 0x00000000) I am not sure it this is relevant. I sspect I am missing a sata driver or something. I am so tired, the pressure is really on, if anyone can help me, I will be beside the computer.

Great I have been making progress with the help of my friend Bob. By using Windows 7, the computer is now up and running again.Hurray!! Just letting you know that Windows 7 is an exceptional piece of software, well worthwhile checking out. Now all I am missing is the web cam drivers. Can’t complain tho, at least the seemingly impossible situation was resolved by windows 7. Come on Linux! If you have a copy of the web cam drivers, it would be much appreciated.

The driver isnt on acer’s website. Hi I have had my laptop for about 2-3 years now, and lately(has happened 1-2 times) I will return home from work and open my laptop, only to find that my screen is black and I can’t really do anything. Well in the past, as this happens I just turn it off and turn it back on and the screen turns back on. Now, it hasn’t turned back on, so I plugged my laptop into the monitor upstairs and it works, so I have figured out that it is the screen somehow. So, I am wondering how do I know what to replace? The Inverter, or the screen itself? The screen is completely black, there is nothing on it, it is not turned on •.

Joe, Now, it hasn’t turned back on, so I plugged my laptop into the monitor upstairs and it works, so I have figured out that it is the screen somehow. So, I am wondering how do I know what to replace? The Inverter, or the screen itself? The screen is completely black, there is nothing on it, it is not turned on If the laptop works fine with an external monitor but there is nothing on the LCD, most likely the problem is somewhere inside the display panel. I don’t think it’s related to the inverter board because you have no image on the screen. With a failed inverter you should get at lease a very faint image. In your case the screen is completely blank, so it’s not the inverter.

It’s possible you have: 1. Bad connection between the video cable and LCD screen/motherboard. Bad LCD screen. Bad video cable. I would try reconnecting the cable first. Reconnect on both ends, on the back of the LCD screen and motherboard.

There is a chance to fix the laptop this way. Joe, USB ports no longer work, except for the single port on the left side of the keyboard near the ethernet plugin, and even that one doesn’t work consitently. When I plug things into them it says “computer unable to recognize device” and it does this for anything i plug in there. Could be software or hardware related problem.

Try reimaging the hard drive from the recovery disc. If USB ports still fail even after you reimaged the hard drive back to factory defaults, it’s a hardware problem. MY CD-ROM drive hasn’t been detected for almost a year now. It is just no where to be found can’t play/burn cds because its as if I don’t even have a drive Also, could be software or hardware issue. Can you see the CD/DVD drive in BIOS? If you can, find a bootable CD or DVD.

You can use Windows installation CD, life Linux CD (Knoppix for example), recovery disc or any other bootable disc. Try booting your laptop from a bootable disc. If you can boot the laptop from a CD/DVD but the drive doesn’t appear in Windows, most likely it’s a software related problem.

I was wondering if you have any experience of ACER ASPIRE 9301AWSMI? Mine has recently stopped driving the external display. I have obviously tried all the software configs to make sure nothing has messed up, and they all seem fine. The laptop appears to think the monitor is there when it is plugged in, but the monitor is not actually being driven (it’s fine when tested with another PC).

So, I would like to open things up to see if there are any bits that can be replaced, or at least removed for inspection. I know the VGA connector has some play in it, so I’m wondering if something could have come loose. There are numerous screws underneath but I’m a little anxious about just undoing everything. If you could advise that would be most welcome. Thanks, Martin. Some time ago I asked your advice regarding the built in web cam on the Aspire 5610. I’d like to thank you for helping me out with this problem on this infernal laptop.

The advice that you gave fixed a problem which a whole building full of tech guys couldn’t sort. The problem is the web cam works only intermittently.

The reason is that the very small wires are routed through the base of the lid, under the right hinge, under the panel leds and plugged onto the m/b at JP38. The exact spot at where these tiny wires are prone to bending is at the hinge area and this should be the first place that people should look where connection problems are occurring. I have an acer aspire 5100 series. I broke the screen but using your guide i replaced the screen with no problems. However, i attempted to install a payg usb modem and it crashed the laptop (froze). Since then it always crashes on the windows xp loading screen (freezes and does nothing) whether on safe mode or last known good configuaration or normal.

I have opened the pc and cleaned the fan. I suppose the next step is to attempt to format and re-install but i have documents which i need to retrieve from hard drive. Excellent website •. Petrocles, I have an acer aspire 5100 series. I broke the screen but using your guide i replaced the screen with no problems.

However, i attempted to install a payg usb modem and it crashed the laptop (froze). Since then it always crashes on the windows xp loading screen (freezes and does nothing) whether on safe mode or last known good configuaration or normal. I don’t think that LCD replacement is related to laptop freezing in any way. I suppose the next step is to attempt to format and re-install but i have documents which i need to retrieve from hard drive. You can get your files using an external USB enclosure. Firstly, thanks for getting back to me, really appreciate it.

I should point out that I did have a power connection problem which I believe is resolved now, although it did result in a failed restore which half formatted the hard drive. Even so, I would expect the message ‘nltdr is missing’ and be able to access BIOS to run from back up. Have tried all permutations of RAM installation with no success. New hard drive has come and been installed, (waste of money but they’re pretty cheap these days) and it didn’t work. The unit powers up, appears to try to reference the hard disk but obv there is no OS to load and because I have a blank screen, which flashes on start up but nothing else, I can’t tell it to boot from disk. Any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Lucia S, I want to replace my laptop (Acer aspire 5103) internal hard drive and need your advice about what to do back up wise before I attempt this It depends. I don’t know what you want to keep from the old hard drive. Most people keep just “My Documents” folder which includes “My Pictures”, “My Music”, “My Videos”, “Favorites” etc If you don’t want to keep anything, you don’t have to make any preparations. Simply replace the hard drive and run the recovery disc to reimage it back to factory defaults.

Could you advise me whether 250 gb is the biggest memory it will take or could I go higher? If the laptop works fine with a 250GB drive, it should work fine with any other larger drive. I think you can safely use 320GB or even 500GB drives. I am attempting to repair a Aspire 5100 series, model BL51. Here is my current issue: originally the laptop was giving a missing file error when booting windows XP.

Decided to dump and reload windows for my friend. However when I got the laptop home I find that it does not detect the Hard Drive or CD-ROM. I pulled the hard drive and Cd-rom both out and plugged them back in thinking maybe my connection got loose with no luck. I plugged the hard drive into a pc (using a cool little adaptor) and can see that the drive is ok. However I still cannot get the laptop to detect the hard drive or cd-rom drive. I can hear the cdrom spin and I think I can hear the hard drive spin. But no luck on detecting either one.

Not sure what my next step should be. Is it possibly the motherboard? How expensive is a new motherboard for this laptop? when i boot the laptop it sporadically locks at a black screen which continually scrolls through the message below. INTEL UNDI, PXE-2.0(build 082) FOR REALTEK RTL8139(X)/8130/810XPCI FAST ETHERNET CONTROLLER v2.13(020326) PXE-E61: MEDIA TEST FAILURE, CHECK CABLE PXE-M0F: EXITING PXE ROM it wont go any further.

If you shut it off it will reboot to the normal desktop or it will do it again. It has on occasion made it to the desktop and flashed over to this black screen and displayed the same message. The laptop is 2 years old and has nothing fancy on it. It has also been wiped clean once of all NON OS files and programs. The system now looks as if it just came from the store. scott, when i boot the laptop it sporadically locks at a black screen which continually scrolls through the message below. INTEL UNDI, PXE-2.0(build 082) FOR REALTEK RTL8139(X)/8130/810XPCI FAST ETHERNET CONTROLLER v2.13(020326) PXE-E61: MEDIA TEST FAILURE, CHECK CABLE PXE-M0F: EXITING PXE ROM it wont go any further.

If you shut it off it will reboot to the normal desktop or it will do it again. Usually you can see this message when the laptop is trying to boot from network.

It happens because: 1. The hard drive is dead. Laptop cannot see the hard drive. There is nothing installed on the hard drive (no OS). Here are some troubleshooting steps: 1.

Enter the BIOS setup menu and make sure the laptop can see the hard drive. Try reconnecting the hard drive. Unplug it from the motherboard and plug back in. It’s possible the hard drive is not making good contact with the motherboard. Try replacing the hard drive. If you have the same problem with a new hard drive, apparently the motherboard has a faulty IDE channel or defective HDD connector.

If that’s the case, you’ll have to replace the hard drive. First of all, try reconnecting the hard drive. Miahi D, i have an aspire 5100 and for the last 5 days i have a problem with it. I change its position or angle for example if i take it from the table to put it on my lap it freezes.

If i keep it on the table everything looks fine and it works normally, but everytime i change its position it stops responding. Instead of moving the laptop, try applying some pressure on different parts of the top cover (keyboard bezel, palm rest, etc) Will it freeze the laptop? If the laptop freezes when you press on the top, it’s possible that you have a faulty motherboard. Just a guess.

Also, try reconnecting memory modules. It’s possible that one of the modules is not making good connection with the slot. desiree7790, Acer 5100, the screen started to be black, after while, it’s turn off, when I try to turn on, it just keeps on for some seconds and turn off again, I tried to do different things like remove battery and use the cord only, but nothing happens, how can I fix it? Take a closer look at the screen when it goes off. Do you still can see a very faint image on the screen? If the image is still there, most likely you have a problem with the screen inverter board which is located inside the display panel under the LCD screen.

The inverter works like a power supply for the backlight lamp. When inverter goes bad, the screen backligth stops working. Sean H, To answer your question it does not see any hard drives or cd-rom drives in the bios. Does this sound like a BIOS issue or a motherboard issue? Most likely the motherboard issue. I guess IDE channels/channel is fried.

I will try flashing the bios next. That’s a good idea. Who knows, maybe reflashing the BIOS will help.

If you think it is a motherboard issue where can I order a new board? I’m not working a lot with Acer laptops but I know that the best way to find a replacement part is searching by the manufacturer’s part number. Not sure when Acer places the part number but it must be somewhere on the motherboard. Here’s my suggestion: 1.

Remove the motherboard and find the part number. Maybe it’s on a sticker in the memory compartment or under the keyboard. It will look something like that: DAZG1SMB8E8. Will be different numbers but same format. Google the part number. Sergio_1210, I have a problem with my acer aspite 5100when connect any USB (cam, pendrive, external, etc.) in any port the laptop freezes It’s hard to tell what is causing the problem without testing the laptop. Could be software related issue.

Go to the device manager and delete all entries related to USB ports. Restart the laptop and let it re-detect USB ports.

Test the laptop if the problem is fixed. If not, go to the step 2.

Back up all personal data and reinstall Windows from scratch. You can reinstall Windows from the recovery disc. If reinstalling Windows from scratch doesn’t help, most likely there is a problem with the motherboard.

You’ll have to replace it with a new one or use the laptop as is. Also, you can try using a PCMCIA-USB card instead of regular USB ports. You plug this card into the PC slot and get 2 or 4 USB ports on the other end. Bobby Turner, I have an acer aspire 5100, it has a bluetooth switch on the front which is not connected to a bluetooth device, i.e. When you click the switch it says ‘No bluetooth device’. I was wondering where to install a bluetooth module if i purchase one, and if you have a guide for it. The Bluetooth module is mounted inside the case.

