Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with laptop and repair

What are my chances of successfully replacing the hinge on a Thinkpad X60 Tablet?

em — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 16:15:24 -0800

What are my chances of successfully replacing the hinge on a Thinkpad X60 Tablet? After two years of ownership I finally got my Thinkpad X60 Tablet working just the way I want it -- and then over the last two weeks the hinge seems to have failed almost completely. Right now it can still support the screen if I position it very delicately, but the slightest jostle causes the screen to crash down to a horizontal position.

I see replacement hinges available e.g. here. I'm reasonably competent at basic mechanical tasks, but haven't ever disassembled a laptop before. The service manual gives an ordered list of 14 components to be removed to access the hinge, but doesn't give any other information. So I have two questions:

1) If I buy a new hinge, do I have a reasonable chance of installing it correctly, just by removing things in the right order, pulling out the old hinge, putting in the new hinge, and then putting everything back?

2) If I do install the new hinge correctly, is it likely to fix my problem?

How can I get Geek Squad to replace my laptop?

emilyd22222 — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:38:01 -0800

How can I get Geek Squad/Best Buy to replace my laptop? In a couple of hours, I am taking my computer to Best Buy for repairs under my 3-year extended service plan, which expires in a few months. Right now, the computer is having a hard time recognizing the AC adapter, which has happened about 4 times with this computer- they always replace either the motherboard or the adapter itself. It also tends to go through periods where it processes very slowly, and Geek Squad hasn't been able to ID the problem. It completely crashed a couple years ago, requiring data recovery and serious repair work. I've heard that sometimes they'll offer you a new computer when you've been in for repairs enough- I was planning on buying a new one when my service plan expires in August, but I'd like to see if I can get a free one out of them.

What could I say or do to get them to give me a new one?

Get coffee out of a Macbook keyboard?

Orb2069 — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:56:20 -0800

Just spilled coffee into a 13" macbook. Remediation tips? Splenda and cream, no sugar. Any ideas on stuff that can be done to mitigate the damage while it's still wet?

HP LCD gone pinko; love it or leave it?

xz — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 21:38:28 -0800

I like pink, but not when it's all over my LCD. I like pink, but only when the other option is black. Help me confirm my novice diagnosis, please, concerning my screwed HP Pavilion dv5220us laptop. Doing lots of internet searching (and scrolling through older MeFi questions), i'm pretty sure what's wrong with my laptop is either a blown backlight or a busted inverter board or less likely, a loose cable. What I could use some help with is figuring out whether it's clearly one or the other. That will help me decide whether I get a pro to fix it, try to do it myself, or just save up to buy a new machine.

For a week, when I booted the machine up or woke it from napping (HP Pavilion dv5220us, 2.5 years old), the LCD would be pink for a bit (c.30 sec) then "warm up" and be fine. An external monitor showed no problems at all. Then, after a week of that, suddenly it went black. You could still see an image on the screen, but it was very faint. I rebooted the machine, and again, it was pink for a minute, then fine for a minute, then poof: back to black. Now, after a few days, I don't even get the pink, just the black (with ghost image). An external monitor still is 100% fine.

Repair estimates cost $75 here in Melbourne AU. I've been told "if it's the LCD backlight, we'll need to replace the whole LCD, and that's $700." (MLN Laptop Repair) No dice. The machine isn't worth that much! I found the repair guide online, so I think I could manage to replace the inverter board myself. I'm not super handy, but I've done some hardware stuff. If I need more than a screwdriver, I should probably leave it alone.

I'm just wondering if those symptoms clearly suggest one problem vs. another to one of you extra-smart people. Or, if not, if the likelihood it's just the cabling or the inverter board means I should roll the dice with a pro shop.

Help me make my computer quiet again, please!

JDHarper — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 07:28:25 -0800

Where can I find a new fan for my Fujitsu T4215 laptop? I have a Fujitsu T4215, and its fan is dying noisily.

I tried taking it apart and putting some Arctic Silver on the CPU, which helped reduce the heat, and I blew the dust out of the fan, but the laptop is still making fan noise constantly after it's been on for more than an hour. I need to replace the fan.

This is where I need help: I can't find a replacement fan for this thing. I've searched ebay and google to no avail; I can find fans for other series of laptop, and I can find other parts for this laptop, but I haven't found a fan for this laptop.

Can someone help me find the part that I need?

