IT Help Required.. My laptop died

[Badcat]

Its a fairly recent laptop, so would expect the CPU heatsink to get too hot to touch, but is the CPU or the GPU cooler you are talking about? The CPU will handle overheating a lot more than the GPU would (thermal throttling and all that, not like the old days), but would expect video corruption from a naffed video card.

Also, the fan was going off and on quite happily during the time I had the laptop, might pay to double check that the cooler doesnt have one of the old school sensors attached to it? If so just make sure that's not been knocked or disconnected in any way. Sounds a bit iffy if there are loose screws in there, they dont normally come undone by themselves.

One other thing, I know the RAM has been swapped, but my understanding is that it was second hand RAM that was used? As the change in RAM had a definate impact on the frequency of the problem, would it pay to try more conservative memory timings in the BIOS incase the RAM's not all that it could be?

Hey - i supplied the ram.
the 2100s - (2x 256) were both known good and pulled from new machines.
the 2700 (1x 256) was new and sealed.

ken

[Drunken Monkey]

Its a fairly recent laptop, so would expect the CPU heatsink to get too hot to touch, but is the CPU or the GPU cooler you are talking about? The CPU will handle overheating a lot more than the GPU would (thermal throttling and all that, not like the old days), but would expect video corruption from a naffed video card.

Indeed, and I've known several video cards that were overheating to only show corruption in 3D mode. They would lock up without visible corruption in Windows, so this is also a plausible answer.

CaN, don't spend too much effort chasing the symptoms instead of the cause! What did 'House' say the other week? "You wake up, the curtains are missing, the wallpaper is peeling and the water is boiling. Which do you attend to first? None, you get out of the house - it's on fire!"

Addendum: Celeron 266? It's definately a chucker! Throw it in the bin Cibby, don't let anyone spend one more minute on it! (Keep the hard disk though, no reason to throw out good quality bike pr0n)

[The Stranger:Me]

Ok, maybe the heatsink should be too hot to handle.
We usually deal in HP gear, this would be the first Acer I have had here in about 4 yrs, and this thing is putting out way more heat than anything else we have had through.

It aint going off and on here, slow and fast, but not off and on. That said with the cover removed it is coming close i.e at times it will shutdown for a few seconds.

I doubt it is RAM at this stage as it really is co-incident with stress, heat and the fan being on high for an extended period. The problem you were seeing I understand, it was beeping then shutting down. This is not beeping at all

The thing anoying me is, why now?
If the heat sink has been adequate for the last x months/years why should it now be inadequate?

Anyway, it is still surviving a burn in test with the cover off, so fingers crossed.

[Drunken Monkey]

...so it survives a burn in test. Cibby gets it back and it works ok for 2 days then back to square one...

People normally pay me $120 an hour to say this, but I'm going to give it to ya for free, just becuase I like ya: CHUCK IT IN THE BIN.

[The Stranger:Me]

...so it survives a burn in test. Cibby gets it back and it works ok for 2 days then back to square one...

People normally pay me $120 an hour to say this, but I'm going to give it to ya for free, just becuase I like ya: CHUCK IT IN THE BIN.

Yeah, hate to admit it but I feel you are right.
Still never know, may last longer.

Could be a demand for this though,
Combined computer/coffee maker.

[GR81]

People normally pay me $120 an hour to say this, but I'm going to give it to ya for free, just becuase I like ya: CHUCK IT IN THE BIN.

i coulda offered that advice for $99+gst

[The_Dover]

Shit man, I gave that advice gratis.

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...9&postcount=89

[WRT]

Hey - i supplied the ram.
the 2100s - (2x 256) were both known good and pulled from new machines.
the 2700 (1x 256) was new and sealed.

ken

LOL - no offense intended there mate, especially after such a generous donation. However, I hope it was the 2700 that was used, as I'm pretty sure that is what the original was - but if the 2100's were used, then my original suggestion of more conservative memory timings would be a good'un, no?

Meanwhile, CaN, you sure it was a Celeron 266? Havent come across a 266 running DDR before . . . that would make the RAM the same speed (or faster) than the CPU! Whacking another digit on the end would have been closer to the speed, I would have thought. If your using software to determine the speed of the CPU make sure its not being throttled back in low power mode as this will give you a false reading.

