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April 20th, 2025 09:28
G15 5520, out of warranty, smoke and burned component
Hi everyone,
I’m reporting a hardware failure on my Dell G15 5520 and would appreciate any insights or similar experiences from the community.
Yesterday, while the laptop was plugged into AC power and playing League of Legend, it suddenly emitted smoke. I powered it off immediately and disconnected it. After inspecting the internal components, I discovered that the part labeled “HDK50 CPU GPU BRKT ASSY” (presumably the heatsink bracket assembly for the CPU and GPU) had sustained visible burn damage.
This suggests a possible thermal management failure, short circuit, or component-level fault within the cooling assembly or surrounding power delivery components.
Unfortunately, Dell support informed me that the warranty had expired 50 days ago. So I’m trying to determine the most reasonable path forward:
- Has anyone experienced a similar failure with this model or component?
- Is replacement of this bracket and adjacent components feasible, or is a full motherboard replacement more realistic?
- Are there any known issues or recalls related to this part?
Any advice, technical guidance, or shared experience would be highly appreciated.
Best regards,
Furkan K
<Private data removed from public view. DELL-Admin>
ejn63
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April 20th, 2025 12:48
Whatever failed -- whether a power MOSFET or another device, there appears to be a large degree of damage to the board itself. You may be faced with repairing the pads under and around the failed device. Unless you have the skill and tools to do board level repair, it's likely you need a system board.
A replacement board will run between $300-600 depending on CPU and GPU before labor charge. Even a repair -- if it's possible -- won't save you much money.
If you need to have a repair done, look for a true repair shop -- not a parts replacer like most local computer shops, Geek Squad, Dell, etc.
The system is also three years old at this point, so consider the future lifespan of a low-end gaming notebook that was really designed around a 3-year life -- it may not make economic sense to pour hundreds of dollars into repairing a budget gaming notebook.
No, there's no recall -- those are made solely for safety reasons. As for why the part failed -- stress and heat at the two most common causes of component failure.