What chip is this? Screen Flickering issue & didn't ON or charge, now dead -Predator Helios 300

Sumanth
Sumanth Member Posts: 103 Skilled Fixer WiFi Icon
edited February 2022 in Predator Laptops
After many months of crying over my dead machine - Acer Predator Helios 300 (i5 9300H + GTX 1660Ti) PH 315-52-5520, I got to know that a chip on the board is short, the

laptop doesn't turn on at all, doesn't charge, it's just dead, except this chip, which gets hot to touch.

I wanted to know what chip this might be (has no heat sink on it, just a black sticker cover and is exposed. Is this the motherboard chipset?

CONTINUATION OF THE PREVIOUS PROBLEM - Please read - https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/654013/screen-keeps-flickering-every-3-seconds-predator-helios-300-ph-315-52#latest




[​//Edited the content to add model name]

Answers

  • Yes, it's a chipset. If your model is ph315-52 then it is hm370 chipset. Now, if the chipset gets hot but the computer won't turn on, I would check the primary and secondary voltages. But it is necessary to know how to read the electrical schematic of this motherboard.

    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          
                                                      
                                                     egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 
  • Hi,
    Yes, it's the motherboard chipset which communicates between CPU and other peripherals, if it's damaged, a new MB needed.
  • Sumanth
    Sumanth Member Posts: 103 Skilled Fixer WiFi Icon
    @egydiocoelho

    Thank you for your response, for the context, I'd like to provide you and others a little more information

    The problem started with the Screen Flickering issue I had (you can read more in the link mentioned above), then it didn't turn on, from that point on forward, I've taken it to multiple Acer Certified service centers in different states in my Country, unfortunately they can only come up with the Conclusion that there's no power to the motherboard, that's the farthest extent of diagnosis that they are willing to make

    They made it clear that they DO NOT repair at chip level, they merely just replace the whole thing instead, which is obviously ridiculously expensive

    So I've been to multiple other high rated private technicians, they declared that there's a problem with this chip, I've felt it, it gets hot when nothing else is even powered, even they say that this issue CANNOT be solved, only a whole motherboard replacement will make the machine work

    If anyone could please confirm this or give me more insight... I'd be extremely happy
    I've put my childhoods' and graduations earnings and savings into this...
    Predator down  :'(
  • Sumanth
    Sumanth Member Posts: 103 Skilled Fixer WiFi Icon
    Hi,
    Yes, it's the motherboard chipset which communicates between CPU and other peripherals, if it's damaged, a new MB needed.
    If that's the only solution... then could you please provide me details of how expensive this job would be? And tell me how to get hold of one?

    The technicians I've met say that it would cost anywhere North of INR 37,400 (~ 492 USD)- (1 month warranty, non branded parts)
    I've contacted Acer, they say that they don't have stock for these boards and will likely not have them anytime soon or ever
  • Commodore_1995#
    Commodore_1995# ACE Posts: 98,311 Trailblazer
    edited February 2022
    Without checking the voltages, it is impossible to say whether it is possible to fix it or not. In my opinion, the correct thing is to check all the voltages of the motherboard, using the electrical schematic. In what country do you live?


    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          
                                                      
                                                     egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 
  • Sumanth
    Sumanth Member Posts: 103 Skilled Fixer WiFi Icon
    I'm from India

    Quite a few technicians I've met in one state, just plainly said that they checked everything, they don't know what the problem is, might possibly be something big that's it

    Which is why I moved states to get a chance to get it fixed with better technicians and this is the only info i have now...
    As far as I can remember, there was that 19V power rail working, after that he was confused, the other technicians.. I have no clue
  • Sumanth said:
    Hi,
    Yes, it's the motherboard chipset which communicates between CPU and other peripherals, if it's damaged, a new MB needed.
    If that's the only solution... then could you please provide me details of how expensive this job would be? And tell me how to get hold of one?

    The technicians I've met say that it would cost anywhere North of INR 37,400 (~ 492 USD)- (1 month warranty, non branded parts)
    I've contacted Acer, they say that they don't have stock for these boards and will likely not have them anytime soon or ever
    This is the cheapest I could find online, it's from Aliexpress and costs around £500.
    https://pt.aliexpress.com/item/1005002229893590.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2bra
  • Sumanth
    Sumanth Member Posts: 103 Skilled Fixer WiFi Icon
    brummyfan2

    Well... thats a great Jump in CPU and GPU power for that price... maybe?
    But do you really consider it to be fruitful for me to get the motherboard replaced or buy a new machine all together?
    (possibly without any warranty)

    I bought this one for INR 78000 (~ 1038.95 USD)
    The price of the motherboard that you've shown is INR 51000 (~ 679.31 USD) [it cannot be delivered to india anyways]

    And I think I might have a broken screen as well - thats a 144 Hz 1080p panel...
  • Sumanth said:
    brummyfan2

    Well... thats a great Jump in CPU and GPU power for that price... maybe?
    But do you really consider it to be fruitful for me to get the motherboard replaced or buy a new machine all together?
    (possibly without any warranty)

    I bought this one for INR 78000 (~ 1038.95 USD)
    The price of the motherboard that you've shown is INR 51000 (~ 679.31 USD) [it cannot be delivered to india anyways]

    And I think I might have a broken screen as well - thats a 144 Hz 1080p panel...
    Yes,it's very expensive to replace MB, I would suggest buying a new laptop rather than trying to repair this laptop, salvage any parts from it and sell.
  • Sumanth
    Sumanth Member Posts: 103 Skilled Fixer WiFi Icon
    That really hurts to listen 😔😔😔
    But i guess it's the only way... I may try to do some digging once more..
    I even upgraded to 32GB of ram and living my dream life...
    Now I've lost multiple jobs, lost interviews, got into debts and even moved homes because of it

    It's barely over 2 years old even kept it super cool with kryonaut
    Dang 😔 i can't afford to buy anything like this for atleast over an year....
  • Do you know a technician who understands electronics and who knows how to read the electrical diagram of a motherboard?

    Oi! Eu não sou sou a cortana! Mas estou aqui para ajudar! Hi! I'm not the cortana! But I'm here to help!
    Se você gostou da minha resposta, marque como solução clicando em sim! If you liked my answer, mark it as a solution by clicking on yes!
    Aceite somente a resposta que ajudou a solucionar o seu problema! Please accept only the response that helped to solve your problem!
    Detection tool click here to find the serial number or partnumber of your model!                                                          
                                                      
                                                     egydiocoelho Trailblazer
     
    ProductKey clique aqui para descobrir o serial do windows! click here to discover the windows serial!
    Para usuários da comunidade inglesa, espanhola, francesa e alemã, usarei o google tradutor! :)
    For users of the English, Spanish, French and German community, I will be using google translator! :) 
  • ajax97
    ajax97 Member Posts: 63 Enthusiast WiFi Icon
    edited February 2022
    It's NOT the chip. The repair person must have short-circuited the board while handling the edp cable. I had the similar issue but with the webcam,as display and webcam wires are joined together and ended up with a dead laptop. I have seen similar cases where people end up in the same situation while dealing with the edp cable. Check this one here Predator Helios 300 PH315-52 A single issue gave birth to multiple ones — Acer Community