So uh, my laptop just randomly froze, the backlight dimmed suddenly for about 30 seconds and then it just shut off, and now it won't turn on at all. :/

I checked all the "duh" stuff - the battery was in right, the thing was plugged in, no I didn't tell it to sleep or something, no it wasn't overheating. It just suddenly turned off and now it literally won't turn on at all.

We still have an extended warrenty on it (the thing is only 3 years old, I got it in 2005), so I guess I'll be making a trip to the store to drop it off tomorrow. It needed to go in for repairs hardcore anyway (the burner has stopped working and three of the keys keep popping off) but I've just been too lazy to get it in yet. Now I guess I don't have an excuse.

This isn't the first time this laptop has given me crap. I've had the WORST problem with the hinge on it, it cracked like a month after I got it and about a year or so after I bought it the hinge broke entirely, screws were falling out, plastic bits were breaking off, the whole bit. I took it in and they replaced the whole top part of the casing of the lid to fix the hinge... it broke again within a month (cracked and then broke entirely, I couldn't open or close the lid without more screws falling out and more cracking plastic :/). They fixed it again and now it's been okay since then... except for the keys popping off and the burner crapping out.

I'm not very computer savvy; what causes a computer (or in this case a laptop) to not even turn on? Is this total system failure or is it just a little thing they replace inside and all will be well? :/ There was a clause in the warrenty that if they can't fix the computer, they'll replace it for free. I'd certainly love a new laptop, this thing has been giving me hell...

crookshow wrote:

At least its still under warranty so you'll get a new one in the worst (or possibly best) case.

I'm actually hoping for a new one 8D yeah I'll be pissed if I loose everything that was on my harddrive (NOTHING was backed up... fuck! I've been meaning to get an external harddrive to back shit up... now I could be screwed. Ahh hell...) but I certainly wouldn't mind a new laptop. 8D I'm fairly sure they don't make or sell the model I have anymore (damn do they cycle through laptops fast! Every year there's new models...) so it'd have to be another one I'd imagine.

I'm kinda excited... but I'm also kinda pissed. :/ Oh well. At least this happened during the summer when I have no classes or anything.

Well I called my sister last night and her brother (the guy triple-majored in computers in college so I'll go ahead and trust him 8D) had me do a... I forget what they call it, a power flush? Took out the battery and unplugged the laptop and held the power button down for 10 seconds, then put the battery back in and tried turning it on again. Surprise surprise, the thing booted up like it's supposed to, everything looked great, it loaded the desktop, and before it could even finish loading Trillian, the entire thing died again, this time without the screen even dimming or anything; it just flat-out died, with a little "boop!" sound as the screen went black and the machine turned off.

Sigh.

The repair center at the place we got it opened at 10. I guess I better pack everything up and head on out!

@ GPFontaine: My mother didn't want to get a warrenty originally but I wanted her to and the guy selling us the laptop really did his whole sales routine, telling mom that laptops have a very high chance of having something wrong with them as they move around much more than a desktop computer. Mom finally caved and got it, but after all the crap I've had to put up with this laptop and all the problems and things that have gone wrong up to this point, I certainly think she thinks it was worth the money now 8D

Alright, so we had to do some crap with calling the extended warrenty company to get approval to get my laptop fixed, etc etc. Finally went down to take it in today. I get down to the place and talk to the guy at the counter and explain the problem.

Me: *shows dude my laptop* It won't turn on anymore. It died while I was using it and now it won't turn on.
Him: Oh well that sounds like a problem with the power adaptor! Let me see if I can find one that matches your computer and we can get it fixed right now.
Me: ...

Nevermind that I would have noticed if it was the power adaptor, the battery would have kicked in and an icon in the lower right of the screen would've popped on to be like "HEY YOU'RE WORKING OFF BATTERY POWER NOW." But it didn't do that, did it? No, it just died. Oh well, I humored the guy and he went through about three adaptors, all of which didn't make a difference.

Him: Hmmmm. It must be something inside the computer.
Me: *thinking "no fucking shit you fucking moron"* Ohh, I see.

Do they just assume all girls are morons or just that all people in general are morons? 8D

Anyway, they have to order a new keyboard to fix the three keys that keep popping off (that's crap, why do you need a whole new keyboard to fix three keys?) and he said there's probably a problem with the software that I'm using that's causing the burner to no longer work (nevermind I'm using the software that came with the computer) so they're just going to wipe my entire harddrive to fix the burner. Huh?

Not to mention none of that has anything to do with figuring out why it won't even turn on. And this is all gonna take some 2 to 3 weeks to accomplish.

Whatever, let them do whatever the hell they want. I just want a working computer back, either mine or a new one.

S. McCracken wrote:

Most likely the "memory wipeout" excuse is used when the person fixing it has no idea what they're doing.

That is soooo encouraging.

crookshow wrote:

Sounds like you took it to Best Buy.

Nope, not quite. But if I did tell you where I took it, it'd give away where I live and while I trust none of you are serial killers, I'm still not giving out my hometown on an internet forum of guys.

username wrote:

aika wrote: crookshow wrote: Sounds like you took it to Best Buy. Nope, not quite. But if I did tell you where I took it, it'd give away where I live and while I trust none of you are serial killers, I'm still not giving out my hometown on an internet forum of guys. cocktease

LOL am I now? 8D Well I can tell you I live nowhere near Phoenix, Arizona. I've been there before, though.

[EDIT] You know, I was just talking to someone yesterday about how cockteasing is fun. He called me evil.