Acer Laptop Support - Tech support only, read the rules or you will be banned

Acer Service

Hi,

We act on behalf of Acer within Ireland and the UK. Anyone having in or out of warranty issues may post their issues here and we will try and help.

Please limit your queries to Acer specific queries as we will not help with third party software or hardware issues.

Note: Our engineers are extremely busy and may not reply to all queries straight away but will endeavour to help where possible.

For all in and out of warranty repair requests please contact us on;

www.acerwarranty.co.uk or 0044 (0) 870 803 4915

Regards,

Andrew Elwood

ACER Service Manager,
ACER Warranty Centre Ireland,
ER Media, IT Partner.



70 Scarva Street, Banbridge, Co. Down. BT32 3AD │ Tel: 0870 803 4915 │ Fax: 0870 803 4918 │ E-mail: aelwood@it-partner.co.uk

Tom Dunne

THE RULES:

This thread is for technical support. It is an unofficial forum, not in any way endorsed by Acer themselves.

If you have a gripe with the level of support you are getting from Acer, this is not the place for it. Take it up with them directly either in writing or over the phone.

Anyone who breaks this rule will get themselves a ban.

This is not to protect Acer, far from it , this is more to keep with the spirit of the thread.

I'm making this a sticky to see if Acer can redeem themselves.

Please keep this thread to Acer laptops that you already own. Requests for pre-sales advice will be deleted.

smee204

Hi
I have had a acer aspire 1963wlmi for about 2 years now and it went wrong a few months ago. The laptop is in warrenty and it has been sent off to Acer to be repaired 4 times so far and every time it has come back not fixed. The last time it was being delt with by the escalation department but it still didnt get fixed and it came back with the original fault and also after 10 mins of using it the motherboard which they repalced died. I have sent it off to them again, this being the 5th time. I have sent an email to the escalation department asking for a refund, but as usual they have not replyed. Do I have any rights? I really just want a refund as they have been mucking me around and it has been costing me a lot of time and money getting it sorted and I have lost all faith in the Acer brand and the fact that they can repair my laptop.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Acer Service

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to post.

If you can provide me with a private message with your details including previous repairs I will look into this case. You say you've had this machine for 2 years, do you have an extended warranty for this laptop?

With regards to rights, your warranty is for repair and not replacement. Until such time as Acer cannot repair this machine they will continue to repair it. Without going to much into legal stuff (I'd like to keep this thread friendly) your contract is with your reseller, you have more of a legal standing with them with regard to replacement/refund.

Acer Service Manager Ireland

mdwexford

i bought an Acer aspire 5633wlmi off laptops direct last week
straght out of the box it wouldnt boot up. it said some system 32 file was missing. now im trying to return it but they want me to pay the return costs which im refusing to do as its their problem. im now contacting the director of consumer affairs and my solicitor about this as its a disgrace

NeoSlicerZ

Hi,

I recently sent my Acer 8204 WLMi off to be repaired, after it came back, it's been consistently randomly rebooting. Any idea?

Acer Service

mdwexford wrote:

i bought an Acer aspire 5633wlmi off laptops direct last week
straght out of the box it wouldnt boot up. it said some system 32 file was missing. now im trying to return it but they want me to pay the return costs which im refusing to do as its their problem. im now contacting the director of consumer affairs and my solicitor about this as its a disgrace

As far as I am aware the reseller is quite within their rights to ask you to pay for return costs for faulty goods bought via telephone or internet. However... Acer will not, carriage in and out is covered under warranty. Contact us on 0870 803 4915 and we will initiate DOA( Dead On Arrival) actions. DOA conditions are this: 1) The fault must be reported to us within 5 days of purchase with POP to prove this, 2) Once the machine arrives with us we have 5 days to repair the unit to a working condition. If we cannot repair the unit within 5 days we will replace it with a new machine of equal or better specification.

