Razor Stealth will not boot - Toasty component query

[ThisTimeNextYear]

Hello world,

Just wondered if anyone could help shed some light on a Razor laptop which I'm struggling to repair for a friend.

Razor RZ09-01963w31
CPU - i7-7500U - 16GB - Intel® HD Graphics 620

Codes from motherboard:
H3 MB
MP V3.0
20170421
E327208


SYMPTOMS:

So far the most life I've seen from it is powers on, keyboard lights up, no screen life at all, then powers down; after which any attempt to power it on again results in the power light blinking once and then no life at all.

ATTEMPTED SO FAR:

Disassembled and removed motherboard, no obvious damage or burn marks on the board or components.

Very basic multimeter troubleshooting, those pesky capacitors with super low resistance get me everytime, fuses all seem good as gold. Annoyingly as well everything seems to be 5v instead of hitting 19v.

Flashed the BIOS chip using the bin file from the Razor website (happy to attach if required).

Then I came across the following chip getting warm whilst plugged in and attempting to power on:

WINBOND
25Q80DVNIG

Nothing else seems to get warm, no fan spin, no CPU heat, nothing.

It is near the AC power jack. I'm very confused as to its purpose in all honesty. Once removed I then attempted to read it however it is empty.


QUESTIONS I WOULD LOVE SOME HELP WITH IF POSSIBLE:

I'm reaching out for help in understanding its purpose?
Is it meant to have any code on it? Certainly feels like it should.
Does anyone have any idea where I would obtain the .bin file to write onto it if necessary?
If I add resistance to ground values would that help you circuitry jedi geniuses?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, also happy to post more info if required.

Thanks.

[ThisTimeNextYear]

OK, so bit of an update.

Turns out the chip (WINBOND - 25Q80DVNIG) appears to be “Flash Memory” which does not need to be programmed, meaning in theory you can just replace it and job done.

3V 8M-BIT SERIAL FLASH MEMORY WITH DUAL AND QUAD SPI

I've ordered a couple of replacements hoping this will help resolve the issue but treating the whole thing as wonderfully steep learning curve and current categorise myself in the group of “all the gear and no idea!”

To aid with this I thought I'd take measurements before and after just to possibly help in future.

The charger seems to only be happy pushing 5V through the board which I feel is likely a safety/protection feature of the chips kicking in. Marvellous.



I then also found another chip near the IO - because this also appears to be Flash Memory of somekind I figured there's no harm in taking the same measurements for comparison.


No good at interpreting these numbers yet, just noticed the pins 1+5+6 on the toasty chip seems vastly different in terms of the numbers. Perhaps there is some more experienced electrical guru's out there??

Basic plan, desolder the chip - tempted to take some more readings on the bare pads out of curiosity.
Wait and fit the new chip, more readings for future reference.

Cross my fingers.

[mon2]

What type of power adapter is used by this laptop?

Is it a usb type C power adapter?

[ThisTimeNextYear]

Hello, yes USB type C only with this laptop model unfortunately.