What happened to my brother's laptop!?!?!?

Xexyz

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So something really bad happened!! :( While he was using the laptop the laptop started to smell like smoke. (It was below the RAM slot) So we turned it off as soon as we can. After a while we plugged the ac adapter in the port. But the green light on the ac adapter starts blinking! (It should be solid) I plug it off then it becomes solid. Please, help me! :unsure:
 

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Well, laptop make/model and age might help...

...but you released the magic smoke.

What that actually means - some electrical component fried. Does the laptop turn on anymore? Does the laptop charge anymore? What does the blinking light mean (your user manual ought to tell you that)
 

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So something really bad happened!! :( While he was using the laptop the laptop started to smell like smoke. (It was below the RAM slot) So we turned it off as soon as we can. After a while we plugged the ac adapter in the port. But the green light on the ac adapter starts blinking! (It should be solid) I plug it off then it becomes solid. Please, help me! :unsure:
Hopefully just battery (then you better remove it), or a ram stick(?).
 

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The laptop is Dell D630. I think the problem is the ram. The laptop doesn't turn on anymore. (Because it only works when charging.)
 

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So something really bad happened!! :( While he was using the laptop the laptop started to smell like smoke. (It was below the RAM slot) So we turned it off as soon as we can. After a while we plugged the ac adapter in the port. But the green light on the ac adapter starts blinking! (It should be solid) I plug it off then it becomes solid. Please, help me! :unsure:

It is extremely dangerous to plug the AC back and try to turn it on again without knowing which part of laptop is fried. Hell if you had a problem with the battery and you plug AC back it could explode (worst case scenario, but you cannot deny the possibility).

My advice, take apart of that laptop to do some visual examination.
 
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Xexyz

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It is extremely dangerous to plug the AC back and try to turn it on again without knowing which part of laptop is fried. Hell if you had a problem with the battery and you plug AC back it could explode (worst case scenario, but you cannot deny the possibility).

My advice, take apart of that laptop to do some visual examination.

The ram look fine without burn marks or anything! I think we will bring it to a repair place.
 

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After a while we plugged the ac adapter in the port. But the green light on the ac adapter starts blinking!
D630...I supported a fleet of D-series laptops as a summer job. The flashing light on the AC power adapter "brick" indicates that the adapter either is being overloaded by a bad laptop, or the adapter is defective. I saw a D620 die in this manner (dead w/ flashing AC adapter), and it was motherboard failure.

Test everything without the battery installed! Exploding Li-On batteries are not fun.

First question is whether the AC adapter light flashes when not connected to the laptop. If it does, replace the adapter.

If not, remove HDD and RAM (sounds like you've done this). If it has the Wifi card, remove that also. If all parts are out and it continues to have a flashing power adapter, try another adapter. The adapter should be 19.5V, with I believe an 85W, or 90W rating.

If no difference, it needs a motherboard. If you don't want to buy a new laptop, it's probably a better deal to buy a used D630 with no HDD on eBay and just put your current HDD in it, than it is to repair the existing one.
 

Xexyz

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D630...I supported a fleet of D-series laptops as a summer job. The flashing light on the AC power adapter "brick" indicates that the adapter either is being overloaded by a bad laptop, or the adapter is defective. I saw a D620 die in this manner (dead w/ flashing AC adapter), and it was motherboard failure.

Test everything without the battery installed! Exploding Li-On batteries are not fun.

First question is whether the AC adapter light flashes when not connected to the laptop. If it does, replace the adapter.

If not, remove HDD and RAM (sounds like you've done this). If it has the Wifi card, remove that also. If all parts are out and it continues to have a flashing power adapter, try another adapter. The adapter should be 19.5V, with I believe an 85W, or 90W rating.

If no difference, it needs a motherboard. If you don't want to buy a new laptop, it's probably a better deal to buy a used D630 with no HDD on eBay and just put your current HDD in it, than it is to repair the existing one.

The adapter blinks when only connected to the laptop. It stays solid like it should when not plugged in. Plus, I tried with another adapter the green light just stop lighting.
 

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For a majority of laptops, a blinking LED light indicates something wrong with the power jack/battery. When using the laptop, were the fans covered or anything? Was it on a table or yours/his lap?

^This. I wish I got a dollar every time someone called when I worked for Dell tech support asking about that :P
 

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The adapter blinks when only connected to the laptop. It stays solid like it should when not plugged in. Plus, I tried with another adapter the green light just stop lighting.
That sounds like the laptop's dead. :( The green light going out on the spare adapter is likely the adapter being loaded down or going into protection because the dead laptop is drawing too much power.

If removing all the replaceable parts (RAM, HDD, etc.) made no difference, something on the motherboard probably failed. The smoke smell you mentioned was likely said part failing.

^This. I wish I got a dollar every time someone called when I worked for Dell tech support asking about that :P
When I worked last summer, people would put in tickets for flashing lights on their laptops quite a bit, often for flashing orange battery lights...

Unfortunately, the LED on the adapter brick is one of the few that should not go out or be flashing when it's plugged in.
 

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