pseudosoldier

Join Date 04/2004

It's Dead

Due to persistent overheating problems, my laptop is finally dead. I have to assume that it was hardware issues that eventually caused a corruption of the data on the C:\ drive, as I have no other explanation for it (virus and spyware free as it was). It won't boot up properly; checkdisk finds "unspecified errors" while trying and skipping checkdisk only works about 50% of the time. If I do get it to boot it will either freeze or restart on its own within 15 minutes of operation.

I've taken the easy way out with a trip to Best Buy and an extra load on my credit card (which will at least slightly impact my paying off my debt). This alleviates my immediate issue... that I was already two days without internet access. I'll be able to pick it up tonight. Now I just have to figure out how to get some data off of it (nothing crucial, but all "nice to have" information, pictures, etc.)

And maybe figure out what to write about next.

laptops

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A cooling fan probably went out. And that rebooting did in your hard drive. It still might be salvageable, if the fan is replaced.

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Buy an enclosure to put dead lappys hard drive in and you then have usb drive at minimum cost and can get all your data off it if not corrupt.Run checksisk first then after you get info off it reformat it to use as a back up.

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Me too but it was my desktop, power supply fan went out,replaced the whole power supply and the battery back up just for the heck of it. By the second day I was going thru withdrawls. Now I plan to buy a new sound card and hard drive. Don't need to but I love new stuff. I just replaced two fans in the last couple months and forgot the power supply one. Stupid me, oh well. Sure hate to be without my "puter".

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Reformat?

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reformat what? best buy should have it running just like it should when he gets it back. Shouldn't have to reformat anything or do anything.

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Phoon

Join Date 10/2001

+382

best buy should have it running just like it should when he gets it back

I'll bet the data is gone...

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Buy aluminium 2.5 inch laptop drive enclosure cost about $8 and comes with USB cable.
Remove hard drive from dead laptop and slide it into enclosure and do up screws.
You now have a USB drive, plug into new computer and hopefully it will be recognised as
a new drive from which you can get all your files.
Repair any repairable drive damage with check disk
My Computer > Right click usb drive > Properties > Tools Tab > Error Checking
After you recover your files you can reformat the USB disk you made to use for backups.
If it is broke all it cost was few bucks extra, if it is OK you have a backup disk worth closer to 100 bucks or then consider getting old laptop repaired.

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I swear Best Buy saved me more than once during the years and salvaged more stuff than anyone other than my new "geek" who is private. When the power suppy went out he brought another and saved me. Only cost $50.00, and trust me couldn't boot to safe mode or anything else, kept rebooting as soon as windows would start, I thought I lost everything too. You would be surprised to see things come back to life when someone who knows what they are doing does the magic. I hope our friend lets us know how Best Buy did with his "puter". He said he already spent the money let us hope he got what he paid for. I am crossing my fingers for him. Please people replace those fans, all of them once a year....it will save you alot of grief and it's really easy. They are cheaper than the cost per hour to fix when broke. Watch for sales.

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Best Buy tech support is one of the last places I'd go.
Overpriced, underskilled, dishonest.

Good luck

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Best Buy tech support is one of the last places I'd go.
Overpriced, underskilled, dishonest.

Dont know about the last, but the first 2 are pretty dead on.

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If you know of someone at Best Buy that is dishonest, call the lead tech on it. I had a guy named Randy work on my stuff and he always did me right, when he left I found someone else to do my stuff, not at Best Buy cause I didn't trust what the guy told me. I told the lead tech and told him I wasn't coming back. The guy wasn't there the next time I went in. I checked with them. Some guys there are like the local mechanic, trust is a funny thing, I am trained in auto mechanics and when some guy tries to give me bull, I call him on it, it's funny when they think they can scam a chick. I am also a Trained Auto Body (repairmen) thats what the certificate says, cause it was 1975. I was one of the first women to graduate that course back in the day. Never act like you don't have a clue, they pick up on that stuff fast.

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