Computer question. . . .

[jchamberlin]

Wayne: Same thing happened to my old laptop, never did find out whether it was the processor or the motherboard, but it was one of the two.

I wound up pulling the hard drive out of the laptop and hooking it up to my new laptop via an external USB Hard Disk Drive adapter setup I purchased for about $20. I managed to get all my old data onto my new laptop.

Please note: this will NOT work if your current laptop Hard Drive is encrypted.

Gerry is pretty smart about these things, he may have another work around.

I think Kraig is thinking that the computer is working but the display has a problem; in my case, I knew the unit was not passing the Power On Self Test (POST).

Keep us posted on developments.

 

[glippert]

Wayne - I had/have the same model and the same thing happened to it. In just the right light, at the right angle, I could see the very, very dim images on the screen, so I figured the backlight was bad. I bought a new lcd screen online (somewhere in Canada, I think) and installed it, but no good. The company sent me a replacement, but also no good. (The company refunded the full purchase price.) Figured I wasn't getting power to the backlight, but it was beyond my abilities and not worth spending a lot to have it professionally repaired. The good news is, Kraig's suggestion worked for me - an external monitor - so it's now useable as a desktop, and I got all my data onto an external hard drive. I found all the step by step instructions for opening up the computer with a quick Google search. Good luck to you.

 

[wshytle]

Thanks guys for all of the input-

Kraig-

It still makes the noises. After it went black the first time I just shut it down by holding the button until lights went out. I waited several minutes and tried to reboot. After familiar sounds I just entered my password and I recognized the "desktop" sound. I'll ask about a proper cord today and see what I come up with.

I may need your help in the long run.

 

[wshytle]

I followed cords and hooked the PC monitor to the laptop which I'm now using.

You guys pulled me through yet again. I might just get a monitor for now and work on getting all of the info off of this antique. What would be the best way to do that? I think someone told me to get an external hard drive.

If so, what else would I need to complete the cleaning of this laptop? I just renewed my Norton protection News Tears day. Will I be able to save that as well?

See? I told yall I was pretty illiterate here.

 

[dtanner]

Wayne Shytle

Wayne ; you could do this http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/four-ways-to-automatically-backup-your-hard-drive.html

Or buy an external hard drive like I have used for years.The drive connects to my confuser to a usb port and the soft ware that came with the hd check for new pictures and all new favourites and email address and text plus pictures and any video. Perry much plug it in and leave it and every three days it will up date itself. I use this
http://www.wdc.com/global/products/features/?id=9&language=1

I have lost the confuser twice since I bought this and when I`am back up and running I just retrieve my info from the e d and that only takes a few minutes. Workes for me and they aren`t to many $$
2tb for $159.00 on that site ;i did find one for less than that $$

 

[kmcconaughey]

Wayne, that is great news that your laptop is alive and accessible with an external monitor.

It will make it much easier to save your data off to an external hard drive. An external hard drive like the one Don linked to will work. My brother has had one of these for a couple of years and loves it, I believe he has the 2TB version:

Fantom 1.5TB HD

Fantom 2TB HD

 

[aaytay]

Wayne-
I'm glad to hear you've found a solution. It's frustrating when a computer just 'decides' to quit working one day. (Been there done that!)

This is a great example of why (for anyone reading this) it's so important to have all of our imporatant computer data backed up at all times. That external-HD Kraig posted looks like a great solution (large size/well priced) for back up.

Not to derail Wayne's thread, but has anybody used something like this?
Personal Cloud Storage

I want to double up on our 2TB external back up at home (redundancy) but don't like hooking and unhooking the external HD all of the time, and I am NOT a fan of "web based" back-up/storage companies.

 

[wshytle]

I'm back home for a while now. I found a nice Asus laptop and the people there are transferring the data as I type. I probably should have just bought one if those hard drive back ups while there but didn't today. I will look into that soon. The guy told me that Dell has been going downhill over the past few years and this Asus would easily be as good and also last a good four or five years. It's a 6 GB too. That's a big improvement from the E1505s 1 GB.

I figure when I'm 145 years old I'll know what I need to know about these here machines. I'll post the model number and all after it gets here.

Thanks again for all of the help/input.

Oh, My car broke down and my nephew came up from Sanford to get the car and me. He lives an hour south of me and I was 30 minutes east of here when it broke down. It's been one of those days. It's a good thing I have my little cub hauler.

 

[kide]

Greg - the reason the replacements didn't work is because it wasn't the backlights themselves that were bad, but the drivers that provide the power to the backlights. In a stand alone monitor, it was economically sound a couple of years ago to go to the trouble of replacing the drivers, but the total price (of parts plus labor) would put a repair at about $100.00, which in light (pun not intended) of the current price of monitors makes it more sensible to just replace it.

