Bad Stuff

Hey guys, bad news.

Just now, my computer screen suddenly went to black, and for the moment I can't get it to boot back up. I haven't come to a solid conclusion about what caused the issue, and I would much rather you guys not give me ideas (I'm panicking as it is, and suggesting something might only make me more worried). At the very least, this will probably force me to wake up and find a source of income so I can buy a new computer. If things look bad (I'm hoping and crossing my fingers that it's not), I'll update you and describe what it means regarding my future activity.

-Drago, currently computerless

Update #1

I got the computer to boot up, I logged in as normal, and found all my desktop icons and files were intact. However, a few minutes later, it went to black screen like before. This leads me to believe that my hard drive is fine, and that it may have something to do with my battery, as my computer has been complaining about it for over a year now. More updates as stuff happens.

Had the same thing happen a couple weeks back, just an issue with battery life and connectivity to a power source. Commonly battery life declines over the course of owning a laptop, and it may just be a case of bumping the transformer into the wrong position and it shutting down because the cable loses contact with the slot. Definitely sounds like a hardware problem, though...at any rate, best of luck fixing the problem. ^^

A similar thing happened to my laptop a few years back. It just doesn't turn on at all anymore.

I guess you could always convince a friend to let you use their computer until you get yours fixed? I mean, if you really need it that badly. Honestly, if I were you I would just buy a new computer. Maybe a cheap laptop or something. Nothing fancy. If you're going for cost-effectiveness, then you might have to sacrifice playing some more advanced computer games, but it'll be worth it for all the other things you need it for.

In the meantime, you should try reading a book. I suggest Congo by Michael Crighton. Or anything by Michael Crighton, really.

3D wrote:

Had the same thing happen a couple weeks back, just an issue with battery life and connectivity to a power source. Commonly battery life declines over the course of owning a laptop, and it may just be a case of bumping the transformer into the wrong position and it shutting down because the cable loses contact with the slot. Definitely sounds like a hardware problem, though...at any rate, best of luck fixing the problem. ^^

Thanks. I think it may have something to do with the battery, at least partially, but it may be a bigger issue than either of us would like to believe it is.

Gelatino95 wrote:

A similar thing happened to my laptop a few years back. It just doesn't turn on at all anymore.

I guess you could always convince a friend to let you use their computer until you get yours fixed? I mean, if you really need it that badly. Honestly, if I were you I would just buy a new computer. Maybe a cheap laptop or something. Nothing fancy. If you're going for cost-effectiveness, then you might have to sacrifice playing some more advanced computer games, but it'll be worth it for all the other things you need it for.

In the meantime, you should try reading a book. I suggest Congo by Michael Crighton. Or anything by Michael Crighton, really.

Well we've got the family computer (what I'm using right now), but it's a Mac, sooooo yeah.

The thing about buying a new computer is that I've got the mentality of "all or nothing". Buying a semi-good computer is only going to delay my need of a gaming-specific computer. I've had my eye on a really nice gaming laptop (ASUS G75VW,) and while it'd take a while to get the money for it (I'm about $800 short of its current price tag,) in the end I think it would be worth it. I'll figure something out. :/


Update #2

I have had zero success getting my computer to work since it went to my desktop that one time. I've tried taking the battery out and letting it sit for a while, but it didn't work. I tried "draining the power" from the laptop (removing the battery/power cord and holding down the power button for 15 seconds), but as you'd expect, it didn't work.

In addition, upon attempting to power the computer up, seven short beeps will sound from the speakers. I read over some community support threads on the dell community forums, and that seems to be an indication about a processor issue. However, several posts in the thread I'm reading seem to point to that being triggered when the motherboard is having issues. People have suggested taking it to someone who does computer repairs and having them souder a few components on the motherboard. Either that, or get in contact with Dell support and send my computer to them. (Something else I found out was that it should be fairly easy to get important data from my HDD to a USB storage device, even if I can't turn my computer on. So Dreadsky Depths and my other important projects should be safe.)

So yeah. :/ Morale of the story: never buy Dell again.

See, this is why I use a desktop computer. Because stuff like battery shiznit doesn't happen. Unless there's a power outage. But that doesn't happen often. Like, once every 6 weeks, often during school. (...that was a fun experience going to the bathroom. ;_;)

Talvox wrote:

See, this is why I use a desktop computer. Because stuff like battery shiznit doesn't happen.

Just to point this out, the only reason desktops don't have battery shiznit issues is because they don't posses a battery. Besides, laptops can function plugged in without a battery anyhow, becoming an albeit small and possibly underpowered version of a desktop. tl;dr, there's no extra power security in a desktop. ^^

On a different note, Drago, if you're thinking of getting a motherboard and processes replacement, it's probably worth looking into simply buying a new PC. Nowadays one can grab a laptop for around $500-600 that has a decent processor and graphics card capable of playing modern games on medium settings, occasionally high. Here's one I found with a quick search, in case you're interested -

$600.00 i5 2.5 (3.1 Turbo) Ghz, nVidia 730M, 4GB RAM, 500 HDD
http://store.acer.com/store/acerna/en_US/pd/productID.258312300/parentCategoryID.60084600/

And a quick rundown of the kind of FPS you'll get with the 730M:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GT-730M.84681.0.html

Yes, at this point, getting a new laptop is out of the question. But after watching a few videos about this issue, I've realized that the issue I'm having is pretty common, and a computer repair shop should be able to fix it easily. There's even one shop in my state that is really familiar with fixing this exact issue. What to decide now is if I want to go that route and keep my current computer as a placeholder, or if I just want to go all tunnel-vision and hyper-focus on a new computer.

As I think I mentioned before, I've had my eye on the Asus G75VW, a $1.4k laptop. I'm not broke, but I'd have to get a good, steady source of income very quickly in order to be able to afford it any time soon. I've wanted that computer for a long time, so getting a less-expensive laptop simply so I can get it faster almost seems more like a step backwards.

Anyway, I know I'm rambling. Hopefully I'll figure out an effective course of action to get everything back and rolling again. Until then, I'll be stuck to mooching off of others' computers. :/

DRaGO wrote:

At the very least, this will probably force me to wake up and find a source of income so I can buy a new computer.

Have you thought of starting a pawn shop?

Okay, time for an update.

A friend of my Dad's who is good with taking apart computers came over today to help me take apart my laptop. In doing so, we were able to get my hard drive out, and he said I should be able to take it to a shop and have someone put it into a case that will basically turn it into a big USB drive. So my data is definitely safe. Bad news is, he couldn't fix the issue I'm having, and we pretty confidently determined that it's the Processor issue that I've been suspecting this whole time.

So right now, my priorities are as follows. #1. Get access to the data on my hard drive via the USB thingy or another way. #2. Work on getting money for a new laptop. #3. Get current laptop fixed.

If I can get my hard drive into the USB thingamaby for a decent price, I might consider also investing in getting the laptop fixed. If it costs a lot to get my data accessible, I'm probably just going to settle with that and scrap the laptop.

So yeah, doesn't look like I'll be playing many games with you guys any time soon. :/