I spilt some wine over my laptop keyboard, but stupidly left it running as I
didn't think it would do much harm, and I was a bit drunk at the time. Doh!


Something went "fizz" and I lost the screen, and got lots of furious beeping
going on.

I took it into work next day and dismantled it to see what was going on.
There was very little wine inside, and none that I could see on the
motherboard itself, but this is what I found:


http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2728/imag0141ux.jpg


The connector is the one going to the screen, and as you can see it has got
very hot around the 2 pins on the far right. The melted blob next to C29
used to be a 6 pin IC.


I'd be interested to know how the wine might have caused so much damage, I'm
guessing the 6 pin device might be the power supply for the screen?

Cheers,


Gareth.

I'm sorry I don't have an answer (one does not normally think of wine as a
highly conductive fluid), but I'd like to comment about insurance.

When I bought my notebook computer a year ago, I splurged on an extended
warranty. The warranty covers loss and even accidental damage of the sort you
experienced.

Gareth Magennis formulerede spørgsmålet:
I spilt some wine over my laptop keyboard, but stupidly left it running as I
didn't think it would do much harm, and I was a bit drunk at the time. Doh!


Don't drink and surf :-)

--
Husk kørelys bagpå, hvis din bilfabrikant har taget den idiotiske
beslutning at undlade det.

On Sun, 6 Jan 2013 14:49:35 -0000, "Gareth Magennis"
wrote:

I spilt some wine over my laptop keyboard, but stupidly left it running as I
didn't think it would do much harm, and I was a bit drunk at the time. Doh!

Wine is somewhat conductive. Conductivity testing is used to
determine the Potassium concentration of the wine and therefore its
stability:
http://winechek.com/webfiles/Stabilab%20GW%20article%20Dec%2010.pdf
http://www.mbhes.com/conductivity_measurement.htm
1000 uSiemens/cm isn't very conductive. Compare with sea water, which
is about 50,000 uS/cm. In SI units, 1000 uS/cm would be

Get it really cold, and wine improves superconductors:
http://io9.com/5731129/drunken-scientists-pour-alcohol-on-superconductors-and-make-an-incredible-discovery

Something went "fizz" and I lost the screen, and got lots of furious beeping
going on.

This is a clue that you screwed up. However, it must be contageous.
Last week, I was marching to the bathroom in the middle of the night
and stepped on my Thinkpad T30, cracking the LCD screen.

I took it into work next day and dismantled it to see what was going on.
There was very little wine inside, and none that I could see on the
motherboard itself, but this is what I found:
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2728/imag0141ux.jpg
The connector is the one going to the screen, and as you can see it has got
very hot around the 2 pins on the far right. The melted blob next to C29
used to be a 6 pin IC.

Make and model of laptop? Make and model of LCD panel? I have a few
schematics.

The 6 pin IC is probably a voltage regulator or pass FET for part of a
regulator. The LVDS interface on the panel is well protected and
probably not involved. Here's a typical LCD pinout:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d8/Lucky13ESP/LQ10PX22LVDSPinout.jpg
Runs on +5VDC which could do that kind of high current heating damage.

I'd be interested to know how the wine might have caused so much damage, I'm
guessing the 6 pin device might be the power supply for the screen?

Probably, but then shorting the regulator would not cause the ribbon
cable connector to smoke. What happened to the ribbon cable? If
nothing, then the wine shorted the connector, which caused the
regulator to get hot.

Umm... did you remove the laptop battery after the spill?

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 6 Jan 2013 14:49:35 -0000, "Gareth Magennis"
wrote:

I spilt some wine over my laptop keyboard, but stupidly left it running as
I
didn't think it would do much harm, and I was a bit drunk at the time.
Doh!

Wine is somewhat conductive. Conductivity testing is used to
determine the Potassium concentration of the wine and therefore its
stability:
http://winechek.com/webfiles/Stabilab%20GW%20article%20Dec%2010.pdf
http://www.mbhes.com/conductivity_measurement.htm
1000 uSiemens/cm isn't very conductive. Compare with sea water, which
is about 50,000 uS/cm. In SI units, 1000 uS/cm would be

Get it really cold, and wine improves superconductors:
http://io9.com/5731129/drunken-scientists-pour-alcohol-on-superconductors-and-make-an-incredible-discovery

Something went "fizz" and I lost the screen, and got lots of furious
beeping
going on.

