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Should i Bury my Laptop or is there Hope?

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GeekGirl's picture
GeekGirl
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OK. got this prehistoric practically 10-lb laptop, a Dell inspiron, from like 2001/2 something like that. Has given me nothing but problems. And now i think perhaps it's on its last leg. Multiple problems with it but i'll stick to the ones that are bugging me the Most.
Anyway, so lately, and i've got multiple chargers (that are fully functional) for this thing so the problem lies not within the charger, it won't charge at all. well the charging light will go from green to orange every milisecond, will throw up the white screen saying to press any key because my battery is only 70v (that's not true) each time it does this, ....it can't decide if it wants to charge or die. so annoying. then ultimately it chooses death. and won't start up again for some period of days.
It has got to be something to do with the receptor or whatever the correct terminology is for where it plugs in, right?
It "looks" okay, the area where it plugs in. but might something have gotten loose or something deeper in the laptop, say on the other side of where it plugs in, and be causing this? Anyone had this problem before? My warranty is Obviously up, so thought i'd ask around.

Also, the cursor keeps running away without any motivation though it comes back *usually* at the convenient time when i've got a pop-up notification from windows that say si must choose OK or Cancel, etc, then it goes back in hiding...literally runs off the screen. If i use a wireless mouse, will that overpower whatever the heck is going on with the cursor?

Or is this whole laptop junk? I know new ones are "cheap" now but i really can't afford any luxuries right now. none. Thought i'd just see if there's anything i can do to save this POS.

I'm going home now, so this is not urgent.
Besides, there's no telling whether it's even necessary because i might just throw it against the wall/out the window tonight. Big Grin

Thanks!

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Smartmom
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Re: Should i Bury my Laptop or is there Hope?

If its that old then it might be more expensive to repair then replace. Not to mention once you repair it you will be left with a OLD laptop that you spent alot of money on. I would go shopping. One place you might want to check out is newegg.com

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Jayson Krause
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Re: Should i Bury my Laptop or is there Hope?

I wouldn't say it was JUNK ? but I will say I agree with Deb there is a 95% chance it would be cheaper to just buy a new one ! If you are just wanting it for simple computing you can get a decent laptop with Vista 2GB or RAM and about a 120GB harddrive for about $400 if you shop around ! Sometimes Best BuyBest Buy has laptops on sale just ask someone like me or someone who knows about computers if it is a good one ! If you get a Sony VAIO they are always good ! Some of the default software on a new laptop should probably go unless you have someone prebuild it for you ! For example almost all PC's from Best BuyBest Buy come with Norton 360 on it which I delete the second I get home ! OH also Norton need a special uninstaller to uninstall !

If you can get the Old laptop on the iternet and it will stay conected try running the online scans on http://pcfixes.jaysonkrause.com this may help it somewhat? as far as power problems not sure ? Could be a bad battery ? Batteries for laptop usually don't last more than 10 years so you are lucky if it has !

If you need help finding one I can possibly help , but would need to know what area you live ?

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Evil Monkey
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Re: Should i Bury my Laptop or is there Hope?

I don't think I've met a laptop that didn't eventually have issues with its battery in way or another. In your situation it's very possible that the connector that your power supply plugs into the laptop is having some sort of an issue. I have seen many laptops that when plugged in will flutter between ac power and battery power. Then add in an old battery that will not hold a charge and that can cause some frustrating situations.

When your laptop does crash on you and you say it will not power back on for long periods of time you may try removing the battery and putting it back in. See if it powers back on then. If it is in fact the connector that the ac adapter plugs into then that would be (in most cases) a whole new system board that is needed and then defiantly not worth fixing.

In the case of your curser running off the screen it sounds like your keyboard either has issues or is just getting gunked up a bit for lack of a technical tern. Usually it's fairly easy to remove the keyboard. I know on hp laptops usually its 3 screws on the bottom of the laptop and some tabs that hold the keyboard on. You could try lifting the keyboard up and blowing out any dust, hair, etc. Just be careful when doing so. Taking apart laptops is not a fun or easy task. I dread having to do it personally. I still can't figure out why laptops come with so many extra screws! I always end up with a few left over Wink /joke.

All in all jugging from how old the laptop is I would say it probably isn't worth the money that it would cost to fix. And like has been said you can find yourself a relatively cheap. But I know what you mean about affording luxuries right now. Actually have similar issues with my laptop but cannot afford to run out and buy a new one. So I just live with the battery not lasting and also have to be careful when moving it if it's on and plugged in. Because just jiggling the cable will make it go from ac power to battery very easily.

Re: Should i Bury my Laptop or is there Hope?

If your looking for a laptop thats not too pricy and runs great then I would go for this one:

http://www.Newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834147926&cm_sp=MyNewegg-_-TopSel-_-Pst03Descrip

Smartmom showed this to me, I bought it, and couldn't be more happy. Its a great laptop for the price.

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