A subscriber sent in an Alienware m16 R1 laptop after it experienced a catastrophic failure. The relatively new and in great condition laptop only flashed red and blue lights on the power button. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the blinking lights indicated a power rail failure.

The laptop was opened to diagnose the issue further, and the motherboard was removed. While the CPU remained cold, the NVIDIA RTX4090 GPU started to heat up, suggesting a potential short in the main 19V power rail directly to the graphics chip. This area of the motherboard was getting hot, confirming a dead short.

Using voltage injection, the exact component causing the short was identified—a tiny capacitor. After replacing the faulty capacitor and reassembling the laptop, it was successfully repaired.

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