querty321 Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 So yesterday, when opening up my HP Pavilion zv6000 Notebook computer, I heard a small cracking sound from the back and saw that the seam where the plastic casing comes together on the hinge had become slightly separated. This cause the hinge to become a lot looser than before. Later in the day, I accidentally slammed the notebook closed pretty hard a couple times forgetting how loose it was. Well, this morning when I started it up I noticed a smell like burning plastic that I assume was coming from my computer. I'd had it unplugged all last night and plugged it in before I started it up this morning. The battery was charging like normal and everything was running fine. The only problem was this weird smell. I shut it down after a few minutes and unplugged it.Any idea what might be happening here? I've read a few things about notebook power sources running hot and smelling that way while recharging their batteries. It's possible that's happened before and I only noticed it this time because I was concerned about possibly having knocked something loose inside from slamming it shut the day before. Another weird thing was that last night it said one of my user profiles wouldn't load because it might be corrupted and it created a temporary profile instead. I restarted and the regular profile worked fine again. I'm not sure if that has anything to do with this but I figured I'd mention it. Also, here's a picture of the back of my computer. You can see on the hinge where the plastic is slightly separated:http://i32.tinypic.com/2z7lmie.jpg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lefty1953 Posted March 21, 2008 Report Share Posted March 21, 2008 Is there any warranty? Sounds like some wiring got pinched. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
querty321 Posted March 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 Is there any warranty? Sounds like some wiring got pinched.I'm not sure. A relative gave it to me and I think it's a few years old. I'll have to check on that. Actually, now that I think about it more, I would have noticed that smell if it had happened before, so there must be something different now. If the warranty's up, is a pinched wire something a computer-savvy friend or I could fix? How would I know if it fried the motherboard? It was working fine when I shut it down. But I'm afraid to turn it back on, obviously. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shanenin Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 take it apart. Hopefully you will be able to see what burned. It may be an obvious fix. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rhema7 Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 Check the battery it maybe defective. This is not uncommon for Notebooks. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
querty321 Posted March 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 Check the battery it maybe defective. This is not uncommon for Notebooks.I took the battery out and it looks OK as far as I can tell. How can I find out if the battery's defective? Should I try to turn on the computer with the battery out and see if it still smells or is that too risky? I just don't know if each time I turn it on I'm risking further damage. I'm still trying to find out about the warranty before I open it up. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shanenin Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 I would not turn it on again till taking a visual look and smell the motherboard. More then likely you will be able to tell where the burn is coming from. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pete_C Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 My bet, based on the "loose hinge" is that the case is cracked and things have shifted and something hot (heatsink? Chipset) is touching something it should not or a wire got shorted. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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