[ale] Repair help for Linux Netbook

[Aaron Ruscetta]

I have a friend fighting USB quirks on her Linux
netbook.  She's pretty savvy and I think she's tried
a couple of different distros on the thing to solve
the issues.  Seems like a bios level issue, but I
haven't ever had hands on the system to make
an informed judgement.

She's looking for suggestions on reliable repair
shops or other paths to resolving the USB
problems.  Reply off line unless you feel your
info might be of use to others here.

peace
aaron

==================
It's an Acer Aspire One.

Originally, the problem was that the touchpad (or track ball
or mouse) wouldn't respond and twice Acer updated the
Bios, which didn't permanently solve the problem.
That problem has recently solved itself ([the computer]
heard me threatening to throw it out?), but now it doesn't
recognize that there's anything in the USB ports.  Which
seems like it might be a related problem, or the same
problem manifesting itself in a different way.

Thanks!