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Bagpuss

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Hi All,

 

My laptop had died :tearful:

 

It began switching itself off earlier, and after the third time of switching itself off, it now won't switch on.

 

It was showing full battery, and was plugged in too. No warning messages.

 

I'm on DS's puter at the mo, but soon he'll be home from school, and I'll have to give him it back to feed his Runescape addiction :( Although I suppose I could find something to punish him for, and withdraw all puter priviledges, and claim it for myself :devil: I'll be all alone tonight, with no connection to the outside world :crying::crying::crying: ..........please take pity on a a poor ole Baggy, and give me some ideas of the possible cause (in easy to understand words please).

 

Love Baggy (who is currently going cold turkey :wacko::hypno: )

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Oh Baggy! Poor you, I don't know what I would do without my trusty slaptop - it's been my closest companion for nearly 3 years now and we know each other inside out.

It could be a battery thing. Sometimes the battery can die but the slaptop doesn't know how to tell you (poor wee thing). Have you tried leaving it on charge for a few hours? You probably already have. Alternatively - you could try taking the battery out and giving it a good wipe incase it's managed to get a bit dusty and isn't connecting properly.

Aside from that - I'm stumped! Unless perhaps it's launching a protest and is wanting you to take it out for the night - nice meal, pleasant company, witty chat, a few wines? I've noticed mine can get a bit stroppy if I don't take it places occasionally... says it makes it feel like a desktop!

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Oh Baggy! Poor you, I don't know what I would do without my trusty slaptop - it's been my closest companion for nearly 3 years now and we know each other inside out.

It could be a battery thing. Sometimes the battery can die but the slaptop doesn't know how to tell you (poor wee thing). Have you tried leaving it on charge for a few hours? You probably already have. Alternatively - you could try taking the battery out and giving it a good wipe incase it's managed to get a bit dusty and isn't connecting properly.

Aside from that - I'm stumped! Unless perhaps it's launching a protest and is wanting you to take it out for the night - nice meal, pleasant company, witty chat, a few wines? I've noticed mine can get a bit stroppy if I don't take it places occasionally... says it makes it feel like a desktop!

 

 

:lol::lol::notworthy::notworthy:

 

I reckon it feels I'm taking it for granted, and that I don't appreciate all the hard work it does :shame: I spend more time with it than my kids, what more does it want? :lol:

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Ooooooooooooo I know how you feel, me and Connor been fighting over the laptop tonight, then I went upstairs to go on the desk top and the dam thing would not go online, still I sulked enough for him to let me go on here and all I can get on is the forum !!!!!

 

Clare x x x

 

PS - We had a problem where ours kept switching off and it was the inside cooling fan, eventually got it fixed but used a desk fan placed on its side blowing into the side of the laptop which worked well, at leats till we got fixed !!!

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I've got images of It Ain't Half Hot Mum, and having to employ someone to personally and professionally fan my laptop :lol::lol:

 

Be strong in the laptop war with kiddies......there can only be one victor, and being a parent has to have SOME compensations :devil::devil::devil:

 

PS, I won't be on the forum between the hours of 3pm and 9pm weekdays, and all day Saturday and Sunday, because DS will have laptop :lol:

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I assume it's not turning on at all and the screen is remaining blank.

 

If leaving it for a while hasn't helped I'd try removing the battery and reconnecting it. It maybe something as simple as a dirty contact and the battery hasn't been charging properly. If you have a multimetre in the house you might like to check the battery is giving out the voltage it is meant to.

 

Another thing you could try is connecting the labtop upto an external monitor this would only help if the labtop is powering on but not displaying a picture. If it powers up at all I expect you'd hear some fans at least.

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Dirty contact (oo-er! - oh, grow up, krystaltps :rolleyes: ) - methinks tis the dust I was talking about. As for multimetre... nope, will have to leave that one to David, and the monitor one.. tis getting too technical for little-ole me.

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David, what's a multimetre? :unsure:

I know :bounce: I know :bounce:

 

It's a thing with two pointy bits that you hold on the terminals of the battery and the needle thing moves or something like that . . . The sort of thing that mad science teachers carry around in their pockets, I presume... :P

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A multimetre is one of these: http://www.ideesmaison.com/upload/Image/br.../multimetre.jpg You would set it to the V setting and read what the numbers displayed on the screen were. The two contacts would be placed on the end of the batteries terminals. It should match what is written on the battery.

 

Computer monitors connect through one of two types of connection (I guess 3 possible connections now days). The chances are you are looking for one of these:

 

DSub - The end of the cable from the monitor (currently connected to the computer) would connect to it.