[Badcat]

LOL - no offense intended there mate, especially after such a generous donation. However, I hope it was the 2700 that was used, as I'm pretty sure that is what the original was - but if the 2100's were used, then my original suggestion of more conservative memory timings would be a good'un, no?

.

no offence taken.
i'm a complete n00b with dirty ol' windows.


K

[Cibby]

no offence taken.
i'm a complete n00b with dirty ol' windows.


K

Ken, i've still got that other ram to send back to yoU!!! will do shortly.

I'm thinking chucking it may just be the option.. maybe we could to burn outs on it.. show it how hot it can really really be!!! MUAHAHAHAH

will have to see.. maybe i can convince postie to go halves with me on one..

Is there anyone else who wants to have a go?? Walt ?? (Happy birthday for yesterday by the way)

A big thanks to CAN for having a go at this for me.. next round of drinks on me..

[Cibby]

Addendum: Celeron 266? It's definately a chucker! Throw it in the bin Cibby, don't let anyone spend one more minute on it! (Keep the hard disk though, no reason to throw out good quality bike pr0n)

I wonder if there is any way i can claim under the consumers guarentee act.

A laptop should last longer that 1.5 years.. i might take it back to them and complian and threaten fair go or the small claims court saying that it has never run sufficiently.. see what they say..

D/Monkey? is the celeron 266 a crapper??? is it that bad? is it known to do this?

Ta

Rach (thats my "real life" name)

[Cajun]

if you can find out the model make and number aka acer 234 or simlar would be helpful
it should be on it somewhere, or the little sticker on the bottom

[Drunken Monkey]

I wonder if there is any way i can claim under the consumers guarentee act.

A laptop should last longer that 1.5 years.. i might take it back to them and complian and threaten fair go or the small claims court saying that it has never run sufficiently.. see what they say..

D/Monkey? is the celeron 266 a crapper??? is it that bad? is it known to do this?

Ta

Rach (thats my "real life" name)

That's a very interesting question, there is some case law regarding this. I know of a rep who had to go down country to testify that the expected lifetime of a computer is expected to be about the same as the warranty period, typically 1 to 3 years. A pissed off lawyer had a laptop die after 5 years and successfully convinced a court/judge that it wasn't unreasonable to expect it to work after that period and managed to get the reseller (NOT the manufacturer) to replace it with a new one. However this was for commercial use, so consumer garauntees didn't apply. I don't remember all the particulars, but I do know the witness and could ask if I actually gave a shit. Otherwise, the law library would be the best place to check.

We're getting some conflicting information here. A 266MHz CPU can only be one of two types, either a 266MX (basically a sooped up Pentium) or a genuine Pentium II. (I lie, there's bound to be an AMD equivalent, possibly IBM were still into Cirux CPUs back then as well...). These were out of production in the late 90's, and as WRT also pointed out, didn't use DDR RAM (they used EDO, PC66, PC100 or PC133 RAM, depending on the exact type). Even a 1.5 year old hand held would have a faster CPU, I think my 3 year old iPaq has a 400MHz CPU!

I can't really answer your question RE the CPU for the reason above. However, if it actually was a genuine Intel Pentium II/266, it was a solid CPU in its day. Most CPUs are, even AMD CPUs have been good units for a long time. To tell the truth, it's been a looong time since I've seen a hardware fault that was just a faulty CPU. RAM, disk drive, PSU and motherboard problems are much more common, some of which may give faulty CPU-like symptoms.

Out of warranty usually means out of luck. There's a reason Acer laptops are cheap and typically only warranted to 1 year - they're consumable junk for consumers. Even consumer targetted brand machines will only be warranted for a year, without an additional extended warranty purchased (for around $300 or so). Only machines targetted to commerical purchasers have 3 year warranties by default, and these machines usually cost twice as much to begin with.

I don't fancy your chances in small claims court. You may be able to annoy the vendor, but Acer themselves won't be involved - it's between you and your reseller.

[Sniper]

There is only one thing for it............ DESTRUCTIVE RECOVERY!!!!!

[The Stranger:Me]

I wonder if there is any way i can claim under the consumers guarentee act.

You could contact the commerce commission.

We tried this when we had a run of IBM laptops failing at 15-18 months. IBM were absolutely not interested at all.

They said that because they were business use the consumer guarantees act would not apply, but felt there was a case under such circumstances if they were not business use.