Is it possible for a motherboard to get shorted inside a computer case?
Is it possible for a motherboard to get shorted inside a computer case?
Hey guys! My PC is acting weird right now. If you bump it even a tiny bit, it stops working completely and won't come back on until I do a hard restart. I guess something inside is short-circuiting, but I haven't taken the whole thing apart or touched every single piece just to see what went wrong yet. The problem only happens when it's sitting right inside its case. Since it's a laptop from Dell (EU), and it works fine on its own without that case, I think the issue is with the case itself. My laptop is an Inspiron 5406 (i5) that I bought out of warranty. Because my old computer still works great, I'm not sure if I should try replacing just the case to see if that fixes it, or if I need to buy a brand new motherboard.
smth? In general, why are you assuming there is a short cut? What happens before the issue started, have it being dropped onto the floor ? Is the casing bent/damaged and when you mount the motherboard, does it fit good or do you have to bend it or force it into place to fit in some manner ?
No, the new motherboard fits perfectly with no problems at all. I don't actually remember what caused this specific issue (it happened a while back). I guess there is a shortcut involved because if you bump it, the screen flickers and some dots show up on the screen, even in one corner where tiny squares of dots appear. The case itself is broken in two spots where screws need to be put in. Here are pictures: The first picture shows a missing plastic piece near the golden item. The second picture shows the missing golden item and the whole plastic wrapper that goes with the screws. Basically, when you move the lid, it doesn't stick very well onto the case.
Well, if you look at what happens later, it seems like something dropped or hit it hard. That's not normal when using a keyboard shortcut. But maybe something electrical went wrong somewhere, like a loose connection on the board. So that means the motherboard moved around and shouldn't have been able to move this way. This could be why everything is acting up. Or - more likely, a drop in the past hurt both the screws holding it down and the board itself.
The motherboard doesn't actually move things, but it holds the display in place inside the case. I don't think this is caused by dropping it (I have dropped it max two times over its whole life), so it sounds more like a design problem because the display can be opened 360 degrees, which puts too much stress on the plastic joints where the screws are going to hold the display. So how do I know if a specific part is causing this? Do you think sending it to Dell tech support will help find out what's wrong and get me a fix for less than $200?
One drop can ruin it if your model isn't protected by a guarantee against that kind of fall. Most probably you don't have such a protection. Maybe it's not even considered a "part" like, say, bad soldering or a break in the circuit board. It won't hurt to ask them, but I really think you should tell them about all those drops because I suspect that makes at least part of your problem.
Where did those broken bits go? If you trust yourself, glue them back together exactly like before. Keep the glue away from the screws and threads. Screw it all tight again and check to see if that worked.