You can see it on the page 66. The Bluetooth connector is on the motherboard close to the audio jacks. You can see the connector on the top right picture.

The Bluetooth module itself is shown on the same page on the bottom right picture. Here’s my problem today my Aspire 5110 went into standby mode and didn’t wanna wake up when I hit a key. I had to power down and after that it didn’t make it to the boot screen. I mean, I press the power button, the power and hdd leds light up and the screen stays black. The keyboard is not responding either (can’t access the bios). The cpu fan revs up for a couple of seconds, then drop down to normal speed.

I checked the ram and cpu (since I have a replacement just sitting around), but no luck. At this point I’m suspecting the motherboard. Any ideas (before I order a new motherboard)? nick, i have a aspire 5100.

Runs really slow since i installed norton 360 want to replace ram. It has 2 512mb now what kind should i get to replace it? Acer Aspire 5100 can take up to 4GB or memory, so you can install up to 2GB memory module into each slot. You should use PC2-5300 DDR2-667 200pin SDRAM SODIMM modules.

In short it’s called PC2-5300 memory for notebooks. By the way, if you run XP, it will see only about 3GB. Will i lose any thing or have to reinstall anything?

Nope, you will not lose anything. All your data is stored on the hard drive, not in memory. I have an acer aspire 5100 and the first thing that happened while it was still under warranty was the orbicam stopped working. Acer sent instructions on how to download an update it never worked. Rolling the OS back to windows xp media center edition had it working a few days but then it was out again.Customer service gave me the run around until the manufacturer warranty ran out. Next thing to happen was the usb ports stopped recognizing anything. I was thinking it was a driver issue but i am unable to find any and windows is telling me the drivers are up to date.

The final thing to happen was the keyboard and touchpad stopped working pcmcia usb card enabled me to connect an external mouse and keyboard but I will be out of luck when this too fails. While searching for a solution I found that the issues I am facing are common with this series, I am at a loss as to what I should do and where I should look next. I have an Acer Aspire 5100 with Vista on it. I don’t have a recovery disk because they didn’t supply one and when I went to make one, it didn’t work right and I never got any answers. Well, it was working one night and I got up the next morning and it won’t start-up. I hit the power button and it goes where it show the whit Acer screen with the blue writing.

I have no idea how to recover this or anything. I was looking for the cmos battery but cannot find in hopes that it would reset it. Please Please help me. Dowayne B, Well, it was working one night and I got up the next morning and it won’t start-up.

I hit the power button and it goes where it show the whit Acer screen with the blue writing. I have no idea how to recover this or anything. Here’s what you can try. Turn on the laptop and press F8 when Acer logo appears on the screen. Hopefully it will take you to the boot menu. Select Last Known Good Configuration and press Enter. Wait until the laptop reboots and restores Windows.

It might help. randy, 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? Do you mean one memory bank stopped working completely, or you still can use both banks but only with one module at a time? 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!

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 •. Randy, 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? 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. Almeida, My laptop is working very slow now a days. When surfing on the internet, 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 recommend?

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. 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? Hi.I have been trying to solve a USB prob on my Acer 5199,,the fan was replaced as well as the Harddrive, for 2 months I have searched and asked for a solution, came upon this website and was reading the posts.I see post #412 has the same problem but I did not see a solution, so I will ask. I have just reinstalled Windows XP for the 2nd time.It is XP spk2, I also tried it with service pack3 but no go.

I am actually going to try and older bios version to see if it will solve the prob unless someone can give me and idea please. When any thing is plugged into one of the 3 usb ports, it comes back “hardware unrecognizable” etc. I have managed to get everything else working on this thing except the usb.Please help. Acer wants me to pay them $169.00 and send them the laptop.after which I am sure the bill would go up from there.I have already spent the $$$ on a fan (was very hard to find one working) and the HD.plus the time spent working on this thing.the computer seems to be a nice one.but totally useless without usb capabilities.

Hopefully this is the place for the solution.TY •. Kris, since then i have been trying to get into the recovery process but everytime the booting part comes up it hangs and i have been constantly trying to find ways to get into the recovery process Do you have two memory modules installed? Try removing memory modules one by one and run the recovery process with only one module installed (try different modules). It’s possible that one of the modules is bad. If replacing/reseating memory modules doesn’t help, probably this is the motherboard related failure.

Susan, I have just reinstalled Windows XP for the 2nd time.It is XP spk2, I also tried it with service pack3 but no go. I am actually going to try and older bios version to see if it will solve the prob unless someone can give me and idea please.

If I understand correctly, you reinstalled Windows XP from scratch but it didn’t fix your USB ports. Sounds like a problem with the USB controller on the motherboard. Unfortunately, the only way to fix it would be replacing the motherboard. Alternatively, you can use a USB PCMCIA adapter. My acer was getting slow. It just had msn messenger on it and a few other programs. It still had around 89% free space on it.

I desided to put in the recovery disk to clean it out completly. Its been a while since i use it as a main computer (i sued it only with msn messenger) so i wanted to restore it.

The problem is that now when i put in the recovery disk it will start up and when it gets past 25% the computer will turn off. I kept trying and trying to restor it but each time it just turns off. I have mad sure it is conected to the outlet sevral times already and it has been.

I have no idea what it can be. Any idea would be greatly appreciated. Cindy, The problem is that now when i put in the recovery disk it will start up and when it gets past 25% the computer will turn off.

I kept trying and trying to restor it but each time it just turns off. I have mad sure it is conected to the outlet sevral times already and it has been. I have no idea what it can be. Any idea would be greatly appreciated.

It’s possible that your laptop shuts down because of overheating. It happens when the cooling module (heat sink and fan) gets clogged with dust. Clean the cooling module if it’s clogged with dust and try running the recovery disc again. Here’s what you can do without taking your laptop apart. Buy a can of compressed air and spray it into the air intake on the bottom of the laptop. This will clean most dust from the cooling module. Try running the recovery disc after that.

My acer was getting slow. It just had msn messenger on it and a few other programs. It still had around 89% free space on it. This also could be related to overheating. Trevor, I have a travelmate 4230 and I was using my computer earlier but not when I try to turn it on nothing happens. The fan turns on for about 3 seconds and then stops.

No beeping, no monitor, no hard drive operations. What do I do? Is it the mother board? Is it the hard drive? Could be faulty memory module. Do you have two memory modules installed in your laptop? Try removing them one by one and turn on the laptop when only one module is installed.

It’s very unlikely that both modules failed at the same time. The laptop should start properly when the bad one is removed. My 5100 is DEAD after a failed BIOS update to 3.10 (or was it 15?) Booted up from a CD and launched FreeDOS. Ran the upgrade program and fed it the BIOS file.trouble The update stopped after a few%, and locked up completely.

It remained there for a few hours until all I could do was remove the battery cold. Now it shows NO response whatsoever when I hit the power button.

Absolutely no sign of life whatsoever, not even a LED when I plug in the power. How do I go about troubleshooting? Do I have to replace the BIOS chip manually perhaps?

Where is it placed on the motherboard? I am confused – hope you can clarify for me.

I have been told that my Acer Aspire 5100 Model BL51 needs new hard drive. I removed the drive and i is a Hitachi Travelstar 120GB ATA/IDE drive. Your answers to previous questions say that I should be able to go to a 250GB Hard Drive and you say to look for SATA – but is that right????? If my factory drive is IDE then should I be buying SATA?

I am having trouble finding a 250 GB drive that says IDE on the web Your link above “where to order replacement parts” takes me to Ebay, but the 250 GB hard drive all say SATA. Thanks for a great site!

Deb King, I am confused – hope you can clarify for me. I have been told that my Acer Aspire 5100 Model BL51 needs new hard drive. I removed the drive and i is a Hitachi Travelstar 120GB ATA/IDE drive. Your answers to previous questions say that I should be able to go to a 250GB Hard Drive and you say to look for SATA – but is that right????? Apparently, Acer Aspire 5100 laptops had two different hard drive types installed. In the laptop I used in this guide it was a SATA hard drive.

In your laptop you have an IDE hard drive installed. If my factory drive is IDE then should I be buying SATA? Nope, you should be buying another IDE hard drive. I am having trouble finding a 250 GB drive that says IDE on the web I don’t think that large IDE hard drives (for notebooks) are very common. You can replace your failed drive with another 120GB or use a 160GB IDE drive.

Isabel, I have an Acer Aspire 5100. The laptop keyboard doesn’t appear to be working. Windows boots up as far as the login screen but I can’t type anything in.

The fn keys don’t work (eg to get into safe mode or the bios) which seems to confirm the keyboard isn’t responding. If the keyboard stopped working on the BIOS level, most likely this is a hardware related failure. I cannot tell if this it the keyboard or motherboard related failure without testing the laptop. If you are ready to disassemble the laptop, here’s what you can try.

Try reconnecting the keyboard cable on the motherboard. Maybe the connection is loose. Disconnect the keyboard cable from the motherboard and start the laptop.

If the touch pad works fine when the keyboard is disconnected, it’s possible that you have a faulty keyboard. Leave the keyboard connected and disconnect the touch pad cable instead. If the keyboard works fine when the touch pad is disconnected, it’s possible that there is a problem with the touch pad or touch pad cable. Great site! Sorry for the noob question, but I have a Acer Aspire 5100-3949.

I want to upgrade the ram because it’s SO SLOW (running Vista). I have 2 x 512MB [2Rx16 DC2-4200S-444-12] in there right now and was either going to get 2x1g or 2x2g sticks, but I’m not 100% sure if I should get the kind stated above [PC2-533 DDR2-667MHz 200pin SODIMM RAM] because I bought my labtop several years back and don’t know if it’s outdated or not. Would someone kindly offer me some advice and point me in the right direction? RamProblems, I have a Acer Aspire 5100-3949.

I want to upgrade the ram because it’s SO SLOW (running Vista). I have 2 x 512MB [2Rx16 DC2-4200S-444-12] in there right now and was either going to get 2×1g or 2×2g sticks, but I’m not 100% sure if I should get the kind stated above [PC2-533 DDR2-667MHz 200pin SODIMM RAM] because I bought my labtop several years back and don’t know if it’s outdated or not. You should be able to use 2x2GB and max your memory to 4GB.

PC2-5300 DDR2-667 200pin SDRAM SODIMM RAM should work just fine. Ok i have read alot of what people have to say on this site. And i have a problem as many of you here 😉 well my aspire 5100 have gone black screen but everything else works (HDD, DVD,Fan,lights). Sometimes when i boot up the Acer logo apears and boots up windows for some secs then the screen goes black with white lines or red lines.

If i reset it (take of battery and unplug AC and holding in on/off boton) i could go on for some seconds again. If i dont reset it i wont go on. I was thinking that maybe its the heat or the memory or maybe even the GPU so i open up my 5100. I cleaned the fan and put some new Cpu paste on CPU and GPU.

That didnt work. Maybe its the memory. I removed the 2 modules and placed them at difrent modes. I started up by useing one at the time. Its boot up for some minutes with one of the memory modules.

So my question is, could this be that both of the memory mofules are faulty.? Or could it be the GPU? And another strange thing, if i take out both memory modules and boot up without them i only gets black screen. Hello i have a acer 5100 laptop that the keyboard and touchpad do not work.So i purchased a new keyboard and the darn keyboard and touchpad still do not work tried unplugging keyboard and the touchpad cable and hook up usb mouse and keyboard from my acer desktop,and they also are a no go.Seems like no power on usb ports.On start up i get the acer logo then it just goes to a black screen.Could the motherboard be defective and is there a way to check the motherboard?Thanks in advance for any feedback •.

