Tag Archives: fix

Some laptops are just not worth fixing

Computer Aid Posted on by

A customer dropped off a laptop at the office.

It seemed ok at first. Just a noisy fan and a slow startup.

Well I take the fan out, clean it, but its obvious that it has shifted, and is constantly rubbing against the casing…

It only has 256Mb RAM, so it will be slow to start… but it seems to run like it only has 128Mb RAM… much slower than I would expect.

I then notice that some keyboard keys are not “springy”… they stick and feel like someone has spilt a sugary drink over the keyboard…

And the “trackpad” also doesn’t work well.

I’m also suspecting that the extra slowness might be due to other hardware faults, and / or a malware infection.

At this point, I decide its time to stop.

To fix all the problems, will take time to get replacement parts, a lot of time, and cost the customer more than getting a new “netbook”.

So I call the customer and arrange to get the laptop back to her.

Its funny, but I feel disappointed when I don’t fix a problem… I know I can fix it, but I still have to abandon the work just because of the cost.

Faulty power button

Computer Aid Posted on by

I’m told that a PC power button has stopped working.

The PC owner has a young (maybe 2 year old) daughter, who likes to push buttons and often has sticky fingers, so I’m not surprised.

The last time I visited, the button would often stick when pressed, and wouldn’t easily spring back out.

Given that this PC also has a reset button, then the easiest thing to do is to unplug the power button wires from the motherboard, and plug the reset wires into the power header.

So, the reset button becomes the power button, and the old power button becomes a toy for the toddler.

But the PC refuses to start. Sometimes the fans will spin, other times it will beep (indicating a hardware error).

Eventually, it starts to look like a power supply problem. I explain this to the owner as I’m going to the car to get a new power supply. His wife overhears, and says: “oh yeah, something happened with the power the other day… sparks were flying and everything…”. 😐

OK, plug in the power supply, and everything works fine.

Regarding the faulty power button: have you fixed a faulty computer component in an unusual way?