Acer TravelMate 540 Series User manual

Acer TravelMate 540 Series
Service Guide
SERVICE CD PART NO.: VD.T34V5.001
PRINTED IN TAIWAN
Service guide files and updates are available
on the ACER/CSD web; for more information,
please refer to http://csd.acer.com.tw

II
Revision History
Please refer to the table below for the updates made on TravelMate 540 service guide.
Date Chapter Updates

III
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 by Acer Incorporated. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
transmitted, transcribed, stored in a retrieval system, or translated into any language or computer language, in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual or otherwise, without
the prior written permission of Acer Incorporated.
Disclaimer
The information in this guide is subject to change without notice.
Acer Incorporated makes no representations or warranties, either expressed or implied, with respect to the
contents hereof and specifically disclaims any warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular
purpose. Any Acer Incorporated software described in this manual is sold or licensed "as is". Should the
programs prove defective following their purchase, the buyer (and not Acer Incorporated, its distributor, or its
dealer) assumes the entire cost of all necessary servicing, repair, and any incidental or consequential
damages resulting from any defect in the software.
Acer is a registered trademark of Acer Corporation.
Intel is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.
Pentium and Pentium II/III are trademarks of Intel Corporation.
Other brand and product names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

IV
Conventions
The following conventions are used in this manual:
SCREEN MESSAGES Denotes actual messages that appear
on screen.
NOTE Gives bits and pieces of additional
information related to the current
topic.
WARNING Alerts you to any damage that might
result from doing or not doing specific
actions.
CAUTION Gives precautionary measures to
avoid possible hardware or software
problems.
IMPORTANT Reminds you to do specific actions
relevant to the accomplishment of
procedures.

V
Preface
Before using this information and the product it supports, please read the following general information.
1. This Service Guide provides you with all technical information relating to the BASIC CONFIGURATION
decided for Acer's "global" product offering. To better fit local market requirements and enhance product
competitiveness, your regional office MAY have decided to extend the functionality of a machine (e.g.
add-on card, modem, or extra memory capability). These LOCALIZED FEATURES will NOT be covered
in this generic service guide. In such cases, please contact your regional offices or the responsible
personnel/channel to provide you with further technical details.
2. Please note WHEN ORDERING FRU PARTS, that you should check the most up-to-date information
available on your regional web or channel. If, for whatever reason, a part number change is made, it will
not be noted in the printed Service Guide. For ACER-AUTHORIZED SERVICE PROVIDERS, your Acer
office may have a DIFFERENT part number code to those given in the FRU list of this printed Service
Guide. You MUST use the list provided by your regional Acer office to order FRU parts for repair and
service of customer machines.

VI

vii
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 System Specifications 1
Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
System Block Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Board Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Top View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Outlook View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Front View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Front Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Left view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Right view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Rear Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Bottom Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Lock Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Embedded Numeric Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Windows Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Hot Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
The Euro Symbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Launch Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
E-mail Detection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Touchpad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Touchpad Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Hardware Specifications and Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Chapter 2 System Utilities 35
BIOS Setup Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Navigating the BIOS Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Main . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Boot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Exit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
BIOS Flash Utility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Chpater 3 Machine Disassembly and Replacement 49
General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Disassembly Procedure Flowchart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Removing the Battery Pack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Removing the HDD Module/FDD Module/Optical Module
CPU/Middle Cover and LCD Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Removing the HDD Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Removing the Optical Disc Drive Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Removing the FDD (Card Reader) Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Removing the CPU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Removing the Middle Cover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Removing the LCD Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Disassembling the Main Unit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Separate the main unit into
the logic upper and the logic lower assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Disassembling the logic upper assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Disassembling the logic lower assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

viii
Table of Contents
Disassembling the LCD Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Disassembling the External Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Disassembling the HDD Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Disassembling the Optical Disc Drive Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Disassembling the Floppy Disc Drive Module . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Chapter 4 Troubleshooting 65
System Check Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
External Diskette Drive Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
External CD-ROM Drive Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Keyboard or Auxiliary Input Device Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Memory check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Power System Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Touchpad check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Power-On Self-Test (POST) Error Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Index of Error Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Index of Symptom-to-FRU Error Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Intermittent Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Undetermined Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Chpater 5 Jumper and Connector Locations 79
Top View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Bottom View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Chapter 6 FRU (Field Replaceable Unit) List 81
TravelMate 540 Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Appendix A Model Definition and Configuration 100
Appendix B Test Compatible Components 101
Microsoft® Windows® XP Pro Environment Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Environment Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Appendix C Online Support Information 111

