A previous client contacted me about a problem they were having with a DC power connector. The connector had been fixed previously and something had happened where it was damaged again. The computer was an Acer Aspire and they're generally pretty easy to dismantle. The DC power connector was on a separate circuit board so disconnecting it after the motherboard was exposed was a cinch. The real cost in repairing a DC power connector is not really the part, but in the attention to detail while dismantling the laptop. There are many screws that are not the same, many wires that have to be routed a certain way and reconnected on reassembly. In addition, the person repairing your computer has to be aware of any electrostatic discharge as this may cause problems on your motherboard. Also consider the removal of the bad power connector. This takes careful desoldering techniques so no traces are damaged in the process. Finally, there has to be adequate solder joints when putting the new power connector in and careful attention is necessary so the new connector does not overheat and melt and you start all over again. So when you see the pin on your laptop power connector is loose and you wonder why you're dishing out some serious cash for this repair, keep in mind all that has to be done to do this. Most other places around Columbus are asking for way higher than what I charge. I'm not looking to get rich, don't get me wrong because that would be nice, I'm just trying to make a living and I enjoy working computers.
Another laptop I received was infected with the vundo virus. It's been attacking quite a few computers lately including my server at home. You can attempt to take care of this yourself or you can have me do it. Right now, because I'm seeing so many with this problem I'm offering a $65 flat rate for it if you have it until April 31st. If you want to try yourself, please go to "http://forums.techguy.org/malware-removal-hijackthis-logs/406823-solved-trojan-vundo-virus.html" and follow the instructions carefully. I take no liability for any lost data or for your laptop getting worse from a performance point of view. If the problem is being caused by some other problem, I'll let you know that too and give an estimate on costs. To give you an idea on costs for viruses, I have never charged more than $300 for the fix and most virus removals have fallen in the average of $130-195.
That's all for now, enjoy and hope you can find a solution for your problem on this blog or with my services.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Dell, Gateway & HP Laptops
Recently had a customer that dropped a Dell laptop. This was a previous customer that originally had a faulty hard drive when the laptop was dropped. The hard drive was replaced but when the laptop was returned the customer called back describing a problem with the laptop battery not charging properly. After repeated visits to the battery store for this problem I made a visit to the customer's house and determined that the motherboard was also damaged when the laptop was dropped. After replacing it, the battery started charging properly and the customer was happily reading blogs until 3 am.
The next laptop was a Gateway that had a bad DC power jack. This one was an easier fix than most since the motherboard did not have to be removed. The power jack was on a separate daughterboard that was connected to the motherboard by a pair of wires. A complete disassembly was still necessary to inspect the damage. Was able to turn this around pretty quick since I had a DC connector on hand and the customer needed the laptop back since she used it for everything.
The last laptop I have right now belongs to a guy in showbusiness which is an HP Pavilion that has a damaged LCD screen. Most HP, Compaq's and Gateway laptops have different model LCD's for the same model laptop so I had to bring the laptop in to the office and partially disassemble it to look at the model # on the LCD before ordering. Found the LCD and should receive it in the next couple of days and will pop the new one in and get the laptop back to him.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
The next laptop was a Gateway that had a bad DC power jack. This one was an easier fix than most since the motherboard did not have to be removed. The power jack was on a separate daughterboard that was connected to the motherboard by a pair of wires. A complete disassembly was still necessary to inspect the damage. Was able to turn this around pretty quick since I had a DC connector on hand and the customer needed the laptop back since she used it for everything.
The last laptop I have right now belongs to a guy in showbusiness which is an HP Pavilion that has a damaged LCD screen. Most HP, Compaq's and Gateway laptops have different model LCD's for the same model laptop so I had to bring the laptop in to the office and partially disassemble it to look at the model # on the LCD before ordering. Found the LCD and should receive it in the next couple of days and will pop the new one in and get the laptop back to him.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Compaq 6100 & Gateway Tablet Laptop
Couple days ago I talked about a Compaq 6100 laptop that had startup issues. Did some further diagnostics on tthis one and it ended up not being a startup problem at all. Compaq is notorious for using a power cord that terminates in a connector with a v-prong at the tip that narrows as it goes into the barrel. This is a terrible design as this gets more flex than a typical barrel connector and eventually breaks off in as little as 3-6 months after purchasing the computer. The symptoms were very similar to a bad bootup since most batteries on modern laptops have a low power protection mode that mimics a bad motherboard. Read the previous blog from March 12th for more info. In any case, looks like this customer is just going to need a new power cord and she'll be back in business.
Picked up another laptop on Friday and currently working on it. Looks like the multiple drivers were corrupted and the system wouldn't even boot into Windows anymore. Examined the hard drive by using Crunchbang Linux on an external thumb drive and was able to rescue much needed files and then wipe the hard drive clean. The customer couldn't even use system restore because it looks like the MBR(Master Boot Record) was corrupted too. After the format of the main partition containing Windows was wiped clean the MBR was corrected and then finally the system restore worked properly and was able to reload itself on the computer.
