Water Damaged Laptop Repaired
Back in the day when I was teaching and training students in the field of TV broadcasting at a local college; one of my students who is now married and have kids came to my shop and asked me if I can take a look at her Laptop and see what was wrong with it.
This laptop has an internal battery and not external ones like normal laptops. So I took the screws off and right away, I disconnected the battery from the mother board and started looking for problem and I saw many of them, check this out.
That is the first thing that I saw when I took the back cover off. The water in this laptop dried already and that means; this water damage was not recent.
When I asked the customer, she explained it happened about one week ago. At that time, the laptop was up and running but when it shut down, she brought it for repair.
I took the board off and checked for more damage and look what I saw and this was not the end of this water damage issues.
The water damage was not all over the board but most of it. So I took my tooth brush and cleaning alcohol and started rubbing and cleaning as much as I could. I came across some bad areas and after I cleaned them, I re soldered some parts that were not making good connection with the joints on board.
I took off the heat sink of the main chip and checked the thermal paste there and it was ok. As I let the board dry and then I put everything back together, I powered on the Laptop and guess what?
It actually came on, but with two problems, one was the cooling fan making noises but after I lubricated it, it sounded much better but it needed replacement. Second problem was the keyboard; it was not working the way it should be.
I called the customer and I explained the situation and basically, they were happy with the results. I ordered a new fan and a key board and still waiting for them. At the mean time, I advised them to use an external key board till I get the new replacement,
Mission Accomplished.
This article was prepared for you by Waleed Rishmawi, one of our ‘Master Authors’ and currently working in the Bethlehem area of Palestine repairing electrical and electronic equipment.
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Note: You can check his previous repair articles in the link below:
https://jestineyong.com/shorted-igbt-k50t60-and-1n4744a-in/
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Albert van Bemmelen
February 17, 2020 at 10:07 pm
She was very lucky the damage was not irreparable and her Windows 10 laptop still functions. And an external keyboard or even an external USB soundcard dongle does the trick in cases where the original parts can't be fixed.
Sadly other problems keep pestering Microsoft's new Windows 10 version. Like the previous free Java updates that no longer work without a necessary program licence from Sun! Which also with the obligatory new drivers in updates from microsoft easily keeps killing older laptop USB Intel chipset drivers. So they have to manually be downgraded to standard Compaq Presario C700 'PCI to USB' drivers. Which happened to my laptop that no longer was supported by HP/Compaq, neither was supported by Microsoft and neither worked with the Intel online chipset upgrades for Windows 10. But searching on my harddisk for the mentioned standard drivers (3 of them!) fixed my no longer working external USB ports. And firms like Microsoft and HP/Compaq are way too happy in scrapping older but still perfectly good working laptops!
Tayo
February 18, 2020 at 5:55 pm
Terribly off topic Albert. This forum is hardware repair and will likely never touch software issues. For ancient laptops like your c700 you could/should just install linux on it and use it as an opportunity to learn something new. Good luck
Albert van Bemmelen
February 18, 2020 at 11:40 pm
You may be right about the topic but you completely missed the point I was making Tayo. Because after I installed back the original standard PCI to USB drivers on my old Presario laptop (a good dual 1.86GHz laptop with 4GB RAM) it worked again like it always had including the Windows 10 installation on it! And without those software drivers there is no working hardware possible in todays modern electronics! Maybe you are happy with how things are going in the big company world. However many things are going terribly wrong on the small customer business side why I mentioned it!
Waleed Rishmawi
February 18, 2020 at 6:20 pm
Albert: indeed. computer companies want you to keep updating your system even if you have to buy a new computer simply because old systems has no longer any updates. that is very sad but true. thanks for sharing your thoughts and have a blessed day
Parasuraman S
February 17, 2020 at 11:24 pm
Good that it came to your hands for solution! Your determination brought life back to the laptop! Very professional work carried out unshakably, in-spite of the various damages noticed! Most of the technicians would have recommended an exchange for a new one, instead of setting their hands on it. Good job there and many thanks for sharing!
Waleed Rishmawi
February 18, 2020 at 6:23 pm
Parasuraman: thanks man for your encouraging words, I always love to read your comments. I finally got the fan and the keyboard and waiting for the customers to bring the laptop for installing them.
have a blessed day
Tayo
February 18, 2020 at 5:40 pm
Two things:
1. I'd like to know what the board looked like after you cleaned it.
2. Please advise your clients to use a silicone keyboard cover.
Most water damage stories do not end with a happy ending...even with the most competent of repairmen.
Waleed Rishmawi
February 19, 2020 at 3:57 am
Tayo: it looked good and it is still up and running. I got the fan and the keyboard and will instal them soon. Yes I agree most water damage stories has a sad ending but this one had a very good end. Have a blessed day.
Joseph Watananga
July 18, 2020 at 8:30 pm
My computer has lights on which means the power supply is fine.The problem lies on video.It is not displaying the video.What might be the problem sir?