A customer came in with a broken hinge on their laptop yesterday. I've seen this happen dozens of times on other computers. Unfortunately, it was a netbook. Please see previous blogs on my netbook comments. Had another customer come in with a Windows Vista machine that broke down. Fortunately, the computer was backed up and all the files were intact. Last customer came in with a unique issue with a program called Fink. Will have to do a bit of research for that one.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Netbook Rant

A customer came in yesterday with an Acer netbook that was not booting up. The power light would turn on but that was it, no hard drive spinning and nothing showing on the display. If you look at previous posts I've ranted about netbooks and acers before. I'm not a big fan of netbooks as they are trying to cram all the functionality into a smaller size. If you feel you need to get one, don't get the cheapest one out there thinking it's going to last forever. As with most things in life, if the price is lower there is always a reason. The screens on netbooks have no metal edging or brackets to them unlike their bigger laptop counterparts. Cost savings. The hinges are only attached to the backpanel and are only held there by glue and small 1/8 inch screws. Cost savings. The fan is smaller because the whole laptop itself is smaller. Cost Savings. Most of the time no optical drive. Cost savings. Less connectors like USB, serial, VGA out, HDMI out, etc. Cost savings. Atom processor, this is the same processor I've seen used in high end home entertainment systems. Cost savings. Most netbooks that are below $300 have about 2 year lifespans, 3 if you are really careful.

If you still feel the need to get one. Look for a good Asus, Dell, Toshiba or Lenovo netbook and be prepared to spend $500 or more. I hope this helps you out when purchasing.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

4 broken laptops

Had a few calls from several customers yesterday. 3 were existing customers and 1 was a new one.

The first customer had a computer that was brought into the shop after another company had sold her a defective hard drive. After determining she had a bad drive I told her to go get her money back. She said she wanted to try to install the hard drive herself after getting another one and was going to install the operating system too. What she really needed help with was installing the necessary drivers for her computer and to get the files that she had backed up before the hard drive failed back onto the laptop.

The 2nd customer had a virus on his computer that has been going around since about June of 2009 under a variety of names. Basically, he was locked out of his computer and couldn't run any programs. Been seeing a lot of these.

The 3rd customer brought his computer in a while ago and was running out of space on his computer so the hard drive will possibly need backed up, wiped clean and have everything reinstalled.

The 4th customer had a water spill on his computer and it won't turn on. Could be coincidental that he has a bad DC power jack but unlikely. This will probably take a complete mobo(motherboard) replacement.



BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Data Recovery, Windows 7 Install

Got in the shop yesterday and within 5 minutes a customer walked in and asked if I could help with their desktop. They had a Windows Vista desktop that was giving all sorts of issues. They wanted to see if we could get the data onto an external hard drive and upgrade their computer to Windows 7. Spent the rest of the time replacing a hard drive and installing an operating system and drivers on a server for a vet clinic client.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202
www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Columbus Laptop Repair - Grand Opening

Well we just had our grand opening last weekend. We had a lot of traffic both from previous customers and new customers passing by. 4 people dropped off laptops for service and we handed out a lot of business cards to potential customers.

Currently working on a couple of Toshiba's with cracked screens and some software issues. One customer just bought the computer on Saturday and their grandson somehow got a virus on the computer. since it was still fresh out of the box the most economical solution for this customer was to do a factory restore.

I'm really busy with laptops I got from over the weekend and am playing catchup on computers right now but I guess that's a good problem to have.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Columbus Laptop Repair - Event & iMac Repair

Yesterday I attended the annual event called picnic with the pups at CHA who I do small business consulting for. It was a great time and I had a lot of people coming over and asking computer questions and checking if I could come out on an appointment.

I've got a customer's iMac in for repairs right now. It appears the operating system was corrupted somehow and it couldn't boot into a normal mode. I archived all the files after determining the hard drive was ok and then loaded the operating system. I'm currently moving all of the archived files to an external drive. The files that were archived were not accessible so I had to copy and mount to an external hard drive to eliminate the permissions on the files.

I imagine next week will be even busier with so many people asking for help with the computers at the event.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Columbus Computer Repair - Bad Memory

Had a repeat customer come in yesterday with a computer that wouldn't boot. The computer wouldn't even get to the Dell logo screen. This computer ended up having bad memory. I backed up the customers files anyway and tested the hard drive just to make sure everything was fine and the problem was definitely isolated to just the memory.

A customer from around the corner came in today with a computer giving a similar error. It would not boot as well. This also was a Dell and it ended up being the hard drive on this computer. Ended up replacing the hard drive and reinstalling the operating system.

