Member Avatar for Bongo2k

(this isnt the problem, i just wanted to write a nice story. The problem will come later:))

Being a college student i dont often come home, i came home this weekend to find the aformentioned Laptop lying around. From what my old man said the owner of it said she smelt burning and then the laptop stopped working. He mentioned a power surge. The details are a bit thin because i didnt really get to talk to the owner of said laptop. The only thing i found out was that it was bought from canada 3 years ago(Im in England).

The power supply is working fine, supplying a healthly 18.5volts as it says it should. No LEDs will light up when the power supply is plugged in, and the contacts are too hard to reach to test the battery. Ive also tried the supply in the laptop without the battery in.

The reason i am posting this is because it is in really good condition(no dead pixes, no scratches, no marks or spillages) and i would hate to chuck it simply because the problem isnt apparent at the moment. I myself own plenty of desktop machines but simply dont have the funds to get a modern Laptop so fixing this would make me more happy than anything :).

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A concise, practical supplement to the thread: reported a Presario that stopped powering after a suspected surge and a burning smell; wondered if it was beyond repair; asked for chip markings to identify a damaged part. Below are focused, safe diagnostics and realistic next steps that were not yet spelled out.

  • Safety first: remove battery and unplug AC before probing. Work on the board only with basic ESD precautions and a current-limited bench PSU if applying power for diagnostics.
  • Visual and smell check: inspect the DC jack, input area and nearby SMD parts for heat discoloration, cracked solder joints or bulging caps. A faint high-pitched whine near the input often points at a switching stage (inductor/coils) or arcing at the jack.
  • Multimeter checks (no power applied, then with AC as needed): check continuity of the DC path, look for near-short between the main + rail and ground, and confirm voltage at the board input test points (use the barrel and the first point on the board). A low-ohm short suggests a blown regulator/MOSFET or an electrolytic cap failure.
  • Replace the easy parts first: a worn/loose board-mounted DC jack, burned fuse/polyfuse, or visibly failed caps are inexpensive fixes. If the short is inside a switching regulator or a PMIC, that usually needs either advanced soldering or a donor board.

Data and repair options: the HDD symptoms indicate possible drive or controller damage. If data is important, stop normal boots and image the drive with a tool that tolerates read errors (or send to a recovery lab). For the laptop itself, document and photograph any component markings (as suggested) — posting clear photos of chip markings will help identify replacements. If board-level power ICs are faulty and soldering expertise or a donor board is unavailable, factor repair cost against replacing the motherboard or the laptop; salvage parts (screen, RAM) are often the pragmatic fallback.

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Member Avatar for Bongo2k

EDIT: One thing i forgot to add, as a side effect of the power problem the hard disk has died, i've plugged it into a external 2.5" hdd caddy and windows detects the disk(the USB plug in sound plays) but the disk isnt accesable, it is also not acessible in the computer management section, the MMC just hangs.

Update1: Tested the power connecter, theres a steady 18v going through that too, very odd...

Ive managed to get the beast apart, there seems to be no visual burn marks or anything. The only thing that i can see/hear that is out of the ordinary is that somewhere near the power plug something is emitting a high pitched sound, ive encountered this before with my PDA...any ideas?

Member Avatar for jbennet

if it managed to do enough damage to render the hard disk inoperable then i think its beyond repair

Member Avatar for editorizer

(this isnt the problem, i just wanted to write a nice story. The problem will come later:))

Being a college student i dont often come home, i came home this weekend to find the aformentioned Laptop lying around. From what my old man said the owner of it said she smelt burning and then the laptop stopped working. He mentioned a power surge. The details are a bit thin because i didnt really get to talk to the owner of said laptop. The only thing i found out was that it was bought from canada 3 years ago(Im in England).

The power supply is working fine, supplying a healthly 18.5volts as it says it should. No LEDs will light up when the power supply is plugged in, and the contacts are too hard to reach to test the battery. Ive also tried the supply in the laptop without the battery in.

The reason i am posting this is because it is in really good condition(no dead pixes, no scratches, no marks or spillages) and i would hate to chuck it simply because the problem isnt apparent at the moment. I myself own plenty of desktop machines but simply dont have the funds to get a modern Laptop so fixing this would make me more happy than anything :).

I have an HP ZE4400 that has a burned chip -at PO15 that may be your problem too. I can't ID the chip - Can you please read the numbers of that chip off your motherboard. I will be greatly appreciative. The board is the same as the Compaq 2100.

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