Accidentally dropped screwdriver on motherboard

[Renan Santana]

I Accidentally dropped my screwdriver on the laptop's motherboard. Apparently I didn't see anything damaged. The screwdriver is small and light, but it made a very loud noise when it fell on the motherboard. My laptop is running fine, but do you think i need to check something more ?

[Fasauceome]

2 minutes ago, Renan Santana said:

My laptop is running

Given that there's no defect, and you didn't see visible damage, you should be just fine.

 

PCBs are coated from the factory, usually to protect against rust but the coating also can protect against minor scuffs. Chances are you were lucky, and the screwdriver didn't really hit the motherboard that hard.

[rcmaehl]

15 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

Given that there's no defect, and you didn't see visible damage, you should be just fine.

 

PCBs are coated from the factory, usually to protect against rust but the coating also can protect against minor scuffs. Chances are you were lucky, and the screwdriver didn't really hit the motherboard that hard.

Yep. You should be fine if you don't see any obvious destruction.

[Erioch]

4 hours ago, Renan Santana said:

I Accidentally dropped my screwdriver on the laptop's motherboard. Apparently I didn't see anything damaged. The screwdriver is small and light, but it made a very loud noise when it fell on the motherboard. My laptop is running fine, but do you think i need to check something more ?

Nice try, secret Linus account.

[Pickles von Brine]

5 hours ago, Renan Santana said:

I Accidentally dropped my screwdriver on the laptop's motherboard. Apparently I didn't see anything damaged. The screwdriver is small and light, but it made a very loud noise when it fell on the motherboard. My laptop is running fine, but do you think i need to check something more ?

Having worked in computer repair for 15 years as long as the board had no power going through it your are fine (as long as it hasn't shorted anything, IE because it had power). I have dropped screw drivers, had screw drivers slip and scratch boards, had boards bend at odd angles due to being held in with weird clips. Hell I have had laptops with USB ports sheared or managed and still working. Even more so some system with HEAVY corrosion and other nonsense on boards and somehow they were working...

As long as none of the surface mount components got damaged, traces got broken etc you are fine.

 

That being said, please becareful regardless.  Boards can be surprisingly sensitive and break easily or they can be surprising durable. 

[Guest]

Make sure you have backups of important stuff if you're concerned. 

[Mojo-Jojo]

23 hours ago, Fasauceome said:

PCBs are coated from the factory, usually to protect against rust but the coating also can protect against minor scuffs.

At the risk of coming across as a dick, but I don't want people to be misinformed.

 

PCBs in the general sense are not all coated. Coating specifically refers to conformal coating which protects the entire assembled board from debris, water, etc. This costs money and most manufacturers don't bother.

 

If you're talking about solder mask, you'd be right but that's not the same as coating, and not as effective since it only protects PCB traces on the outer layers.

[Pickles von Brine]

5 hours ago, Mojo-Jojo said:

At the risk of coming across as a dick, but I don't want people to be misinformed.

 

PCBs in the general sense are not all coated. Coating specifically refers to conformal coating which protects the entire assembled board from debris, water, etc. This costs money and most manufacturers don't bother.

 

If you're talking about solder mask, you'd be right but that's not the same as coating, and not as effective since it only protects PCB traces on the outer layers.

Yep and it is a lot more fragile than you think. Though that being said that thin layer has saved slipped screw driver from being a disaster. 

[gaetanocostanza]

Don't you could break a circuit or any component check 

[GeorgeMKane]

On 8/18/2022 at 3:29 PM, Renan Santana said:

I Accidentally dropped my screwdriver on the laptop's motherboard. Apparently I didn't see anything damaged. The screwdriver is small and light, but it made a very loud noise when it fell on the motherboard. My laptop is running fine, but do you think i need to check something more ?

I've done that before, and if you saw no damage, then you should be alright. Maybe if you dropped it a couple of times, you might want to double check it, but otherwise you should be alright..