Acer Aspire 5750G - Disable lid sensor?

I have an Acer 5750G laptop that I want to use as a headless HTPC. However, I have found that there is a hardware control which prevents the machine from powering up when the lid is closed and there doesn't seem to be any BIOS/software fix for this. Apparently there is a hall effect sensor that interacts with a magnet in the bezel to detect when the lid is closed. It seems like I should be able to remove this magnet to avoid triggering the sensor and leaving the laptop in a permanent "open" state. However, is that actually the case? I have seen other threads that suggest when the magnet is missing the machine powers off unpredictably. Has anyone done this successfully and can offer any advice?

Accepted answers

ShaggyMoose

I managed to remove the magnet and everything seems to work fine. i.e. The machine will resume from suspend while closed. Kudos to Acer for at least making the disassembly straight forward. For anyone else wanting to try the same, there is a useful (but not particularly necessary) video here that shows bezel removal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv81Xiy6Nno

The magnet is taped to the bottom left of the bezel frame (just above the power button) and is easily removed.

All comments

billsey

Normally you only need to go into power options and deal with what to do when the lid closes, setting it to do nothing. Then with the laptop open and Windows running, you close the laptop and Windows keeps right on running. You probably do have to open it to turn it on, but it'll stay on after you close, as long as you have power.

ShaggyMoose

The issue isn't about what happens when you close the lid, it is about being able to power the laptop back on again while the lid is still closed. As per the below, it seems this is intended behaviour by Acer, but its very annoying they didn't expose this as a configuration in the BIOS.

https://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/28604/kw/wake

ShaggyMoose

I managed to remove the magnet and everything seems to work fine. i.e. The machine will resume from suspend while closed. Kudos to Acer for at least making the disassembly straight forward. For anyone else wanting to try the same, there is a useful (but not particularly necessary) video here that shows bezel removal.