This is a clue that you screwed up. However, it must be contageous.
Last week, I was marching to the bathroom in the middle of the night
and stepped on my Thinkpad T30, cracking the LCD screen.

I took it into work next day and dismantled it to see what was going on.
There was very little wine inside, and none that I could see on the
motherboard itself, but this is what I found:
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2728/imag0141ux.jpg
The connector is the one going to the screen, and as you can see it has
got
very hot around the 2 pins on the far right. The melted blob next to C29
used to be a 6 pin IC.

Make and model of laptop? Make and model of LCD panel? I have a few
schematics.

The 6 pin IC is probably a voltage regulator or pass FET for part of a
regulator. The LVDS interface on the panel is well protected and
probably not involved. Here's a typical LCD pinout:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d8/Lucky13ESP/LQ10PX22LVDSPinout.jpg
Runs on +5VDC which could do that kind of high current heating damage.

I'd be interested to know how the wine might have caused so much damage,
I'm
guessing the 6 pin device might be the power supply for the screen?

Probably, but then shorting the regulator would not cause the ribbon
cable connector to smoke. What happened to the ribbon cable? If
nothing, then the wine shorted the connector, which caused the
regulator to get hot.

Umm... did you remove the laptop battery after the spill?

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558



Hi Jeff,

Laptop is an Acer Aspire 5739. I found the service manual today but it has
no schematics.
(best thing about it is the internal speakers - it has a subwoofer "tube"
that actually makes the machine sound really good - Acer don't seem to have
these on their laptops any more)

After the spill, I mopped as much wine as possible from the keyboard, then
upended the laptop with the screen open so it was standing on its head in an
inverted V. The idea being to keep any liquid off the motherboard.
I took out the power adaptor and ran it on its battery, thinking that
keeping a supply of warm air going on might be a good idea.

I heard the fizzing whilst it was running on the battery, and recognised it
as something blowing up. I know those sounds, yuk.
I franctically tried to remove the battery but it was too late by then of
course.

I don't know if the LCD cable got damaged, its wrapped in a braid making a
round cable, not a ribbon, so is not visible.
I was wondering today if the overheating connector was unrelated to the
wine - this laptop regularly makes 10 hour long audio recordings in a hot
and sweaty club, the LCD remaining permanently on though dimmed to minimum.
It is also in daily use at home, and serves as my TV so it has had some use
over the 3 years or so of its life.

but yep, don't drink and surf!



Cheers,


Gareth.

On Sun, 6 Jan 2013 17:59:58 -0000, "Gareth Magennis"
wrote:


Laptop is an Acer Aspire 5739. I found the service manual today but it has
no schematics.

QUANTA ZK6. I couldn't find one in my collection. However, this
might help:
http://www.im0575.com/acer-aspire-5739g-schematic-diagram.html

(best thing about it is the internal speakers - it has a subwoofer "tube"
that actually makes the machine sound really good - Acer don't seem to have
these on their laptops any more)

I recently recycles a similar laptop. Won't boot reliable, won't
charge the battery reliably, won't run any OS reliably, etc. I gave
up, tore it apart for parts, and recycled what was left.

I took out the power adaptor and ran it on its battery, thinking that
keeping a supply of warm air going on might be a good idea.

Oops. That's what killed it.

I heard the fizzing whilst it was running on the battery, and recognised it
as something blowing up. I know those sounds, yuk.
I franctically tried to remove the battery but it was too late by then of
course.

The parts were getting hot even before you heard the fizzing sound.
That's the sound of boiling wine. It was probably too late by then.
If you had pulled the battery immediately, you might have had a
chance. Upending the laptop was probably a good idea, but I suspect
that all it did was spread the wine around.

Incidentally, the sugar in wine probably will make a nice mess of your
keyboard. Wash, rinse, blow dry, air dry, wait, and then try it.

I don't know if the LCD cable got damaged, its wrapped in a braid making a
round cable, not a ribbon, so is not visible.

