Big problems!... Any help with dead laptop

Cg_Girl said:
Is that just a case of pulling them out? Or sliding jiggling whichever it is..
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normally there is a little hatch on the underside, depends on the model but once access is gained you just push the little metal retaining clips sideways away from the memory and it should pop up. take the memory out, give it a little visual check then seat it back into the slot at about 45 degrees, push downwards until the clips click back in.

loads of vids online, heres one:


:)
 
neil_g said:
normally there is a little hatch on the underside, depends on the model but once access is gained you just push the little metal retaining clips sideways away from the memory and it should pop up. take the memory out, give it a little visual check then seat it back into the slot at about 45 degrees, push downwards until the clips click back in.

loads of vids online, heres one:


:)
Click to expand...

Ok excellent thank you
 
Hmmm bizarre.. haven't yet touched the the memory doodbrys but got back from town and tried laptop again, it's working... something is obviously not right as it crashed/froze black screen while doing a full Avast scan, but i'm here, at least i can save a few bits over to dropbox and what ever sticks i have.

I'm guessing if it's just started working again then it's becoming unstable and will go bang at any point..

I ask you all to permanently keep fingers crossed for it to just hold out till after xmas
 
simonblue said:
Fingers crossed for you,glad you were able to save your stuff :)
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Yeah me too, or atleast making sure important photos i needed were saved, if it dies completely i'll still lose LR, Elements all my music etc but, well it's one of those things, one day i will get a hard drive and never have to worry about it all so much .. you do what you can eh:D
 
Glad you've managed to boot it up, that was a warning! If you can save your music and LR etc., so much the better, 16GB usb sticks are around £10 now. I recommend saving everything you can and try and re-install Vista if you've still got the CD and the drive works.
There is a Vista Home Basic DVD CD Reinstall/Repair/Recovery disc available for about £5 or £6 [on ebay] that may help with your problem.
Good luck!
 
Farmerjim said:
Glad you've managed to boot it up, that was a warning! If you can save your music and LR etc., so much the better, 16GB usb sticks are around £10 now. I recommend saving everything you can and try and re-install Vista if you've still got the CD and the drive works.
There is a Vista Home Basic DVD CD Reinstall/Repair/Recovery disc available for about £5 or £6 [on ebay] that may help with your problem.
Good luck!
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I can't use a disc as the dvd drive doesn't work properly, sometimes it does sometimes not ... thing is it's not the first time it's done this so it's certainly on it's very last legs, so far today since it's started working again it's been ok but now i am wondering if i should do the destructive recovery anyway, so it's wiped clean,
It's a tricky choice because i do lose a lot but if it's going to give the laptop a few extra lives back then that will be buy me a bit of time..

But i don't want it to break it either lol, you have no idea the strops i have been having using my phone and sons tablet to do stuff and it not doing what i need it too :mad::D
 
neil_g said:
take a copy of your LR cat and then just reinstall it on whatever replacement. as long as you have your product keys the software wont be lost
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I don't have the keys but i think i may have LR sorted so it's not such a problem now. I am assuming the cat i have would only work with the product key that was with that disc? in which case i just need to go through the images and pick out what i want kept and start again... not such a bad thing LR is a mess in there right now:eek:
 
Glad you managed to save your pics and such like.
Just as an interesting side note, I have a laptop with a dead DVD Drive............also running Vista! ( It can't find the drive, and I can't seem to find any downloadable drivers for it!)
 
Cg_Girl said:
I don't have the keys but i think i may have LR sorted so it's not such a problem now. I am assuming the cat i have would only work with the product key that was with that disc? in which case i just need to go through the images and pick out what i want kept and start again... not such a bad thing LR is a mess in there right now:eek:
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The cat won't care about what key you use. Obviously if you move to a newer version it will upgrade the cat which will
make it unusable on older versions
 
neil_g said:
The cat won't care about what key you use. Obviously if you move to a newer version it will upgrade the cat which will
make it unusable on older versions
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Oh right ok, that's cool then thank you.... as an aside, now it seems to have started working would it pay to wipe it fresh, would it give me a few extra lifes back or make no difference?
 
as a starter id run a full disk check before you wipe. there isnt much point reinstalling onto a bad drive.

