Tag Archives: Laptop

General Info

Hardware & Drivers – Gaming

Leave a comment

So recently someone came to me and had a new laptop.  That is – new for them but pre-owned. Wanted to get drivers for the GPU so that they could play a new game they got, but after some checking and downloading on their part they finally came back and asked for help. Turns out the game they want to play requires a lot of power and their laptop just couldn’t do it. So we’ve decided to give a quick rundown of hardware and drivers.

HARDWARE

This is anything that you can physically touch. Even if it’s something inside your PC/laptop that you can’t see, as long as it’s physically there then it’s hardware.

SOFTWARE / FILES

This is the intangible stuff that you can’t physically touch. The zeros and ones that are usually magnetically stored on your machine. Software and files on your PC/laptop don’t have a physical form, but they’re stored on physical media. Drivers also fall into this category and we’re going to get right into that next.

DRIVERS

These are the things that make your hardware work. Basically. Drivers are software packages or files that are used by your operating system (Windows) to learn and know how to interact with your hardware. Let’s say for example your sound/audio. If you just installed Windows on your PC/laptop and no sound drivers are installed then nothing you do would make it work. You just wouldn’t be able to hear anything unless drivers are installed. Windows can’t talk to your sound card and while it may know that it’s there, it just can’t utilize it.

Some persons may argue that they’ve installed Windows and everything works without installing drivers, but that’s not really the case. As operating systems advance they also include a larger database of generic drivers for various types of hardware. There may be some differences in the generic driver included with Windows and the driver directly from the manufacturer however, and we’ll get into that shortly. First, let’s make it totally clear that some of the drivers that are included with Windows may work flawlessly, but some – depending on the hardware – may require additional files from the manufacturer to be installed to access other features.

Using the sound as an example again, some drivers may be installed with Windows that makes your sound work with no problems. If you have a desktop with RealTek audio for example, Windows will install drivers and you will get sound from both the front connectors and rear connectors. In some cases you cannot use both simultaneously as the generic driver only allows sound from one at a time. This is where the drivers from the manufacturer would come in.

So basically – your OS may come with drivers to let your hardware work, but for more features or performance you need the drivers from the manufacturer.

Fixes, General Info

Acer Aspire 4830T Keyboard Removal

Leave a comment

This will go through the removal process for the 4830T – specifically the 4830T-6452 – but you may be able to apply some of the steps here to other models.

DISCLAIMER
While the steps here should be straightforward we don’t recommend doing this unless you either have no other choice or feel REALLY safe doing it yourself. In all cases take it to a professional or take it in for warranty repair if it’s still under warranty. DON’T DO IT YOURSELF!!!

OK. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get down into your laptop.

Flip it over and you’ll notice that there’s a lot of screws. Fortunately 90% of the screws on this model are exactly the same, so taking them out and mixing them up won’t be much of an issue.

This model has a sealed battery, but removal of the first cover will trigger a switch that turns the battery off.

DSC08630

In the uploaded picture you’ll see blue dots on the various screws that need to be removed. The bottom panel has already been removed. There’s a gold arrow pointing to the screw that has to be removed before sliding off the panel and a green arrow at the screw for removing the optical drive (ODD). If all you need to change is the ODD then remove the indicated screw and slide it out after ejecting the drive previously and before shutting down the system or after the system has shut down with a paper clip. That means – you eject the drive with a paper clip and pull it out after the system is shut down – not shut down the system using a paper clip.

If you only need to get access to the memory (RAM) or hard drive (HDD) then remove the indicated screw for the lower panel and slide it away from the laptop (down) and then lift off. There is a switch highlighted in a red box that shows the on/off position. On the panel which you remove there is a tab that must align with the switch. Be careful not to break it.

Getting further into it you’ll want to remove the bezel below the keyboard. Ensure that all the screws from the bottom have been removed (see first picture). Flip the laptop over and open the screen. Once all the screws are removed the lower bezel is held in by clips. Pry it off (carefully) using your preferred tool/method and prepare to remove some ribbon cables. Pardon the messy table.

DSC08632Then you want to flip the bezel over and remove the trackpad cable. Once done you can take the bezel off.

Acer Aspire 4830T Trackpad CableDisconnect the ribbon cables and remove the indicated screws. One screw is different and has a red dot instead of blue. This one goes through a fabric-like attachment on the cable that connects the USB (and I think audio) on the right side. Since it goes through this part the screw shouldn’t fall out, but the fabric may tear when screwing it back in so be careful. The green arrow on the USB+ cable can be removed either from the board in the middle or from the part on the right. It’s up to you to remove one or both connectors. Either way the screw in the middle must be removed.

Acer Aspire 4830T Top BezelOnce this is done you’re almost at the keyboard. Remove the entire top bezel including the keyboard. This entire part is now held in by clips so just snap them out. Personally I took it up from the left side, then the back (close to the monitor) then all the way around. I know the pic is dark.

Acer Aspire 4830T Top Bezel RemovalOnce the top bezel is off you should be able to see the motherboard and battery.

Acer Aspire 4830T MotherboardWe’re not going into any other type of replacement specifically right now – while you can replace some other parts with what’s been done so far what we want is the keyboard.

Acer Aspire 4830T Keyboard Bracket

The picture shows all similar screws in the same color. White arrows show clip areas. The screw in purple holds the USB ports and audio jacks (labeled as USB+ previously) and must be removed prior to sliding the bracket off. Once all the screws are removed slide the metal bracket up (according to picture orientation) and then lift it off.  There may be some tape holding the black covering to the bottom of the keyboard – just peel it off as you go along.From here you can take off the exact part number for the keyboard to order it. You can then either put it back together till  you get the part or leave it disassembled – just don’t lose the screws. Once you have the replacement keyboard just remove and replace. When done just follow the instructions in reverse to put it all back together.

Acer Aspire 4830T Keyboard Bracket2 Acer Aspire 4830T Keyboard Acer Aspire 4830T Keyboard PNPLEASE NOTE – Your keyboard part number may be different. Ensure you’re getting the correct part. On this one there are two possible numbers from Sunrex or Compal – simply search for either one on eBay or Amazon.