What is the burnt part

[Rapcaman]

I'm new here and not sure if I'm posting at the right place. I have and old Compaq Armada E500 laptop which is dear to me. A while ago I put charging cable into its only USB port and burnt it. I'm not using the laptop but I would like to try and repair it myself. I don't know which part got burnt but I have a photo. It would be nice if anyone could tell me what is the component that got burnt and if it is replaceable by a hobbyist. Thanks a lot!

 

[JimB]

I'm new here and not sure if I'm posting at the right place.

Near enough!
Welcome to ETO.

Well, the component with the burst case and the "150" marking looks like an electrolytic capacitor, possibly a 150uF tantalum type.

To the right of the "150" in the soot, are the remains of a component which has completely disappeared, this may have been a resistor, if you clean away the soot, using something like iso-propyl alcohol, you may find a component designator, R for resistor, C for Capacitor, etc.
But this will not give you any clue as to the value of the evaporated component.

The components could be replaced by a hobbyist who is adept with a soldering iron, but beware, there is one totally unknown component, and there is also the possibility that other components which look OK, are electrically destroyed.

JimB

 

[Rapcaman]

I realize now that I cannot repair it, thanks a lot for a fast reply though.

 

[Pommie]

You may not be able to repair it but you can retrieve the contents of the drive. Get an external drive holder and you should be able to retrieve its content.

Mike.

 

[rjenkinsgb]

You can get secondhand E500 motherboards quite cheaply on ebay - that's probably the most economical repair.
eg.
**broken link removed**

 

[Rapcaman]

The laptop is actually working. It's the USB that is not working. Everything else is in perfect order. I am using a PCMCIA card with 4 USB ports. I just wanted to repair it because it's quite old.