 

The other two possible are as follows and you would do the same thing:

 

DVI - This is a newer type of interconnect which is becoming increasingly popular. If it has one of these there is a chance you may not have the required input on the monitor or the correct cable.

 

HDMI - This is now starting to appear on labtops and PCs though is more common on TVs and Hi Def sources (Sky HD Box, HD DVD Player, Blu Ray Player, PS3, etc...).

 

A dirty contact is where a layer of oxide has built up on the contact. This increases the resistance of the connection and hence lowers the voltage that can flow. This can stop things working. Normally a flux is used to clean them but a little vinegar or coke would work. Even a rub with an old tooth brush might do the trick.

 

Hope that hasn't just confused you more. :unsure:

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I know :bounce: I know :bounce:

 

It's a thing with two pointy bits that you hold on the terminals of the battery and the needle thing moves or something like that . . . The sort of thing that mad science teachers carry around in their pockets, I presume... :P

 

Need to find mine. Not sure where it is at the moment. Will probably do dad's trick and keep it in the boot of my car. Though if carrying it around in my pocket makes me a mad scientist I guess I could indulge. :)

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Sorry, hi-jacking thread here (apologies). David, I love your Sonic avatar. C is Sonic-daft... it's almost up there with Pokemon.

 

I had to change from my old Mysterious Cities of Gold avatar as it was hosted on my webspace. Recently changed broadband providers so it doesn't exist any more. Don't get free webspace with my new provider. Tempted to pay the �2 extra vo get some though. Went with Sonic as it was probably my favourite game when I was younger. Particularly liked turning into super sonic. Not so keen on the recent games as they never feel they control right. That said not got my hands on the Wii ones. They're meant to be good.

 

I wish they'd hurry up and release Sonic and Knuckles with Sonic 3 on virtual console or xbox live. That was the pinnacle of the series in my estimation. Our mega drive is stashed away somewhere so can't play them on it.

Edited by David Matthew Baker

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It's the Wii ones that C loves. He has a few on PS2, but it was never really his thing. He loves Sonic and the Magic Rings (or something like that) on Wii, and something else Sonic-y he got for Xmas. I'll ask him and get back to you. I know he certainly rates them more than the PS ones.

The first time I played Sonic was when I was about 14 (so we're going back about 18 years), and I can't remember the console... it's really bugging me now. It was black and about 4 times bigger than a PSP or DS, and I think it was a Sony something... any ideas?

Sorry Baggy for hijacking your topic :whistle:

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It's the Wii ones that C loves. He has a few on PS2, but it was never really his thing. He loves Sonic and the Magic Rings (or something like that) on Wii, and something else Sonic-y he got for Xmas. I'll ask him and get back to you. I know he certainly rates them more than the PS ones.

The first time I played Sonic was when I was about 14 (so we're going back about 18 years), and I can't remember the console... it's really bugging me now. It was black and about 4 times bigger than a PSP or DS, and I think it was a Sony something... any ideas?

Sorry Baggy for hijacking your topic :whistle:

 

The saturn, mega drive and master system were all black consoles. It will have been one of them as Sega still made consoles back then. I would have thought it was most likely a mega drive. The other Wii game is probably Sonic and Mario at the Olympic games. One of my friends plans to buy it and bring it round but is having fun tracking it down. The Sonic and the Secret Rings game is meant to be a bit like Sonic R. Do you realise that a few of the Sonic games are available on the Wii's virtual console? You might like to download them to refresh your memory. I think Sonic 1 & 2 are available so far. Spinball maybe as well which is a pinball type game and was also good fun.

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Thanks David.... just Wikipedia-d it. T'was the rather unpopular Atari Lynx:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_Lynx

 

I thought it was excellent at the time though... until I got a Gameboy and got into Link's Adventure.

 

I think the other Sonic game must be one of the ones he downloaded with his points card - he downloaded a few before Xmas. We have Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games. C isn't keen on it because Mario bugs him, but R loves it (he's a big Mario fan - which is probably why C hates mario :rolleyes: ), and has already completed everything and unlocked skydiving.

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A multimetre is one of these: http://www.ideesmaison.com/upload/Image/br.../multimetre.jpg You would set it to the V setting and read what the numbers displayed on the screen were. The two contacts would be placed on the end of the batteries terminals. It should match what is written on the battery.

 

Computer monitors connect through one of two types of connection (I guess 3 possible connections now days). The chances are you are looking for one of these:

 

DSub - The end of the cable from the monitor (currently connected to the computer) would connect to it.