First, the laptop would not turn on most of the time. I kept it on forever instead of turning off when I could get it to go on. Than it constantly crashed with a blue screen with something like remove space, BIOS, etc. Now it just won’t turn on again after my brother redid the whole operating system. He thinks the screen is broken. I do not know.

I put the power on, the fan goes, but I see nothing. This has been one of the original problems since the start, but now I can’t get it to wotk at all.

Hi Unfortunately, this series of motherboards (Aspire 5100) have (often )similar troubles. If you’re lucky, only USB ports (and Cam) are not working, but generally, the problem involves DVD drive, touchpad and keyboard. The main solution is replacing defective motherboard, but in this case, the less expensive solution is purchasing a PMCIA USB2 card, in order to ‘save’ your notebook. If you’re able to do it, you have to verify ‘south bridge’ weldings ( ATI chip near touchpad connector) and refreshing them, but if anything (excluding USB ports) is working, the only way is a PMCIA USB card Regards Donald •. Jordan, the laptop would not turn on most of the time. I kept it on forever instead of turning off when I could get it to go on. Than it constantly crashed with a blue screen with something like remove space, BIOS, etc.

Now it just won’t turn on again after my brother redid the whole operating system. Could be bad memory (RAM). If you have two memory modules installed in your laptop, try removing them one by one and test the laptop with each module separately.

If one of the modules is bad, the laptop will work fine when this module is removed. He thinks the screen is broken. I do not know. I put the power on, the fan goes, but I see nothing. This has been one of the original problems since the start, but now I can’t get it to wotk at all. I doubt that your problem is related to the screen but I cannot tell without testing.

If it’s only a bad screen, you should be able to use the laptop with image output on the external monitor. Test your laptop with the external monitor. Can you get external video?

Jason, If the fan isn’t spinning and your screen does not come on, only the green power light, the likely cause is a fried processor. When the fan stopped spinning, the processor overheated causing failure. There is a chance the motherboard circuitry could have been damaged in the process as well. From my experience, CPU failures are not as common as motherboard failures.

If you don’t know which one is causing the problem, I would definitely try replacing the motherboard first. But first of all, check the memory. It’s possible one of the memory modules is bad on not seated correctly. Here’s what I would try: 1.

Try reconnecting memory modules, try installing them one by one in different slots and test the laptop. If you have only one memory module installed, try replacing it with known good memory.

If reseating/replacing memory modules doesn’t help and the laptop doesn’t start, most likely this is the motherboard failure. Try replacing the motherboard. ritesh said: i upgraded my 2gb ram to 4gb – 2X2gb ram same kinds.well it sees 3800mb in bios but will only see 2gb in vista 32bit.anything that you know might help me.thanx Chris said: 32bit only supports up to 2, you need to get a 64 bit version or try updating your BIOS. Or just switch to windows 7 and solve a lot of problems According to Windows developer center, physical memory limit for Vista 32-bit is 4GB, take a look here: I’m not sure why you can see only 2GB, maybe some kind of Software/hardware limitations. Are you running Service Pack 1?

If not, try upgrading to SP1. THank You SO MUCH for the reply! Unfortunately, I did not look here, I though I’d get a notification email Stupid me. So, I did by the laptop, and indeed I am lost now.

Again, it is Acer Aspire 5100. When I got it, it booted XP SP2, but froze fully after about 20 seconds after displaying desktop. DUring that time, I could move the mouse, open programs etc – everything looks perfect but after that, nothing, freeze. It did this every single time, even in safe mode. I tried to install new windows. First XP SP3, then SP2. In both cases, it started loading things from CD, and froze exactly at the moment when it showed a message: starting windows now (so it was installing for about 2 minutes).

Then, it froze completely again. THen, I tried to install perhaps 8 years old linux (SuSe 7).

It formatted the disk and froze later during the installation. I tried to boot – it shows a nice picture of a penquin, starts booting, checks the disk and freezes later on again. Now with the formatted disk I tried to install windows again – and it freezes in 2 minutes again. Exactly at “starting windows”.

THank You, Petr •. Hello i have had my aspire 5100 for a few years now i bought it brand new from circuit city after i graduated high school and its worked fine but lately it has had a problem with starting up when i power it up it shows the aser loading screen then goes to a black screen that says intel undi, pxe-2.0 (build 082) copyright (c) 1997-2000 intel corporation for realtek tyl8139(x)/8130/810x pci fast ethernet controller v2.13(020326) then it blinks pxe-e61: media test failure, check cable pxe-m0f: exiting pxe rom. Was just curious if anyone had a clue what was wrong with it or how i could fix it. I had my brother in law look at it and he said one of the soter points was broke on the board and there was probably no fixing it but i was just curious if anyone had experienced this before and if they were able to fix it or if im outta luck and am going to be in search of a new laptop. Thanks for the help.

CONTINUATION OF PREVIOUS POSTS: After lots of research and dismantling, days, I have found that ATI IXP 460 must have gotten hot at some point – the clear plastic above it is partially melted/glued to it and there is even a small melted dent at the bottom edge of the keyboard, to the left of the touchpad. So, the chip is the culprit. I spent all my money on this laptop is it really GONE?? Is there any way how to make it work?? If not – can I make the laptop work partially at least?

(with some very old system, or external keyboard, etc) THanks a lot Petr And, Thank You guys for having such a wonderful forum – I have found here info I never dreamt existed. Hey I have a Acer Aspire 5100 running on Windows XP Home Edition. Left my laptop on for a few days ( i know this not a good idea). Came back to it and when I moved the mouse to get it off the screensaver, the whole thing froze. Resorted to switching it off by the on/off button. On reboot, it got as far as the windows xp loading icon and then screen went blank. Noticed that the edges of the keyboard was extremely hot, felt like I’d burnt my finger it was so hot.

Anyway, checked the hdd in another computer and it seems to be fine, however on loading the computer again after checking the hdd, there was nothing, just a blank screen. I think it could be the motherboard that has gone. If so, could you tell me whether or not it is worth getting it repaired or simply to get another laptop cheers •.

Tanya, I have an acer aspire 5100 when i turn it on i either get 2 short beeps and i get a blk screen saying some message with f1 and f2 as an option or it will go to a blank blk screen. Every now and a again i can get it running.

What is going on with this thing? Not sure 100% but possible memory (RAM) failure. Do you have two memory modules installed? Try removing them one by one and test the laptop with each memory module separately. It’s very unlikely that both modules failed at the same time.

The laptop might start properly when the bad memory module is removed. rajko, i have same problem as ” DOJA”. Laptop is acer aspire 5101 ANWLMi and when i turn it on the screen is black!!! Fan and main light are working. Any suggestions? Take a closer look at the laptop screen. Is is completely black or you still can see a very faint image?

Test your laptop with an external monitor. Can you get video on the external monitor? If not, it’s possible you have memory failure. Try reseating memory modules. Try removing memory modules one by one and test the laptop with only one memory module (either one) installed. .Hi again, i tryed with external monitor but screen is black.

Tried to remove memory module and put in second slot, also nothing still cant boot Maybe this will help: when my laptop ”died” i connected external HDD and maybe some electrical shock happened:S so my guess is that motherboard is problem. In computer service said me also that but i think that they didnt checked that at all. This is second time when my screen was blank, first time i removed battery and left laptop for 1-2 hour and than all was ok. But now it isnt! Help please •. My Acer 5100 laptop won’t start anymore.

It was working propertly until i shut it down, then upon startup it doesn’t show anything on the screen, and it keeps going to a power on, power off cycle every 3 seconds. I opened it up and i found one of the foam thingie (covered with a metal mash) tuching one memory module. I removed both the memory modules, and now the laptop starts, it;s not restarting, but nothing comes on the screen. I’ve tried with another memory module but the same. What can i do? Me again...

I didn’t notice that your site is in English, so I guess I must to repeat mi comment and questions. My Apire 5100 runs but doesn’t recognize the mouse, the keyboard and someone said that it could be the Motherboard.

Could it be possible? I’ve having my laptop since the last 4 years. I saw at your tutorial and feel myself confidence to disassamble the keyboard but I made a mess. The picture isn’t clear so I couldn’t define If the plug connector is complete or just the plastic part Thank you for your help.

Great Article! Been looking for something like this for my personal laptop:] My problem my laptop loads the BIOS, but only SOMETIMES can it recognize that the hard disk and DVD drive are attached. Other times, it does not believe I have them connected, and returns to a blank console, and does not boot the OS. This usually happens if I jostle or move the machine to fix this, I usually ctrl+alt+del to restart the BIOS, and try various tapping or shaking the laptop until it “sees” that I have these devices attached. Once done, I have to be very careful not to “move” the machine, for fear that it will suddenly crash. Does this sound like a busted drive, or a busted connector cable? And if the latter, is this integrated into the motherboard?

If this is so, it sounds like mother board is toasted:[. Anything I could do in this case?

Steve, I have an Acer Aspire 5100 and I recently tried to do a factory restore through the Alt+F12 method and it got to about 25% and shut off. Now when I try to repeat the process, it shuts off after about 2 minutes. I can’t even re-install the OS. Replaced the thermal compound, and cleaned the fan. Battery works fine and charges, so I know the power cable works too. Take a closer look at the fan. Does it spin at all?

If not, this could be heat related failure. Also, this problem could be related to the hard drive or memory failure. If you have two memory modules installed, try removing them one by one and run OS restore with only one memory module installed. The restore should finish properly when the bad module is removed.

You can test laptop memory with Memtest86+ utility. You can use Seagate SeaTools or Hitachi Drive Fitness test to test the hard drive. Michael, I have uninstalled camera through device manager and rebooted and the camera is detected but when it initializies instead of a picture I get a grey box. It’s hard to tell what is wrong. Could be bad webcam or software issue. You can try reinstalling Windows from scratch.

If the webcam exists even after that, most likely it’s bad webcam module. If you don’t want to reinstall the OS. Buy one with the cable. When you get it, you unplug the existing camera from the motherboard and plug the new new. After that start the laptop and test the camera. If the new camera works fine, you’ll have to disassemble the display panel and replace the webcam.

Michael, I have changed the webcam but I still get the same problem as before that is the camera comes on and actually takes pictures but all I get is a grey box.Shortly before it went grey I was having a problem with the usb ports, as now they’re working as 1.1 instead of 2.0 so I don’t know if it is related. You didn’t mention USB failure before. Most likely it is related. The laptop webcam is actually a USB webcam. It’s connected to one of the internal USB ports on the motherboard. If all laptop USB ports stopped working properly, most likely the internal port failed too and because of that the webcam cannot start. If that’s the case, there is not much you can do.

The USB port controller integrated into the motherboard and when it fails, the whole motherboard has to be replaced. If you need USB ports, you can use an external PCMCIA USB card. Here’s another guess. Maybe there is nothing wrong with the webcam BUT you have a faulty webcam cable. It’s possible the webcam cable failed (maybe there is a pinched wire inside the harness) and because of that all USB ports and webcam stopped working.

You can try disconnecting the webcam cable from the motherboard and test the laptop USB ports after that. If they still not working properly even after you disconnected the webcam cable, most likely it’s just failed USB controller on the motherboard.

