My Emachine 625 (new) burnt

Hi, my emachine E 625, new (warranty in france, so impossible to activate) burnt in argentina> One repair guy says it is motherboard (as expensive as new laptop) and the other says it needs a new "reflex" (the cable connecting the video card to the screen...) a new video card and a new fan. I would like to get a more professional opinion, and also perhaps, where to get those in the US (my friend from Texas is visiting in a month) Thank you very much

 

Please tell us the symptoms.

 

it turns on, but the screen does not

the thing is, I could get my friend to bring me a good used one from US, but I am a french translator, so I would need a french keyboard (the way to do it with english keyboard is a finger-twister, loss of time) hey, thanks for quick interest

just saw your ID pick, real funny, he he

 

It does sound like a bad motherboard. Try taking the battery out(and unplug it) for 30-40 seconds. Also try hooking it to an external monitor. You may have to push FN + one of the top "F" keys.

Thats all I can think of at the moment. Someone smarter than me will come by soon with more ideas. If you have your friend bring you another one you can swap out the keyboards. Then sell the broken one on eBay or something.

 

I wouldn't bother getting it serviced in the US. Very few companies have global warranty, so you can usually only get service in the region where you bought it. Plus Acer/Gateway/EMachines are VERY strict about warranty registration, so chances are your repair would be delayed 2-3 days at a minimum.

The problem is getting parts, as European parts are different and the warranty is different. Also many repair shops here get their parts from the manufacturer or refurbishers they won't be able to get parts most likely. Just coming from a technician who services computers.

 

It sounds like you have a failed GPU, but whether it is a failed GPU or failed motherboard is irrelevant since the repair is still a motherboard replacement.

 

I agree with the other guys... If you can boot it with an external monitor plugged in and see a picture, then your video card is fine and you need to inspect the display cable on the inside. If you get no picture, and the notebook seems to otherwise boot normally with the LED's for the HDD flashing like it's loading into the OS, then you'd have a fried video card and in that case, a new motherboard would be about the only way to get it working again, aside from trying the "bake" method.

Also, you say you cannot see anything on the screen... can you point a flashlight at it when it's on and see any kind of picture? Sometimes the backlight or backlight inverter can go out and leave the screen without backlight therefore appearing black.

 

thanks to all, I will check these methods.

 

Sorry, what is the bake method?

 

and...the display cable would be what the argentinian guy calls a (with accent) reflex, wouldn'it?...Easy to get as a spare part? Any other name for it? Thanks

 

The bake method is for nVidia GPU's where it contained defective bump material causing the solder joints to be disconnected from GPU to motherboard, and baking it would reconnect them and voila video. This was mostly for older laptops from 2006-2008. I do not think your Emachines 625 qualifies for this, as it's still under manufacturer warranty.

Certain manufacturers call the LCD cable a reflex cable.

 

If you do replace the computer with another 625 (or 627 which is almost the same model), you can easily swap your old keyboard into the new one.

I don't have my 627 with me at the moment, but if I recall correctly the keyboard is just snapped into place. Look around the perimeter of the keyboard tray and you'll see the little tabs that hold the keyboard in place. Use a small flathead screwdriver to pry out the keyboard from under the tabs, lift the keyboard out and unplug the cable underneath. Then, plug in the replacement keyboard, snap it in place and you should be good to go.

I changed my keyboard (replaced the bilingual French/English keyboard with a US English keyboard) when I upgraded the CPU. If I remembered wrong and the keyboard is hard to remove or cannot be removed as I said above, then back up and do the following. Pinch each screen hinge cover from the front and the back and pull upwards to remove. Then lift out the panel just above the keyboard. Once the panel is out you can slide the keyboard out and complete the swap.