Then, what's the ribbon connector on the MB that got fried? It's not
the LCD cable. Keyboard? Mouse pad? I can't tell from the photo.

I was wondering today if the overheating connector was unrelated to the
wine - this laptop regularly makes 10 hour long audio recordings in a hot
and sweaty club, the LCD remaining permanently on though dimmed to minimum.
It is also in daily use at home, and serves as my TV so it has had some use
over the 3 years or so of its life.

I run two laptops 24x7 as weather stations on mount tops. No problems
with melting anything.

but yep, don't drink and surf!

Or, get a keyboard cover protector:
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=acer+5739+keyboard+cover&_sacat=0&_odk w=acer+5739+keyboard+cover&_osacat=0&_from=R40
--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Gareth Magennis wrote in message
...
I spilt some wine over my laptop keyboard, but stupidly left it running as
I
didn't think it would do much harm, and I was a bit drunk at the time.
Doh!


Something went "fizz" and I lost the screen, and got lots of furious
beeping
going on.

I took it into work next day and dismantled it to see what was going on.
There was very little wine inside, and none that I could see on the
motherboard itself, but this is what I found:


http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/2728/imag0141ux.jpg


The connector is the one going to the screen, and as you can see it has
got
very hot around the 2 pins on the far right. The melted blob next to C29
used to be a 6 pin IC.


I'd be interested to know how the wine might have caused so much damage,
I'm
guessing the 6 pin device might be the power supply for the screen?

Cheers,


Gareth.



I would guess its one of those high current pass powerfets in a 6 pin
package, rather than IC as such, are 2 pairs of the pads connected?

hi Jeff,

hope this makes things clearer than my description!

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/2610/imag0147pk.jpg

Do you think it is worth me trying to fix this? I've written it off at the
moment.

Both plug and socket seem quite badly damaged, but might still work or I
could possibly hard wire the power connections.
If I can find out what that melted device is I can replace it if I can find
one to buy.
Do you think there will be further damage? I can buy another keyboard cheap
enough on FleaBay.


I ordered another laptop yesterday, but this one did used to sound excellent
as a TV / mini hi-fi, and was especially useful for editing the 10 hour
recordings without headphones or external speakers.




Thanks,

Gareth.

I'm still rather bemused that a bit of wine could short out a 5v or so line
and cause that amount of current to flow.

Blimey.

On Sun, 6 Jan 2013 18:50:18 -0000, "Gareth Magennis"
wrote:

hope this makes things clearer than my description!
http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/2610/imag0147pk.jpg

That's the video connector. I can't tell if there's more damage until
you remove the motherboard.

Do you think it is worth me trying to fix this? I've written it off at the
moment.

That depends on how much time you have. I found a source for a
schematic so that should help identify the parts. However, replacing
the video connector and several parts doesn't seem like much fun. A
new motherboard would be easier and probably more productive. There
are two on eBay for $184 and $199. Seems too high a price. Try other
sources.

Both plug and socket seem quite badly damaged, but might still work or I
could possibly hard wire the power connections.

Also the plug? Well, at least that cable can be easily replaced:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/150960265547
However, $28 is too much.

I think the prices are adding up to more than what the laptop is
worth.

If I can find out what that melted device is I can replace it if I can find
one to buy.

Replacing the MB is about the only way you can be sure that something
else isn't blown.

Do you think there will be further damage?

Yes. Worse, it will probably not be easily visible. Offhand, I would
guess(tm) that the 12V or 19V line ended up on the 5V line. Not a
good thing for the rest of the circuitry.

I can buy another keyboard cheap
enough on FleaBay.

Yep. However, it's the other parts that are going to cost. At this
point, the price of repair and possibility of additional damage is too
high for an economical repair. Pull out the hard disk, LCD panel,
CD/DVD, CPU, RAM, wireless, and whatever else looks useful, and
recycle the rest. Also, save the screws. They're quite handy as many
laptops tend to lose their bottom screws from vibration.

I ordered another laptop yesterday, but this one did used to sound excellent
as a TV / mini hi-fi, and was especially useful for editing the 10 hour
recordings without headphones or external speakers.