If you reported the fault to the reseller and not to us within 5 days we will not classify it as DOA and the reseller must replace/repair/refund the unit. However, it does of course still hold a valid 1 year limited warranty and can come in for repair with us (without the 5 day promise).

I hope this is of help, it's all laid out in your warranty leaflet that came with the unit if you wish to read it in more detail.

Acer Service

NeoSlicerZ wrote:

Hi,

I recently sent my Acer 8204 WLMi off to be repaired, after it came back, it's been consistently randomly rebooting. Any idea?

When you say randomly rebooting, does it actually restart the computer? and if so are there any particular things you are doing with the machine when it does this?

If the problem persists log the job on www.acerwarranty.co.uk to bring it back in for repair making sure to list your previous job number(s) and a clear description of the new fault.

NeoSlicerZ

It restarts it upon coming back from suspension and otherwise during random tasks I'm doing, games, video clips etc.

Acer Service

Sounds like it may be either software issue or hardware overheating. Try a full Acer factory restore of the operating system, if that doesn't resolve the issue log it on our website for repair.

Note; If you don't have factory restore media you can either use E-Recovery in windows to remaster or hit Alt+F10 just after the Acer splash screen on Bios disappears to enter the recovery module. Default password is 000000 unless you have entered your own password in which case you will need to remember it.

Tar.Aldarion

Hey, a couple of years ago I got a laptop off you. It was broken when I got it, it would't boot up for ages after I turned it off and tried to turn it on again. I had to wait a few hours at a time to turn on my laptop. I sent it back a couple of times. The first time it was sent back saying that there was no problem, it was just dust causing it to overheat, which I specifically told support on the phone that it was not. I sent it back again, it was gone for months again. Whenever I called about it: 'The engineer has not had time to look at it yet' or some such. I basically never got to use it within the warranty.
Acer replaced it with a new laptop, which was very nice, and appreciated.

Now, my new one, which was sent to me last year has been acting up.
It keeps getting really hot and turning off when using it for a few hours, or playing a game etc. If I don't hover the laptop with the fan completely unobstructed it goes off much faster. Ie I can't even put it on a table unless I have the fan, which is on the bottom, off the edge of the table.

The fan makes a loud noise when turning on the laptop which calms down when not processing too much.
I think there is a problem with the fan, it's just not working efficiently enough, or is hitting off something etc.
Now, because off the circumstances in getting the laptop, I am wondering whether there would be a new warranty with the new machine(I imagine I have it less than a year) or did mine run out before I got the new laptop, wondering about getting it fixed etc.

Acer Service

Tar.Aldarion wrote:

Hey, a couple of years ago I got a laptop off you. It was broken when I got it, it would't boot up for ages after I turned it off and tried to turn it on again. I had to wait a few hours at a time to turn on my laptop. I sent it back a couple of times. The first time it was sent back saying that there was no problem, it was just dust causing it to overheat, which I specifically told support on the phone that it was not. I sent it back again, it was gone for months again. Whenever I called about it: 'The engineer has not had time to look at it yet' or some such. I basically never got to use it within the warranty.
Acer replaced it with a new laptop, which was very nice, and appreciated.

Now, my new one, which was sent to me last year has been acting up.
It keeps getting really hot and turning off when using it for a few hours, or playing a game etc. If I don't hover the laptop with the fan completely unobstructed it goes off much faster. Ie I can't even put it on a table unless I have the fan, which is on the bottom, off the edge of the table.

The fan makes a loud noise when turning on the laptop which calms down when not processing too much.
I think there is a problem with the fan, it's just not working efficiently enough, or is hitting off something etc.
Now, because off the circumstances in getting the laptop, I am wondering whether there would be a new warranty with the new machine(I imagine I have it less than a year) or did mine run out before I got the new laptop, wondering about getting it fixed etc.

Hi,

When your computer was replaced your original warranty would have continued into the new laptop, so it sounds as if you are out of warranty. If you have documentation and dates showing how long the machine was "not being enjoyed" because of repair times Acer may extend your warranty a bit. This would be at Acer's discretion and I am not sure if this would be enough to ensure a free of charge repair now. Acer will not add all repair time on to your warranty of course but in extreme cases they can add some extended warranty to a machine as a customer service.

