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When is a laptop safe to use after smoke had comeout of it?

1516 Views 9 Replies 4 Participants Last post by Couriant, Jul 9, 2021

ark79

Discussion Starter · Jul 8, 2021

My Dell windows xp laptop started sizzling and smoke began to come out of the back. I turned it off immediately, and removed everything attached to it. I also removed the battery. The battery and power cord appear to be fine. After it cooled down I tried turning it on again just long enough to see if it would turn on. I then turned it back off. Everything appeared to be working normally. The strange thing is it was working fine immediately before it started smoking, and even seemed to work fine while it was smoking. Except for the smoke.

I cannot find any damage fire or otherwise, as far as I know the computer only smoked but did not catch fire. How long should I wait before actually turning it back on to use it? Is it safe to use again?

By the way, I hope I have put this in the correct section of the forum.

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renegade600

· #2 · Jul 8, 2021

You can turn it on if you want to but would keep a close watch on it and check the case for excess heat. IMO, I would not use it but would get it checked out. Maybe it was just dust that cause an arc but then it could be something serious.

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JohnWill

· #3 · Jul 8, 2021

Clearly it is NOT safe or wise to turn this back on after that experience before determine what actually caused the smoke.

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Couriant

· #4 · Jul 8, 2021

Falling short of build up of dust that may have cause that or some debris, you will need to do a complete inspection of the machine, so before using that computer you will need to take it all apart. What is the service tag of the machine?

The reason I say this is because my user had a similar issue and I found a screw was touching the area where the power connector is and plastic, which caused smoke.

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ark79

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 8, 2021

Couriant said:
Falling short of build up of dust that may have cause that or some debris, you will need to do a complete inspection of the machine, so before using that computer you will need to take it all apart. What is the service tag of the machine?

The reason I say this is because my user had a similar issue and I found a screw was touching the area where the power connector is and plastic, which caused smoke.

The service tag is 6279-jh1 15189212629 Express service code. I did find a little fur near the section that smoked, I've cleaned the fur out of the computer. Could that have caused the problem?

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Couriant

· #6 · Jul 8, 2021

For reference, you have a Dell Latitude D630 with service tag 6Z79JH1 (6279JH1 is a desktop)

Here is the service manual for this machine.

Where exactly was the fur located? (ignore the arrows, those are screw holes listed in the service manual)

Passive circuit component Circuit component Computer Hardware programmer Electronic engineering

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JohnWill

· #7 · Jul 8, 2021

ark79 said:
The service tag is 6279-jh1 15189212629 Express service code. I did find a little fur near the section that smoked, I've cleaned the fur out of the computer. Could that have caused the problem?

Could it have caused the issue? Possibly.

Is it certainly it caused the issue? Most definitely not! At least not without further evidence.

At a minimum, I'd go over the whole board with a magnifier looking for any signs of damage or cooked parts.

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ark79

Discussion Starter · #8 · Jul 8, 2021

Couriant said:
For reference, you have a Dell Latitude D630 with service tag 6Z79JH1 (6279JH1 is a desktop)

Here is the service manual for this machine.

Where exactly was the fur located? (ignore the arrows, those are screw holes listed in the service manual)

View attachment 289090

The fur was located near the fan.
Thank you for the service manual pdf.

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ark79

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jul 8, 2021

JohnWill said:
Could it have caused the issue? Possibly.

Is it certainly it caused the issue? Most definitely not! At least not without further evidence.

At a minimum, I'd go over the whole board with a magnifier looking for any signs of damage or cooked parts.

Thank you for the advice. I did not see any other debris in my computer. I also did not see any obvious damage or parts that had a cooked look.

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Couriant

· #10 · Jul 9, 2021

Near the fan is still vague....

If it was north of the CPU (near the top left arrow), that's where the power connects. To the right of the fan is the CPU. These are the areas that would most likely cause something like smoke. However if you haven't done so already, remove the fan (page 16 of the manual) and clean it out and inspect that area. The Processor Thermal Cooling Assembly (page 41) is another place to look in.

Best case scenario, it was some hair that got caught can caused the smoke and you should be OK

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