Help with a diying laptop! 500cc stat

The_Pink_Panter

Afternoon All!
After help obtained here yesterday i was able to sort out a major headace with my primary pc (i thank you) i was wondering if it would be at all possable to get a problem thats over 2 years old sorted out for once and for all? I've seen simular treads but none had a solution that worked, other that to use the machine as a paper weight. (And i don't want to give up on it cos it really is a little workhorse and one ot thoes pc that u like to work with)
What it is, is a dell laptop p111 500mhz 128ram 6gig hd, and contray to a lot of problems that people have with dell pc this one worked like a charm untill my brother who likes to have a beer or two when surfing or what ever split some, na a full can over it and kinda ruined it, or so i tought, it did kinda work every now and again but after a few minutes, or some times a few hrs even the thing would seize up, what would happen is the screen would freeze and start to well it apperd to be burning up, the screen that is, it would start turning white in the middle and spread to the whole screen in a couple of seconds which in turn led to the whole computer freezing up although the HD and processor keept running but you had no other choice but to plug it out and start again.
Now heres the good part! you break it! you fix it! store policy.
And he did! got a new motherboard put into it and what have you and after 6 or so hrs of getting it back the VERY same thing started to happen, can you belive it, took it back a couple of times to the shop but to no avail(Shop since been closed). I put Xpsp2 onto it hopeing that it might locate the problem but no joy there, i've had it opend up a couple of times and all seems fine to the naked eye, heatsink is fine processor is sitting as it sholud be and theres no loose "connections" have run various diagnostic tools over it and the results are always the same in fact it always gets a clean bill of health apart from the usual, could do with memory upgrade and so on, but notting that would stop it from running. Its really bugging me cos i like this computer silly i know but after whatching the way it acts i know in my heart and soul it can be sorted! besides i allready have a siemens mobile as a paper weight, can i be helped.
Im really sorry about the lenght of this post

MR DAZ

What store did you buy it in?(considering its a dell ...I'm confused)

Sounds fairly suspect that the store changed the motherboard for you for free even though your bro spilt beer over it :rolleyes:

I'd say they stripped it down and left the parts dry out and thought it would work or something.....Anyway your best bet is to try and buy the same model of ebay for cheap and use the parts to fix the laptop



Most electronic devices never work 100% once liquid is split over them even when it has a chance to dry out.

The_Pink_Panter

Id bought it from dell some four maybe 5yrs ago so there was no point going near them, this dell was a good computer but dell themself are hopeless, even with warinity.
I/he my brother paid 220eurs in all for the repairs in a repuitable blackrock/dublin repair shop, i think they moved rather than closed, no matter i moved mysely to blancherstown and its a long way to keep traveling back and forth when your working a 12hr night shift which is why notting was done with it for quiet a while.
I do have to say that the inside was brad new as i had it open a few times before anything ever went wrong with it and the after repairs/replacment was all new work!
Also this problem can occour when watching a movie file or it can just as well happen when there is notting running on it! as Xp is a 30day trial and just there for dianogstics there is no other software on it so there is no heavy usage of any recources

stevenmu

The best thing to try, if it's a choice between this or being a paperweight, is to take it all apart again. Get one of the specialised cleaning solvents for cleaning circuit boards, I think they're usually made from isopropyl alcohol, but if you explain it to the guys in most electronics or computer shops they should know what you're after. You should be able to see residue left by the beer in places, maybe even on the laptop case itself aswell, get it all cleaned off, maybe even cleaning other bits that don't neccessarily look affected too. If that doesn't do the job you may have to take the screen apart and try the same. Neither is guarenteed to work and there's a good amount of risk, but if it's going to be useless anyway....

The_Pink_Panter

Yea im a kinda thinking along them lines myself, but hopefully as a last resort!
Laptops don't like been opened and i don't like opening them, although i know this one inside out

Wandering Dazed

Does the display do the same thing if you have an external monitor on it? I remember seeing similar issues on certain laptops due to heat on the graphics card. Older Dell laptops (CPX H, CPX J's afaik) have a separate video daughter card which sits on the motherboard, a separate part itself. Another cause could be a damaged lcd, lcd flex cable/invertor.

The_Pink_Panter

ye i've tried a few monitors with it but the same thing happens!
Whats happening now is after an hour or so the screen starts to burn out HD and processor shut down and the screen just burns and turns various coulors, blueish, pinkish, redish coulors untill i have to plug it out as it won't respond