On laptops, if the drivers are available and you can see that "ghost image", indicating the display panels is still working, it's probably worthwhile for a patient DIY'er to investigate whether the backlight drivers are replaceable (not part of the main MOBO). Laptops are "operable", but it helps to have the maintenance manual, to show dis-assembly (something Dell is good at providing). BTW - I've used a ASUS laptop (U56E) since last spring and really like it, especially the case construction and battery life.

On cloud storage - remeber if you are using something like an Air Card for 'net access that you may be pushing your monthly data limits if you schedule regular full backups, I caught this on my Iphone --> backing up to I-Cloud.

 

[wshytle]

This is my first entry with the Asus. It's like I have a bomb in my lap to a degree. It has Windows 8 and I've been using Vista since I started with computers. I'm now wondering how long it will take to even get familiar with things. I was just getting comfortable with Vista and that didn't take but 5 1/2 years.

I think what they need to do in this day and time is make the purchase and start up a little easier for idiots like me. I even had a geek just leave the phone last night after I started bending his ear. He told me I needed to bring it back to the store for help. The next geek was a sweet girl from Kentucky and she got my questions answered. It all brought back the memories of when I first got started and what a headache it could be.

Gerry-

I asked them about the cost of having my back light fixed in the E1505 and they told me they had to send it back to Dell themselves and would be around $800-$1000. Go figure. I couldn't even believe that and said nothing more.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Art, regarding that "Personal Cloud Storage" HD. I just learned that my friend, Dale F., (one of your former students), has one of those WD Personal Cloud HDs. He likes it and explained how he uses it. So, after learning a bit more about it, it is now on my want list. I might even *need* two of them...

Wayne, if you want the Win8 OS to look/work more like Vista did, for $4.99 you can get Start8 and you can even try it out for 30 days before you decide if you want to actually buy it. FWIW the Win7 style start menu would be basically the same as your Vista style start menu. Just thought I'd mention it if you don't like the way Win8 looks/works.

 

[ljones]

Kraig, Classic shell is free.

http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

 

[kmcconaughey]

Lucas, thanks! I'd not heard of that one.

 

[wshytle]

Thanks Kraig and Lucas-

That may very well be something I look into in the near future. I think Windows 8 is alien. I can barely get around at this point but Vista was the same way since I'm dumb as a chicken. What yall showed does make things look so much more familiar. I've got a year of Geek Squad assistance and I assure you I will be using it.

I also miss the finger scroll for up and down, side to side. Heck, it might be here but I haven't enabled it yet or something. This Asus will take some getting use to as well. I already miss my ole Dell.

Gerry-

Just jump in any time with any ideas that might make my life simpler. I do like the battery life already (I learned how to charge things with my first electric razor back when Moby Dick was a minnow).

 

[lcarter]

Wayne if you look on EBAY you can find E1505s for $100 or less. Transfer your hard drive and it should work just like your old one. If you do look at this route, try to find one with 2 Gig of memory (the most these old laptops will use). I have one myself, not the best graphics in the world but neither are my eyes and I've been around since the dead sea was sick.

 

[kide]

Wayne - I hate to admit it, but I've only touched one Win8 box so far - the only thing I figured out quick was that I could get the Desktop by hitting the Windows key... I don't really need a new laptop right now, may update my ASUS to Win 8.. no touch screen only drawback...

The idea of picking up another used 1505 is OK if you can get 'em cheap, but when you are dealig with common failures like dead screens, you gotta ask your self "How long before the replacement dies??"

 

[kmcconaughey]

PSA:

You might want to disable Java in your web browser for a while...

JAVA

 

[wshytle]

I started out with Windows Vista and my new laptop has Windows 8. I am having a very hard time getting use to it too. The photo gallery is soooo different. I'm yet to figure out how to upload a pic on the forum and just learned how to download them from my camera. With the Vista I could right click on a photo and do about anything I needed. It doesn't work that way with this system. Also, I can be typing and accidentally hit some key with the heel of my hand and it throws it back to another window requiring a couple of clicks to get back....GRRRRR!

I'd like to know if there are very many out there that are using this system now and what you think of it.

I guess it's time for me to call the Geek Squad again.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Wayne, wish I could help but I've not yet used a Win8 PC.

 

[wshytle]

Would anyone know why I can't get my sign in to stick at another website? It was no problem before I got this new laptop and all of the other websites, including this one stay signed in with no problem. It's just this one site I have to sign in every time and it's getting old.