Should I bother fixing it?

[fritoking]

ok guys...my mom got a toshiba sattelite x205-s9349 laptop( TOSHIBA Satellite X205-S9349 NoteBook Intel Core 2... ) for $10 at a sale...someone spilled beer on it...she thought maybe i could fix it, if not use parts from it...i found a refurb motherboard for $180..factory new is $300shouldi try to fix it? or not even bother?..it is pretty sweet with the harmon kardon speakers and its HUGE...thoughts ?

 

[Kreij]

Your mom was thinking of you and bought you a laptop thinking you could use it?
You are morally obligated to fix it.

Besides, if it's just the mobo that got fried, you have a nice lappy for $190.

 

[fritoking]

i hope its just the board.....and i havent had much experience working on laptops

 

[Kreij]

Working on laptops is not a big deal. Everything is just smaller and harder to get to. lol

Does the laptop do anything when you try to turn it on?

 

[Frick]

Your mom is nice.

But yeah lets do some work before bying a new mobo.

Does the laptop do anything when you try to turn it on?

 

[micropage7]

since laptop is integrated stuff
im afraid its not just the board, take the worst scenario. spill any liquid so it could be any where from board, screen and you dont know how much that got there

i prefer check it first, if you not sure dont take it

 

[Kreij]

As Frick said, let's troubleshoot first before you spend any money.
You have the entire wealth of knowledge contained in the TPU members to help you botch things up fix it.

 

[brandonwh64]

Crazy trick but take the whole laptop apart and put the motherboard in the dish washer on hot cycle to clean the beer off and then hang it up to dry about a day or so then retry. I had to do this when someone was playing video games and eating hardees at the same time....

 

[Kreij]

When the laptop is completely disassembled you can put almost everything in the dishwasher (or a least a warm water bath) to remove residue.
Just make sure it is rinsed completely if you use a mild detergent to ensure no soap residue is left behind.

I would not recommend submerging any drives though (HDD or optical), but that really shouldn't hurt them either as long as they have ample time to completely dry.

 

[brandonwh64]

I would not recommend submerging any drives though (HDD or optical),

I wouldnt do the HDD or DVD drive cause it would damage the motors and lens. Also the HDD has breather holes that water would probably get into and ruin the platters.

What you can do is take a damp wash cloth and wipe these down good and q-tips

 

[fritoking]

i have not disassembled it yet..but did take the hd out..no stickiness or residue...but the funny thing is they mustahave stuck it in 5 or 10 pounds of rice since a few rice grains fell out...lol

 

[fritoking]

well the battery is missing also...when i plug it in the fans run and the screen stays blank....

 

[OolongGoat]

Well good thing with most toshiba's is that they use all the same screws, make them really easy to work on.

With a spill I wouldn't have turned it on and like other said, try to carefully take it all apart.

Anything with residue or signs of spill damage I would give a good bath with alcohol, 91% or higher as it evaporates rather quickly and is safe for electronics.


But I would start with cleaning it off. And turning it on as little as possible.

 

[Black Panther]

I would try to fix it.
I'm waiting to find a Toshiba Qosmio G20 mobo myself to fix my mom's old lappie...

 

[de.das.dude]

i would fix it. but thats prolly because i like fixing stuff.

what i would do is take the motherboard, take some warm water, and use a soft brush to clean it. then put it in a cloth bag after rinsing and bury the bag under rice. that shud fix the moard if fixable

 

[fritoking]

man there was rice in the case and everything...found a board on ebay for 95$ tested and working...may just skip the cleaning and try it..still undecided

 

[Jstn7477]

Had an X205-SLi4 myself, and it ended up dying 4 times in 2 years with normal gaming usage. Unfortunately, they used the infamous 8600/8700m GPUs and I went through 2 motherboards and 4 pairs of them. At least you got it for $10 and not $2349.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

I 2nd not submerging the drives, but if you're going to use alcohol, might as well get a quart of denatured. It's cheap and unlike rubbing alcohol is 100% and has no isopropyl residue. The dishwasher trick is easy, but could leave soap residue, or beer residue if you only rinse.

Personally, I'd try the cleaning before committing to buying a new MB. You never know, you could get it working. Older Satellites pre the remote style CPU cooler were problematic and had issues with dust build-up and overheating though.

I wouldn't be inclined to spend too much on it if it's the older type. They had a CPU cooler with a big metal plate covering the CPU. The newer design uses a CPU sink with a long copper pipe that snakes it's way to a cooler place in the LT and has a finned cooling block and fan assembly on it's end.

 

[Kreij]

man there was rice in the case and everything...found a board on ebay for 95$ tested and working...may just skip the cleaning and try it..still undecided

You may want to test the power output to the motherboard before installing (or even buying) the new one.
If the spill took out the mobo it could have done more damage.

Fun project though.

 

[suraswami]

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