I Think I Fried my Inspiron 6400

Hey everyone,

Well I got some bad news....

Yesterday my dog knocked over a glass of wine all over my laptop. I tried to turn it off but well you know how it takes about 3 seconds to turn off via the power button so during that time, the wine got all over inside.

I opened it up and cleaned out all the wine. Turns out some got in the hard drive and screwed that up. I was able to take that apart and get it working (which is great! considering all my business stuff was in there). The laptop ran fine for about an hour allowing me to backup all my important files.

When I went to plug in the power cord however, the laptop ran for about a minute and then just turned off. Now it will not turn on. It turns on for a second and then shuts right off.

I opened it up again and found that the electrical components (sorry I'm no electrician) look fried - I think anyways.

I need some help. This laptop was $1600 and I got it two months ago so I'm very depressed. What are my options? It's obviously not going to be covered under warranty. Can you order a new motherboard? How much is it? Should I just assemble a new laptop on dells website and then swap the components from my laptop?

If anyone can help it, please do This is my business laptop and I need to figure out a solution fast.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Wes

 

Ouch, I think you can add a complete care warranty package to an existing product, I'd look at dells site and see, in the future, if such an event occurs, take much more time in letting the parts dry out, I would have left it in pieces for at least two to three days after multiple cleanings of each part, a motherboard would cost more than the warranty, and that probably isnt the only damaged part. Good luck

I wouldnt do the parts swap, they will know what happend when they get them back, and you will most likely pay for both machines, not to mention that would pretty much be stealing expensive components.

 

Buy the complete care package, wait a week, and then complain about the problem. It's a little sneaky, I know, but it works.

 

Thanks for your replies

Yeah, I'm too honest to buy the warranty then complain. It is a good idea but I would rather be honest about it

I am thinking about buying a new 6400 and just stealing parts from my old laptop. Are all motherboards the same on the 6400 series?

 

Actually its not really sneaky, thats what its for. If it wasnt then it would not be an available option after the intial sale, The coverage is still only good from the point of the original sale, meaning you bought the laptop 2 years ago, then bought the 3 year CC today, you would only be coverd for a year.

 

Thanks for the information zx10guy. I will be meeting with an accountant today so I will be sure to bring that up.

Does anyone know how much I could sell parts for? I'm sure I could just sell them on Ebay which will help pay for some of the new laptop.

Also, does anyone know if Dell is bringing out any new models soon. Should I wait for a new model or should I just stick to the 6400. It seemed like the best choice here in Canada.

 

The warranty approach is by far the most honest and safest, if you called Dell and told them your current situation, odds are thats what they would tell you to do if you get a hold of good rep. Also bear in mind, the damage done to your machine most likely isnt solely on the mobo, and might not even be present yet, wine is acidic, any trace can cause problems down the line.

 

Haha I know Iceman, I dunno, I'm too honest for that

I figure that I'm going to call and ask on Monday when they are open, if they say go for it, I will. If not, I got my system priced at $1399 from a Dell Sales Rep and I will order it Monday.

I will just sell off the old working parts on Ebay. Unless you guys know of anywhere else to get some cash for them.

Thanks for your help!

 

Ouch..It's a shame you didn't just let it dry out, or break out a blow dryer, & get it dry without it being on...That hour, which did get you your data(that you should always have backed up daily since it is your business notebook!) cost you more functionality as the heat, allowed liquid to seep further into the parts, if it stayed off & dryed out on it's own, I bet it would be working today...Well about 78-85% sure..
I spilled a glass of chocolate milk on a Latitude D-505, shut it off, dryed it out for 2 weeks, it booted right up, haven't had a problem with it since..(although I did open it & clean out the now soured milk, before it got really rank..lol) That's why I now buy the Complete Care protection against any damage, animals are just as dangerous to notebooks...

So I gather, from your post, you didn't purchase that Warranty that covers "any" type of accident? For $1600 worth of notebook, getting that extra 350-400 dollars in protection would have saved you a bundle!
a MOBO might cost you up to $800.00(from Dell)

I have the same notebook(6400) It is a great notebook. I got that "Complete Care warranty" as I have animals & had a XPS Gen 2 that my cat knocked off a table onto the floor, it broke it up, they basically sent me out another...by the time the Tech was finished rebuilding it, (he had every part for a notebook, except the case bottom)..lol

First youi must determine what all seems messed up, besides the MOBO...
Does the CPU look OK?
How about the:
DVD Burner ?
the RAM ?
the WiFi & Bluetooth cards
the 5-in1- card reader
the Display
Keyboard
Touchpad



You should start buy getting a MOBO for it, Dell will sell you one, for alot..
You would be better off getting one from Ebay, just make sure the seller guarantee's it works...You'll save a Few hundred al least

You might want to get another HDD, & copy all the contents to a new one via a company that transfers data, so you get your Factory Restore partition, as well as everything else you need..Otherwise you'll need to pay Dell for that...

Once you have the new HDD in, & have cleaned up the parts I listed above, assemble it, & cross your fingers that everything works!

Best of luck..

Dagra


PS.. I see others had replied to this, I don't know why I didn't see all the other replys in this thread first..
Good luck on parting out your totaled 6400

BTW..If you had 2GB of DDR667 in yours(mine has 2GB of DDR533
AND are sure it wasn't damaged, I'd consider buying it...

 

Thank you for your post Dagra.

I actually got a new 6400 with the complete care warranty. It should be arriving today. I only got 1GB of RAM as I'm going to use the old 2GB.

I found the actual problem with the laptop. Turns out the connectors on the Motherboard that connect to the battery had dried wine on them. I'm thinking because of the sugar, it fried the motherboard when I plugged in the power. Everywhere else was dry. The laptop didn't break until I plugged in the power.

I called Dell regarding a new motherboard and it would be $291 CAD for them to ship me out a new one inc. shipping and taxes - which isn't too bad. I'm going to put in the new motherboard and either sell the laptop for $1000 CAD or just give it to my wife and sell our desktop PC (which should cover the cost of the motherboard).

Either than that, its a lesson learned I did get the 3 year complete care warranty and they gave it to me at $199 CAD which was a deal as well.

Thanks again for your help!

Wes

 

Glad to hear you got it resolved more or less painlessly.

 

Yeah, still painful

I think in the end, I'm trying to look on the bright side. If I didn't open it up and at least fix the hard drive and use the laptop to back up my info, I would be in a lot worse trouble than now.

Thanks everyone for your help!

My new laptop is working great!

Wes