2366-XXD T30 Will Not Power On
Tuesday, September 27, 2005

When the power button was pressed on this ThinkPad T30 (2366-XXD), the unit will not power on. It would actually power up for about 2 seconds and then shut off. It is in need of a new system board. The boards for these usually take 2 - 3 days to obtain and go for around $250 - $350 depending on model.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 9:32 AM, ,


IBM ThinkPad T21 2647-2AU

Just wrapping up a repair on an IBM ThinkPad T21 2647-2AU. The screen would intermittently shut off and the laptop would quite responding. This was due to a bad system board.

The board for this model is in stock- depending on the market the boards are usually $99 - $119. We charge 1.25hrs. to instlal a board in a T21.

The 2AU model is unique- most T21s are 800Mhz w/ a 14" LCD, while this one uses a 750Mhz CPU along with a 13.3" LCD- other than that, they're similar to most any other T20/T21...

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 9:26 AM, ,


Toshiba M35X Laptop Power Jack Repair


A Toshiba M35X-S149 laptop came in for repair this week. The power jack was broken inside of the laptop. This is a repair we do on a daily basis. We stock all jacks for the Toshiba M35X.

The repair is pretty straightforward. The labor ranges from $120 - $180. The jack is $20. Max repair costs are $200. This sure beats buying a new motherboard or sending it to Toshiba which can take months from what customers have told us... (Our turnaround time this week is about 4 days).

We repair power jacks on all sorts of laptops, including but not limited to Toshiba, Compaq, HP, Winbook...

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:43 AM, ,


HP ZD7000 Power Jack Repair

A HP ZD7000 series laptop came in for repair this week. The unit is around 14mos. old. The power jack pin was broken off. Our customer was happy to hear that we do this repair on a daily basis and that we stock the jack for that laptop.

Our customer said that this had happened once before while the unit was under warranty. HP actually replaced the board and sent it back to the customer, although the repair took around 4 weeks.

Here the backlog of repairs was around 4 days at the time and he is now back up and running again. We were sure to mention that there is nothing we can really do to strengthen the jack- we can only replace it with an identical part. When a 2 pound power brick is hanging from the laptop, it will snap the DC jack in just a blink of an eye... They're fragile by design...

We will have a detailed page explaining our jack repair services shortly, but if you are in need of a power jack repair please navigate over to our site at www.AbsoluteRaleigh.com.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:33 AM, ,


Averetec C3500 Tablet


An Averetec C3500 Tablet PC came in this week. It was no longer recognizing the hard drive. Our customer thought he would just need a hard drive, which is a reasonable assumtion.

Unforunately, this C3500 has a bad motherboard. Due to the unavailability of parts for this machine, it left here dead. Averetec offers a repair service which the customer is thinking over. In the meantime, we have our eyes open for the repair parts for this machine.

IBM makes a good tablet, the X41...

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:27 AM, ,


Dell Inspiron Laptop Hard Drive

Today a local customer of ours stopped in. We'll call her Jenny. Jenny is on a tight budget and is fairly computer savvy, or at least good with software and basic computer usage. She has a Dell Inspiron laptop which is about 13mos. old with a bad hard drive. She wanted to replace the drive with something like a 30GB hard drive.

She called Dell looking for a replacement hard drive. The reps (mis)informed her that she needed to purchase a hard drive from Dell. They said that purchasing a drive from anywhere else would damage her laptop. The price on a 30GB hard drive from Dell was over $200. Not only is this a totally ridiculous price, it is a flat out lie and rip off. Most of the Inspiron laptops that pass through here have Hitachi hard drives in them which can be purchased anywhere. We sell them here for $75, although since Jenny was on a budget we told her where to get the best price. She decided to buy her replacement hard drive from NewEgg.com.

She also discovered a wide variety of options. She could get any size hard drive she wanted and get a higher RPM drive to help with the performance of her machine. She was very paranoid about purchasing the hard drive from anyone but Dell because of what the lying rep told her, but now she is up and running with a cheaper, faster hard drive. She loaded Windows herself and is up and running again.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:00 AM, ,


HITACHI Travelstar 5K100 HTS541010G9AT00 100GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive

Today we're installing a Hitachi Travelstar 5K1000 HTS541010G9AT00 Hard Drive into a customer's Compaq laptop. The hard drive is a 100GB 5400 RPM dirve. Today 7200 RPM laptop hard drives are on the market but got for ~$350 while the 5400RPM drives sell for ~$170.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 6:55 AM, ,


Toshiba M35X-S309 Power Jack Problem
Thursday, September 15, 2005


A Toshiba M35X-S309 came in for repair this week with a power jack problem. The power jack was actually broken off of the motherboard. This is increasingly common with Toshiba notebooks. We are currently repairing around 5 - 10 Toshiba notebooks per week with this problem.

