Broken Low Cost Chinese Windows 10 Laptop - Trying to FIX

Here we a have a £26 ($36) broken, newish laptop from eBay. It is a Fusion5 T90B+ and is sold on Amazon as an alternative to a more expensive branded laptop.
Can it be fixed, and is it any good?
I thought it would be interesting to see the inside of these low cost laptops, and if it can be fixed then that is a bonus.
If you would like to support these videos, please click here / mymatevince
Remember that this is just for entertainment and I am not an expert in these repairs. The processes in the video may not be the best way, the correct way or the safest way to fix these things. I do love fault finding and trying to fix broken things, so I hope that comes across in this 'Trying to FIX' series. Many thanks, Vince.

[@Mymatevince]

Spoiler Saver I hope you enjoy 👍👍👍👍👍

[@BuGGzLoVeRsTech]

👍👍

[@Dtr146]

25:00 this is also why you can't trust your laptop being taken because anybody with half a brain can just completely wipe it

[@alpellaalp]

@@Dtr146 you can set a password

[@johnperalta9415]

@@Dtr146 you can put a bios password on it... I don't trust the windows password because i can easily bypass that. Lol

[@The_Tau_Beta]

Idk why but I feel like you could make asmr out of these videos Please don't question my thought process

[@SimmanGodz]

"Oh I've stabbed myself" Yep, just part of the standard repair procedure.

[@FennecTECH]

There’s also burning your finger with the soldering iron.

[@kruleworld]

no repair is complete without a donation of your blood.

[@Maxetto]

For future repairs, when you see life on the computer (LED turns on, fan spin, etc) and the computer doesn't turn on, don't waste time checking for shorts. Main voltage rails will be fine (19v, 5v and 3.3v), focus directly on power button. If voltage drops and the computer doesn't turn on, check the BIOS and/or the EC. If it still doesn't turn on, it's time to dive in the boot logic with the help of a schematic.

[@Tyceyy]

The reason I like Vince’s channel so much is because he repairs, so things can be used again. Its a great way to re-use. Thanks for doing this stuff, Vince! And because the videos are entraining (obviously)

[@mariodidier001]

Nice repair indeed. I wish all laptops have independent power-on buttons. Keyboards are the first thing that fails on any laptop I've owned. I have one with several keys not working, and I'm sure it's the traces/contact pads at fault. Gotta get that silver ink...

[@StezStixFix]

Nice! I had a laptop like this and you're spot on with your synopsis. They look great, but they are horrible to use! I gave it to my 10 year old daughter, and even she hates it. 🤣

[@Mymatevince]

Hahaha, yeah no one would thank you for one of these 🤣

[@ErickBuildsStuff]

Try with any flavour of linux. It will again be usable. 👍

[@rhaib]

@@ErrorMessageNotFound I agree and it won't fix a trash WiFi card

[@unitedfools3493]

Yeah EMMC storage and Windows (or much else for that matter) is not a good combination.

[@Ebolachicken]

just plug in a wireless mouse and usb wifi

[@stevewaller6577]

When applying the silver paint my anxiety went into over drive when you calmly mentioned that you could apply it without care, I was like, Vince don't forget that the film folds back on itself, it will short out man........... then you saved the day with capstan tape.

[@dr_ned_flanders]

Some masterful detective work there, Vince. Just like a who done it. Great repair.

[@andysimkin5200]

I love how on the box they promote this "laptop" as "thin, *light* and powerful", then inside the case they've screwed an extra couple of hundred grams of steel to give it that "quality" feel...

[@aaaaea9268]

That’s there to reinforce the chasis and balance the entire lower portion of the computer.

[@andysimkin5200]

Okaaaay... Ballast, yes. Reinforce the chassis, no. A piece of steel in that position ain't gonna do shit for reinforcement. It's there primarily to fool you into thinking that this product is of higher quality than it is

[@alexanderpoplawski577]

I think it is mostly to prevent it from tipping over, when the screen is open.

[@6581punk]

More or less what Apple does, except they make the case thicker and add more batteries inside. There's hardly anything inside a Mac now.

[@davidsmith-ih2kk]

I agree a bit of weighty steel always conveys the appearance of a much better machine, although you would think the lighter the better but in this case much too light without some steel to bulk it up.

[@zhaomichael4926]

As Chinese, my friends and I have never heard of the brand Fusion5 before either. To be honest, I can barely find any info about this laptop here lol. Good video and great job by the way!

[@Jeff121456]

If you had a table with one short leg you could make good use of the laptop.

[@Mymatevince]

Hahahaha 🤣🤣🤣👍

[@j.lietka9406]

Nice door stop, too!