I use an external USB sound device. I have several ranging from
cheapo CM108 based dongles, to a Behringer USB something that does 24
bits and 96KHz. The internal sound chips are all too noisy. All my
speakers are external as none of my laptops have decent speakers. I
also stream wireless audio to the hi-fi using A2DP Bluetooth and
Wi-Fi.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16855995461

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

On 06 Jan 13 at group /sci/electronics/repair in article
(Jeff Liebermann) wrote:

Last week, I was marching to the bathroom in the middle of the night
and stepped on my Thinkpad T30, cracking the LCD screen.


And I have here in PY a T30 which died one year ago because a bad
(flexing) mobo. The best notebook, I ever owned. So I didn`t burried it


It has an exellent 1440x1050 SXGA+ w/o any problems, P4 2GHz, 2GB RAM...
2 docking stations (mini and big), tons of spare parts, 5(?) HDD cages,
5 CMOS-Batteries, nothing broken but dents and scratches, keyboard
(Portugies with some stickers to convert it to German), complete
original WinXP Recovery CD set incl. multilanguage... IBM Service
manuals, some schematics...

Also an T22 with boot problems and unstable display control (dead
lamps?)

If you will pay the freight cost, I`ll try to ship it to you.
Maybe you can transplant some parts to revieve one of the both T30.



Saludos (an alle Vernünftigen, Rest sh. sig)
Wolfgang

--
Wolfgang Allinger, anerkannter Trollallergiker reply Adresse gesetzt!
Ich diskutiere zukünftig weniger mit Idioten, denn sie ziehen mich auf
ihr Niveau herunter und schlagen mich dort mit ihrer Erfahrung!
(lt. alter usenet Weisheit)

On 06 Jan 2013 15:22:00 -0400, (Wolfgang Allinger)
wrote:

And I have here in PY a T30 which died one year ago because a bad
(flexing) mobo. The best notebook, I ever owned. So I didn`t burried it


I agree. It's a good machine. I fixed the damage last week with a
$30 eBay replacement used LCD. However, when I powered it up, the
backlighting didn't work. The LCD inverter wasn't putting out any
voltage, so I ordered a spare for $5. However, that didn't fix the
backlighting. The CCFL tube lit up fine running on external power, so
that wasn't the problem. After 4 hrs of futile tinkering, I
discovered that stomping on the case had also caused the lid switch to
stick in the closed position, which turned off the backlighting. Argh.
The T30 is now in a box awaiting shipment to a friend in Portland OR.

It has an exellent 1440x1050 SXGA+ w/o any problems, P4 2GHz, 2GB RAM...
2 docking stations (mini and big), tons of spare parts, 5(?) HDD cages,
5 CMOS-Batteries, nothing broken but dents and scratches, keyboard
(Portugies with some stickers to convert it to German), complete
original WinXP Recovery CD set incl. multilanguage... IBM Service
manuals, some schematics...

Nice. This one has the lesser 1024x768 LCD. I cramed in 3GB of RAM
so it runs Ubuntu 12.04 32 bit rather well.

Also an T22 with boot problems and unstable display control (dead
lamps?)

What color are the lamps? If pink, it's probably a dying lamp. If
white or just dim, the LCD inverter. If flickering, it might be the
LCD inverter, or arcing contacts at the ends of the CCFL lamp. At
$5/ea for the inverters, it's easier to replace than to diagnose.
Also, an external LCD inverter will light up the CCFL tube so you can
tell which is the problem.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/270945970265

If you will pay the freight cost, I`ll try to ship it to you.

No thanks. The T30 is already fixed.

Maybe you can transplant some parts to revieve one of the both T30.

The intermittent motherboard is caused by the BGA chips coming
unsoldered from the MB. It can be fixed crudely with a hot air SMT
desoldering station, or more correctly with a BGA reballing kit.
There are numerous online vendors that will do it for you if you
remove the motherboard and put it back together. For example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/360528752666

Or, you can take your chances with a parts machine:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/290827422014
4 machines for $130 looks tempting. However, I'm into faster machines
and those are too old to resell to customers. Those models are also
in the class of machines with the defective Nvidia chips.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 6 Jan 2013 18:50:18 -0000, "Gareth Magennis"
wrote:

hope this makes things clearer than my description!
http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/2610/imag0147pk.jpg

That's the video connector. I can't tell if there's more damage until
you remove the motherboard.

