Freak power surge - one fried mobo

[Kingnog]

Well, I don't know how it happened, or why it happened...

My laptop was sitting idle on the table, waiting for me to plug in my scanner so I could start scanning my vacation pictures. I plugged my scanner into my usb hub, and the other end into my power strip. Immediately, I heard a "pop" sound and everything turned off. Goodbye scanner, usb hub and laptop :'(

From what I can tell, an enormous amount of electricity flew straight through my scanner, through my usb hub, down the usb ports straight into my laptop's motherboard. I disassembled my hub and took a look inside; not a pretty sight. The circuit board inside was black, and smelled like burning plastic.

So ended the life of my 3 most used pieces of hardware. I don't know why it happened, or how (seeing as the power switch on the power strip was TURNED OFF WHEN I PLUGGED THE SCANNER IN!!!!!! I made sure of it). Exactly 2 weeks after the 1-year warranty ran out on my laptop, too!

So...anybody know if it's possible to get this repaired? If so, how, and is it worth the money? I've got an Aopen 1557-g/ms2141 laptop, no clue who the manufacturer of the motherboard is. I've confirmed the battery is still alive, the cdrw and sound card work, and that's about it. Arghh, can't believe this happened....

[redwudz]

Sorry, that's a real pain. As far as repair, I would find some phone numbers for Aopen and try to find a real person to talk to. I suspect they would be the only company to do a repair. There may some private companies, but they would likely have problems obtaining parts and the price and the time they would take may be prohibitive.

Aopen may offer to repair it for a cost, or better, offer you an upgrade to a newer version. Probably not for free, but you never know till you explore. Tell them how you like it better than your best friend or whatever. Sometimes you luck out if you lay it on a little thick.

About your power surge. I would get a good quality surge protector and check your house wiring or have it checked. That should not happen unless there is a wiring problem. Something got crossed up, like having 120AC on the ground lead.

[Kingnog]

As far as repair, I would find some phone numbers for Aopen and try to find a real person to talk to.

Well, the problem is that I bought it through cyberpower www.cyberpowerinc.com)](www.cyberpowerinc.com)[/url], and they said $800 to fix it...which is half what I paid to buy the thing in the first place! They also said there's no guarantee it would fix it. I'll try calling Aopen, the manufacturer, maybe they'll be able to do something...but probably not

As for the surge protector, I took a huge chance and plugged in other electronics (a fan and a cell phone that I dont use anymore) into it, and it worked perfectly normally. I have no clue what happened.

[MJA]

I think its cheaper just to buy a new laptop if they refuse to fix it for free.Laptops are very $$ to fix.u can get a nice one from dell for $800.
check techbargains.com
Inspiron 6000 main stream Notebook 6.6lb Pentium M 725 1.6Ghz 2MB Cache/400Mhz bus, 256MB DDR2/40GB, CDRW/DVD, 15.4" Wide XGA Screen, 56k Modem, Ethernet, Intel 802.11g wireless, 6 months ISP, 1yr warranty, Word Perfect, XP Home $1078 - 35% off code = $700.70 shipped free. $19 handling. Free Printer

[Kingnog]

Yes, but what about my radeon 9700 128mb, my 1gb ram? That's a bit more expensive :P