Hello, I've had my desktop computer for about one year now. It is an Acer Aspire E380. On Saturday afternoon, it was going a bit slow so I decided to restart it. However, once it turned off, it will no longer turn on and boot up. The power button usually lights up, but now it does not. But, the decorative words 'Aspire' at the bottom of the tower still lights up.

The DVD drive still opens, and a few lights blink on start up as usual. The screen is blank. All of the fans seem to go, except for one. It is the one in the center of the computer on top of a group of metal prongs. It spins upon power up but stops.

The power supply fan runs, the other fan runs too. I have made sure everything is plugged in, and tried plugging it into different outlets. I can't boot from a CD, the keyboard doesn't turn on and neither does the mouse. As far as starting up goes, everything sounds normal. No beeps or clicks to hint at harddrive failure. Sometimes when I try to start it up nothing comes on but the center fan on the metal prongs (the one that would run for only a few seconds) goes on full blast until I turn it off.

If everything seems to be going, what is stopping it from booting up? NOTE: Before making any attempt to remove or replace any part inside the casing, ensure that the power is off. Well, the first thing that might be causing this is your memory card (RAM). Try to remove it and place it in another memory slot on the motherboard. To be sure if your motherboard is still in good working condition, remove the memory card and power on the PC.You should hear continuous beep sounds. If you hear this then your motherboard is fine. If placing the memory card in another slot does not work then the problem lies with the memory card itself.

You will need to replace it. It could also be that some faulting PCI cards are causing this error. Try to remove your PCI cards. Normally a faulting PCI modem causes this type of error. Remove it and then power on the pc.

The processor cannot be faulty but still if you want to check it, remove the CPU Cooler fan. Then turn on the PC. Place your finger on the processor for 2 seconds.

You should find the processor heating up. Then turn it off immediately. If this works then your processor is good. Remember not to leave it ON for more than 5 secs.

Well, you are right dear. These continuous beep sounds indicate the absence of memory card in the motherboard. If you read my last post, you'll see that this is part of my explanation to test if your motherboard and processor are both in good working condition.

Perhaps you are having static problem with the memory card. Well, here is how to proceed: You'll need an eraser, I guess you know what this is. The one which students use. Yes, in fact you'll need the eraser to remove the static energy found on your memory card. You'll have to rub the eraser on the gold plated part of the memory card (on both sides).

That is the part which come into contact with the internal pins in the memory slot on the motherboard. Well, it's not magic.

This is how it is done. Then place it back into the memory slot.

It should work. If this also does not work then you need to purchase another memory card because if the above fails then you know this one is faulty. DJ AKSHAY, I generally don't reply on forums after I go to them to investigate whichever tech crisis I find myself in. Instead I take it for granted that the great ether of the internet will provide, as though it was assumed on my part that I was entitled an answer. But it would appear that I now have to let slip that convent illusion as I push aside the veil and thank you, as the person, for supplying me with the answer to my problem. My back-up PC, which I keep for XP reasons, worked fine when last I left it, however when I came back to it today the mouse, keyboard, and monitor were not working (no external input/output devices) and that the tower kept beeping on power up.

I thought that it had to be the power supply or that some malicious program was gobbing the memory on start-up. However, upon reading your very thorough breakdown of the possible avenues of component failure I realized it was probably the ram, and sure enough after I used an eraser on the gold tines of the ram the computer rebooted fine. So in summation, thank you for your considered and considerate advise. Now if you will excuse my absence I must be off to attend an askewed veil. Yours Truly, Noble_Yorik. Hi, I was hoping to fix a laptop (Acer Travelmate 4101WLMi) and I have read all your excellent advice and did the steps. If the Charge indicator is ON then the adaptor must be good.

If it does not charge then either the battery is faulty or there is a problem with the motherboard. If the system does not power on properly, you will not get any display. But if the battery is faulty, when you plug the adaptor, it must power up. Try testing the volt output on the adaptor pin which connects into the laptop with the help of a voltmeter. This is to verify if the adaptor is giving proper voltage.

Check adaptor output specification on the adaptor itself then inform me. Hey DJ AKSHAY. I'm going out of my mind here, 3 days ago, I restarted my PC and had all the wonderful symptoms of the other people in this forum, I researched all the hassles and the first thing I did was change the Power Suppy (ATX 450watte) as I read that a weak voltage link could be the culprit. No luck - exactlty the same problem. I have changed my RAM, taken out all non essential PCI cards including PCI E's, taken the RAM out altogether (no post beeps occuring), Unplugged HDD's and changed them around. Eventually, I went out and bought a new ASUS P5 main board AND a new CPU (2.2 Dual Core Intel), and was 100% sure this would work and happy to have more power anyway. Popped everything together with a new power supply and again, the same results - HDD light comes on and stays solid, all fans work, same old story.

Again, I took out the RAM, changed the RAM, took out all non essential cards, tried the onboard VGA instead of the PCI E, nothing I'm begginning to think that I am PC jinxed. Please throw some of your astute brain cells my way and see if you could shed some light here? Would really appreciate it. Cheers, Craig.

Have you used a new memory card? By the way, the new P5 Motherboard and Dual Core CPU, when you connect it with the power supply without the memory card. Does it give the continuous beep sounds? Remember to connect an internal speaker to be able to hear the beep sounds. If you have purchased new parts, they cannot be faulty. When you turn on the system with the memory card in, and after pushing the power button, if the system is working, you'll be able to turn on and off the CAPS & Num LOCK Key.

Just turn the keys on and off and if the lights go ON and OFF then your system is working. You might be having a problem either with the monitor or with the graphics card. Inform me about the results. I also have this same problem. Just yesterday I turn the PC on, screen is black for a few seconds to a minute, then it starts.

But I go to the bathroom and when I come back it's restarted! It got stuck on the very first screen. I even wait for 5 minutes and it's still on that screen. I press F2 to go to the BIOS settings but nothing. It just froze.

So I hit reset and the PC still powers up, lights blink and all, but no boot up. Not even the initial screen anymore.

No usual beep, nothing. I wait and wait. I press the CAPS and Num Lock keys and no light from my keyboard; could that be a motherboard problem?

Help would be appreciated. I got a lot of files that need backing up, lol. Just a friendly reminder. ' If you have purchased new parts, they cannot be faulty. ' This is not and cannot ever be true. Any part ever made has the possibility of being a malfunctioning part before it ever leaves the store shelf. As a computer tech, and owner of my own computer repair and sales store, I have witnessed this time and time again as I have order 'new' parts and they have been faulty.

Not to yank your chain as it were, just a friendly reminder that 'new' stuff is not ALWAYS new. Have a nice day. Hey Have you solved your problem, I got exactly the same problem on my Acer Aspire laptop. I press the power button, see my power light coming up, I hear everything starting: fans, cd-drive. But after a few seconds everything stops working and my screen stays black. When I press my power button, my pc stops immediately, I don't have to press it for like 5 seconds.

It all started when I was surfing the internet, my screen went red-black for a few seconds and eventually staid black. Couldn't do/see anything. So I pressed the power button to shut it down, restarted everything went fine till I was logged in, then the screen goes black again. Restart one time more, I reach the bios and the it goes black again. From that moment, my PC wont start anymore, not even a flashing screen, nor a beep. Hey DJ, I've ran into some serious problems with my comp. I started getting BSODs so I took procedures liek checking my CPU temp to make sure its not overheating.

I bought some new ram, stuck it in there but I still got the freezes and the BSODs. I took the ram back and exchanged it for a new HDD.

I put the new HDD in and it worked for a few hours, it actually let me install windows and a few other things before it started to freeze again. I checked event logs and it had a lot of cd-rom errors. I then changed the cd-rom to see if that was the problem but the problem remains. Now I cant even get windows to boot up. When I start my computer up I see the motherboard logo and then it attempts to boot up windows but its no good.

Please help, I dont know what to do anymore. Florida, USA. Other side of the world from the land of the Dodo I'm afraid. Unfortunately, i'm still stuck. I had the same problem (no usb, monitor etc.). At first I powered down, bled power and it would get to the 'Sorry, windows did not shut down.Safemode.last known.and the countdown' page but no matter if I let it rundown or picked an option it would lock up. Then after a few tries it went back to no monitor, no USB Etc.

I Unplugged everything, even the hard drive, battery reset etc. Pulled memory, beeped ok. The Eraser trick got everything to fire up, but it still hung at the countdown page. I downloaded a Memory Test Image, but it locked up each time during the test.

Now here is where it gets interesting. I'm running a hp Media, XP with an ASUS PTGD-LA Mobo. Everything is stock, no mods. Came with 2, 512 memory. I went and bought a new 1 gig memory for it (has four slots and can take 4 gigs total). Put in just the new memory Boom! The Computer worked like new, everything great.

That was yesterday evening. This morning, it was just the fans running full speed, and when I tried to restart, it hangs at the countdown page. Two things: 1. Can something be killing the memory? I really believe that if I buy another memory, I can get it to work long enough to pull off my info.

Also the Two Jumpers to clear out Bios.My board has just pins, no jumpers at all. Thanks - JSR. Hi bro, whats up? Well, the problem with your system hanging / restarting is all about defective memory card.

It can also be that the Windows is corrupt (some files missing), it might be that you have a bad sector in the hard disk and windows is not being able to access its files. I would recommend you backup your important data by taking the hard disk to another PC and connecting it externally by connecting it via an IDE/USB cable or an external enclosure. If you don't have another PC to do this then you can always ask for help from a friend or relative.

After backup, perform a FULL FORMAT with the hard disk. Then re-install Windows. If still you get this hanging error then the memory card needs to be changed. I believe you have got a new memory card so I understand that this cannot be faulty. DJ, Just a note to follow up.

Problem finally solved. In the end it was a bad moterboard. I don't know why it started working then stopped, but after trying Bios Battery, Cmos reset, processor test, two different new memory cards, and another processor (which is way faster than my old one:) ), Process of elimination and Ebay, I got a new mobo. When I got the old one out and could inspect it, at least 3 capacitors ( I think they are little brown cylinders) were blown and leaking. So it was giving me different problems: sometimes I could get into bios setup, sometimes just fans, sometimes no fans, sometimes windows would hang at the startup screen etc. Now everything is working fine. Hopefully this helps someone else.

Since my machine is older, the mobo only cost $60, less than it would be to have someone try and re-solder them, and who knows what else is wrong with it. Thank you again for taking the time to help so many people. (lurkers included). My son has built a computer from scratch and the first 2 PSUs were faulty - so we used the old PSU and up until now it has worked fine - but tonight I put in a brand new PSU and the computer only booted as far the motherboard startup page and no further! So I tried the memory eraser - and yes I worked BUT windows XP showed the opening page but then wouldn't run. So I turned off and back on and this time it's reverted back to the frozen Motherboard page. So is this a memory card, PSU or Motherboard fault?

- please help. Thanks Rick - UK (00:20).

DJ, you're the best! 4 months ago, I was switching the graphic cards on my PC. After a few switches, the computer suddenly wouldn't boot up as many described here. Power was on, HD was running, but screen had no signal.

I switched back to the original graphic card but the result was the same. I though I had fried my graphic card slot or even the motherboard. It was devastating. A few days ago, I thought I would give it another try before buying another computer at Christmas (yes, I have to wait until Christmas:o ) and search on the Internet for the symptoms and I found you!

