Wilmington NC Laptop Repair
Wednesday, November 12, 2008


We had a Lenovo 3000 N100 notebook come in this week. Our customer lives in Wilmington, NC but brought their machine to us for a second opinion. The local shop to them in Wilmington told them that their laptop motherboard needed to be replaced and that the boards were around $600. When they called we informed them that our diagnostics are free and that we would be happy to check the unit out. The unit would turn on but would shut off when they tried to access the Internet.

They dropped the machine off and we took a look at it. The laptop would shut off after being on for just a minute or two- it didn't matter if the Internet was accessed or not. The unit was simply overheating. The area where the hot air is supposed to blow out was clogged with dust. We thoroughly cleaned it out. The unit also only has 512MB RAM and it supported DDR2. DDR2 memory is very cheap right now and our customer authorized us to bump the machine up to 2GB RAM which quadrupled the amount of memory.

The laptop now runs fast and cool!It was also repaired about 75% less than what the other people quoted, and correctly repaired.

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posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 7:17 PM, ,


IBM ThinkPad X41 Power Problems


We had an X41 Tablet come in this week with a bad power jack. We haven't had a whole lot of these in for this particular issue but we're seeing more. We're one of the few businesses out there that carry these rare parts. The power jack was repaired using our standard power jack repair service.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 6:53 PM, ,


Apple iBook Logic Board Repair

Affected models: Laptops with serial numbers in the following range: UV117XXXXXX to UV342XXXXXX. iBooks with the serial numbers listed above may be referred to as:

* iBook (16 VRAM)
* iBook (14.1 LCD 16 VRAM)
* iBook (Opaque 16 VRAM)
* iBook (32 VRAM)
* iBook (14.1 LCD 32 VRAM)
* iBook (800MHz 32 VRAM)
* iBook (900MHz 32 VRAM)
* iBook (14.1 LCD 900MHz 32 VRAM)
* iBook (Dual USB)
* iBook (Late 2001)
* iBook (14.1 LCD)

These laptops have GPUs on the motherboard / logic board which may fail and cause the following symptoms:
* Scrambled or distorted video
* Appearance of unexpected lines on the screen
* Intermittent video image
* Video freeze
* Computer starts up to blank screen

Apple was covering these issues for quite a while but the warranty period is over.

Home remedy:

A home remedy has been implemented for the G3 laptops with some success. Read about it here.

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posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 6:43 PM, ,


Hard Drive Problems

This is a follow up entry to our blog posting regarding bad computer stores.

One of our good customers from Holly Springs came in the other day. She just recently found us. She has several laptops. She had a very bad experience at a computer store right near her house. We won't name names but the store is in 27540. Her laptop hard drive crashed. The store charged her $280 for a hard drive plus $120 labor to replace the hard drive and told her that her data was not recoverable. Yikes! Our price would have been less than half of that! The hard drive should have been under $100. $280 is highway robbery.

She brought the drive to us for a second opinion and we recovered all of the data that she wanted. (Sometimes data really is not recoverable, and this was a more advanced recovery, but we got it when the other store couldn't. See: Data Recovery).

To top it all off she had to bring the laptop to us. It was running slow and crashing and the other store wanted to charge her to look at it again even though they had just worked on it. We plugged it in, tested the hard drive & it failed. The drive installed was defective.

The defective drive could have been an honest mistake. The data recovery may have been over their head. But the $400 charge to replace it was just wrong. We make most of our money on services here. We currently sell Hitachi hard drives which have a 3yr warranty and they're marked up about $15. The behavior of the above store is absolutely ridiculous- what makes us cringe is the combination of inexperience and overcharging.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 6:26 PM, ,


Misleading Laptop Ads

This is a follow up post to our blog entry regarding bad computer stores.



Parts of the ad are blanked out to hide the company's identity. We asked if it was a misprint but they would not respond. We sent a follow up letter telling them if these specs are correct we will buy every single machine in inventory and they still would not respond. This is typical bait and switch. The deal is too good to be true. There are several problems here that jump right out at us.

