My Acer aspire 5100 laptop (with VISTA Home) will start and I get the normal screen. But the mouse and keyboard do not work. Someone suggested using a PCMCIA/USB card to get it to work with an external USB keyboard and USB mouse. Do you think that will work? If not, any other suggestions on this problem? Thanks!

1) You are saying that the laptop's built-in mouse (touchpad?) and keyboard don't work? (fyi, if applies in your case, some laptops have a switch near the touchpad that turns them on/off) Check your user documentation

2) If 1 above is true, then you certainly need at minimum an external mouse / keyboard to even just diagnose/try to fix your problem. However, you mention needing a PCMCIA/USB card.. Any reason for you to believe the USB ports on the laptop aren't working either?? Just try plugging a USB mouse into the laptop's USB port?

Thank you for your quick response. There is no switch to turn the mousepad on/off. I tried using a USB mouse, but it didn't work either. I will try the PCMCIA card to see if that will solve the problem. I was told that the PCMCIA card might allow an external keyboard and or mouse to work. I was also told that the problem was in the motherboard, but the PCMCIA card was a work around that problem. Thanks again.