Laptop Repair in Lund or Malmö

rossination — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:32:33 -0800

Calling all Swedish mefites! Laptop repair for an American Dell in either Lund or Malmö, Sweden? My girlfriend is studying at Lund and just recently had a wine-spilled-on-laptop crisis (I've read the other AskMes on this; she has the battery out and it's drying).

Is there anywhere she could take her (American Dell) laptop to try to salvage it or at least pull data off of the hard drive?

Any additional information on computer repair in Lund and/or laptop spills would be welcome.

Help! There's a hole in my computer!

brandman — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:30:51 -0800

I have a Dell Inspiron e1505, and a small chunk of the white plastic frame around the keyboard/cpu area has broken off. How can I fix this? I don't know how it happened...at first, I noticed some cracks in that area, then one day the piece was gone. For the past few weeks, I've had a piece of tape over the hole, but I'd like something more robust/permanent. Is there some sort of plastic/fiberglass/etc. repair solution I could use, that will be effective on a rounded surface?

Can I replace my dead old Thinkpad HDD with a generic one?

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 06:18:07 -0800

I have an ancient Thinkpad 570, and the hard drive finally died. Hardware not recognized. I've pulled out the old one (it rattles ominously) and am wondering if I can replace it with a new generic laptop drive, rather than having to go with overpriced proprietary stuff. The laptop model number is 2644 3AA, and the HDD model is DBCA-206480 E182115 T, if that makes a difference. I've been building computers for years, but this is my first go with laptop repair.

Thanks!

What happened to my windows\system32\config\system file??

otherwordlyglow — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:44:35 -0800

How do I remedy the error message I'm getiting on my laptop about the windows\system32\config\system file being missing or corrupt? Yesterday while working on my Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop, I got some weird blue screen about there being a system problem and needing to shut down the computer. I wish I could remember what it said other than it doing a memory dump, but I can't. So I shut down and restarted and now always get the "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt :windows/system32\config\system" message.

I do not have system install disks. I found documention from Dell saying that they don't provide them routinely but that I can request them from their support group. I've done that but it could be days before I receive them. In the mean time is there anything I can do?

I tried pressing f8 as it was starting up and got the Windows Advanced Options Screen, but none of those options does anything except lead me back to the screen about my file being missing or corrupt.

I'm reasonably computer proficient but need things spelled out for me with regards to Windows (why is their support written so badly?). There is another computer in the house that I can use to download programs or get other support. I'd prefer not to have lose all the data on my laptop in order to make it work.

It's So Shiny, Now If Only It Worked

Ms. Saint — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:43:58 -0800

My Toshiba Satellite laptop has this problem. But, there's a catch: I'm pretty computer illiterate and don't know how to fix it. I have a Toshiba Satellite A75-S206, which I bought about three and a half years ago. It seems to have the regular overheating problems. I've sent it in for repairs twice now. Each time, it came back and worked pretty well for about a year.. Then started overheating again. Sometimes, I can get it to stay on for a few hours, but sometimes it won't stay on for even five minutes.

External fans do not help. Propping it up so it has better air circulation does not work. Holding it over bags of ice does not work.

I've read online (particularly in the ask.me question I linked to) that changing the fan can sometimes help things out. I'm also pretty sure that the fan and heat sink (I don't even know what or where that is) could use a nice cleaning. I'd like to know how to take my laptop apart myself, so that I can clean it out whenever it needs being done. However, like I said, I'm pretty computer illiterate. So, here are my questions:

1) The best answer in the previous question alludes to "websites with walk-throughs" for various models. Can anyone link me to a good one?

2) Is dissembling my laptop and installing a new fan something I should even try to do, given that all of my computer hardware experience is installing a video card in a desktop computer?

3) If I shouldn't try doing it myself, how much can I expect it to cost me to get a fan professionally installed? If I just went someplace and said, "It overheats, known problem, fix it," would they know what to do?

4) Am I completely wrong that this might actually help my laptop? Is there anything else I could/should try? I'm so tired and frustrated with it not working -- it hasn't been reliable for about a year and a half now. It would be so nice if it could actually be even slightly reliable.

Vaio gives "system timer error"

daksya — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 07:58:44 -0800

My laptop gives a "system timer error" and so I probably need some guidance in replacing my laptop's CMOS battery I've an 8 yr old Sony Vaio laptop, model PCG-F590 (a.k.a PCG-9201), which for practical purposes, stopped working 3 weeks ago. The computer boots into XP, but during the login screen, or shortly after logging in, freezes altogether, not responding to any input. Occasionally, it gets stuck during POST itself, displaying "KEYBOARD ERROR" and "SYSTEM TIMER ERROR". Some web browsing tells me that it's likely that the CMOS battery has a lifespan of around 10 years and that could be the issue here.

