# Laptop Problems



## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

Had my 2 year old Dell laptop stop working on me last week. It's so handy to be able to set in the easy chair with the TV and the cat and get onto Outbackers.com and see what is happening. I took it to the shop and after charging me $43 they decided that the motherboard was out of it. It could be repaired for $350+ so was trying to decide what to do, fix it of buy a new one. I ended up buying a hard drive encloser to put the harddrive (cost $15) into so I could get the information off it and on CD's or the desktop. Last night after getting the stuff off it, I decided to format the drive so I could use all of it for back up of my files. After formating, I decided to try it in the laptop again and try to reinstall Win XP. It Worked!. I spent last night and this morning getting drivers reinstalled (lost the driver disk) and updating and reinstalling things that I need, but so far have not had any problems. Yeh! So lessons to learn. 1) make sure you keep all the reinstall disk together in a place you can find. 2) don't install all kinds of Beta and Alpha programs on the computer that you use all of the time. 3) not all computer geeks know everything. 4) need to keep backups of important things (I accually do that most of time, sending stuff to the desktop that is important.


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## Doxie-Doglover-Too (Jan 25, 2007)

my daughters dell desktop has gone bad twice, errors, freezing, showing me it's middle finger to speak. I resotred it twice, all is well and great for about 2 weeks, then bam, it starts all over again. I can take it the Geeks and they will do diagnostic test for $60 , should I? can't even get it to reboot now. 
These same geeks told me last year that when I bought my router for wireless it was absolutely necessary to have them come to my house for a sum of money to install it......I read the box, contacted the forum...did myself. Cost for me to install: $0.


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## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

Glad you got it to work, I have to wonder about those tech's who troubleshot it







The first thing you do is boot off a disk like a floppy or a CD and see if it is a hardware problem or a Software problem. I would go back and ask why they were not able to figure that out and give you your money back for being a dump tech.

I always say Backup, backup, backup, I had a co-worker bring me his computer in a panic and said it quit working and he had all his pictures on it for the last 3 years about 1600. I asked him if he had backed up any of them and he said







NO. I quickly figured out it was his Hard drive and it would not spin up. So I used a trick that has worked for me in the past I took out the drive put it in front of the heater and let it warm up until it at the same temp it would operate at. Put it back in and it came up. He ran down to the store bought a new hard drive and we transfered everything from one drive to the new one. I backed everything up onto a DVD and sent him on his way. He now backs up all the time.


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

I'm usually pertty good with the computers, I've own one since 1983, so if it stumps me it is more serious than just an easy fix. The only problem is that I don't have a floppy drive on this laptop and since Win XP don't have an underlying DOS mode, I couldn't get into it to even format the hard drive. I had tried to boot off of a CD that would boot to Linix, but it would not work in the laptop. Tryed to repair with the installation disk, but kept getting a blue screen of death. I think I either had a corropted file in the boot section or a virus there.

As far as Doxie-doglover-too, You can download System Mechanic 7 for a 30 day free trial that might find some of the problems with your daughter's computer. You can download it at www.iolo.com. OTOH, I had ran this program as well as many others and still didn't find any problems with the computer.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

FYI...only backup your data folder (typically "My Documents"). This will save you a lot of time as you can reinstall software if the system crashes....data is the thing you need to backup.


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## N7OQ (Jun 10, 2006)

Lmbevard said:


> I'm usually pertty good with the computers, I've own one since 1983, so if it stumps me it is more serious than just an easy fix. The only problem is that I don't have a floppy drive on this laptop and since Win XP don't have an underlying DOS mode, I couldn't get into it to even format the hard drive. I had tried to boot off of a CD that would boot to Linix, but it would not work in the laptop. Tryed to repair with the installation disk, but kept getting a blue screen of death. I think I either had a corropted file in the boot section or a virus there.
> 
> As far as Doxie-doglover-too, You can download System Mechanic 7 for a 30 day free trial that might find some of the problems with your daughter's computer. You can download it at www.iolo.com. OTOH, I had ran this program as well as many others and still didn't find any problems with the computer.


Yeah a problem in the boot sector can cause a lot of problems but the repair shop should have had a drive to swap in. It use to be easy when windows was DOS based and had floppies, just throw a boot disk and you know right away if it was software or Hardware. The main thing is you got it going and that is good.









