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So... as some of you might recall, I have an HP Pavilion DV2000Z. I got it January 9th, 2007. I've since found out that the nVidia graphics chip on the motherboard would overheat and cause a slew of symptoms including a blank screen. I had the motherboard replaced twice while it was under warranty. 3 years later, on April 19th, 2010, the blank screen came back to haunt me, and I didn't have the warranty to help me anymore. HP wanted over $200 for a new motherboard and over $300 to mail it in and have them replace it (I don't remember the exact numbers anymore). Instead, I got a refurbished motherboard from eBay and installed that one myself (it was a nightmare of a process, yet extremely enjoyable at the same time -- unscrewing every last screw and taking every single part off until I got to the MB). I got the thing assembled again and it worked perfectly for a week. It even ran nice and cool since I got the dust out of the rain. A week later, the wireless was glitching (a known symptom of motherboard failure), and the blank screen returned. I sent that motherboard back and got another one that was dead on arrival. So, I got my money back.
I bought a Lenovo ThinkPad L412. I was trying to decide between a ThinkPad Edge and a U450p. Instead, the L series came up -- the perfect blend of specs, durability, and price for me. It has Windows 7 Home Premium (which I'm in love with), 160GB 7200 RPM hard drive, 3 GB of RAM, webcam, 2.26GHz Core i3 processor with 3 MB L3 cache. This thing is FAST... I can actually watch HD YouTube videos full-screen flawlessly, something I couldn't dream to do with the HP (1.8GHz Sempron processor, 1 GB of RAM). If I open a few dozen Firefox tabs and every single program I have installed, there is no lag whatsoever and everything remains snappy. The keyboard, touch pad, and touch stick are amazing. The design is a little bland and not quiiiiiiiite as solid as the HP, but still very solid and good enough for me. Speakers/microphone, not as good as the HP, which was an entertainment model... this one is for business. The screens are equally as good, although I liked the HP's resolution more because it allowed for slightly larger fonts that were still nice and smooth. I just hope the L412 lasts longer than the HP did. At least it's made of a high percentage of recycled materials.
So, that's my "victory". My other issue is with my grandfather's computer that used to be our family computer which used to be my dad's work computer. It's been unused since February 2006. It sat in our basement for months, and I got it running again, so we gave it to my grandfather in hopes that he would get Internet access there (which he still hasn't). That computer is a 12-year-old (give or take a couple years) ABS desktop... no hardware issues whatsoever, and ran very well with a clean Windows 98 installation. It even still has a good motherboard battery and keeps time well. Last week, I went upstairs to turn the computer on and check on it. Holding the power button produced a dull clicking sound from the inside. Eventually, I got it to turn on and boot, but the mouse wouldn't work. I restarted it and it came up with an error message with the keyboard. I reconnected all the wires, and now the thing is completely dead. A couple times, I got it to power on for a few seconds, but then shut off and refuse to turn back on. I think the motherboard is fried, or the power supply.... But after many long, hard-working years, it's finally kaput.
Any ideas on what the problem could be and how to handle it?
Feel free to share your computer stories/updates here, too!
I bought a Lenovo ThinkPad L412. I was trying to decide between a ThinkPad Edge and a U450p. Instead, the L series came up -- the perfect blend of specs, durability, and price for me. It has Windows 7 Home Premium (which I'm in love with), 160GB 7200 RPM hard drive, 3 GB of RAM, webcam, 2.26GHz Core i3 processor with 3 MB L3 cache. This thing is FAST... I can actually watch HD YouTube videos full-screen flawlessly, something I couldn't dream to do with the HP (1.8GHz Sempron processor, 1 GB of RAM). If I open a few dozen Firefox tabs and every single program I have installed, there is no lag whatsoever and everything remains snappy. The keyboard, touch pad, and touch stick are amazing. The design is a little bland and not quiiiiiiiite as solid as the HP, but still very solid and good enough for me. Speakers/microphone, not as good as the HP, which was an entertainment model... this one is for business. The screens are equally as good, although I liked the HP's resolution more because it allowed for slightly larger fonts that were still nice and smooth. I just hope the L412 lasts longer than the HP did. At least it's made of a high percentage of recycled materials.
So, that's my "victory". My other issue is with my grandfather's computer that used to be our family computer which used to be my dad's work computer. It's been unused since February 2006. It sat in our basement for months, and I got it running again, so we gave it to my grandfather in hopes that he would get Internet access there (which he still hasn't). That computer is a 12-year-old (give or take a couple years) ABS desktop... no hardware issues whatsoever, and ran very well with a clean Windows 98 installation. It even still has a good motherboard battery and keeps time well. Last week, I went upstairs to turn the computer on and check on it. Holding the power button produced a dull clicking sound from the inside. Eventually, I got it to turn on and boot, but the mouse wouldn't work. I restarted it and it came up with an error message with the keyboard. I reconnected all the wires, and now the thing is completely dead. A couple times, I got it to power on for a few seconds, but then shut off and refuse to turn back on. I think the motherboard is fried, or the power supply.... But after many long, hard-working years, it's finally kaput.
Any ideas on what the problem could be and how to handle it?Feel free to share your computer stories/updates here, too!