A little while ago, I was asked by a friend whether I could take a look at an Acer Aspire 5315 laptop which was suffering from the effects of a carbonated cola drink having infiltrated the keyboard. Basically, somebody had knocked a goodly amount of liquid into the keyboard and now it wasn’t functioning correctly.
The symptoms were as expected, physically sticky keys and keys becoming electronically stuck as well. Not good news.
So I set about trying to remove the keyboard without the benefit of a service manual (oh what fun). 🙄 I started by immediately making a big mistake and removing the memory bay/mini pci cover. This is the biggest cover on the base of the laptop and it’s a right shunt to remove. If you ever need to take this one off, remove all the screws you can see in the cover itself and then carefully start levering from the edge nearest the centre of the laptop first. When I say ‘carefully’, I mean eggshells carefully. The plastic is thin and the whole circumference of the cover is fitted with small extrusions which serve as clips. These will bend to an extent as you free them (I had to gingerly run a fine screwdriver around the gap), just hope you don’t break them! You only really need this cover off if you are fitting a Mini PCI or RAM upgrade part.
Having discovered there was no access to the keyboard fixings from this cover, I refitted it (also very carefully!) and looked under the battery cover. There I found three black screws which appeared to correspond to the cover above the keyboard on the upper side of the laptop.
After removing the three black screws, I began levering up the edge of the fascia panel nearest the keyboard. This panel serves to hold the keyboard in place, it also comprises the button cover for the power switchgear and grilles for the speakers. I used a fine jewellers screwdriver to carefully lever the panel up. Again, it’s a series of brittle-looking plastic clips.
Once the bottom edge of the cover was freed, I lifted it away from the top edge revealing the clips that hold the keyboard in place (set of plastic tabs holding the top edge of the keyboard).
Again, with my trust jeweller’s driver, I levered the top edge of the keyboard from the retaining tabs and not knowing how much ribbon cable existed, gingerly rotated the keyboard up.
As it turns out, there’s enough ribbon to fold the keyboard all the way over to allow removal of the cable. To release the ribbon cable, you have to carefully lever the dark/black locking collar back along the ribbon until it is out of the socket. After carefully memorising the way the cable fits, withdraw the ribbon.
There’s not much else you can get access to from the keyboard bay, there’s no upgradeable parts here and you can only clean (not remove) the CPU fan from here.
The keyboard is a pretty much sealed unit, I had a little try at soaking it in isopropyl alcohol but to no avail. The sugar in the cola had aparently ‘eaten’ (dissolved) the insulator between the membranes and this was now an ex-keyboard.
I managed to find a new keyboard at ‘Acer Spare Parts‘, a company in the UK who had the part shipped in to from Ireland. As my poor luck would have it, the keyboard was damaged in transit possibly because of not-stiff-enough packaging but more likely from ‘courier delivery’ 😉 .
I managed to flatten the keyboard out by hand, the metal backplane was quite malleable and there was no physical damage to the keys. Refitting is pretty much the reverse of removal. Make sure you get the ribbon cable the right way round and push the locking collar back up. Then put the keyboard back with the bottom edge in first, press the top edge in (ensure that all the tabs are visible above the rim of the keyboard. The upper cover goes back on top-edge first and then presses down. Finally, three black screws go back into the battery bay and you’re done. (Boot and test the keyboard)
This method may work for other Acer Aspire models. Some of the Apire 5000 such as the 5050, 5520 and 5570 look very much alike and 7000 models certainly look similar but don’t quote me on this.
It’s a relatively simple procedure providing you are fairly dexterous and capable of being very gentle and little bit patient. Still, attempt at your own risk, don’t come crying to me if the whole lot disintegrates in your hands! 😉
Hello,
your advice was very helpful, and I have managed to do the same thing. But, in my case a beer was that crucial liquid. Have no problem with keyboard, just sometimes have to stronger push button to type. Hope it’s ok. And, my problem is a little bit differet: just in the corner of my LCD panel there is a small, but visible trace of liquid. Four days have passed since my accident, but it’s still here. I can send you a photo of a print screen to see it. Can I open LCD panel without any problems and fix it somehow…
Looking forward hearing you.