The hard fan noise you hear is quite normal when you start a laptop as the fan will always start at full rpm then rev down as it measures the heat within the machine.

Although you say dust is not the issue it does sound as if you are not letting the laptop properly ventilate. An out of warranty solution might be some sort of Antec laptop cooler unit which would circulate air under the latop better. Also, check if the environment in which you are using the laptop is particularily dusty and if a large amount of particulate has collected around the fan which may be cleaned with an air duster.

Tar.Aldarion

Acer Service wrote:

Hi,

When your computer was replaced your original warranty would have continued into the new laptop, so it sounds as if you are out of warranty. If you have documentation and dates showing how long the machine was "not being enjoyed" because of repair times Acer may extend your warranty a bit. This would be at Acer's discretion and I am not sure if this would be enough to ensure a free of charge repair now. Acer will not add all repair time on to your warranty of course but in extreme cases they can add some extended warranty to a machine as a customer service.

Thanks, I thought that was the case.
My warranty would be up by now then.

The hard fan noise you hear is quite normal when you start a laptop as the fan will always start at full rpm then rev down as it measures the heat within the machine.

It is louder than it normally should be, also very loud when under processing stress, not idle. It sounds as though it may be just clipping very lightly off of something.

Although you say dust is not the issue it does sound as if you are not letting the laptop properly ventilate.

If I hold the laptop in the air, with nothing possible to obstruct it, it goes off due to overheating. I tested everything I could. If I put it on a table, a desk, hold it in the air etc, it goes off. It's perfectly clean, as I'm quite careful, and need it a lot for work/programming.

The dust thing I was referring to, was with my old laptop that you replaced. I believe they didn't know what was wrong with it, so they just said that it was dust(while also replacing the screen, for no reason that I can see). When I sent it back saying, it was not overheating or dust that was the problem and that I already told them that, they replaced it. I don't know why it took months each time though, the carrier was quite fast. That laptop does not matter any more though. It was just mentioned for the warranty question.

An out of warranty solution might be some sort of Antec laptop cooler unit which would circulate air under the latop better.

I must look up that, thanks.
Sounds like something like that might do the trick. If not I suppose I'll open it up and have a look at the fan.

Also, check if the environment in which you are using the laptop is particularily dusty and if a large amount of particulate has collected around the fan which may be cleaned with an air duster.

It's so clean I could eat off it.

Thanks a lot for your reply.

--

Paul

jayo2004

I purchased an Acer laptop from Laptops Direct and some of the keys were not working ( left & right arrows, delete, home, end, most on the right hand side). I rang Laptops direct who put me on to acer who then put me on to ER Media and was told to box it up and a courier would collect it. I am waiting a week for someone to come collect it even after several calls to ER Media they say they will contact DHL. I have a Tracking Case ID if its any use??:mad:

For all in and out of warranty repair requests please contact us on;

www.acerwarranty.co.uk or 0044 (0) 870 803 4915

I have done this at least 10 times this week

Acer Service

Private message me your reference number, quite frankly DHL are awful in the South. If this is the customer I am thinking of I have personnally rang DHL at least a dozen times and keep getting the same answer "We'll email Dublin". Unacceptable and I apologise.

jayo2004

Thanks DHL called today for it.

NeoSlicerZ

Have done a full restore, still no joy. Will still reboot randomly on me, exhaust from the fan doesn't seem to be hot so I don't think it's heat really. Also upon start up the first time it loads windows it seems to bug and restart. Sometimes this happens multiple times untill windows loads, this was also happening before I did a full restore and after aswell.

Acer Service

Technical diagnosis.....it sounds broke :rolleyes: Log it on www.acerwarranty.co.uk and make note of any previous job numbers and we'll get it repaired for you asap.