Before I replace the battery, is there something else I should look into? There was no physical trauma inflicted on the laptop, and I guess the system timer hardware itself hasn't gone kaput. This initially happened all of a sudden while watching a video (the sole purpose of the laptop) 3 weeks ago.

I searched online and this store indicates that the battery is NiMH 2 cells with a mainboard connector. How specific do I have to be with the battery purchase besides the voltage and the connector type?

Most importantly, before I open my laptop, I'd like to know where the battery is located and how I should go on about replacing it? Despite my best efforts, I can't find a motherboard schematic for this laptop. The laptop's way past warranty and besides I'm not the original owner. Repair businesses here charge exorbitantly, so I'd like to do it myself.

Searching for a laptop repair shop that solders...

Alterscape — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 08:29:13 -0800

I'm looking for a reptable laptop repair shop that handles Gateway/e-machines systems and would attempt to re-solder or replace a broken power jack rather than replacing the entire mainboard. I'm in Tempe, AZ, but a reputable mail-in company would work too. A friend has an emachines m2350 laptop, which is a re-badged Gateway m520. To the best of my ability to diagnose, it appears to have the cold-soldered DC power jack problem that google suggests plagues this model. The machine is not under warranty, and the Geek Squad/big-name-repair-place answer seems to be "replace the entire motherboard, at a cost of $200-$400," which does not make financial sense for my friend given the age of the laptop. I started to tear the machine down last night, but the online teardown guides I can find don't go further than "gain access to the RAM under the keyboard." It looks like the entire system will have to be disassembled to get at the underside of the mainboard and I'm not quite that brave when it comes to someone else's machine.

The only repair companies I can find through Google (search terms: gateway/emachines power jack repair) aren't local, and have shady-looking search-engine optimization stuff all over their pages. Can anyone suggest a shop from personal experience that is likely to get the job done well? I'd prefer a local shop, but I suspect I'll be going with a mail-in because almost nobody actually solders things as part of "computer repair" anymore.

How to get MacBook screen/iSight repaired quickly from Canada?

Xianny — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 18:53:31 -0800

How can I get my MacBook screen and iSight repaired quickly (by March 6), safely and affordably? I'm in Canada and I do not have AppleCare. The screen cracked and iSight stopped working after I dropped it about a metre, but the laptop is otherwise usable. I'm searching on Google but I would like some recommendations of specific companies.

Hey, "c000021a" to you too, buddy.

mykescipark — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:50:29 -0800

PC laptop diagnostics and repair in L.A.: Recommendations, please. My ever-unreliable Gateway laptop has bitten the dust for the millionth time. Rather than throw it into the sea (my preferred solution), I'd like to have someone local take a gander at it. Angelenos, who would you trust around here for such things? (I live in central Hollywood, if it matters.)

Is 3 1/2 months too long to wait for a laptop to be repaired?

any major dude — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:12:50 -0800

Averatec is holding my laptop hostage for the last three months, what should I do? They've had the computer since September 29th when I sent it back for an under warranty repair for a faulty motherboard. When I have gotten through on the phone they keep telling me the part is on backorder and they don't know when it's coming in. I asked them if they can get some kind of time frame from the vendor and they say they cannot. They've used this excuse about 5 times. They have a repair log online that I can access but it hasn't been updated since October 3rd. I reported it to the Better Business Bureau about 3 weeks ago asking them to repair, replace or refund my laptop and haven't heard anything back aside from a confirmation email that the complaint was logged. I haven't been able to get through to customer service for the last week. At what point does this become theft? I just don't understand how a company stays in business holding someone's computer for 3.5 months.

Should I fix my thinkpad?

sully75 — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 08:33:14 -0800

Should I/Can I get my Thinkpad repaired Hi there,

I have a Thinkpad T41 that I bought new about 4 years ago. It's had a somewhat rough life. It's been in my backpack for most of those 4 years. I fell on it once and the camera (metal body) in my backpack destroyed the LCD. I got the part and replaced it myself. Not fun but it worked.

I've had to send it back to IBM repeatedly for the same problem. It will just die, suddenly, no warning. Won't start up, totally dead. That's happened probably 3 times under warranty. The last time they ended up having it for about a week. I think they said something about a "powering harness" or something like that. Which sounds like it makes sense.