Hi Zoran
I didn’t dismantle the LCD or any part of the upper side of the shell. I believe there was an option to have an anti-glare cover on the screen so it could be possible to dismantle the screen and carefully clean between the LCD and the anti-glare sheet.
If there is no cover on the LCD, the only option other than careful cleaning then would be to replace the LCD itself. You’d probably have to look on Ebay as while Acer Spares do sell them, they are £200+ [GBP] which is getting towards the price of a new laptop.
I will warn you that dismantling the screen on a laptop is usually the hardest job to do as the hinges and the ribbon connector almost always present a special problem.
Was the cmos battery underneath twhere the keyboard fits?
I fear that I honestly can’t remember seeing it.
On similar Acer models, it is apparently located under the “big panel” on an unusual loose-lead connection. This may not be the case for the 5135 though.
I am in sort of the same predicament with drink spilled on the keyboard of my Aspire 5315. I went to the part supplier you had listed but noticed that they are not in the United States where I am located. Do you by chance, know of any place in the United States I can purchase this keyboard? Your assistance is greatly appreciated.
Try Ebay, I found an aspire 4520 keyboard there for 14.00
I just purchased an Acer Aspire 5315 keyboard from Ebay, $16.00 & free S&H. Thatswhy I am here looking for All of the help I can get to see how difficult it will be to replace.
Thanks
Here is the link to the keyboard I just purchased for $16 w/ free S&H from Ebay. They have 5 left. The keyboard is for the Acer Aspire 5315-2153. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320955045359&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:3160#ht_2714wt_998
Good Luck
About the best I can suggest is to call the Acer Support/Spares number that I found for the USA: 1-800-816-2237
Thanks for the guide!
I just replaced the keyboard of the 5315 that I bought in Paris, which had the AZERTY layout, for an US International keyboard that I bought on eBay for US$9.49!
Regards!
Hi greif.
I’m glad my that little exploratory adventure into the insides of the Acer 5315 was useful to you. 🙂
i have a smaller problem that i kinda need some help with if you guys don’t mind. my daughter pulled some of the keys off my brand new acer aspire 5315 and now i cannot get them to sit right. and some are sticking and wobbly any advice?Thanks.
Dina, I have the same problem! My 20month old ripped everything off and I put most of it back together, but some are not sitting right and are wobbley. What did you end up doing about yours? I need to get this fixed before hubby gets home!!!LOL
My kids have plucked the keys off of my acer laptop keyboard so bad, I have had to replace it with the retainer clips and keys being broken. Try this website to replace your laptop keyboard. It is cheaper to replace the keyboard instead of individual keys if you are missing quite a few!
http://www.laptopz.com
Hi Dina.
I think they unclip from a sort of ‘trapeze’ type guide underneath. I unclipped one carefully when I was originally examining the keyboard. If I remember correctly, it separated from the lower edge first.
Rather that immediately trying to remove the keys, perhaps you could try lining them up precisely as they should sit and then pressing down firmly to see if they re-engage with the guide clips.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=251959
the above link is a thread i started at NOTEBOOK REVIEW,, it has all kinds of information about the ASPIRE 5315, including CPU UPGRADES, BIOS RECOVERY METHODS, LATEST DRIVERS and almost anything i’ve ran across for the 5315….
BTW i did link to this page, i hope the owner doesn’t have a problem with this, i have credited you in the link…
and if requested i will remove the link… but why would we want to keep from helping each other in the quest to gain knowledge about these wonderfully cheap little laptops!
Thanks for taking the time to do this explanation. It was very useful when removing my acer 5021 keyboard. (yes almost identical procedure ). In my case it was to un-jam the cpu fan and prevent a serious overheating problem. However, when rebuilding the laptop the keyboard only partially worked, serveral keys failed to work, whislst others were fine. I tried refitting the keyboard very carfully several times but unfortunately no improvement.
