Repairing a shorted out computer?

Figured I ought to put this here since it's not Istaria related at all now, even if it is about hardware.

So~ my old computer from the two hardware threads prior has been with someone attempting to repair it for a while and he's concluded that somewhere in the circuit boards a short has happened. Where, exactly, he hasn't been able to isolate yet- he's officially declared a hatred for that computer to rival no other as that short is making it a very uncooperative beast.

He's a 'weekend repair man' however; not a professional so this may be beyond him. And before he frustrates himself too badly- or potentially sets his house on fire trying to find and replace the problem.... to the more tech inclined: Is it a good idea to try to revive a shorted out system? Or would that depend entirely on what exact board was sporting the damage for how advisable/safe/cost effective it is?

The usability of such a machine depends on where the short was and what caused it.

Note that short circuits are not common in computer hardware. When they do happen, it's because of something else, such as improper assembly, component failure, power surges, introduction of conductive material, physical damage, or exposure to liquids. A PCB that has been left alone and has been working fine for months won't randomly develop a short.

So, where's that leave you? If you are on a thin enough budget that you'd need to scrounge parts from the machine, then get a bright light and some brushes and go find the source of the burning smell, which should still linger without having to power on the system. The lacquer coating on PCBs will discolor toward brown when heated too much, so you can use this as a visual clue.

If you don't particularly care about the machine, pull the hard disks and keep them, then do whatever with the rest. There's plenty of private or sensitive information on those hard drives, and you can't rely on whoever you give the machine to to erase them.

[edit]
I see that it's a Core i5 system. That's pretty new stuff and the constituent components are probably worth a few hundred dollars, even if their sum does not operate. Go find the burnt stuff!

Thank you for the advice, Steelclaw. :) we're still not sure where the short is located; I don't have the computer with me here so I can't personally look for it.

We were thinking of trying to restore the Dell to at least low end usability but I guess we'll have to wait and see where the damage even is to be sure if it's worth it. Hopefully we can salvage some parts if nothing else.

I definitely intend to make certain the hard drive is returned and destroyed if necessary, though. we try to avoid keeping any kind of truly sensitive information on computers (no important passwords, numbers or the like) but never know what might wind up there that we forgot about.

Wish I could figure out why the short even happened; we keep the computer and the area around it clean, and it's completely disconnected any time lightning's in the area or the power's looking unsteady. I can safely say this is the first time it happened with a system in this house though. I can certainly buy improper assembly as a possibility, but it's managed to last a couple years so I don't know.

-Edit-
I do know there was a lovely fiasco involving trying to update some video drivers awhile back. The computer went absolutely berserk and rejected them for no reason me or the folks at Dell or ATI could figure out. If any damage happened, it was probably during that given the fans were going nuts and vibrating the computer like mad until we were able to reinstate the old drivers. It never did run quite right after that, but no one could find anything obviously wrong. Not sure if that could have caused this particular issue, however, or just potentially pushed it along into showing itself.

Speaking of reminding, that reminds me, is your computer still under warranty?

Sadly, no. =/ Or we would've gone straight to Dell over this.

also keep in mind, if any short has occured, it could potentially have destroyed other components in your system. or even damaged them enough to shorten their life span. not a really great idea to try and repair a "shorted" Motherboard, un less you're prepared to lose more parts (hopefully you are using old testing parts and not your currently new hardware, in the process)

are you sure it wasn't you who shorted out Istaria today? making it so no one can log on?

lol (j/k'ing)

*LOL* Well we're not the ones working on it, so I don't know what he's doing to test the parts to try to find the shorted out part. I'm certainly hoping he's being careful; for his sake as much as the computer's. That's a strangely volatile little beast and the short hasn't made it any friendlier.

:p And no, definitely not my fault. I haven't been able to log in over a month. *waves bye-bye to her lair* :(

The one blessing out of this will be your novians that will go into your vault. Its far better than losing it all and getting no novians.

If I were you and money was a bit tight, I'd go this route:

Newegg.com >>
1. New motherboard -$50-65 (just be sure to get one that accomadates the i5 chip)
2. New harddrive -$30
3. New power supply - $25

I'm sure you could save ur current harddrive, but personally I'm one of those people that gets a new HD when replacing the mobo; its easier to start from scratch this way and HD's a dirt cheap anyhow. The new power supply just to be on the safe side, get one higher than 500w.

My guess is your processor and ram are fine, though the way it sounds, your video card may well be on its way out the door. If there was a short that happened, the damage probably didn't go very far.


Have ur friend put it all together and load up the necassary programs.
If all that fails, craigslist is everyones friend :D

Peaches: True that; though it's going to be a long time before I can make use of them I think. *L* Sadly pay-to-play games are off the list for now.

Finkledbody: we're still waiting to hear what the verdict is for the damaged parts; he managed to get the computer running the other day but no idea how or what came of it so far. With the heat that kept coming off it, I'm willing to say the HD is probably shot as well though- at the very least it's going to be pretty flaky. got to agree about the video card though- I'm not holding much hope for it after that mess. I'd not be surprised if the short is there, though I'm not so sure that'd keep the computer from booting up at all like it was doing.

If it's to the point of practically needing to replace most of the innards though..eh. Probably just scrap it, salvage what parts are still useful and try to slap together a low end computer off of what's left and some low end replacement parts. I'm not hoping to get a new gaming rig out of that- it honestly wasn't ideal for it to start with.