FXstud

I want to open my Acer Ferrari 3200Lmi to ugrade ram for vista. I just want to know how to open this laptop up so I wont damage the piece. Any help apreciated. Info on where the RAM chips are located and how to remove them would be welcome

Acer Service

I wouldn't advise that anyone who doesn't know how to fit memory already opens their laptop up. Opening some of those panels may invalidate your warranty so in my opinion you should take it to a qualified techinician and have it done properly.

FXstud

This machine is three years old I wouldn't mind if i screw it up. I have Seen a report of Someone who opened up his dell to do the Same- easy jobs. I am willing to take the risk. Afterall how am I going to learn?

Cheez

Hey there, i've an Acer Aspire 1640 i purchased through the internet from the UK and the screen keeps acting up. My backlight won't work and the screen flickers annoyingly and sometimes doesn't work at all. Any ideas as to what i should do to get it fixed as I don't want to post it to England as I use it regularly.
Thanks for your time

Acer Service

Hi,

There is nothing I can advise that won't invalidate your warranty. It would need to come in for repair with us in N.Ireland. If it is a simple inverter failure (backlight) it shouldn't be away for very long. The only thing I could advise you to check would be the small button that senses the screen being closed on the laptop. This button actually controls the inverter and if it is making contact when it shouldnt be it may cause backlight failures and screen issues, although this is unlikely.

TomCo

Hi,

I have an Acer Aspire 1691WLMi, the dvd drive stopped working the other day. The last time I used it was a few weeks ago to burn a dvd now it wont even read a disc.

I tried taking it (the drive) out and putting it back in several times but it didnt help. I don't even think its spinning the disc, the drive is receiving power but it just makes this "Duuuuh.....Duuuuh......Duuuh" quiet tone and then stops, it even does it when the drive is opened and closed with no disc.

The drive itself is detected fine in windows.

edit: oh yeah a good while ago, not knowing how to remove the drive, I just pulled it until it came out breaking a small plastic tab. I've since read that you're supposed to screw off panels and remove hard drives and all sorts of crap just to remove the drive. It worked fine afterwards but thats the only thing I can think of that could have damaged it.

gaz15

Hi I have an acer Travelmate 2355lc. My problem is with the sound and that I keep losing it and I have n idea why. It just randomly cuts off and t get the sound back on it I have to switch the laptop off and then back on again. I have it around 18 months and it has been doing this for the last 6 or 7 months. Any ideas would be appreciated.

sound_wave

Heres the story, got my Acer around 4 months ago which came with XP Home and the bundled Acer software, after playing with it for a day or two checking wireless and bluetooth worked I wiped the HD and threw on XP Pro. On installing XP Pro I was notified that XP couldn't find a bluetooth device on the machine even though I had just used it about 1 hr previous and upon further inspection, it seemed that the buttons for turning on and off the bluetooth and the wireless NIC don't work at all. I can however turn the wireless NIC on from Start >> Connect To >> Wireless Network Connection so thats working, if not the way it is fully intended.
I know that was 4 months ago but I got a new phone recently and want to synch it via bluetooth with my laptop so I'm stumped as to how to fix the button problems. I have everything with the latest drivers etc and the WIDICOM bluetooth driver install throws an error when i try to install it saying that it cant find a bluetooth device.

Opening Device Manager and under Bluetooth Devices all I see is a Bluetooth Bus Enumerator. I'm really stuck on this one so if anyone could help out I would appreciate it.

Thanks!

Acer Service

TomCo wrote:

Hi,

I have an Acer Aspire 1691WLMi, the dvd drive stopped working the other day. The last time I used it was a few weeks ago to burn a dvd now it wont even read a disc.

There's a good chance you may have broken the connection between drive and mother board. If it is under warranty I would suggest sending it to us for repair, if we find it to be accidently damaged or out of warranty we can inspect and repair at cost.

