Laptop dead, board repair | Port Alfred
Dead laptops, laptops that turn on without display are our speciality. Here experience, a knowledge of electronics, and learning from experts worldwide comes into the mix with specialised tools such as a microscope, linear power supply, thermal camera and hot air station.
We remove components using hot air and say goodbye to our little friend.
Initially, the superio chip or the ec chip takes control over the start-up processes. Afterwards, the bios starts, fires up the memory, cpu and initializes the display. Determining whether the superio chip is working is the first step. Normal charging, functioning of the power button, power to the ec chip, two power rails – main 19v and 3.3v power rails – need to be present. This together with the laptop turning on (fan spin), cpu getting warm indicate a working ec chip.
I have added a 1000W 861dw hot air rework station to my mix of tools which performs very well, even on multi-layered boards.
Should, the ec chip be working correctly, troubleshooting will be done on the 5v power rail, memory power supply, etc. and the bios itself.
Eakins 2.1X-180X Simul Focal Parfocal Stereo Trinocular Microscope with Polarized Ring Light Illuminator serves me well for close inspection needed for all board repairs.
