Free laptop.

[Crazy Steve]

Thats right Free laptop...

Charger/Batt and leather carrying case...

Use to go really good...Now the fckin thing won't start...

If anyone can retrive my photos and docs they can have the lot...

I will even pay them $$$$

And delivery it....And buy beer...Or drugs...:doctor:

Please....Some Geek HELP!!!

Crazy Steve..

[Boob Johnson]

Details ma man! What kind of laptop? What exactly is it doing? ie: what is showing on the screen? All is not lost just yet Steve so don't panic mate. One possibility & easy fix can be swap out the RAM for known working modules. That way you know what the issue is if it can boot up with dif RAM. Failing that & anything else you can open her up, remove the HDD & hook it up to another PC/laptop & get your data that way ;)

[xwhatsit]

Thats right Free laptop...

Charger/Batt and leather carrying case...

Use to go really good...Now the fckin thing won't start...

If anyone can retrive my photos and docs they can have the lot...

I will even pay them $$$$

And delivery it....And buy beer...Or drugs...:doctor:

Please....Some Geek HELP!!!

Crazy Steve..

Shit, tell geoffm -- he's got a homebuilt dyno, and he needs a laptop to run it.

Has it got a serial port?

[Headbanger]

Wait.

If its your Hard drive that has failed then under no circumstances do you want to be installing ram and powering the sucker up,. each time you give her juice you maybe destroying your pics and data.

Get a screwdrivers, take off the bottom panel and locate the hard drive, remove, then plug her into a desktop PC, copy over all the data.

[Crazy Steve]

Details ma man! What kind of laptop? What exactly is it doing? ie: what is showing on the screen? All is not lost just yet Steve so don't panic mate. One possibility & easy fix can be swap out the RAM for known working modules. That way you know what the issue is if it can boot up with dif RAM. Failing that & anything else you can open her up, remove the HDD & hook it up to another PC/laptop & get your data that way ;)


Its an old one...2000 Pc company jobby..L8400 notebook

It starts but the fan keeps going and the screen won't turn on..

I wanna pull it to bits but dont wanna lose photos/Doc...FCk!1:baby:

Crazy Steve..

[Crazy Steve]

Shit, tell geoffm -- he's got a homebuilt dyno, and he needs a laptop to run it.

Has it got a serial port?

Fck I dunno ? ?

If I knew whata a serial port wouldnt be driving trucks...

Crazy Steve

[Crazy Steve]

Wait.

If its your Hard drive that has failed then under no circumstances do you want to be installing ram and powering the sucker up,. each time you give her juice you maybe destroying your pics and data.

Get a screwdrivers, take off the bottom panel and locate the hard drive, remove, then plug her into a desktop PC, copy over all the data.

I like this idea....But wait wont I need cables...and can I plug into another laptop??

Crazy Steve..

[Matt_TG]

Wait.

If its your Hard drive that has failed then under no circumstances do you want to be installing ram and powering the sucker up,. each time you give her juice you maybe destroying your pics and data.

Get a screwdrivers, take off the bottom panel and locate the hard drive, remove, then plug her into a desktop PC, copy over all the data.

Laptops hard drives don't usually fit onto desktop PC IDE or Sata cables. IMHO you don't eff up a hard drive by messing with RAM, as Boob said sometimes faulty RAM can prevent starting up, however....

If it sounds like it starts but the screen doesn't turn on, then plug another monitor into it - should have a stardard vga socket at the back. Maybe its just the display that's rooted.

If that doesn't help, and you do get some white writing on the screen during startup try pressing DELETE during start up. Keep pressing it continually, see if it gets to the BIOS screen.

If it does, then find the part where you can specify what boots up first, and make your CD the first thing to boot from.

Put your Windows CD in and reboot it. Follow your nose and see if you can see what needs doing.

If that doesn't help, look for the chance to press R to get into the recovery console.

In there - white text on a black screen type FIXMBR then enter. This will repair the master boot record.

Take the cd out and reboot. Press delete again and get into BIOS and change the hard drive to the first thing it boots from.

If that doesn't work post up again :)

[Headbanger]

Laptops hard drives don't usually fit onto desktop PC IDE or Sata cables. IMHO you don't eff up a hard drive by messing with RAM, as Boob said sometimes faulty RAM can prevent starting up, however....



Can I be blunt?

Thats some shit advice.

Recover the data first, Then worry about getting the laptop running, And its no issue plugging a Laptop hard drive into a desktop, or into another laptop. Whether that's through the use of adaptors or external enclosures.

[Crazy Steve]

Laptops hard drives don't usually fit onto desktop PC IDE or Sata cables. IMHO you don't eff up a hard drive by messing with RAM, as Boob said sometimes faulty RAM can prevent starting up, however....

If it sounds like it starts but the screen doesn't turn on, then plug another monitor into it - should have a stardard vga socket at the back. Maybe its just the display that's rooted.

