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Can this computer be saved?

  • Can this laptop be saved? What are my options for getting it looked at cheaply/getting a replacement cheaply? Details inside. I totally deserve this. I used my laptop (Gateway...not sure of the make/model, am at work) to death and didn't take care to keep it clean. After about 3-4 years of use, it seemed to die this morning. I let it hibernate after I fell asleep last night, as I do most nights, except this morning it wouldn't kick back on when I tried to pull it out of hibernation. Same deal when I rebooted. No screen/any graphic of any sort came up, nor bootup sound fx. I could hear the motor start and then, after a few seconds, quit. The computer would nominally "stay on" (as indicated by the power light) but nothing happened. Retried it several times. It also got very hot last night, and I stopped playing a high-ram/gig computer game a couple weeks ago because it tended to overheat my computer to the point shutting it down. It's probably shot, right? Anything I might be able to do to kick-start the motor again? Where might I go (I'm in Dallas TX if that matters) to inexpensively have it diagnosed? I've had bad experiences with Geek Squad, FYI. Assuming I can't get my laptop going again...I'd like to get a used one but I am not sure what a fair price would be. I'd like to be able to do what I did on my previous laptop, which was perhaps a lot...watch streaming live sports (this can really tax the laptop but it's the primary reason I have for using it...no TV) while having a couple other smaller applications up *if I can,* like a web browser, a chat program and a lightweight poker client. Also, of course I would endeavour to take better care of it. Again, this is what I did to my old laptop and it handled it for about 3-4 years. I can't get one at Best Buy because I'm maxed out there. My credit is pretty suspect otherwise too. My girlfriend's old laptop, which is available to me as a backup, runs streaming video very choppily/buffers slowly, etc. I'm a little embarrassed about this question because it betrays both my poor care of my laptop and my general hardware ignorance. I don't even know how much ram/gigs I was using, although I do know I still had more than half of my physical memory free, so I didn't tax it in that way. Any help on any of these issues would be very much appreciated.

  • Answer:

    No beep and no https://www.google.com/search?ix=seb&client=ubuntu&channel=cs&q=POST+screen&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=BV2QT8K8G43PgAeyz9TMBA&biw=1152&bih=649&sei=B12QT63KF4reggfG8YHpBA are very bad signs. It sounds like a motherboard issue, not a power supply issue. Worse, replacing a motherboard is expensive, to the point that it's usually better to just buy a new computer unless you can get it replaced under warranty. While it is technically a motor, what you're hearing start and stop is the fan; it's supposed to come on when the computer needs cooling. It's going off because your CPU isn't doing anything, so it doesn't need cooling. Even if the fan were broken, you should still get a POST screen. The one thing I would try before giving up would be to replace the thermal paste between the CPU and its heat sink --- if the CPU isn't dissipating heat correctly, it will shut itself down almost immediately, and that would explain the symptoms you're getting. It's not too hard to replace thermal paste yourself (and there are a million YouTube videos that explain it), but it can be hard to disassemble a laptop enough to get to the CPU.

mreleganza at Ask.Metafilter.Com Visit the source

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It sounds like the motherboard is dead. It might be possible to revive it using some of the info in the thread, but my guess is that you won't be able to do so. You can replace this laptop with a decent used one for less than $200. Dell D620s and D630s are going on six years old now, so don't expect it to last forever, but they're decent, reasonably fast dual core laptops. They don't have crapware like most new laptops, but your warranty will be short or non-existent. You also won't get Windows 7, so you'd have to add $100 if you want to upgrade. These are far and away better than Netbooks, who have horribly slow CPUs. You do get a short warranty if you buy from Dell. Make sure to get a dual core, and these laptops will do everything you're asking for with no problems. (However, they will not play 3D games). http://www.dfsdirectsales.com/edealinv/servlet/ExecMacro?nurl=control%2FBrowseCatalog.vm&eurl=control%2FBrowseCatalog.vm&rurl=control%2FBrowseCatalog.vm&ctl_nbr=641&path=c641-def-USD-230%23%23-1%23%23-1~~c641-def-USD-43620%23%233%23%23at~~c641-def-USD-43622%23%230%23%232~~nf101%7C%7C44343330&offset=0&hits=&sortby=&queryType=&query= http://www.ebay.com/csc/PC-Laptops-Netbooks-/177/i.html?LH_Complete=1&_nkw=dell+d620&_catref=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m1538

cnc

could you borrow an identical power supply somehow? Was that what was getting hot? That would be a cheap fix if that is the problem. Nothing you are doing is outside of recommended use of your machine. You did nothing wrong, it just perhaps died. Try to find a cheap local expert with references on craigslist.

StUdIoGeEk

you should be able to find a new laptop for under $400 if you monitor bensbargains.net for a few days.

pyro979

Does the computer do *anything* when you reboot it? (does it make some kind of startup sound, do you see/hear hard disk activity?) Have you tried plugging it in to an external monitor? Look up the detailed specs online if you can. Does it have a replaceable battery? ( not the main power battery, but a "clock battery" that can be easily replaced? Have you added any RAM to it since it left the factory? If you turn it on and "allow it to boot up," as it were, are other computers on the same network able to see it?

ShutterBun

(re-read: no bootup sound, gotcha)

ShutterBun

could you borrow an identical power supply somehow? Was that what was getting hot? Hmm. I never checked the power supply, but the laptop itself would definitely get quite hot. You did nothing wrong, I appreciate that, but I never cleaned it is the problem. Full of crumbs and crud. That couldn't have helped.

mreleganza

Trying a different power supply (or borrowing a generic one where you can choose voltage/connector) would be my first stop on the way to fixing this. Next comes the stage where I would totally dismantle the laptop, making a careful note of screw locations, and clear all dust and crap from the inside. Next, check that fans are still spinning up, and look for any obvious signs of blackening due to overheating. Failure to even get to the booting-up stage is most often a power-supply or mainboard failure, though.

pipeski

oh, and the crumbs and crud --- chances are they are only mucking up the keyboard. Dust and things like cat fur* can clog up the ventilation and make it less effective, which would contribute to your heat problem but probably was not the final cause of death. * Cat owners (I'm one myself): The crud inside your computer is straight out of a horror movie

qxntpqbbbqxl

qxntpqbbbqxl, though you bring bad news, that sounds depressingly dead-on. Don't have cats, btw. cnc, that's encouraging to know...cheaper than I thought.

mreleganza

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