1. The ad advertises a 60GB 7200rpm drive. No way. The T41 uses a PATA drive- the 7200rpm drives are no longer made and the existing drives are worth a lot. There is no way that this company is putting 7200rpm drives into these laptops.
2. 14.1" SXGA+ LCD? Nope. The 23738SU uses the base XGA screen.
3. 14" SXGA FlexView Screen? What?! FlexView is a great feature on some ThinkPad laptops! But it only comes on UXGA screens and those are not even available in 14"! Anyone with a hint of laptop experience knows that.
4. 64MB ATI graphics? Nope- these only have 32MB.
5. Bluetooth? These don't have Bluetooth!
5. Serial port? T40 laptops don't have serial ports! Does any laptop of this generation have a serial port?
6. Now this isn't the end of the world but the CPU is a 1MB cache, not a 2MB cache. Our ThinkPad expert here knows that this base T41 laptop used a BANIAS processor. These save power, make your battery last longer, etc. A DOTHAN processor would give you 2MB cache.
7. Free Shipping. The ad says free shipping but the bottom of the ad says you must spend $500 to get free shipping. This is just shady.
8. 300 employees?! What?! There are only a few people over there. Let's say they really do have 10,000sf like they say they do and their storefront takes up 1000sf and inventory takes up 2000sf- that leaves 7000sf left. Imagine stuffing 300 employees into a 7000sf area! That would be like a building full of clowns. Hmmm....
9. That isn't a T41 in the picture.
10. The people that sent out this email had the police called on them before when one of their employees broke into and robbed another computer store.

As a final note, we used to sell a lot of quality refurbished ThinkPad laptops online until people like this came along. We still sell quite a few to ThinkPad fanatics however we remain focused on repair technologies.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 6:03 PM, ,


Gateway MX7000 does not Power On
Tuesday, November 11, 2008


This is a follow up entry to our blog posting regarding bad computer stores.

Today another MX7000 laptop came in. These laptops have several different names but we call them the MX7000. The original owner had gone to the g**k squad and after paying for a diagnostic and waiting 2 months they were toldthat their machine was not repairable. They gave it to their friend for free.

The friend looked up laptop repair and found us. He brought the unit in for a free diagnostic. He dropped it off. A few days later his unit came up in line and our techs got to it. Having seen so many of these before we instantly knew what the problem was. A piece of plastic underneath the power button breaks. The new power button assembly is $119 installed. We quoted the customer and ordered the part.

When he came to pick the unit up he was blown away. He told us the above story and that he was thrilled to get a working laptop for $119.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 9:45 AM, ,


Toshiba M55 Problems in Cary, NC


This is a follow up entry to our blog posting regarding bad computer stores.

Our customer took their machine to the G**k squad. She paid them about $70 to diagnose her machine. They shiped it off to some undisclosed location. She demanded it back. 6 weeks later it came back diagnosed with a "bad motherboard".

She brought it to us since we specialize in free diagnostics of laptop repair.

upon inspection and the unit turning on we could hear the system making some normal POST beeps and we immediately knoew the sound on the motherboard was ok. We got into Windows XP and the driver was disabled. It could not be re-enabled so we instantly know to check the hard drive at that point.

Testing the hard drive revealed some bad sectors. We were able to replace the hard drive using a new hard drive in stock which came with a 3yr warranty. Laptop hard drives are under $100. We backed up the requested data and moved it to the new drive.

The unit was in and out of here in business 3 days.

Our customer is a Doctor who assists with Aids patients in Africa. We were able to get the unit back to her just before her trip. She almost had to leave without the machine due to the inexperienced people at the other store. On top of that they had quoted her around $950.

Unfortunately, we see this kind of thing daily here.

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posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:16 AM, ,


DV6000 Problems in Apex NC


This is a follow up post to our blog entry regarding bad computer stores.

A local technician came in today, applying for a job. He said he couldn't take what was going on at one of the local shops. He said not only did they have no idea what they were doing when it came to laptop repair but that they were also ripping off their customers.

One recent customer was the owner of a DV6000. These have a special extended warranty due to known problems. They told the customer they needed to pay several hundred dollars for a new motherboard then had it covered by HP for free.

When we get one of those models in here, we'll tell the customer. They can then send it in to HP or they can pay us to handle the warranty. We usually charge around 1 - 1.5hrs labor to set up the warranty, ship the unit in, get it bacjk, make sure it has no problems, etc.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:09 AM, ,


Surge in bad Computer Stores?

There as been a surge in customers coming in complaining to us about some of the other local computer stores lately who are attempting to fix laptops.

We're not going to name names or point fingers but most of the stores are either lying, trying to rip people off or simply do not know any better when they get into the laptops. It is a shame. We'll be updating this blog post with links to some of the stories once we post them.

