Turn French Aspire 5742G into English? Tips on buying a keyboard?

mrpete

Hi -   This is my first post here. I've never had an Acer before.

I recently acquired a used Acer Aspire 5742G (actually 5742G-486G75Mnkk aka PEW71) that has:

• a French keyboard
• a Windows 7 Home COA
• no hard disk

I know how to (legally) download Windows 7 Home and reinstall the OS myself.

My first question is ...

Other than the 3 steps below is there anything else I need to do to turn this "French laptop" into an English one?

Step 1 - replace the French keyboard with an English keyboard

www.eBay.com lists *many* keyboards. They can be found via the search terms below.
(acer,aspire) (5742,5742G,PEW71) keyboard

Step 2 - install a blank HDD/SSD

Step 3 - install an English copy of Windows 7 Home

Wow, there a lot of options for buying the English keyboard on eBay! Since a keyboard is a mechanical component that will wear over time I'll get a new one.

I could be wrong, but I believe that Acer part number KBI170A.172 (aka KB.I170A.172) is the keyboard that I need. These alternate part numbers MAY be equivalent: V104730DS3 UI, 90.4HV07.S1D, 904HV07S1D.

The eBay sellers seem generally to not give the Acer part number for their keyboards. I saw a part number of PK130C93A00 on an eBay ad for a used keyboard.

Question 2: Anybody have any suggestions/tips about PURCHASING a keyboard on eBay? I guess I should get a stock Acer keyboard. Maybe the aftermarket has a superior (non-Acer) keyboard? I have no idea. I want the best and most compatible US keyboard.

I have a fair amount of purchasing experence on eBay so I've got that general routine down pat. I've also got the 5742G keyboard deinstall/install covered (with plastic/bamboo release the 6 plastic kbd lock tabs "@top" of kbd - lift up kbd - unlock kbd cable connector - remove cable - reverse for install).

 

THANK YOU!

 

ietguy

That looks right. As far as the keyboard on eBay, I would stick with the New Genuine Acer Aspire keyboards. Good luck!

laurent_14

Hello mrpete,

 

I confirm you the part number of keyboard for the Aspire 5742G:

 

KB.I170A.172 - KEYBOARD.US-INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH.104K.BLACK

mrpete

Thanks for the input ietguy and laurent_14!

The buying of the keyboard is turning out to be quite a task. It's not because a keyboard can't be found, not at all. The problem is that there are dozens (hundreds?) of offerings and I'm spending HOURS trying to tell which are the genuine article and which are not. Of course, almost all of them say "I'm the real thing" in the title or description and the backs all look substantially different.

The Acer part number (PN) should be KB.I170A.172 / KBI170A172, but of all the keyboards I've seen on eBay none of the images have that PN (expressed exactly that way) on the back of the keyboard. That KBI PN was given to me and comes from the Aspire 5742/5742G/5742Z/5742ZG Series Service Guide. One keyboard that I saw did have a number quite like the KBI PN above incorporated into a longer number. It started out with KBI170A083 and the keyboard had the correct US key layout.

I think that one of the problems is that Acer likely uses different suppliers for the same part at different times, so there can be more than one "Genuine Acer" offering. Other OEMs (such as Dell, etc.) do this all the time.

I took my "French" keyboard off of my Aspire 5742G and the label on the back says "Vendor: Chicony." There are many other numbers and also a tiny QA "form" (that gets scribbled on) that's 50% bigger than the size of your thumbnail.

This sourcing problem is a total pain (PITA). At the end of this process I'll post if this turned out OK.

mrpete

Well, I spent many hours trying to track down a real Chicony replacement keyboard for my 5742 and I found what I thought were several candidates, but I really wasn't sure.

So I called Chicony. They're the original manufacturer and are a giant company in Taiwan. They have an office in California, so I called CA. It turns out that Chicony hasn't made laptop keyboards for MANY years.

It's quite likely that the "Chicony replacement keyboards" that I had found are faked up say they were made by Chicony. They could be new old stock, but likely most have fake names on them. They could still work perfectly well, but you can't be sure of that.

I called Acer support. They can't/won't help because that laptop was originally purchased in France and has a SNID (and ser. #) that's not in the USA Acer support computer system ... can't do anything without a verified SNID.

A new search strategy is needed.

laurent_14

Hello mrpete,

 

This one is a Chicony keyboard. I don't understand because on the Chicony website I see always laptop keyboards.

The part number begin by MP- .

mrpete

Yup. You are correct.

It appears that you know more about the products of Chicony than the Chicony employee that I spoke to (twice).

Thank you very much!

mrpete

Right off the bat - To: Laurent & ietguy - I want to say "Thank You!" to both of you because of the help you have given me.

Well, here's what happened ...

I had wanted to get an new Acer ("real") keyboard, but it was too difficult for me to figure out which of the hundreds of offerings on eBay were the "real" keyboards and which of the others should be compatible (no 100% certainty there). It doesn't help the authentication problem that Acer has likely had more than 1 supplier for this part.

It's like they're all jumping up and down screaming "I'm the real thing/original part." Obviously, most of them are NOT the original part because the backs of the keyboards all look too **bleep** different.

If you query for the terms below on eBay (in the USA) you get over 800 results.

(acer,aspire) (5742,5742G,PEW71) keyboard

I went through them all. The vast majority are reasonable looking offerings.

I ended up buying a used keyboard that had the exactly correct part number on the back and the exactly correct function symbols (in blue) on the front. The back looks exactly like the keyboard that I have (French), but it has different numbers. I got what I needed.

After it arrived I spent 20 minutes cleaning it with a soft vacuum brush, a small (2 inch) brush, tiny tweezers from a Swiss-style army knife and a Q-tip with a few drops of isopropyl alcohol on it. There was a modest amount of dust/crumbs/eyebrow (or other) human hairs/etc. on the keyboard before I cleaned it ... not any more. It is very clean now. Cleaning this laptop keyboard was actually a LOT easier than cleaning most desktop keyboards.

I made sure that the alcohol did not come into contact with the letters/numbers/symbols because they are decals. BEWARE.

The keyboard has been installed and is working perfectly.