yhancik

When I bought a new laptop 5 years ago, I picked a Clevo partly because I believed the ease to repair the machine would ensure I would keep it for a long time. For the same reason I picked a reasonably powered machine in a full metal body. It proved me right as I indeed could replace the eDP cable & wifi antennas when they wore off. But then the motherboard (I assume) just died last week, a few weeks after turning 5 years old. Except if a miracle happens, I will have to find a replacement. Five years is much shorter than what I had in mind for this laptop – I more or less expected to keep it around 8 years, taking in account that I don't even use the machine daily (my main computer is my desktop). Not so long ago, I went back to Obsidian's website, and found out they left the business, mentioning among other things "a general lack of quality and support from laptop manufacturers, with poor hardware choices". I didn't really follow, so I don't know what happened there, but has there been a drop of quality lately? Right now, I can't help but wonder if 5 years is actually a normal lifespan I should have expected from a Clevo, or if my late P950HP was an outlier? Is Clevo still a brand that is reliable for a durable machine today? Is there something more reliably durable? (I hope it's ok that I posted two different but related threads in a row, but I thought they are two different discussions indeed)

My p950hp (2018) turned itself off last week, while it was running on battery. I initially thought it went to sleep, but it hasn't powered back on since. The LEDs for the battery and power supply don't light up anymore (with two different chargers), which is the other main and concerning symptom. I tested the chargers and the battery, they both output current. I tried disconnecting a few things (including the battery), in case a faulty component or cable would somehow block the power supply to the rest. I did measure current on some components of the motherboard as well, so it's definitely going around, but apparently not where it should. I assume something blew up for some weird reason on the motherboard. I have little hope to find it (and even less to actually manage to fix it), but I still want to give it a try. If only as an opportunity to learn 😉 The service manual provides schematics for parts of the MB that are, as I understand, related to supplying power to the various parts of the computer: VDDQ; VDD3 & VDD5; 5V&3.3V; VDD1.0; VCCSTG&VCCSFR; 1V8RUN, 1V8AON & NV2V3; NVVDD; NVVDDS; PEX_VDD; FBVDDQ; VCC_CORE & VCCGT; VCCSA. I can't say it makes much sense to me. Does anyone have any idea where I should focus my attention, considered the current symptoms (can't power on the laptop & even the "charger on" LED doesn't light up)? I'm adding that I never had any power-related issues before, and that the battery never showed signs of significant wear. The only issue I can think of was with my SSD last year. It would sometimes randomly disappear when powering on the laptop (mostly), and a few times while in use. After changing Windows power plan settings (following Crucial recommendations) (and they were indeed crucial), I had it work again properly. I've been extremely happy with my Clevo so far and I'm bummed to see it die just like that after 5 years of gentle use. Any suggestion welcome!