Anbody have any suggestions on laptop repair??

[GCS]

I would really hate to use Worst Buy or ChumpUSA as I am sure it will cost me a fortune.

Its a Compaq about 2 years old that completely died yesterday. No activity at all, you can't even get the battery charging light to light up at all.

Is it even worth it to try and repair or am I fubar and need to just buy a new one??

Thanks in advance for your help.

Greg

 

[DaveSimmons]

You might check the phone book or HP/Compaq to find a non-chainstore authorized repair center. If it's something simple it might only cost $100 to get your laptop back, instead of spending $600+ for a new one.

If it's not fixable cheap, they can probably at least tell you what has failed, so you know what parts are OK to sell on eBay (display panel, CD drive, etc.). For the hard drive you can buy a 2.5" external enclosure and put it into that.

(Or try the keyowrd ads at the top of this page? )

 

[GCS]

Any chance its just a battery related issue?? I mean the battery hadn't been holding charge at all lately and we had been using it full time with AC power but now even with that it does nothing.

Thanks for the advice.

Greg

 

[bacillus]

if the charger is ok then I suspect you'll be needing a new m/board.

 

[GCS]

Originally posted by: bacillus
if the charger is ok then I suspect you'll be needing a new m/board.

Charger is fine as my Dad has the exact same laptop (but bigger HDD) since we bought them at the same time and the charger works fine on his and his charger has no affect on my laptop.

If it is the motherboard is this fixable thing by me at home (and yes I have built a 1,000+ desktops but no laptops) and how much do laptop motherboards (never looked into this before) and is it even worth it is the real question.

I am sure I could scavenge the parts some how (certainly HDD, ram, Floppy, and DVD/CDRW combo drive --- perhaps the CPU (its a regular P4 in it (not mobile)) and anything else?? I would think the 15" UXGA display would be worth something to someone who tinkers.

Thanks

Greg

 

[Fern]

Since your dad has the same unit, have you tried using his battery in your lappie?

Not trying to act like a mod, but there is a lappie section of the forums.

 

[DaveSimmons]

> If it is the motherboard is this fixable thing by me at home (and yes I have built a 1,000+ desktops but no laptops) and how much do laptop motherboards (never looked into this before) and is it even worth it is the real question.

Laptop motherboards are proprietary, you'd have to get one from the manufacturer or off ot eBay. That's why I recommended taking it to a local, small, friendly authorized repair shop.

> I am sure I could scavenge the parts some how (certainly HDD, ram, Floppy, and DVD/CDRW combo drive --- perhaps the CPU (its a regular P4 in it (not mobile)) and anything else?? I would think the 15" UXGA display would be worth something to someone who tinkers.

Because laptop parts are proprietary, you can sell the working parts on eBay to someone else trying to fix the same model, who had a different part break.

 

[GCS]

Originally posted by: Fern
Since your dad has the same unit, have you tried using his battery in your lappie?

Not trying to act like a mod, but there is a lappie section of the forums.

Shockingly enough I didn't think about the battery swap -- DUH!

And yeah I just figured out about 3 seconds ago that there is a Notebook forum (never knew that btw)

So thanks

Greg


**Mods feel free to move this if you want.