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Laptop Fuxxored

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Wes

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Hey, my laptop is screwed. It locks up over and over again, pausing for about then seconds, then going for one, then pausing again. This happened even in the boot-up bios so I'm pretty sure its a hardware problem. I've been slowly waiting for it to finish starting up to the desktop for an hour now so I can backup files.

For now, I'll stick with using my brother's old tower (he got a new one and is letting me borrow this one) and/or my older, somewhat dysfunctional laptop.

This sucks.

Links for me (working on troubleshooting the tablet):
The ProStar 2873 Convertible Laptop/Tablet PC
http://www.memoryx.net/pr28me1.html (RAM)
Nice little help site

In wonder what the problem is...
Hard drive? When it tries to start it freezes before it finishes loading the desktop.
RAM? Don't see the full amount on bootup.

Troubleshooting:
<s>Enable bios diagnostics</s> Ram looks low...maybe a stick died?
Safe Mode (F8 boot menu)
Recovery Console?
Repair from Windows XP boot CD

Preferences for a new laptop:
Processor: at least 1.5 Ghz
Hard Drive: more than 30GB, preferably 7200rpm (most are 5400)
RAM: 1024MB
Wireless 802.11g
Infrared port (I could live without it, but it is useful)
2 or more USB 2.0 ports
Decent battery life
14.1" screens preferred. Larger is okay, smaller is better. Tablet PC?
DVD reader, CD-R writer
Light Weight

Laptops I'm Considering:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834117248
http://www.amuras.com/prodDetail.asp?PartNumber=C90234 (3.5lb tablet)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834110185
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6834114203
Link
Link

Let me know if you see any good deals.

Edit: http://news.com.com/2061-11728_3-609741 ... &subj=news
 
It's probably not the hard drive. It usually works fine or not at all, and bad sectors in the hard drive will either lead to data loss or a crash during boot up, but shouldn't cause the slow down behavior you described.

A RAM stick dying on you will slow down your computer a lot though. Losing half of your RAM can easily cause the 1000% slow down you described.

Or maybe your processor cache died.
 
You might check and see if your computer did any auto updates lately, I've seen a few cases where those updates really screw over laptops.
 
I tried removing one of the two RAM stick, DDR266 512MB 32MX8 2.5 MV with serial number U30512A6MVG6520 *0301107*33, which was lightly coated with which what I believe was Kuwaiti sand-dust and had its serial number sticker somewhat melted onto it. The computer booted through BIOS fine, but failed to make it through the black Windows XP loading screen.

I then removed the other RAM stick, DDR266 512MB 32MX8 2.5 MV with serial number U30512A6MVG6520 *0301107*33 (identical? odd) which was over the BIOS sticker (and presumably the bios) and in similar condition. The computer booted through bio and the windows load screen, but failed to fully load the desktop (as before, when both sticks were in).

Note to self: screwdriver 1.6 in my toolkit works best
 
I was able to successfully boot the computer in safe mode. This makes me think it could be on the hard drive after all...damn it, it froze when I clicked the Start Menu. Again.

I need to get my WinXP disk back from my section sergeant and try booting using that to repair the windows installation, and see if that helps.
 
*double take* Wait! How did desert sand even get in the laptop?

I mean, Wes' training wasn't overseas since he could get back home everyday (though didn't always since it demanded he wake up at ungodly times). Meh... I guess Wes could answer: "It was my dad's laptop." But then, wouldn't the sand have caused trouble before? *shakes head*
 
Congratulations Wes!

I wasn't blown over by the specs, but it seems to be a very capable machine if what you need to do only ends up being office work.
 
Update: Still trying to repair my old laptops...


Also:
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/j/r/j ... pdecon.htm
Perhaps useful for my first laptop, which is still laying around with serious power supply/battery issues. Bought a new battery here too for it.

Now that I have some income form my hotel job, I hopefully will be able to get them all up and running.
 
I have to say this:

If prices are this low for computers, it means that something is wrong with the machine itself. Granted, computers are a lot less expensive than they were before since they've become fairly common and that the technology keeps going up fairly fast. However, as a rule of thumb, think that whenever you find a computer at a cheap price, that means what's inside is cheap too and won't perform all that well, will be reusinated, repaired/recycled components or hardware that failed the performance test of some better piece of equipment and was downgraded to be viewed as another, lesser product.

I'd be very wary of buying a computer below 1000$ CAN. Like I said before, if its cheap, it means its just bait for the people whom want a computer but don't really know what a computer is worth or what they need it for.
 
Frys.com has eMachines T6528 Desktop PC for $270 with free shipping and no rebates. Thanks seetachi

Specs:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ processor with AMD 64 Technology (2.2GHz, 2000MHz system bus, 512KB L2 cache)
Genuine Microsoft Windows XP Home (SP2)
NVIDIA GeForce 6100
512MB DDR 400MHz (PC3200) Expandable to 4GB
Hard Drive: 160GB (7200rpm, 2MB cache)
16x multiformat dual-layer DVD+/-RW (Up to 8.5GB with dual-layer media)
9-in-1 media card reader (Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital, CompactFlash, MicroDrive, SmartMedia, xD, USB 2.0)
NVIDIA GeForce 6100 GPU Up to 128MB of shared video memory
PCI Express (PCIe x16) slot available
Sound: 6-channel (5.1) high-definition audio
10/100Mbps integrated Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 port)
Premium multimedia keyboard, 2-button wheel mouse, amplified stereo speakers
USB 2.0 (1 in digital media manager, 4 in back), VGA external connector, parallel port, 2 PS/2 ports (keyboard and mouse), 5 audio ports (2 in front, 3 in back)
 
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