The M35X models are decent laptops with a nice look. The S309 model is a Pentium M (with Centrino).

Sometimes the power jack (DC Jack) is broken off when the laptop takes a little fall while the power cord is still plugged in. More often the customer has no idea why the jack broke off.

The best thing to do when the power jack breaks is to shut the laptop down and have it serviced before using it again. 99% of the time we can replace it here. Unfortunately, a lot of companies prefer to sell the customer a new motherboard, and on these models, that is a very expensive repair.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 7:40 AM, ,


1Ghz T22 (26479EU)

A 1Ghz T22 came in for repair this week. This one is type # 26479EU. The 92U models differ from most other T22s because stock they came with a 32GB hard drive and the 1Ghz MPGA2 processor. That CPU still sells for around $100 almost 4 years later- it is still in high demand.

The T series are built for speed. They are very reliable machines. This one only needed to be serviced due to a spill on the keyboard which took out the system board. Even this 4 year old T22 is faster than many new Dell laptops (the cheaper Celerons, of course).

A new system board was in stock. Installed, the entire repair was under $200. With a new battery, this system is ready for quite a bit more usage.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 6:49 AM, ,


Weather.com's Blog
Monday, September 12, 2005

It appears Weather.com has started blogging in the last couple of weeks, most likely to blog info about Hurricane Katrina...

You can check out their blog here:
http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 12:33 PM, ,


HP ZV5000 Power Jack Repair
Thursday, September 08, 2005


An HP ZV5000 laptop came in for an estimate this week. It had been dropped while it was plugged in and the power jack had snapped off of it. The customer had taken it to another (incompetent) computer repair store who wanted $300 to give an estimate.

We give free estimates here and just by glancing at the back of the laptop we could easily see it just needed a power jack replacement, a reapir that we do here on a daily basis.

These are a large, full featured notebook and taking them apart can be quite time consuming. This one easily took at least 2 hours. Our maximum labor charge is 2 hours though, which is exactly what we charged, along with $20 for a new jack, after getting our customer's consent of course. She was thrilled to have the repair done so fast and cheap.

We stock the jack for the HP ZV5000 laptop and several others.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 10:55 AM, ,


IBM ThinkPad T22 2647-4EU

Another IBM ThinkPad T22 was in today. This one was type # 2647-4EU. This one just had a bad hard drive.

In this particular case, we were able to back up the data from the failing hard drive and put it on the replacement drive for the customer. They decided to replace it with another 20GB hard drive. The drives are currently around $65.

One more laptop fixed...

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 10:53 AM, ,


IBM ThinkPad T21 2647 48U

An IBM ThinkPad notebook came in this week with no display. The type # on this one was 2647 48U. The unit was in great shape but one day the display just quit working.

We quickly diagnosed this one with having a bad LCD cable (aka flex cable, ribbon cable or video cable). This seems to be much more common in the T21 than in the T20 or T22 or T23 for some reason.

Upon getting the OK to repair it, we went ahead and installed the new cable. This repair on this model is fairly fast, as the parts are in stock all the time.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 10:43 AM, ,


Florence, SC Laptop Repair (ThinkPad A21p)

Florence, SC laptop repair services are provided here. Laptops come in from all over the Carolinas here daily as we have the fastest turnaround time and the best deals on replacement parts around.

This one in particular came in from one of our corporate clients down in Florence, South Carolina. This one is an IBM ThinkPad A21p 2629HTU. It is an older unit but had a very nice 15" UXGA LCD and is an asset to their company. The unit would not turn on. We quickly diagnosed this laptop with having a bad system board.

Upon getting the OK to repair the A21p, we obtained the system board in one day. The board was $189 and the entire repair, including return shipping was under $300. FedEx Ground shipping from Cary, NC to South Carolina only takes 24 - 48hrs. and is about $10.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 10:02 AM, ,


Dell Inspiron 1100 Overheat

A Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop came in for repair this week. This one was from one of our local customers here in Cary, North Carolina.

The laptop was running poorly. It would run for about 20 minutes and then power off. Our customer had been using it this way for quite some time until it quit booting into Windows (due to corrupt files which were due to the unit being improperly powered off).

We diagnosed the system as overheating and got the ok to repair it. Dust had filled the exhaust fins. The heat transfer paste between the CPU and the heatsink had gotten hard and started to disappear. After disassembling the unit we applied new heat paste and thoroughly removed all dust. The other internal components of the laptop were also cleaned and seated again to ensure that all parts had proper contact with each other. We backed up all of the customer's data and wiped their hard drive clean. We installed their OS, drivers, antivirus software and put their backed up data back onto the machine. The unit runs like new again.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 9:33 AM, ,


Mariettta, GA Laptop Repair (ThinkPad R40)

Marietta, GA laptops repaired here. Quite a few laptop computers have been making their way in recently from Marietta and Atlanta, Georgia. A lot of businesses and residential customers are telling us that we are the closest repair center to them and/or that the turnaround time and pricing is unbeatable.

