New power supply seems to have killed laptop

Korlash

Hey.

My father bought a a new power supply for his Toshiba a200-ah5. I was there to verify that it was the right thing and indeed, the seller listed the power supply as compatible with this laptop and every spec seemed to match the old one.

My father plugged it in, it didn't work, and now the laptop shows absolutely no signs of life. Not good. At all.

Apparently the area around the fan was very hot when it happened, but I can't tell you more about it since I wasn't there.

Anyway, I partly opened it to see if I could smell any smoke. Nothing. I don't see any obviously damaged part either. I didn't open it completely because something seems to be keeping the case in place and I'm afraid of breaking it.

At any rate, I know it's hard to troubleshoot from a distance, but is there any chance that it's just the battery that died? Or do you think it may have destroyed the motherboard?

PeregrineFalcon

Why was the new power supply needed?

IE: Are you sure the laptop wasn't dead before the new one got plugged in?

Korlash

Yes, I'm sure the computer was working fine. He was getting a new power supply because it had a longer cord, I think. And the computer was working fine a just a minute before plugging in the new power supply.

PeregrineFalcon

Sounds almost like the power adaptor was wired wrong and caused a short, with the whole "got really really hot" thing. You might be able to remove the battery and try powering it up with the old power adaptor, but it's sounding like the motherboard is shot.

Not having much luck finding a service manual, "Toshiba A200 Service Manual" turned up a few hits on Rapidshare which I won't be hitting from work, but those might point you in the right direction.

Darkchampion3d

I'm guessing your power supply was incompatible and the mismatch damaged something in your laptop.

A power supply that doesnt put out enough voltage or amperage most definitely can cause physical damage to your device, depending on how it is wired internally. Failed charging/power circuit, battery failure, and damage to the mainboard/system components are all possible with a mismatched power supply.

Supplying too little voltage or too little current can royally fuck electrical systems that have been specially designed for specific levels. Maybe there was a circuit made to turn off once it reached a certain current, but stayed on too long and overheated since the amount supplied was too low. Or perhaps your voltage was too low and you fried a transistor somewhere. Regardless, when the "area around the fan got very hot" that was probably your laptop cooking itself. In my experience you usually do get a whiff of burnt electronics smell when this happens though.

I would suggest look at what volt/amp the laptop was expecting, and comparing it to what the volt/amp output on the power supply actually was. Should be able to find the latter on the power supply itself, and the former via toshiba or your manual.

Korlash

The thing is the volt/amp on the new power supply match those on the old one.

So it seems we're going to have to get someone to take a look at it to see what's been damaged. I've heard horror stories of Geek Squad. My father planned on taking it to future shop. Is it better to go to a mom and pop store or will both equally try to rip us off?

travathian

Call around and get estimates for parts + labor to replace the motherboard. If they give you some bullshit about how they need to diagnose blah blah blah, need to see it in person blah blah blah, ask again for parts+labor for a motherboard swap. If they still balk at giving you an actual price tell them to bugger off and you'll take your business elsewhere. Compare that cost to the cost of just buying a new laptop. At some point its not worth putting money into fixing the old, when the new isn't that much more expensive. It may not even be the motherboard, but that should give you an idea of how much it could potentially cost.

My suggestion would be to pull the battery out, leave it sitting for a few minutes, hold down the power button for a few seconds, then plug in the known good adapter and try turning it on.