Older daughter appeared a week or two ago to tell me that her laptop died suddenly when she removed the power supply lead. After I explained to her that yes, laptop batteries do die pretty suddenly as a rule and that was the isue in her case, she stated that she was going to buy a new battery! "OK", says me, "but they are pretty expensive...". A few minutes later and I gather from the ranting that she finds £80+ for a new battery for a several year old laptop a bit much!
So life settled down to her using the thing plugged in to the mains charger. Then, one day, I am informed that the laptop has died. After further questions, it seems it randomly cuts out - simply shutting down instantly. I gave it a quick once over - waggling the power supply etc to check for loose connections - but nothing seemed obvious.
The machine was indeed simply stopping at random - somethimes Windows could be used for a few minutes, other times it was dying before the splash screen even loaded. Tried a live Linux disk - same issue, so not a Windows problem (but I didn't suspect that anyway as it was too sudden a shut off).
Ran Memtest+, but the machine died part way through. It didn't seem to be overheating (a common cause of this type of thing) and I had removed and cleaned out the fans about three or four months ago anyway.
So I went back to Computer Technician class theory and began removing non essentials to see if it made any difference. Having seen problems with laptops and batteries before, I took off the dead and useless battery.
The laptop didn't shut off! Despite running the machine for hours, no shutdown! I gave it to my daughter who ran the machine all evening and then left it running overnight until she finished work the next afternoon - and it was still going strong!
So, when faced with a laptop which has no obvious issues with clogged fans or intakes etc, but it is still shutting down randomly, it is well worth removing the battery to see if there is some issue with that!
Several years ago, my wifes laptop had a dead battery and suddenly started having problems - but they were different - CPU running at 100% all the time etc - but caused by the dead battery.
Showing posts with label repairs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label repairs. Show all posts
Sunday, June 03, 2012
Friday, November 25, 2011
Mobile phones
Well, my rather nice little Orange San Francisco (a re-badged ZTE Blade) Android phone decided to stop working correctly. The microphone has failed. I can use the hands free stuff, but if I try to use the normal mic, I get the faintest noise possible.
So, I decided it needs to be repaired. One small snag is that I rooted the phone and installed Android 2.2 in place of the awful Orange badged and themed locked down version of Android 2.1, which is stuffed full of Orange's own "apps" - all intent on taking cash from users. So of course I rooted it and removed all the excess crap - which speeds it up as well as improving the looks of the phone.
Anyway, the general concensus was that Orange would check the phone and refuse to fix it because it had been modified - even though the phone hardware was untouched and at fault! I was prepared to argue the toss as a technician (but not for phones I must admit). There have been similar things with other companies in the past - e.g Asus and their "adding a stick of RAM voids the warranty" claim with the early EeePC. These attempts to take money from users by having their own people do upgrades etc are always found to be unacceptable when challenged.
Anyhow, I didn't want the hassle, so I wiped the phone and re-installed the basic Orange software back on (and boy! was it fugly!).
I then rang them - expecting a load of arguing and tales of how many months it will take to repair and how I would need to deliver it to the only service station in the UK which is situated in the Mull of Kintyre and I will need to deliver it wearing just a pair of boxer shorts ..... etc etc.
Amazingly, they apologised for the faulty phone, asked when would be convenient for the courier to collect the old phone and hand me a new one tomorrow!
Normally I complain about these companies, but this is great customer service. Well done Orange!
So, I decided it needs to be repaired. One small snag is that I rooted the phone and installed Android 2.2 in place of the awful Orange badged and themed locked down version of Android 2.1, which is stuffed full of Orange's own "apps" - all intent on taking cash from users. So of course I rooted it and removed all the excess crap - which speeds it up as well as improving the looks of the phone.
Anyway, the general concensus was that Orange would check the phone and refuse to fix it because it had been modified - even though the phone hardware was untouched and at fault! I was prepared to argue the toss as a technician (but not for phones I must admit). There have been similar things with other companies in the past - e.g Asus and their "adding a stick of RAM voids the warranty" claim with the early EeePC. These attempts to take money from users by having their own people do upgrades etc are always found to be unacceptable when challenged.
Anyhow, I didn't want the hassle, so I wiped the phone and re-installed the basic Orange software back on (and boy! was it fugly!).
I then rang them - expecting a load of arguing and tales of how many months it will take to repair and how I would need to deliver it to the only service station in the UK which is situated in the Mull of Kintyre and I will need to deliver it wearing just a pair of boxer shorts ..... etc etc.
Amazingly, they apologised for the faulty phone, asked when would be convenient for the courier to collect the old phone and hand me a new one tomorrow!
Normally I complain about these companies, but this is great customer service. Well done Orange!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)