[@begames585]

When you see the long steel part to turn the pc heavier lol

[@thomasesr]

It's to not make it feel like a toy and to give extra structure to prevent bending and breaking. But its a major red flag indeed.

[@1invag]

@@thomasesr strange given in pc laptop land being light is lauded as a thing to brag about. Most brag all over the marketing material about how light and portable they are. It's essentially a single board computer with a physical keyboard, like a raspberry pi 400

[@thomasesr]

@@1invag marketing bullshit vs peoples expectations = thin and light with weighted steel bar paradoxical products

[@Mobin92]

It might have some legitimate use. Maybe to balance it, so it doesn't fall back because of the screens weight.

[@LBSiUK]

@@Mobin92 was just about to comment that

[@HavingFunRepairs]

Very interesting architecture. It does remind me of a 2010s smart phone or tablet, albeit with the Windows operating system. Enjoyed the video.

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks HFR 👍

[@_._shinonome_._]

It's becoming increasingly common in sub £300 laptops

[@HavingFunRepairs]

@@_._shinonome_._ budget laptops for the college student maybe? Honestly, I can understand that given early 2010s cell phones were more powerful than my first laptop late 90s/early 2000s. Plus form factor is an increased cost savings given the expense will be the screen and battery for manufacturing (most likely). Definitely not "performance".

[@RynoDBones]

I have one of these...Linux Mint makes a huge difference in usability.

[@banditul8381]

Thank you Vince, i really needed a video of this kind at the end of Sunday

[@senketsu8632]

Love how you used cheap Chinese pain to fix a cheap Chinese laptop. Great video as always vince

[@Mymatevince]

🤣🤣

[@ems3425]

You really went down the rabbit Hole to fix this, I can't imagine how proud you are of yourself.

[@kruleworld]

This is a prime example of checking the simple things FIRST.

[@squallneko5004]

Great job in getting this laptop fixed. Very informative hope to see more of them.

[@CTCTraining1]

Well done Vince. Just a couple of suggestions ... can you extend the WiFi aerial so it runs through the hinge and up the rear of the screen?, check for new drivers .... also you could try installing a lightweight Linux with a Windows skin to improve the performance. All the best, and keep up the great work!

[@darrenhibbert9331]

Thank you so much for this video. I'm a PC technician and my step sons Fusion5 was doing the exact same thing, so was looking for a new motherboard for it......until I came across your video. Shorted the connection and it booted up!!!!! So now just got to find a new keyboard and cut the welds. Thank you so much 👍👋👋

[@iAutomation]

Hope you're having a great day - thanks for posting this!

[@edgarcarrasco4405]

That was amazing the time you took of finding and resolving the problem . Thank you for sharing.

[@Dillinger86]

I repair laptops, & it so satisfying to watch you get that thing running. I mean I could be have done 12 other things for 40 minutes, but I had to see it though lol Great video.

[@GizmoCollie]

5:23 laptop going crazy vince: listen to that *snaps finger to the beat*

[@RetroLodge]

🤣💀👍

[@rainbowrepair5692]

I need the horn sound back when you say "MMV Massive"

[@HydraHead9]

This was a very satisfying fix to watch. Would love to see some more Nintendo switch or new 3DS content by the way Vince. I've noticed the faulty switches dropping in price significantly on ebay so would be a great opportunity to get the switch killer back in action ;)

[@Mymatevince]

Cheers for the heads up Hydra 👍

[@pradeepkandari2451]

These are the best repair videos as I see vince trying to figure out the fault as the video progresses and thats what is so interesting about the videoa

[@GadgetUK164]

Great fix =D Yeah, these super cheap laptops are pants! Usually so very little performance that every action is painful!

[@Mymatevince]

Cheers Chris 👍 It is painful to use. On this one the Wi-Fi is the big let down. Also no upgradable parts, shame really as it looks good.

[@rwild7054]

@@Mymatevince I'm sure that LCD panel will be of some use in a future project (if you can't sell it). Even if you aren't taking the other spare parts into account, with that panel's value alone you've broke even on your purchase 👍

[@markwanklyn4195]

@@rwild7054 the LCD seems to be about the only decent part looking up the spec - 1920x1080 - battery might be useful if the 10000mAh figure is true

[@eekeek433]

For the keyboard, use a 3d print pen to fix the keyboard back into place. Really enjoyed the process and fix of the vid thank you :).

[@jimmyramkisoen191278]

Happy for you Vince you did it again!

[@pickle7904]

congrats n 700k! You deserve it, keep up the amazing content

[@renatoscutube]

About the wifi connection, you can use a USB adapter. I had to do this with an old laptop that had a limited speed internal adapter and it works really well.

