m17 R1, senselessly wrecked my own fan connection

Question

Hi, I own an alienware m17 R1 from 2019 and I did something really stupid lol. I was cleaning my fans for the 1st time. I ripped out the molex connector housing for the heat sink/ fans on the motherboard when removing heat sink assembly. When I realized my mistake after repasting I thought if I was careful enough I could superglue the connector back on. Learned that glue does not conduct and realized it has to be soldered on. As a result I have no fans and I tried to remove the superglue as gently as I can with isopropyl and a natural solvent ( Not acetone)The traces and solder pads are still visible. although the system is still working I had to turn down the voltage for my cpu way down so at least I have the thermals under control and system is running stable. I have no soldering skills, warranty is definitely void and have no idea if I cleaned up the superglue good enough.

After talking with the premium support and out of warranty teams there was alot of dialog. I was truthful and admitted I didn't follow operating procedures. I stated I wanted to get any advice for the removal of the glue, getting ahold of the cable housing part that's it. Told them I couldn't send to the depot a): Too expensive b) couldn't do without a system because of school and c) the bios happened to become locked and please reset my bios.

Then while waiting for the bios password we were talking about the whole mess, joking at myself for being so reckless

Then the rep said he'd investigate. After waiting patiently he returned he spoke to his senior manager. I was surprised to hear they were going send me the motherboard plus a on-site tech to investigate! But I may have to pay for the heatsink fan assembly or whatever else I damaged.

Later on I followed up on that but of course I was told that the service request was open and it was transferred to out of warranty. I followed up, they said that they could send me the motherboard for only 190$ plus 220$ for home support. Ok, I asked if the motherboard was the same spec as I had previously. No, just a bare bones motherboard, no gpu he said. ( I know enough that cpu + gpu is soldered on plus it has to be compatible with the type of storage). I just ended by saying sure, call you on Tuesday to pay for it.

Thats where I'm at. Now I'm wondering though, there's no way I could get off that easily right? Should be way more expensive than that. It was quite high spec. (2070 max q i7 9750 h 2x 1tb m2 nvme ssd 4k 60hz display 16 gb ddr4 2666hz) Obv if it's what I'm getting take it. Verify this Tuesday.

If it turns out its actually a 1500$ repair, has anyone here have any good ideas how i can clean up the rest of the superglue? Is it that hard to learn how to solder back the connector with 0 exp? Or how much to get a local tech to fix this?

crimsom · Accepted Answer

Hi @Dizaster thank you for sharing update. Request to see the damage to the motherboard, etc. but images of covering tape mask the damage. We cannot see the damage, so users cannot see if it can be recovered.

Guess that new connectors should be soldered onto motherboard. This requires someone with the appropriate soldering skills. If the motherboard tracks have been removed, etc. a higher level of soldering expertise is required.

ejn63 · Accepted Answer

This isn't something you're going to fix with a home repair. At a minimum, it's going to need someone skilled in hot-air reworking of surface mount components.

If you have a skilled repair shop locally, start with them. If not, search online - there are shops that specialize in such repairs and many will give you a firm estimate of the cost (no, this won't be a $200 repair, but if the board can be repaired, it'll still be a fraction of the minimum of nearly four digits a board replacement will run).

Dizaster · Answer

Express Service Code:

crimsom · Answer

Hi @Dizaster  please share image of the damage so that users can see if it can be recovered. Thank you.

Dizaster · Answer

This is after I tried to clean the super glue, with a gentle solvent, shown below

Dizaster · Answer

Its an 'eco' version of EZ strip, the non acetone version since i had read acetone, while highly effective, would likely eat through the board..

Dizaster · Answer

The connector is the only damage. Rest was lightly covered in electrical tape which is not as adhesive  incase of the  solvent splashing back.

ejn63 · Answer

That's about what a flat-rate repair with Dell is quoted as -- that is, any repair other than a mainboard or screen replacement. For those, it's parts additional. Dell won't repair boards -- they will only replace them. All of these boards are over $1,000 in the US -- if you have to replace the board, they may do the job for the $189 -- but you'll pay full freight on the system board itself, so your total cost won't be far off the $1500 you mentioned earlier.

Dizaster · Answer

Ok man thanks for the advice I appreciate it.

Dizaster · Answer

So when the out of warranty person says 189$ for a replacement mainboard?That's most likely wrong hey?

Dizaster · Answer

It is the only thing that is damaged luckily. Nothing is wrong with the heat sink, wifi card, drives, memory or the i/o board or anything connected. It works for basic use. Just can't run demanding games even at the lowest settings without it catching on fire lol

Dizaster · Answer

Ok, thanks for the information. I'll call them back on Tuesday and get all of the details. Lol I should really tone it down on the booze when working on these things.

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m17 R1, senselessly wrecked my own fan connection

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