A subscriber sent in an Alienware x17 R2 laptop recovered from a university e-waste program. Despite being in great condition, the laptop was dead, with the power button and battery unresponsive. Upon opening it and examining the motherboard, it was discovered that a college student’s attempt to clean and replace the thermal paste had gone wrong. The laptop used a gallium-based liquid metal thermal paste, which had spread everywhere, causing catastrophic damage by shorting out the motherboard. Repair was impossible; replacing the motherboard would cost over a thousand dollars.
If you need a repair, complete a service request form at partspeople.com
50 Comments
I spent many hours trying to fix this motherboard. I was able to get all the liquid metal cleaned off, but because it shorted out so many components, I was not able to find all the bad chips, which prevented the motherboard from starting. There was no burnt or obvious damage, and I tried every trick I knew, but ultimately, I had to give up. I can't fix them all.😑
If you have a Dell or Alienware laptop and live in the USA or Canada, you can fill out a service request form at partspeople.com and send it in.
I would put the motherboard through the uitrasonic cleaner and then check it again to see if the motherboard is still dead.
What I would do is sell the chassis and turn the speakers into external speakers, assuming they're any good
The moment I heard gallium : ow shit
90% of laptops that end up like this require a motherboard replacement. They could probably remove the liquid metal manually, clean it, replace the dead part, and then it would start. But why is it better to throw it away and put in a new one? Even with a hole through the laminate, the laptop starts, so why can't it be repaired here? I heard the same thing about two Asus laptops. At 25 repair shops, they can't replace the motherboard… Or the price was three times the laptop's price… How can you enjoy laptops? Even after replacing, cleaning, and changing the thermal paste, the power supply section is still dead? And the second one doesn't go through the first post because it had a faulty processor? They replaced the processor, there was a good chance the laptop would start, but it turns out they messed up the BIOS. Now I have to spend another 1500 to get the thing running, and the internals aren't even worth it. So, I'm sending my regards to everyone who has laptops because they're still terrible devices with thermal throttling and lack of performance. And most laptops are the same: 3-core processor, 4GB GPU, and random RAM from 4-16GB.
hello bro i needed a laptop
Aww man I feel bad for however decided to put things into their own hands and try to replace the thermal paste. Fucking sucks he just happened to buy a computer that stupidly has Liquid Metal for thermal conductivity. He woulda been fine and still have a computer if he bought basically anything else.
Hey my HP Pavillion Touchsmart 17 E155NR has the same problem, thank you so much for the possible solutiom
I would take the processor gpu and the display
You thought lubing liquid metal was a good idea until you found out your laptop ain't a Predator's, Instead of making your laptop perform bussin, you get your laptop buzzin, incapacitate permanently
rescue me
onerepublic
send it to mtw, "ur laptop is ready sir anddd look at thattt its gud to go!"
Check voltage of components and see what componets are broken. By diagnosing the broken components that have been shorted, we can effectively replace any broken chips that may no longer be functional. Have any compacitors/resistors been effected as well? Have you checked the Battery and the Power Button Motherboard Cable? These can all be causes of damage which can cause your Laptop to not turn on. Iv'e seen this issue before of damaged components that can effect the Motherboard from recieving power signals.
LLM – Leaking Liquid Metal
A symptoms of when gallium liquid metal on a laptops CPU spreads across the motherboard
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Just bye a new gaming pc for $1000 that is what I would do
Recycle the screen with a screen controller and make a mini monitor
Element 31
It's not that old.
Classic Liquid Metal
Give/sell it to a repair shop. There's still a lot of good part on it
lowkey im taking that ram and nvme drive and honestly everything and if its better than my pc in goes new parts to my pc!!!
I'd take my time to clean it
God bless you all the time ❤❤❤
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No you can what linus do to his broken mob (the thermal paste in the cpu socket) clean it with alcohol and let it dry for a time and after that it will work perfectly fine…pls make my comment on top to see it and fix it🎉
If the screen and other parts like fans keyboard work they can go for parts
Hi can you send the laptop to me.
This is why I'll never buy a high end laptop. mid range gaming laptops are good and don't use liquid metal. Liquid metal should either be illegal or have a lifetime warranty from manufacturer if the liquid metal becomes like this
take all the chips and find a donor board that has no chips maybe?
I would be forced to repair it 😅
A year ago I would've sold at ebay, now I'd sold the RAM and SSD and bought a whole new laptop. lmao
Just use brake cleaner and spray all motherboard
Damn this is just sad
I stay away from gaming laptops due to the liquid metal BS. Just another negative for repairability.
Safe 😂❤
Shame on the guy that just threw that laptop to the Garbage. What a savage
You know it is serious when the greatest dell technician that has ever lived cant repair this laptop
I don't get the stupidity of putting liquid metal, it's just a few degrees lower. Not worth the risk at all
Buy new leptop not wort replace it
Ultrasonic cleaner
A new day and another repair tech guy, where is the old one?
Moneytalkswireless
I better hear, don't worr i gotcha
SPLASH IT WITH HIGH PRESSURE WARAH
😂I didn't the exact same thing.
Felt like this video was made about me
Fuck liquid metal
I would just pay 1000$
I'd personally resell the working parts separately on ebay
i dont get the DIY liquid metal fad, the risk is far greater than the reward