I just got done fixing the Neighbor Kid's Laptop, he is a friend of my Sons same age and all. Well His Laptop stopped charging and he took it to a repair shop and they said $250 to fix it. I opened it up and found both wires to the power torn jack off and the Jack had physical damage re-soldered the wires wrapped it with tape and got it to fit snugly in the case. He is so happy now. This also happened to my Sons old Laptop, but his was harder to fix it was a PC board mounted jack so had to buy a replacement jack. The Teenagers are so hard on laptops because they forget they are plugged in and pull hard on them and after a while something gives.

BTW were did you get the inclosure for the HD would be a nice thing to have sense I now have 3 Laptops and plan on buying another one?


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

N7OQ said:


> BTW were did you get the inclosure for the HD would be a nice thing to have sense I now have 3 Laptops and plan on buying another one?


Depends on how you want to recover your data.

If you want to put the laptop drive into a PC...then use this link
http://insidecomputer.stores.yahoo.net/la2tode3hadr.html

If you want to add the old laptop drive into a new laptop, you can use a device that goes into the battery slot (you have to be on AC to do this) so you can have 2 drives in the system at the same time.

If you want to convert the old laptop drive to a USB type enclosure.
http://www.bixnet.com/usbporenfor2.html


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Yeah... What he said!

Happy Trails,
Doug

_Oh, a posting we will go,
A posting we will go.
High ho, the merry-oh,
A posting we will go!_


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

> BTW were did you get the inclosure for the HD would be a nice thing to have sense I now have 3 Laptops and plan on buying another one?


here' the one that I got. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Se...&CatId=2781
It runs off of the USB connection and is very simple to hook up. It didn't work on the front connections but did on the ones on the back, the front connections must not be powered on my Dell 4600. For $30 you can get one that is self powered so you don't have to worry about taking power from the USB connections, but then it wouldn't be as portable. But, I figured for $15, I couldn't go too wrong and it worked. Not only was I able to get the data files and pictures off of the drive, but I was able to format it also and get it ready for putting windows back on.

You are so right about the old system being so much easier. I really have liked XP, I had Win ME on the last computer and took a day of vacation to go buy XP and install it. It is fairly undistructable and self healing, but when things go wrong, there is problems getting it back.


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## Oregon_Camper (Sep 13, 2004)

PDX_Doug said:


> Yeah... What he said!
> 
> Happy Trails,
> Doug
> ...


Yea...what he said.


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## Lady Di (Oct 28, 2005)

Hey, I understood everything right up to laptop...


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Oregon_Camper said:


> Yeah... What he said!
> 
> Happy Trails,
> Doug
> ...


Yea...what he said.








[/quote]
See... Like I said... What he said!

Happy Trails,
Doug

_Oh, a posting we will go,
A posting we will go.
High ho, the merry-oh,
A posting we will go!_


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## bentpixel (Sep 2, 2006)

I feel your pain. A rebuilt/reload is no fun. I found Win XP to be more robust even after errors. There is a boot mode call "SAFE MODE" that gives you the option to load or not load drivers if a particular device is hanging. The owners manual or tech support can help you get there. Also, the lowest level of "safe mode" looks can like dos: line commands only. There two things I can suggest, but I cannot guaranty that they will cure a particular problem. If the free disk is below 25% the OS can slow down. If its >5% it may grind to (seeming) halt. That said, from safe mode you can delete some useless file: temp Internet files, recycle bin files, and the like. The other suggestion I have is a loooong shot ( I have done this successfully). There is a small executable program called "ntldr.exe" is lives in \windows\system32 folder. Try coping the the file from the WIN XP CD to that folder. It may save you a rebuild.

BTW, although I not A+ Certified, I have built a few computers. "james", the computer I using now, started out as a Micron 200 mmx Pentium. I'm now on the third motherboard running a P4 at 2.66ghz.. Two weeks ago I got too aggressive in pairing down "useless" programs. I ended up performing a "repair" installation from the XP cd. After that, I tried several trial utility programs: found a couple that defragmented the registry. Now, james boots much faster. Before defragging, it took 2 to 4 minutes to start, After defragging, it is about thirty seconds. (your results may vary.