 

The other two possible are as follows and you would do the same thing:

 

DVI - This is a newer type of interconnect which is becoming increasingly popular. If it has one of these there is a chance you may not have the required input on the monitor or the correct cable.

 

HDMI - This is now starting to appear on labtops and PCs though is more common on TVs and Hi Def sources (Sky HD Box, HD DVD Player, Blu Ray Player, PS3, etc...).

 

A dirty contact is where a layer of oxide has built up on the contact. This increases the resistance of the connection and hence lowers the voltage that can flow. This can stop things working. Normally a flux is used to clean them but a little vinegar or coke would work. Even a rub with an old tooth brush might do the trick.

 

Hope that hasn't just confused you more. :unsure:

 

 

:wacko::hypno::wacko::hypno::blink:

 

Sorry David, will have to show this post to DH when he gets back later today. :lol:

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Spoke too soon :wallbash:

 

Although it switches on, and appears to work ok, it then "freezes", so you can't actually do anything after about 5 mins :rolleyes::rolleyes:

 

Luckily DS is at footie practice, so I've got his for abit :thumbs:

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I would take it to the doctor, Baggy.

Mine died a few months ago, but was resuscitated. It had a trojan virus that had come on because the boys had gone straight onto internet explorer without using aol (all my protection is through aol). It was in a permanent booting-up mode. I had the reset it to the factory settings.

It's possible you could try that, but it does mean you lose everything that's on it. Probably best to take it to a doctor to make sure there's nothing else you could do first.

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Does it get into Windows now?

 

The best option maybe to start the labtop in safe mode. If you let me know what operating system it runs I'll find out how you get to safe mode for you. Then run whatever anti virus and anti spyware packages you have on it.

 

If you don't have any anti virus / anti spyware software installed you could download the following free programmes:

AVG - This is a virus checker.

Avast - Like AVG this is an anti virus programme. I have used both and it is hard to work out which of the two is better.

Spybot Search & Destroy - This application checks your system for spyware and deletes it.

 

The last option would be to quickly copy off any important files while it is working and then use the recovery disk that came with the labtop to do a fresh install on the system. This would probably also speed it up. You'd be suprised how much junk computers manage to build up over a period of time.

 

The fact removing the battery did make a difference as well could mean it is a problem with the labtop recieving the correct voltage. If you can somehow clean the contacts it might be worth doing so. Most labtops I know run off the battery even if the mains connection is present. When plugged in they just continously charge the battery at the same time. The lifetime of batteries isn't great either and if the current drops too low the device will stop working.

 

If you can give us a more detailed description of what happens. Where it gets to etc... I might be able to help further. Details like if it always reaches the same point. If it works when you reset it immediatally or if you have to wait a while for it to work. That way we might be able to issolate what is causing you the problems.

 

Hope you get it fixed soon, David.

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Thanks David. We have AVG, and regularly check for virus probs, we also have a firewall. We had quite a few probs after the forum was hacked, with Trojan virus etc and since installing these safety measures, we've been fine. It will switch on now, and we can open Explorer, Hotmail.....visit any site we want. Opens Windows fine...it's as if nothing is wrong, initially. But after about 5 mins or so, the page just freezes. You can't do anything, it doesn't respond to any key....it just doesn't respond to any action. You can't do anything with it, other than switch it off. It also doesn't seem to matter which site I'm on...could be here, or Ebay.....

 

Cheers for your advice, appreciate it, but don't worry, will take it to shop in the morning and get them to get to the bottom of it.

 

If it is b*ggared, can I get my photo's off it? Also, what do we do with a b*ggared laptop? Don't want other peeps getting hold of any info. Can the shop wipe it clean of any personal and financial info?

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Thanks David. We have AVG, and regularly check for virus probs, we also have a firewall. We had quite a few probs after the forum was hacked, with Trojan virus etc and since installing these safety measures, we've been fine. It will switch on now, and we can open Explorer, Hotmail.....visit any site we want. Opens Windows fine...it's as if nothing is wrong, initially. But after about 5 mins or so, the page just freezes. You can't do anything, it doesn't respond to any key....it just doesn't respond to any action. You can't do anything with it, other than switch it off. It also doesn't seem to matter which site I'm on...could be here, or Ebay.....

 

Cheers for your advice, appreciate it, but don't worry, will take it to shop in the morning and get them to get to the bottom of it.

 

If it is b*ggared, can I get my photo's off it? Also, what do we do with a b*ggared laptop? Don't want other peeps getting hold of any info. Can the shop wipe it clean of any personal and financial info?