I was laughing at the eraser on memory idea when you mentioned it, but then I saw others fixing their similar problems with it. I was astounded and would give it a try. And voila, my dead computer came back to live! I read the rest of the posts and know that you are really the best.

You helped so many others. Thanks a ton for helping me, too. I have a weird situation here. I was burning a cd with Nero, it stuck @ 5% and my computer was stucking. So I hit the restart button and from that, nothing come on the screen.

Tried all sort of things. RESET CMOS, REMOVING MEMORY, UNPLUGGING ALL DEVICES, REMOVING CMOS BATTERY, TRIED POWER SUPPLY IN ANOTHER SYSTEM AND IT WORKED, TRIED ANOTHER MEMORY, but nothing happened. The boot and reset light just stays on when I turn on the system, no picture, no sound.WHAT COULD BE THE PROBLEM. HELP ME PLEASE.

Dear DJ AKSHAY, I am facing the same problem.My machine started freezing on desktop screen during the day but night is fine. After powering it off I swapped the memory but wount boot to post screen but HDD and cdrom power up (same case as Nickname: CRM senario).

I will try eraser trick.I suspect since I hadnot unplugged VGA monitor cable that caused the static electricity as using pc100 (128MB) still wount boot. Tower Specifications: Fujistu siemens tower P3 800MHZ tower. 2 ram pc133: 128MB: 256MB doesnot produce any beep with OR without memory. Dip switches. Motherboard: fujistu siemens.

Can u get fujistu siemens motherboard manual they have no online manual. Hallo ALL, Thanks for your replies.I had given 2 different technician to check on the motherboard and they could not identify the problem.I took up the problem in search for a solution. The 800MHZ cerelon processor ) had been damaged,The motherboard (used for a 1yr 6 months) (second hand) works with 1000MHZ (UPGRADE) but wont accept another 800mhz processor (strange). The only error received is 'cpu patch is not installed' but I changed on bios not to halt on error'. CAUSE: THE CPU POWER SUPPLY FAN (ALSO COOLS THE PROCESSOR) HAD FAILED THUS CAUSING PROCESSOR TO OVERHEAT. I have added processor fan and replaced faulty power supply fan.NOW AM UP AND RUNNING. Hope this will help someone else.

Hey - I'm having a similar problem with a dell dimension 8110. It shut down one day and all of a sudden wouldnt power back up. I've replaced power supply, mobo, and processor. It powers back on now and hdd spins up but no video at all, no beep, no POST, it just sits there and makes a 'dial tonish' sounding noise from the onboard pc spkr. There are 4 lights on the back A, B, C, & D -All are green except 'B' and have looked and looked. Found manuals on this mobo but no description as to what it could be - also tried other RAM and no effect.

PAWEEEEESE HEEEEWWWWWLLLPP MEE!!!! I just wanted to say that I did the eraser trick and it worked for me! I just couldn't believe it, but it solved all my problems. My computer would power on, then power off on its own just a few seconds later then power on again. Then,nothing else. I mean, the HDD's seemed to work, the CD/DVD worked, but I got no picture on the monitor and no sound (beep). I switched my video card with one from another desktop and it didn't change anything.

I checked all the connections and I checked for dust, but nothing worked. In the end, I tried the eraser not really beliving it would make the computer work, but I didn't have much to lose and THANK GOD I DID IT!!! I'm still a bit sceptical about the eraser removing static electricity. I think it might be just that the gold plated part of the memory stick was too dirty and cleaning it did the trick. Maybe it is the static electricity, but anyway, I don't really as long as my computer works fine.

DJ Akshay or more appropriately Lord Akshay. I am a press the button and the pc powers up and works perfectly kind of gal, so I'm certainly not one to go digging around inside of my pc. Out of curiousity I google 'no signal screen message...' To find questions and comments that match the problems I am having. I read about your eraser cure and figure what do I have to lose? I followed your instructions about taking an eraser to the 'mother' and voila! I bow to you Lord Akshay;-) Thank you.

Hi DJ Akshay I am a student who is in sydney recently I took an old computer from my highschool that they wer going to throw away. It had xp on but needed a password so I reformatted hdd and tried installing xp home but setup froze so I shut it off from the buton under the power button with a and when I restarted it started beeping before booting up.

Then the next day I took out ram, agp card, cd, floppy, cpu, and cmos battery and reinserted them but then it wouldn't beep even if I took out the ram plus I couldn't hear the post beep sound. The specs of the machine are Made by Optima Computer, 384mb sdram (1X128mb+1X256mb), 1.6GHZ pentium 4 cpu, ASUS P4B-MX Motherboard.

I tried your eraser trick but with no luck. The motherboard has a green light lit up when the power cord is connected and when the power switch is on. Please help me as this is my only computer and I need it for work.

Thanks Karthik P.S: Feel free to email me on subject with provided email address. ERASER TRICK WORKED FOR ME. Who would think the problem was something I couldn't physically see (static electricity)?

My PC would eventually boot up after numerous power on/off. I removed the modem which I have no use for (and you said could be the source of this issue) and also removed the ram and ran an eraser off a #2 pencil across all the gold pins. Put everything back together (minus the modem) and my PC boot right up first try. I noticed this issue when I would try to restart the PC and it would begin it's shutdown process - screen would go blank (monitor would go to 'sleep') - and the case would stay on with all lights, fans, and drives running. After using the eraser trick my PC restarts as it should and no longer needs multiple power on/off to boot.

Thank you for the helpful hints - navyguy My PC: New in 2007 HP S3100n AMD 4000+, Upgrade to 4gb Kingston RAM, Upgrade to EVGA 8400gs Video card, and running Vista Home Premium 64bit. Ok, I have the same problem. I have a P5N MB. Unit powers on, no boot up. If I remove the memory cards, I should hear the beeps.

If not, I have a MB problem, correct? If it does, I should replace the memory cards and then remove the video card and try again. At this point, am I waiting for beep again? This unit is only a few months old and was shipped to me from a friend. I have a feeling its the MB, as I've read some not so great reviews on the P5N MB's. Is there any way I can determine if it is definitely the MB, or did a wire come loose during shipping? Just a thought.

Thanks in advance for your help. Are you having this problem since you received the motherboard? The processor you are using, did you receive it along with your motherboard? Do you hear the continuous beep sound when you remove the memory card, if not then the problem lies either with the motherboard or with the processor. Give me the motherboard's model and everything which is written on your Processor. Give me feedback on the above for me to be able to help you further but don't worry, I have seen all kinds of problems in my life. By the way I am a specialist for ASUS Motherboard in Mauritius.

Reviews are there to tell you what faults this motherboard might have during use. Took out the memory sticks and no beeps. So, we're on to the next step. So, the way that I understand it, is the the motherboard or processor is the issue. Are there any other test to do, or things to look for that may have come 'undone' during transit? I hope so, I really like that computer, but again, the more I read about the P5N T Deluxe, the more I'm not liking it.

The system info is: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor Asus P5N-T Deluxe 780 SLI motherboard 2 x 2GB Kingston RAM BFG 8800GTS OC 320MB Video Card (2 x DVI) w/aftermarket cooler Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme Heatsink and Fans (3). On your motherboard, there are 4 pins from your power supply which connect in there. The colour which you will see is a pair of 2 yellow and 2 black wires next to each other. You should have 12 volts while checking with a voltmeter. The yellow is for +ve and the black wire for -ve. Check if this is working because this is the source power which gives display on your motherboard.

Have you performed the processor test? Does it heat up when you remove the fan and press the power switch on your casing. Perform these tests and inform me about the results.

I'm having the same issue as the last person, I have nowhere to plug in the 4-pin black and yellow wires into the motherboard. The computer's fans turn on, the power light comes on but there is no activity happening. Then after about 2 secs it beeps, 2 secs later it beeps again and keeps doing this until I turn it off. I have an emachine that I'm fixing up for my dad. The computer model number is H2341. I know the hard drive is working because I just took it out of another computer and it was working fine.

Please help me. My email address is Email id removed for security. We need HELP, in a bad way. We rely on our computer for homeschooling our 4 children, and it won't boot up! We bought a dell XPS 630i only about 6 months ago, but of course it only has a 3 months warranty, and they will not help us at all. One day we suddenly got a BSOD.

Nothing would work. In the BIOS, it didn't even recognize the main hard drive, like it wasn't there. HOWEVER, I install Ubuntu on that drive and it boots up fine. We just would prefer Vista because a lot of the programs we have don't run on Linux, plus it couldn't find the wireless card in Linux, and so on. I attached the main SATA cable to the other hard drive in an attempt to get VISTA installed on that drive.

Still blue screen. I pulled the old drive's connections completely (although it's still in the system atm), and guess what? It starts up without a BSOD, and tries to load Vista from the disk, but now it says it needs drivers, which we cannot find at all on any of the disks dell gave us. And we even manually tried to place drivers on. Nothing, no luck. And I suspect the old hard drive is fine, because Ubuntu worked on it.

We can't figure out which motherboard the computer uses. Dell won't tell us (this is the last time we EVER buy from Dell). We're at a loss.

Can you help? I have an old Gateway computer (2001) with a similar problem. I hit the power on button. It goes through bootup sequence, looks like its going to boot up properly since everything lights up and disk drives work. The only problem is the cpu fan is not working and it does not boot up. After multiple attempts, some times 20 or more, it finally goes back to normal where the cpu fan starts working and the boot up sequence is completed. At that point it works fine for a week, day or an hour before it freezes up.

Then sometimes it boots right up and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the power on light comes on amber not green. What you said makes a lot of sense. I guess I can buy any P4 compatible cpu fan.

I tried your MB test and removed the memory modules and I did get a beep so I guess that means the MB is good. I also noticed when the machine freezes up that the fan is spinning like normal and the machine does not shut itself off. The only other thing I notice is that the power supply does not sound even it seems to fluctuate from a steady hum to where it sounds like its reving up and dieing back. Do you think the power supply might also be bad? I have the same problem. I think it didn't shut down all the way last night.

It does the preliminary & quickly gives the option for the F12 or F2 options but it doesn't work if you try, it just goes to the blank screen. I have a flashing cursor but it won't allow you to type & does not move.

When I try to shut down my computer it's as if it's going to sleep or simply restarting, never completely shutting down. However, it will if I hold the power button in long enough (It's really pretty long comparatively speaking) I unplugged from the wall it to see if that would work but even yet sometimes it still goes back to the cursor & black screen & doesn't even seem to start the boot up process. I had this same problem about a year ago & I took it in. The tech said there was nothing really wrong with it, it was just overloaded & from then on it booted up & has worked just fine.

Cost me $75 for that. I ran a registry cleaner last night & when it was finished I went through the steps to shut it down but I left before the process had completed. This morning the CPU was frozen & when I restarted it, this is where I am. Not to backtrack, last time right before this happened my CD Rom & DVD-RW drives stopped working. I want to clean it of all my pics & short home movie clips but it's really not that low on memory, and now I can't get it to recognize a cd or dvd to write to in the drive.

I don't think is shouldn't be doing this with 38 percent memory free. Now, my laptop, that's another story. Every time I remove something it seems as if I lose memory, I never have extra space as I figured I would. Sorry it's so long, I'm having multiple issues here I guess. Please help me with these without losing everything on my CPU. I REALLY can't afford the $75 right now. Concerning your PC, you need to disconnect the cables on your hard disk.

