Laptop Fried?

I live in Mexico where we have occasional power surges. Although I am protected
by both a voltage regulator and a surge protector, sometimes the surges are so
great that they overwhelm both. Such was apparently the case recently, when
the result of a surge was to melt the insulation on the cable on the DC side of the
PA-10 type power adapter.

The laptop is a Dell Inspiron E1505. Subsequent attempts to boot the laptop with a
different, known working, compatible power adapter result in "nothing" - no indicator
lights, no display, no boot ... nothing. I removed the battery, same result.

In the past, I've had similar power surge problem more than once with desktop
computers, and I've been able to repair the computer by replacing the power supply
inside the case. I've never had this problem with a laptop before and my question
is this - is the laptop likely totally "fried" in the sense that the motherboard is likely
destroyed, for example, or is it possible that some component was ruined that
could be replaced for a reasonable cost.

And if the latter, is there a diagnostic procedure that could determine same. (In the
past I have repaired laptops having other problems, and am capable of laptop
dis-assembly and repair).

Thx, Gus

 

If a known-good adapter doesn't work, your motherboard is probably hosed. You can typically find motherboards for less than $100 on eBay, but whether it's worth spending $100 to fix a $200 machine is up to you...