Topic: Help; laptop dead

[Jeannine]

Hi, may of you know I have been struggling wioth an old laptop for ages, well I got a new one  just a couple of weeks ago yeah!!! But..

All my files re my veggie collection and old notes, parts of a new book, pictures of many things etc are still on the old one.

I used it last night to look something up, today it is dead.

There is no power to it at all..nothing.

I don't want it fixed but I oi need to retrieve my documents.

Is there anyway I can do it.. if I take it to a shop can they do it .

Any help will be appreciated, this is devastating.

XX Jeanninbe

[mat]

So long as it's something other than the hard drive which is causing the laptop not to start up, then it is easy to transfer the data off the old hard drive onto your new one.  My other half does it a lot for customers. If it's the hard drive which has died, then the data may be recoverable by a specialist (you'd need to send the hard drive off) but this is very expensive.

If you have a computer repair shop, take the laptop(s) along and see what they say.  You may find it's the laptop power supply which has died (this is fairly common) and the hard drive is absolutely fine.

Good luck
mat

[Capt Pugwash]

Seeing as you say that the laptop is completely dead it is highly unlikely to be the hard drive that is the problem.  It is more likely to be part of the power circuit (it could even be that the battery is completely dead and so it can't power up even when plugged in).  If you don't mind sourcing a screwdriver that fits the screws, it will be a lot cheaper for you to have a look on the internet for instructions on how to remove the hard drive of that model of laptop(you would be surprised how much info is out there).  If you ensure that it is not connected to the mains and the battery is removed you will be OK.  Once you have the hard drive out you will be able to buy an adaptor that will connect the drive to a USB port on your new computer.

If you are not confident that you can do this (trust me I can't believe that people pay me to look after PCs at work because it is so easy once you get past the fear that you will break it) then it will be best for you to take it to your local PC repair shop.

[non-stick]

If it's the power supply/battery  sometimes this works - well it can't hurt. Disconnect the power supply, Remove the battery, press the on/off button for 30s or so. Reconnect power supply and switch on. If it turns back on you can put the battery back in.

If that doesn't work then, as Pugwash says, transferring the data is still possible. I had similar problems with an old desktop and bought a cradle from Maplins that you put the old hard drive in and then connect that to your new one. It wasn't that expensive and probably cheaper than paying someone. I had to fiddle around with file permissions a bit but wasn't too bad.

I also bought a decent external hard drive to back files up onto after that

Good Luck

[picman]

If its completely dead , then most likely the little power supply box , there are universal replacements available , check what its power label says, other option is to remove the hard drive and get a USB caddy to take the old drive and connect to new laptop. ( you can then use this as backup)

[Capt Pugwash]

On a lighter note (still with a valid point) should you not get the information off the drive (highly unlikely), you can always visit www.taobackup.com to read the story and have a look at, maybe even post on, the wailing wall of backup.  The last time that I looked there were a couple of very expensive backup failures that let you know that you are not alone.

[Jeannine]

Thank you, I will try the battery idea nd think on the others. I could probably do it.

It is not the box thing, the power transformer that I am sure of, John has tested that and it has power.

Bit more info.

It wasn't turned on as it's place had been taken by the new one.

I used it for about 5 minutes a few nights ago, without plugging it in, it was fine

Two nights ago I looked something up and plugged it in in case the battery was getting low, again it was fine. I left it plugged in when I finished but turned it off. Next day it would not turn on..............zip..nothing.

XX Jeannine

[greenfists]

Just an idea.
Have you checked the fuse in the plug for the power supply?
Stranger things have happened.
Its simple to check, you might get lucky.

[Jeannine]

Oh how I wish, but we don't have fused plugs here and I have tried in differnt sockets.

XX Jeannine

[chriscross1966]

Whatever you do at the shop do NOT let them reinstall the OS.... A laptop drive should be fairly easy to get out, it should be a cover with up to four screws in it underneath it there will be a drive, or if you're lucky it will be like the old Dell ones and it's a caddy that you undo one screw adn the whole thing slides out with the drive on it. Get a 2.5" drive external drive case with an internal interface to fit your drive (IDE or SATA  I expect) and an external interface to suit your new computer (probalby USB2 or 3, but Firewire and external SATA are generally a bit more robust and faster than most USB2 connections).

ASsuming your new computer has a massively bigger drive than the old one then you might as well copy the whole thing over into a giant folder, then go through it, make DVD backups (x2) of all the important data, delete all the junk, leaving the useful stuff in the folder on the new PC.... then do an OS reinstall on the old computer (once it's up and running again)... in fact if you stick Linux on there ( I recommend Mandriva, but there are plenty of other easy to install 'nixes) you'll find it runs a lot faster.... If you put Firefox and Open Office on it it will do all the browsing, simple document stuff etc you might want too....

I've got a 10 year old P3 laptop running Mandriva that I still use for portable browsing, the only reason I ended up upgrading was because it can't handle HD video in .mp4 format and it can't decompress and play iPlayer or Youtube high-definition..... It's slated to become the workshop PC once I set up the workshop .......

chrisc

chrisc

[BarriedaleNick]

or it could be like a Sony one I just took apart to get at the HD.  Keyboard had to be removed as well as about twenty screws to remove the entire lower case - then strangely the HD was attached to USB inputs so more screws - then remove the HD and caddy only to have to remove the caddy as it was in the way of the sta input.

Oddly I had some screws left when I put it back together..

[Jeannine]

Actually I am not bad at fixing stuff and not worried about dismantling it so aim to have a go next week perhaps.

The laptop is a a Stone.

Thank you all I will be back when ready to have  a crack at it.

XX Jeanninbe