Then power on the PC, you should get a message as follows: Insert Boot Device and Press any key. (something like this) If you see this, Press CTRL+ALT+DEL keys to restart your PC and press the F2 function key repeatedly to enter The motherboard's BIOS. Under the Main menu, you should see the names of your CD-ROM and DVD-RW Drives. This means that BIOS detects the two O.D.D.

And possible some corrupt files in Windows operating system are causing this error. Turn off your PC.

Re-connect your Hard Disk by connecting back the cables and power on the PC. Press F2 again repeatedly to enter BIOS.

Now you should be able to see the Hard Disk name also under the Main Menu. Go under Boot Settings/ (for some models you need to go to Advanced Options to find Boot Settings) Make sure that the first boot device is your H.D.D.

Press F10 to save changes and exit, press Y for YES. Give me feedback if everything is working as mentioned above so that I can tell you the next steps to follow. Thank you Dj, I decided to chek if everything is working properly ie, motherboard test and CPU, I removed the RAM and powered on the laprop, I did not hear any beeps, I know how them bips sounds like so I was sure there is no beep. Does that mean that my Motherboard is Dead>??? If yes what is the best option.

The laptop is Acer Aspire 3500, with serial number LXAXE0C00834, AMDSampron 1.8MHtz. It was formerly Vista but for some reasons the owner did not like it and Installed XP in it, it worked fine for more than six months. Now its not booting up any CP, I tried the BIOS settings to read DVD RW first and saved the settings, powered on the laptop but same thing happened. It restarts again and again. I am hoping you can help me. I have been reading some of your info on this site and have been impressed with your knowledge. I have a acer e380.

Its 2 years old and has been fine until recently. I went to log off and it died.

What happens now is when I put power to it the fans run slowly and you can open the cd drive. After I play with the power switch for awhile it comes on with the fans full speed and power still to the cd drive but it can't be opened. Nothing on the monitor, keyboard or mouse. I don't hear the startup beep. Connections all look good. I have removed the ram and reseated same result. I remove the ram and startup still same results no beep of any kind.

I am not sure where to go from here. By reading some of your info on thois site I am thinking motherboard, p/s or cpu. What is your opinion and advise what to do next. Thanks for your help. Make the Processor test, remove the CPU fan and power up your system, you should feel the processor heating.

Note this test should not be carried out for a period of more than 5 seconds or it may damage the CPU. The power supply is good or else the fans would not turn, your CD Drive would not open and no Power LEDs would light up. Try swapping the memory to another slot. Reset the BIOS, don't forget to remove the power cord while performing the reset. Try disconnecting the CD ROM Drive and Hard Disk after the reset then power on and see the result if there is any change.

If still you do not hear a beep then I would suspect a motherboard failure. I was wanting to upgrade the memory on my old gateway ev700. Opened it up and it has 2 slots of 128 ( 256 total). I took them out and tried to put in a 512 and a 256 but found they were NOT the right ones. Only had 1 notch in the gold pins instead of 2 notches like the old 128 had. Took them out and put the old 128's back.

Power it on and now now monitor, mouse or keyboard. Opened it back up after reading your comment and cleaned with eraser. Still no beeps after powering on.

So I took out the 128's and left them out turned it on and ONLY 2 beeps sounded and then nothing. Cleaned the 128's again put them back in and powered on again and still no monitor. Since it only had 2 beeps is that a bad sign? The unit was working fine right before I decided to upgrade the memory ( was running very slow). Should I buy new memory or does the 2 beeps mean something bigger to repair? I am not experienced so I am not sure of your reply.

The beep occurs when the cards are out. I took the 2 memory sticks out( is that what you mean by VGA cards?) cleaned both sides on the copper pins with an eraser. Put them back in and no monitor shows, just the test screen that says it is working properly.

No mouse and no keyboard. The 2 memory cards I put back in are the 2 original ones! I MAY have tried to put in one of the DDR's but they did not fit so it was removed. Would that have caused a problem??? Thanks Linda B. Hi DJ AKSHAY, I have the same problem with the other guys only with a small variation. I had also my computer not giving any sign of post or booting even though the fans, power supply etc were running.

I assumed that the motherboard crashed so I decided to buy a brand new motherboard for which I had also to buy a new graphics card and new DDR2 RAM as the new motherborad did not support the old ones. Despite of all these I continue to have the same problem meaning that I installed everything in the new motherboard but I got the same: the fans were on, the power leds were on but no beeps and no post. I did all the tests mentioned in the forum including the heating test of the CPU and the fan test for the power supply and everyting seems to work properly. The only incompatibility I may imagine is that my old power supply has an ATX 20-pin power cord to the motherboard whereas the new motherboard has an ATX 24-pin connector. The manufacturer's guide mentions that the 20pin cord may be used to the 24pin connector of the motherboard without any problem but I' m starting to doudt about this. The motherboard is an MSI 945GCM478 (socket 478) with a P4 3.2 Ghz hyperthreading CPU.

Do you have any suggestions? Do I have to get a new 24pin power supply? Did any one else have the same problem? I appreciate all the help I may get. Hello friend, Sorry for late reply.

Well, what I can say is that it can be that the other motherboard was faulty. After having purchased a new motherboard and putting everything up, it did not work. Perhaps the new motherboard does not support this processor. I mean in the new motherboard manual you will notice a range of compatible processor frequencies that are supported by the motherboard. Try to see if it supports this capacity of processor that you have got. Otherwise I don't see any reason why your system should not work. First off, I'd like to compliment you on your vast knowledge, DJ.

I was changing the HDD of my system (previous on went bad). When I finished, I powered up the PC, all I am seeing now is the manufacturer's logo. It would not go past that point, even though I tried everything posted on here.

Power Supply fine Processor works fine. Hard Disk works fine All RAM Cards are fine Optical Drives Ok Speaker Works This was all tested by inserting them into another, similar PC system. Upon Removing the RAM cards, I'm getting the beep errors - so I know, to some degree, that the Mobo is working. Any views, opinions, suggestions????

Please send your reply to Email Id removed for security. I Have a HP Pavillion A1600n that has a Asus A8MZN-LA Mobo with an AMD X2 3800.

I tried everything you posted and I haven't pinpointed the problem yet. Everytime I plug the system or power it on, the green power light comes on in front and both the system and CPU fan run on high and nothing is displayed on the moniter. I hold down the power button to shut it down, and when I turn it back on the process stays the same., I have power going to the CD drive, mouse and keyboard. I didn't hear any beeps after I stripped it down and took out the memory cards, I tried using a new one in a different slot with no luck. Do you have any other suggestion before I go out and buy a new mobo? I would greatly appreciate any recommendations.

I have a Asus A8NVM CSM motherboard, AMD Athlon 3500+ x64 porcessor and 1 GB DDR RAM. When I switch on my system, the power light is on, the fan starts running and even the hard disk. But the system does not boot. It does not even gives a beep sound and nothing is displayed on the monitor. If I leave the system in the same condition for 5-7 minutes, then press the restart button, the system boots.

I checked the power supply by connecting another one to my system but it did not help. I also took out the RAM and placed it in another slot and I even took out CMOS battery and placed it again, but all of no use.

Please help me with the issue. Hi There I so hope you can help me. Few days ago switched on laptop (fujitsu-siemens amilo li 2727) night after installing digi camera. What I got was the BSOD!!! In the end I have formatted the drive & installed vista again. Problem now is I cannot boot up in normal mode or safe mode.

When I boot up I get the microsoft (MS) page with the timer. Little gold bars move to other end of the timer then I get a reboot. If I disable the EXEXUTE-DISABLE BIT CAPABILITY I get the gold bars to come & go ten times then my mouse pointer appears for 2-3 seconds later it crashes out. Back to the start. I can access the hard drive if I use a vista restore disk, then run repair (which it says its a hareware problem cant repair this problem). I then select the command prompt, type notepad into the cmd line then select file then open, I can do all sorts from here delete, copy, move ect.

(this makes me think the HD is fine). I can also run a disk called german police boot cd which loads fine & I get into the desktop only its XP pro on it. This makes me think the memory is fine as the CD loads onto memory fine. But problem still works afterwards tests I have done:- removed the RAM - got no beeps but the screen wont start. Cleaned the terminals - still nothing tried the touch test on the processor - get HOT!!! CD drive runs fine removed the CMOS battery power is fine screen is fine fan runs fine keyboard works fine changes the BIOS setting switched off USB legacy & wireless nothing plugged in to any sockets I did see the thing about the CMOS reset but im not too sure what exactly im looking for.

As you can see I think Im nearly out of options but Im not giving up & paying a techi YET!!!! PLEASE help me im at the end of things to try!!!! Came across this post today after finding out that my computer powers on but get no response from monitor, keyboard, or mouse, no beeping sound either. I saw how many people followed your advice so I decided to give it a try. I removed my memory cards but heard no beeping sounds, so it could be the processor or the motherboard.

I took off the cpu cooler and felt the chip for many seconds but it didn't heat up. What I want to know is if it necessarily means that my cpu is broken or is it possible that the motherboard is broken which causes the cpu not to start. Please help me. And thanks in advance. Hey DJ, I've read your posts helping all these people and am here to beg of you to help me (i dont usually beg lol) out. My problem is that last night I shutdown my pc as usual and then turned it back on this morning (before college), but when I pushed the power button there was no bleep and no signal to monitor and nor the keyboard or the mouse lit up or worked. I opened up the tower and everything seemed fine, fan spinning, dvd drive open and closed but nothing else worked i.e usb mouse lit up neither did a usb keyboard.

I cant get into the recovery options, I cant boot from disc it just wont budge. Its an Acer Aspire M1640 and not even a year old (warranty's void as I upgraded ram and a new hdd). Intel dual core and vista premium. (if any of that helps) Please can you help me as all of my course work is on that pc and I cant lose it, i'd most deffinately fail without it which is why I pprementioned me begging of your help. I tried the eraser thing you mentioned and I cleaned it from inside out and removed the newly installed hardware but still no screen or windows. I anxiously await you reply Thanks in advance. I have a hp pavilion dv2418nr notebook i replaced my motherboard since I heard that they usually go bad on these models.

It worked fine for about a day and then it was back to the way it was before: no video and no booting up at all i tried an external monitor via vga to see if the lcd was faulty but no luck i tried a new stick of ram and still no good does the processor test apply to notebooks too? Do you think this could be it?

I do remember that when it was working I updated the bios on the notebook, would this have anything to do with it? I heard that if you remove the cmos battery for 30 seconds it resets your bios? Thanks in advance. Hi, I have similar problem.

When the screens goes blank, I solve the problem by removing 1 GB RAM, now I have 2 GB instead of 3. 3 GB works some minutes then the screen turns blank. 2 GB works always.

I changed the RAM and now I'm using 2 GB RAM. I have AMD athlon 64 x2, 5000+, I should have 3 GB RAM but now it's working only with 2. I changed the video card to a new one it didn't help. I cleaned the video card drivers and reinstalled Nvidia drivers again it didn't help. The only thing helpds to go down from 3 to 2 GB RAM. I have Nvidia 8600 GS.

Do you know any suggestion how can I solve this problem? I have a problem with my new RAM, I gues thats where the problem is.

