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Possible to save my laptop?

Muse

Muse

Lifer
Just happened. I awakened my sleeping Acer AS6530-6522 (see below) there was a faint smell of burned electronics. :| I bought it at Best Buy middle of August 2009. The screen was blank. The machine appeared to be working and unplugging and restarting, it appeared to boot OK but the screen remained blank. However, I heard the sound of Windows opening. I connected an external monitor via VGA and things seemed alright. I mistakenly assumed only the screen was bad and spent some time trying to get the HDMI ---> DVI working for the external monitor and suddenly the smell of burned electronics was much stronger and the laptop evidently died. Well, I have no idea what's wrong now, but it won't turn on.

I have data on the HD that was backed up a while ago, but the backup isn't current. Assuming the HD is alright, how can I get the data off the HD (250GB)? I have desktops and another laptop. I need an enclosure? How much are they and where can I go to get one? I'm in Berkeley, CA. :\ My other laptop is a Lenovo T60. I believe (CorkyG said this a few days ago) that I can get an enclosure for a laptop HD that I can put in the T60, after removing the DVD/CD drive. Maybe I should get one of those?

I assume I'm SOL in terms of this Acer laptop, right? IOW, 2 months out of warranty (?) and not worth the expense of trying to repair the thing?

- - - -
Acer: AS6530-6522 Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium ; AMD Athlon™ X2 Dual-Core Processor QL-62 (1MB L2 cache, 2.0GHz); 3GB (2/1) DDR2 667 SDRAM; 250GB hard drive; integrated Super-Multi drive; 5-in-1 card reader; Acer® CineCrystal 16.0" WXGA (1366 x 768) TFT display; integrated ATI Radeon™ HD 3200 graphics; 802.11b/g/Draft-N WLAN, gigabit LAN, V.92 modem, webcam; six-cell battery
Part NumberLX.AUQ0X.245
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I was using the laptop with the AC adapter, the battery wasn't attached.

Is there a possibility that the PSU is burned out and that the laptop is savable if I can replace the PSU? Is this something I can do myself?
 
On the off chance the thing would come back to life (yeah, right...), I plug it back in and it turns on! The screen is still blank, but it appears to be booting and I hastily reconnect the external LCD and Windows boots. I'm right now hastily backing up the data I don't want to lose from the HD, hope I get it before the damned things goes belly up. Anyway, assuming there's a problem with the PSU, is it possible for me to replace that myself? Any help appreciated...
 
Burning electronics smell = dead laptop. It MIGHT be fixable, but probably not worth your time or effort. It's a potential safety hazard at this point unless you're comfortable with ripping the entire thing apart and looking for the problem. Edit: Just read that you got it working again. I'd be careful, there's a good chance that it could short out or a capacitor could explode, considering the smell. Definitely get your stuff backed up and then shut it off / remove the hard drive immediately.

With that said, 2.5" and 3.5" SATA hard drives both have the same connections for power and data (thankfully). You should be able to take it out of the laptop, mount it securely in your desktop, and hook it up to a normal SATA cable and SATA power connection.

If you want to spend a little money and go for convenience, there are a number of good 2.5" hard drive external enclosures available. If your motherboard has an eSATA connection, make sure to get an eSATA enclosure as USB 2.0 is much slower. I'm a big fan of the Acomodata Tango series, available for about $20 on Amazon, which includes an eSATA connection (hook up eSATA cable first, then USB 2.0 cable for power).

Hope that helps - good luck!
 
I've managed to get basically the data I need off the 2.5" 250GB HD. Some may remain, basically application data or data that apps/utilities stash in their proprietary places, such as favorites/bookmarks in Firefox, etc. but I have the basic stuff.

The machine is working at the moment. I figure that smell must have been about some overload, have no idea why it's working again, but the screen is still blank and I'm using a 19" external LCD, and using the machine at the moment.

Before I tried plugging in the machine again on the off chance it would work I sniffed it carefully, at all the vent locations and the keyboard and didn't detect a smell. I don't smell anything now.

