It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 11:55 am

All times are UTC - 6 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 21 posts ] 
Author Message
 Post subject: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:22 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:29 pm
Posts: 54160
Location: Pearl Harbor, Waukesha, and other things that make no sense
pizza_Place: Lou Malnati's
Yesterday I turned it off and it didn't turn back on (well, the power lights go on but nothing loads). Happy New Year, me! Thanks for catching me at my brokest time of the year.

I found my old one that runs Vista, has 1 GB of RAM, and both feels and smells like it's about to catch fire. Hopefully it'll get me through till I can get some sort of deal on something close to as good as what I had, a 17.3"/500GB/4GBRAM Lenovo that I got for $200 4+ years ago at the long-gone HH Gregg in Arlington Heights, probably because someone ejaculated in the HDMI port or something. If anyone has recommendations on laptop necromancy or where to get good deals on 1600x900-screen laptops with minimal embedded semen, let me know.

Computers. They suck! What are they good for, anyway?

_________________
Molly Lambert wrote:
The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:27 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2005 2:15 pm
Posts: 11486
pizza_Place: Dino's
What's a computer?

_________________
Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:31 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:29 pm
Posts: 54160
Location: Pearl Harbor, Waukesha, and other things that make no sense
pizza_Place: Lou Malnati's
Furious Styles wrote:
What's a computer?

Shut up, Scout.

_________________
Molly Lambert wrote:
The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:31 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2016 4:46 pm
Posts: 20573
pizza_Place: Giordano's
Furious Styles wrote:
What's a computer?

:lol: CFMB coming out of the gate strong in 2018, but I don't know that we can keep this Pace up.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:36 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jan 26, 2016 4:46 pm
Posts: 20573
pizza_Place: Giordano's
Regardless of what you need specifically from the PC, I suggest rummaging through Amazon's collection of certified refurbished machines, you might be able to climb up a notch or two quality wise without having to spend much more than you have.

Here are all their refurb Windows machines, you can parse out your desired specs from here: LINK


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:48 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:29 pm
Posts: 54160
Location: Pearl Harbor, Waukesha, and other things that make no sense
pizza_Place: Lou Malnati's
Thanks. I can probably justify $379 if I can get four years out of it.

I don't understand the price points of laptops at all, incidentally. They're all over the place and I'm not looking closely enough to know why.

_________________
Molly Lambert wrote:
The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:50 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2007 11:52 pm
Posts: 12551
Location: Ex-Naperville, Ex-Homewood, Now Tinley Park
pizza_Place: Oh I'm sorry but, there's no one on the line
Hi Lisa, Hi Super Nintendo Chalmers -- meow -- I'm learnding.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKg2ZzPKl2M

_________________
"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:56 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2006 1:50 am
Posts: 11175
Location: Schaumburg
pizza_Place: Palermo's
Curious Hair wrote:
Yesterday I turned it off and it didn't turn back on (well, the power lights go on but nothing loads). Happy New Year, me! Thanks for catching me at my brokest time of the year.

I found my old one that runs Vista, has 1 GB of RAM, and both feels and smells like it's about to catch fire. Hopefully it'll get me through till I can get some sort of deal on something close to as good as what I had, a 17.3"/500GB/4GBRAM Lenovo that I got for $200 4+ years ago at the long-gone HH Gregg in Arlington Heights, probably because someone ejaculated in the HDMI port or something. If anyone has recommendations on laptop necromancy or where to get good deals on 1600x900-screen laptops with minimal embedded semen, let me know.

Computers. They suck! What are they good for, anyway?


It was the USB port, and I regret nothing.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:59 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2007 11:52 pm
Posts: 12551
Location: Ex-Naperville, Ex-Homewood, Now Tinley Park
pizza_Place: Oh I'm sorry but, there's no one on the line
Tad Queasy wrote:
It was the USB port, and I regret nothing.

Unlikely Semen Bucket

_________________
"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 7:12 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon May 02, 2011 4:29 pm
Posts: 39599
Location: Everywhere
pizza_Place: giordanos
Recent Toshibas I bought for kids have been great. Less than 300 I think.

_________________
We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.

-Ronald Reagan


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 9:54 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:25 pm
Posts: 26271
Look on eBay for latitude e6540

You can get 1080p models for like $300 and they last forever.

_________________
real gutter bitch real plugs n connections


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 10:18 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2007 11:52 pm
Posts: 12551
Location: Ex-Naperville, Ex-Homewood, Now Tinley Park
pizza_Place: Oh I'm sorry but, there's no one on the line
I have a Toshiba Satellite C55 that i have had for a couple of years, I think i spent $250 on it. Wide screen, I am not the biggest fan of the keyboard compared to a Lenovo, but it is OK. I can even do some Visual Studio programming on it.

