Laptop will not power up - computer repair shop is saying things I disagree with

[TragicBus]

This is a request for a little bit of a brainstorm to help track down a problem with my cousins laptop. I have built and disassembled numerous computers and laptops and am usually pretty good and figuring out where a failure has occurred but laptops can be trickier without spare parts from the same model. Its an IBuyPower [strike]Chimera [/strike] Valkyrie about 2 years old. I know a few people with computers from IBuyPower and have never had problems with them.

Laptop doesn't power on, doesn't even attempt to. Pushing power button does nothing whether its on battery, plugged in, plugged in without battery, or both. Using a volt meter on the power cord shows its supplying 19v DC. Plug the cord into the laptop for a few seconds and then unplug it from the laptop, the volt meter now reads somewhere around 0v. Unplug it from the wall and plug it back it in, it will again ready 19v.

In this situation its hard to rule that its the power cord, power supply, motherboard, or something else internal when we don't have another one to test with. We took it to a computer repair shop for a diagnosis and they say the HDD and GPU are fried and thats why it wont boot. I would have agreed if he said motherboard, but just the GPU and HDD?

Is this even possible? For a desktop it will power up and just wont post or wont display video or even just tell you your OS is damaged or missing, but on a laptop?

My guess would have been something in the power supply or delivery. Maybe even a static build up or thermal event. I will try hooking up the HDD as an external drive to my PC later as I don't have access to it right now. It could easily be a few days before I will be able to do that.

Any thoughts or theories? Would greatly appreciate some expertise before shipping it out for repairs and paying lots of money to get it fixed if this shop is trying to scam or overcharge us. Or before attempting to track down parts and order them secondhand online or sending it back to IBuyPower for service.

Edit: Its a Valkyrie not a Chimera.

 

[scout_03]

if the power from the ac read 19 volts then after read 0 i would first check this then go on with the battery only to see if laptop start .

 

[Tom Tancredi]

A laptop is alot different then desktops, as you noted on desktop you can power the board and not post or display video, but you at least get BIOS beeps, laptops because so much is 'integrated' (aka dependent) that yes the GPU could be fried on the Mobo and the way the design is, causes the entire board (as you suspect motherboard issue) to fail outright.

In anycase, as laptops go, if it is dead like this, there is no solution except to replace the entire computer. As the cost of parts to swap out say the ext power AND Mobo, which would include the GPU and CPu embedded on it, would be more cost and higher risk (will this 'used one' die shortly as well?) of failure. There really isn't any other 'options' as there are with desktops (aka buy a different mobo, because laptop ones are molded SPECIFICALLY to that maker and MODEL, including where the ports are the side /back).

So yeah check the HDD but your cousin has a doorstop.

 

[TragicBus]

A laptop is alot different then desktops, as you noted on desktop you can power the board and not post or display video, but you at least get BIOS beeps, laptops because so much is 'integrated' (aka dependent) that yes the GPU could be fried on the Mobo and the way the design is, causes the entire board (as you suspect motherboard issue) to fail outright.

In anycase, as laptops go, if it is dead like this, there is no solution except to replace the entire computer. As the cost of parts to swap out say the ext power AND Mobo, which would include the GPU and CPu embedded on it, would be more cost and higher risk (will this 'used one' die shortly as well?) of failure. There really isn't any other 'options' as there are with desktops (aka buy a different mobo, because laptop ones are molded SPECIFICALLY to that maker and MODEL, including where the ports are the side /back).

So yeah check the HDD but your cousin has a doorstop.

IBuyPower quoted $600 for repairs assuming the diagnosis of the repair shop which is just high enough to make it not really worth it. Some quick searches showed it wouldn't be much cheaper even if I ordered the parts and did it myself not to mention there could easily be another problem or 2 lurking inside if there was a power surge or something similar that caused the damage. Even just buying a compatible power brick was $150 in my initial queries.

Thank you for your reply. I will attempt recovery of his data but inform him his laptop might be better suited as a doorstop. Maybe salvage some RAM from it or sell it for spare parts.