Chapter 1 1
Features
This computer was designed with the user in mind. Here are just a few of its many features:
Performance
TMobile Intel®Pentium®4 Processor with 512 KB level 2 cache featuring the new Enhanced Intel
SpeedStep®technology
TStandard 256 MB DDR333 SDRAM, upgradeable to 2GB on dual soDIMM sockets (Only one slot
for user accessible)
TIntegrated 24x CD-ROM, 8x DVD-ROM, 24/10/8/24x DVD/CD-RW combo or DVD-RW or DVD-
Dual drive
T30/40/60 GB or higher-capacity ATA/100 HDD
TLi-Ion main battery pack
TPower management system with ACPI (Advanced Configuration Power Interface) 1.0b supporting
Standby and Hibernation power saving modes
Display
T14.1” Thin-Film Transistor (TFT) liquid-crystal display (LCD) displaying 32-bit high colour up to
1024X768 eXtended Graphics Array (XGA) resolution
T15” Thin-Film Transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) displaying 32-bit high true color up to
1400X1050 Super eXtended Graphics Array + (SXGA+) resolution
T3D capabilities
TSimultaneous LCD and CRT display support
TS-video for output to a television or display device that supports S-video input
T“Automatic LCD dim” feature that automatically decides the best settings for your display and
conserves pwer
TDual display capability
Multimedia
T16-bit high-fidelity AC’97 stereo audio
TBuilt-in dual speakers
TBuilt-in microphone
THigh-speed optical drive
Connectivity
THigh-speed fax/data modem port
TEthernet/Fast Ethernet port
TFast infrared wireless communication
TUSB 2.0 (Universal Serial Bus) ports
TIEEE 1394 port
TDocking port for port replicator
TIntegrated Invilink wireless LAN module
TIntegrated Bluetooth module
System Specifications
Chapter 1

2Chapter 1
Keyboard and Pointing Device
TInternet 4-way scroll button
TSleek, smooth and stylish design
TAcer FinTouch full-sized curved keyboard
TErgonomically-centered touchpad pointing device
Expansion
TTwo type II or one type III CardBus PC Card slot
TUpgradeable memory
I/O Ports
TTwo type II or one type III CardBus PC Card slot
TOne RJ-11 phone jack (V.90/92)
TOne RJ-45 jack (Ethernet 10/100)
TOne DC-in jack for AC adapter
TOne parallel port
TOne VGA port for external monitor
TOne speaker/headphone-out jack (3.5mm mini jack)
TOne audio line-in jack (3.5mm mini jack)
TOne microphone-in jack
TOne IEEE 1394 port
TOne S-video TV-out port
TOne 100-pin port replicator
TThreer USB 2.0 ports
TOne FIR port (IrDA)
T5-in-1 Card Reader (Manufacture optional)