Well, I kind of need the machine, it's my only downstairs computer. Yes, I could shut it off. I will certainly not leave it on when leaving the house (I wasn't in the habit of doing that anyway, although it does serve as my data server, a prolonged temporary condition that will be eliminated when I build my data server, something I've been planning)! Do I really have to stop using it? I figure I should get another laptop, but have no ideas just now.

I could open it up and look. Again, if it's a bad PSU, is it possible for me to replace it? Is it possible to replace the screen? Is it just too much trouble or too difficult for me to troubleshoot and fix this? I'm no technician, but I've built several PCs, but have no experience concerning the internals of laptops.

Edit: That Newegg deal on an external enclosure IS an Acomodata device, 5 star reviewed by over 50 buyers at Newegg. I'm holding off on buying it because I have the data backed up now, and besides the laptop is working at the moment. How long, I can't begin to guess. I'm using VGA out right now, but the cheapo laptop actually has HDMI out and I have an HDMI-->DVI cable, so I could hook up the external monitor using that... if it continues to work.
 
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corkyg said:
Sounds like your video display circuit/card self destructed.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't that mean no video to an external monitor as well? He said the external monitor works fine.

Perhaps the screen's inverters or CCFL's are toast? Usually they don't emit a smell when they go, but I suppose it's possible. Try shining a flash light at the laptop screen while it's on (and make sure it's in LCD mode, not just external monitor mode). See if you can see anything.
 
corkyg said:
You can get the Ultrabay II SATA adapet for the T60 on Ebay. The new Ultrabay III will not fir the T60 or T61, This is available for about $17, and would be a good plus for your T60.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sata-2nd-HD-Har...C_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item518ee170ed

I got mine about 2 years ago directly from Lenovo - it was a bout $45. 🙂

Sounds like your video display circuit/card self destructed.
Click to expand...
Did you read the last posts?

Well, (per those posts) it seemed to be working OK except that the screen wasn't working. I pressed the power button, which I have configured to put the machine into suspend, and it went into suspend as usual. A few minutes later I clicked the mouse button, which normally wakes up the machine and it appeared to just plain turn off. I smelled burning electronics again (faintly but distinctly)! Unplugging and plugging in the machine gets the power light to work again on the keyboard, and I figure there's some chance it will turn on again but I'm thinking I should probably not do that. I have the data I need, basically, from the HD. So, absent the possibility I can fix this I guess I should start shopping for another laptop. 🙁 I had bought a new 640GB HD off Newegg intending to install it in this machine, moving the 250GB drive to my Lenovo T60 laptop, which only has a 60GB, 75+% full. The 640GB drive arrived yesterday, but now I don't know what I'll do with it. Maybe I should return it to Newegg. 😕
 
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CurseTheSky said:
Wouldn't that mean no video to an external monitor as well? He said the external monitor works fine.

Perhaps the screen's inverters or CCFL's are toast? Usually they don't emit a smell when they go, but I suppose it's possible. Try shining a flash light at the laptop screen while it's on (and make sure it's in LCD mode, not just external monitor mode). See if you can see anything.
Click to expand...
I don't comprehend this. What am I looking for? Per my last post, I'm wondering if I shouldn't just unplug the laptop and leave it off. What do you think?
 
Muse said:
I don't comprehend this. What am I looking for? Per my last post, I'm wondering if I shouldn't just unplug the laptop and leave it off. What do you think?
Click to expand...

If the LCD screen is fine, but the backlighting (CCFL or inverter controlling it) has burned out, you will still have stuff being displayed on the screen, but there'll be no light shining throw it for you to see what's there. If you shine a light at the front of the screen, you might see things as normal, which means you just need a CCFL or inverter. They might be replaceable separate from the screen, or you may need to buy the entire unit.

If the laptop is working fine now, you're PROBABLY ok. I wouldn't expect it to burst into flames. But like you said, I also wouldn't leave it on while you're sleeping or not home just in case.
 
