Fried Circuit Board

I received my new black cable and replaced it this evening, painstakingly going through all the steps to get it perfectly in place. When everything was in place, I plugged the machine in and turned it on and saw a faint pink-red glow from behind the laser tube. Then a tiny puff of smoke appeared under the glass so I quickly unplugged it. It smelled horrible and I grabbed the flashlight again, looking for the source and found the circuit board where I had inserted the black cable appeared burned. Pictures here:

Presuming this is not something I will be able to resolve at home or with a replacement part. Posting here to get some help from support. Thanks!

Oh hugs! I have only known of that happening one other time, but it sucks

They’ll get here ASAP and get you sorted…though if your shipping box is buried, this might be the time to dig it out.

2 Likes

I don’t think it’s user-replaceable if it’s in-warranty.

Ugh. I’m sorry. Hope they get it fixed quickly!

Replacing the board is likely a lot easier than replacing the cable. The problem is that something was short-circuited to cause the failure you see. When those types of failures occur, they often cause collateral damage. That board you can see is connected to something else somewhere and that something else may have been exposed to unsafe voltages as the component failed. Depending on where the short occurred there could be damage to stuff in the cover, too.

That’s a bummer.

1 Like

Sorry to see that I wasn’t the only one this has happened to. I was able to replace the part after them special ordering it for me, and it was actually really simple to do, but that was due to my willingness to open my machine up and possibly make it worse off.

Here’s my old thread: Circuit Board Still Needed Since Nov 20

The only real issue with the repair is removing the glass which is 3 screws and 3 tabs from being able to come away from the machine, then there are the two screws holding the board in place. If you do all that, you can pull on the white ribbon cable leading behind the frame into the board, this will pull the board out with it. I would say the repair isn’t a beginner level sort of thing, though, and if you’re in warranty, it’s definitely safer for them to get the machine back and totally inspect it since this could possibly be a symptom of something else going wrong with the machine

Best of luck, and if you are willing to pop your machine open, shoot me a message and I can help out with how I did mine.

5 Likes

Hmmm… I don’t think I have enough guts to try that myself. My machine is out of warranty - was one of the earliest ones. What happens at this point? Since it’s out of warranty if I ship it back - could they fix it for me and bill me? I guess I’m wondering if it is worth it.

Could you ever discern what caused the short? It seems the contact alignment in those clips would be absolute. :face_with_raised_eyebrow:

Unfortunately, it looks like your unit has experienced an issue that we can’t resolve remotely. I want you to have a reliable unit, so I’ll be in touch via email to sort out the details. I’m so sorry about the bad news.