Keyboard/Touchpad issue. Hardware or software?!

I bought this laptop from a lady who claimed it would "freeze once it got into windows". Now knowing a good bit about computers, i figured it was a software issue. So i booted into the bios, and played around for a few minutes to see if the keyboard would freeze. It didnt. So i bought it thinking, a formatwould fix it.


OK, so i get it home, and format it to XP pro. Boot up, and the keyboard/touchpad dowsn't work. So i go into the bios again, leave it running for a good 30minutes, and it doesnt freeze. So at this point, i am baffled. So i reset the bios, boot up, and go into windows, and the keyboard, touchpad works fine. I start installing drivers, software, and stuff, thinking it's is fixed, and overall happy with my $100 investment. So i shut down several times throughout the software installation process. Well after a few perfect shutdowns/reboots, it stops working again. I shut down, go into bios, it works. leave it there for a while, and then go back into windows, and still nothing. So i am baffled again, thinking it has to somehow be a hardware problem. So i completely tear it down. All the way down to the motherboard out of the case, everything, copletely apart. Nothing is burned, or anything like that. all ribbon cables are intact. So i put it back together, boot up, and it works fine all day long. I shut it down a few times, and it still worked fine. Well one time, i shut it down, and when it boots up, no keyboard/touchpad again. Well after several boots, i finally get the keyboard/touchpad to work. That is where i sit right now, trying my best to not have to shut it down.

If anyone has seen this issue with an acer laptop, or any other laptop for that matter, please help me out.

It is an Acer Aspire 3500.


Oh, I know it isnt locking up, b/c the computer will respond with a usb mouse/keyboard.

 

The fact that it works fine from within BIOS does confirm your assumption that it is a software issue. You probably need to reinstall some drivers downloaded via Acer's pages.

Also, some notebooks have a vendor specific software suite that you need to have running in order to get full functionality of a notebook. Dell has the Notebook System Software Suite (I think that is the name), and HP has one two (Quickplay does more than you think ), so Acer might be the same way. Try browsing Acer's products and download pages for that notebook and just start downloading anything potentially useful you might see.

But I really do not think it is a hardware issue.

 

Thanks for the quick reply bro. I will look around for what i can find on there website. Everything's drivers appear to be intact according to the device manager. I did find a touchpad utility that i installed for it, but it didnt fix anything, just added more settings i can edit for it.

 

Have you tried another OS? Maybe try Ubuntu or something like that, I know I've had weird issues that ONLY effect Windows, might at least prove one way or another.

 

Acer tech support recommended i try to use xp home, and if that doesnt work then order their restore discs. With the latter of the two choices being the only one that sounds like it would work.

 

Also have you tried external mouse/keyboard? Also, can you tell if entire PC is just locking up (memory problem?) or whether it's still processing just the mouse and keyboard no-longer responding, perhaps try running some program that gives a counter of where it's got to on-screen so you can tell if it's frozen or if just mouse/keyboard no-longer working.

I wouldn't bother with either of the Acer suggestions yet, since it seems to me that neither of those is particularly useful or likely to resolve your issue (at least not until you are REALLY sure that's the issue).

 

Yea, it doesnt freeze, the computer is still running fine, just the keyboard/touchpad doesnt work. If i plug in the external mouse & keyboard, it works perfect.

It is just mind boggling why it does this.

It needs a new battery as well, so i charged it last night, then took it out today, and am running on wallpower only. Now when i first booted it this morning before taking out the battery, the keyboard touchpad wouldnt work(external would). Then i shut it down, and took out the battery, and it has worked fine until i went to work. When i get home tonight, and boot it up, i will have some more info then, on how it is running.

Also, when the keyboard & touchpad freezes, i cant shut it down with the power button, AND when i use the external to go to start >shut down, it gives an hourglass, and just sits there. Mouse will move through external, but you can open anything. Then you have to jerk power from it.

 

in electronics we have a thing called dry solder.when the solder gets warm the contact is lost.just thinking out loud.

 

Which is exactly why i dont think it is hardware, b/c in the bios it will work fine for long periods of time, and sometimes in windows work fine for long periods of time.

 

OK, i have found, that when i remove the battery, it works fine. I also found a website that other people have the same problem, and removing the battery fixes theirs too. There is a suggestion in there that says...

Now i cant find this in my device manager on my keyboard/touch pad, but her is what i am thinking.

1. My battery wont charge above 8%, so i am going to order a new one soon. I wonder if since my battery power is always so low, if it is disabling my keyboard/touchpad. And when i get my new one, will it fix this?

2. OR, in the meantime, how do i do what is in the above quote, and disable that?


What do you guys suggest?

 

bump, anyone?

 

Yeah you need to:
1. Get the factory disks acers are very picky about software and yes you should be able to add whatever OS you choose and add drivers but alot of these problems were fixed with simple factory reloades. But the hardware issue is a MB or TP board.
2. The Problem is intermittent, so it's most likely not a simple fix.
3. Get your money back.