So this is just to say be careful when handing the keyboard away from the laptop as this seems to be very easily damaged. Good news is the overheating is cured…….
I don’t suppose anyone has any spare clips from under the keys off an Acer Aspire 5135? or knows where I may be able to get some?
Thanks
Sorry 5315!
For those in the US looking for a keyboard, I found one New on Ebay for $18 and free shipping.
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-WHITE-USA-Keyboard-Acer-4520-4710-5720-5315-Series_W0QQitemZ390000791616QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item390000791616&_trkparms=72%3A1423%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
Thanks for the instructions, I’ll be testing them out in a few days.
Well, I guess they thought I was advertising with my last link… I wasn’t… but search Ebay for “Acer 5315 keyboard”, and there are several USA retailers… I got mine for about $20 w/ free shipping.
Thank you so much for the great information. I could not figure out how to remove the back cover. Your instructions were perfect! My 5520 runs fantastic since I put 4GB of RAM into it. Thanks again.
Thanks for the information my two year old great nephew Archie picked half the keys of my acer aspire 5135 Laptop
its les than twelve months old so i took it back to comet they said sorry but you have voided the warranty facing a
big bill I googled for the instructions on how to replace the keyboard and found your posting I got a new keyboard
for £21.50 of e-bay and it took just 20 minuits to replace it when I asked the little lad why did you pick the keys off
Micky,s laptop he replied ” want to watch Pingu ” his mum explaned who Pingu is so I got him a portable dvd player with a built in screen and a Pingu dvd its my own fault realy never leave your laptop where a two old can reach it
once again Thank You Regards Mick McCabe
so i bought one these and i was wondering how to reset the CMOS password.. i’ve never seen a computer with battery soldered in.. any thoughts?
This thread on techsupport forum details a BIOS password reset method involving shorting the CMOS battery out.
I haven’t tried that myself so I can’t vouch for whether the method works etc.
Same story here friend asked me to look at it…
I am curious about the symptoms list though. My question to every one who has disassembled one of these after a spill. Did the computer boot up at all after the keyboard was dried? It looks like a remarkably high percentage seem to fry the keyboard but seem to have no futher damage which would be excellent news. Has any one heard reports of the machine being bricked?
Thanks in advance.
Jim
My Acer 5315 has had wine spilt in the keyboard and no longer boots up. With the power cord plugger in the light at the front comes on, then continues to flash orange and will not even start up, and without the power cord plugged in, no lights come on and it will not boot up. I think this is more than a keyboard issue. I have taken the back partly off and was looking for instructions on how to get to the inner pcb boards and power supply, and hoped that by cleaning them in ‘Something” it would fix the problem…..
Any suggestions or help??? I am in melbourne Australia. Any help much appreciated…
S.
Hi Steve.
Sadly I have to agree that it sounds like you have more problems there than just the keyboard. I’d suggest giving <a href="“>Acer support in Auckland or Sydney a call. Perhaps they could give you a link to a service manual or some advice on what to look at.
If it’s that badly shot, other than paying a service center to look at it for you (I think Acer has third-party service in Melbourne) you may want to consider whether it is economically viable to repair. Equivalent laptops are often available on ebay for >$300US.
IRT to the CMOS battery being soldered.
My Fujitsu Lifebook 280dx (still kickin after a decade) had a soldered in battery. I very gently broke the weld to perform bios password reset (battery was later replaced). In my case the battery slot(?) was situated in the case such that the weld was really over kill. Simply bending the prongs so that they made good contact when reassembled worked fine.
I would recommend analising the setup to see if your machine might be similiarly designed.
good luck
Yesterday I was taking toenail polish off when my labrador retriever heard the doorbell and ran, knocking me over. I was several feet from my laptop which was open but the nail polish remover splashed pretty good on it. I can type on it but certain keys don’t work. My shift key isn’t working to capitalize certain letters but is for some? go figure. since the computer will turn on and work otherwise, should replacing the keyboard take care of this issue?