1) press start, in the search box type CMD (dont press return just yet)
2) you should see 1 result under programs for CMD/command prompt
3) right click it and select run as administrator
4) in the black box that appears type:

chkdsk c: /r (press return)

it should say something about the drive being locked and would you like to schedule at next reboot, press Y (and press return)

next time you reboot the machine will do a full disk check and repair problems (albeit possibly temporarily if the disk is failing)
 
neil_g said:
as a starter id run a full disk check before you wipe. there isnt much point reinstalling onto a bad drive.

1) press start, in the search box type CMD (dont press return just yet)
2) you should see 1 result under programs for CMD/command prompt
3) right click it and select run as administrator
4) in the black box that appears type:

chkdsk c: /r (press return)

it should say something about the drive being locked and would you like to schedule at next reboot, press Y (and press return)

next time you reboot the machine will do a full disk check and repair problems (albeit possibly temporarily if the disk is failing)
Click to expand...

I guessed temporary i can't see it miraculously being perfect, just wanted ideally to buy more time, i'll do the disc check in a bit. thank you
 
@neil_g should the disk check take hours? I started it at half 11, it stayed on 12% for ages and ages then jumped to 60%... But it's now 5 hours+ and still the same..
I'm guessing it's frozen but I don't want to turn it off if it's meant to take a long time
 
neil_g said:
if it finds a lot of bad bits it needs (or at least tries) to repair it can take a very long time.

id say your drive is failing and requires replacement.
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I think you're right! I guess I kinda new that but clutching at straws to save it's life lol! :(
 
Snooky said:
I no PC world used to employ simpletons, but if you cannot get it working take it there and explain you need the info, they will backup/transfer all info off your hdd for you at a price, could always try a local computer company aswel if your not comfortable with taking out hdd and doing it yourself
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In my experience they'll tr to charge you £400 quid for data recovery - plus the price of a new HDD - and theres a good chance that they'll b****r it up. A local computer company is a better bet (there are several in MK - when I lived there I used to use 'shadowram' but this was about 8 years ago so i don't know if they are still operating (or operating under that name)

hopefully files etc will be backed up , so best bet is to bin it and start again - sure you can replace an HDD easly enough but on an 8 year old machine its barely worth it (especially bearing in mind it also has a f***ed keyboard) - you can buy a second hand laptop thats newer and in better condition for less than the parts to fix the old one
 
big soft moose said:
In my experience they'll tr to charge you £400 quid for data recovery - plus the price of a new HDD - and theres a good chance that they'll b****r it up. A local computer company is a better bet (there are several in MK - when I lived there I used to use 'shadowram' but this was about 8 years ago so i don't know if they are still operating (or operating under that name)

hopefully files etc will be backed up , so best bet is to bin it and start again - sure you can replace an HDD easly enough but on an 8 year old machine its barely worth it (especially bearing in mind it also has a f***ed keyboard) - you can buy a second hand laptop thats newer and in better condition for less than the parts to fix the old one
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Yep you're right it's not worth spending anything on this...
I've been doing the scan Neil said but 12/13 hours later still stuck on 60% so it's obviously stuck mid way..
I backed up some stuff but not everything..
It will have to be mobile for now
 
Disk is probably broken at whatever the 60% point is.... Restart and see if you can get any more important stuff off it before consigning to the dust bin.

Then check out freecycle. Sometimes people do give away working laptops.
 
srichards said:
Disk is probably broken at whatever the 60% point is.... Restart and see if you can get any more important stuff off it before consigning to the dust bin.

Then check out freecycle. Sometimes people do give away working laptops.
Click to expand...

I've just restarted it this morning but it's trying to do the disk check again, if it freezes again I'll do the press any key to skip and hope I can get a few more bits saved...
Looking at very &co they are much cheaper than I thought so I may just have to go for it, using mobile is pants, it's ok for here and stuff but not everything.
 
Why don't you stop p***ing about with the thing. Take it to a good computer repair shop and get someone that knows what they're doing to look at it ... and I don't mean PC World.
 
