Need information about mother board issue

Hello tarquin, I am Abe. I see you are having some crazy issues with your alien ware machine. My first step would be looking into a new logic board. the smoking you may have seen may have caused irreversible damage. If possible find a Computer shop near by that does micro soldering. they may be able to help and identify that chip for you. With that picture you posted I doubt that you will be able to resurrect that piece but do not loose hope! keep us in the loop!

Hi tarquin, That chip is most likely a destroyed input MOSFET chip which is basically a protection IC on the input.

If the part number is visible on the chip you could order a new one and replace it, given you have the tools.

The reason why it got shorted might be a bad capacitor on the board and that is killed the chip. These chips are quite common, I am sure you will be able to find a replacement. However, before replacing it you will need to diagnose why is it destroyed. If you replace it without getting to the root of the problem, the new chip will be destroyed as well.