Been a busy day. :)

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Columbus laptop repair - MSI netbook, HP Laptop

Had a customer come in with an MSI netbook the other day telling me it was running slow when connecting to the internet and she wasn't able to use it to access her online college class from Columbus State. The problem was that McCaffee Internet Security had downloaded itself when she upgraded Adobe and caused all sorts of problems since Norton Internet Security was also on her system. The problems were too numerous that were created and it was easier and more econmical for the customer to just get everything restored to factory condition. I had another customer who has an HP laptop that is overheating and shutting down. It has caused numerous operating system errors too because it would shut down while trying to boot. I imagine this computer will probably need a good cleaning and the operating system reloaded as the errors he has described are indicative of the operating system itself has been corrupted.


BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Columbus Laptop Repair - Dell Latitude LCD, Toshiba Satellite Data Recovery

Had 2 customers come in. The first customer went to a local laptop repair shop and was given an estimate of nearly $400 to replace his LCD screen on his Dell Latitude. He then called me to get a quote and I gave him a much more economical price to replace his screen. He had some trouble getting his laptop back from the previous repair shop but immediately came to me after getting it.

The second customer had a Toshiba Satellite laptop that stopped turning on suddenly. After a short diagnosis and finding out how old the laptop was I advised the customer that it was more economical to recover what data could be recovered and invest in a new laptop. Sometimes this is the case and I will always be honest with my customer when it seems we reached that point. I'll have more later this week if you're following.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Grand Opening Plans

One of my customers whom I've fixed laptops, desktosp, installed printers and wireless security cameras on the network has decided to help with planning the grand opening of the new office we opened in Columbus. I am transitioning from mobile repair service to a store and will still provide mobile service on the weekends. The grand opening will be on July 24th from 11 AM to 4 PM and we will be giving away different things and answering as many computer questions as possible.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Columbus laptop repair - Virus, spyware, bad lcd

A customer contacted me about an issue with their computer. It was only displaying in 4 & 8 bit colors. When I received the computer I saw that they had no antivirus and no spyware protection. I installed both (AVG free edition and Malwarebytes) and saw hundreds of infections. In addition, several critical windows processes/services had been disabled from the infection. After removing all the issues I reenabled the windows services that were disabled and began updating the computer to the latest revision. The customer originally came in with a burnt out lcd screen and computer running really slow and will leave with a computer that is running like it just came from the store.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Broken MacBook, Burnt out LCD and Bad Power Connector

Had 3 laptops come in this weekend. The first laptop that needed repaired was a Dell that would turn on for 5 seconds before the screen went dark. More than likely this is an issue with the inverter going bad. If the LCD lights were going bad (white's on screen look pink on bootup) then the screen is probably at fault.

The second laptop was a Mac Book. The customer had dropped it and bent the frame. The disk for reloading the operating system was stuck in the superdrive as a result. The computer did not operate correctly and every attempt to reload the OS failed. More than likely the superdrive was damaged in the drop and will need replaced. A new bottom frame will probably be needed as well unless I can bend the aluminum frame back into it's original shape.

The third laptop is a Dell that had the LCD lights actually have a bad solder connection and was sparking across the terminals. This melted some of the plastic on the LCD and caused the screen to go dark. I am going to replace the inverter along with the screen on this because I'm afraid the inverter may have been damaged drawing too much current as a result of the sparking inside the LCD.



BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Last night I picked up another computer (desktop) that was having some overheating issues. This computer was turning off after a couple of hours of being turned on. I didn't have time to dig into it to see what was the matter but I'm guessing that it's probably attributed to dust or debris in the fans and proper heat dissipation is not occurring. I will be working on this one tonight and the other laptops that came into the office. Hopefully a quick repair and turnaround is a possibility tonight.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

More computers

Well, after dropping off a customers computer I was asked to look at her sister's
computer. This one is a dell and runs really slow. It is a desktop which is ok but
I prefer providing support for laptops. Another custome had a couple of compaq
computers for me to look at. Basically it wouldn't boot and the other had a pink
screen. I will hopefully be making 1 good computer out of two. Last one I will be
looking at is a friends computer who appears to be having overheating issues.
That's all folks.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Back up and blogging

Well, back to blogging about the repairs again. I just finished a huge project for an animal shelter that involved converting the entire network from hardwired to wireless and installing network cameras saving video feed to dedicated hard drive storage.

I'll be returning a gateway, dell and hp computer to their owners today. The gateway had a bad power cord, the dell a bad inverter and the hp needed a new dc power connector.