If that doesn't help, and you do get some white writing on the screen during startup try pressing DELETE during start up. Keep pressing it continually, see if it gets to the BIOS screen.

If it does, then find the part where you can specify what boots up first, and make your CD the first thing to boot from.

Put your Windows CD in and reboot it. Follow your nose and see if you can see what needs doing.

If that doesn't help, look for the chance to press R to get into the recovery console.

In there - white text on a black screen type FIXMBR then enter. This will repair the master boot record.

Take the cd out and reboot. Press delete again and get into BIOS and change the hard drive to the first thing it boots from.

If that doesn't work post up again :)

Plugged it into Tv...Would that work...Started again..

But fan just keeps going and wont stop??

No display....No white letters..

Arrrrghh

Crazy Steve..

[Matt_TG]

No worries in being blunt HB, I was just looking for some things Steve could look at without opening up things and getting adapters. You are dead right to see what you can do to get important data off a HDD asap, maybe Steve hasn't the means to at the moment.

I've recovered data by way of getting computers up and running on many occasions, no harm in seeing if it is just the display, and changing the boot record won't corupt data that's already on a hard drive.

Steve, have you got another computer monitor? Try that not a TV.

Hope all gets sorted for ya.

[scracha]

Its an old one...2000 Pc company jobby..L8400 notebook

It starts but the fan keeps going and the screen won't turn on..

I wanna pull it to bits but dont wanna lose photos/Doc...FCk!1:baby:

Crazy Steve..

If you don't know what you're doing and assuming it's undamaged then a local geek should be able to get all the gay porn of your hard drive for less than 50 bucks.

[Headbanger]

Yes, There is potential harm in powering up the computer.

If you think otherwise then you need to refrain from giving advice and do some hard and fast learning about hard drives and they way they can fail.

From his description (no words at all on screen) I don't think its the hard drive,But the steps are still the same, Recover the data, Do not power up the PC.

[scracha]

Take out the hard drive, put it in one of them Gladwrap sealed bags and bung it in the freezer. Always works for me..... :lol:

[Crazy Steve]

Take out the hard drive, put it in one of them Gladwrap sealed bags and bung it in the freezer. Always works for me..... :lol:


Are you seroius??

but sound good to me...

Crazy Steve..

[flyingcrocodile46]

Why put yourself through this process (not knowing who's conflicting advice to follow and trying the advice without understanding the terminology and what the advisor's are trying to explain)

I have built my own PC's from scratch a few times now and the best advice I can think of is to suggest that you take it to a reputable service center and let the experts (with all the gear and experience) sort it out for you.

PS... that isn't to say that I'm rubbishing the advice you have received... as most of it does have merit... but it isn't so easy for a layman to fathom or follow

[Crazy Steve]

If you don't know what you're doing and assuming it's undamaged then a local geek should be able to get all the gay porn of your hard drive for less than 50 bucks.


Are you interested in the Gay porn....

Crazy Steve

[flyingcrocodile46]

If you don't know what you're doing and assuming it's undamaged then a local geek should be able to get all the gay porn of your hard drive for less than 50 bucks.

LMAO That could be a big ask for a mere $50... Hell!.. might take 30 or 50 CD's to save it all to

[flyingcrocodile46]

Are you seroius??

but sound good to me...

Crazy Steve..

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggh :crazy:

[scracha]

Are you interested in the Gay porn....

Crazy Steve
Depends if you're starring in it honeybunny :devil2: The gladwrap/freezer thing also works for butt-plugs.

Unlike some of the genius' here, I've never built a PC from scratch*...only assembled together motherboards, processors, ram and all the other pre-built components. Quite why anybody in the 1st world would bother to assemble PC's these days is a complete mystery to me; there are factories in China pumping out very cheap and very good pre-built computers.

*Unless you count the binary calculator thingie I did in Physics.

[scracha]

LMAO That could be a big ask for a mere $50... Hell!.. might take 30 or 50 CD's to save it all to

If it's a $hite old circa 2000 PC then it's probably got a 20GB drive or summit smaller. Exclude Windoze and the apps then you're probably sticking his data on 1 or 2 DVD's. Who buys CD's these days? I was kinda assuming he'd be wanting his data on another hard drive or a large pen drive that would be at an additional cost.

[Crazy Steve]

Depends if you're starring in it honeybunny :devil2: The gladwrap/freezer thing also works for butt-plugs.

Unlike some of the genius' here, I've never built a PC from scratch*...only assembled together motherboards, processors, ram and all the other pre-built components. Quite why anybody in the 1st world would bother to assemble PC's these days is a complete mystery to me; there are factories in China pumping out very cheap and very good pre-built computers.

*Unless you count the binary calculator thingie I did in Physics.

Ok hard drives out and in the Freezer..

Sounds crazy but im up for it...

Hope its the hard drive in there...

Crazy Steve...

