Question by Speak It Loud: Acer Aspire 5610 problems – wireless switch, TV/media/volume buttons and easy-launch buttons don’t work?
Hey everyone. I’m hoping someone can help me out here..
The wireless switch worked until today. It is supposed to slide briefly to the left to toggle on (with a steady amber/orange light) and off (without an amber/orange light). Now sliding the switch does not turn on wireless capabilities and it does not turn on the amber/orange light. Nothing at all happens. The other switches and lights adjacent also do not work – except the two yellow lights (right of the wireless switch) that are power and battery indicators.
The wireless switch failing is the most frustrating. I don’t use the blue-tooth, so that one doesn’t matter to me. However, the wireless toggle is the only way I know of to turn it off and on. There doesn’t seem to be a Function+ key combination to turn it on/off. The ‘Connect to a Network’ dialog box option ‘Diagnose why Windows can’t find any networks’ returns with ‘Turn on wireless capability – This can be done by using a switch, which is usually found on front or side of the computer, or a function key combination. Click here to close this dialog box.’ A Google search shows abandoned threads with no working solutions.
The TV/media/volume buttons haven’t worked in a year. They are supposed to be compatible with Windows Media Player (I have version 11.0.6002.18111) but they don’t do anything at all with any media player. I remember the day they failed and that I had done nothing the previous day – no installations or uninstallations.
This is slightly annoying. It’s not too big a deal but I would really like to find out what is wrong and take care of it.
The easy-launch buttons I have never used but realized today that they don’t work. Launch Manager shows the first button (symbol e) as opening Empowering Technology; the second (symbol unopened mail) as opening E-Mail Manager; and the third (symbol a planet with a ring around it) I changed to opening Firefox.exe from C:\Program Files. Pressing these buttons does not open any of the applications.
I’m not too worried about losing these abilities, but it would be nice if everything on my computer worked as it should. But if I can find a way to put the wireless toggle in one of them, that would be an easy way around fixing the switch if it turns out to be a hardware problem.
Below are any details you may need to know – feel free to ask for more!
System Properties and Operating System -
Acer Aspire 5610
Windows Vista Home Premium
Service Pack 2
32-bit
User’s Guide
http://www.notebook-manuals.com/laptop-manuals/service_manual_for_ACER_Aspire_5610_b0b79da57b_AS5610-TM4200.pdf
Device Manager with Driver information
http://www.badongo.com/pic/7966174?size=original
To bon-gart -
Okay. This scares me because I’m worried about losing all of the applications, files and user settings I have invested into this laptop. I found a good page with descriptions of how to backup my system’s configuration and restore to factory default. Could you double-check me and make sure I understand this right?
The page – http://en.kioskea.net/faq/sujet-2040-acer-pc-restore-to-factory-settings
Everything is in the Acer eRecovery Management program.
1. Burn an “Acer factory default backup disk” Image to a DVD
2. Create a full backup to hard disk.. Create -> Full Backup -> name the backup -> let it finish
3. Burn that full backup to a DVD disk.. Burn Disk -> Burn a backup disk using user’s backup -> select the backup I created in step 2 -> let it finish
4. Restore to factory default.. the scary part.. Restore -> Restore system to factory default
According to the page, these are the steps I should take? I just want to be sure first!
Best answer:
Answer by bon-gart
So… did you back up what you need to keep, and perform a factory System Recovery? That should be your first step… returning it to a condition where the software is as it was when it was new. The devices that are not working/missing drivers almost look like it doesn’t have the chipset drivers installed.. or only part of the chipset drivers installed. And that is not normal.
First, assume there is nothing wrong with the hardware, and treat it as if you either have infections or simply inexplicable corrupt system files… and like I said, back up what you need to keep and perform a factory restore. You know… when the laptop reboots, hold the Alt key and hit F11 to access the restore partition. That is the standard Acer procedure. You should also be able to access it from the Acer technology panel.
Once you have performed your factory restore, if you STILL are facing the same problems, then you are looking at hardware failure. It might be something as slight as Ram (unlikely) or an issue on the motherboard itself (more serious, but also more likely in this case).
So, first things first. Software, then hardware.
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What do you think? Answer below!