Gateway 400SD4, maybe a simple fix ??

[chevelle_nut]

My youngest got a used laptop about 1 week ago. Last night tragedy struck, her glass of water fell over onto the keyboard. The laptop immediately shut down. So today I pulled the MB looking to give it the usual fix, a wash with 91% isopropyl. I have had excellent results with this in the past. This time it looks bad, one of the ceramics blew out. I have pics but no real way of determining the value of the blown component. Is it likely to be the same value as the other ones in the row ? I have some "donor" boards to get parts, but this is the only 400 series Gateway in the house.

Any suggestions, or experience with this type of failure ? I am hoping it is just a matter of ice water hitting a hot component and causing it to fail catastrophically, not an overload condition caused by some other component failure.

Thanks in advance

[chevelle_nut]

Re: Gateway 400SD4, maybe a simple fix ??

O.K., so egged on by your voracious enthusiasm I am going to pursue this.

Based on the theory that by design, (to facilitate rapid stuffing) many of these caps have the same value, I am now sourcing a duplicate donor board (i.e. cheap,non-functioning ). From it I will extract replacement parts that should logically be same value, but unknown condition. I will attempt to replace the visibly blown cap and reintroduce power. It has NOT been powered up since the "incident".
For now I must give it a good effort to reduce my little ones suffering. I have seen boards on Ebay for less than 20$, that should fit the bill nicely.

btw, Who comes up with the mechanical design of these laptops ? There must be a 1/4 cup of screws to be pulled just to get the MB out !!!

[smason]

Re: Gateway 400SD4, maybe a simple fix ??

Did the ceramic really blow? Or is it just char marks from a short from the water?

I agree about the design. Took 2 hours to replace a power jack in my wife's Dell D800.. grrrr.

[chevelle_nut]

Re: Gateway 400SD4, maybe a simple fix ??

Thanks for the reply, for awhile I thought I was just blogging.

Oh it is blown for sure, here are 2 more pics. There is a crack right through the body, not sure about neighboring ceramics... I might pull them also when the donor arrives.

[smason]

Re: Gateway 400SD4, maybe a simple fix ??

Ah yes the second photo is obvious, though now I can see it in the original photo as well.

"Blogging" LOL I've blogged on forums many a time.

[momaka]

Re: Gateway 400SD4, maybe a simple fix ??

Interesting. I've always thought ceramic caps were pretty tough.
Hopefully nothing else has failed.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Gateway 400SD4, maybe a simple fix ??

No way to know for sure but if the 4 that are still intact are the same value as each other then odds are better that the fifth is too.

[kc8adu]

Re: Gateway 400SD4, maybe a simple fix ??

looks like vrm input from what i can see.desolder the damaged one and see if it fires up.it will run with one missing.

[chevelle_nut]

Re: Gateway 400SD4, maybe a simple fix ??

Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to reply, I really appreciate it. It gives me the confidence to attempt repairing this.

Ah yes the second photo is obvious, though now I can see it in the original photo as well.

I found it because there is a corresponding scorch mark on the inside of the case, not because I have really mad skilz.

Interesting. I've always thought ceramic caps were pretty tough.
Hopefully nothing else has failed.

I think in the battle of warm cap vs. cold liquid that caps lose every time.
<fingers crossed it did not take anything else out, OR that this is NOT the symptom of whatever else it wrecked>

No way to know for sure but if the 4 that are still intact are the same value as each other then odds are better that the fifth is too.

That is my thinking also, the lowest common part theory. Just in case tho I still want to get another board to get parts from.

looks like vrm input from what i can see.desolder the damaged one and see if it fires up.it will run with one missing.

If it were not for the fact that this possesion is so important to my little one I would probably try your suggestion. I am sure you know what you are talking about. I am however, reluctant for fear that with my luck it could screw something else up. What exactly is the risk of running that (vrm) circuit minus that cap ?

[chevelle_nut]

The latest, good news, bad news...

The good news is the "donor" I got from Ebay arrived today. As far as I can see the only things wrong with it are:
No display - turns out the LCD is good, just a bad inverter.
Bad power jack - just a loose one - should be an easy swap.
everything else works - moved HD, mem, wifi, and display to it and voila - rebuilt laptop for the kiddo !

Bad news is - now I do not have a donor for the caps to fix original board. So now it will haunt me to find out what really went bad...