 

Personally if it is wrecked ask them to give you the hard drive. The only way to fully destroy the data is to take sand paper to the platters but just opening the disk up will cause enough damage that most people can't read it. You'd end up with hard disk errors across the board. As it is running for a little while you may be able to get your photos off it. The easiest way would probably be to use a USB keystick (or other type of external drive) and to copy the photos onto it. Also depending on whether it is an OS error or different type of error you maybe able to connect the drive upto a different computer and copy the files off that way. I've had to do that once or twice for myself and friends in the past. Hope the shop manages to fix it for you and that they don't charge an arm and a leg for helping you.

 

EDIT: What happens if you don't go on the internet? Does it still freeze after a while?

Edited by David Matthew Baker

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There are programmes that can normally rescue your files. They can sometimes be used even if your computer is completely dead, the fact that your computer is running at all makes this even more hopeful.

 

There are other programmes that can wipe your hard disk. You need to write over it several times to properly destroy the information, but someone would have to be quite determined to get at it. Your best bet might be to take it to pieces yourself and physically snap the hard disk in two, and dispose of each half separately. Someone would have to have access to some serious equipment to get any information off a snapped hard disk, although it is not without the realms of possibility.

 

Hopefully though, it won't be that serious!

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Ha ha, we both said the same thing at the same time!

 

Hard disk/drive holds most of the information on the computer, certainly any personal information will be on there.

 

Removing it and destroying it will make your information inaccessible. If you do not destroy it, someone could put it into their computer and access all your files. But they would have to find it first.

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The hard drive is the permanent data store in a computer. It is what all your files are stored on. Technically the data is also loaded onto the ram but this is 'lost' each time a computer is turned off. I believe technically it leaves a slight magnetic trace on the ram but again people would really have to be trying to recover data from it and it would only be what ever you have looked at most recently. Even if you over write data on a hard disk with random data 20 times there are methods to recover the old data off it. Not sure if anyone but the police/government would have access to the resources to do so though.

 

http://www.unc.edu/~lefler1/z_wdc_hdop.jpg - Here is a picture of a open hard disk. Normally you can't see into the plates. As far as normal people are concerned you couldn't easily recover data from a hard disk that has been opened like this.

 

EDIT: Ram tends to look like this: http://www.heuer-gmbh.com/ebay/div/ram%5B1%5D.jpg

Though in a labtop it is sometime the chips are soldered directly onto the motherboard.

Edited by David Matthew Baker

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Ok, so DH has taken laptop to pc repair shop.

 

Man says the computer says nooooo...........he thinks it's beyond repair.

 

I asked DH to ask if my piccies could be taken off, if it was unrepairable, and the man says he will do that for me, but it's costing 35 quid :(

 

He's going to give us a bell tomorrow, when he's had a proper look at it, but it doesn't look good.

 

RIP My faithful old friend :(

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My laptop is also with the doctor at the moment - and I also didn't realise how much I would miss it till it was gone!! Luckily mine is on extended guarantee - including accidental damage. So I'm hoping they will replace the charging cable that got chewed by my rabbits!

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They're probably using a copy of Norton Ghost,it's basic stuff to do,shouldn't really charge for it,but they all do in techy shops as standard anyway.

 

Are going to be buying a new laptop?

Edited by TuX

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Argh my daughters fell on the floor today and smashed the screen........luckily I have home accidental insurance, now awaiting a call from the assessor.

 

It's my fault, I was thinking what a good laptop it was!

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Do you think it would be wise to bury it in the backgarden, in tupperware, along with the hamsters? :unsure:

 

Once you're sure the poor wee soul is entirely no more :tearful: ... I think that would be very appropriate. >:D<<'>

Shall we send virtual flowers?

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Did he give you any clues to what he thought the problem was?

 

When you left it on without going online did it still freeze after a while?

 

If it did it may well just be the CPU is overheating. Depending on your labtop it maybe sensible enough to turn itself off if this happens. I don't overly trust computer repair shops. I always get the feeling they will write of a machine in the hope you will buy a new one from them. If it is the CPU overheating and you can get the fan that is on top of it off I'd have tried replacing the thermal grease. If it is overheating and the CPUs fried though he is propably right that it is a write off or unlikely to be worth repairing unless you can pickup another dead one cheap on eBay. Personally I'd have a tinker but then I know my way around the inside of a desktop. Laptops are harder to fix because most bits are soldered onto the board and hence could only be replaced like for like.

Edited by David Matthew Baker

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