Saturday, September 10, 2005



Latptop fixed



No thanks to Best Buy or the local repair shop, my laptop is now fixed.  Total cost of repair was ~ $15.

Compaq laptops have a bad design for the plug that makes it very easy for it to become broken if the computer is not set on a desk.  Putting it in your lap, for example, can put upward or downward pressure on the plug that will cause it to come unconnected from the motherboard (because it is only a dab of solder that holds it in place).  It becomes more and more difficult to keep your laptop plugged in and eventually, it won't effectively plug in at all.  Such was the problem that afflicted mine.

So I took it to the local repair place and the kid there said they don't do that sort of repair, all they would do is replace the motherboard (a $600 item unto itself), so he advised taking it elsewhere.  I then took it to Best Buy (where I had purchased it about two years ago) and was advised that I might as well buy a new computer, because all they would do is replace the motherboard.  The person behind the counter also volunteered that they would back up my present computer for $60 (or so).  I politely declined.

Took the computer back home and started unscrewing it.  Unlike desktops, laptops aren't entirely intuitive when it comes to disassembly.  Fortunately, Compaq makes their service manuals available online, so I was able to figure out the steps that I couldn't guess myself.  After completely taking it apart, I went to Radio Shack and bought a 15 watt soldering pencil and some solder.  Soldered the damaged area and then put the computer back together.  Didn't work the first time (partial disassembly found something that wasn't connected) but it worked on the second try.  Everything seems to be working fine.

Needless to say, I am quite happy at the moment.

Jackpotzrebie comment []12:15:30 AM   trackback []