Chapter 1 3
System Block Diagram
A A
B B
C C
D D
E E
1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4
PCI BUS
LPC BUS
Clock Generator
uFCBGA-479/uFCPGA-478 CPU
CardBus Controller
ATI-RC300M
A-Link
H_D#(0..63)H_A#(3..31)
page 4,5,6
page 24
page 30
page 23
page 8,9,10,11,12,13
Intel Northwood
Power Circuit DC/DC
page 45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54
page 44
DC/DC Interface CKT.
HDD
Connector
page 29
Power On/Off CKT.
page 39
PSB
ATI-SB200
ENE CB1420
Memory BUS(DDR)
533MHz
2.5V DDR- 200/266
LAN
page 32
Mini PCI
socket
page 34
718 pin u-BGA
page 25,26,27,28
page 14
Thermal Sensor ADM1032AR
page 7
Fan Control
page 7
RJ45 CONN
page 32
IDSEL:AD19 (PIRQD#,GNT#1,REQ#1)
IDSEL:AD20 (PIRQC/D#,GNT#2,REQ#2)
CRT & TV-OUT Conn.
RTL 8100C/8110S
IEEE 1394 VIA-VT6301
page 33
CDROM Connector
LCD Conn
page 24
VGA M9 Embeded
IDSEL:AD16 (PIRQA#,GNT#0,REQ#0)
USB Interface
Primary IDE Secondary IDE
BGA 457 pin
SPR CONN.
page 43
*RJ45 CONN *PS2 x2 CONN *CRT CONN *LINE IN JACK *LINE OUT JACK *DC JACK *TVOUT CONN *PRINTER PORT *COM PORT *USB CONN x1
ICS 951402
3.3V 33 MHz
DDR-SO-DIMM X2 BANK 0, 1, 2, 3
page 42
Power OK CKT.
page 25
RTC CKT.
ATA-100 ATA-100 page 29
IDSEL:AD18 (PIRQC#,GNT#3,REQ#3)
W/O EXT VGA CHIP W/O EXT VGA CHIP
page 16,17,18,19,20
AGP BUS
ATI-M9+X/M10C
PARALLEL
Serial
page 38
FDD
page 43
SMsC LPC47N227
page 38
page 38
Super I/O
VGA DDR x2 CHA
page 21
VGA DDR x2 CHB
page 22
W/EXT VGA CHIP W/EXT VGA CHIP
page 31
Slot 1
page 31
Slot 0
RJ11 CONN
page 37
Mini-PCI solt
page 34
AMP
page 36
ALC202A
page 35
Audio Codec
page 37
MDC CONN
AC-LINK
USB conn x3
page 37
Card Reader
Bluetooth
page 37
BIOS Int.KBDTouch Pad
EC NS87591L
EC I/O Buffer
page 40
page 39 page 41
page 39 page 41
page 37
SPR USB X 2
page 43
VIA_VT6202 USB2.0
page 44
USB conn x4
page 37
IDSEL:AD27 (PIRQA/B/C#,GNT#4,REQ#4)

4Chapter 1
Board Layout
Top View
3 S-Video Port 41 RJ11
7 CPU Socket 34 VGA Memory
5 VGA Port 11 HDD Connector
31 Print Port 28 FDD Connector
37 ODD Module Connector 9 Card Reader Connector
2 Two USB Ports 27 DIMM Socket
4 Docking Connector 36 Battery Connector
19 RJ45 29 Fan Connector
8 IEEE 1394 Port 38 DC-In

Chapter 1 5
Bottom View
42 USB Port 25 North Bridge
30 Touchpad FFC Connector 13 LCD Cable Connector
24 South Bridge 18 Function Board Connector
15 Mini PCI Socket 26 DIMM Socket
17 Modem Connector 22 MDC Board Connector
12 Power Switch 16 Keyboard Connector
14 Lid Switch 35 PCMCIA Connector
33 VGA Chipset 6 Bluetooth FFC Connector
23 LCD Inverter Connector

6Chapter 1
Outlook View
A general introduction of ports allow you to connect peripheral devices, as you would with a desktop PC.
Front View
#Icon Item Description
1 Display screen Also called LCD (liquid-crystal display),
displays computer output.
2 Launch keys Special keys for launching Internet
browser, E-mail program and frequently
used programs. Located at the top of the
keyboard are five buttons. They are
designated as P1, P2, P3, E-mail button
and Web browser button. P1, P2 and P3
launch user-programmable applications; E-
mail and Web browser launch E-mail and
Internet browser applications.
3 Power Switch Turns on the computer power.
4 Touchpad Touch-sensitive pointing device which
functions like a computer mouse.
5 Click buttons (left,
center and right)
The left and right buttons function like the
left and right mouse buttons; the center
button serves as a 4-way scroll button.
6 Infrared port Interfaces with infrared devices (e.g.,
infrared printer, IR-aware computer.)
7 Floppy disc drive (or
card reader, if
installed)
Reads/writes data from/to the media.
8 Floppy eject button Ejects floppy disc. (N/A when card reader
installed.)
9 Speakers Outputs sound.

