LAPTOP PROBLEMS

Ok, if you're not into computers then stop now as this will be boring!

It’s been a while since I last posted, mainly I suppose as we’ve not been anywhere I consider worthy of the title meandering or wandering. Then again why shouldn’t I comment on things which have occupied my time at home?

I spent many hours, no weeks in fact, messing about trying to resurrect a broken laptop. It was completely dead, not a flicker, even the battery charging circuits were dead. After a ‘brief’ strip down to the motherboard- (did I say brief when I mean it took most of one day), the visual inspection showed no fuses or burnt components so the conclusion was the motherboard needed replacing. Good old eBay provided one for a reasonable cost plus another day and rebuild. Yesss, it‘s now charging, that’s encouraging I thought, eagerly waiting for the charging indicator to go out. Time to press the power button, yes, more indicator lights and hard drive activity but nothing else, nothing at all on the screen.

The supplier of the MB seemed to think the later models used a different type of memory, so we ordered it from the US as it was cheaper. It duly arrived and was installed and guess what, still nothing on screen! Another strip down to double check all the internal connectors, all seemed correct so try again. Again absolutely nothing on the screen.

Back to the MB supplier for advice, this time remove the cmos backup battery for a few minutes was suggested. Now to do this you need access to the underside of the MB- another complete strip including removing the processor and cooling fan. By this time the many and varied tiny screws are getting a bit worse for wear plus my patience is rapidly running out. Needless to say it had no effect.

Time to call it a day, it has to go to another ‘loving’ home! The MB supplier seems to have a business selling computer bits and pieces and was happy to have it for £30, plus a refund of the MB and memory upgrade. Bye-bye Packard Bell Easynote 8!

Time to look for a replacement, oh what a massive market there is in 15in laptops. I really wanted one with a HD screen but not at the current prices. Samsung was in the running until I tried the mousepad with integral clicker, reviews were not good, neither was an actual trial with many accidental clicks while scrolling. £700 for a compromise is not a good buy whereas £399 for another PB with i5 processor, 4 Gb memory, Windows 7 and a massive 1 Tb (yes 1 Tb!!!) hard drive won hands down. So here we go again with the Packard- Bell Easynote TS, hopefully will last longer than it’s predecessor.