Dell CPX Repair
Wednesday, August 31, 2005

A Dell CPX laptop came in for repair this week. This one had nothing being displayed on the screen. Our customer stated that it had worked fine until the other day; when he turned it on, nothing was being displayed on the screen. He had taken it to one of the larger stores in the area who told him the computer was shot and that he needed to buy a new one. Fortunately, a 'computer friend' of his recommended us.

He brought the computer in and we quickly and accurately diagnosed the laptop with having a bad LCD cable. The replacement cable was in stock and was only $29. After labor, the entire repair of his laptop was under $100.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 1:35 PM, ,


HP ZT1135 (ZT1000 series)


An HP ZT1000 series laptop came in this week- model ZT1135. This one was running slow and crashing. Our customer also wanted memory upgrade options.

A hard drive test revealed that the drive was bad. We replaced the stock 20GB with a newer, larger 30GB hard drive. Also, the unit was running slow- it was using a Celeron 1200 with just 128MB memory. A 256MB upgrade brought the unit up to 384MB and helped with the speed issues. The total repair was under $200.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 6:59 AM, ,


Gateway 400SD4 power jack
Thursday, August 25, 2005

A Gateway 400SD4 came in this week with a broken power jack. This is faily common on certain Gateway models.

We stock most jacks out there, including the power (DC) jack for the 400SD4. Parts and labor on this one was $125.

This notebook is ready for more action!

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 1:05 PM, ,


IBM ThinkPad A30 2652AU1
Wednesday, August 24, 2005

An IBM ThinkPad A30 came in this week (Type # 2652AU1). Our customer is a student and needs his laptop for schoolwork and other educational purposes. He had been getting bluescreens and other miscellaneous errors. He has taken it to his school's IT department and they erased all of his info and gave him the computer back- upon usage he realized the problem still existed, so, he looked around for someone to repair the unit and found us.

He explained the problems to us and dropped his ThinkPad off. Within 48hrs we were able to check it out. A drive fitness test revealed that his hard drive had bad sectors. Upon letting him know this he asked us to replace the drive for him. We installed a new 60GB high RPM hard drive (in stock). The reliability of the new drive will allow him to safely work on and store data on his computer. The higher RPM will give him a faster overall computer, allowing him to work more efficiently.

The parts and labor on this particular repair were under $200.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 11:32 AM, ,


Dell Dimension 4600 Desktop Computer Repair

A Dell Dimension 4600 desktop computer came in for repair this week. It just quit turning on one day, and would not boot up.

We checked the unit out. This one in particular just had a bad power supply. A Thermaltake 420W TruePower power supply was in stock @ $55. The Thermaltake power supply is better than the one that came in the machine, so this unit should not be back any time soon (at least for that problem).

Our customer will also be happy with this power supply since it will also make his computer a quieter machine. =)

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 9:37 AM, ,


HP ZE4000 LCD

An HP ZE4000 series laptop came in this week. This one had a cracked LCD. Supposedly there was a pen inside the laptop and the user closed the lid, cracking the LCD.

We happened to havea spare 14.1" XGA TFT LCD here in stock for it for under $200. Our customer was thrilled. We went ahead and replaced the screen for them and the unit is back out the door.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:10 AM, ,


How to slipstream a hotfix

MS explains on their site how to slipstream a hotfix here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;814847

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:03 AM, ,


Dell GX400 Desktop Ordeal

A Dell GX400 desktop computer came in this week for repair. This one has a bad power supply. The power supply part # is 03E466.

After getting a quote from Dell we got our customer's approval to go ahead and order the part. We know Dell's tricks and made sure the item was in stock. We called back and attempted to order the part. After taking down all of our information, just before getting our credit card #, they decided to pull yet another stunt. The rep said: That part is not available. Sorry I told you it was in stock, but it is not. Of course, a similar replacement was in stock at nearly triple the price we were quoted. We immediately hung up and purchased the part from one of our other vendors.

4 out of our last 5 orders with Dell have gone bad. Something is up over there, and it certainly is not customer satisfaction.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 6:44 AM, ,


Compaq Presario X1000: No Display
Tuesday, August 23, 2005

A Compaq Presario X1000 came in for repair. Our customer said that this one had been running hot and now has no display.

A technician checked it out and determined it had been dropped. The drop had caused some internal components to come loose. It had been running hot because it needed to be serviced.

Our customer was thrilled he did not need any (expensive) parts. The labor on this unit was under $100 and the machine runs like new again.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 7:16 AM, ,


IBM ThinkPad T23 2648LU7

This week an IBM ThinkPad T23 (2648LU7) passed through. This one would not power on at all.

