An Acer computer tale of woe

[boater sam]

In the last 14 months I have experienced 3 Acer Touch V3-112P computer failures.
All are irreparable without considerable expense.
The problem is the touch pad ceases to work due to a terrible ribbon cable connector on the motherboard which simply fails to hold the ribbon. Also the grounding of the pad is by conductive sticky tape to the metalwork which fails to conduct properly when it gets hot. As there is no fan in this model, it is a frequent case of intermittent problems.
As a personable recommendation from my experience, don't buy one.
So as I am away travelling, its back to using a mouse on the last surviving computer.

[Raditechman]

......its back to using a mouse.......

I never like touch pads and always plug a mouse into any laptop I may be using.
I find I can navigate quicker with the mouse.

John

[boater sam]

Very true John, me too. But if you have a good touch pad, when travelling around it is easier than having to carry and look after a rodent. 
I can do everything with the touch screen but it becomes a strain when you have big fat fingers and dragging and dropping file names is most awkward.
Using the screen and the on screen key board is also a pain, that's another reason I find a tablet impractical.
This computer will accept voice commands but I feel self conscious talking to myself! 
Having seen the connector in question I think in a quiet moment I will have a go at rejigging how the ribbon is held in.
A wireless mouse is my prefered method when on the boat at home, the freedom of movement is wonderful.

[Nick]

Very true John, me too. But if you have a good touch pad, when travelling around it is easier than having to carry and look after a rodent. 
I can do everything with the touch screen but it becomes a strain when you have big fat fingers and dragging and dropping file names is most awkward.
...
Having seen the connector in question I think in a quiet moment I will have a go at rejigging how the ribbon is held in.
A wireless mouse is my prefered method when on the boat at home, the freedom of movement is wonderful.

Touch pad/or screen? Apples vs. Pears. I have a mini bluetooth mouse (Lenovo mobtc9la) that works very well and is small - I use this on aircraft all the time, and it's great. I hate touchpads, but there again I mainly do CAD & graphics stuff. I run the mouse on the side of my trousers - works really well in confined spaces.

The connector is almost certainly an FFC/FPC cable - they need to be seated really carefully and the small plastic clamps that hold them into the sockets are delicate and break easily.

FPC is pretty much an industry standard - for them to fail generally means someone has been frigging around where they shouldn't be.

[boater sam]

That was my first thought about the connector as I have always found them to be OK. But the techie was not surprised that it was failed, not broken in any way.
It would have been out once when the know alls at PC World fitted the 8Gb memory.....................Nuff said?

[Nick]

It would have been out once when the know alls at PC World fitted the 8Gb memory.....................Nuff said?

I rest my case, m'lud...

They probably didn't release, or more likely broke, the strain relief which can be a bit fiddly to remove and re-seat - if they forced it, then that may well be the cause - FPC connectors are not forgiving of the unwashed.

[boater sam]

Had a go at the connector today. Its a wedge that pushes onto the metal contacts above the ribbon, there is no "box" in the black base for it to fit in, a purely friction fit with the metal bits going into multiple fingers on the white plastic wedge. Not the hinge up type I have seen before, an appalling poor idea.
No chance of it fitting.
Located the ribbon ok onto the contacts and taped 2 bits of match stick so that the base cover puts pressure on the ribbon.
Happy that I had contact, I re-assembled it all but its still not working so assume that the pad itself is duff, highly likely as it has been making an intermittent contact when the pointer was jumping all over the screen before it went off.
So I have given it up as a bad job, can't win them all. Patience exhausted.
Silk purse and sow's ear thing. 
Won't be buying another - ever.

[Nick]

Can you post  a photo of the connector in situ please?

[boater sam]

NO! its 13 screws just to get the back off again, 2 more holding the battery. And no camera! Never did master using the web cam to take pix.
Besides, its not worth looking at, and its tiny. 

[boater sam]

Its been a while and a lot of travelling but there is an update to this tale.

I was happy that my matchstick fix had resulted in the touch pad ribbon cable being well connected in the damaged FPC connector but the pad still refused to work on any function.
A mouse in the USB worked perfectly.

Then, last week my wife went down with pneumonia and had to be taken to hospital by ambulance, 4 hours away.
I followed after grabbing clothes etc in a van. 6 days of IV antibiotics etc.
She has recovered, I had to stay in hospital as her carer, its not like the NHS here! 

But that's not the news!

The touch pad has recovered and works fine now.  Is this due to the hospital? Aliens? Updates? Luck?

The Acer techy was convinced it was dead, he was good, checked everything including drivers, bios and software.
But it has mysteriously fixed itself.

Any light forthcoming from anyone? Or am I in a parallel universe?