MAJOR COMPUTER MALFUNCTION! Please Read If I Made A Swap w/ you

[LowThudd]

About a week ago my computer died completely. I knew I had packages that needed to go out so I went to my parents house to get the addys. Well, a surprize came when I found I had been banned for a topic I will be glad to explain in PM, just not in open forum. If I owe you something, and you have not recieved it, please PM me your addy again, as I am starting on a brand new LapTop and I am plain starting over. Sorry for the delay, and I will get your packages out ASAP next week, as I am short on cash because of needing to buy a new laptop.

Thanks,
LT

 

[Mr.Self_Destruct]

now that I think about it... i haven't seen you for a min.


So you had moved on under your name huh?

That sucks.

 

[BiancaMontgomery]

Thank you for the update. And I'm sorry your computer died.

 

[VaporNebula]

Well now I am just curious about what you could have been banned for. Sorry about your computer, that always sucks having to buy a new one.

 

[Liv2Ski]

Welcome back LowThudd -- Thought you were on vacation or maybe locked up after a drive by to Stricktlyejuice

 

[LowThudd]

Welcome back LowThudd -- Thought you were on vacation or maybe locked up after a drive by to Stricktlyejuice

LMFAO! That cheered me up. Yea...and no. I may be a life long L.A. resident, but I have never been a participant in a drive by. "L.A. Story" w/ Steve Martin has a great scene about that. Pretty funny.

 

[LowThudd]

Well now I am just curious about what you could have been banned for. Sorry about your computer, that always sucks having to buy a new one.

Just PM me anyone if you want to know what happened. And I'll send you what happened. Personally, I think it was a poor decission. But *shrug* I'm back. As is often said this is a private Forum, and the descretion of subject matter is purely at the hands of the mods.

 

[Liv2Ski]

Well welcome back. atty may still be dead but from the looks of you posts at least you have a new kick ... computer!

 

[LowThudd]

Well welcome back. atty may still be dead but from the looks of you posts at least you have a new kick ... computer!

Yea this thing is awesome! I just wish I had it when I wrote my script, the keyboard alone is day and night better than that Dellstructo. Which is exactly what failed on the Dell, the keyboard. Then a major black screen unrecoverable crash. Wouldn't power back up. Took off the batt, cleaned the connections and such and it did power up, but is now SUPPER slow and still no keyboard function. I think I may take it appart and try and fix it. I have built a couple desk tops before, and put a hard drive and RAM in my first lap top. Got nothing to lose. lol

 

[deback]

Sorry about your computer problem and the other forum problem you had!

I've built (from scratch) and repaired many computers in the last 20 years, and in my experience, the first component to die is the power supply. The second component to die is the motherboard, in which the capacitors will blow out and be rounded at the top, instead of flat. The third component to die is the hard drive.

If the computer won't turn on, it could be the power supply or motherboard. I always replace the power supply first to see if that fixes the problem.

If the computer boots up at the beginning, and if there's a hard drive problem, you'll see error messages at startup relating to "hard drive not found" or a similar message.

Since your keyboard quit working at the beginning, I'd hook up a different keyboard first. If that doesn't fix the problem, I'd replace the power supply with a working one. If that doesn't fix the problem, I'd suspect a defective motherboard. Sometimes, motherboards will die without any "blown, rounded-top" capacitors, so it can be difficult detecting what part of the MB is not working.

Undoubtedly, though, there is probably only one part that quit working on your computer. The hard drive is probably still okay. It's just a matter of elimination to find the broken part. I have a lot of old computer parts (saved for years that I know I'll never need....dumb), but I'm not very close to L.A. or I'd bring you some items to test.

Good luck!

 

[LowThudd]

Sorry about your computer problem and the other forum problem you had!

I've built (from scratch) and repaired many computers in the last 20 years, and in my experience, the first component to die is the power supply. The second component to die is the motherboard, in which the capacitors will blow out and be rounded at the top, instead of flat. The third component to die is the hard drive.

If the computer won't turn on, it could be the power supply or motherboard. I always replace the power supply first to see if that fixes the problem.

If the computer boots up at the beginning, and if there's a hard drive problem, you'll see error messages at startup relating to "hard drive not found" or a similar message.

Since your keyboard quit working at the beginning, I'd hook up a different keyboard first. If that doesn't fix the problem, I'd replace the power supply with a working one. If that doesn't fix the problem, I'd suspect a defective motherboard. Sometimes, motherboards will die without any "blown, rounded-top" capacitors, so it can be difficult detecting what part of the MB is not working.

Undoubtedly, though, there is probably only one part that quit working on your computer. The hard drive is probably still okay. It's just a matter of elimination to find the broken part. I have a lot of old computer parts (saved for years that I know I'll never need....dumb), but I'm not very close to L.A. or I'd bring you some items to test.

Good luck!

