Acer Aspire Switch 10E shorted capacitor - identification help needed

[adriansmith31]

Hi all,
I have an Acer aspire switch 10E tablet / laptop hybrid that has no power. It charges OK but when powered on there is no POST, no video output, nothing on the LCD and the power LED does not turn blue. The CPU gets warm.

I found it is not attempting to boot from USB and further inspection revealed that there is a shorted capacitor on one of the voltage rails. The problem is the capacitor is so tiny (perhaps 1mm long by 0.25mm wide) I can hardly see it. In the attached photo I have circled it and pointed an arrow to the offending capacitor. The nearby MOSFET is okay but the capacitor is connected to the SND9039A1 power management and control IC and ground. I'm hoping the chip isn't faulty but I need to change that capacitor.

Any idea on it's value and what suitable part would do as a replacement to order? It's so small I can't see any markings and there's no schematic.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[bob91343]

I would first remove the part and see if the unit starts working.  Then try different values to see if it makes a difference in operation.

[adriansmith31]

Thanks, will do. I found identical physical size capacitors on an old memory module so Ill try those. Ill update if it works or not as I suspect there may be further things that have failed. It no longer gets hot and it did do when it failed evident by the scorch mark on the underside of the metal heat spreader plate that goes over the motherboard.

[EbarlaS]

I am curious how did you identify the problem. Since u dont have any schematics, even any other component shorted, it can cause, that capasitor shorted too. I have a shorted capacitor problem like 20 of them at SiO which i couldnt figure out which power and where power coming causing them shorted. So i suggest you to be sure before you remove the capacitor. I guess it will work fine without that capasitor if it is the real one which is causing trouble.. good luck...

[adriansmith31]

This is an old topic but I thought I'd share what the problem was. Unfortunately it was more than just the capacitor; the power management IC which controls charging and regulation of various supply rails was found to have a tiny hole in it. The chip itself was shorted and this was found on the underside of the board a small distance away from where the magic smoke had stained the heatsink.

I decided it wasn't worth the effort to source and replace it so I scrapped the tablet.