[@vincegrant3450]

I've been having a similar issue with my laptop keyboard, and this has given me some insights as to how to fix it. Thank you Vince!

[@Mymatevince]

Good luck Vince 👍

[@Random_4400]

I LOVE the trying to fix laptop videos!

[@Wobble2007]

What you could have done to make the Wi-Fi decent is added in a proper Wi-Fi antennae which are really cheap, there is plenty of room inside, so you could add a proper decent size one and get a superb Wi-Fi signal, better than most even. Also, you might have noticed there was a spare internal USB solder point which could easily be hooked up to a Wi-Fi 6 USB, you could even add 5G or 4G while you're at it, if you're going to take the time to do all that for the repair it seems a shame not to go a few extra steps. A simple heatsink on the SoC would have helped out too, would stop any thermal throttling and allow you to run at a higher wattage to get much better performance out of both the CPU & GPU parts of the SoC. Another cool optional upgrade with all that extra room in there is to add in some better/louder speakers, it would then be an awsome media/KZbin device thanks to that decent looking IPS panel it has.

[@buntykainth3699]

If you ever need a password removal tool Vince, let me know, it removes the password in seconds. Annoyingly i had 4 similar laptops come in recently for repair, same issue, no power, i spend hours on the boards and gave up. I didnt even think about the power button 🤦‍♂️ Great video mate learnt something new today

[@andycap8469]

Congrats on 700k! Great fix!

[@andy_rulz2000]

Great repair mate, really enjoyed this video.

[@Lachlant1984]

I really do like the sound of your microphone, it sounds awesome.

[@kieranhutchison9810]

Hey vince,your videos are amazing man...i have binge watched lots of them now even some from years back that you posted and now i have the confidence to repair my own stuff🙂

[@Mymatevince]

Excellent, thank you 👍

[@kieranhutchison9810]

@@Mymatevince no worries haha,currently watching through your videos on the msi laptop from a couple months ago lol

[@colin1729]

Brilliant fix once again. Well done vince

[@ElNegro777]

This videos are like a surprise box, where you don't have idea which will be the result, sometimes is good sometimes is not.

[@DGDan316]

Great fix Vince, good job working out where the fault was

[@ellensburgamplifier]

Top-notch choice in choosing this repair!

[@Mymatevince]

Thank you Todd 👍

[@ImDelph]

This machine may be better as a chromebook style machine. You can put Neverware on it, which is basically ChromeOS. Turns a slow machine into a useable machine, but limits what it can do

[@Dave-fs5uu]

Great job Vince! As far as the touch pad not working poprtly I'd connect a mouse by usb, I never liked those trackpads regardless and a mouse is much better IMO. As far as the WIFI goes try updating the WIFI drivers and make sure the settings are right. Could just be a software issue.

[@TamjeedFN]

Congratulations on getting 700K subscribers! keep up the good work edit: good video Vince

[@etiennevanharen3893]

Awesome faultfinding on this one mate, what a joy to watch the journey with you. Crappy device but great video.

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks Etienne 👍👍

[@Arachnoid_of_the_underverse]

Well done on that one, it certainly made you work for it.

[@andersmmvfc.8376]

Thank you one of your best videos in my opinion!

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks so much Anders 👍👍👍

[@TheTTVert]

Well done Vince!!

[@Ak4ShadowZ]

I’ve been waiting for another video!

[@SummonerArthur]

As soon as you said it charges, but doesnt power up, I thought "Its gonna be a faulty power button, isnt it?" LOL I've been always affraid of working on keyboards, I usually just buy a new one when these things happen. But I might try fixing these from now on, now that I've seen you fixing one.

[@MikeK-NIreland]

Hi Vince, I'm putting you forward for a gong in next years honours list for having the kohoonas to take that keyboard apart. Well Done you definitely have the patience of a saint. Mick 👍👏🍻

[@Dtr146]

The main problem with those flex ribbon style of keyboards is every time you press on a key you're putting pressure and torque on That area from the ribbon. And with and being so then in the first place I will not be surprised if that's what caused the fault

[@ernstoud]

Very helpful, I have a number of more or less equivalent notebooks of the Chuwi brand. One of those had coffee damage. Also doesn’t”t power on so perhaps the same issue. Thanks!

[@lesrogers7310]

Oh no, not one of these. I had to change the screen on one only last year... what a nightmare!

[@davidc6459]

Great video, excellent fault finding.

[@eman59461]

Great job. Great repair.

[@murdak_jamaican]

When I saw that key board I said that the problem , I replaced multiple key boards like that with the same problem, its more common on the cheap lenovo laptop.