To anyone wanting the simpliest fix, buy a USB keyboard. Actually much easier for me. At the same time, I just ordered a new keyboard so that I can fix it correctly. The USB keyboard will work just fine, as long as the rest of the computer is still working.
Good Luck
Replacing the keyboard ought to sort that out as long as the nail varnish didn’t penetrate any deeper (The keyboard sits in it’s own sort of tray)
I expect your keys might be ‘stuck’ in position by the glueing effect?
I think it’s worth reminding everyone that if your laptop is still under warranty, you should take it back to Acer or your retailer to be fixed! 😉
One quick ? are all 5315 keyboard’s the same? I have a 5315-2713 I order a new key from Machina but what sent me didn’t work. the latch use to attach the key was smaller then what my laptop use.
I see a lot of keyboards for the 5315 on Ebay. I just want to make sure I buy the correct on. I took the keyboard out and reinstalled it so it is pretty easy.
This is the trouble with laptop parts.
It’s not necessarily “one size fits all”.
I’d have assumed that all 5135 spec keyboards would fit but this could be a false assumption.
Sadly for the end-user/tinkerer, it really can be a case of trail-and-error! 🙁
I’m told he sure-fire way to do it is to read the part number from the keyboard panel itself and order the replacement based on that part number. YMMV
New Acer Aspire 5315 5920 Series Keyboard KB.INT00.036 The 00.036 matches the beginning KB number on the back of my keyboard so I will post back tomorrow I am sure iot should work.
I plan to never again bump my keyboard which cause some letters to come off. They should make a keyboard to take more abuse or redesign it so keys can easily pop back on.
Thanks for making this blog. I got my new keyboard and was able to install it in less then 5 minutes. I did have one issue but I reseated the ribbon and it fixed my problem.
thanks for the help installing my replacement keyboard, i found a spare parts dealers in china that was able to ship to me in australia costing $29 US thats inc posting.
Thank you, thank you, thank you…
Worked a treat for my son’s Acer 5720 GEM. I bought a new keyboard from ebay as the existing one was broken (just after the warranty ran out!).
Like you I prolly would have removed the back cover – a real bitch as I discovered when I upgraded the RAM much earlier in its life (can’t believe they made it sooo hard to upgrade the RAM). Anyway I followed your instructions to the letter and removed and replaced the keyboard in 15 minutes – and that was going slowly with the clips.
Hey thanks to this it took me 5 minutes to replace my Acer Aspire 5315-2153 laptop keyboard that i spilled Pepsi on and cleaned the speaker cover so thank you
does anyone know if a Us Keyboard will fit on a uk machine have ordered a keyboard from us via ebay but have just relised the keyboard layout is diferent
Jim
My guess would be that it will probably fit.
You can probably also configure your operating system to use the keymap that is displayed on the keys.
the us keyboard worked fine you just need to change the langauage to Us international
tep 1: Go to the Start button and open “Control Panel”
Step 2: Choose the option “Clock, Language and Region”
Step 3: Select “Regional and Language Options” and in the “Installed Services” section, click “Add”
Step 4: If your keyboard English US and if your keyboard is set to an English language (QWERTY), change the language to US International
Step 5: In the “Keyboard” section, choose “QWERTY” and apply the changes by clicking “OK”
This worked for me
Jim
hey uhh what do i need to remove (and how) if i want to clean the dust out because the pc is overheating?
I brought a keyboard guard protector for spill to fix issues with my fingers getting caught on the keys. Since buying my finger don’t get snag on the keys. I was scare of ripping keuys off again. I looked what some other laptops and it seems Acer is the only one with keys that are raise.
I see your post is 2 years old but one can still hope this reaches you…. Where did you find the cover. I am on my 4th or 5th key board for my 7520…. I have cats……that make a sudden mad dash across my keyboard using it for a race way (at this point I would kill them if I could catch them)… inevitably…. keys are removed/destroyed. There is no repair option, I’ve tried every glue known to man….none work…..replacement is the only option. But I”m getting damn tired of replacing keyboards…… your cover sounds like it may be my salvation……. but I don’t know where to get it from…….please…..if you get this…my email is marie@theofficemagician.com.