When I install the new RAM 2x2GB Crucial DDR2 6400, I dont get a beep sound when booting the pc, and get the 'error' message on my screen, power saving modus. When changing out with the old RAM or just ONE of the 2 new RAM the pc boots, but not with both of them. Have tried to test them each and pc boots with both apart from each other but not together.

How can I get it to work with both together? MB: Asus M2N-X CPU: AMD Athlon 64 x2 4200+ 2.21GHz V.Card: Nvidia GeForce 8500GT HDD: Maxtor 120GB DVD burner Old RAM: 2x 1GB PC2-5300 GEIL Havent OC'ed anything on the pc aswell. This may better explain my problem and how I messed it up. It had a lot of dust in it. I blew it out with a hair dryer on cool setting.

I did remove the fan to clean it but did not un plug it. I used a Q-tip to get dust off the M-board. Now when I plug it in it looks as though it is starting to boot up seeing the green led's for the CD and DVD player but the fans kept gaining speed to where it sounds like it is going to take off. It does not seem to see the key board or the monitor. Have maybe I unconnected something or caused static that would cause this. Hi DJ AKSHAY You have some awesome advice here, I tried everything you have suggested and still I am not getting any response from monitor, keyboard, or mouse. PS and CPU fans both work, I unplugged Harddrive and DVD Drive, when I first press the power button the keyboard lights flash and then stop, I get no light on my mouse, the monitor does absolutely nothing, my power light on the tower is messed up since I installed the motherboard over a year ago (not too worried they are only lights.right??).

What I am wondering is. 1) When I try the cpu motherboard test with the memory removed I get three beeps and then nothing, could you tell me what that means please?

2) I tested a different memory strip and it didn't make any difference. I was wondering if I can swap the ram. Initially using 2 - 512mb DDR PC3200 NONECC DIMM, removed both of them and tried 1-512mb DDR PC3200/400 strip, does not say anything about NONECC, does that matter, and also can I try and/or use say PC2700 or PC 2100 strips? 3) Any other suggestions on how to get this baby up and running again would be appreciated. I am handicapped and unable to afford a new computer so I am really hoping this one is not heading to the junk heap.lol. Hi Shirley, yes, you can use any memory you've mentioned up here. The three beeps you've mentioned should be repeated as long as you leave the PC on without the memory card.

Remove all PCI cards such as modem, Sound Card, WIFI Card etc. Do the processor heat test, remove the cpu fan then turn on the PC, you should feel the processor heating up, NOTE: You should not perform this test for more than 5-7 Seconds without the Fan on it. If the processor heat test is successful, reset the BIOS through the use of the RESET Jumpers OR disconnect the Power Cord from the Power Supply then remove the CMOS BATTERY and press the Power Button. Remember not to plug in the power cord. After this, put back the CMOS Battery in its place and reconnect the Power Cord and put back 1 memory card which you believe or you know is good. Inform me if you have further problems. Hi DJ Thank you for responding so quickly.

I am only getting three beeps after I remove the memory cards, I wait for a few minutes after the last beep, but it doesn't beep again, I have tried it a number of times and always the same thing. I did the processor test and my processor heats up immediately.

I have reset the BIOS by removing the Battery, I did it twice as the first time I just waited for over 10 minutes and put it back in, but I did not push the power button, so I did it again. I had the power cord removed. I have removed and unplugged everything except the power from the PS to the motherboard and the front panel wires, and the CPU fan. I have tried a number of different memory cards and in different slots as I have 4 slots (2 blue and 2 black) I understand that the two blue are in sequence and the 2 black are in sequence, so I also tried sets of memory (as they were only 256 MB strips) first I tried the blue which is the first bank set, and then I tried the black) nothing I do seems to make any difference. I did notice when I power on it starts off sounding like it is going to start up for a minute or so, and then the fan noise slows a tiny bit. I have read somewhere that just because the fan lights up and spins doesn't necessarily mean the PS is working properly.what do you know or think about that idea?

I did test some of the volt producing pins on the PS and they seemed within the approved tolerance so I stopped testing as I also read somewhere that you shouldn't power up the PS by shorting the pins for too long as it can wreck the PS.OH WHAT TO DO???? Unfortunately the spare PS's I do have are only 20 pin and my MOBO is 24 pin. I put in a new PS a year ago when I first built the system, but that went on me a couple months ago, so I am using one from out of a different computer. My MOBO came out of a fairly new system that was left out in the cold and the person turned it on without letting it warm and he blew the PS as that is all I changed and then it worked great for quite awhile, although it has been slowing down a bit before it quit.I was going to reformat as I thought I picked up a virus, but I have the HD unplugged so that is not the problem.lol (that would be toooo easy). Do you have any other suggestions? Thank you again for your help. Hello Dj Akshay.

I have learned a lot from your posts and am glad you are so attentive to respond to everyone. I read a bit back in the post about someone having a similar problem with an ASUS P5N motherboard but couldn't find the outcome. My motherboard is an ASUS P5N-E SLI. It has been a wonderful motherboard. Today, with no warning, while trying to turn on the computer: no video output, no beeps, all fans are on, no startup.

So, I removed my video card, audio card, memory, and extra case fan. Still no beeps. Motherboard LED is lit, hard drives are working, dvd drive is working. I assume it's not the PSU. Now, according to you, it's either the motherboard or the CPU. I have a large heatsink on my CPU, no fan.

This allows me to feel the metal on the heatsink right on top of the CPU and it does not get warm when I turn it on. So, this means the CPU is bad, right? But, is it not possible that damage to the motherboard is preventing power from reaching the CPU? Let me know, please.

Then I can decide whether to buy a new CPU or a new Motherboard. Oh, I haven't tried replacing the battery on the motherboard. Can this still be a possible problem? Thank you for your help.

Hello all, I'm currently putting together a hack and slash pc to be used at my house for random entertainment (and teaching myself networking). Anyways, on to my problem: I've assembled the PC as best I could, It is complete as follows: Foxconn 400m01-g-6l motherboard AMD Athlon 5th Gen processor (not sure of specific specs, but it came preinstalled with the MB) Harddrive that I've checked and it works (by plugging into another computer.Windows may be corrupt?) Floppy Disk Drive which isn't connected CD Drives (2) that I'm positive aren't the root of the problem, from testing.

512 Kingston DDR(1?) memory ATI graphics card Power supply Ok, here's the symptoms: *On Power On* -fans spin at regular speed, do not stop until I shut it off -power light in front comes on, stays on, no flickering -the other, red, light in front that flickers with activity (sorry, forgot the name) does not come on, but this is an older comp and it may be just out -As I said earlier, HD works fine for access, windows possibly corrupt? -when plugged into a screen, shows NOTHING on the screen (goes orange, but does not run self-diagnostic like it does when not plugged into anything) *-----*tried plugging directly into MB and into Graphics Card, same result -when speakers are plugged in, they click once when it starts up (like normal) but no windows theme plays afterwards I'm thinking it's Windows' fault, but I'm hoping someone could find something else I'm missing? I also did the bit with an eraser on the memory stick, didn't help. I switched everything onto another motherboard and still had the same result, no image/no sounds. Like windows won't boot. I feel it's important to note that this is a completely invalid comment (MB Infested with Viruses). MotherBoards, mainboards if you prefer, do not get viruses!

Viruses are software.MBs are hardware.there is a seperation. Also, as a private client of a friend just stated: 'Wow, the inside was really dusty! No wonder I got so many viruses!' They are seperate.dust is bad, but only because it insolates and allows thermal buildup. It does not cause viruses. I'm sure this issue is solved by now, did sound like MB.but I just wanted to note that this guys MB was not infested with viruses. - CityITSpec.

Hey, I just had the problem as well, not sure what happened.I came home from work, turned on the comp, looked fine, went to jump in the shower, came back and it seemed my comp was stuck in hibernation, so I turned it off, and got the same problem. The lights would come on, all the fans would start running, but it would stay black on my monitor and I heard no beeps/boot. I got on another comp in the house and started forum searching and halfway found my answer. Now this problably has been said already, but I havent had the time to read through all the posts, but it turns out that when I removed my PCIe video card, and plugged my monitor up to the onboard card on my mobo, the computer started up fine! So I cleaned the PCIe card and tried to put it back in and start up the comp again, only to have the black screen, no boot thing happen again, but this time I noticed the fan on the card was trying to spin, but couldnt, kept getting stuck. Tried cleaning it more to no avail. So my conclusion is either the card/fan itself is dead, or my PCIe slot on my mobo is dead, but w/o it in the slot my computer runs just like it did, I'll have to find out the issue when I have more time.

Hope this helps. Ive been having the same problem as everybody else (for the most part) i feel ive taken all the necessary steps but I want to be 110% sure that ive come to the correct conclusion. Mainly because the computer is not actually mine. I'm just more technical than the owner and have a decent common knowledge about computers and electronics so here's what happens. PC turns on PSU fan is fully functional Hard disk spins DVD drive lights up, opens and closes when first powering on the PC the CPU fan spins for a second but only for a second and then stops Manual shut down is not possible. Ive held down the power button for 2 minutes straight and no shutdown occurs PC does not boot. The monitor recognizes that its connected to a video card but immediately says that its going to sleep this is what ive done so far.

I've disconnected the RAM and turned on the computer. No nothing ive attempted to clean the RAM with an eraser. No luck i've attempted switching ports that the RAM is plugged into. No luck i've tried switching the PSU with one that I KNOW works well and I get the same results i've removed the ethernet card and restarted the PC.

No luck I've removed and reinserted the BIOS battery located on the MoBo. No luck I've cleaned out all the dust from the fans and boards and once again.

No luck i can't seem to remove the CPU heat sinc from the CPU to do the heat test. Ive left the PC running (everything connected) and I can feel the heat sinc heating up after about a few minutes. Which leads me to believe that the CPU is fully functional i cant blame it on the Graphics card because graphics is all on board process of elimination says that the Mobo is fried and needs to be replaced. So most people would say, 'open and shut case, Johnson. What the heck is your question?' Well, its the CPU fan the PC has been running for a few minutes now, the CPU is obviously heating up and the cooling fan hasn't kicked on yet.

So I attempt to spin the cooling fan manually (with just my fingers) and the fan continues spinning but at very low RPMs. Probably not even quick enough to cool a snowball in the north pole.

So my question is. (finally) is the CPU cooling fan being effected by the incapabilities of the MoBo? Or do I have a secondary problem that needs to be addressed before I can confidently say that I have pinpointed all of the problems with this PC once again.

I'd like to be 110% sure of what the exact problem is here, mainly because the computer doesnt belong to me. And to tell a friend he has to replace his MoBo and then find out afterwards that wasn't even the problem is nothing short of. 'messed up' OR to have him replace his MoBo.

Solve his problems for a week or two and then have his CPU blow up on him im hoping that other users having similar problems can read this post and see it as sort'of a checklist of things that could possibly be the problem and their solution PC is a Acer aspire T180 and is obviously completely stock it runs an AMD athalon64 3800+ after reading all 7 pages of this thread ive come to the conclusion that this is a pretty common problem with Acer PCs. I know what brand of computer NEVER to buy if anyone has any questions or comments that could help my situation they would be greatly appreciated thank you, and goodnight. I want to thank the great DJ Akshay for his advice regarding the rubber eraser. I was having the same problem with my desktop computer not booting and the fan just running full out. I took out my memory chips and rubbed the gold plated pins with the eraser and reinstalled them and it fixed the problem! But now when it boots up, my mouse cursor is frozen and I can't get it to move. I have a Logitech wireless mouse with the tiny USB doggle that plugs into the USB port.