00353 (0) 870 803 4915

Acer Service

gaz15 wrote:

Hi I have an acer Travelmate 2355lc. My problem is with the sound and that I keep losing it and I have n idea why. It just randomly cuts off and t get the sound back on it I have to switch the laptop off and then back on again. I have it around 18 months and it has been doing this for the last 6 or 7 months. Any ideas would be appreciated.

This was an issue with the boards in the 3000 range where the driver would conflict with another device and require re-installation or restart to solve. In most cases this can be fixed by flashing the BIOS with the most up to date BIOS revision available on the Acer website and updating the driver with the most up to date revision. Please make sure to use the acer approved drivers on the website and not manufacturers drivers etc (these are made to NOT conflict with other Acer hardware inside your machine). Failing this the only resolution is a new main board.

Acer Service

sound_wave wrote:

Heres the story, got my Acer around 4 months ago which came with XP Home and the bundled Acer software, after playing with it for a day or two checking wireless and bluetooth worked I wiped the HD and threw on XP Pro

The drivers for the Acer bluetooth devices are particularly picky, they seem to install and give no errors but simply dont work if you have the wrong one. They are also region sensitive from my experience. In one instance it took me 3 days of searching Acer internal sites in Taiwan to get a driver for a new bluetooth card I was fitting for a customer. My advice, dont install XP Pro when Home will do the job. And in wiping the Hdd you most likely deleted the hidden partition information used to remaster your machine.

j22

I have an acer travelmate 4050 an at the start of the week it froze and i took out the battery and left it cool for a while.

When I turned it back on, I could hear the fan but nothing appeared on the screen.

I finally got it running but it kept flashing a blue screen with lots of writing on it and and kept restarting itself before I could read ehat was on the screen. It only flashed for less than a second.

At one stage i actually got logged into the computer but it restarted again.

Finally, a blue screen appeared saying something about STOP 0xC000021A {Fatal System Error}, but didnt stay on long enough for me to read the full thing.

My father is the IT teacher in the local school and he gave it to the person that services the computers for the school. He said that he would have to send it away and that it would cost too much for it too be worthwhile.

Just wondering if there is anything that can be done for it without sending it away.

Acer Service

j22 wrote:

I have an acer travelmate 4050 an at the start of the week it froze and i took out the battery and left it cool for a while.

Usually one of three things cause this problem;

• Memory
• Hard disk drive fault
• Software

Try and factory restore using the disks you got with the machine or ones you created. Failing that you could send it in for checks on hardware with us. See previous posts for contact details.

KTRIC

I sent an Acer C311 back 2 weeks ago, who can I call to get an update on it. The shop i bought it in sent it to the repair center in NI.

Anyone got the number for them ?

Acer Service

KTRIC wrote:

I sent an Acer C311 back 2 weeks ago, who can I call to get an update on it. The shop i bought it in sent it to the repair center in NI.

Anyone got the number for them ?

That's us, 0044 (0) 870 803 4915.

Call for an update any time Mon-Fri 09:00-17:30.

jayo2004

I purchased an Acer laptop from Laptops Direct and some of the keys were not working ( left & right arrows, delete, home, end, most on the right hand side). I rang Laptops direct who put me on to acer who then put me on to ER Media and was told to box it up and a courier would collect it. I am waiting a week for someone to come collect it even after several calls to ER Media they say they will contact DHL. I have a Tracking Case ID if its any use??

My Laptop is gone over a month now and still no sign of getting it back is this a joke?????

Acer Service

jayo2004 wrote:

My Laptop is gone over a month now and still no sign of getting it back is this a joke?????

The ETA on this part into Acer UK is 30/4/07, I expect to receive it very soon. As soon as we receive the part required for your repair we will endeavour to fix and test your laptop with 48 hours. If this part resolves the issue you should expect to receive your machine back very soon after.

Whilst we always attempt to repair machines as quickly as possible your warranty clearly states that repair times are restricted by parts availability. If a part is not in stock at the time of repair we must wait for that part to arrive.