Thanks
my wife dropped her acer 5315 and now when powering up it says it is does not have a hard drive installed. i do not think that the hard drive itself is busted because it acts like it is not getting any power in the hdd–it makes none of the normal sounds associated with a functioning hard drive. i took all the bottom panels off and cannot see the socket that the hd plugs into good enough to tell whether a solder joint has broken or something. if it is the hard drive that has puked, can anyone give me advice on whether or not i can use an external hd and just disable the internal 80gig unit? if not, what is the fastest upgraded hd i can put in?
From a little searching the web, it seems that there should be an option in the BIOS to change the boot order to allow USB booting (an external USB connected disk in your case).
Probably an option such as ‘boot order’.
Hey there thanxs for the info you just saved me some money and to order a keyboard go to yall.com real good prices mine was 17.00 for the keyboard and had it in 2 days.
my daughter spilt tea into my acer 5315 everythink is working fine, the a and s keys dont work im just using the on screen keyboard till i saw your link thanking you so much
Hi! I have sort of a problem here I have an Acer Aspire 5315 and one day all of a sudden the keyboard stopped working. I can’t figure out what happened to it. I haven’t spilt anything on it. Can anyone help?
Hey guys. Thanks for the pictures. My girlfreinds Sister threw a nice Rose Wine through her keyboard, And with the pictures on your site i’ve managed to clean some things and the laptop is working again.
Thanks.
Sander, The Netherlands, Europe.
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Hi,
who can help me for Removing Bios Hardware Password Acer Aspire 9300
Thanks.
Hi,
One of my keys from the acer 5315 have been pulled out by one my friends and it seems that the clips that hold it in place have snapped, and there is no way it will clip back in, does anyone know where to get the clips from, or will i have to pay for another keyboard its just one key.
I doubt you’d be able to acquire the clips separately.
As I always say, if it’s under warranty, try a service call.
If it’s insured, try that.
Failing all else, replace the keyboard and bill your friend 😉
Yes, u can acquire the clips with the button on ebay. I found them starting from $4.00 when my Enter button was damaged. I choose to buy the entire keyboard in case other button colpased. The prices start from $10.
Thanks to Works for the article, it was fully helpfull to me.
Keyboard is cheap on ebay. I just purchased one from ebay for $16 w/ free S&H . If you justwant a quick fix, use a USB keyboard. Works just as well & maybe even better to some extent.
With the decrease in price of acceptable laptops i tend to think of them as throw away items now and buy a new budget one every year!
thanks for the info, hoping it will help me when i recive my new keyboard, as i have cut one of the little wires under a button trying to unjam it.
any idea how long it will take to be deliverd.
Im Located near london.
Same laptop only problem is the modem. No dial tone is the only response I can get when I try to access my dial in account. All works well with my HP desk top which is what I an using for this, bur my laptop just won’t respond to a dial tone. Any ideas what needs to be done. If modem needs to be replaced, how would I go about that task. I’ve had my 1535 for over 18 months now and except for jumping around while typing, all is well. Thanks to anyone who can help.
have bought an acer 5315 and would like to know what an express / 54 card is as it seems to be missing on mine doesn’t seem to make any difference but just curious.
i have acer5315…i have checked ac power cord and its good but will not charge my laptop…i can charge battery with my grandaughters 5315 and my laptop will work properly till battery runs down…my question is why wont my laptop charge the battery or run on ac power….thanks
Hi Ken i had the same problem, if you take off the big cover underneath, look where the power plugs into the jack, there is a small connector you will need a small screw-driver to push it back on, job done, hope this helps
Thanks for the info. My new keyboard arrived yesterday and I am off to install it. Gonna have to teach my Parrot…Keys are NOT snacks!
Omy! My parrot just did the same thing to my netbook!!!!!I was in here looking for parts and found this…I love her so much but I am so angry with her!!!!
LOL
I wonder what it is that is so appealing to parrots about keyboards.
Do parrots turn stones to look for food?