I have a refurbished ASUS TUF A16 that was dropped shortly after I bought it, which stopped the original barrel-style charging cable from working. I then used a USB-C charger through the secondary charging port, and that worked for nearly a year. After the laptop fell again recently, it became completely unresponsive and now won't charge or power on.
I tried disconnecting the battery and running it from the charger, but that made no difference. I've also cleaned the charging ports. Is it likely that the drops damaged the charging ports or their connections to the motherboard? Would replacing the battery be worth trying, or should I take it to a repair shop? If the ports or motherboard are damaged, are there any realistic repair options besides replacing the entire laptop?
3 Answers
A repair shop should diagnose it before you spend money on a battery. Since both charging methods stopped working after physical impacts, damaged ports, solder joints, or motherboard traces are all plausible. A shop can test the board and power circuitry and tell you whether the repair is economical.
If the battery was disconnected and the laptop still showed no signs of life with a known-good charger, the battery probably isn’t the main problem. I’d avoid buying one just to test it and have the charging circuit checked professionally instead.
The barrel-style power jack can be a difficult and expensive motherboard repair because it is heavily soldered in place. The USB-C charging port may be easier to replace, depending on whether the board itself is damaged. Ask for an estimate first; replacing the whole system board may cost nearly as much as another laptop.
I’ll look for a repair shop and ask them to diagnose whichever repair is most practical. If the estimate is too high or both charging circuits are damaged, I’ll probably replace the laptop.