Have I fried my laptop?

[Suzieb]

Basically, it was dark last night and I went to plug my charger into my laptop, but instead of putting it in the right place I shoved it into a USB port in the back. Because I'm an idiot.
Anyway, it pinged and went off and smelled strongly like burning. So I'm guessing it's not good?
Its completely dead now, won't turn on or anything. Is there ANY way this is fixable?

[MarkRae]

You've (almost) certainly burnt something out. You're unlikely to have damaged the battery, so I'd suggest that it's either the power supply or something on the motherboard.

Either way, you have (to use your word) fried it. I'd suggest that it's would be less expensive in the long run to buy a new one rather than to try and get it repaired.

Chances are that the hard drive will be fine and that you (or, at least, somebody) will be able to extract any data from it...

[Suzieb]

Thank you very much.
I certainly won't be able to retrieve the data myself, I wouldn't even know how to attempt that.
It's insured with the house insurance so I don't know if I could replace it and then pay somebody to come round and get all my pics and things off my old one?

[MarkRae]

It can't hurt to contact your household insurance company and ask...

As for getting the data off, since the machine is dead this will mean removing the hard disk and viewing it on another computer. Not a particularly difficult thing for an IT professional like me (or ChuckFickens) to do, but definitely not for the laity...

Where are you based? N.B. I don't want to know your address, just approximate area...

[Suzieb]

I'm in Merseyside. We have a really nice bloke who sorts out minor internet problems, viruses and things like that but I'd imagine this is out of his league. I absolutely don't want to take it to PC World to get fixed, because they just make me angry in there.

[Old_Geezer]

I am amazed one can fit a power lead into a USB socket, or that if one did the USB port wasn't designed to protect the stuff behind it, if it blew.

I think, in your shoes, I might try another power supply first, just in case.

[MarkRae]

Merseyside is a bit out of my catchment area. However, as I mentioned, this isn't a particularly difficult thing to do so I'd simply do a trawl Google:
http://www.google.co....qi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

[Suzieb]

It's not really that hard to fit it into a USB socket. The lead which plugs into my laptop just has a little round-thing on the end, which I stick into a hole in the back of the laptop. Which is right next to 2 USB ports, which are long and square. So, there was plenty of room to stick it in there by accident.

Thanks Mark. Better go & ring the insurance people and see what they have to say. Hopefully I can get it replaced and then just pay somebody to sort out all my data.

[Suzieb]

Plus, the power supply has a little light on it when it's plugged in and ready to charge. That's working fine - the lights on nice and bright.
But when I plugged it into my laptop earlier the "charging" light on my laptop didn't show up.

I guess I could try changing the fuse in my power supply.

[MarkRae]

> I guess I could try changing the fuse in my power supply.

How would that help? The lights on the power supply indicate that it's working...

[Suzieb]

I don't know, the old geezer up there said I should try another power supply?

[tamborine]

remove the battery & work direct from mains

[Suzieb]

Oh see, I'm a computer-idiot though. You lost me at "Remove the battery" I'm not sure I'm comfortable with unscrewing things and removing bits and bobs just incase I do any more damage, if that's at all possible...

[MarkRae]

Removing the battery will not help either.

[another-view]

If you've fried the motherboard, you will need to get your laptop repaired/replaced. The good news is your disk and its stored information should still be ok.

[Old_Geezer]

The news about the light came after the advice, but even so it would be useful to know you are getting the correct voltage when the power supply is powering something. A new one you knew to be working would help confirm that the suplpy is not the problem. Never assume as whatever "can't be the cause" will then turn out to be.

I'm not that savvy on laptops: don't really like them much, but I'd suspect the battery probably slides or clips out ? Take a look at the manual.

[Suzieb]

Sorry to be annoying but can I just do a quick re-cap here -

My motherboard is buggered, basically. And it's going to be cheaper to buy a new laptop than to get it repaired. and I can also pay someone to get my photos etc off my old laptop onto my new one. That's what the deal is here?

[MarkRae]

IMO (without actually seeing the machine), going by what you've said that is exactly the situation...

[tamborine]

how will they get the pics if the board is sizzled ?

[squarebear]

Because the pictures are stored on the hard drive which will most likely be ok. The motherboard is used to controlling the different components of the computer. It is a straight forward job for someone IT literate to install the disk into another laptop.

[MarkRae]

Tambourine, this has already been covered earlier in the thread...