Dropped my laptop!

[oakfield]

I had my laptop on the passenger seat of my van and after sudden braking to avoid an idiot driver it slid onto the floor.
I tried turning it on and it’s completly dead. I’ve tried removing battery and charger and holding down power button to reset everything but no good. Power is getting from the charger port to the motherboard but that is where my investigations have stopped.

I am assuming that it’s the motherboard that has died.

Does anyone know if there is a common, repairable fault that is caused by dropping them?

My options that I can think of are pay for repair - probably not economical as it’s quite an old laptop.

Replace the motherboard with second hand one - is this likely to cause any problems with o/s etc

Get same model of laptop cheap on eBay and put my h/d into it - should this work without problems?

By new, better laptop. This would be my normal preferred option, but really don’t have the cash at the moment, especially as my wifes car broke and I smashed my phone, all on the same day as the laptop incident!

Any computer experts have any advise?!

 

[Tasky]

I am assuming that it’s the motherboard that has died.

Don't assume.

Does anyone know if there is a common, repairable fault that is caused by dropping them?

Not really.
Laptops have a plethora of teeny, tiny, ridiculously delicate components and connectors. It may well be a cheap fix, but it will need looking at by someone who knows what they're doing to ascertain the issue.

Replace the motherboard with second hand one - is this likely to cause any problems with o/s etc

Potentially - Windows 10 works off a licence that is linked to individual motherboards now, so if the replacement doesn't have one you may need a new licence.

Get same model of laptop cheap on eBay and put my h/d into it - should this work without problems?

Again, potentially.... but you may run into some issues if there is no Win10 licence key on that board, or if it has different components.

You have my sympathies for your loss... but in future strap down delicate things like this - Some laptops are heavy enough to smash through windscreens and the last thing you want on your conscience is to kill someone because your unsecured lappy got thrown out your vehicle into their face..

 

[pollys13]

http://www.protonic.com run by volunteers, free technical support by computer experts, anything to do with computers, upgrades, dual boot o/s etc, etc.

 

[Racers]

What make of laptop?

Pete

 

[oakfield]

Thanks for the replies.

It’s an Acer Aspire 5349. There’s a couple of cheap ones on EBay, also a cheap motherboard. I don’t want to spend money on it really because I would like to upgrade to something more powerful, but now isn’t a great time so think I might have too!

 

[Robbo3]

Normally if the power light comes on, after turning off & removing the battery, the next step would be to check the hard drive & memory connections. Unfortunately with your model, this requires the removal of the back - about 16-20 screws.
Checking it over should be a 10 minute job if it's only a loose connection.
Pity you are not closer or I'd have checked it for you.
You should also consider what information may be recoverable if the laptop is beyond economical repair - so don't throw it away.

 

[Racers]

You might have lost the backlight for the display. Motherboard might not cure that.

Pete

 

[nabs]

there is a video here showing how to remove the hard drive in case you do need to recover any data (if the disk is not broken you can get an external caddy and attach the drive to another PC). As per the above once you have the battery and back removed you can also check for any loose connections - worth a try!

[youtube]gGQByaFVQMQ[/youtube]

 

[oakfield]

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

I have already opened it up to check for any loose connections or obvious damage.
I have also removed the hard drive and read it on another computer and thankfully all seems ok there.