The latest one was an IBM ThinkPad R40. This one in particular was a 2681-FFU. The laptop had no display and would not turn on correctly. Upon diagnosing the problem we informed our customer that the system board needed to be replaced (FRU # 91P7869). IBM was out of the part and many vendors wanted around $600. We were able to obtain it and sell it to the end user at the low price of $349, plus labor.

One more laptop repair completed and back out the door. We ship daily with FedEx and USPS. Ground shipping from here to Georgia is $10 and takes about 48hrs.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:46 AM, ,


Emachine M5310 LCD

An Emachine M5310 laptop passed through here this week. This one was here for service due to the LCD being cracked. (Cracked LCDs are common around here.)

An LCD was not in stock but was obtained in about 5 business days. This particular LCD was a 15.4" WXGA (widescreen). The LCD itself was around $275.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 7:44 AM, ,


Gateway 400VTX Power Jack Repair

A Gateway 400VTX laptop came in for repair this week. The power jack was snapped off.

We now stock almost every DC jack on the market for HP, Compaq, Gateway, IBM, Averetec, Winbook, Toshiba, EMachine and other laptops. We repair them on a daily basis.

Replacing the power jack (aka DC jack) on a Gateway usually runs $125 - $150 here at the moment. This particular repair was turned around in 2 business days. (Repair time varies often depending on current workload).

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 7:30 AM, ,


IBM ThinkPad T20 2647 46U

An IBM ThinkPad T20 laptop passed through here for repair this week. This one was a type # 2647-46U. This one had no display.

After checking the unit out it was diagnosed with having a bad LCD. Our customer decided to go with a used LCD. The used LCDs are in stock for this model and are $119.

While the unit was here we went ahead and went through the rest of the system. A memory upgrade was in order along with a few driver updates. The machine is up and running great again now.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 7:24 AM, ,


Red Cross Spoof Emails
Monday, September 05, 2005

Spoof Emails have started coming in which APPEAR to be from the Red Cross. This is just a SHAME. The emails actually ask for credit card information. Unfortunately, a lot of people new to the Internet do not realize that email is unsecure and that no decent company or organization is going to ask you for credit card information via email.

Upon receiving the spoof email today (09/05/2005) I immediately called the Raleigh Area Chapter (http://www.trianglearc.org/) and told them what was going on. They have already been dealing with other spoof emails already. Most of the spoof emails come from people offshore in other countries.

The spoof emails ask for credit card info. Once entered, the data is sent to a web page. In this case the web page was set up on a no-name free hosting site (common) owned by someone in Canada and that site was hosted by Yahoo! Unfortunately the web page is still up and running. There is just no easy way to repost these things to the no-name companies or Yahoo or to the Red Cross.

As of right now, anyone who enters their credit card info will have it stolen immediately. This is how the Internet runs right now. I wonder what will be done in the future to help prevent this kind of thing. I wonder how many credit cards will need to be stolen. I wonder… The only answer I see at the moment is education. People need to sit through at minimum, a 2 hour crash course in protecting themselves online.

It is absolutely disgusting to see people taking advantage of the victims of Katrina and creating new victims. These people are greed driven $#!7heads and should be punished accordingly no matter what country they are in.

Len
Absolute Computers

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 1:13 PM, ,


Katrina Information Map- Wiki Style

A Katrina Information Map has been made, Wiki style. The map is a map of the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. It is "Wiki style" because any Internet user may add information to it.

The site is located here: http://www.scipionus.com. Although it was just created a matter of days ago, the site has exploded with traffic. People have been adding "information markers" like crazy.

A quick glimpse reveals comments added saying things like "502 North Beach Blvd. House Destroyed. Added 09/02/05" and "Bayou Drive, minimal damage" making the site very helpful. Unfortunately a lot of people are also posting questions and making guesses or comments which is cluttering up the system.

Either way it is a neat, simple, helpful tool. The reliability of it depends on everyone so it is not perfectly accurate information but it still shows how helpful one little site on the Internet could be.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 12:57 PM, ,


The Survival of New Orleans Blog
Friday, September 02, 2005

It appears that the only blog currently running in New Orleans at this moment is "the Survival of New Orleans blog" which is located here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/interdictor/

For the latest pictures of New Orleans, go here:
http://sigmund.biz/kat/index.html

The Blog and the images are both coming from a highrise in New Orleans. People working there at an ISP have air conditioning and Internet access, thanks to a diesel generator and an underground fiber optic connection...

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 9:52 AM, ,