)

Sorry for the long post. I've learned so much from this forum. I wanted to return the favor.

Best Wishes,
Scott


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

Thanks Scott for sharing you knowledge. That's what this is all about!


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## GoVols (Oct 7, 2005)

Consider two backup strategies, depending upon how often your data changes or its importance. First, create a clone backup of the entire drive. I do mine weekly. Second, if your personal data changes frequently, do a separate data backup of personal files on a more frequent basis than the clone. A versioned backup of data would be best. (I will test my clone occasionally by booting up from it to make sure everything is OK.)

Next, and I'm fighting to resist the urge . . . .must . . . stop . . . can't control . . . .

Get a Mac, it just works.


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

I don't understand Mac, but I think it's going to be my next purchase...I hate this HP pile most of the time!

Nothing worse than computer problems, I too feel your pain


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## Lmbevard (Mar 18, 2006)

I've read some good things about Macs and some bad things. One of the problems that I would have switching to the Mac is there are several programs that I use that doesn't work on a Mac. I know that it's possible to run Windows on the Mac, but part of the problem with Window machines is Windows, so what would I gain?


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## NobleEagle (Jul 8, 2006)

Lmbevard said:


> I'm usually pertty good with the computers, I've own one since 1983, so if it stumps me it is more serious than just an easy fix. The only problem is that I don't have a floppy drive on this laptop and since Win XP don't have an underlying DOS mode, I couldn't get into it to even format the hard drive. I had tried to boot off of a CD that would boot to Linix, but it would not work in the laptop. Tryed to repair with the installation disk, but kept getting a blue screen of death. I think I either had a corropted file in the boot section or a virus there.
> 
> As far as Doxie-doglover-too, You can download System Mechanic 7 for a 30 day free trial that might find some of the problems with your daughter's computer. You can download it at www.iolo.com. OTOH, I had ran this program as well as many others and still didn't find any problems with the computer.


Actually XP does have a dos directory. It is just not located where it used to be in previous versions and it is very slimmed down. The format command is there and usable, however you may encounter a problem if you try to format an NTFS to FAT32. But it IS possible.
Another option is to upgrade to VISTA, I did and I love it. It's more stable than XP, utilizes resources better, has a protected kernel like Linux and is definately HUGE a step in the right direction. You thought XP was good, hang on when you test drive Vista!


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## mountainlady56 (Feb 13, 2006)

Another thing you need to avoid is the laptop overheating, if you actually put it on your lap. I got a laptop desk.....cushioned/bead-filled about 4" bottom, with hard top, to set my HPPavillion dv5210us on. It's a cool machine, both temp and otherwise!!








Darlene


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## GoVols (Oct 7, 2005)

XP does have a decent backup utility which can do versioned data backups, but your best bet, your best way to get back up and running quickly is a clone of your drive. It would require investing in a second hard drive and some software; you'll have to decide if it is worth it.

It took me two crashes and rebuilds of my Dell to finally convince me to get on a regular backup routine.


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## ED_RN (Jun 25, 2006)

I have an HP Pavilion laptop and love it. It's been used and abused and still works great. Sometimes a "program" in XP called svchost.exe tries to eat up all the resources and the computer slows to a crawl for a while, hate that. 
I installed an external hard drive to my desk top and formatted it into two drives. I used one to back up the desk top and one to back up the laptop. I use Norton ghost to cone the drive every once in a while and a progam called Aloha bob to backup the data more frequently. I back up the laptop using the wireless network. It takes a while but it's easy.


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## GoVols (Oct 7, 2005)

ED_RN said:


> I have an HP Pavilion laptop and love it. It's been used and abused and still works great. Sometimes a "program" in XP called svchost.exe tries to eat up all the resources and the computer slows to a crawl for a while, hate that.
> I installed an external hard drive to my desk top and formatted it into two drives. I used one to back up the desk top and one to back up the laptop. I use Norton ghost to cone the drive every once in a while and a progam called Aloha bob to backup the data more frequently. I back up the laptop using the wireless network. It takes a while but it's easy.


ED_RN,

Svchost is a core part of the microsoft process, but it also is vulnerable to virus and trojan exploits. If you find your PC 'slowing to a crawl', you could very well have a virus or be under attack from the outside by someone with malicious intent. Check and update your virus protection!


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