I fried my Extensa 15 EX215-53 laptop. Is it fixable?

marivoje123

Hi! I plugged in 12 volts from a wall adapter( obviously not acer or supported or anything) directly into one of my usb 3.0s on the laptop. Yes I plugged the 12v+ into the 5v+ and ground to ground. Don't ask how tough. I knew that would ruin the laptop I just wasn't really thinking at the moment. The laptop immediately shut down with a pop, and while it did turn on immediately after that, the usb ports, speakers and the headphone jack didn't work(the headphone jack kinda worked and there was sound but there was also loud static sounding noise). The hdmi port supposedly works but the monitor I plugged it in stopped working after a couple of minutes of use. The ethernet also worked a bit but I didn't test it out too much cos I'm scared of using it. I don't think there's another way out of this other than a new motherboard or a new pc. I can't live like that so, please help!

JackE

Only the USB2 port card on the right is replaceable at reasonable cost. But only if indeed the card itself took the bront of the jolt, not the mainboard's USBuss. So may be fixable by simply replacing the card. But still not guaranteed if the jolt travelled the card ribbon cable connector to the mainboard.

The two USB3 ports are soldered directly the mainboard's USBuss, so the mainboard took the hit. Because one or more of many discrete components that are associated with the buss could've been zapped, makes the situation more complicated. Without circuit analysis tools, this can sometimes be done by inspecting the mainboard with a magnifying glass for charred or cracked chips and inductors which are usually marked with a part no. if they're replaceable with pencil-tip soldering tools. DigiKey and MouserElectronics can sometimes supply these discrete parts. Since you heard a 'pop'. I'd guess at least one chip blew a hole in itself from overheating. Sorry, I can't even begin to guess where you should look without actually seeing both sides of the board in person with my magnifying glass.

You might want to take it to a local laptop repair service for an evaluation and repair estimate. However, I don't think replacing the whole mainboard is a practical solution.

billsey

If both of the USB 3.0 ports no longer work, then the issue isn't confined to the one port, so the zap got into the USB circuits that are part of the chipset. That pretty much requires a motherboard replacement, which isn't going to be inexpensive on a 10th gen machine, but at least it should be possible to find one on the secondary market, since it's two plus years old now. BTW, I believe you have an Extensa 215-53G, I don't think they did a 215-53 model.

JackE

Might be some hope if it was the single USB port on the right side. Less hope if it was one of the two USB ports on the left side.

marivoje123

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/1177289#Comment_1177289

It was one of the 3.0s..... But what did you mean by "hope"? Does that mean there is a way to fix it without replacing the whole motherboard?

JackE

Only the USB2 port card on the right is replaceable at reasonable cost. But only if indeed the card itself took the bront of the jolt, not the mainboard's USBuss. So may be fixable by simply replacing the card. But still not guaranteed if the jolt travelled the card ribbon cable connector to the mainboard.

The two USB3 ports are soldered directly the mainboard's USBuss, so the mainboard took the hit. Because one or more of many discrete components that are associated with the buss could've been zapped, makes the situation more complicated. Without circuit analysis tools, this can sometimes be done by inspecting the mainboard with a magnifying glass for charred or cracked chips and inductors which are usually marked with a part no. if they're replaceable with pencil-tip soldering tools. DigiKey and MouserElectronics can sometimes supply these discrete parts. Since you heard a 'pop'. I'd guess at least one chip blew a hole in itself from overheating. Sorry, I can't even begin to guess where you should look without actually seeing both sides of the board in person with my magnifying glass.

You might want to take it to a local laptop repair service for an evaluation and repair estimate. However, I don't think replacing the whole mainboard is a practical solution.

billsey

If both of the USB 3.0 ports no longer work, then the issue isn't confined to the one port, so the zap got into the USB circuits that are part of the chipset. That pretty much requires a motherboard replacement, which isn't going to be inexpensive on a 10th gen machine, but at least it should be possible to find one on the secondary market, since it's two plus years old now. BTW, I believe you have an Extensa 215-53G, I don't think they did a 215-53 model.