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Water Damaged Laptop Motherboard

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Nightslicer

PCHF Member
Mar 16, 2024
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#1
Hi Guys,

I had a laptop stop working a while ago (HP Zbook G9 15.6" Mobile Workstation) due to water damage. It turns on with all lights displayed but the fans run at high speed and nothing is displayed. The laptop was sent to HP to be diagnosed, and they said the motherboard would need replacing because of the water damage and quoted a price similar to an upgrade of a brand new laptop. They sent the laptop back after I said no to the replacement. I have taken the laptop apart and noticed that they decided the motherboard would need replacing without cleaning any of the corrosion off, so I cleaned any of the impacted chips/ corrosion with isopropyl alcohol. The board looks perfect now as the corrosion looked very minimal, however the problem still persists; it turns on but fans run at high speed with no display.

My question is, is there anything else I can do to fix my laptop without replacing the motherboard? As a last resort I was thinking of testing the impacted chips and replacing them if it was cheaper than replacing the motherboard. (I can provide pics of the damage etc)

Thanks for reading
 
#2
If your soldering skills are up to the task - go for it. Let's face it, nothing to lose.
Mine are pretty basic and I wouldn't even consider tackling an integrated chip on a motherboard.
You need something to manage the heat from dissipating into the IC for starters. No good even attempting the surgery if all you'd be doing is making things worse. :)

The water spill has done its damage - shorted something out. As to what component that is, that will literally be a needle in a hay stack process. A mutlimeter would be required and a manual stating all values of registers, capacitors, logic paths, bus lanes, even IC pinout diagrams, and what values to expect from the multimeter.

If you can live with the fan noise, what about connecting an external monitor to the laptop?
 
#3
Bruce said:
If your soldering skills are up to the task - go for it. Let's face it, nothing to lose.
Mine are pretty basic and I wouldn't even consider tackling an integrated chip on a motherboard.
You need something to manage the heat from dissipating into the IC for starters. No good even attempting the surgery if all you'd be doing is making things worse. :)

The water spill has done its damage - shorted something out. As to what component that is, that will literally be a needle in a hay stack process. A mutlimeter would be required and a manual stating all values of registers, capacitors, logic paths, bus lanes, even IC pinout diagrams, and what values to expect from the multimeter.

If you can live with the fan noise, what about connecting an external monitor to the laptop?
Click to expand...
Hi Bruce,

Thanks for the reply. Ive worked on boards before just not a laptop. That was going to lead into my next question, I dont suppose you have any idea where i can get schematics for the motherboard? I have tried HP themselves but they just send me info that is readily available on their website which is no use.

Also there isnt any display, even after connecting to all ports.
 
#4
So even plugging in an external monitor the to laptops video port, there is still no signal?
That would indicate the motherboard indeed, or the power input circuitry board - who knows, it all depends on what the water did.
You could get a new mobo and still not have a functional laptop.
Really, if it was mine, I'd be cutting my losses and putting the money towards a replacement unit.

As to the specs for the mobo, I have no idea. I'd be thinking that would be proprietary info held by HP.
 
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