[@LBSiUK]

Hey Vince, those machines are quite low end. I have one, would recommend that you reinstall Windows with ReviOS (a stripped down version of Windows 10, designed for low end devices), if you are going to do that, then don't delete the recovery partition with the drivers on it, like I accidentally did.

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks LBSi 👍

[@LBSiUK]

@@Mymatevince Oh, and congrats on 700K too. You couldn't deserve it more!

[@ZahNiNah]

@@LBSiUK did u get the drivers back?

[@LBSiUK]

@@ZahNiNah I've been attempting too. It's only the WiFi I need, which I've identified but haven't found a driver that works yet. Or it could be I didn't push the antenna on right? I'll replace the antenna anyway with a larger one.

[@ZahNiNah]

@@LBSiUK use snappy driver - after a long search snappy did it for me for the wifi

[@TheCod3r]

Congrats on 700k by the way mate, gold play button in no time 😁

[@daz41262010]

very good fix vince nice job :)

[@GoldPunch]

Oh hi again my man! How are you, I hope you and your family is safe and healthy! Sending love from Turkey 🇹🇷

[@Mymatevince]

Doing good thanks, hope you are keeping well 👍

[@1050franco]

A friend had a similar problem with a cloudbook , it was the same as the one you show in the video , the power led started to blink like that so we started to unplug things and left the board only with the screen , keyboard and battery suddenly the laptop started to power on without any problem. So we reconnected everything and it worked just fine.

[@rayhaanpatel9832]

Congratulations on your 700k subscribers

[@Car777777777]

i didn't know about conductive paste learned a new skill thank you gave a like and subbed to the channel

[@TheCod3r]

Good to see more laptop repairs mate. I think I actually saw this auction and turned it away lol

[@Mymatevince]

Haha, you were lucky Phil! It's a good job we weren't in a bidding war over it 🤣👍

[@TheCod3r]

@@Mymatevince haha I'd hate to get into a bidding war with you, you don't care if it's worth it, you're too determined for me 🤣

[@TheCod3r]

I actually only just got chance to watch this, too busy with a southbridge trolling me lol. Any repair challenges coming up at all? I'm thinking of putting one together with a couple of more popular channels and a couple of smaller ones 😁

[@Mymatevince]

@@TheCod3r 🤣🤣

[@Mymatevince]

@@TheCod3r No. not at the moment. Nothing is ruled out but there is no talk at present 👍

[@eightohmmedia]

Another great fix Vince

[@MichaelBritt23]

Awesome fix! Interesting laptop.... I know you said some stuff are terrible like wifi and touchpad... still makes me wonder if you have dongles hooked up if it performs better. Incredible price to get it for, though. Well worth it. I'm most surprised by the size of the motherboard and useless space they could have either removed or added stuff to make it even better laptop.

[@Daniel-dl6fp]

Congrats on 700k subscribers👍

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks Daniel 👍

[@marcezs08]

Really good video, i enjoyed it

[@zs1dfr]

You're nothing if not tenacious, Vince! Do you have a British Bulldog as a pet, to gain inspiration from? Nice repair and lovely deductive reasoning. Thanks very much.

[@donnybigboy]

Weldone mate, was screaming at the screen, lol. Brilliant

[@bunnylove273]

Hi bud well done on the repair

[@Dejan357]

That stab hurt me... I felt it :D

[@pegtooth2006]

700K members to your channel, Vince. Congratulations!

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks Peg 👍

[@Green-yp9ix]

nice work chap...

[@adiposerex5150]

Amazing repair.

[@iian0]

Great video!!

[@rossmeistergeneral9614]

Looking at you fixing the keyboard reminds me about the time that I tried to clean a Compaq Presario laptop. The keyboard was covered in hairs and crumbs on the top🤮so I tried to take the keycaps off with a pull tool which worked mostly well and cleaned it out with a bit of Flash and some cotton buds. Word of advice: Be very careful and DON'T use too much force to pull the keys off because the tiny switch mechanisms are the most likely to snap and when they do you'll find that the key will not go back on nicely or even at all! Even on my first attempt taking off ALL the keys I broke 3 arrow keys, Enter, Caps Lock and the Z key. Thankfully I managed to fix most of them with a tiny bit of superglue on the edges of the keys but they don't press down as well as they used to. Nevertheless you did a lot better than me putting all the keys back together and making them work. Thank you Vince! 👍

[@andysimkin5200]

If you are talking about that white plastic bit, I'm sure they'd cost pennies on ebay or a whole new keyboard for £7 or £8 or something

[@matthewcb1970]

Great video 😊

[@turji]

'You say' Most people think a power button is hard, but is just a power button, after a while we can surely say that is hard enough for people not in this type of work to figure out ey🙂 Good video aswell as allways. Myself have been fixing all kind of stuff my whole life, except electro, but last 10 years i have been doing it, and i must say, i have and still learn tric or two from your videos, and tronicsfix before, 2 of the best fixers on youtube, just had to mentoin it, wish you all well in these times, and thanks for all the tips and trics!

