Acer Laptop Grounded Capacitor

[anthrax0987]

I've encounter a totally blackout laptop with grounding capacitor. So with a little knowledge and know how with multimeter/tester.

Every capacitor is grounded. So I have to find the fault one. I've removed like 10+ capacitor. After that I've complete found the single capacitor that causes the havoc.

But. My point is that is there a way how can I ease this up without removing one by one and test it.

Will learning to read the schematics diagram can help me to pinpoint the error in a shorten time?

Any thoughts for this. THANKS!

[BlueMidnight]

Re: Acer Laptop Grounded Capacitor

The most common method is to use a current-controlled bench power supply to inject a low voltage into the circuit. Up to 5V is good. But never more volts than that circuit normally uses.

Slowly increase the current until something on the board gets hot (feel everything with your fingers or look at the board with an IR camera). The hot component is the shorted component. You shouldn't need more than 1A of current to find a shorted capacitor or small IC.

If the current is very high and still nothing is getting hot, then the short might be in a very large IC or inside the circuit board itself.

[keeney123]

Re: Acer Laptop Grounded Capacitor

If you have a good multi-meter like a Fluke you may also be able hold one lead stationary, like on ground at a certain point and use the other around the board to all the points the cap is connected. Observe the ohm reading on the low scale. When you find the lowest reading then move the stationary lead to a ground close to the lowest ohm reading and then search again with the other lead until you have narrowed to the very lowest reading. The short will be with-in 2 to 3 inches from this point. If you are unable to locate the short then you could do as BlueMidnight suggested. The short should be with-in the 2 to 3 inches of your first reading.