Do you think it is worth me trying to fix this? I've written it off at
the
moment.

That depends on how much time you have. I found a source for a
schematic so that should help identify the parts. However, replacing
the video connector and several parts doesn't seem like much fun. A
new motherboard would be easier and probably more productive. There
are two on eBay for $184 and $199. Seems too high a price. Try other
sources.

Both plug and socket seem quite badly damaged, but might still work or I
could possibly hard wire the power connections.

Also the plug? Well, at least that cable can be easily replaced:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/150960265547
However, $28 is too much.

I think the prices are adding up to more than what the laptop is
worth.

If I can find out what that melted device is I can replace it if I can
find
one to buy.

Replacing the MB is about the only way you can be sure that something
else isn't blown.

Do you think there will be further damage?

Yes. Worse, it will probably not be easily visible. Offhand, I would
guess(tm) that the 12V or 19V line ended up on the 5V line. Not a
good thing for the rest of the circuitry.

I can buy another keyboard cheap
enough on FleaBay.

Yep. However, it's the other parts that are going to cost. At this
point, the price of repair and possibility of additional damage is too
high for an economical repair. Pull out the hard disk, LCD panel,
CD/DVD, CPU, RAM, wireless, and whatever else looks useful, and
recycle the rest. Also, save the screws. They're quite handy as many
laptops tend to lose their bottom screws from vibration.

I ordered another laptop yesterday, but this one did used to sound
excellent
as a TV / mini hi-fi, and was especially useful for editing the 10 hour
recordings without headphones or external speakers.

I use an external USB sound device. I have several ranging from
cheapo CM108 based dongles, to a Behringer USB something that does 24
bits and 96KHz. The internal sound chips are all too noisy. All my
speakers are external as none of my laptops have decent speakers. I
also stream wireless audio to the hi-fi using A2DP Bluetooth and
Wi-Fi.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16855995461

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558




OK, so no I'm not going to try and mend this one.
The hard drive I need for archiving, and I've a spare charger now for the
Acer I've just ordered as a replacement.
And all the other bits you mentioned.


Might keep my eye out for more of these though, but without BSOD symptoms.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Acer-Aspir...em3 ccddb0e21


btw, I use an external USB 24/96 Tascam soundcard, and would never use
anything internal for anything remotely serious on any laptop other than for
monitoring or use at home.

Thanks for all your help, its been very educational.


Gareth.

I'm still rather bemused that a bit of wine could short out
a 5V or so line and cause that amount of current to flow.

It might not have. It might have caused a chip to misbehave, which in turned
pulled the excessive current.

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
I'm still rather bemused that a bit of wine could short out
a 5V or so line and cause that amount of current to flow.

It might not have. It might have caused a chip to misbehave, which in
turned pulled the excessive current.



Hmm, this is interesting.

I have been assuming that the connector in the photos has a whole load of
data pins on the left hand side, and 2 heavier duty pins on the right
carrying the power supply. It looks to me that these two power supply pins
have been shorted, resulting in localised heating to the point of partially
melting the connectors. I have also assumed that this huge increase in
current is what killed the melted device that was supplying that current.

I can't otherwise see a scenario whereby a faulty component could have
forced such a huge current between these two pins.


Gareth.

I can't otherwise see a scenario whereby a faulty component
could have forced such a huge current between these two pins.

The "wrong" voltage on a driver chip's input can push its output into
saturation -- and goombye chip.

or rather the connectors use the outer 2 pairs of 2 pins connected in
parallel to supply power to the LCD.

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
I can't otherwise see a scenario whereby a faulty component
could have forced such a huge current between these two pins.

The "wrong" voltage on a driver chip's input can push its output into
saturation -- and goombye chip.


True, but something has melted the connectors.

These go to the LCD which is practically physically disconnected from the
rest of the laptop and any spilt wine, so an excessive current draw from the
LCD seems very unlikely.


Gareth.

"Gareth Magennis" wrote in message
...

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
I can't otherwise see a scenario whereby a faulty component
could have forced such a huge current between these two pins.

