DIY Laptop repairs

lenny

Guest
My laptops been down for a month now:(, the local computer repair shop said It was beyond economical repair:mad: (Fried Motherboard and stuff):confused: so I went shopping for a new one today only to find the cost of 3 to £400 a bit much to scrape together,
Decided to have one more look at it before binning it, It still wouldnt start up,so checked the mains voltage input was correct,checked the battery voltage was correct, took out the hard drive and slapped it a few times:eek: put It back together then gave the whole unit a few clouts here and there with the odd blow into all the orifices, (My 8 year old grandson watching on in bemusement).
Then, one last try,would you believe it:confused:, It worked:eek, now I,m back online following my DIY repair but what did I do right to fix it?:confused: :confused:;)

So I said to the Grandson, "When in doubt,blow it out and give it a Clout"

PS. Tried the same method with the wifes broken steam iron;), that ended up in the bin
 
lenny said:
So I said to the Grandson, "When in doubt,blow it out and give it a Clout"

PS. Tried the same method with the wifes broken steam iron;), that ended up in the bin
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we have the same philosophy down here.. our special tool is a brummagem screwdriver :D


(friggin great hammer)

regards
aj
 
Also known as: Percussive maintenance :D

Thhought I'd killed mine when I tipped a pint of water into it... took all the bits out that I could and put it on a radiator. Surprisingly it still works.
 
lenny said:
took out the hard drive and slapped it a few times:eek: put It back together then gave the whole unit a few clouts here and there with the odd blow into all the orifices, (My 8 year old grandson watching on in bemusement).
Then, one last try,would you believe it:confused:, It worked:eek, now I,m back online following my DIY repair but what did I do right to fix it?:confused: :confused:;)
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Sounds like a hard drive problem, I'd back everything up ASAP if I was you. I'd be very surprised if it didn't go again soon :(

Frank
 
Either that or a loose connection somewhere and you knocked it back in, I'd definately back up anything i wouldn't want to loose if i were you, As once laptops start acting up they quickly die .
 
If it just wasnt doing anything before, I.e no life or power at all when you try and switch it on it may have been power/voltage related perhaps a loose connection. If it was powering up but getting stuck at the startup screen its probably like the other poster said hard drive related and again it may be a loose connection but could well be the drive on its way out. Back it up as suggested. It may be worth running some diagnostics on the drive such as Disk Defragmentor in Programs, accessories, system tools but if its got a physical hardware fault this wont fix anything and it will fail. Keep your fingers crossed though as it may just be ok!
 
Theres also a thermal cut out that will prevent it booting if the cpu is getting too hot. That will happen if its accumulated dust/muck around the cooling fan. You may have dislodged the muck and got it cool enough to run again.
 
I almost hate that the price of electronics keeps falling, I had a laptop screen fail, replacement was going to be about AU$450. Brand new Compaq Presario with more of everything and a three year warranty was AU$515.

Anyone interested in a Toshiba Satellite Pro laptop without a screen?
 
Roger said:
I had a laptop screen fail, replacement was going to be about AU$450. Brand new Compaq Presario with more of everything and a three year warranty was AU$515.
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I had a screen fail on a laptop, much the same scenario. As with most laptops, it has a VGA socket on the back, so it's now plugged into the desktop's monitor via a switchbox and is used as my Linux machine.

Frank
 
Boxerman said:
I had a screen fail on a laptop, much the same scenario. As with most laptops, it has a VGA socket on the back, so it's now plugged into the desktop's monitor via a switchbox and is used as my Linux machine.

Frank
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A company called SignalsIT who we do business with do a replacement sceen for most comon makes for £100. I don't know if they will do private repairs but its always worth asking. Signals IT Ltd : Home
 
Bit late now - I took the lid & screen off and binned them.
Thanks anyway, I'll bear it in mind.

Frank
 
Boxerman said:
Sounds like a hard drive problem, I'd back everything up ASAP if I was you. I'd be very surprised if it didn't go again soon :(

Frank
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Thanks Boxerman, you were right, It went down again shortly after I thought I,d fixed it:eek:, also agree that It,s a physical problem with the hard drive.

The laptop only starts up now and then randomly so i must get everything backed up as soon as I can get it to stay on long enough;)
 
Roger said:
I almost hate that the price of electronics keeps falling, I had a laptop screen fail, replacement was going to be about AU$450. Brand new Compaq Presario with more of everything and a three year warranty was AU$515.

Anyone interested in a Toshiba Satellite Pro laptop without a screen?
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I've got one with a duff display driver. everything else (inc screen!) works fine...
 
People will buy duff laptops on Ebay. I had a knackered old Dell Inspiron 4000 which was 100 years old and on its last legs. I put in on Ebay for a laugh and some idiot payed nearly £100 for it! I was totally honest and told them it was tatty, very very slow but just about functional, would have accepted anything above a fiver.
 
I have a problem with my old laptop, the screen won't display neither will an external monitor work :confused: Before dumping it I decided to have another try & it started working again :confused: that lasted a few days then it stopped again :( tried having a look to see if there is some sort of bad connection or something loose but can't get a thing on it now. Seeing as the output to a monitor won't work as well then I can only assume it's something on the motherboard.
 
Kontiki said:
I have a problem with my old laptop, the screen won't display neither will an external monitor work :confused: Before dumping it I decided to have another try & it started working again :confused: that lasted a few days then it stopped again :( tried having a look to see if there is some sort of bad connection or something loose but can't get a thing on it now. Seeing as the output to a monitor won't work as well then I can only assume it's something on the motherboard.
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I would tend to agree but could be a dodgy driver or something is trying to use a screen resolution or refresh rate that the laptop does not support, Whats the make?

One thing I can think of quickly tho is that perhaps you have not been pressing the [fn] and F4 keys as this swops the monitor output between monitor and laptop screen. If you have been dual screening with an older laptop they do not automatically sort themselves back out to the correct screen
 
I had a similar problem and I took the back off and give it a good shake.

A dead Bluebottle fell out and there was my problem.

I needed a new driver
 
I need to sell my idea to Toshiba ...'tough as a Toshiba'

My bugger has jumped out of a top cabinet a couple of times and still works !!!:confused:

Ok I was navigating up roads I dont belong, and the catches are now knacked...but when I feared the worst ...she still fires up.

Possibly not pooter friendly or camper friendly but the Tosh in all honesty has done a good job and put up with my hamfistedness


Channa
 
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