I am a bit annoyed with OH. I got a new laptop as the old one was exceptionally slow. He broke his laptop (shattered screen), so decided to use the old one. I asked him to be careful with it as there is one program I have that will only run on it and not on later versions of windows. I have loads of hand input files in this format, which now I cannot access. The program is no longer being manufactured and there is no converter I know to convert to other formats of music notation.
Anyway a couple of weeks after using it, leaving it plugged in half the time when it is not in use, me warning him that it did have an over heating problem, so it would need to cool down every couple of hours and not to block the air intake for the fan, which he ignored of course it no longer starts.
The light which would indicate it was plugged in is not coming on. The adapter is getting warm, so it is obviously working.
I haven't had a poke around inside yet, but quite happy to do so.
It obviously is power related rather than hard drive. Any suggestions as to how to fix it. As it is old, I don't really want to pay much and I am happy to fiddle with it myself. If it was a desktop I would have more of an idea as I have built and fixed those before, but they are easy, you just pull out what isn't working and put in a new bit.
Mine recently went, it was the motherboard and I was quoted $350 (I think it was) to fix but decided to go for a new tower instead. The part would have also had to come from USA. It was a HP Pavillion and one of the ones where the adaptor was getting hot although HP kept telling me it wasn't part of the recall programme....
My computer bod was able to transfer all data off both LT drives so I didn't lose anything.
The application and files will still be on the hard drive which will probably still work fine. You could remove the hard drive and fit it into a USB hard drive case, which would allow you to access the program directly through it's .exe file on a different computer.
You might have to run the program under some form of compatibility mode if you are trying to run it on a newer operating system than it was meant for.
I am really wanting to try and resurrect this particular laptop if possible. So looking on advice on repairing the hardware.
It would not work simply to add it as an external hard drive, the dlls would need to be registered on the computer accessing it and we would be back round to the fact cannot run on newer versions of windows, even the installation program does not.
what is the actual model of laptop? maybe hit up trademe or ebay and get a replacement of the same model and just swap hard drives over?
If it's that old, they would be cheap, this one I am on now is an old freebie from an IT neighbour from church, it's old enough to have the OLD PCMCIA spec card slot that the OLD vodaphone GPRS/3G PCMCIA card works in. The newer but still old laptop I bought cheap and used so it had a PCMCIA card slot turns out to use a Newer standard which won't recognise the old card and new laptops simply don't HAVE any PCMCIA slots. So I can sympathise with your plight.
Yep, that makes life a bit hard then. If you have a voltmeter you can check the output of the adapter just to be 100% sure it is giving the expected voltage. Would be great if it's just a dead adapter. Next step from there unfortunately is trying to fix or replace the motherboard. In which case you would look at the power supply circuit near where the adapter connects. I've seen a few where it's as simple as a broken solder joint on the connector.
Have you looked for the same make and model on trademe that you could potentially transplant your hard drive into ? Unlikely on an older laptop, but maybe worth a look.
Ebay has many generic adaptors ex Hong Kong. If you know your voltage, amperage and plug type you can match those, or you can often find the generics listed as compatible with the model number on the laptop.
Just make sure you search for the model number on the bottom of the laptop, not the marketing name on the top of the laptop as for example the same SuperCompCo AZ12 can have different specs but the same name in different markets.
I've bought several power units over the years for several different computers, most generics are in the US20 to US30 range with free shipping.
Planned Obsolescence. I still use Windows XP and the copy of Word 2000 I bought as a student at Uni. Had to patch it to enable it to save and open the new DocX format, but it still works.
igor;491631 wrote: It's all part of a global conspiracy to make us all buy new gear even if the old stuff still works Kiwi.
I'm still smarting that samsung not only no longer supplies batteries for my 2 year old smart phone, but even the S4 (which are still available on the market brand new) are also being discontinued.
I think that is against consumer rights, that is, it should be reasonable to expect the telephone and necessary parts be available for longer than 2 years.[}][}]
(tell a lie, I got a bit worked up after posting this I telephoned Samsung and was told they were available and I could purchase direct).
I think it would probably fry it, mine was 18.5volt 3.5 amps 65 watts
Fortunately I have found an exact match on freecycle and should pick it up tomorrow, fingers crossed it does the job.
If it's just a case of Windows not booting up, this may help.
5 acres, Ferguson 35X and implements, Hanmay pto shredder, BMW Z3, Countax ride on mower, chooks, Dorper and Wiltshire sheep. Bosky wood burning central heating stove and radiators. Retro caravan. Growing our own food and preserving it. Small vineyard, crap wine.
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