The "wrong" voltage on a driver chip's input can push its output into
saturation -- and goombye chip.


True, but something has melted the connectors.

These go to the LCD which is practically physically disconnected from the
rest of the laptop and any spilt wine, so an excessive current draw from
the LCD seems very unlikely.


Gareth.




Unless the LCD was destroyed by excessive voltages ...............



Gareth.

On 1/6/2013 2:11 PM, Gareth Magennis wrote:
I'm still rather bemused that a bit of wine could short out a 5v or so line
and cause that amount of current to flow.

Blimey.


The cheap **** I drink doubles as battery acid........
JC

On 06 Jan 13 at group /sci/electronics/repair in article
(Jeff Liebermann) wrote:

On 06 Jan 2013 15:22:00 -0400, (Wolfgang Allinger)
wrote:

And I have here in PY a T30 which died one year ago because a bad
(flexing) mobo. The best notebook, I ever owned. So I didn`t burried
it

I agree. It's a good machine.


Maybe you can transplant some parts to revieve one of the both T30.

The intermittent motherboard is caused by the BGA chips coming
unsoldered from the MB.

I know

It can be fixed crudely with a hot air SMT
desoldering station, or more correctly with a BGA reballing kit.

I`ve baked it two times in my oven, it works for some month. But I gave
up, to bake it a third time. The baking tips I found somewhere in IBM HW
forums. But it takes just a hour to dismantle it and seal all critical
places with alu-foil... and then another hour to fix it all. Ok, the
second time was a bit quicker.

Anyhow I now have two German NB with bulky 17", no IBM quality, but good
enough for me. Also I miss the T30 a little bit...




Saludos (an alle Vernünftigen, Rest sh. sig)
Wolfgang

--
Wolfgang Allinger, anerkannter Trollallergiker reply Adresse gesetzt!
Ich diskutiere zukünftig weniger mit Idioten, denn sie ziehen mich auf
ihr Niveau herunter und schlagen mich dort mit ihrer Erfahrung!
(lt. alter usenet Weisheit)

"Gareth Magennis" wrote in
:


"William Sommerwerck" wrote in message
...
I'm still rather bemused that a bit of wine could short out
a 5V or so line and cause that amount of current to flow.

It might not have. It might have caused a chip to misbehave, which in
turned pulled the excessive current.



Hmm, this is interesting.

I have been assuming that the connector in the photos has a whole load
of data pins on the left hand side, and 2 heavier duty pins on the
right carrying the power supply. It looks to me that these two power
supply pins have been shorted, resulting in localised heating to the
point of partially melting the connectors. I have also assumed that
this huge increase in current is what killed the melted device that
was supplying that current.

I can't otherwise see a scenario whereby a faulty component could have
forced such a huge current between these two pins.


Gareth.




The water causes the chip to deliver the wrong, too high voltage,
processor and/or memory dies, and in doing that, draws excessive current,
melting the stabilizer chip.
No need for the water to carry lots of current.

On 1/6/2013 10:50 AM, Gareth Magennis wrote:
hi Jeff,

hope this makes things clearer than my description!

http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/2610/imag0147pk.jpg

Do you think it is worth me trying to fix this? I've written it off at the
moment.

Both plug and socket seem quite badly damaged, but might still work or I
could possibly hard wire the power connections.
If I can find out what that melted device is I can replace it if I can find
one to buy.
Do you think there will be further damage? I can buy another keyboard cheap
enough on FleaBay.


I ordered another laptop yesterday, but this one did used to sound excellent
as a TV / mini hi-fi, and was especially useful for editing the 10 hour
recordings without headphones or external speakers.




Thanks,

Gareth.


Not clear why you chose to obscure the plug in the picture.
If that's a metal ring around the periphery of the plug, the
likely scenario is that the wine got on the outside and shorted
that metal ring to the pads on the socket. Then the pins got hot
and melted the plug and socket. The conductive medium may have been
remnants of flux.

I'd clean up the socket to clear the shorts and see if it runs on an
external monitor. Since you have the schematic, put power to it and
see if the display works. Then worry about the chip.
You can always remove the tape and tap into the power wires and jumper
to the board.