The warranty expired and then a month later (of course) the same thing happened. I had a 3 year warranty. I decided it was better off dead. I pulled the hard drive out of it and built another computer (desktop) and got all my files off it. I still have the hard drive in a little USB case.

I was intending to buy another laptop at some point, but I'm realizing right now I just don't have the money to blow. But I also realize I kinda need a laptop.

I'm a photographer and live in a rural area, so at minimum I need a laptop to download memory cards to and work with on location. The T41 was minimally adequate for that. Very slow to process images. But I would be delighted to have it back just for backing up my cards when away from home.

So I'm wondering, is there somewhere that would fix this computer, perhaps better than IBM fixed it? Everything else is good, the hard drive still works (I think I might have misplaced a few mounting screws however). It's not worth it to lay out a ton of money for me, but it is a pretty good computer. I just would hope to not have it break the same way again.

I'm not sure if there are reliable Laptop repair situations available online.

Thanks

Repairing the A/C on my laptop?

kraigory — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 17:46:31 -0800

How difficult is it to replace a laptop's cooling fans? I have a Dell Inspiron E1505, and I have been having some problems with the onboard cooling fans. I would like to replace them, but I am not sure how hard it would be to do myself. I would really prefer to not send it somewhere, such as Dell's support center. Besides, it's a year old, and has dual-booth with ubuntu linux (via grub), so they probably wouldn't be too eager to replace them anyway.

I have seen various online repair stores that claim they can replace the fans, so I'm hoping that means its possible to somehow acquire the fans. If i can get my hands on them, does anyone know how hard it would be to dig into my laptop and actually replace the fans?

I've never dug into my laptop before, but it looks rather accessible. I'm not really worried about voiding warranty or anything, but I don't want to mess anything up very badly.

Or, does anyone have experience with local computer repair shops, or even the geek squad at bestbuy, replacing cooling fans in a laptop? I'm not sure if they would be able to do it, or what the cost would be.

Thanks for any advice/insight!

PowerHit

artdrectr — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 15:02:42 -0800

My Powerbook is bent. Can it be bent back somehow without disassembling?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12017613@N02/
(sorry, can't seem to make a direct link)

Everything works as normal, but there is a CD installed (still plays) that will not spit out because of the 'reduced' slot.

(The short story: Mrs. Artdrectr had a rough day and gave it a little...tap).

How do I reset the BIOS on an HP ze5375us laptop?

lattiboy — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 09:29:03 -0800

So, I used the wrong BIOS flash on a HP laptop ze5375us. It is now bricked. My girlfriend is rather pissed...... HP's site had me download the incorrect BIOS for the laptop (thanks HP!), it froze, and now it will not start. If this were a desktop I would've had it fixed within minutes, however, after reading the service manual for this line, I don't know if I will be able to fix this. I am not afraid to tear open the thing (its WAY out of warranty), but I would love some advisement from anybody with a little more background in laptop repair. Thanks MF.......

Did my new RAM kill my video adapter?

YoungAmerican — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 17:31:06 -0800

BSODFilter: I tried to install a RAM upgrade in my girlfriend's Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop, and got nothing on screen after powerup. So I replaced the old DIMM, and got the BSOD -- the file that was missing was a driver for the Intel video adapter. Long story short, it's still not working. I wiped the HD, reinstalled windows, reinstalled the drivers, and after some installing and re-installing, finally have the computer starting up in XP. But it's giving me the BSOD seemingly randomly every hour or two. This is with everything as it was BEFORE the troubles started.

I spent a number of hours on the line with tech support, they seem completely baffled. In typical tech support fashion, all they want to do is install and reinstall drivers. I've googled my rear off, but to no avail.

Could I somehow have zapped my video adapter when I installed the DIMM? Could they conflict somehow? Would replacing the video adapter fix the problem? Could I replace it myself, as someone who's never done anything more than replace drives and RAM?

If I start up with the new RAM only, I can get it going in safe mode, but with weird purple lines up and down the screen.

I was about to buy a new computer to replace this one, but part of the plan involved getting a few hundred bucks for the oldie-but-goodie, which won't work if it's an oldie-but-baddie. Help me mefites, you're my only hope.

