Second hand Acer Aspire 5733 malfunctioning -have technical questions

Purchased 3 y ago in back alley Chinese shop Dublin. The audio (mic only) does not work. Recently I have a fresh problem where the battery always has zero charge. I went through troubleshooting steps, and needed to try updating BIOS. So had to register on Acer website. The serial of this laptop, LXRN5020851XXXXXX obtained using cmd>wmic bios get serialnumber. Acer website does not recognize this serial number. Q1)Is it possible the serial number was altered by the second hand dealer? Q2) Is it possible this is not an Acer Aspire 5733 or perhaps not an Acer at all? How to find out?

The applications for updating the BIOS provided for Acer Aspire 5733 have a folder called Windows and one called DOS. The DOS one says it is incompatible, while the windows application runs but says later the battery needs to be at least 20% charged. So the updating software isn't working/updating my BIOS. Moreover it is given for windows 8 and earlier. I now have windows 10. Is there a way to get BIOS updates for Acer Aspire 5733 for windows 10, or is the windows 8 version good enough? It does not seem to work, and is this Acer anyway?

I tried the Acer phone for Ireland 01 437 8367. They want a 11 digit serial or repair case number. Naturally these numbers are not going to be useful for me. I need troubleshooting advice and help with the above. It is also likely I need to speak to an Acer technician, free or paid, and who to speak to, if the product is second hand?

[Edited the content to hide sensitive information]

Accepted answers

468959

Thank you so much. It runs on charger only

All comments

AnhEZ28

@468959 using serial for getting the drivers sometimes doesn't work so you will have to use the model number instead. For the battery, one of the cells inside it is faulty and hence, the whole battery pack cannot be recharged. You can get a replacement battery (might be difficult to find an original) in order for the BIOS update to work.

billsey

Use either Aspire 5733 or LX.RN502.085 for your model number. Your system is more than ten years old, so they have likely taken it out of their warranty database, which is why the SN isn't working. I'll ask the moderators to edit your serial number to hide personal information though, since you aren't supposed to post the full number here.

Q1) The SN looks like it is correct for your system.

Q2) The info looks like it's an Acer Aspire 5733.

Likely the battery is old enough that it has failed, hence the 0% reading. Does it run on battery at all, or only when on the charger? Replacement batteries are available, but it might just be easiest to leave it as it is and use it as a desktop with the charger always connected. BIOS versions aren't different for different OSes, except for the move from Windows 7 to Windows 8, where some BIOSes changed from legacy boot mode to UEFI. Your system came from the factory with Windows 7 and didn't support UEFI, so that was never a factor.