Gateway laptop major hardware failure

hello, i'm very new to this site, but i have been working with computers for some time.
i recently started doing little jobs on the side, and well now i've run into something that is just mind boggling.

some guy gave me his gateway nv54 laptop with windows 7 home premium and he wanted to know if his smashed headphone jack could be repaired, and i decided to take a look. i have opened up many laptops before and have never had a problem. HOWEVER i saw that the jack was beyond anything i could repair, unless replace, which he did not want, so i put it back together. the guy turns his laptop on, and his left click on his touch pad wasn't working. immediately i assumed that maybe i had not lodged the ribbon in correctly, so i opened it back up and all seemed to be fine. still, it did not work. so i said, "hey, leave this with me over night, and i'll have it taken care of" so after much research and even re-installing windows 7, the touchpad does not work at all anymore, and now the battery won't charge and it's all just this horrible nightmare now! his laptop will work when plugged in and NO BATTERY. if the battery is in, then it's a no go. but with the battery out, it will turn on, but not load up windows, however it will stay running in the bios. WTF!? i'm really stressing out here, and the owner of the laptop is furious, someone please help me!
 
I know that you said you have worked with computers for a long time but I still have to ask if you took all the necessary electrostatic discharge precautions. Did you ground all your tools and wear an anti-static wrist band? if not, that could be the source of your problems, and if so, you're in big trouble.
 
I could be wrong, but all of this points towards a motherboard issue with the laptop. It sounds like its breaking down, and you touching it has somehow hastened its downward spiral.

I can only advise you strip it right back down, and ensure everything is absolutely as it should be. You sure you haven't kinked or caught the ribbon for the trackpad?
 
well, i didn't even bust out any tools, because i did not have a replacement headphone jack. all i did was put it back together properly. nice and snug. i did not wear an wrist band, however i don't think that could've caused the problem, seeing how as i was very delicate and did not really touch anything. also, everything was disconnected before the disassembly.
it's just that i've worked on gateways before. yes, this is the newest model i've ever opened, but i really wasn't expecting this amount of extreme failure. I've opened her back up and checked over very cautiously for any mis-haps and everything seems to be in order. i've also looked for gateway nv54 motherboards and only found 2 sites that sell them and BOTH are out of stock! it's just very strange that it will only run without the battery, plugged in, and won't charge the battery. and now will only stay on for the BIOS and not for loading the OS. so the power jack is working to some degree but not enough to power an OS? hmmm.. i'm loosing my mind over this. does anyone know of a good place to find manufacture motherboards?
 
If the power jack had totally failed it wouldnt work at all, except via what battery power remained.

Like I said, I believe its motherboard failure, but I'm no professional, and could well be wrong.
 
it does sound like a motherboard failure. and me being such the ***** that i am, didn't even turn on the computer in the first place to see if there was anything wrong with it first. I would like to believe that it was karma destroying his laptop for trying to swindle me into fixing his busted pc, however fantasies are not helping me out. his battery was still running his OS until his battery was completely drained. now i'm dealing with the problem i am currently having. i'm wondering if maybe a simple ribbon replacement for the touch-pad and maybe a power jack replacement would do the trick. oh man... this guy is a real douche to top it all off, and no pay, of-coarse. blahhhh
 
the strange gets stranger.
so i reset the cmos, by removing the cmos battery for a bit, and then replacing it. then it booted up! still without the battery. then i tried it with the battery and it brought me back to the same problem of not booting up.... ??? any ideas?
 
it will now boot in safe mode... this computer seems to be destroying and repairing itself at will, hahaha. man i wish i could fully understand the problem
 
Like I said, I could be wrong, but it sounds like a major motherboard issue, that by all accounts could have been present prior to you stripping it.
 
he wanted to know if his smashed headphone jack could be repaired
You said it was smashed beyond repair?
HOW did it get damaged?
Is it possible a piece of it migrated in the process of opening the case, so that now it is causing a short someplace?
 
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