How to fix a burred laptop screw

zaebiz — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 19:51:27 -0800

I am trying to replace a laptop keyboard but the final screw has burred and neither the regular or precision screwdriver works. If someone suggests that I go to repairman and 50 bucks to fix this, I am likely to do serious damage to this laptop (namely by throwing it against a wall). Any ideas? The screw is a tiny, flat-headed, star-head screw. I don't care about doing damage to the outside of the case as long as I dont damage the internals. I just want this sucker out. This laptop doesn't deserve to live, let alone look pretty. (Thinkpad T42)

"A screen",the pittiful cry they heard. Then more wailing and gnashing of teeth.

mu~ha~ha~ha~har — Tue, 15 May 2007 11:52:41 -0800

What is it? Is it possible to repair? Or where on Gods green earth can I get a replacement? Slowly increasing white strip with sporadic coloured lines throughout on my notebook screen. Funnily enough it is more frustrating to look for the answer than it is to just try to ignore it. Ok it was picked up by the screen and too firmly it appears. It started as just a few coloured lines and proceeded to spread inwards then turning white and getting larger slowly but surely.

It is a Sony Vaio VGN-B88GP (PCG-5B3P).

What gives me reason to think it's repairable is that I left it sitting close to the air con. When I came back and the screen flicked back on it was ok. Well I can't be sure completely but from when I was paying attention a good 3/4 of it was back to normal and then began to fade left to right back to white. So there must be hope... perhaps.

Computer repair woes

punishinglemur — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 15:41:36 -0800

Due to circumstances out of my control, I must find a local computer repair shop and receive a written estimate on the cost to repair my laptop. How can I find a reputable repair shop? I plugged "computer repair" into Google Maps business search, and most of what I came up with were not computer repair shops, or were sketchy services, such as one where the 24-hour service number is also used as a contact number for a poster on some LAN gaming board who notes in one post that his cell phone is also his repair business phone, and that he didn't answer a call from a fellow gamer because he was working at Hooters at the time. There were some potentially promising results, but reviews are few and far between. I'm not too keen on handing off my laptop to someone unless I can have some confidence that they're not a colossal ripoff or totally incompetent.

Many of the repair services seem to be just one guy, and offer in-home service only. This does not seem to fit my needs, as I doubt that my issue can be solved in-home (previously on AskMe).

The system is in the same state now as described in that AskMe, except the power button works now. The backlight is still spotty. Personally, I would prefer to buy a new laptop and dump the data from the old HD to the new system. In addition to the problems described in the previous AskMe, the hinges are cracking, the RAM in the system is inadequate, the hard drive is too small, the left speaker is inoperational, the headphone-out jack has occasional output problems (random cracking sounds), and I suspect that there is a problem with a fan (it's making a hell of a lot of noise).

But, again, the decision is not mine to make. I must find a local repair shop and acquire a written estimate for the repairs, and if I have to do that, I at least want to find a place that I can trust. Oh, and: Appleton, Wisconsin.

Can this laptop be saved?

winston — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 13:28:30 -0800

Can this laptop be saved? eMachines M2105 bought refurbished from Tiger Direct outlet near Toronto two years ago (90 day warranty). Recently the power cord developed the "jiggle it to make it work" disease. Only it turns out that it wasn't the cord but the jack inside the computer that had the problem. Now the jack is completely loose from whatever it had been attached to and so the computer doesn't go. While online third-party parts dealers seem to have jacks for just about any other eMachines laptop, no-one seems to have this one. And the official eMachines parts supplier says I need to replace the mainboard (which costs about two-thirds of what I paid for the laptop for the part alone). My friendly local computer shop basically gets shot down when they inquire with eMachines/Gateway about parts. It seems that the aforementioned parts supplier is the only authorized service provider. I can order the part and then bring it to the local shop -- but the supplier says it only comes attached to the mainboard.

An alternate approach might be to find some other way to charge the battery, but, as far as I can tell, there is no OEM stand-alone battery charger for this machine

Laptop Repair in NorCal?

robhuddles — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 10:06:44 -0800

Looking for a good laptop repair place in Sacramento or the Bay Area. I have a Toshiba laptop, about 2 years old, that is having issues, and want to see if it is repairable. I live in Sacramento, and was hoping that MeFi folks might have some suggestions as to where I can go locally to have it fixed. I also work in San Francisco a few times a month, so if there's a better place in the Bay Area, I can look into it.

The problem, in case it matters in recommending someplace, is that the machine will spontaneously and without warning simply turn itself off. It happens at fairly random times. I suspect that it may be a motherboard issue, and I know that if the motherboard is bad or broken or something then it will probably not be worth fixing, but I want to take it to some experts and at least get an estimate.

Oh, and it is not under warranty.

Thanks.