Helping out Neighbor - 3 toasted Computers
Community Forums/General Help/Helping out Neighbor - 3 toasted Computers
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| Trying to help out my neighbor who is down on his luck in more ways than one. He gave me 3 really busted up computers to try and fix. The compaq has a busted screen but he swears it worked if hooked up to a TV. So far I've had no luck getting it to work with a external monitor, when you press f4 to switch to the external display just beeps really loud repeatably. Everything appears to turn on but I'm not sure if the hard drive is spinning. The Toshbia he had a friend work on and it won't boot, the kid corrupted the installation of windows 7 so bad I will have take the hard drive out to reformat it. The old dell is actually in the best shape, it turns on but has 3 blown capacitors and the heatseak was just sitting on top of the processor unattached with no thermal paste. This guy can't offer me any money for my services so I'm doing this for no other reason than a good gesture since he is new to the neighborhood. compaq presario cq56 Laptop Toshiba Satelite Laptop Dell Optiplex Deskpro Any tips for the Compaqs external display would be most welcome. |
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| Have you taken into account the fact that different laptops toggle the function keys and special functions differently to others? On some, holding Fn makes the key a normal function key, e.g. F4, but on others it will activate the special function e.g. switch display. |
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| Have you taken into account the fact that different laptops toggle the function keys and special functions differently to others? On some, holding Fn makes the key a normal function key, e.g. F4, but on others it will activate the special function e.g. switch display. And even the font/coloring on the keys don't always tell you how they behave -- e.g. on my laptop, pressing the F1-F12 by default default to the 'special' actions, I actually have to hold down Fn to activate the 'normal' function key behavior... But it's an option you can toggle in the bios, where you can set that the WITHOUT n it's a normal function key, and WITH Fn it has the special mappings instead. So the key behaviour may vary depending on the BIOS config. also, if you have Windows 7 or 8, you can cycle through the various display options (internal, external, both, extend desktop) by pressing Windows+P in addition to the hardware-specific shortcuts... (Although you may need to be logged in and be at the desktop for that to work, not sure) |
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| For the Compaq, I'd do a CMOS reset first - if the screen isn't stone-dead then you'll at least be able to see the POST screen after that. On my Presario C700, there are two solder points which need to be shorted (with the power off, obviously). If memory serves, its accessible by removing the keyboard which is held on with two screws from underneath the laptop. Check the laptop manual - most are available on manufacturers websites (I think mine was in the "legacy" section because it was a couple years old at the time). I say to do that first, just because it's the easiest thing to do. After that you need the whole thing apart to check the condition of the cable/connector for the screen. On mine it's just a flat ribbon cable and they aren't the most durable of things and the clips that hold them in are even worse - mine's been in the repair shop because of it once, and because it's hardwired to the screen, the whole screen needed replaced. I'm guessing you're OK with reinstalling windows on the Toshiba. For the Dell, you *could* replace the capacitors though personally, I wouldn't attempt it as I'm far too heavy-handed for the delicate soldering work needed. You could write off the whole board if you aren't too careful applying the heat. Probably salvage that for parts at best, unless he's in a position to fund a replacement board. |
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| I have no idea what his wife's friend did to the Toshiba. It had 8 on it but the friend managed to install 7 except that the entire partition was hidden. I couldn't access or format it no matter what I tried. It only would show 96mb of the 600gb drive. I had to zero out the hard drive so it would finally take a normal installation of Windows 7. GEEZ! Why do they try and lock down these cruddy Windoughs 8 computers so much? The Dell is ancient but still works despite the 3 blown capacitors. It would likely be cheaper to just buy a donor board for something this old instead of messing with the capacitors. I'm writing off the Compaq at this point because he can't afford to replace the broken LCD screen and I've reached the peak of my patience over this free repair job. |
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| I couldn't access or format it no matter what I tried. It only would show 96mb of the 600gb drive. I had to zero out the hard drive so it would finally take a normal installation of Windows 7. GEEZ! Why do they try and lock down these cruddy Windoughs 8 computers so much? A low-level format tool would notwork? |
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| You should be able to use the recovery tool fdisk it appears that he may of deactivated the partition, with this in mind i would google hidden partitions on windows and that should point you in the right direction. You will find all laptop makers these days use a hidden partition to store windows and drivers for the laptop so when its taken for repair all they do is put a disk in that uses this partition as a boot drive and reinstalls a fresh windows. You 96mb hard disk problem could be one such situation, all ya would have to do is reactivate the hidden partition and set it as the boot partition then its a go. |
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| I already used Dban on the drive which took care of the problem. |
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