Aspire 3935 WiFi / Bluetooth / Backup keys issue

Just bought a second hand Aspire 3935. It's not very old, the previous owner had only had it a matter of months. Whilst I've had a postive experience with it so far, I've had a really annoying problem with it which has occurred a few times. Above the F keys is a touch strip of buttons - the volume controls and toggle keys for WiFi, Bluetooth and Backup.

Apart from catching them myself and enabling and disabling them (my fault), they will sometimes enable/disable themselves - as if they are being repeatedly pressed. The problem doesn't necessarily disappear after a reboot. When it happens, the machine starts opening up the Acer backup utility and WiFi doesn't function properly as it never stays connected. I have to stop using the machine at this point.

It seems to me like it's a hardware fault - given that the issue happens immediately after a reboot. Then again, the buttons only start flashing once booted into Windows 7. Any ideas?

(Sorry if this has been covered before!)

 

I did find a page with some peacemeal solutions:

Inttended - IT Blog: Acer 3935 Wifi Problem - The Solution Part 1

I'd rather have something more definitive though!

 

Yes forget that blog will not fix the problem.

You either need to get acer to replace it or open the laptop and disable the touchbar. The wifi will still work - I had the same problem disabled the touchbar and the laptop is rock solid ever since (although you lost bluetooth)

See here for instructions
Problem With Acer Aspire 3935 - PCWorld Forums - Page 8

 

Complete fix for me here, updates the media board / touchbar's firmware

Acer Support: Frequently Asked Questions list for Internal Only - WLAN and Bluetooth LEDs randomly turn on

No more spasms! Need to make a dos boot usb to flash though, good instructions here:
Bios-boot-usb-stick - Howto: BIOS-Update per bootable USB-Stick - www.biosflash.com

UPDATE: THIS DID NOT WORK. I'm back to removing the ribbon connecting the touch bar to the motherboard.

 

Acer Support: Frequently Asked Questions list for Internal Only - WLAN and Bluetooth LEDs randomly turn on

Worked for me too, after months of debating to get a new laptop, this simple fix worked a treat. Took Acer long enough to find it but it works.

I had to remove the Acer backup manager though but never used it anyway.

 

Yes touch bar / media bar firmware update APPEARED to work for a while and has failed again and gone into its old spasm of losing wifi when on my lap and on charge - the heat got to it again ACER THE HARDWARE IS DEFECTIVELY DESIGNED AND YOU SHOULD HAVE RECALLED THIS. I don't have the time without a laptop to send off for Acer monkeys to try and fail to fix this numerous times.

I'm back to the other definite firm fix - opened it up and removed the ribbon connecting the touch bar to the motherboard. BTW there are black clips on on the ribbon connectors lift them up to remove the ribbon.

It really is a 5min job - anyone want any help/advice in doing this I'm happy to help.