Lap Top died !! Need a new one but what ?!

[Pete.]

Got a Toshiba Satellite Pro, as has my daughter. Both are over 3 yrs old and never a problem. My own one is for work and is dragged around building sites, either thrown in the back of the van (in it's bag) or strapped to the back of my bike. It's been soaked through in the rain and bounced down the road after I went flying the bonnet of a car doing a U-turn and still it soldiers on. Anything that can suffer 3 years of my working life can't be half bad.

 

[MarkMG]

I use a Dell C840, had it 8 years, no problems, battery still good. recently upgraded hard drive.

 

[wking]

HP presents a lot of options to customers giving choices for the ultimate media hub, business notebook or for casual use. I have an i5 run macbook pro and I have been pretty satisfied by it. Though I am not able to over clock it. If you would get something right up the alley, I suggest that you get the one with a "k" in the model. like i7-2300k, for better customization options. It is not the brand but the components anyway.

 

[Shedendman]

Can you get into the BIOS,if so and the screens ok then you may have a software problem,which may mean reloading your video drivers.
If the screen stays the same then its a hardware problem(graphics card is cooked).
If you can get into the BIOS try disableing the graphics card there,and reboot,normal 1st then in safe mode.
These simple little checks can save a lot of grief
What make and model is it?

 

[tigler]

I think I can get into bios, I'll give it a try. Can't recall the model of the top of my head, something like Freevent and some number, bought it in 2007. It's defo graphics related but whether I can get it back on line to resolve it is another question !!
Problem now is that if I can't recover it I won't be able to get back online until Thursday when I can use my folks computer again !

 

[GeorgiePorgie]

Blue screen of death is normally associated with the HD,disconnect HD and see if it comes up with a black screen and "No operating system displayed"?

If so its either the HD or its associated drivers corrupt??

 

[mike os]

always worth a punt at the local back alley fixer.... never know you might get lucky & only be a simple fix.... not likely with lappies, but worth £20

FF.... ot so much anti mac as anti the hype & bull that goes with them...and the ££££, lets face it is is an intel machine running unix, just built to a high spec...

& if I have to "agree" to anothr fkcein user agreement because they have fixed another fault in IOS (oops.... sorry not a fault, apple never have them) i am going to kill someone ffs I have had 3 in the last month

 

[Delboy]

Linux

Get one of your mates to look up linux ubuntu live cd. you can run the operating system off the cd its free and its fast, and you can run it along side windows. it wont install onto your hard drive unless you want it to. You can fix your windows system with it if you know what to look for. Ive had an Acer from Laptop Direct for seven years. running windows for 12 months the rest under Linux its been great never suffered from virii or the usual windoze complaints. still very fast. try it you will be surprised.

 

[BigBossMan]

My wife and eldest daughter both have MacBooks, never had a problem with them. I use an iMac with VMware and Win7 installed so I can use my works' graphics programme (windows based), again no problems.
My previous PowerMac I had for over 7 years, again no problems to speak of. As far as I know it's still working fine (gave it away).
So Mac every time for me, (just my 2p worth)

 

[keith19]

Tigler, have you tried getting into the BIOS yet? With what result?

 

[Shedendman]

I think I can get into bios, I'll give it a try. Can't recall the model of the top of my head, something like Freevent and some number, bought it in 2007. It's defo graphics related but whether I can get it back on line to resolve it is another question !!
Problem now is that if I can't recover it I won't be able to get back online until Thursday when I can use my folks computer again !

Freevent x50 models?

Start in safe mode with networking download the updates for your video/graphic card drivers then update,if you cant get online with that lappy,use another PC etc put them on disc and update from there in SAFE mode.

As said b4 Phillips dont make laptops they only sell em,IMHO Dell anyday

 

[octo0072000]

Hi just sent you a pm ref mate selling cheap lappy

 

[Ed.]

My personal view is that I will never buy another HP product again, over the last 10 or so years, I have accumulated a graveyard of business class printers and laptops, the support from the company is abysmal once a product is out of warranty and the products in my mind are unreliable. I have recently bought an Asus and a Sony notebook instead of the HP, so far so good but only time will tell.

 

[ozone]

try these
safePC Disposal

email
farhan@safepcdisposal.co.uk
in abingdon oxon 01235 534365 say mr thorne sent you ask for what you want second hand laptop and do a deal barter,,,!good deals and flexible

 

[tigler]

Big cheers for all the help and suggestions guys ! This is the first time I've had to get back online again since Monday ! Couldn't get into bios, the screen is now just a blank grey when turned on and after a long delay the HD goes busy and it tries to restart but just goes to a grey screen everytime.
Anyway, I absolutely HAD to get back online tomorrow so was compelled to buy a new laptop today. After a visit to a certain large national chain to see what was around I decided on a Lenovo. Just placed the order on Amazon for guaranteed delivery tomorrow.

Will endeavour to sort the Philips out when I have time. It's a Freevent X57 by the way !

 

[Shedendman]

Oh well,at least ya back,stick the old one on evil bay spare or repair recoup some money back

 

[tigler]

Well, courtesy of Amazon the new Lenovo arrived this morning !!
It's up and running and excluding the usual frustration with no browsing, contact, or cookie history all is good so far. The sound via my 2.1 speakers doesn't seem as good as the dead Philips though. Seems alot quicker but that is probably due to the HD being new and clean of rubbish ! Windows 7 could also be responsible for increased speed too though. The only thing really bugging me at the moment is not being able to find how to sort image files by date modified, ie when they were actually imported. On vista this could be done via an option on one of the toolbar tabs, sort by name, date or modified could be selected. Just can't find any option to do that now ! If anyone knows I would be very grateful to hear how !!

 

[Sparkey]

Hmm not sure, click on modified when you have your list of files. You can select the dates then? (sorry have to think a lot on this my windows 7 is in French)

 

[mike os]

right click in folder, "sort by..." "more"... & select the option you wnat

 

[excossack]

not sure if its been said, but have you tried the laptop on an external screen ?