I will then be picking up a compaq for a fan replacement, a hard drive for data recovery and I have another dell in the shop for a power connector replacement. Looks like a busy weekend.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Busy repairing laptops as usual

It's been really busy lately and I know that I have not put a recent blog of what's going on so I'll just talk about what I'm working on right now. I had an Acer come in with a bad motherboard and will be working on replacing this. Had another motherboard replacement on a Sony Vaio. Ended up skipping on this one since the board costs over $400. Recommended the customer buy another laptop. Was able to find a tested motherboard from a vendor I frequently use for $225. This one ended up being dead on arrival. Have 3 laptops that needed data recovery on it and then Windows reinstalled, actually it was 4 but I returned the Dell to the customer already. The other 3 laptops are a Dell, Gateway and Compaq. Forgot about another Thinkpad that I'm waiting for a motherboard to come in for and another Dell that needs a new LCD replaced. Been a little busy lately. A customer called me about Personal Antivirus attacking her computer so I'm doing the research on that as well. Outside of that, just routine cleanings, virus removals and computer tutoring. Hopefully, I'll be able to blog more once I get some of this work taken care of.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

DC Power Connectors, Bad RAM & Bad Hard Drive

Had a few computers come in this week... Oh, before I forget. I now have a drop off location at 1933 East Dublin Granville Rd, 43229. It's inside the UPS store and they have work authorizations readily available when you drop it off and will contact me. If you'd like to contact me yourself about your laptop my number is 313-9901.

Back to the computers, one was a Dell D600 that the customer had used while in school and had developed a bad DC power jack on the laptop side. All the customer wanted was data(photos, music & documents) taken off the hard drive. In return, I got to keep the laptop to repair and resell as a refurbished laptop.

The next laptop also had a bad power jack and is a Gateway. Same fix, order the part and resolder after removing the old one. Took a couple of hours as usual but was back up and running in no time.

The computer with bad RAM kept having problems starting up and was actually showing a hard drive failure when doing diagnostics. Replacing the RAM solved the issue and after an operating system reinstall, the computer was like new.

The last computer had the hard drive just die. I'm attempting a data recovery on this one and will try to do what I can but data recovery is never a guarantee. I will be putting a new hard drive in this and loading the operating system and returning the laptop. I'm crossing my fingers on the hard drive recovery.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Hijacked Computer & Bad Hard Drive

Had a client yesterday that had laptop and desktop issues. Both computers were Dell machines. The laptop had been hijacked by an application that had installed itself and prevented the user from doing anything after booting into windows. This is the 3rd customer that I've seen have this problem this week. The program stated that the computer was infected and that 30+ infections were found and if you did anything it shuts down the application you try to access. It's a front for getting your credit card number and doing even worse damage than was done to the laptop so be very careful if you have this. Each computer behaved a little differently and took different measures to remove the application.

The desktop was a no brainer. I used a USB stick that had an operating system(Ubuntu) loaded on it and was able to make sure all the hardware worked. When trying to install an operating system on the hard drive though, the hard drive just spun and made no progress. After further testing in my office it was verified the hard drive went bad.



BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

3 laptops

Recently had a customer come all the way from Mansfield with 3 laptops that he needed assistance with. 2 of the laptops are HP DV6000 models that have different problems with them. His exact words were "found you on the net - was looking for the Toshiba laptop warranty repair place off polaris but you seem well recommended", pretty cool.

The third laptop is a Toshiba and has some problems with overheating.

1 HP has an issue with the power button, still trying to narrow that one down. The other has problems getting past POST(Power On Self Test). Will be looking at that one soon.

Had 2 customers recently have a pop up on their screen when booting into Windows that says they have some virus on their computer and that it is being removed/quarantined/locked down by an antivirus program that they did not install after the Windows splash screen disappears.

The first computer I saw this on had Windows Vista and was salvaged after opening task manager, killing the process, uninstalling a program that had installed itself and rolling back Vista to a month before the attack.

The second computer had XP Home and was not so lucky. Task manager was inaccessible thanks to the attack and the program hid itself when booting into safe mode. On top of that, the Add/Remove programs was disabled. Probably could've targeted specific points and eliminated the problem but it would've taken much more time and labor doing this approach rather than backing up the data(scanning backed up data for infections of course) and blasting the operating system.



BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901

Been real busy

Last month has probably been the busiest month I've ever had hence not putting in a blog recently. There have been a slew of laptops that have had broken screens, bad dc connectors and fresh windows installs needed. The conficker virus scare also has contributed to a few of the problems I've been seeing. The biggest part of the busy schedule was my first major upgrade for a customer that needed the whole fleet of computers on their network upgraded.

This has been a major drain on time but at the same time very beneficial. I'll try to post more at a later time.

BRM Laptop Repair
3171 N. High St.
Columbus, OH 43202

www.BRMLaptopRepair.com
laptop.repair@gmx.com
614-313-9901