_________________
"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 10:50 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri May 06, 2016 10:39 am
Posts: 1493
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
You have to hook up an external monitor to know whether it's the screen or your motherboard. May not be worth fixing, but you won't know until you hook up that external monitor. Also in some cases when computers don't start people sometimes pull the RAM out to see if either stick is defective.

If you can find a decent reseller on eBay you'll probably find a better deal on there. I've bought a couple of computers from these guys: http://stores.ebay.com/Regency-Technologies-Store

_________________
God is the uncaused cause of the universe. He had no beginning and has no end. He is not bound by the laws of the universe he created.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 10:53 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:29 pm
Posts: 54160
Location: Pearl Harbor, Waukesha, and other things that make no sense
pizza_Place: Lou Malnati's
I tried reseating the RAM, but I don't have any other matching RAM on hand to swap it out with. I haven't tried an external monitor yet, though!

EDIT: nope, it's at least the motherboard if not the hard drive

_________________
Molly Lambert wrote:
The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 11:12 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri May 06, 2016 10:39 am
Posts: 1493
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
Curious Hair wrote:
I tried reseating the RAM, but I don't have any other matching RAM on hand to swap it out with. I haven't tried an external monitor yet, though!

EDIT: nope, it's at least the motherboard if not the hard drive


Well if there are two sticks you can try booting the sticks separately. Booting with one stick would isolate the issue.

It is also possible for a graphics driver to fail in the software or for a graphics chip to overheat. If the hard drive is bad you should still be able to boot to BIOS and then be able to boot to a Linux Live CD or Linux USB jump drive. You have to also look to see if there are any flashing lights or beeps. In some cases the lights on the computer or the beeping sounds are associated with codes that mean for example that your battery is bad.

There is also a reset where you disconnect the battery and the power cord and then hold in the power button. It's usually one of the first things the online forums suggest.

_________________
God is the uncaused cause of the universe. He had no beginning and has no end. He is not bound by the laws of the universe he created.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2018 11:44 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:29 pm
Posts: 54160
Location: Pearl Harbor, Waukesha, and other things that make no sense
pizza_Place: Lou Malnati's
Thanks, but I ran through all that already. It's dead, Jim.

_________________
Molly Lambert wrote:
The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2018 12:17 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri May 06, 2016 10:39 am
Posts: 1493
pizza_Place: Aurelio's
Your hard drive is probably fine. If you need data off it get a hard drive enclosure or a sata/ide to usb device.

_________________
God is the uncaused cause of the universe. He had no beginning and has no end. He is not bound by the laws of the universe he created.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Wed Jan 03, 2018 12:44 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:29 pm
Posts: 54160
Location: Pearl Harbor, Waukesha, and other things that make no sense
pizza_Place: Lou Malnati's
Yeah, I ordered an enclosure yesterday. Fingers crossed that the HD is safe but that laptop is probably fried. Too bad, got a lot of use out of it. That laptop was nine months away from retirement.

_________________
Molly Lambert wrote:
The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 11:52 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:29 pm
Posts: 54160
Location: Pearl Harbor, Waukesha, and other things that make no sense
pizza_Place: Lou Malnati's
Well, I went through Amazon and found a slightly newer model of what I had (same resolution, HDD, RAM), not new, for $237. Thanks for all your help, and if I disappear between now and when it gets here, it's because this beater laptop finally started a fire.

_________________
Molly Lambert wrote:
The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Thu Jan 04, 2018 4:32 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2004 2:54 pm
Posts: 17129
Location: in the vents of life for joey belle
pizza_Place: how many planets have a chicago?
Curious Hair wrote:
Well, I went through Amazon found a slightly newer model of what I had (same resolution, HDD, RAM), not new, for $237. Thanks for all your help, and if I disappear between now and when it gets here, it's because this beater laptop finally started a fire.

You know, I did my only live gig in a $50 craptop in midtown Manhattan in 2012. It had a sticker saying "MORE FUN THAN YOU BARGAINED FOR" which I got from Uncle Fun, the old joke/gag store on Belmont thst wouldn't hire me despite me putting https://youtu.be/1-NdvFAeCis on my resume #storyofmylife =\

_________________
Curious Hair wrote:
Les Grobstein's huge hog is proof that God has a sense of humor, isn't it?


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject: Re: Dying laptops
PostPosted: Sat Jan 06, 2018 9:14 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Nov 16, 2006 6:29 pm
Posts: 54160
Location: Pearl Harbor, Waukesha, and other things that make no sense
pizza_Place: Lou Malnati's
Nice to finally be able to move up from Chrome 51 (my old computer couldn't handle whatever the new text-rendering was). I like that the search bar for this site now says "not secure" on the left. I love being reminded of my insecurity when I post here.

I have to get all my muscle memory back because this keyboard is set like three millimeters back of where the old one was, so bear with me if I type like chaspoppcap for a while.

_________________
Molly Lambert wrote:
The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 21 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 6 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group