Fingerprint reader not operating if Norton is uninstalled? Aspire 5

grschultz1st
grschultz1st Member Posts: 2 New User
edited August 2019 in Aspire Laptops
I purchased an Aspire 5 last month from Amazon and I am very happy with the features. I especially wanted the integrated fingerprint reader.  One thing I did not want was the Norton Security package that came with the computer as I prefer to use something else and the trial was only good for 30 days, not even long enough to figure out everything it is trying to interfere with. 
Anyway, after setting things up and installing programs that I do desire, I uninstalled the Norton stuff using the Norton NRnR uninstaller which I saw recommended on this forum.  A day afterward I found that my fingerprint reader was no longer working, with the computer reporting under Sign-in Options that "Face and fingerprint recognition are not available on this device".  That is clearly not true as I used the feature for at least two weeks! After a few days of exploring possible reasons (both here and elsewhere) I called Acer. The tech had me reset the BIOS but that did nothing. Then he told me I needed to reset Windows itself, losing all of the programs I had already installed.  To my surprise, this actually worked, and I had the working fingerprint reader again.
Today, after re-installing all of the programs I need, I once again uninstalled Norton and the fingerprint reader was not working after the restart.  Clearly it appears that removing Norton causes the problem.  
Can anyone here comment on this problem and offer a solution short of re-installing Windows again?
Thanks,
Gary

Best Answer

  • Ishy
    Ishy Member Posts: 143 Skilled Fixer WiFi Icon
    edited August 2019 Answer ✓
    Hi, @grschultz1st Try to reinstall the driver for fingerprint driver and check.
    1) Open device manager then search for Biometric Devices. Look below for example 

     
    2) Right click and uninstall device. Please make sure not to check the box when uninstalling the driver.
    3) Restart the system and check if it works properly. 

    You can also try resetting bios settings.
    Follow the steps below:
    1) Turn off the device.
    2) Press power button and immediately press F2 button for 4-5 times. 
    3) This will take you to Bios.
    4) Press F9 and click yes then Press F10 and click yes.
    5) This will restart the device and check if this help fix the issue.

Answers

  • Ishy
    Ishy Member Posts: 143 Skilled Fixer WiFi Icon
    edited August 2019 Answer ✓
    Hi, @grschultz1st Try to reinstall the driver for fingerprint driver and check.
    1) Open device manager then search for Biometric Devices. Look below for example 

     
    2) Right click and uninstall device. Please make sure not to check the box when uninstalling the driver.
    3) Restart the system and check if it works properly. 

    You can also try resetting bios settings.
    Follow the steps below:
    1) Turn off the device.
    2) Press power button and immediately press F2 button for 4-5 times. 
    3) This will take you to Bios.
    4) Press F9 and click yes then Press F10 and click yes.
    5) This will restart the device and check if this help fix the issue.
  • grschultz1st
    grschultz1st Member Posts: 2 New User
    Thanks Ishy! I got it working. Sorry for the very late reply, I've been traveling.
  • Ishy
    Ishy Member Posts: 143 Skilled Fixer WiFi Icon
    @grschultz1st No problem at all, I am glad it's working again.
  • polssn
    polssn Member Posts: 1 New User
    I had the same problem on Swift 5. I agree Norton seems to be involved here as I had a similar experience.

    I was however not able to resolve the problem with the actions above.

    Instead, after making sure the last remnants of Norton was gone and I had reloaded the bios defaults as above I went in and registered a 2nd fingerprint.

    This new fingerprint is also not recognised but miraculously the first one is now recognised.

    So it seems the hello system is confused about how many fingerprints is actually registered. It seems to think that there are n-1 registered.

    I am guessing this was a parting gift from Norton.
  • Redched
    Redched Member Posts: 2 New User
    edited July 2021
    I just had the same problem. Uninstalling the driver worked for me to fix the fingerprint reader.

    Additionally though, when I go to the sign-in options it says windows hello pin is currently unavailable, even though I am able to use the pin to sign-in. Is there a way to fix this error message because as it stand I won't be able to change the pin if I wanted to.

    I'm using a local account to login rather than a Microsoft account.