A31 fan error because of screw damage

[Gonzaleitor]

Hi guys, my name is Gonzalo, i'm from Argentina.
I bought this laptop for around 20 bucks, it came with no hdd and with some cosmetic damages. It was running pretty hot so i decided to replace the thermal paste. That was great until my fatigue kicked in and in a mistake i punctured my mobo with a screw longer than the one it went there. The thing is that now, because of the damage, the fan won't start and i'm getting a fan error. Should i send it to a tech to fix it or it may be dead forever? I contacted a tech and he told me that after the repair it might damage other parts. FRUs aren't easy to come by here and the mobos that i found online are pretty expensive.
What do you think? Should I give it to the tech?
Sorry for my bad english, thank you in advance!

[dr_st]

Welcome to the forum, Gonzalo.

Sorry to hear about your misfortune with the A31.

If you can post a high quality photo, zoomed in on the damaged area of your motherboard, some experienced folks could try to assess the extent of the damage and repair options.

You would need to upload it to a third-party service (like imgur, or postimage) - since we do not support attaching files directly to posts.

Good luck.

[Gonzaleitor]

Thank you, Dr
Maybe this photos will help asess the damages. They are not great, my phone is trash.



Thanks, guys!

[dr_st]

Well, I'm by no means an expert when it comes to these things, but it looks like there is a lot of dirt and possibly damaged traces on the top left corner of the black thingy (chip? capacitor?)
If the black thingy itself is undamaged, then the next steps I would suggest are:

1. Thoroughly clean that area of the board (using alcohol or special contact cleaning fluid, which I believe is also alcohol-based)
2. Inspect any broken traces (the screw didn't penetrate all the way through to the other side of the board, did it?)
3. If it is just one or a couple of traces, restore them with proper conductive material.

[Gonzaleitor]

2. Inspect any broken traces (the screw didn't penetrate all the way through to the other side of the board, did it?)
3. If it is just one or a couple of traces, restore them with proper conductive material.

The screw didn't go all the way but it went enough to get rid Of that portion Of the green layer. The black capacitor thingy seems to be ok.
I don't have the equipment nor the ability to do it, but what You said gives me a Little hope to send it to the tech.
This machine needed some love and I think that if it can be recovered will be a great retro gaming machine!

[SMA]

According to my old notes, I have had this error twice and successfully repaired both.

First time on a A31p where I repaired one broken trace with a piece of wire.

Second time on a A30 where I had to replace a PNP Power transitor.

Since you have A31, I guess that you will only have to repair one broken trace.

Use the HMM to see which screw goes where. You can download the HMM by following the 'HMM' link at the top of this page.

[Gonzaleitor]

Thank you, SMA!
On monday i'm taking it to the tech and making an update. Poor thing has been mistreated but i'm giving it some love!

[Gonzaleitor]

I just came back from the tech. Maybe by the end of the week it's done. Thanks guys!