* Update 11/12/2008 *
Here are some of the stories:
DV6000 Problems
Toshiba M55 Problems
Gateway MX7000
Misleading Laptop Ads
Hard Drive Problems

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:07 AM, ,


HP owed $118mil by Bankrupt Circuit City
Monday, November 10, 2008

Today Circuit City filed Chapter 11.

They owe HP $118mil? Interesting...

HP refused to even allow most local computer stores to become resellers or resell their products, then they front the big chain stores millions of dollars. Nice.

Hopefully people keep shelling out $50 for ink refills!

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 2:23 PM, ,


AbsoluteRaleigh.com switches to UPS


As of 11/24/2008 we'll be using UPS to ship packages.

We've been happy with both DHL & UPS, but we will no longer be using DHL as they have discontinued U.S. domestic shipping.

Our standard shipping rate may remain at $15 or go up a few dollars- we will find out exact pricing shortly.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 2:15 PM, ,


DHL Discontinues US Domestic Service


Today DHL announced that they will no longer be offering domestic shipping in the U.S.

In less than 2 weeks we'll be using UPS for shipping.

Quote from the DHL site:

Beginning January 30, 2009, DHL’s U.S. Express business will focus entirely on its international offerings and will discontinue its domestic-only air and ground services.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 2:06 PM, ,


DV2000/DV6000/DV9000 Recall?
Thursday, November 06, 2008

Some HP Pavillion DV2000/DV6000/DV9000 and Compaq V3000/V6000 laptops may develop premature problems. The laptops are not being “recalled” but they do have a “Limited Warranty Service Enhancement”. Certain issues will be covered and fixed for free by HP.

Symptoms of the graphics chip being bad include:
Unit powers on with no video
Unit powers on with no display and does not boot. LEDs may or may not be lit.
Unit powers on but just produces 2 long, 1 short beeps.
(Go here for more information on defective Nvidia graphics chips.)

Other problems covered by HP include:
The notebook does not detect wireless networks and the wireless adapter is not detected in the Device Manager.
The notebook does not start.
The battery charge indicator light does not turn on when the battery is installed and the AC adapter is connected.

For detailed information visit HP directly. The document moves so we can't link to it but if you go to HP.com and in the search bar enter c01087277 you will find the document which explains which models are affected by which issues. Or call HP @ 1-866-671-7362.

If your unit is still working you are encouraged to upgrade the BIOS to a new version which runs the fans more often in an attempt to keep the machine cooler. More information on that is also in the above referenced document.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 10:32 PM, ,


GV3.SYS Error

Some laptops that have been upgraded to XP SP2 will get a bluescreen/BSOD error when unplugging their power cord. When the laptop switches from AC to battery the error comes up and looks like:

STOP 0x000000D1 (0x0000000C, 0x00000002, 0x00000000, 0xF8E26A89)
gv3.sys – Address F8E26A89 base at F8E26000, Datestamp 3dd991eb

Solution:
1. Open Device Manager.
2. In Device Manager, expand Processors.
3. Right-click Intel Pentium M processor, and then click Update Driver.
4. When prompted "Can Windows connect to Windows Update to search for software?", click No, not at this time, and then click Next.
5. Click Install the software automatically, and then click Next.
6. Click Finish.
7. Yeah, that's it.

This is documented on MS's site here.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 9:02 PM, ,


CLI.EXE Error

Some laptops with ATI Radeon chips are getting a CLI.EXE error. If you've just done a clean install of Win XP w/ SP2 and install an ATI video driver you may be presented with a CLI.EXE error on your next boot. For a quick fix just go to MSCONFIG | Services & disable CLI.EXE from running in the startup. But if you want to keep your ATI Catalyst Control Center you will just need to install .NET. A link to grab .NET is available on our support page.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 9:00 PM, ,


HP Pavilion DV1000 Problems


HP Pavilion DV1000 Problems and potential solutions.

Over the last year or two we've had a significant amount of DV1000 laptops in. Some of the problems and cures are listed below. Please note that the Compaq V2000 is almost identical to the HP DV1000.

