[YellowFever]

If anyone knows a thing or two about computers i could use the help. yesterday while on my laptop, the lil bugger shut off, then shot out a few puffs of smoke from the area underneath the power button, near where the ac jack plugs in. Well needless to say it is in no working condition, but i was just wondering if this was something i could fix with a new part, or if i should just bag the thing...

Thanks,

Chris

 

[madcapmag]

You might have to bag it. Laptop parts are hard to find. Sounds like there was a short or something overheated in there (laptops have a hard time with heat issues). What kind is it? Others might have suggestions, but from what I've seen, laptops are harder to work with.

 

[YellowFever]

I'm pretty sure its a cooked motherboard... cooked something at least! Hopefully i can find some spare parts on ebay, or at least a cheap desktop or something. Replacing this beast would be quite the challenge on part time college pay!

 

[northriver]

Sounds like the power supply! at least call a few stores ( not big stores ) small like PC CLUB and such. see how much one is before you scrap it.

 

[YellowFever]

Its a bit worse than that... otherwise it would power up with the battery- I'll try to take it in somewhere, maybe they can get some of my stuff off it. Whats really ironic is that just yesterday i decided to back up all my pictures on dvds! That still doesn't replace my portfolio of writings and essays, but you just can't replace pictures....

 

[mitch]

You can always remove the hard drive and connect it to another machine. Even if the hard drive died you can still get data off it. Whatever you do, don't just take it to Best Buy or some other crappy computer repair place. Most of those heros will over right the data on your drive with a restore disk to return it to factories settings. You do have a hardware issue and probably either a power supply or motherboard but don't assume the data is lost yet.

 

[fishing bear]

Do you know that all things that are electric run on smoke and when the smoke gets out that's a bad thing.

Couldn't help myself sorry to hear about your problem.

 

[talljeeper]

You dont say what the make, year, etc... are. Very important to know more

Have you tried it with the battery removed if it was in? The battery could be the culprit OR the Ac adapter. IBM "dogbone" adapters were notorious for what your describing. If its new enough there may also be an extended mfg warranty.

If you can find a like machine on ebay or elsewhere you "should" be able to do a HDD (hard disk drive) swap. Many times however mfgs. will alter HDD configurations within a product line.

A little more information might give me a clue where I can help you source a like machine.

I would guess as already stated that you have a "toasted" motherboard. Hopefully it didnt get deeper into the machine which is a probability.

Paul

 

[zvic733]

Do you know that all things that are electric run on smoke and when the smoke gets out that's a bad thing.

Couldn't help myself sorry to hear about your problem.

You just have to put the smoke back in. Way easier said than done though.

 

[YellowFever]

You dont say what the make, year, etc... are. Very important to know more

Have you tried it with the battery removed if it was in? The battery could be the culprit OR the Ac adapter. IBM "dogbone" adapters were notorious for what your describing. If its new enough there may also be an extended mfg warranty.

If you can find a like machine on ebay or elsewhere you "should" be able to do a HDD (hard disk drive) swap. Many times however mfgs. will alter HDD configurations within a product line.

A little more information might give me a clue where I can help you source a like machine.

I would guess as already stated that you have a "toasted" motherboard. Hopefully it didnt get deeper into the machine which is a probability.

Paul

Its a Gateway 6500GZ series I bought new in september of 2005. There is currently no warranty on it, and i have tried powering it up with battery, without, with ac, without.... For all I'm concerned if i can't get anything off that hard drive that thing might as well be just a highly pollutant akward shaped fishing sinker...

Thanks for the help