Salvaging HDD from broken Acer Aspire 6530

[marsupilami]

Hi,

My Acer Aspire 6530G just broke down all of a sudden this morning. I looked away for one second, and when i looked back the screen was suddenly pitch black. There's a light that usually goes on when the AC adapter is connected, but it won't now. I had a spare AC adapter, so I tried that one out too just to make sure (even though the light on the AC adapter is on like it should), nothing, I try and remove battery, etc etc and well, the thing is pretty much dead. I'm not a techie but my guess is that the internal power supply (power board? this thing*) just decided to call it quits. Of course, that's just my uninformed guess. The computer is 2 1/2 years old and ironically I was one day late when I tried to extend the original 1 year insurance to a 3 year thing.

Since I wasn't all too happy with the laptop anyway I'd be happy to move on and buy a new one (while trying to get this one fixed, of course), but the last back-up I did was 3 weeks ago and I have some stuff on it's hard drive I'd prefer not to lose.

So, while I'd appreciate guesses of what could have gone wrong with the computer and how to fix it, I'm much much more interested in finding out how to get access to the data on the hard drive (which i suppose should be intact - is that OK to assume?)

I suppose I need to take it (them) out? Like this** and this***? But what would be the next spep, how do I get access to the data on them?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

(I don't have the post count to include URL's and I figure the right answer isn't to go spam the boards with my uninformed opinions that aren't likely to help anybody... here are the links, truncated
* acerlaptoprepairs.info/aspire-6530-6530g/removing-the-power-board.html
** acerlaptoprepairs.info/aspire-6530-6530g/removing-the-main-hard-disk-drive-module.html
*** acerlaptoprepairs.info/aspire-6530-6530g/removing-the-secondary-hard-disk-drive-module.html

EDIT: I asked around on Facebook and it turns out a friend has a "connect-SATA+IDE HDD to computer through USB" thing that he'll lend me, so it seems I might be OK on that front. Maybe I should move the focus to the question, "if my motherboard/power board is kaputt, is it likely the HDD will be fried too?"

EDIT 2: what is a power board really, is it the same thing as a motherboard? I can't find any reliable definition of it, yet on that site "acerlaptoprepars" (see the links above) I can find information on how to remove the power board, but nothing on the motherboard.

 

[mike1959]

If it's a faulty power board, ( likely to be a regulator chip ), it's very repairable.
The Data on your hard drive is almost certainly ok.
You can connect up the laptop's hard drive to another pc, (as a secondary drive) and explore the drive, save files off of it, no trouble.
But you won't be able to plug it into another pc as it's primary C, and expect it to boot into Windows. That's because windows checks if the other parts of the pc are the same as last time it booted, they won't be so it won't boot. The drive is likely to be fine, and you can use it again as a primary drive with your OS on it, in a different PC, as it was when new, but you will have to install Windows again onto it, together with all the other components you want to use.

 

[marsupilami]

Thanks for the reply!

Do you think my uninformed guess that it's the powerboard (and for example not the motherboard) makes any sense though? Or is it just as likely that it was the motherboard that stopped working? Again, I'm not entirely sure what the power board really is, is there another word for it? (since googling it hasn't brought up anything helpful, I'm thinking I've got the wrong term for it)

And say it was the motherboard that got "fried", is it still likely that the HDD will be fine?

Thanks again in advance.

Edit: I think I got it, on this particular laptop the mother board is called "main board" and there's a separate power board. Is it likelier that it's the power board rather than the main board that is the problem? Would opening the computer up and have a look at the parts tell me anything? Is there anyway of finding out by myself, or will I have to send it in to Acer Support?

 

[marsupilami]

Hmm, I e-mailed a PC repair shop that deals with Acer laptops (among others) and explained the problem and they replied it was likely the mainboard, and it'd be hard for them to get their hands on a new one so they recommended I send it in to Acer...

 

[Codisha]

take you hdd out before you send it.
if this laptop is newer and you have a sata hdd, it's fairly easy to connect to any other pc that supports sata as it has the exact same connectors. with an ide drive thats a bit different as the ide has a smaller form factor then ide for desktop drives, so you might need an adapter for it

 

[mike1959]

I'm probably not the best to ask about laptops, all my experience is with desktop towers. But manufacturers don't want too many separate parts to assemble, and increasingly are putting everything onto one large pcb. But as power supply problems are so common with pc's, it's likely the regulators may be on a separate (replaceable) pcb. Even if you are used to modern electronic 'ways', the components are SMD and close to impossible to work on. ( I repaired a Tom Tom at home, USB socket came unsoldered, but I have a 10x mag glass, and it very nearly beat me.)
If it's just the power supply problem, then your hard drive will be completely fine, the data on it will be safe. You can get an adapter to connect it into another pc, (as e.g, 'D' drive). You might try contacting your local Acer dealer, see what they would charge for the new motherboard, or for them to look at it and give you a quote for repair, you might even be told what the problem is.