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Dell Laptop repair question....

A

Al A.

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi all,
I have a Dell Inspiron 1150 laptop computer. One of my cute kids
dumped a bottle of water on the poor thing, it was on at the time. I
shut it down right away and pulled the battery. I opened up the case,
blotted up the water, cleaned it up with some alcohol (semiconductor
grade isopropyl from a fresh container) and gently blew it dry with a
warm air gun. Whe I put it back together and put the battery in, it
booted up and seemed OK. Of course once the battery got low I plugged
in the charger.
When I did so, the "AC power" LED and the "Charge" LED light but flicker
on and off rapidly, and the charger makes the sort of "ticking" noise
that suggests that it is being overloaded. The battery does not recharge.

Bummer.

Obviously something in the charge control stuff got wacked, but I have
no idea how to go about locating what or where. If I can locate the bad
stuff, I'm quite sure I could change them even if they are small SMT
stuff. Besides, at this point, I have little to lose. Any ideas how one
could approach troubleshooting this?

The other last ditch option is to power it directly up via the battery
slot. Then at least I could call it a "compact desktop" computer or
something like that. The battery pack is 14.8V and connects via
9 "blades" in the computer. I assume that there are multiple positive
and negative blades. Anyone know what the pinout of these are?

Thanks for any thoughts.

Best regards,
AL
 
J

Jim Land

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi all,
I have a Dell Inspiron 1150 laptop computer. One of my cute kids
dumped a bottle of water on the poor thing, it was on at the time. I
shut it down right away and pulled the battery. I opened up the case,
blotted up the water, cleaned it up with some alcohol (semiconductor
grade isopropyl from a fresh container) and gently blew it dry with a
warm air gun. Whe I put it back together and put the battery in, it
booted up and seemed OK. Of course once the battery got low I plugged
in the charger.
When I did so, the "AC power" LED and the "Charge" LED light but flicker
on and off rapidly, and the charger makes the sort of "ticking" noise
that suggests that it is being overloaded. The battery does not recharge.

Bummer.

Obviously something in the charge control stuff got wacked, but I have
no idea how to go about locating what or where. If I can locate the bad
stuff, I'm quite sure I could change them even if they are small SMT
stuff. Besides, at this point, I have little to lose. Any ideas how one
could approach troubleshooting this?

The other last ditch option is to power it directly up via the battery
slot. Then at least I could call it a "compact desktop" computer or
something like that. The battery pack is 14.8V and connects via
9 "blades" in the computer. I assume that there are multiple positive
and negative blades. Anyone know what the pinout of these are?

Thanks for any thoughts.

At least Dell makes available their service manual for the 1150:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1150/sm/index.htm
 
S

Sam Goldwasser

Jan 1, 1970
0
Jim Land said:
At least Dell makes available their service manual for the 1150:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins1150/sm/index.htm

That's not exactly what I would call a "service manual". :)

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Sam said:
That's not exactly what I would call a "service manual". :)


Well, not really, but is somewhat better than nothing. Gives a few "how
to take it apart" guidelines, for what that is worth.

Take what you can get, I guess. :)

-AL A.
 
Have you checked ebay for a replacement motherboard? I know there are
always a variety of dell motherboards and parts offered.


: Hi all,
: I have a Dell Inspiron 1150 laptop computer. One of my cute kids
: dumped a bottle of water on the poor thing, it was on at the time. I
: shut it down right away and pulled the battery. I opened up the case,
: blotted up the water, cleaned it up with some alcohol (semiconductor
: grade isopropyl from a fresh container) and gently blew it dry with a
: warm air gun. Whe I put it back together and put the battery in, it
: booted up and seemed OK. Of course once the battery got low I plugged
: in the charger.
: When I did so, the "AC power" LED and the "Charge" LED light but flicker
: on and off rapidly, and the charger makes the sort of "ticking" noise
: that suggests that it is being overloaded. The battery does not recharge.

: Bummer.

: Obviously something in the charge control stuff got wacked, but I have
: no idea how to go about locating what or where. If I can locate the bad
: stuff, I'm quite sure I could change them even if they are small SMT
: stuff. Besides, at this point, I have little to lose. Any ideas how one
: could approach troubleshooting this?

: The other last ditch option is to power it directly up via the battery
: slot. Then at least I could call it a "compact desktop" computer or
: something like that. The battery pack is 14.8V and connects via
: 9 "blades" in the computer. I assume that there are multiple positive
: and negative blades. Anyone know what the pinout of these are?

: Thanks for any thoughts.

: Best regards,
: AL
 
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