Sold a refurbished computer to someone too that wanted Linux loaded on his machine. Had good taste in my opinion... was wanting a T42 Thinkpad. Thinkpads have and will always be good computers to do practical business stuff on, not the best for gaming but good all-around for everything else.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
Picked up another laptop on Friday and currently working on it. Looks like the multiple drivers were corrupted and the system wouldn't even boot into Windows anymore. Examined the hard drive by using Crunchbang Linux on an external thumb drive and was able to rescue much needed files and then wipe the hard drive clean. The customer couldn't even use system restore because it looks like the MBR(Master Boot Record) was corrupted too. After the format of the main partition containing Windows was wiped clean the MBR was corrected and then finally the system restore worked properly and was able to reload itself on the computer.
Sold a refurbished computer to someone too that wanted Linux loaded on his machine. Had good taste in my opinion... was wanting a T42 Thinkpad. Thinkpads have and will always be good computers to do practical business stuff on, not the best for gaming but good all-around for everything else.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Multiple Laptops
Picked up a Compaq 6100 which was not booting correctly. Think this is the same problem that I saw with a Compaq a few months ago that ended up being returned to the factory for a motherboard replacement under a recall. For anyone reading this blog, save yourself some money and check with you manufacturer first to see if you qualify for a free repair. Again, my goal is to get your computer back to you... yeah, I have to make a living but there's lots of laptops out there for me to fix.
The next computer was from a previous customer that had a hard drive go bad. She had a bad DC power connector go bad on the same laptop. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do to prevent this aside from being very gentle when you plug/unplug your connector. The manufacturers use very little solder when making laptops and eventually it will wear out.
The third computer I looked at yesterday was also a previous customer but a different laptop. It looks like Norton somehow corrupted his TCP/IP Stack. Easily fixable. Symptoms of bad TCP/IP stacks usually are clean antispyware/antivirus detection checks and no connection to internet. Pinging usually ineffective and not able to directly connect via ethernet cable to router, routers, modems, etc.
Fourth computer is a replacement computer for someone who had a bad LCD screen on an old computer. I have a vendor that has refurbished computers and I was able to get her a new laptop for the price of what it would've cost her to replace her LCD. The replacement was a 1.13 GHz Thinkpad T23 and she was overjoyed since it was an improvement over her old computer. All in all, it was a busy day. Stay tuned for more blogs.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
The next computer was from a previous customer that had a hard drive go bad. She had a bad DC power connector go bad on the same laptop. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do to prevent this aside from being very gentle when you plug/unplug your connector. The manufacturers use very little solder when making laptops and eventually it will wear out.
The third computer I looked at yesterday was also a previous customer but a different laptop. It looks like Norton somehow corrupted his TCP/IP Stack. Easily fixable. Symptoms of bad TCP/IP stacks usually are clean antispyware/antivirus detection checks and no connection to internet. Pinging usually ineffective and not able to directly connect via ethernet cable to router, routers, modems, etc.
Fourth computer is a replacement computer for someone who had a bad LCD screen on an old computer. I have a vendor that has refurbished computers and I was able to get her a new laptop for the price of what it would've cost her to replace her LCD. The replacement was a 1.13 GHz Thinkpad T23 and she was overjoyed since it was an improvement over her old computer. All in all, it was a busy day. Stay tuned for more blogs.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Windows Live OneCare Issue
Received a laptop from a client this weekend and he was having a problem with his computer shutting down or locking up all the time. He was running Windows XP, SP3 with all the latest updates and Windows Live Onecare which is an antivirus-antispyware-firewall all rolled into one. There were other applications running on it but the problem was centered around OneCare. Previous antivirus programs were installed on his computer before including Norton 360 and AVG. These programs were uninstalled but working remnants of these applications which included antivirus products were still on it. Antivirus applications run in the background and if there are 2 antivirus programs working they will conflict with each other and cause your system to halt. After disabling and uninstalling the remnant antivirus applications, the computer quit locking up and everything was stable.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
2 DC Power Connector Problems
Yesterday I received a call for an HP computer after a customer had called other laptop repair shops in town and did not receive a response from any of them. The customer was very satisfied with the quick response and pickup of her laptop. In addition to having a bad dc power connector she requested a new key that was missing. One cool thing that I provide for my clients is pulling necessary data that they need to use while their computer is being worked on. This customer requested a couple of folder off here desktop be emailed to her so she could continue work on her other computer.
The other computer is a Dell Ispiron, not sure of the model right off hand but it also has a bad dc power connector. Most of the newer dells use a better dc power connector that has a shield around it that helps hold the connector together with a center pin. Most of the time it's just the center pin that needs resoldered and that's the case with this one.
I don't see either one of these laptops taking more than a couple of hours and hope to knock them out this upcoming weekend.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
The other computer is a Dell Ispiron, not sure of the model right off hand but it also has a bad dc power connector. Most of the newer dells use a better dc power connector that has a shield around it that helps hold the connector together with a center pin. Most of the time it's just the center pin that needs resoldered and that's the case with this one.
I don't see either one of these laptops taking more than a couple of hours and hope to knock them out this upcoming weekend.
BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901
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