ASUS G73JH - No power/lifesign - Where are the fuses located?

Well my poor ASUS G73JH has served me for nearly 7 years, it was a lot in use and survived many (happy) little accidents.

Unfortunately its not powering on anymore, its basically doing nothing. No LEDs flash up, no beep appears ... I press the power button and basically NOTHING happens.

I suspect that a fuse blew out or that something is doing a short-circuit.

Can someone tell me where the main fuse is located and if there are any particular parts which should always forward power when a PSU is connected?

I tested of course the PSU and the PSU socket, its working fine.

 

Wow! 7 yo gaming laptop, now that's longevity.
I doubt it has a fuse in it.
Sounds more like a dead component somewhere.

 

It could always be the DC Jack, have you tried to wiggle the tip of the adapter in the dc jack and see if you get a charging light? You can check the adapter with a multimeter and see if it's getting power. That's the first place I would start.

Tutorial on how to fix the dc jack is in my signature.

 

I own an ASUS G73jh, It could be issues with the CMOS battery. I switched out my old one for a new one and the laptop started working. However during reassembly something caused a short-circuit. What caused the short circuit was a flex cable that connects to the 3 button hotkeys on the top left to the motherboard. The short-circuit fried up the new CMOS battery (I think, could be worse). I'm thinking of buying a new CMOS battery and trying it again. I'm still able to power the laptop however after a few minutes it shuts down. I have to take out the CMOS battery and then put it back to turn it back on. This gets the laptop to turn back on for a few minutes again. Before this I couldn't even turn it on. So, I'm assuming its the CMOS battery again.

However what originally fried the first CMOS battery was the USB port next to the Ethernet port found in the top left side. So, I purchased a new Ethernet/USB board. I also noticed while troubleshooting the USB and the Ethernet port no longer worked.

To troubleshoot, I removed everything leaving me with just the motherboard heatsinks+fans and hard drive connections. Grabbed a box from my PCs motherboard and used it as a test bench. I then connected motherboard to a USB mouse and keyboard and a HDMI to a monitor. It was a wild guess that it was the CMOS battery. I played a few games to test it out and it worked, however during reassembly I noticed the flex cable connecting the hotkeys kept falling out. I looked at it and the pins where all unaligned and sticking out. I'm currently buying a new flex cable of the same length and pin count. Also this time I'm reapplying new anti static tape so the parts stay in place. When I disassembled my laptop I got rid of a lot of the anti static tape that hold down many cables in place.

This laptop was sitting in my closet waiting for repair for over a year. So, when I opened the laptop up it gave me the chance of cleaning out the fans and reapplying new thermal paste. I dont think a repair place would have done that for me. I ran most old games at decent settings. Lol, I was only able to play Overwatch at 40ish FPS at high settings. Forgot how old this laptop was. I also noticed this laptops motherboard does not boot without a CMOS battery.

 

I forgot to mention that the pins where you stick the laptops battery can get bent which can cause a shortage as well.

 

I tried a new CMOS battery and it didn't solve my new issue. I remembered I had an old motherboard with the same type of battery. However I'm guessing the new issue has to deal with overheating. I'm able to turn on the motherboard after a few minutes in between. I'm thinking its the graphics card, since it feels the hottest. Could be the thermal paste I applied. Maybe I applied too much or the paste I'm using is not good. I think I had it laying around without a cap for a while. Im still able to turn on the laptop, so I dont think the motherboard is fried.

 

Sometimes its best to just let it go.