[@Amieee]

Perfect video when I need to chill at like 2am lol

[@Box223]

You now have 700,000 subscribers! That is only 300,000 away from 1,000,000!

[@davidsmith-ih2kk]

This laptop reminds me of the new Lenovo Ideapads they too have a tiny motherboard with a soldered in sandisk 64gig sd card but at least with the expensive Lenovos the covering is a metal plate used as a heat sink for the sd card and the CPU chip but in reality it goes to show how much the Lenovos are really worth not really the eye watering 1000 dollar systems they charge Great video have to say your getting better and better at this laptop fixing

[@Tacticaldino813]

Great job bro

[@robinnesting3811]

It was nice seeing you have success with this repair! I wonder if this would be usable as a sort of portable word processor, using USB drives to transfer files? With a small mouse to replace the track pad perhaps? It might make a nice NaNoWriMo tool? For repairing or rebuilding plastic welded connections like that, I tend to use hot glue, super glue and baking soda, or modeling glue with appropriately sized pieces of plastic depending on the situation. I'm glad your soldering iron worked, but I'm always worried that I'll do damage I can't see on the other side or not get as strong a connection as I could?

[@maniatore2006]

Thank you for that entertaining Video

[@briancraig9162]

I watched you start that and immediately thought of another manufacturer name starting with L who's On/Off button has a habit of giving up.

[@nathanmead140]

Lenovo?

[@markshellard5894]

Really Enjoyed this 👍🏻

[@Ak4ShadowZ]

The video isn’t even over how’d u enjoy it?

[@peterroy3052]

Excellent fix

[@malibuman792004]

Another great video.

[@ShR33k]

I thought you went above and beyond there. I never thought breaking the plastic clips off could be reversed... using a soldering iron to melt the clips back in place - genius! I'd of probably soldered a couple of wires on the pins on the board that operate the switch and either had an external on/off switch or seen if there was room to drill a small hole in the case to have a working on/off as part of the case. At the start of the video, I was thinking - nice laptop... UK made, etc... then the more I watched, the more I cringed. That thing on the inside looks like a bag of sh1t. I understand cheap, but then there is virtually unrepairable - then on top, you've said it barely works even when its fully operational!

[@jamiematthews1580]

Nice job 👍🏻

[@MrFixiit]

good job vince

[@kareno8634]

Totally JAZZED! After pointing out "Dodgy" Trace Line, Right, was glad to see you finally saw the one i kept pointing out, left. lol as for "Looks" - Good look, NO Work or Interior Now Fixed - Not what seen. 8 ) One may see 'item' issues not just parts, but assembly; What could be expected from One at _young age._ 8 | _just saying_ this one took patience. Thanks

[@pineappleroad]

this is the sort of thing that I would call a "netbook" and I just saw the dreaded words "eMMC Storage" for those that don't know, eMMC is essentially an SSD that doesn't have any of the benefits of an SSD and I HATE the trend that modern laptops have where the RAM, and in most cases storage, are soldered to the board, and the fact that the battery usually cant be replaced by the end-user (that last point REALLY annoys me) EDIT: and I remember one of these cheap laptops once gave me a scare, where I plugged it in, and the charging light didn't come on, and windows also said that it wasn't even plugged in, when it was (there was nothing wrong with the charge port, just some sort of glitch where the laptop wouldn't charge, and it took a bit of fiddling with it to get it to charge

[@Mymatevince]

Thanks Pineapple 👍 Yeah, the soldered RAM is a real shame.

[@kyliandc9276]

More like a cheap SD card soldered to the motherboard but yeah it is painfully slow

[@DumahBrazorf]

Netbook had real notebook hardware, standard so-dimm ram and sata disk but a screen with unusuable resolution and no cpu power. This is just tablet hardware in a nb shell.

[@LBSiUK]

@@kyliandc9276 I have one of these. According to Windows (in task manager), the eMMC drive is actually an SD card,

[@pineappleroad]

@@Mymatevince and I really hope the rest of the industry don't copy what Apple is currently doing with their latest products, or you may end up with computers that need a CPU swap when the RAM goes bad

[@baghdadiabdellatif1581]

Great work Greetings from North Africa (Algeria)