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glenatronWhen work ended I noticed a broken laptop was being binned and figured I might as well pick it up because there might be something someone I knew could do to help with it.
When I got it home and tried it, the laptop worked perfectly, starting up smoothly and reaching the windows login screen without a problem. Then I moved my hand and it cut out, refusing to do more than light up the "power" indicator when it was plugged in. Turns out that there is a fairly common problem with this model of machine related to Dell's laptop designers being a bunch of halfwits, which is odd as their desktop machines are really nicely designed inside. The solution typically either involves a new motherboard or, if you're feeling daring, repairing the solder for one of the chips on the motherboard. Obviously, being a daring soul, I went out and bought a small nosed soldering iron and spent a while this morning with that and a magnifying glass trying to repair the solder on the damaged chip.
I'm happy to say that it worked a treat and I'm now the owner of a working laptop. It's doubly fortunate because I actually have some real work next week for which I will need it and without that work my next mortgage payment would be looking decidedly shaky...
When I got it home and tried it, the laptop worked perfectly, starting up smoothly and reaching the windows login screen without a problem. Then I moved my hand and it cut out, refusing to do more than light up the "power" indicator when it was plugged in. Turns out that there is a fairly common problem with this model of machine related to Dell's laptop designers being a bunch of halfwits, which is odd as their desktop machines are really nicely designed inside. The solution typically either involves a new motherboard or, if you're feeling daring, repairing the solder for one of the chips on the motherboard. Obviously, being a daring soul, I went out and bought a small nosed soldering iron and spent a while this morning with that and a magnifying glass trying to repair the solder on the damaged chip.
I'm happy to say that it worked a treat and I'm now the owner of a working laptop. It's doubly fortunate because I actually have some real work next week for which I will need it and without that work my next mortgage payment would be looking decidedly shaky...
