Chip Blown/Burned Acer Aspire A315-51

[turquato]

Hello!

A friend of mine bought an Acer Aspire Laptop a few years back.

 

Acer Aspire 3 A315-51 Series
Acer Aspire 3 A315-51-39XM (Intel Core i3-6005u)

Model No.: N17Q1

What I'm really here for is about a chip found on the underside of an M.2 slot, that somehow blew up / burned / melted itself.

Here's an image of the board I found off the internet which I've encircled red with a blue arrow pointing towards it.
The second image is of the actual chip, marked with the Realtek Logo (the crab looking thing).

I was wondering if someone knew what this chip was for or what the part number is so my friend and I could look it up, find a replacement and have it repaired.
We couldn't travel to any Acer repair centers at the moment due to the pandemic and repair centers are about 4-6 hours away from where I'm from.

 

Edit: when the laptop is plugged in to the wall, the charging LED lights up but pressing the power button does nothing. Could this be an isolated problem? or did the blown chip took down some of the neighboring components with it?
 

Many thanks!

[mahyar]

from its place it locks like a usbhub chip

[turquato]

6 minutes ago, mahyar said:

from its place it locks like a usbhub chip

it's near the Ethernet, HDMI, USB 3.0 ports and a card reader.

[mahyar]

2 minutes ago, turquato said:

it's near the Ethernet, HDMI, USB 3.0 ports and a card reader.

card reader Ethernet usb are normal but i dont think hdmi has to do with that chip

[turquato]

1 minute ago, mahyar said:

card reader Ethernet usb are normal but i dont think hdmi has to do with that chip

would you happen to know the part number of that chip? maybe you have had experience with these kinds of things.

[GenericFanboy]

2 minutes ago, turquato said:

would you happen to know the part number of that chip? maybe you have had experience with these kinds of things.

Quite hard to figure that one out. Might be better to buy a second hand board and use that. Saw one for 170 USD, might be able to find cheaper.

 

Sometimes the motherboard has text next to the chip, you can usually get some info from that. Try that? Maybe send a good foto upclose from it.

[mahyar]

24 minutes ago, turquato said:

would you happen to know the part number of that chip? maybe you have had experience with these kinds of things.

ohhh no. i have experience with these things but  i dont know what part number is you might be able to run laptop as is not that i recommend it

[turquato]

21 minutes ago, GenericFanboy said:

Quite hard to figure that one out. Might be better to buy a second hand board and use that. Saw one for 170 USD, might be able to find cheaper.

 

Sometimes the motherboard has text next to the chip, you can usually get some info from that. Try that? Maybe send a good foto upclose from it.

hoping to find replacement boards cheaper than 170USD.

took the board out and no visible texts next to the chip in question. 

[GenericFanboy]

Just now, turquato said:

hoping to find replacement boards cheaper than 170USD.

took the board out and no visible texts next to the chip in question. 

Searching for it is quite easy. Maybe buy a defective board and source the chip. But that gets slightly more tricky. I'd only do that with experience. 

[turquato]

2 minutes ago, GenericFanboy said:

Searching for it is quite easy. Maybe buy a defective board and source the chip. But that gets slightly more tricky. I'd only do that with experience. 

that is a good idea. but purchasing a defective board would still cost quite a bit. shipping cost is what takes the prices to another level. 

[GenericFanboy]

1 minute ago, turquato said:

that is a good idea. but purchasing a defective board would still cost quite a bit. shipping cost is what takes the prices to another level. 

Its a shame that it is like that. But maybe you can find something with loads of searching

[turquato]

1 minute ago, GenericFanboy said:

Its a shame that it is like that. But maybe you can find something with loads of searching

I'm currently searching for dead boards. but that's a gamble since I don't really know if the component I'm after is either working or not...but yeah, that's how it is with used parts.

And I'm still waiting for folks that knows what the part number of the chip I'm looking for.

[Kilrah]

Is the photo of the single chip you posted actually the one in question?

 

[turquato]

6 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Is the photo of the single chip you posted actually the one in question?

 

yes, that's the actual chip, removed from the board. the only visible print is the realtek logo

[Kilrah]

Look closelier... can actually see "118" on the right.

It's a Realtek chip so it starts with RTL, can see the R at the beginning of the same line.

So a little search later... RTL8118, Ethernet controller.

 

https://www.realtek.com/en/products/communications-network-ics/item/rtl8118as

 

I.e. non-essential. As long as you make sure the footprint is clean with no shorts you can try to run the machine without it - if it doesn't work then more stuff is fried. 

 

 

[turquato]

4 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

Look closelier... can actually see "118" on the right.

It's a Realtek chip so it starts with RTL, can see the R at the beginning of the same line.

So a little search later... RTL8118, Ethernet controller.

 

https://www.realtek.com/en/products/communications-network-ics/item/rtl8118as

 

I.e. non-essential. As long as you make sure the footprint is clean with no shorts you can try to run the machine without it - if it doesn't work then more stuff is fried. 

 

 

So it seems. I guess I should start the hunt for that specific chip. is it specific?

I'd say you're on point with the "fried" components. that laptop lights the charging LED but does nothing. won't power on. definitely this chip took some components with it.

 

[Kilrah]

II don't think the chip took other components with it, more likely the blown chip is not the cause but a consequence of something else failing like something in the power supply circuitry.

 

No point hunting for the chip if the rest of the machine is dead.

[turquato]

4 hours ago, Kilrah said:

II don't think the chip took other components with it, more likely the blown chip is not the cause but a consequence of something else failing like something in the power supply circuitry.

 

No point hunting for the chip if the rest of the machine is dead.

I'm really hoping to find a cheap board replacement. 170USD and up + shipping would be a tough pill to swallow. I'll let you guys know whenever I get a replacement board or a replacement chip.

@Kilrah thanks for helping out.