Laptop takes a dive

mrron

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Thanks to accidental contact by me, my HP 8301nr latop took a dive off a 3 foot high table. It landed flat on it's back and after careful examination I could find no signs of damage, No cracks, dents, scratches etc. When I turned it on, it loaded as it normally does including the WLAN turning on. The desktop looked clear and crisp. I was ready to breath a sigh of relief when I noticed the computer was unresponsive to any commands. Whatever I clicked on...nothing happened. Then after about ten minutes the LCD started to flicker wildly. I also noticed that the HD light(indicator) stayed on and I could hear as if the system was loading. I kept it on for about an hour the LCD would flicker then stablize for about 5 minutes then flicker. The hard drive light never went out.The optical drive would open when I pushed on it. Knowing nothing about computers but wanting to do something, I disconnected the power, yanked out the battery and removed the hard drive. Connecting everything back resulted in no change. My simple question is what's wrong? Ideas for solving this problem? If it is a faulty connection to the LCD would the desktop look normal for ten minutes. I even shook the laptop during the ten minutes and it made no difference. If it is a faulty HD would it load normally. I can't access the system device manager to see if it shows any problems. Your thoughts and suggestions are greatly appreciated. thanks Ron
 
no
your HDD might have been damaged in the fall
its possible that a disk got scratched and now it cant read the info
or not
i really dont know
but here is a bump for you

maybe if you turn it on and let it run
it could sort itself out
 
Sounds like multiple problems to me. I don't think the LCD flicker and unresponsiveness are related. Sounds like a physical problem with the LCD screen and a failing hard drive. If you have important stuff on there, you'll need to find some way/one to back it up. Standard hdds have moving parts, so most likely something failed when it dropped. These are just my initial reactions.
 
Thanks. If I buy a new hard drive and windows media center disk (the laptop
didn't come with restore disks) is it likely the system will be responsive. If the LCD flickers I would buy a new LCD. I guess what I am asking is besides the HD and LCD, what else could cause these problems? I like the laptop and am willing to put some money in it but am trying to figure how what a worst case is. Your best guess is more than welcome. thanks,
 
If the hard drive is physically damaged (which it sounds like it is) then restore disks wouldn't do the trick anyway - the additional stress on the drive would probably cause it to fail totally.

It sounds like it's the hard drive and LCD that have failed from what you've said, yes. The LCD may well fail after the first 10 minutes of being left on, if a component warms up and subsequently fails it could well cause things like you're describing.

Before you do anything else, back up - your data could disappear at any moment with the machine in that state. When that's done, grab a copy of the ultimate boot cd and run the hard drive diagnostics tests there, that'll give you an idea of what state the disk drive is in before you rush out and buy one. As for the LCD screen - you may be able to get a kit to get it replaced but that'd be the biggest bugbear. You'd probably have to take it in somewhere to get it fixed which could end up being quite expensive.

Oh and if your laptop plans on taking a dive again, have you thought about a toughbook? ;)
 
I agree that you need to BACK UP YOUR DATA RIGHT NOW!

With that being said, a new HDD is no big deal. I'd recommend you get Windows 7 as opposed to XP or Vista.

However, your screen will be a bigger problem. It might be worth it to investigate pricing for a new screen before you do anything. I've seen some replacemet screens cost more than a new laptop. So I'd highly recommend doing a little research on how much a new one is or if there are even replacements out there.
 
You're laptop wouldn't happen to have accidental damage protection on it would it?


If you are unsure, send me your serial number (s/n) and product number (p/n) from the sticker on the bottom of your laptop and I'll check it all out for you.
 
Many thanks to all of you that have responded to my post. Your suggestions are very much appreciated. I turned the laptop on and after five hours brought it out of hibernation only to find the desktop looking fine but the system frozen. After 10 hours the desk to looked like a tv receiving a test signal. Wide horizontal lines. Thanks for the help in looking up component costs. Using the p/n and s/n HP wants $150 for the HD and $175. for the LCD.
Clearly too much to put into this laptop. Drive Solutions wants $70 for the HD and I can get an LCD on ebay(used) for $70. I have no disks for this laptop so I assume I will have to buy Windows Media center disk on ebay for $30. I like the thought of going Windows 7. I assume that will envolve updating drivers etc. which may be more than I can handle.
I came up with maybe a crazy idea. I searched ebay and found several HP dv8000 series laptops for sale for about $250. I thought about buying one and exchanging parts (like many auto mechanics do these days). Worst case I end up with a used ebay laptop. Best case I find out what is wrong with my current, repair it at a resonable cost and have two used laptops. Crazy HUH?
 
Worst case scenario is you break something attempting to fix them and end up with 2 unusable laptops.

Unless you have experience working with laptops at a hardware level, I would suggest against that plan and save your money to purchase a new laptop. It's strictly up to you.
 
DUDE,
Thanks your worst case is more accurate than mine. Not to bore you with background info I will date myself by saying that when I graduated from grad school in mechanical engineering I used a Slide Rule to take my final exams. Any of you guys ever see a slide rule? Ha! My point being, I hate to throw stuff away without understanding why it's broken even if it is in a field I know little detail. Should I pursue this foolish option,to exchange HD's I assume I would have to find an HP DV8000 series laptop with similiar processors. Mine
is an AMD. Finding one with an Intel won't work. Also operating systems would have to be the same. Mine is a Windows Media Center. Windows XP or XP Pro won't do. HP 17 inch LCD should be interchangable. I forgot to mention that by pure luck I backed up all of my data. Not that I have a lot of important data. That's for staying with me on this.
 
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