It's a laptop, yes a USB keyboard works fine on it. Rather defeates the purpose of it being a laptop though. It boots(now) after disconecting the batt, which resets certain functions of the motherboard as you must know. Then it booted, but very slowly. Runs very slow, I believe when it crashed(hard crash), the CPU got too hot since the fan was no longer cooling it. If it wasn't plugged in at the time, I would suspect batt failure. A little hard to believe the power supply and the batt would go out all at once, so that is not the problem since it now charges and runs plugged or unplugged. As for the keyboard, I'm gonna take it out and clean it w/ electronics cleaner see if it's just gunked up or not, but it's probably dead. As I said I am EXTREMELY happy w/ my new computer, this Acer kicks ..., and for the same cost as the Dellstructo. The thing was a POS, Dell ain't what it used to be. It always had intermitent, recoverable freezes. But now, when I tried to burn a back up DVD-R, it got stuck in the middle and told my it would take 49000 days and 12 hours to complete...on two different discs. I finally got to save the most important files onto a CD-RW and have them transfered. Everything but my screenplays is replaceable, so I'm good now. I am gonna network it to the new computer and try and grab everything else I want before I do an autopsy on the Dellstructo. Either way, I am MUCH happier w/ this Acer than I have ever been w/ any machine even the Athalon overclocker I built in 2003, which in those days was an unbelievable machine w/ it's on board 5.1 DD sound and ATI Radeon 8500 DV vid card. I'll tear into that one eventually, but there is no point in running that motherboard or CPU. I'll keep the Radeon card, because it incorperates home theater functions. Hopefully, ATI has updated software for it, but it will be an XP machine so no worries.

 

[VeeDubb65]

If the computer won't turn on, it could be the power supply or motherboard. I always replace the power supply first to see if that fixes the problem.

All good advice, but you left out one bit. I good power supply tester will last for years, and it much cheaper than just swapping out the power supply for those who don't have a spare laying around the way geeks like us do. $10-$20 for a good tester, and they really do come in handy.

 

[Jim211]

I don't agree deback, usually its the hard drive that goes first, then mb and 3rd the power supply. And 1/2 the time the hd just needs reformated. Been working with computers since the commodore and timex sinclair.

 

[deback]

I don't agree deback, usually its the hard drive that goes first, then mb and 3rd the power supply. And 1/2 the time the hd just needs reformated. Been working with computers since the commodore and timex sinclair.

I was just going by my experience, which might be because, in the past, I'll always buy the best hard drives but will tend to buy cheaper power supplies and motherboards from a local computer shop. I've only had two hard drives that died suddenly (that I can remember) that I couldn't fix, but I've had a lot more power supplies die suddenly and more motherboards that died than hard drives. In the last few years, I've bought better motherboards and CPUs than I did before that.

I've had many computers since 1984, most of which I built from scratch and upgraded (not to mention having to build and upgrade computers for friends, relatives, and clients), so everyone's experiences are different. I can't even tell you how many computers I've built and upgraded. It's too overwhelming to think about, but I can assure you that I've been completely burned out with computers for a few years.

Have you ever heard of Fidonet and The Abacus BBS?

 

[cobaltblue]

I've been missing your posts too. Welcome back LT!

 

[redgirl]

Sorry you got banned, LT. The king of Deals & Steals is back!

 

[RedDeath5]

deback, where in the mitten are you? funny thing about computer failures...i just built a 901 passthru, but all my USB wall plugs are really low amps. well, it just so happens that i have a laptop with a dead hard drive that still powers up with working USB ports...

 

[LowThudd]

deback, where in the mitten are you? funny thing about computer failures...i just built a 901 passthru, but all my USB wall plugs are really low amps. well, it just so happens that i have a laptop with a dead hard drive that still powers up with working USB ports...

That's a good use of parts. lol. I am thinking about setting up my Dellstructo to do long term torrent downloads. That way, if it's got a virus, my dell will get it and not my "Mainframe". If the program works on the dell, then I can network it over to my Acer. I can use a virtual keyboard, or the $10 Fry's keyboard I got for that. I am kind of thinking the dell dieing was a blessing in disguise, I love this Acer so much.

 

[deback]

deback, where in the mitten are you? funny thing about computer failures...i just built a 901 passthru, but all my USB wall plugs are really low amps. well, it just so happens that i have a laptop with a dead hard drive that still powers up with working USB ports...

A few miles south of Lansing

Yea, I have several PTs and had problems getting them to work every time when using the .5amp USB connections on one of my computers, so I bought five of the 2amp AC to USB wall adapters at madvapes. Now I have plenty of wall adapters for the PTs and eGo chargers in both the bedroom and the office downstairs -- and don't have to use any computer USB port. The PTs have worked every single time when plugged into the 2amp adapters.

 

[HyOnLyph]

Welcome Back, LowThudd. Thought you might have been a casualty... Glad you are here.