CurseTheSky said:
If the LCD screen is fine, but the backlighting (CCFL or inverter controlling it) has burned out, you will still have stuff being displayed on the screen, but there'll be no light shining throw it for you to see what's there. If you shine a light at the front of the screen, you might see things as normal, which means you just need a CCFL or inverter. They might be replaceable separate from the screen, or you may need to buy the entire unit.

If the laptop is working fine now, you're PROBABLY ok. I wouldn't expect it to burst into flames. But like you said, I also wouldn't leave it on while you're sleeping or not home just in case.
Click to expand...
OK, I'll check out that stuff. Right now, it's unplugged. If it acts like it did 1.5 hours ago, it'll turn on, will appear to go into suspend OK, but won't come out of suspend. Instead, it will make a smell and turn off. Is that a clue to what's wrong? It'll shut off rather than come out of suspend. Then it won't start again until I unplug it and plug it back in, possibly after a lapse of some time, if it acts like previously. I'm used to putting the laptop into suspend and awakening it several times daily, and wonder if doing that caused something to "wear out."
 
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I tried to turn it on again, but it wouldn't. Plugging it in, the light on the keyboard lit up OK but pressing the On button instead of turning on, the light just went out. This morning, when left unplugged for long enough it did turn on. I'll leave it off a few hours and see if it will start. Anyone know what's likely wrong? Is this a goner or can I maybe fix it? 😕
 
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Muse said:
I tried to turn it on again, but it wouldn't. Plugging it in, the light on the keyboard lit up OK but pressing the On button instead of turning on, the light just went out. This morning, when left unplugged for long enough it did turn on. I'll leave it off a few hours and see if it will start. Anyone know what's likely wrong? Is this a goner or can I maybe fix it? 😕
Click to expand...

I was gone for the weekend, so the machine had some time. Thing is, a rest seemed to be restoring the machine's ability to at least show some life if not act normal for a while (except for the fact that the LCD was blank, including showing nothing when a flashlight was shined on it). I was getting all video via VGA out to a 19" external LCD.

So, after 4 days off, I plug everything back in and see if I get any kind of response. 4 days previous, I got zilch, not even the on/off button light, and no response to the button. So, after 4 days I plug the machine back into AC adapter, the on/off button light is on, I press the button and the machine turns on, the display on the external monitor looks normal. I opt for Normal Windows Vista Home Premium to boot (the machine had crashed last time it was on), and Windows boots and it actually worked for several hours. I copied some more data from the HD, namely all my documents and settings information, about 2GB of data to a flash drive. I did some internet browsing, put the machine to sleep, awakened it a while later, all worked normally. But next time I tried to awaken the machine (about an hour after putting it to sleep), there was a fairly strong smell of burning electronics and all went blank. I unplugged it and didn't try to restart it. I actually started taking it apart to see if I could identify a problem. I was trying to get at the power supply, not successful. I have the service manual as a PDF and there are explicit instructions on how to remove and install all kinds of components including the power board and thermal unit, and I suspect that one of those is bad. I presume that the MB is still OK, also the CPU, DDR2 sticks, HD, etc.

I'm thinking it may not be smart to try to get this laptop working again, but think I maybe shouldn't just buy a new laptop, but get something that will let me use good and working components I already have:

1. A new unused 640GB 7200RPM Seagate HD I just bought from Newegg for around $70 (I was going to put this in this laptop instead of its 250GB, and move the 250GB to my Lenovo T60, which only has a 60GB). I could still return this to Newegg for a refund, it's in unopened box. It was a good deal, I think, but I'm not sure I have a use for it now, so maybe I should send it back. 😕

2. Two 2GB 667MHz DDR2 sticks

3. DVD/CDR read/write drive

4. A copy of Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate

I am wondering if I can buy a machine cheap (either new or used) that can take advantage of these things I already have. Whatcha think?
 
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