Chapter 1 7
10 Palmrest Comfortable support area for your hands
when you use the computer.
11 Keyboard Inputs data into your computer.
12 Status indicators LEDs (light-emitting diode) that turn on and
off to show the status of the computer, its
functions and components.
13 Latch Latch for opening and closing the laptop.

8Chapter 1
Front Panel
#Icon Item Description
1 Left Speaker Outputs sound for the left stereo speaker.
2 4-in-1 memory reader Reads cards from Smart Media, Memory
Stick, MultiMedia, and Secure Digital cards.
3 4-in-1 status indicator Displays activity of 4-in-1 memory reader.
4 Infrared port Interfaces with infrared devices (e.g., infra-
red printer, IR-aware computer).
5 Bluetooth button Starts Bluetooth functionality.
6 Bluetooth indicator Indicates that (optional) Bluetooth is
enabled.
7 InviLink button Enables or disables wireless LAN feature.
8 InviLink indicator Indicates status of wireless LAN communi-
cation
9 Latch Latch for opening and closing the laptop.

Chapter 1 9
Left view
#Icon Item Description
1 Optical drive Houses an optical drive module (CD-ROM,
DVD-ROM or DVD/CD-RW combo drive).
2 Optical drive indicator Lights up when the optical drive is active.
3 Eject button Ejects the drive tray.
4 Emergency eject slot Ejects the drive tray when the computer is
turned off.
5 PC card eject button Ejects the PC card from the slot.
6PCcardslots
Accepts two type II or one type III PC cards.
7 Headphone/Speaker/
Line-out Jack
Connects to audio line-out devices (e.g.,
headphones, speakers).
8 Microphone/Line-in
jack
Accepts audio line-in devices (e.g., micro-
phone, audio CD player, stereo walkman).

10 Chapter 1
Right view
#Icon Item Description
1 USB port Connect to Universal Serial Bus devices
(e.g., USB mouse, USB camera).
2 Ventilation slot Lights up when the AcerMedia drive is
active.
3 Power jack Connects to an AC adapter.

Chapter 1 11
Rear Panel
#Icon Item Description
1 Security keylock Connects to a Kensington-compatible
computer security lock.
2 S-video Connects to a television or display device
with S-video input.
3 External display port Connects to a display device (e.g., external
monitor, LCD projector).
4 Parallel port Connects to a parallel device (e.g., parallel
printer).
5 USB ports Connects to Universal Serial Bus devices
(e.g., USB mouse, USB camera)
6 Expansion port Connects to I/O port replicator or
expansion devices (e.g., Acer EasyPort).
7 Network jack Connects t an Ethernet 10/100-base
network.
8 IEEE 1394 port Connects to an IEEE 1394 device.
9 Modem jack Connects to a phone line.

12 Chapter 1
Bottom Panel
#Icon Item Description
1 Battery bay Houses the computer’s battery pack.
2 Battery release latch Unlatches the battery to remove the battery
pack.
3 Cooling fans Help keep the computer cool.
Note: Don’t cover or obstruct the opening
of the fans.
4 HDD Houses the computer’s Hard Disk.
5 FDD/card reader cable
connector cover
Accesses the cable connectors for the FDD
or card reader.
6 AcerMedia Bay Houses an AcerMedia drive module.
7 AcerMedia Bay
release latch
Unlatches the AcerMedia drive for
removing the optical drive.