Acer Aspire 4810T Repair and Upgrade

Let me start off by saying I got a hand-me-down Acer Aspire 4810T in pretty bad condition. Bottom case holding down the hinge assembly was broken on both sides making it difficult to open the laptop without feeling like the whole thing was going to break. Also the AC adapter is missing.

First things first, buy parts so at least the whole thing will stay together.

• Bottom case here or search at ebay.com.
• Top case here or search at ebay.com.
• LCD back case here or search at ebay.com. The seller lists the item in Miami, but I'm receiving it from outside the US.
• AC adapter here or search at ebay.com.

While researching parts for the Acer Aspire 4810T, I found a version of the motherboard with a Intel Core 2 Duo Processor SU9400 (3M Cache, 1.40 GHz, 800 MHz FSB). The original motherboard for the 4810T has an Intel Core 2 Solo Processor ULV SU3500 (3M Cache, 1.40 GHz, 800 MHz FSB).

See review of the Acer Aspire 4810T here at notebookcheck.net.

Specifications

• Intel Core 2 Solo SU3500 1.4GHz
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 4500MHD
• 4GB DDR3 PC3-8500F (2x2GB), max 8GB
• 14 inch 16:9, 1366x768
• Intel GS45
• 320GB HDD
• Realtek HD Audio
• Atheros AR8131 mini PCI-E gigabit ethernet controller
• Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5100 AGN (a/b/g/n)
• HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GU10N
• 633Wh lithium ion, 10.8V 5800mAh
• Ports
• 3x USB 2.0
• 1x VGA
• 1x HDMI
• 1x cable lock
• 1x mic and audio out
• 1x 5 in 1 card reader

Flip the machine over, remove battery and remove bottom access panel. Remove the hard drive and DVDRAM drive and remove all the screws from the bottom of the laptop.

Open the computer screen and pull the keyboard off.

Remove the keyboard and the wireless LAN card.

Remove the top case and then remove the LCD.

Acer Aspire 4810T I/O board.

Notice that there's unused trace for another mini PCI-E connector. The original mini PCI-E connector is 6.5mm high, but I couldn't find one that high, so I used a 5.9mm mini PCI-E connector that I already had on hand. See mini PCI-E connector here from newark.com.

For the screw posts, I found these M2.5 2.9mm high standoffs here from mouser.com.

See attached mini PCI-E connector.

On the bottom of the I/O board, there's an unused trace for a SIM card.

Unfortunately, the 4810T bottom case does not have a cut out for the SIM card. I probably won't add the SIM card holder because generally I don't use mini PCI-E WWAN cards.

2017-01-30 Update

Ok, I couldn't help it. Having free SIM card trace, I decided to get the 6pin SIM card holder and solder it on. Why? WHY NOT!? I picked it up here from mouser.com.

2017-02-01 Update

Finally got most of the pieces to put the notebook computer together. Here's what I got:

• Palm rest (top case) - $39.00
• Bottom case - $17.62
• LCD back case - $39.00 - still waiting on this part. I think it's coming from China somewhere.
• Original Acer Aspire 4810T AC adapter - $14.89

Total for all the case parts was $110.51.

The Acer Aspire 4810T has a model with an Intel Core 2 Duo SU9400 1.4GHz. I found the Acer Aspire 4810T motherboard with the SU9400 here on ebay.com. I replaced the stock thermal paste with Arctic Silver 5.

The video processor originally had a thermal pad over it (processor on the bottom), and there was a gap between the heatsink and the processor, so I added a 15x15x0.5mm copper shim to the heatsink.

Still waiting for SIM card holder, by the way.