The mouse works fine with my laptop. I use it for both and it is the only mouse I have. Also the new hardware wizard pops up offering to find a USB hardware registration or something. So that may be it.

I can't get into safe mode because it asks me to click on a user and the cursor is frozen. How do I fix this?? A computer without a mouse is like a car without a steering wheel.

How can I fix anything if I can't click on anything? I don't have an spare mouse to try. Thank you very much. Is the great DJ Akshay still around? Aka Computer God I have a Sony Vaio desktop with P4, 2GB memory, WinXP. Can anyone help? Sure, I am still around dear.

You are most welcome to this forum dear. Use the keyboard to login to Windows. Press the TAB Key to select the User you want then press ENTER. To enter Device Manager after successful login, press the WINDOWS Key and Pause-Break Key together then release.

Use the Direction keys to move to right side up to Hardware then Press Alt key and D key then release. Again use the Tab key and then the direction keys to move down up to Mice and other Pointing Devices. Press the + Key to expand the view, Press Alt Key and A Key then press U key to uninstall.

If this is a USB Mouse, try connecting it to another USB port on your computer. Please let me know if you are having other problems. Thanks and Bye. Can someone help me? I got a gateway back in may 23 and somewhere september it would not start up ( fans turn on button glows) and ever since I got it,it would blue screen.

Well I took it back to bestbuy and they replaced my power source thing (they said it was faulty) but they put the same kind back in. Well they said I need a restart/reboot disk (i have no idea what it is) I have to have the disk in the computer when I start it up next time and it would wipe the computer. They said it is something like 'It wont post' iam not computer savvy and no idea what to do and I dont feel like wasting $1200 on a computer ( which I got just to surf the web and play W.o.W with) I had a galaxy (dont know the version) graphics card, and a TV tuner, plus my 400 watt power supply thingy. Is there anyway I can get a backup disk or just do it on my own? This is the kind I have.

This discussion has a lot of great information, but I'm still having problems. My computer powers on but only boots some of the time. This system is a few years old. My hard drive had issues, so I bought a new one and decided to upgrade memory too. I'm having trouble with installing Windows XP.

I can boot from CD, and the computer goes through formatting the hard drive and loading setup files. When the setup needs to restart, the monitor goes to sleep.

The power is still on, fans running, lights on - but no reboot. My processor temp is normal and the fan is running. I've tried swapping memory, CD drives, IDE cables.

I have removed all the PCI cards and use on-board video. I switched from the power strip to the wall outlet. I reset the bios settings. When I manually restart and try to continue the install (by selecting repair), the setup starts inspecting my system and the monitor goes to sleep as described above. And some times when I power off and back on manually, the fans come on but the computer doesn't do anything (bios doesn't load). I would appreciate any other help/suggestions, or at least some degree of certainty that the motherboard is the culprit and that I should look for a replacement. Hey, this question is for DJ Akshay.

My family and I have a HP computer, and it was running perfectly fine until this morning. When starting up the computer, no output accessories (keyboard, mouse, monitor) would start up. The keyboard and mouse don't light up like it should, however the monitor goes on but then says that it cannot find a signal, then goes to a black screen. I tried your method of removing the RAM and using the eraser, but that did no help.

However, this has happened the night before. So I rebooted it several times, and I finally found a signal with my monitor and everything was functioning perfectly.

So, my question is. What might be causing this? Because it surely isn't the RAM. Please help!!!

One day my pc was working fine. Then I turned it off and later when I tried to turn it back on it wouldnt boot. The fans come on, the hdd light flashes twice, but the led on the power button doesnt come on. I took out my ram and my motherboard beeped twice.

Is it supposed to beep more? And I also tried the eraser thing. I took out the cmos jumper, turned my pc on then off, and replaced the jumper. Still doesnt work.

What would be wrong? The main difference I see from all the other people posting on this thread is that the led on my power button doesnt come on. (not the power supply, but the button itself on the front of the pc). Hello DJ Akshay, I need your advice for my below Desktop Problem. I have a problem with my Desktop PC. It suddenly stopped working. When I power up, Screen freezes with first page showing Boot menu F2 and BIOS F10.

It does not go beyond this screen to WinXP boot up. My problem is Keyboard is not active (I tried PS2 and USB keyboards).

Three lights in the keyboard blinks momentarily at the time of power up and nothing happens after that. Since Keyboard is not active, I am unable to get in to boot menu or BIOS to alter settings. Even removing Hard disk make no difference.

Suupposed to boot from Hard disk (C:). Mother board, Processor, Power supply are O.kay. Fans are running, Beeps when Ram removed, Processor heats up. How to get Keyboard active is my problem.

When I tried to boot from bootable CD or Restore CD, upon power up, CPU reads the CD rom and nothing happens after. Is it advisable to change the RAM and check? Here is my situation. I have a HP Pavillion 1473w.

Recently I went to use it and the mouse wasn't working. I thought the batteries but noticed the reciever lights were not on. I shut it down and it wouldn't come back up. I get a black screen. The fans come on and I hear the dvd drive and can open the drive.

The motherboard is an ECS RC410-M. Other things that I have checked Monitor works on another computer so I ruled out the cable and monitor (swapped cables also) I tried resetting the bios via hp recommendation of remove power cable and holding button in for 5 seconds. I also tried removing the power cord, moving the jumper over, pressed the button 2-3 times, move the jumper back and no change. I've removed the modem card which was not in use and tried adding a working video card. Everything is built in so there are no cards hook in right now.

I removed the cpu fan and started it for a couple of seconds and felt the cpu heating. I jumped the 24 pin connector on the board and the powersupply fan worked. Also the light on the power supply is on. I tested the 4 pin motherboard connector, all the molex connector and jumped the 24 pin connector and tested all except black, gray don't recall a brown using a voltmeter and everything was reading at 3.3, 5 or 12 I have 2 memory cards both were swapped, used individually in both, and I used an eraser on the gold pins, no change. I removed the memory cards and powered on but didn't hear any beeps. I see the speaker on the board and assume it is working. I have also removed the battery and tested it on a voltmeter to see that it worked.

I believe the reading was around 3 My guess is the board is bad. One bit of info that I don't understand is the switch on the front of the case is a circle and it turns blue, there is also a orange light.

When I push in the switch the light flashes blue but then goes out. I believe normally it would turn blue and stay on until you shut off the pc.

I'm not 100% sure that it worked like that normally but am pretty sure. I ask as I don't know if that could indicate anything or if a faulty switch could cause problems like mine. If the board is the problem, I had planned on ordering the ECS RC410-M board online since it was the same board. Am I correct that since the board is the same that I shouldn't have any issue with booting up? There isn't a windows xp disc but I have the 2 dvds that were burned when I bought the pc new. Any ideas or other things I should test for? I don't want to order a board is that is not the problem.

Hello, I am having a similar problem. The computer doesn't seem to boot up.

Lights come on, fans run, but no light on the mouse (usb) and monitor says 'power saving mode.' The lights on the keyboard do come on though. I did the CMOS reset. I removed the RAM and got the repeated beeping. While it was out I tried the eraser trick, but still no luck. When I tested to see if the processor warmed up, it took about 15 seconds to turn luke warm (without the heat sink). I tried this on another computer and it got too hot to touch within about 3 seconds.

I wasn't sure if this indicated a CPU problem or if there just wasn't too much to process since it wasn't booting so it didn't heat up. One other major suspect here.

About 3 months ago I replace the video card when the old one started messing up. It performed well all that time. I tried removing the card (I didn't have another to replace it with so I just left the AGP slot empty) and the computer acted the same way. I'm not sure if a computer can boot without a video card, but it didn't seem to make any difference. Thanks in Advance Jesse. My computer froze. So I restart.

It would power on, but would not boot. (no signal to monitors.) 3. I checked all cables, followed all your steps.

When I moved the RAM around it loaded up normal again. (long beep with no RAM. After about 10 min it crashed again. I moved the RAM again and it loaded again. After about 10 min I get blue screen. I have tried moving the Memory over and over, but I cannot get it to boot up like it did in steps 4 and 6. I was hopeing for a suggestion from you DJ ASKSHAY.

I have two RAM cards and neither work in any slot now. (i only have 2 slots) Should I buy a new memory card? Hi dj Hope u might help me got the same problem as above my dell dimension 5000 stoped working, first of all the power light start flashing amber fan stopped working only move for while and stopped. Following the MOBO specification find out that I internal power problem my exist, disconnected all memory, HDD power, and all cards, after that the power lights start lighting STILL amber colour, fan start working but thats all, nothing happened, started plug in one component after another and nothing, still the same colour in manual said thet if light is like that device might be malfunctioning or incorrectly installed but all devices was unplaged except CPU and still the same problem, take the processor fan off, CPU is getting hot, presume is ok, so is this a MOBO failure???? Please let me know. DJ akshay, I have gateway 507gr One day it wouldn't start/ No BIOS, no fans, no beeps, dead.

I changed the battery drained the power - nothing I shorted the PSU green to black and the PSU fan runs, but won't run the computer - nothing I bought a higher wattage PSU from Best Cry and - nothing Changed out the RAM - Nothing The LED light on the MOBO is lit and that is the only indication that any power is getting that far. Should I take off the heatsink fan and feel the processor? If it is cold then it is dead and I need a new MOBO correct? Thanks everyone, great site. Hope someone can help me with a problem similar.

I'm currently having 2 issues: 1) - when I power up the pc, nothing shows up on screen and nothing loads. However the fan speed becomes very fast. Usually it takes a couple of manual reset to make it work. - when it's supposedly made to work, the fan speed will go very fast for about 1-2 secs then goes back to the normal speed, and that's how I know when to stop the reset. - the system will then work fine and load to desktop. - however from time to time, even when I do like 20 over resets, it wouldn't work. (which is happening right now) how I try to fix: - somehow I think it may be ram related, so I usually pluck out all the rams.

I have 2x 256 and 2x 512 on it which it usually work fine. - I tried the eraser method on the rams but it would still take a couple of resets for each pair to work. Right at the moment having either 2x 256 pair or 2x 512 is working only. I had tried to connect all 4 rams back, but somehow it wouldn't start after 20 over resets. - going to attempt to fix it again right now.

2) - even when the pc successfully bypass the fast running fan speed, it may hang at the windows screen while loading to the desktop or just hang before desktop gets completely loaded. - i'm not sure which issue happened first but they seem to be happening together. - I usually expect 1-5 times of screen hang before a success boot, with each hang requiring a reboot. - however as my system stop working today, fixing in either 2x 256 pair or 2x 512 is making one attempt success boot.

Please suggest how could I fix this. Thanks for looking through =) regards, Ruie. Hey guys I need urgent help please.

I was browsing the net when a blue screen error came up on my screen and I had to restart my laptop. While restarting it got stuck somewhere in the boot process. I left it for 15 min nothing happened so I turned it off and tried to turn it back on but now the screen is blank and doesn't turn on, but the fans turn on and the lights on the keyboard turn on. I've tried plugging it to another external screen to see if the problem is from the screen but it shows no signal. So I believe the screen must be okay. How can I solve this problem? I have HP pavilion laptop, any help would be appreciated!

Thanks in advance!