What the Heck Did I Fry-Inspiron 5100

co_bikeman

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Aug 31, 2008
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18,510
So my girlfriends power cord on her Inspiron 5100 quit. I opened it up at the plug-in at the computer, and found that the wires had fatigued from years of being flexed, and broken. So I stripped the wires, exposing the outer wire sheathing, then the inner core wire, spliced it all back together with connectors, and it worked great. A few months later it quit again, I pushed on the plug, and got a little puff of smoke and a burning odor out of the computer. Took the wires apart, and found that they had fatigued again and come in contact with each other. Now her computer will not start at all, completely DOA. What the heck did I fry? Motherboard? Never have taken a laptop apart, would appreciate input.

Co_Bikeman
 

frozenlead

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You shorted out the power supply, and likely damaged the battery. Didn't do a good enough repair job.

You could get a new PSU and battery, but it might be damaged beyond repair.
 

co_bikeman

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Aug 31, 2008
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18,510
It's more than the power supply. I rewired it again and it is delivering proper voltage. The computer is dead, period. I am wondering if I shorted out some component on the mother board, where to proceed from here.