Salvaging a really screwed up laptop...

[lost_soul]

I have a laptop that was messed up by a surge. The backlight in the screen is out, and the thing will not turn on if a battery is inserted. It will, however, turn on with the battery removed and while plugged in. It will also boot and you can see the screen if you use a flashlight. I guess the motherboard is messed up. It is a Sandy/Ivy bridge I5 with 8 gigs of RAM and an NVIDIA GT card, so I would really like to turn it into a franken-desktop, if I can. Those parts are just too good to trash if it can be made usable without significant costs.

 

Any ideas? I figure it uses LEDs for the screen lighting and not a CCFL. When did CCFLs go out of style? I wonder what voltage the screen LEDs run on and if it can be rigged to run from an external adapter, It seems like the VGA port is also FUBAR too, because when I connected it to a monitor, I got a yellow (but perfectly clear) screen. I've seen that happen when a pin isn't making contact, so the port must be broken.

 

There is also an HDMI port, but I cannot test that yet because I do not have an HDMI cable.

 

I got it to boot from a USB drive and it started talking to me (with Knoppix).

 

I was also wondering if I can take the parts out of here (CPU/RAM and build a tiny desktop with a micro motherboard that will fit them.

Edited June 15, 2014 by lost_soul

[Bikerdude]

If you can see a normal windows desktop with a flashlight, then it soulds like thr CCFL control board is gone. So its either a case of replacing that or just the whole screen.

 

Whats the make/model/service tag of said laptop?

[lost_soul]

Its a Lenovo Ideapad Y570.

[Lux]

If you have an electronics tech in your area, you can probalby take the disassembled laptop to him and, more than likely, he can replace any blown caps on the control board. Capacitors pop with power surges. It can cost ~75-100 bucks so that's something to consider. You can inspect them yourself looking for capacitors with rounded/bulged tops. If you know how to solder you can replace them yourself pretty inexpensively. It could also be that the CCFL is just blown and many times you can get replacement CCFL bulbs.

 

9 times out of 10, caps are the reason electronics stop working with power surges.

Edited June 16, 2014 by Lux

[Bikerdude]

Its a Lenovo Ideapad Y570.

a 2s search on google -

 

£37 on ebay - http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2056798.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.XREPLACEMENT+SCREEN+FOR+LENOVO+IDEAPAD+Y570&_nkw=REPLACEMENT+SCREEN+FOR+LENOVO+IDEAPAD+Y570&_sacat=0&_from=R40

 

What I would suggest though is take a photo of the back of the screen and get the exact make/model of the LCD panel along with a shot of the connector and driver board.

 

If this is a bit too much for you, if your based in the Uk I can do the fix for you - drop me a PM.

[lost_soul]

I have it running now as a desktop. Turns out, the HDMI port is still operational. This thing is still really fast and I'm glad it is still usable. (it can process 8 threads at a time!)

 

I need to get NVIDIA Optimus going though in Linux. The name I gave the machine during installation is "FUBAR"... lol

Edited June 17, 2014 by lost_soul

[lost_soul]

It looks like the secondary GPU in this thing *is* FUBAR. No matter what I do, it refuses to come online in Linux and Windows shows it has a code 43. Oh well, there's still the Intel GPU.

[Lux]

I have it running now as a desktop. Turns out, the HDMI port is still operational.

 

Oops! Forgot that was also an option but great workaround for sure. At least makes it usable with minimal intervention.

 

 

The name I gave the machine during installation is "FUBAR"... lol

 

There's an old saying that goes, "Give a dog a good name, and it will live up to its name." ...Haha. My computer's name is "Pandoras Box". I wonder what that holds in store