Toshiba to use AMD chip in laptop PCs
Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Toshiba ends its exclusive ties with Intel.

Get the full story on Reuters.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:51 PM, ,


AMD's Puma and Griffin

Copied from AMD's site (here):
...the “Puma” platform is the introduction of AMD’s next-generation notebook “Griffin” microprocessor. With “Griffin,” AMD will deliver a number of new capabilities to enhance battery life and overall mobile computing performance.


See the full story here:
AMD Details Next-Generation Platform for Notebook PCs

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:44 PM, ,


HP ZE5400 Laptop Repaired
Tuesday, May 15, 2007


Another HP ZE54000 Laptop came in for repair this week. It had been dropped while on a boat. The laptop would not longer boot into Windows.

We diagnosed the unit and it had a bad hard drive. The old drive suffered a head crash. Fortunately for our customer, he kept regular backups of important data. The unit got a new lease on life with a new 80GB 5400RPM Hitachi hard drive.

Our customer was all set ot go buy a new laptop but the replacement hard drives are under a hundred bucks! He was thrilled and didn’t want to get rid of his trusty HP anyways.

As a note, normally when we get the ZE5000 series in to be repaired, they’re here for a power jack problem.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 9:11 AM, ,


IBM ThinkPad T30 with an Inspiring Customer Quote


Quite a few IBM ThinkPad T30 laptops pass through here for repair. The machines are very stable. Most are 3-4 years old now but are very solid- most coming in just need a fan or a hard drive replacement.

Last week, one of our out of state customers sent in a T30 for repair. It was running very slow and certain programs were not opening correctly. He had taken it to a “repair shop” in his area who removed some spyware but it did not help his original problem. They probably tested his hard drive but lacked the correct notebook drive testing utilities, as his hard drive was dead. Fortunately it was not too bad yet and we were able to retrieve all data that he requested. In went a new 80GB 5400RPM Hitachi hard drive and a clean install of his operating system.

Anyways, Mike received his machine back today and had this to say:

I received my IBM ThinkPad T30 laptop back today, and I wanted to thank you very much for the superb job you did. She runs like a top!

-Mike

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:57 AM, ,


How to completely erase your hard drive
Monday, May 14, 2007

There are 3 utilities that we recommend.

1. DBAN. DBAN prevents or thoroughly hinders all known techniques of hard disk forensic analysis. This method is great for most purposes. http://dban.sourceforge.net/

2. EBAN. Like DBAN but if you need a statement of certification, then you must buy an EBAN contract.

3. Secure Erase (aka HDDerase). Secure Erase works by executing the in-drive Federally-approved (NIST 800-88) Secure Erase command in the ATA ANSI standard, which is implemented in all recent ATA drives greater than 15-20 GB. (A similar command in the SCSI ANSI standard is optional and not yet implemented in drives tested.) Some ATA drives also implement the standard Enhanced Secure Erase command that takes only milliseconds to complete.
http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/Hughes/subpgset.htm

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 7:58 PM, ,


Dell Inspiron 6000 LCD


We have been getting in quite a few Dell Inspiron 6000 laptops in lately.

This week in particular we had a few come in for a new LCD. One of the 6000s had been dropped and the screen was very cracked. The other started to melt! The backlight area had become very hot; we still want to investigate the old screen here on a rainy day…

Most of the Dell Inspiron 6000 laptops that we have seen have a 15.4” WXGA LCD. Those are around $299.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 7:55 PM, ,


IBM ThinkPad 600: Error 8611


Error 8611 = Replace keyboard.

A few years ago we used to sell laptops online. Thousands of them. One of our (and your) favorite laptops was the IBM ThinkPad 600. People still use them today, usually for typing as they have a great keyboard.

Anyways, one came in this week with an 8611 error. We found this necessary to add to our blog as there seems to be a lot of misinformation online about the 8611 error. It simply means you must replace the keyboard. Why? Normally the error is referring to the “trackpoint” aka the red, eraser head mouse. When the unit powers on it tests the trackpoint and if it fails, it tells you (kind of) with the good old “Error 8611” text sitting on the screen.

The workaround: Replace the keyboard. There is no other good way around it. If the machine detects an error it will not even try to boot until the defective hardware is replaced.

The keyboards are normally around $39.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 7:48 PM, ,


Cockatiel feathers in a laptop


Here’s a new one: A laptop came in for service this week because it was running very slow and rebooting on its own. It had been a good laptop until the just recently.

Since this was not a model that we normally get in for overheating, a technician started checking it out by testing the memory. Just 90 seconds later we could hear the fan making an odd noise. The fan was spinning but it was doing so very slow. Upon inspection of the fan we saw the problem.

A cockatiel feather was lodged into the laptop's fan!

We cleaned the fan and cooling passages and remounted the fan with a new layer of Arctic Silver and off it went.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 7:35 PM, ,


IBM ThinkPad Error 174
Wednesday, May 09, 2007

We’re commonly asked “What is error 174?”

This basically means that your IBM ThinkPad laptop’s BIOS is unable to recognize the hard drive.

(Shameless plug: We do offer some levels of data recovery.)

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:39 PM, ,


IBM ThinkPad X22 Repair for a Regular Client


An IBM ThinkPad X22 laptop was in this week from one of clients in Virginia. They run a video training service and ship their laptops all over the US. They have several ThinkPad laptops and even more Dell laptops which must be in perfect running condition. They used to use the manufacturer for repairs until they obtained some quotes from us!

The X22 laptop was here for repair and upgrades. The LCD was broken and they were not pleased with their current hard drive’s performance. IBM wanted $1,102.00 for the LCD which we had in stock at $169 (IBM FRU # 05K9961). The LCD was used (we were able to get new LCDs at $249).

As for the hard drive we imaged their old drive to a new 7200RPM drive. More specifically it was a Hitachi Travelstar 7K100 60GB (HTS721060G9AT00) with an 8MB cache. Currently, we recommend Hitachi drives for laptops.

Their laptop was in and back out in the same week.

We’re off to work on all of the Dell laptops that they sent here now…

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:34 PM, ,


Paradigm Organics
Monday, May 07, 2007

We wanted to take a minute today and introduce one of our neighbors, Paradigm Organics.

Paradigm Organics specializes in custom synthesis and isotope labeling. They are a contract research and development company focused on providing custom synthesis services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and chemical industries as well as government laboratories. They offer our clients highly personalized services, competitive prices and we unconditionally guarantee the quality of our products.

They are in the same building as us in the Cary Parkway Business Park.

The website: www.ParadigmOrganics.com

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 9:32 PM, ,