Stuart M said:
Why don't you stop p***ing about with the thing. Take it to a good computer repair shop and get someone that knows what they're doing to look at it ... and I don't mean PC World.
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Quite simply because it's knackered broken keyboard DVD drive, it's 8 years old and I'm doing my damnedest to save it! It's not worth fixing but I can't afford a new one or to spend money on it.. Not everyone can just go out and buy one just like that
 
Stuart M said:
Why don't you stop p***ing about with the thing. Take it to a good computer repair shop and get someone that knows what they're doing to look at it ... and I don't mean PC World.
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wind your neck in chief. i think its pretty safe to say what we've talked the OP through has determined the hard drive is toast.

the OP has already said the laptop is probably not worth saving so the route of sourcing a replacement machine has been taken.
 
Stuart M said:
Why don't you stop p***ing about with the thing. Take it to a good computer repair shop and get someone that knows what they're doing to look at it ... and I don't mean PC World.
Click to expand...

As others have said, wind your neck in please.

Everyone else, please gget back to the topic, thanks :)
 
Stuart M said:
Why don't you stop p***ing about with the thing. .
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The OP has already explained her situation more than once.
The good and knowledgeable people of TP have been going through various suggestions to try and save the lap top and the OP
money.
Your post however helped no one. least of all the OP
 
neil_g said:
wind your neck in chief. i think its pretty safe to say what we've talked the OP through has determined the hard drive is toast.

the OP has already said the laptop is probably not worth saving so the route of sourcing a replacement machine has been taken.
Click to expand...

So, the hard drive is toast. Even if she gets a replacement machine (which she has already said she can't afford), her old hard drive will still be unusable without professional help so she'll still have the same problem.
 
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just a thought , when the hard drive in my PC went tits up, the first thing to die was the operating system - I used a CD based linux installation to lift off most of the files (although most is a relaitve term as all my pictures were already on external drives) before the hard drive died completely. (you can get such Linux CDs off the net (although that requires a working computer) or off the front cover of linux user or other such magazines.

That said I think T said her optical drive was borked as well so you might need an installation on a thumb drive.

(To be honest knackered HDD, knackered optical drive and a keyboard thats falling to bits - it time to replace and move on so its only the files on the old HDD that matter. - trouble is that data recovery services arent cheap so unless theres a local member who'd be prepared to help out, really getting as many files off before it dies is the only realistic option)

You could buy the parts to fix it on ebay relatively cheaply - but its the law of diminishing returns - by the time you've bought an optical drive, a hard drive and new keyboard from somewhere you'll have spent as much a cheap second hand laptop would cost - plus if the hard ware is failing its probably only a matter of time til something terminal goes pop - like the motherboard.

Going forward i'd strongly recomend getting an external hard drive and backing everything important up - because nothing tech wise last for ever ( I think i'm on my third laptop in 10 years so you've been luck y to squeeze 8 out of it as it is)
 
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big soft moose said:
just a thought , when the hard drive in my PC went tits up, the first thing to die was the operating system - I used a CD based linux installation to lift off most of the files (although most is a relaitve term as all my pictures were already on external drives) before the hard drive died completely. (you can get suck Linux CDs off the net (although that requires a working computer) or off the front cover of linux user or other such magazines.

That said I think T said her optical drive was borked as well so you might need an installation on a thumb drive.

(To be honest knackered HDD, knackered optical drive and a keyboard thats falling to bits - it time to replace and move on so its only the files on the old HDD that matter. - trouble is that data recovery services arent cheap so unless theres a local member who'd be prepared to help out, really getting as many files off before it dies is the only realistic option)

You could buy the parts to fix it on ebay relatively cheaply - but its the law of diminishing returns - by the time you've bought an optical drive, a hard drive and new keyboard from somewhere you'll have spent as much a cheap second hand laptop would cost - plus if the hard ware is failing its probably only a matter of time til something terminal goes pop - like the motherboard
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Yeah there really is just no point in trying to fix this, it's not worth the money it's old and knackered, bit like me lol... i am on it again now, and will try and save a few more bits before it goes again.. if i get the odd day it works then it's better than nothing..

In reality as much as i don't want to lose stuff, it's one of those things, it's not like i have oodles of highly expensive sort after photography.. and music and such can be replaced over time, so in that sense paying oodles for someone to recover again isn't worth it.....
Suck it up as they say and start again
 
I just had a look on ebay - it looks like you can get a hard drive for about 30 quid, and an optical drive for about 15 (and a keyboard )for about 15 too - so you 'could' put it back on the road for about 60 quid (assuming you did the work yourself and have or can get an operating system)

Thing is you can get a fully working laptop on ebay for about £80 (or less if you're lucky).

