Laptop problem at start up (1 Viewer)

[Barclaybasher]

Hi
Recently my old Advent 6552 laptop failed to start - camera, power lights would come on but the laptop would not start up, just switch itself on and off every 30 seconds or so.
A local engineer fixed it, lasted a week, then started to do the same - he swapped the bios battery and again everything was ok until I tried to use a USB connection - instant shutdown.
It will now only start if I hold the start button down until the screen shows. It then takes ages to load but it does then seem to work normally.
When I told no 3 son about the USB knocking out the laptop he then told me it was him plugging his phone into a USB connection that had knocked out the laptop in the first place ...............
Is it time to buy another laptop?
Thanks

 

[Xan]

My first thought is the mains power connector, these are usually soldered to the motherboard and bad connections are common. Were you running it on mains? Try it on battery.

Second, the hard disk might have given up the ghost. A cheap fix, if you test the drive in another machine, and if it is indeed dead buy a replacement, fit it, and install a new operating system.

Third, the laptop battery might be dead. Some laptops will not start up without a good condition battery connected. Try removing the battery and starting it up on mains power.
Check for BIOS settings relating to battery.

The internal fan might have failed. This causes the laptop to protect itself from heat damage by not starting up.

...or something else...

If as you say, the laptop is really old and you rely on having one then low spec laptops are very very cheap at the moment. Unless you can identify the fault yourself, spec and buy the parts and fit them yourself it might be time to get a new one.

If you look at the Currys website, they always have refurbished laptops for sale well under the £300 mark (recently £229). As a minimum, look for a dual-core processor, at least 4gb ram and Windows 7. Toshiba are in my opinion the best for build quality.

Hope this helps.

 

[wivvy's dad]

Don't mess about - buy a new one.

Cheap as chips.

Or you can have my 2 year-old Acer for £150

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[scotjimland]

As said.. don't pay to have an old lappy fixed when they are cheap as chips... just not worth it..

Have a look at the Dell Outlet for refurbished..

I bought two from them last year, top spec models with a huge saving on new.. all come with a full Dell warranty .. some may only have a scratch.. or other cosmetic blemish ..

 

[camocam1]

have had similair problem with a HP only year old, went off for repair and the report that came back stated "that the connection to the motherboard had been damaged due to excessess usage" ie taking out and in the usb connection too much, never heard such rubbish but they replaced the motherboard and all okay now.

agree with others not worth the cost of a repair and you will be amazed by the difference of speed