Dog ate Logiq M76T power adapter

[tommy2k8]

A client brought a laptop to me, saying his daughter had spilled a little bit of water on it, not a lot though. He said one of his dogs eat through the power supply cable and it is sellotaped up, but he said it does work on the charger. However, he came over with it, and I tried it with the charger plugged in, came on for about 10 seconds, no beeps or anything, could hear the hard drive and fan working, but then it went off again (worked on it in my conservatory). I took it in to my home office, tried it, didn't even start up! Not even the light saying it's charging! However, when I put the power cable in, sparks came off it. Because I am not very dexterous, my mate who normally helps me with these things is on holiday.
However, as he said it worked fine on the charger before, it's probably not the laptop. He also said that the laptop doesn't work without the charger plugged in.
Question now is: Should I get a new charger? (While transporting the laptop, a component in the psu might have gone)
It is a Logiq M76T, and it is less than a year old.
(I got told the PSU's made in China don't last long!)

 

[fastco]

Definitely start with the adapter. Once you rule that out as the culprit you can move on the the psu or motherboard.

 

[tommy2k8]

The laptop doesn't turn at all now, so I am going to try a new motherboard. Have you got any ideas of where to get one?

 

[Leeky]

I'd be having it in bits first to see the damage caused by the water damage.

If its more extensive than first believed the laptop will almost certainly be on borrowed time. It also sounds like the battery has issues as well, as a laptop under a year old should really still be holding some sort of charge.

Its entirely possible the issues are related to the water damage. I'd check that before spending any money if it was me.

P.S. Water damage invalidates the manufacturer warranty, so you won't be able to claim for the parts either. Motherboards for laptops are usually pretty expensive! It might be more cost effective replacing the complete laptop.

 

[tommy2k8]

I have still got the laptop, it still works, which I'm surprised at! (Windows works, everything works!)
It doesn't work on the battery - do you think that may have been caused by the water damage? Or do you think the motherboard has been damaged? If it has, will the battery work when the motherboard is fixed? I have ordered a new battery, maybe that's a bit too premature?
I ran a third-party motherboard test, and it passed!
What is odd as well is the display sometimes doesn't come on after boot!
Would a new power supply help?

 

[tommy2k8]

The laptop now works fine, apart from:

1) Sometimes the screen goes blank on startup.
2) Windows says the battery is charging but the laptop only works on the mains.

I am getting a replacement battery tomorrow.

I'm not sure what to do about the blank screen randomly on startup (it very occassionally happens when Vista needs UAC permission to do something).
It is an Intel GMA4500 card (it won't let me change the resolution!), I have made sure Windows and the graphics card drivers are up to date. Graphics cards testers all come up fine, so I don't know what to do!
I have been told it may be the backlight.

Should I give it back to my client and ask him to use it for a bit and report back?