We quickly and accurately diagnosed this unit with a bad system board. With the customer's go ahead, we replaced the board (which was in stock). The unit now runs like new again.

This particular repair was $179 for the system board and $80 labor.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 6:23 AM, ,


Compaq Presario X1000
Monday, August 22, 2005

A Compaq Presario X1000 came in for service this week. The notebook would power on but would not boot up and had no display. Our customer also told us that it had been running hotter than normal lately.

A technician here was able to accurately diagnose this unit quickly. The laptop had taken a fall and some parts needed to be reseated. A dust build up had led to the heat of the unit.

Upon the customer's go ahead we wanth through the computer and cleaned and reseated all of the parts. This X1000 is up and running great again. The total cost of this particular repair was under $100. Turn around time for this unit was three business days.

Our customer was thrilled. They thought for sure they were going to need a new computer rather than a simple service!

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 12:09 PM, ,


NCSU Laptop Repair
Tuesday, August 16, 2005

The students at NCSU have been thrilled with our laptop repair servies.

We're more than happy to help out students at an affordable price. We offer free diagnostics on your laptop. We have been getting in quite a few HP/Compaq, Gateway and IBM laptops for repair from NCSU students.

For directions to our shop, go here:
http://www.absoluteraleigh.com/directions.html

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 1:22 PM, ,


Inspiron 1000 LCD

A Dell Inspiron 1000 came in this week from Rocky Mount, NC.

This unit had a cracked LCD. Our customer wanted a brand new LCD. We were able to get a 15" XGA TFT LCD for them for $375.

We installed the new LCD, tested it and shipped it back to them. The entire repair was only 4 days. Another store had quoted them $800 installed with a 2 week wait. (Whoah!). Even Dell wanted ~ $500 - $600 for a screen...

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 1:20 PM, ,


Rocky Mount Laptop Repair

Have a broken laptop in Rocky Mount, NC? The customers and computer repair centers in Rocky Mount are telling us that we are the most affordable and the most capable laptop repair center in the area.

About 50% of or Rocky Mount customers have been driving here. The other 50% ship their laptop here for about $10. Shipping a system here by FedEx or UPS ground usually takes 24hrs and is $7 - $10. Where are we? We're in Cary, NC, just outside of Raleigh, NC.

This week alone we have repaired a ThinkPad T20, a Compaq Presario 700 and a Dell Inspiron 1000 for customers in Rocky Mount, thanks to referrals from other computer stores up there.

We offer free diagnostics and will call you before any work is done on your laptop. If we're shipping it back to you, there is no additional fee for shipping.

For information on shipping your unit here, go here:
http://absoluteraleigh.com/national_laptop_repair.html

For driving directions, go here:
http://absoluteraleigh.com/directions.html

Absolute Computers
919-468-3999
www.AbsoluteRaleigh.com

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 1:13 PM, ,


IBM ThinkPad X23

An X23 came in last week. This one had been dropped off of a desk. The keyboard and the keyboard bezel both needed to be replaced.

The parts were not in stock so we purchased them from IBM. The next morning DHL dropped off the replacement parts and we got this little laptop repaired and back out the door.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 1:11 PM, ,


ThinkPad 600E Repair

Quite a few ThinkPad 600E laptops came in for repair this week. The 600Es are 5 years old but are still popular. They are rugged and stable machines.

One 600E here for a new motherboard.
A 600X arrived for a new keyboard.
A 600 was here for a new main battery.
A 600E was here for a new motherboard.
A 600X came in for an LCD.
And last but not least, another ThinkPad 600 came in with a 192, 163, 173 error, which meant it needed a new CMOS battery.

We stock all IBM ThinkPad 600, 600E and 600X laptop parts. We no longer sell many parts for these particular units online but they're always in stock for our ThinkPad repairs.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 1:06 PM, ,


Back to School

Many college students are going back to school this week. We've been bombarded with requests for laptop parts, sales of used laptops and especially repairs. We have had few posts to our blog and everyone here has been working overtime.

Overall it has been a great week. More hours have been put in than expected but that is a good thing. We'll be hiring again very soon due to the increased business.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 1:02 PM, ,


Compaq Presario 1500T Repair

A Compaq Presario 1500T came in late last week. It had been "acting funny" for a few weeks. Our customer had used their recovery CD repeatedly but the unit kept crashing after a few days of use. Also, some keys did not work.

A new keyboard resolved the keys not working. A fitness test of the hard drive revealed a bad hard drive. A replacement 20GB hard drive was $60 and a new keyboard was $50. Labor was 1.5hrrs. After replacing the broken parts we did a fresh install of the customer's OS, ran the updates and installed AVG AntiVirus.