Jeff Liebermann writes:

[...........................] Those models are also
in the class of machines with the defective Nvidia chips.

In what way were they defective? I have a cheap EMachine whose VGA
output failed (the HDMI seemed to still produce some output, but I
can't use that) and a cheap Gateway laptop whose output to its LCD
screen also failed (at about the time I had decided to use it with a
serial link to the EMachine to try to see what was going on.

Both have NVidia chips.

Then I used the laptop with an external VGA monitor and a serial link
to the Emachine. When I made the serial connection, both machines
started to display correctly, and have worked for some months since!

That's enough to make me wonder what is in those NVidia chips besides
VGA circuitry.

Bizarre.



--
Windmill, Use t m i l l
J.R.R. Tolkien:- @ O n e t e l . c o m
All that is gold does not glister / Not all who wander are lost

On Mon, 7 Jan 2013 13:45:16 GMT, lid
(Windmill) wrote:

Jeff Liebermann writes:

[...........................] Those models are also
in the class of machines with the defective Nvidia chips.

In what way were they defective?

There was a class action suit involving Dell, HP-Compaq, and some
others. I attempted to get 5 laptops repaired under the settlement,
but was denied because I lacked the original receipt. I did manage to
get one repaired by Dell. They replaced the motherboard with another
defective motherboard trading one problem for another. When I called
Dell to get their repair fixed under their warranty, they announced
that they do not warranty their own warranty repairs. I gave up.

The original Nvidia settlement web site was removed immediately after
the settlement window had expired. These offer some detail:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/30/nvidia-reaches-settlement-in-class-action-suit-affecting-apple/
http://slickdeals.net/f/2445870-NVIDIA-LAWSUIT-www-nvidiasettlement-com-Includes-Notebooks-from-hp-compaq-dell-aaple
What I find disgusting is that even during the settlement window,
Nvidia was continuing to ship known defective video chips.

I have a cheap EMachine whose VGA
output failed (the HDMI seemed to still produce some output, but I
can't use that) and a cheap Gateway laptop whose output to its LCD
screen also failed (at about the time I had decided to use it with a
serial link to the EMachine to try to see what was going on.

Sorry, but I can't help you. You didn't bother supplying the model
number or either the machine or video card. I have had serious
difficulties in the distant past dealing with Emachine hardware and
refuse to fix them. The most common problem is a failing power
supply, which initially causes parts and pieces of the computer to act
oddly (hangs, crashes, feature failures, etc). Eventually, the power
supply just quits, making the culprit obvious.

I have 3 assorted Gateway laptops in the closet (for parts). All have
the same problem. They won't turn on. Gateway has been uncooperative
bordering on hostile, has refused to supply repair information, parts,
or repair information. I don't have the time or equipment to do
reballing, so they're destined for either a miraculous fix if I can
find the parts and time, or cannibalization.

Both have NVidia chips.

So do most of my working laptops.

Then I used the laptop with an external VGA monitor and a serial link
to the Emachine. When I made the serial connection, both machines
started to display correctly, and have worked for some months since!

Yes, that's common. There's no common failure mode for the Nvidia
chips. More correctly, there are multiple failure modes most of which
are itemized in the settlement web pages. Sometimes, and external
monitor works, sometimes not.

That's enough to make me wonder what is in those NVidia chips besides
VGA circuitry.

There's a HUGE amount of technology in the video chips. The idea is
to offload anything that has to do with video to the video chips,
leaving the CPU to run programs, not deal with video management. Just
read about the enhanced technologies used by game programs and you'll
have a clue.
http://www.nvidia.com/page/technologies.html
http://www.geforce.com/hardware (near bottom of page)

Bizarre.

Not really. More like disgusting.

--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

"I have 3 assorted Gateway laptops in the closet (for parts)."

Are any P series ? We might be able to make a deal. I got one that seemed to shut down at random running Vista, but would run Linux all week long. It was not the OS though because I had four identical ones and swapped drives around and the problem stayed with the machine. Also the HD (a WD1600BEVT) locked itself and Gateway as ell as WD are being useless. This spontateous lockdown is a known issue with this model. Guess what I will never buy again and will unrecommend in the strongest of terms.

