# Acer Aspire 5551. Black Screen.



## Nathan_Standing (Apr 5, 2009)

I've had my Acer aspire 5551 on Windows 7 home premium for almost 2 years and recently it has been playing up, not recognising my DVD drive and turning off whilst in use. It could be 5 minutes in or 5 hours in. It varies and is unpredictable. Can anybody provide me a fix? Thanks.


----------



## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Turning off could easily be a overheating issue. 
Not recognizing the optical drive could be the drive nearing end of life but intermittent problems are hard to accurately diagnose.
Have you gave the unit a good cleaning with compressed (canned) air recently/ever?
Problems/failure with a laptop that is 2 yrs. old would not be uncommon.


----------



## Nathan_Standing (Apr 5, 2009)

I've had minor issues previously but nothing major. I've not had a thorough clean of the unit.


----------



## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Cleaning is the best place to start.


----------



## Nathan_Standing (Apr 5, 2009)

And how do I go about that?


----------



## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

With compressed (canned) air. The CPU heatsink/fan is the best place to start. Use a non-metallic object to keep any fans from spinning while blowing into them.


----------

