The Asus A53U-ES21 is a midsize budget laptop which began production in 2012.

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Your computer will not read discs or the optical drive fails to respond.

Try a disc that you know is functional to make sure that the problem is with the computer itself. If both the hardware and the disc are functional, uninstall the disc driver and restart your computer. If a disc is inserted but does not begin to rotate, you may need to replace the drive following this guide.

Your screen is damaged, displaying incorrectly, or black even when you know your computer is on.

Check that your screen is in fact the problem rather than some other component by connecting your computer to a display, such as a computer monitor or TV screen. Having determined that the screen is in fact the problem, try performing a hard reset by removing the battery, pressing the power button for 15-30 seconds, and then restarting your computer using your charger without replacing your battery.

If that fails, try making sure that your screen is properly connected to the rest of your computer.

Your keyboard inputs incorrectly, is unresponsive, or is damaged.

If your entire keyboard is unresponsive, you may need to replace it following this guide.

Oftentimes there is a physical cause that prevent keys from being pressed completely, or from returning to position after being pressed. If there is a physical obstruction, such as a crumb, blow it out using a can of air. If the key is sticky because of a spill, use a cotton swab dipped in isopropyl alcohol, also known as rubbing alcohol, to clean the key. Remove the individual key that is blocked or sticky might be necessary to fully clean.

Individual keys that are damaged or missing can be replaced without replacing the entire keyboard.

You cannot save any more files to your hard drive, or cannot access files on it.

If the hard drive is running out of space, you can delete older files to make room for newer ones, or consider replacing the hard drive with a larger one using this replacement guide.

If the hard drive is making a loud click upon start-up or when trying to access the files, the hard drive has failed and will need to be replaced using the replacement guide.

Your computer gets excessively hot and often shuts off without warning.

Computers often get dusty on the inside after being used for a while. To easily clean this, use compressed air to flush out the ventilation system and fans. Often times, it is more effective to use the compressed air on the exhaust (the holes that air is blown from while the computer is on) and then the intake (the holes that air is drawn in from while the computer is on), as this stirs the dust out of its settled spot regardless of where it is.

Ensure all fans are spinning by making sure you can feel both air being taken in and being blown out from the respective holes, and try to visually check to see if all fans spin. If a fan is not spinning, it will likely need to be replaced, which can be done using this guide.

Your computer is slow to perform basic processes and applications even after waiting after startup, or freezes and stutters in the middle of processes.

If your computer freezes or is slow to load, it likely needs more RAM to perform its tasks. You can add additional RAM or replace current RAM with larger sticks using this guide.

If you cannot add more RAM, it may help to close some processes that you do not need to be running. To do this, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc (all three buttons at the same time) and wait for task manager to pop up. Go to the “Performance” tab, and note the percent (or ratio) next to “Memory.”

If this percent is high, you should go back to the “Processes” tab, and click the “Memory” column to sort by what processes that take the most to least memory. Click on any process you recognize and know to be unnecessary, and click “End Task” at the bottom right to stop it (Processes like “Service Host:…” or anything from Windows are likely important and should not be closed).