Problem with Fingerprint Scanner Swift 3 SF314-52

MDCCCLXXXIV · October 2018

Hello,

My laptop is Acer Swift 3 SF314-52 and I am so tired of the fingerprint scanner. It's been 1 year and there is no solution to this problem.

When I bought the laptop 1 year ago, the fingerprint scanner worked only after a restart. However I restart my laptop once in 2-4 weeks because I always put it to sleep. The fingerprint scanner would eventually stop working with "Something went wrong" message and it wouldn't work until the next restart.

After the 1803 update, the fingerprint scanner issue was resolved for good and I was very happy until recently when my laptop got KB4458469 and the problem is back...

Can someone tell me how to fix this problem? I want to use the fingerprint scanner for logging in.

Commodore_1995# · October 2018

Did you check if there are any drivers with problems in the device manager? Have you tried uninstalling this update?

MDCCCLXXXIV · October 2018

I tried everything which was related to the drivers - uninstall, update, USB settings and etc. The KB4458469 update is major, it includes many fixes and I do not think that uninstalling an update is a fix. Acer MUST fix it because the fingerprint scanner does NOT work since day 1 with the pre-installed Windows 10 on the laptop. The latest driver for the scanner is since 2017 with no further updates at all. They don't care...

They advertise it as a laptop with fingerprint scanner so they must make it work.

Commodore_1995# · October 2018

Check if there is any newer driver by copying the id hardware in google:

If this does not resolve, enable system protection to restore the notebook if necessary and download the driverbooster to update only this driver!
No need to install dashlane or gaming programs!
Let this program check and download only the fingerprint driver if it finds any updates! https://download.cnet.com/Driver-Booster/3001-18513_4-75992725.html?part=dl-

MDCCCLXXXIV · October 2018

Ah the drivers on Acer products are very tricky to update - impossible for a regular user.

ACER has decided that they won't provide updates to ANY drivers and that's fine... all drivers are 2017 versions. They don't care about customers' drivers and all but things go deeper than that - what they have done is so ugly. They signed ALL drivers as ACER drivers and therefore you cannot update drivers unless they release an ACER-signed driver which they don't do.

A good example is the Intel VGA driver which cannot be updated when downloaded from Intel's website.

Anyway, back to the fingerprint scanner, the drivers cannot be updated unless they are ACER-signed so I found a solution, I downloaded 2018 ACER-signed drivers for the fingerprint scanner from the latest generation of the SWIFT 3. Unfortunately, that didn't resolve the problem.

Commodore_1995# · October 2018

This update fixes issues with the 1803 version of windows 10! However, have you ever checked that downloading and installing version 1809 solves the problem? If you choose to upgrade, I recommend that you back up your files first!

Commodore_1995# · October 2018

I would try to update the drivers with the driverbooster, even though you say you could not upgrade in the conventional way!

MDCCCLXXXIV · October 2018

Thank you for trying to help...

Commodore_1995# · October 2018

Inform if the windows and drivers update solved the problem!

MDCCCLXXXIV · October 2018

No, it didn't solve the problem. I wish ACER could answer here but they wouldn't do it...

I only know that I won't buy an ACER product again.

Commodore_1995# · October 2018

Some Acer-Manny or Acer-Karp moderators often respond frequently! Have you tried upgrading windows to version 1809?

MDCCCLXXXIV · October 2018

egydiocoelho said:

Some Acer-Manny or Acer-Karp moderators often respond frequently! Have you tried upgrading windows to version 1809?

No, not yet... I guess it is still a beta version because Windows Update tells me it is up to date with 1803.

Commodore_1995# · October 2018

Actually it's not a beta! Microsoft removed this update from windows update, because some users lost some files during the update! When Microsoft re-releases, back up your files and upgrade! I downloaded it here and I'm really enjoying it, because besides being stable, the notebook boots much faster!

MDCCCLXXXIV · October 2018

egydiocoelho said:

Actually it's not a beta! Microsoft removed this update from windows update, because some users lost some files during the update! When Microsoft re-releases, back up your files and upgrade! I downloaded it here and I'm really enjoying it, because besides being stable, the notebook boots much faster!

Oh, if some users lost files during the update... I'd rather stay away from it. I will wait for them to fix it and I hope it will resolve the problem with the fingerprint scanner.

I had real trouble with 1803 because on computers with Intel 600P SSD it caused BSODs every time you use your laptop on battery power. So 1803 actually bricked my laptop for almost 1 month (until they fixed it).

Commodore_1995# · October 2018

Verify that disabling and activating the credential manager service resolves the problem:
gerente de servios credenciais

https://windowsreport.com/fix-fingerprint-reader-not-working-sleep-windows-10/

MDCCCLXXXIV · October 2018

No, it didn't fix the problem.

Commodore_1995# · October 2018

I would now try, wait for microsoft to relaunch version 1809 of windows 10 or check if a bios update will correct the problem! However I think bios update will not solve your problem!

MDCCCLXXXIV · October 2018

Lol, I already updated the BIOS to version 1.08 a few months ago. I saw there is a 1.09 but Device Manager wouldn't download and flash it. However, I also think the BIOS won't fix it.

Thank you for your real efforts to help, I appreciate it. Every forum needs people like you.

Commodore_1995# · October 2018

I think you should try to update windows here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Because the 1809 version is already available to create a boot drive! You do not need to format, just update the system! However, I recommend you do a backup before! Do this and post the result!

MDCCCLXXXIV · October 2018

I will wait for the official release of the 1809... I am pretty sure it will be soon. Then I will post the result.

Pseudynom · July 2019

I figured out a solution for the problem today. I have the Acer Swift 3 (SF-314-51-series) and when I tried to use the fingerprint sensor today I noticed that it would only work if I placed my finger in a specific way.

So what I did was adding more fingerprints of the same finger but in different angles/positions. Now it works almost every time when I try to use it to log in.