OT: laptop repair

[Vaughn Treude]

Ed:
	The amazing things people know in the PLUG group!   Unfortunately, it 
doesn't work for me - it does turn the power off, but it doesn't work 
normally again the next time.  I also hear the "clunk"; which could be the 
hard drive (I was thinking it might've been some sort of relay.)  My Sony has 
never been drowned, and the worst drop it's ever experienced was falling on 
its side while standing against a table inside its padded case.  In other 
words, it's got no good reason to fail.
	I have been lucky enough to get it to boot twice since the problem started.  
The first time, my son needed something and I went away for a while and the 
stupid thing went into hibernation!  The second time, I was able to back up 
the day's work that I'd lost (whew!) and I turned off power management.  But 
while trying to save some info from the registry in Windoze 2K, it locked up 
and - you guessed it - wouldn't respond to a 3-finger salute.  So I'm back 
where I started.  If I can get it to boot again, I'll boot it in Red Hat and 
just copy the whole dang registry.

	Thanks anyhow!

Vaughn

On Thursday 20 February 2003 09:57, you wrote:
>     My Sony notebook occasionally behaves in a similar manner. The only
> sound I hear is an occasional "clunk" which I presume is the hard drive
> resetting itself. Power light but no BIOS (I don't think the LCD's
> backlight has been turned on either), no beeps, just that "clunk" sound.
>     On the underside of this machine is a small paperclip-sized hole. When
> my system gets into this mode, I carefully insert a straightened paperclip
> (a non-conductive item would be a better choice here) through the hole and
> gently push some sort of button inside. If power is on, it then goes off.
> But regardless, when I then press the power on button, the system goes back
> to normal operation. (I always carry a paperclip in my Palm Pilot case for
> both the notebook and Palm Pilot.)
>     If your system has a reset switch such as this, you might give this
> technique a try.
>     (My notebook accidentally drank a glass of water once. After a
> subsequent disassembly, alcohol bath, and a good "dry" in the Arizona sun,
> it started to return to rationality by complaining about [and allowing me
> to reset] the CMOS settings. A year later, the occasional underside-poke is
> the only remaining artifact from the unintentional bath. [I also took the
> occasion to "wash-out" the Microsoft operating system and put a "clean"
> version of Linux in its place.])
>
> On Thursday 20 February 2003 04:47 am, you wrote:
> > Hello all :=(
> > My laptop died suddenly.  The power light comes on, and it can eject the
> > CD, but it won't even try to boot - the BIOS screen won't come up at all.
> > I bought a new battery to no avail.  I suspect it's the *(&((_*%
> > hibernation circuit or maybe just the power relay won't come on.  It's
> > not under warranty any more.  Does anyone know of a good repair shop on
> > the west side?  I bought it at Fry's - does anybody have experience with
> > their techs - are they quick and/or reasonably priced?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Vaughn
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