 

You need to replaced the MB. Sorry

 

GTFO my thread

 

GTFO my thread

 

It's the MB, if you know the Board you know the issues. There were some batteries causing this problem and a new battery would fix it. We even had batteries locking up touchpads in a couple of models.

 

GTFO my thread

 

Not bad advise coming from a 12 year old who likes xbox and never worked for Acer :laugh:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=140417&page=5

 

Its a battery issue; take the battery out and see for yourself

 

Did you read the whole thread? will a new battery fix this?

 

and can a mod delete this 12y/o poser with mommys laptop's BS from my thread please? Thanks.

 

i keep seeing this issue with this type of machine; to be honest i didn't read the whole thread.
if you have an issue with what i've said PM me rather than trying to belittle me on the forum.

 

Sigh. That was not directed at you dude. That other guy was pretending to be an acer rep.

And when i asked you if you read the whole thread, i was wanting to know if you read the part about when i remove the battery, boot on wall power, and then put the battery back in, that it is fine until the battery dies. And my battery wont charge.

 

ok dude, it was just a bit unclear thats all.

it does actually seem like a strange battery issue. if you wanna PM me all of the stuff you've tried i'll give you some ideas of what could be causing it

 

i have indeed had similar problems. i have a aspire 5100. i however have absolutely no response from my keyboard or touchpad on bios boot or in windows, the only place that they do respond is in linux, but here they respond in hiccups. check your usb ports.. do they still work? can you use hardware that is plugged into them? i have also had the weird case where all of a sudden after a system freeze or a reboot or leaving the laptop on all night, the keyboard and touchpad suddenly starts responding properly and then works on bios boot again and in windows.

im reckoning my motherboard is bust. im still waiting for acer customer service to respond to my call after 2 weeks

 

my acer 9300 has a problem in touchbutton that the right button is pressed when exerted little force

 

that problem is a mainboard problem; thats what should be replaced when it gets sent in for repair.

Farcry: your problem could just be the upper cover where the buttons are located but could be an issue with the touchpad button on the mainboard.

 

Mine works flawlessly as long as i boot with the battery out of it, and then put it back in once in windows. Now if i boot up with the battery in it, everything works but the keyboard/touchpad. If (while in windows) i take the battery out, and wait about 5seconds, they keyboard/touchpad will start working again, then i can put my battery back in.

 

Exactly the same situation here. Just wasted a few days trying out different solutions offered in newsgroups, looking for viruses, reinstalling drivers, reinstalling Windows, reformatting drives and reinstalling again just to find out that simple removal of battery fixes the problem. What a waste of time!
Still wondering, if there is any way to fix it in drivers or Windows settings, instead of removing the battery every time. Anyway, seems that I will have to order a new one.
The model of laptop is Acer 1694WLMI, and I hope this thread will save this pain to someone else.

 

Found it. If I disable 'Microsoft ACPI-Compliant Control Method battery' in Device Manager, then no need to remove the battery every time.

 

I'm trying this right now. brb.

 

Awesome, that fixed it. Were you haveing problems with your battery not charging too? Did this fix that? What exactly does disableing that do?

 

OK, i can boot on battery power fine now, and my battery actually will last about an hour, but windows wont display any battery info with that driver disabled.

 

bump to the top

 

Has anybody been able to confirm that a new battery will work? Our 567x was not showing the correct charge in the taskbar, and then later the mouse/keyboard did the same thing as described here.

If it just requires a new battery, we'll get one. Otherwise the thing will just get replaced when the battery gives up it's final breath.

Thanks!
Creosote.

 

Hey bibbz

Registered to this forum just so I could say thank you for starting this so I could find the fix. Exact same frikkin' problem, but no worries now! If anything catastrophic happens with this in place, I'll let you know.

Cheers, man!

And thank you, ziggy7, for delivering the answer. I've been sweating it out for a few days trying to figure this thing out. Thankfully there's this forum and this thread. Lifesaver!

 

I've got the same problem with an Aspire 3500, removing the battery does help,. has anyone tried flashing the bios?

 

Have you tried to disable the driver above?

NP bro! I know how you feel, i was realy stressing this until we got it fixed. especaly since i'd just paid 100bones for it, lol.

 

Hi Guys

My notebook Acer 5672wlmi starting doing this last night, I have had it almost 2 years
the battery life has been about 10-15 mins

looking in my device manager I dont have the same items as you instead I have

Microsoft Composite Battery

I shall try disabling this now and get back to you with a response, just in case anyone else has the same installation as me (I ditched the standard acer one very early on)



ok my bad, I should really try looking properly I do have the same acpi compliant battery and disabled it
and now my laptop works properly again many thanks guys

and yes I am a thicko

 

Thank god for this thread. A friend of mine brought his daughters notebook to me if I can fix it. It's an Acer Travelmate 2312 and has the same simptoms. As soon as I remove the battery, touchpad and keyboard are working again.

I almost started formatting the drive, when I had the idea to check if there is a solution here

 

old worn out batterys can cause the strangest problems...