Regarding saving it - tbh I wouldnt keep powering it up and down as thats just going to hasten the time that it goes kapput for good - the best bet is a freind (or someone nearby from here) with a computer , then stick the HDD in a caddy and see if it will recognise as an external and then lift everything off - if it won't then it won't but its worth a try.

The other thing is having removed the HDD you may be able to sell the carcase on ebay for parts - some suprisingly knacked kit goes for 20-30 quid spares or repair (at a minimum you could pull the ram out and sell that - or keep it to put in your next machine)
 
big soft moose said:
I just had a look on ebay - it looks like you can get a hard drive for about 30 quid, and an optical drive for about 15 (and a keyboard )for about 15 too - so you 'could' put it back on the road for about 60 quid (assuming you did the work yourself and have or can get an operating system)

Thing is you can get a fully working laptop on ebay for about £80 (or less if you're lucky).

Regarding saving it - tbh I wouldnt keep powering it up and down as thats just going to hasten the time that it goes kapput for good - the best bet is a freind (or someone nearby from here) with a computer , then stick the HDD in a caddy and see if it will recognise as an external and then lift everything off - if it won't then it won't but its worth a try.

The other thing is having removed the HDD you may be able to sell the carcase on ebay for parts - some suprisingly knacked kit goes for 20-30 quid spares or repair (at a minimum you could pull the ram out and sell that - or keep it to put in your next machine)
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I had since all this googled bits and pieces but seriously not worth the hassle is it.. i won't keep firing it up, whilst it's having a good hour or 2 or day fine but if it crashes i'll leave it for a while, as long as i get some time to do some stuff that'll have to be fine
 
Cg_Girl said:
I had since all this moosed bits and pieces but seriously not worth the hassle is it.. i won't keep firing it up, whilst it's having a good hour or 2 or day fine but if it crashes i'll leave it for a while, as long as i get some time to do some stuff that'll have to be fine
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I would recommend you get your hard drive replaced as soon as possible. Frequent hard drive failure is usually caused by a damaged head. The HDD has a pin like device much like how the old record player works. The head somehow drops or is knackered it will constant make scratches on the part of the disk it reads. The more u use it, the more damages you are making and thus making it impossible to retrieve any data from it. So backup all your data NOW.

I had similar situation with my laptop. I replaced a new SSD, which is what u should be getting. A 120GB version can be had for about £40 so it is low cost. Once you installed operating system on the new SSD then you can buy an external HDD enclosure which is £5 from eBay and plug your damaged HDD into it and try to retrieve the data that way if you haven't retrieved anything or require some data recovery.

USB OS installation isn't hard to make. If you can borrow someone's computer it takes less than 5min to make vista or windows 7 disks. All of which are downlaodable from Microsoft. Google Microsoft windows 7 image...the website should be called digital river which is Microsoft's official site. Don't get those images on peer-to-peer they can be infested with malware and viruses.
 
@Cg_Girl you're not a million miles away from me, I'm just outside Ely. If you want to bring it down to us one weekend I'll see what I can do, I've been an I.T.engineer almost my entire working life and I have a stack of old broken laptops, hard drives and various other bits and bobs (old keyboards/drives etc) that I may be able to sort it out for you or at least get it working and get your data backed up for you.

I may have missed it in the thread, what model is it?
 
Ian-Highlander said:
@Cg_Girl you're not a million miles away from me, I'm just outside Ely. If you want to bring it down to us one weekend I'll see what I can do, I've been an I.T.engineer almost my entire working life and I have a stack of old broken laptops, hard drives and various other bits and bobs (old keyboards/drives etc) that I may be able to sort it out for you or at least get it working and get your data backed up for you.

I may have missed it in the thread, what model is it?
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see thats what makes this forum great :clap:
 
Cg_Girl, just came across this thread, really do empathise.

I'm just in the middle of wiping the hard drive from my daughters old desktop, it's a few years old, running dual core something or other, Windows, with 4GB of memory, wired keyboard and mouse, but it works fine.

Quite happy to stick it in the post for you (I'll pick up cost of postage), you are more than welcome to it free of any charge , it would be just gathering dust otherwise.

Of course you will need a monitor.
 
and that :clap:

I think we've got a spare monitor somewhere - its only 15" but better than nowt
 
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