Anyway, this laptop is a real gem. I broke the CD door (front only) on the one I use so that is getting swapped, but it still works. I broke the keyboard connector on the MB so I have to use external, but it doesn't matter because the one I use is about ready. The edge enter key is flopping in the breeze and the arrow keys need to be hit hard to work.

My sister had one of the lot I bought and broke the screen so that is gone. The PS has been dropped and has a cracked case.

Although it shuts down, it does not fail to power up. Think maybe we can do something with the lot of them ? (that is if they're P series, these are the 17" jobs with the (almost) full keyboard, which is one of the reasons I bought them)

They have the ****ties sound I have ever heard. It's compressed like AM radio and I can't seem to find out how to turn off that "feature".

Anyway, I would trade the thing for damnear anything. It's basically a core in a way. the shutting down could well be a cooling problem, one of your scrap units might have just what it needs. A cooling problem would explain why it shuts down on Vista but not Ubuntu.

Lemmme know if we might be able to do something here. I don't weant muuch for such aa decrepit thing of course, in fact a trade would be good. Junk for junk lol.

Jeff Liebermann writes:

On Mon, 7 Jan 2013 13:45:16 GMT, lid
(Windmill) wrote:

Jeff Liebermann writes:

[...........................] Those models are also
in the class of machines with the defective Nvidia chips.

In what way were they defective?

There was a class action suit involving Dell, HP-Compaq, and some
others. I attempted to get 5 laptops repaired under the settlement,
but was denied because I lacked the original receipt. I did manage to
get one repaired by Dell. They replaced the motherboard with another
defective motherboard trading one problem for another. When I called
Dell to get their repair fixed under their warranty, they announced
that they do not warranty their own warranty repairs. I gave up.

The original Nvidia settlement web site was removed immediately after
the settlement window had expired. These offer some detail:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/30/nvidia-reaches-settlement-in-class-action-suit-affecting-apple/
http://slickdeals.net/f/2445870-NVIDIA-LAWSUIT-www-nvidiasettlement-com-Includes-Notebooks-from-hp-compaq-dell-aaple
What I find disgusting is that even during the settlement window,
Nvidia was continuing to ship known defective video chips.

I have a cheap EMachine whose VGA
output failed (the HDMI seemed to still produce some output, but I
can't use that) and a cheap Gateway laptop whose output to its LCD
screen also failed (at about the time I had decided to use it with a
serial link to the EMachine to try to see what was going on.

Sorry, but I can't help you. You didn't bother supplying the model
number or either the machine or video card. I have had serious
difficulties in the distant past dealing with Emachine hardware and
refuse to fix them. The most common problem is a failing power
supply, which initially causes parts and pieces of the computer to act
oddly (hangs, crashes, feature failures, etc). Eventually, the power
supply just quits, making the culprit obvious.

I have 3 assorted Gateway laptops in the closet (for parts). All have
the same problem. They won't turn on. Gateway has been uncooperative
bordering on hostile, has refused to supply repair information, parts,
or repair information. I don't have the time or equipment to do
reballing, so they're destined for either a miraculous fix if I can
find the parts and time, or cannibalization.

Both have NVidia chips.

So do most of my working laptops.

Then I used the laptop with an external VGA monitor and a serial link
to the Emachine. When I made the serial connection, both machines
started to display correctly, and have worked for some months since!

Yes, that's common. There's no common failure mode for the Nvidia
chips. More correctly, there are multiple failure modes most of which
are itemized in the settlement web pages. Sometimes, and external
monitor works, sometimes not.

That's enough to make me wonder what is in those NVidia chips besides
VGA circuitry.

There's a HUGE amount of technology in the video chips. The idea is
to offload anything that has to do with video to the video chips,
leaving the CPU to run programs, not deal with video management. Just
read about the enhanced technologies used by game programs and you'll
have a clue.
http://www.nvidia.com/page/technologies.html
http://www.geforce.com/hardware (near bottom of page)

Thank you for the links; I'll take a look. After I complete my tax
return :-(

--
Windmill, Use t m i l l
J.R.R. Tolkien:- @ O n e t e l . c o m
All that is gold does not glister / Not all who wander are lost