Acer Travelmate 550 Service Guide

TravelMate α
αα α-550
Service Guide
  PART NO.: HLX.0550.001 
                                                                                                                                     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 α-550 service guide.
DateChapterUpdates 

III
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 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...

IV
Conventions
The following conventions are used in this manual:
Screen messagesDenotes actual messages that appear 
on screen.
NOTEGives bits and pieces of additional 
information related to the current 
topic.
WA R N I N GAlerts you to any damage that might 
result from doing or not doing specific 
actions.
CAUTIONGives precautionary measures to 
avoid possible hardware or software 
problems.
IMPORTANTReminds 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 Acers 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...

VI 

VII
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 System Specifications  1
Features  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  1
System Block Diagram  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
Board Layout   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
Top View  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....

VIII
Table of Contents
Disassembling the DVD-ROM Module   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  63
Chapter 4 Troubleshooting  65
System Check Procedures  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  66
External Diskette Drive Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  66
External CD-ROM Drive Check   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  66
Keyboard or Auxiliary Input...

Chapter 11
Features
This computer was designed with the user in mind.  Here are just a few of its many features:
Performance
❑Intel® PentiumTM III or Intel® CeleronTM processor with one-die level 2 cache
❑128 MB memory onboard and one memory upgrade slot
❑Large LCD display with adjustable video memory
❑High-capacity, Enhanced-IDE hard disk
❑Lithium-Ion main battery pack
❑Power management system
❑DualView capability
❑Simultaneous LCD and CRT display
Display
❑14.1” Thin-Film Transistor (TFT) liquid-crystal...

2Chapter 1
Human-centric design and ergonomics
❑All-in-one design (CD or DVD, floppy drive, and hard disk)
❑Sleek, smooth and stylish design
❑Full-sized keyboard
❑Wide and curved palm rest
❑Ergonomically-centered touchpad pointing device
❑Launch keys (supports Audio DJ feature)
Expansion
❑Upgradeable memory and hard disk
Keyboard and Pointing Device
❑85-/86-key Windows keyboard
❑Ergonomically-centered touchpad pointing device
I/O Ports
❑One type III or two typeII/I PC Card slots (PCMCIA, CardBus)
❑One...