[Boob Johnson]

:corn:

10char

[Matt_TG]

KB is full of bush lawyers, bush PC experts and even bushier motorcycle 'experts'. Yer take yer pick and take yer chances wif them all huck huck huck.

Good luck Steve!

[flyingcrocodile46]

If it's a $hite old circa 2000 PC then it's probably got a 20GB drive or summit smaller. Exclude Windoze and the apps then you're probably sticking his data on 1 or 2 DVD's. Who buys CD's these days? I was kinda assuming he'd be wanting his data on another hard drive or a large pen drive that would be at an additional cost.

Heh!.. Indisputably correct.. Hell! if his needs can be met with an old fashioned floppy or two, perhaps all is not lost ;)


Ok hard drives out and in the Freezer..
Sounds crazy but im up for it...

Hope its the hard drive in there...

Crazy Steve...

http://i251.photobucket.com/albums/gg305/flyingcrocodile46/chipper.gif

[vindy500]

2 steps.

1. take out of freezer


2. go to computer shop.

[flyingcrocodile46]

2 steps.

1. take out of freezer


2. go to computer shop.

You forgot step 3.

3. Open hand with palm facing inwards.. raise it rapidly and forcefully until in contact with forehead... repeat until enlightened

[avgas]

I have a USB hard drive caddy for 2.5" (laptop) hd's.
If you have the hard drive out that is half the work for me. I dont want ya laptop - but if you have no luck then give me a bell and come visit me in onehunga and i will see what i can do for free. If it all works good you just owe me a doz speights for the caddy - and the lappy gets dedicated to some poor looser at KB who has less junk than me (SM is looking for PC stuff).
Will be running round like a headless chook a bit tomorrow as will be trying to get a WOF and helpin the misses out. But I'm sure i can make time.
Stew

[Katman]

Ok hard drives out and in the Freezer..

Sounds crazy but im up for it...

Hope its the hard drive in there...

Crazy Steve...

No, you fool!!! That's the floppy dick!

[avgas]

No, you fool!!! That's the floppy dick!
And like that a new porn website was created on the internet

[scracha]

Ok hard drives out and in the Freezer..

Sounds crazy but im up for it...

Hope its the hard drive in there...

Crazy Steve...

I dunno who's joking now. Sticking a hard drive in a freezer for a good 4 hours or so sometimes gets $@#$cked hard drive's going for an hour or so. Works well enough in order to get non essential data off a hard drive. For really essential data, leave the thing alone and send the drive off to a recovery expert. They do the "clean room" thing and then send you a very large bill. For the average "home" user...the freezer thing is worth a crack though.

Seriously...the problem probably isn't your hard drive. If I was closer to dorkland I'd probably nip round and sort it for ya. Get a geek round (I'm surprised you've not been inundated with offers from techy-savvy kiwibikers) or take it to a geek shop...it won't be that expensive.

[pete376403]

You can get a 2.5" (laptop drive) to 3.5" (desktop size) hard drive adaptor from Jaycar for $15 (item PLO754) Assuming you have (or have access to) a desktop computer - This fits older IDE type drives, which from your description of the laptop, is what you are most likely to have.
Put the adapter on the notebook drive.
disconnect the CD ROM (DVD, whatever) from IDE 1 and connect the notebook drive here. Leave the PC hard drive on IDE 0.
Boot up the PC. Setup should detect the notebook drive. Start windows as normal and open "My Computer" The notebook drive should be there as D drive
Copy as much as you want from D to C.
If that doesn't make sense I suggest you dont try it. If the notebook drive isn't detected or doesn't appear in My Computer then it is possibly munted. If the data on it means a lot to you, send it to Computer Forensics in Auckland.
For about $5K they will extract the data and send it to you on CD or DVD.

[scracha]

Wot he said. Cept maybe use an IDE -> USB adapter so you can just plug the #@$cker into another PC without opening up the other Pc.

[Timati]

Have you got a network card in the laptop? If so, you can use a cross-over cable to connect to another PC and use data recovery software. Helped out friend of mine out a couple months back who was in the same boat. There isn't any guarantee as to a full recovery but you could recover most of it.

[scracha]

Have you got a network card in the laptop? If so, you can use a cross-over cable to connect to another PC and use data recovery software. Helped out friend of mine out a couple months back who was in the same boat. There isn't any guarantee as to a full recovery but you could recover most of it.

Not it the laptop ain't switching on he can't.

[Cajun]

Steve - if no one helped ya yet

Drop me a line, if you can get it to me in tauranga, i see what i can do get the data off.

[Lias]

Years ago MT and I used to work for The PC Company and know their old products entirely too well. The L8400k was an asus product and your lucky it was one of the better laptops the pc co ever sold. Be eternally grateful you didnt buy one of their ECS laptops.

If you want to send it down to me, I'm reasonably confident I could get the data off, I have access to some fairly powerful data recovery software. I might even be able to figure out whats wrong with the laptop, I think I still have the maintenace guide for it on CD somewhere.