Kingkong

Hi,

I bought this over 3 year ago now. Its been repaired before by a crowd called mikrolive in England. They replaced the screen. A couple months later the screen started to show line goind through it and scrambled picutre. I suspect a loose connection.

Is this type of problem repairable and how much roughly would it be.
P.S Do you sell batteries

Acer Service

Kingkong wrote:

Hi,

I bought this over 3 year ago now. Its been repaired before by a crowd called mikrolive in England. They replaced the screen. A couple months later the screen started to show line goind through it and scrambled picutre. I suspect a loose connection.

Is this type of problem repairable and how much roughly would it be.
P.S Do you sell batteries

I doubt it's a loose connection tbh, more likely graphics card or faulty screen. It would need to come in for assessment before I could quote prices for repair. Contact us on 0044 (0) 870 803 4915 to arrange collection and inspection.

Voodu Child

The power supply on my Acer Travelmate 3002WTMi won't work properly. Either the female socket in the computer, or the 2.5mm (or whatever size it is) plug that goes into it is the problem, im not sure which.

Any bit of movement causes the power to flick on and off, sometimes the only way to keep the power going to the laptop is to physically hold the male plug against the socket in the computer with one hand.

I have a new PSU ordered, so i should know if the problem is with the PSU or the actual socket in the computer.

What is worrying me though, is that even when the machine is getting power, the batteries are no longer recharging. Both of the batteries were 100% fine until the power supply problem started about a week ago. Is it possible that an intermittent power supply could have somehow damaged the recharging circuit?

The batteries are now slowly discharging at a couple of % a day because of the power supply flicking on and off. Eventually, both batteries will die, and because it's hard to keep power going to the computer for more than a minute or two without it cutting out, once both batteries are dead, that'll be it, i wont be able to get power to the machine long enough to even boot it up.

KTRIC

Hey Acer Support,

I got an Acer C311xmi tablet pc back from yourselves today and it seems to have the rubber feet on the base of the laptop removed making it unstable when sitting on a table.

Can you have a look into this and let me know what I should do.

jayo2004

Its been nearly 2 months now my laptop is gone. I was told on Friday that you had the parts. Is there any chance in getting my laptop back before the warranty runs out on it???. If it cannot be repaired i want a new one A.S.A.P

Tom Dunne

jayo2004 wrote:

Its been nearly 2 months now my laptop is gone. I was told on Friday that you had the parts. Is there any chance in getting my laptop back before the warranty runs out on it???. If it cannot be repaired i want a new one A.S.A.P

Jayo, this is an unofficial support forum for Acer laptops. If you are that cheesed off, get on the phone and start talking to someone. You cannot be certain Acer Support will be viewing this, or responding every day.

jayo2004

Right I got the laptop back but it has marks all over the Lid. I sent up a brand new laptop to you guys and it now looks about 2 years old. I will be contacting Acer themselves about this as I want a refund or a new laptop. Tom I do realize this is unofficial support but I am posting to let other people aware of this disgraceful service:mad:

mdwexford

i had major problems with Acer as well, i found them unhelpful and disinterested.
i will never buy an Acer product again and i would urge others to think twice, if something goes wrong you will have a lot of hassle getting it sorted.

Acer Service

Sorry for not replying for a while, been out of the office. I'll go back through the outstanding posts and give feedback as soon as possible.

Thanks

Acer Service

voodoo_child wrote:

The power supply on my Acer Travelmate 3002WTMi won't work properly. Either the female socket in the computer, or the 2.5mm (or whatever size it is) plug that goes into it is the problem, im not sure which.

Three things could be wrong;

1) You've damaged the power pin inside the laptop which now isn't making proper contact (your new PSU won't help).

2) The pin on the male end of your PSU is broken (check for physical damage)

3) Your using the wrong PSU, you'd be surprised how easy it is to mix up PSUs that all look the same at home. This would also explain why the battery isn't charging.

I'd really need a look to make any definate faults though.