No Power, No Post:
If the DV1000 is not powering on it could have a bad power jack, a bad adapter, or a bad motherboard. Finding a DV1000 motherboard is not easy. At the moment we purchase ours through a vendor who purchases directly from HP. For less $ one can get a motherboard on eBay but this is risky. There are a lot of “repaired” boards on there for $200 or so, unfortunately, these boards normally develop more problems in the near future. Most skilled enough to repair this board are also smart enough to not mess with them anymore- often when one problem arises it leads to a chain of events on the motherboard which shorten its life. In the event one finds a good used board on there- how much time could it have left? If the adapter is bad this is a relatively easy fix- simply replace the adapter. We stock new adapters for $39 for this model. Do NOT use a generic “universal” adapter on the DV1000 as it will eventually cause damage- plenty of people will disagree with this but they are normally the people “selling” these junk adapters. These adapters are found at major electronics retailers and even at many computer stores who simply don't understand mobile computers. If the power jack is bad you will normally have some warning signs, but not necessarily. If the machines shows no signs of life one day it is likely the board but we do get the DV1000 in often enough with a bad power jack. For this we offer a power jack repair service. Please call for current motherboard pricing.

No Display:
We get quite a few DV1000 laptops in with no display. This is almost always a bad inverter or bad backlight. A large percentage of the DV1000 laptops we get in have a bad inverter. In fact, we keep the inverters in stock. We get in quite a few DV1000s with a cracked LCD screen, too. As of 11/2008 the LCDs are $249 installed. We also offer an inverter and backlight repair service for a lower flat rate.

Overheating:
If the DV1000 shuts off after a random amount of time it CAN be related to motherboard problems- we have seen plenty of these. However, most of the time it needs a fan. The CPU fan bearings can get weak. If you fire up a DVD and it shuts off 4min later the fan needs to be replaced. DV1000 fans are relatively inexpensive.

Battery problems:
As far as we know most DV1000/V2000 laptops do not have these batteries in them, however some do have lithium-ion batteries that can overheat, posing a fire and burn hazard to consumers. If you have one of these laptops you should check to see if the battery is under recall or not. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately. Find out more about the battery recall here.

If you have a DV1000/V2000 or a general laptop question feel free to email us via the contact form on this page.

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posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 8:32 PM, ,


Dell asks workers to take unpaid vacation
Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Dell, which is near the end of a program of 8,900 job cuts, today asked employees to take an unpaid vacation.

Get the story on Reuters here.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 7:59 PM, ,


Dell Laptops are back in stock

We finally got some Dell Vostro laptops in stock to sell again.

We struggled since June 2008 to get new laptops in. Every order we placed was mysteriously canceled. Sales representatives and resolution specialists were unable to help.

Finally, in November, Dell sent us what we paid for.

Right now we just have some Vostro 1000 units in stock.

We also have our normal used Dell laptops in stock, including:
Latitude D600
Inspiron 700m
XPS M140
Inspiron 1100

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posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 7:37 PM, ,


NC DAAS Laptop Lost

Dragging a laptop all the way to Georgia filled with people's personal information is completely unacceptable.

What is even worse is not having the data encrypted when the technology has existed since the 20th century.

From a technical point of view, you'd almost have to intentionally go out of your way to lose data like this.

Anyways, this particular incident was not as bad as some of them that you hear about.

The full story is on WRAL here.

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 7:24 PM, ,


Mobile Quad Core?
Monday, November 03, 2008


The world's first mobile quad-core processor, the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9300, is in the Alienware M17. The M17 news was just announced today. The M17 is a 17" laptop w/ quad core & SLI video, running Vista 64bit.. That may or may not be good news- depends who you ask!

posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 9:37 AM, ,


Battery Recall 2008

Yes, it is yet another battery recall, not to be confused with the first recall.

We'll call this recall "Battery Recall 2008".

Affected models:

HP/Compaq:
HP Pavillion DV1000, DV8000, ZD8000
Compaq Presario V2000 and V2400
HP Compaq: NC6110, NC6120, NC6140, NC6220, NC6230, NX4800, NX4820, NX6110, NX6120, NX9600

DELL:
Latitude: 110L
Inspiron: 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150, 5160

Toshiba:
Satellite: A70/A75, P30, P35, M30X, M35X, M50/M55
Tecra: A3, A5, S2

Note: The Consumer Product Safety Commission lists the Toshiba models as P30/P5 but we believe this is a misprint and should read P30, P35 as we have printed above. The Toshiba site verifies our correction as well.

Note #2: Some models are just bad models. Eg: The 5150 has been subject to all kinds of problems, recalls, lawsuits. Same with the Toshiba M35x. And the Compaq V2000 is now part of the Nvidia recall which we'll be covering shortly..

REF:
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Article
Toshiba Battery Recall Info
HP Battery Recall Info
Dell Battery Recall Info

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posted by AbsoluteRaleigh @ 9:18 AM, ,