Aspire 5100 USB Problems - Page 5

Same thing has happened to me on my Aspire 5100, webcam stopped working approx. 2 months ago & all 3 usb ports went yesterday.

Unfortunatly my acer is out of warrenty (but from the looks of it sending it back wont help anyway!)

Im mates with an acer reseller through work so i will be paying him a visit tomorrow with a copy of some of these forum posts and se what he says.

Will keep you posted.

Sam

Hi,

I upgraded my os to Vista Ultimate and it worked fine. However, I didn't get my webcam back. I will try to go to the Chinese web site for the driver. I think I will get used to Vista.
Thanks again.

When the USB ports fail, it is an issue with the southbridge. I have seen those ATI soundbridge BGA's actually surge and the entire chip needs to be replaced...

How does one fix it? I have out-of-warranty, 5102 WLMi and Acer won't touch it because I run Ubuntu Linux. Thx. jim

That's a major piece of surgery that if you have to ask, you won't be able to handle. Workarounds to Acer doing it would be for you to:
(a) look for a replacement board (the most expensive)
(b) get a USB replicator/hub if you have any working USB ports
(c) look for a PCMCIA USB card.

Also, I don't know what Acer's issue with the OS is, as that's not relevant. However, in my opinion, their price to fix it would be near what you'd spend on finding a used, but functional same model.

Oh, and (d) think/talk lawsuit since this is a common enough factory defect.


p.s. I'm typing on a 5102 WLMi now that I picked up a year + ago that I've had no problems with. Probable reason? I bought it refurbed, which tells me they likely knew about that issue (and fixed it on this one)

Thanks for clear reply.
I've been using USB PCMCIA card for some time. With daily inserts, it seems I've worn out this card too and must fiddle with it constantly to get any USB mouse to see it.

Perhaps:
(e) purchase another laptop (non-Acer) ?

That's your decision, although in all fairness, I've had zero problems with the one I'm using. Sometimes it's just the luck of the draw, although I would email Acer. Also, I'd recommend you PM NFO[NOS] and get his input.

depends on if the south bridge itself is surged/burnt or just needs to be re-flowed... if it is burned, then the chip needs to be replaced

i have the same problem if anyone out has an idea please let me know.

have u tried all the posted suggestions first? including mailing acer?

cheers ...

hay guy's i got a acer aspire 5100 from a friend it came with XP os but stuped me put vista os on it now the webcam and the usb's don't work i have tryed downloading the drivers but nothing as of yet and one know what i can do anything would help ty guy's

i think i did cuz i DL both of the webcam driver's and i tryed downloading the HD audio drivers to but count get them.......i also tryed goong to the acer china site but i dont know wat it all says lol

so anything that you can help me with would be sweet cuz if i can get it to work ill have to put XP back...... i could try downloading the new bios but i dont know if ill **** up the laptop

ill try DL the bios for it and i have tryed runing the update's but its not working

Hi Guys And thanks for any ideas

I had to fix my friends aspire 5100. It had strange problems with windows xp hanging and not restarting at all... Alt+F10 recovery also didn't bootup properly so I was not able to reinstall system.

I Tried linux ubuntu live-cd and noticed problems with USB. It was not able to connect any usb devices (i tried USB Stick).

I disconnected webcam from motherboard and was able to boot OS normaly but still I'm not able to use any USB devices.

Computer had some heating problems because a lot of dust in the fan. Ati Southbridge may be damaged perhaps?

BIOS update didn't help

Hello,
I have the acer 5100 which had the exact same problem with the usb ports and the camera that was described. I've tried many solutions like loading the images I created with norton ghost or the preinstalled application but nothing worked. It continued freezing whenever I was connecting the external hard disc and not recognising the flash memory or the bluetooth usb device. After more than a month that I started making my piece that I had a much less efficient laptop than the one I have bought (the guarantee has exceeded), one day suddenly I got the message that the orbit camera was recognised! I tested the usb ports and they were all working. It's obviously a hardware issue that acer denies to recognise, look into it and announce their conclusions and desicions.
My laptop is fully functional since the last weekend and I hope it will keep working.
I'm suggesting to form a group of dissatisfied owners of this model and syntax a protesting letter where we will demand a final solution to the problem, like withdrawal and repair or replacement of the problematic laptops or we will all proceed to notifying all the computer magazines that each of us can access about their choice to neglect our problem.
Who agrees?

My email is petgon2@hotmail.com
Whoever agrees with my suggestion can email me to get organised and proceed to further actions against acer.
Thank you