Acer Service

KTRIC wrote:

Hey Acer Support,

I got an Acer C311xmi tablet pc back from yourselves today and it seems to have the rubber feet on the base of the laptop removed making it unstable when sitting on a table.

Can you have a look into this and let me know what I should do.

Certainley, call me and I'll mail them to you. 0870 803 4915

Acer Service

tom dunne wrote:

Jayo, this is an unofficial support forum for Acer laptops. If you are that cheesed off, get on the phone and start talking to someone. You cannot be certain Acer Support will be viewing this, or responding every day.

I don't make light of your issues, but this forum is not to deal with this type of issue, I will continue to look into your case but we work under Acer's mandate. I can assure you everything is being done at our end to return your laptop in a working state as quickly as possible, we are at Acer's mercy with parts distribution and warranty terms and conditions.

I can see from our records your laptop is now returned and I hope the issues resolved.

Acer Service

mdwexford wrote:

i had major problems with Acer as well, i found them unhelpful and disinterested.
i will never buy an Acer product again and i would urge others to think twice, if something goes wrong you will have a lot of hassle getting it sorted.

Call me, I assure you I am never disinterested. 0870 803 4915.

Brenner

Hey, got an acer aspire 9300 there the other day and uninstalled Vista and put xp pro (32bit edition) on in

Anyway I'm having driver issues with the wireless device.

Basically an "Unknown Device" comes up in my Device Manager -
"Modem on Audio Bus"

...or something like that, sorry don't have it with me in work for exact error wording.

Either way, the wireless (Foxconn - Atheros) driver doesn't seem to be working (uninstalled/reintalled etc.)
is there any other driver that might work? or is there conflicts between that driver and the nvidia one maybe?

Any suggestions appreciated.
Cheers
Bren

Acer Service

Brenner wrote:

Hey, got an acer aspire 9300 there the other day and uninstalled Vista and put xp pro (32bit edition) on in

Anyway I'm having driver issues with the wireless device.

Basically an "Unknown Device" comes up in my Device Manager -
"Modem on Audio Bus"

...or something like that, sorry don't have it with me in work for exact error wording.

Either way, the wireless (Foxconn - Atheros) driver doesn't seem to be working (uninstalled/reintalled etc.)
is there any other driver that might work? or is there conflicts between that driver and the nvidia one maybe?

Any suggestions appreciated.
Cheers
Bren

Two things, the "Modem on Audio Bus" you mention is not the wireless card, it is the audio device on the modem. You should use the official ACER drivers from The FTP Site to install this correctly.

Secondly, Acer laptops REQUIRE the ACER "Launch Manager" software to actually initialise the wireless device in the laptop. If you have wiped the HDD and re-installed windows I would guess that you didn't re-install this software. Go to this link to download it and see if the button on your laptop to switch on the wireless card now works. Software Utilities

I would suggest you go through most of these drivers and software and install them as neccesary, when you get the wireless card up and going you'll most likely require drivers for it. If you cannot find XP software/drivers on this site try going back out to another older machine that was shipped with XP and installing the software from it. Be careful not to install incorrect drivers as this could make things appear to work but not. Acer drivers are often changed to make them compatible with other components in the machine, downloading manufacturers drivers can sometimes cause more issues than they resolve.

Brenner

Hi Cheers for the info,

I hadn't installed the modem driver yet, guess that will fix that...

Yeah I'd installed the launch manager because I knew I needed that for the program launch buttons etc. (the only drivers I've installed are from ther acer FTP/downloads URL)

Are you saying that if I press the button for the wireless and "Wireless Enabled" or something comes up in green at the bottom - Launch Manager is Installed?

This and other messages come up but I can't see my network...the wireless symbol flashes -
Not solid as in the initial install with Vista... does that mean its driver is good and it just can't see the network?

Listen, cheers, I'll go home tonight and try a few things and hopefully get it sorted.
Will post tomorrow RE Progress.

Thanks for the help,
Bren