One more laptop repair complete.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 12:58 PM, ,


Quickbooks Online Blog
Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Quickbooks Online Edition (QBOE) now has a blog... We decided to mention this because we use QBOE here and it works well. Multiple people can log into our QB account from anywhere.

Intuit says there are now 9,000 corporate blogs. Imagine that...

http://quickbooks_online_blog.typepad.com/blogmain/

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:44 AM, ,


TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-R2002

The Toshiba SD-R2002 is a DVD-ROM / CD-RW drive that is used in many laptops including IBM & Compaq.

It shows up in device manager as a DVD-ROM drive. Sometimes users think it is just a DVD-ROM but it is really a DVD-ROM / CD-RW.

Most any CDRW software, inlcuding Nero, will record CDs using this drive. Most any DVD player, including Power DVD, will play DVDs using the SD-R2002.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 6:40 AM, ,


Toshiba A75
Tuesday, August 09, 2005

A Toshiba A75 laptop came in the other day with a bad power jack. We stock the DC jacks for these and we were able to easily fix this unit. This particular repair runs $125 - $150 per unit depending on the model and how long it takes to dissasemble and put back together.

This one was here 2 or 3 days and we got it right back out the door. A ot of the repairs do not take too long; we do them in the order received.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 2:35 PM, ,


T30 2366PU5

An IBM ThinkPad T30 2366PU5 came in this week. The front memory slot would not read. This is common. With the updates available for the system, including a new system board, the unit is better than new.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 2:01 PM, ,


Gateway Solo 9300

A Gateway Solo 9300 came in this week with no video.

We had one of these come in last week that had a bad motherboard. This one however was a little luckier- it just had a bad inverter. We ordered the part which took around 3 days to come in.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 1:59 PM, ,


Gateway 450SX4 Laptop

A Gateway 450SX4 laptop came in this week. It would not boot into Windows XP.

It turns out that this one was loaded with spyware. All of the spyware was poorly created software which corrupted the system... A format and fresh install is in order.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 11:38 AM, ,


HP ZE5570US Broken Power Jack
Friday, August 05, 2005

Just wrapped up a HP ZE5570US with a broken power jack. This particular unit was also experiencing overheating problems.

ZE5000 fans were in stock. This unit needed them replaced, both the CPU fans and the rear exhaust fan. We also cleaned out the entire inside of the unit and soldered on a new DC (power) jack.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 4:00 PM, ,


ThinkPad 600E No Sound
Thursday, August 04, 2005

An IBM ThinkPad 600E came in the other day with no sound.

We stock the repair parts for the 600E and servicing them is a piece of cake. This one in particular ended up needing a new audio cable. While it was here the owner purchased a new battery for it. The original one no longer held a charge.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 9:04 AM, ,


Just Serviced: IBM ThinkPad A31 P4

Another IBM ThinkPad A31 came in to be fixed. We just serviced a few of these this week.

Oddly enough, this one also needed an inverter. This one as a 2652-M3U which is very similar to the other IBM (2652-M5U) that we just blogged earlier.

As stated before- the ThinkPad A31 can have "no display" for several reasons, including a bad system board, LCD, backlight, LCD inverter, or LCD (ribbon/flex) cable, etc.

Most of the A31s out there are no longer in warranty and end up coming in here for service.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 9:00 AM, ,


Dell Axim X50v PDA Repair

A Dell Axim X50v PDA came in for repair this week. A blog reader from West Conshohocken, PA sent it in. It had been dropped and the front screen was broken. The LCD itself wasn't "bleeding" which meant the LCD was ok. It just needed a new digitizer.

The parts are not in stock but can be obtained in 48hrs., which is about how long this repair took. The parts, labor & shipping came out to be around $150.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:51 AM, ,


Pennsylvania Laptop Repair

One of our larger clients in Pennsylvania that we provide laptop repair for sent in a ThinkPad A31 this week. They're a goverment agency that has hundreds of A31 laptops. When one needs service or repair they send it here. We have given them both the best service and pricing on A31 fixes.

This one in particular (2652-M5U) came in with no display. On an A31 this can be related to a bad system board, LCD, backlight, LCD inverter, or LCD (ribbon/flex) cable. Since the parts to troubleshoot it are in stock the repair process is pretty easy.

This one needed an LCD inverter. The old one was no longer working at all. You could still see the screen image but the LCD was not lit and the display was dark.

Parts, labor, shipping totalled under $150. =)

Another laptop is out the door!

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:41 AM, ,


Dell Inspiron 1000
Tuesday, August 02, 2005

A Dell Inspiron 1100 came in for repair this week. It was running slow and shutting down.

This one was filled with spyware, malware and viruses. It took a while but everything was able to be cleaned out ok.

Another laptop is now spyware free.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 4:37 PM, ,