the problem i have right now is that the system does not charge, instead emitting a pungent smell for some time after the charger is plugged in.
i removed the bottom cover but
i removed the bottom cover but the smell didn’t seem to come from any particular area, similarly i didn’t find any areas that were hot nor see any burnt components although my vision is poor these years. i suspect if there is something glaring that it’s on the back of the system board which i did not remove yet. i also removed the dc-in assembly which is protected by a solid steel cover attached to the lcd hinge which can be unscrewed without removing anything else and hinged back. i tested its conductivity and it seemed reasonable: 20v to both positive wires, two wires for one ground and one wire for another. one of the ground wires gave some low voltage or resistance or such, but it didn’t alarm me. i thought the smell might have been coming from near where the second internal battery is wired, on the other side of the board, but not sure really. i have this battery unplugged as it has failed, and was going to pick up the replacement today.