Warning: I nearly wrote off a whole laptop because of a bad $3 capacitor

Had a Dell XPS come in last week that wouldn't power on at all, not even a light. I was ready to call it a dead board until I spotted a tiny bulge on a single capacitor near the power jack. Swapped it out, and it booted right up. Anyone else had a simple part save a whole unit from the scrap pile?

2 comments

2 Comments

jones.mason9d ago

Honestly, I used to think a dead power light meant a total loss. I'd just start looking for a new board right away. Seeing a fix that cheap and easy is a real wake-up call to check the small stuff first. Makes me wonder how many laptops I wrote off that just needed a new cap.

nancy_garcia638d ago

Tbh @jones.mason, I get where you're coming from, but I've had the opposite happen way too often. You spend hours checking every little part only to find the main chip is fried. I had an old ThinkPad that showed zero signs of life, swapped the cap and it did nothing. Ended up being a huge waste of a Saturday. Sometimes that dead light really does mean the board is just gone for good.