Anyone know a fair amount about notebook problems?

[impy13]

I'm writing this post from the keyboard of my new Toshiba notebook, which I'm quite smitten with. I bought it today as a result of my three year old Gateway notebook going on the fritz. Here's what happened:

It had been working fine for the past three years. Yesterday, I turned it off and put it and its power supply in their case since I was leaving Austin to come home for the weekend. When I got back to Dallas and into my house, I plugged it in and left it on, like I always do. Turns out the computer wasn't getting power and was running on its battery, which eventually died. This is odd since the LED light on the power supply is the same vibrant green it always is. The damn thing, plain and simple, isn't receiving any power from a supply that isn't broken.

What could be the problem here? I'd like to be able to turn the thing on so I could get all my old files and everything. Hell, it'd even be nice to have it operational if I ever needed it. Does anyone have a clue what the deal could be?

 

[Liesje]

Many older laptops go bad where the power adapter meets the computer, like the connection is not being made so obviously the battery will not charge, even though the adapter itself is fine. I think you have no choice but to take it to Geek Squad or whatever and have them do some resoldering where the power meets the compy.

This just started happening to my 5 year old HP Pavilion. I've got to turn it until I get to the sweet spot where it's still able to make the connection.

 

[impy13]

Good advice, but I'm not paying 300 to get Geek Squad to fix a minor problem when I already bought a new lappy.

Would you reckon it's possible to get my videos, photos, and documents off of my old computer's hard drive despite the fact that it's unable to turn on?

 

[Liesje]

Yeah it's totally possible, I do it every day even with hard drives that do have some damage. I just use a universal drive adapter that converts to a USB 2.0, plug it into my desktop, and copy the stuff I (or the student) wants back. I'm not sure how much they cost though, probably less than what you'd pay Geek Squad for data recovery.

 

[impy13]

Good advice, thank you. I'll look into getting one of those drive adapters. I guess I can just remove the hard drive from the old laptop at that point and plug it into the thing?

Forgive my ignorance with this issue. I'm usually pretty tech savvy.

 

[Liesje]

Yep.

This is usually my procedure: Remove the hard drive from laptop. Generally they are on the lefthand side, but either way they are near the edge of the compy and there is like two little screws you take off and then it slides right out. With my adapter, I also have to take the drive out of it's caddy (removing the 4 little screws, 2 on each side). Some drives also have this adapter that goes along all the pins and makes it into one row. This you have to take off carefully or you will bend the pins (very easy to bend). I generally take the tiniest flathead screwdriver I have and go around the edges, prying it up a little bit as I go until I can pull it straight off. Then, the drive plugs into the adapter, which plugs into any USB 2.0 port. It will be mounted just like any USB memory stick or other device, accessible in My Computer.

 

[impy13]

Thanks for the advice, Liesje. You've been a big help.