Ask A Geek

Q: I was walking up the stairs with my laptop in my hands when I tripped. I went back to my room and turned on my computer. The screen is very dark but I can still make out icons. Is there anyway to fix it? The whole computer works fine except the screen. It is an HP notebook that runs on Windows Vista. It also has a built in camera which stopped working after the impact

Q: I dropped my laptop about a foot. It’s a thinkpad running Windows XP. It turns on and loads the “start windows normally” page, appears to load Microsoft on a perfectly clear and readable screen, then instead of bringing me to the welcome/login display, it just turns to a black/blank screen. I can tell it’s on, but the screen is black and I can’t get past it. Do I just bring this in right away?

Q: I dropped my laptop off the couch on to the floor. All seems good except the screen image looks like it is peeled up in the corner. The actual screen doesn’t show any damage. Is it fixable?

Q: I have a Compaq presario m2254 au laptop. It has an AMD Turion 64 processor and is 3 years old (has no warranty).

I have dropped a reasonably heavy object on top the keyboard of my laptop this morning. The laptop screen froze and became blurred. I tried working on it, but of no use. I then shut it down. After some time I tried starting it, I found that it will work for some time say approx – 5-8 minutes and then gets shutdown.

First I thought maybe the hard drive got lost, I tried keeping another hard disk, but the result was the same, it boots up, loads all icons in taskbar, I open firefox and browse a little and then suddenly shuts down. I tried the same with linux, where it behaves in the same manner.

I think my laptop has experienced some kind of shock, if this is the case is there anything i can do? Sending the laptop out for repair is expensive here.

Q: I dropped My Toshiba Equium A200-1VO and it wont load up onto windows fully, which means I cannot use it. When you turn it on everything is fine up to the welcome screen in Windows Vista. From here it starts to make weird crackling noises and it beeps occasionally. It wont start up from here and these noises don’t stop.

Q: I dropped my laptop about 3 months ago and everything seems to be working fine except my CD drive, which now only works when it wants to. One time I wasn’t even trying to access my CD drive and it just turned on by itself so I took advantage of the moment and uploaded all my CD’s . Now it wont work. When I dropped it 2 dents occurred on the 2 right side corners and the drive sticks out a little, but it still clicks in and out as it normally would, but when it doesn’t work it makes a beeping noise and like a struggling noise. Is there anything that I can do to fix this?

Q: I just dropped my Toshiba Satellite a135 and it wont boot up. The plastic case shows no damages and the screen is fine. When the laptop is turned on, the Windows XP loading screen just loads for like 5 minutes and then it goes blank and restarts. Does anybody know what the problem is?

Q: I have a Compaq Presario 2236CL laptop. My friend dropped it and now it will no longer run from the battery. It will not boot up unless plugged in and will turn off IMMEDIATELY when unplugged. Do you think this is more likely a dead battery or something internal in the laptop?

A: Since your laptop was able to run via battery power prior to the accident, the battery may simply have been knocked out of alignment by impact. Use the following procedure to realign the battery with the connector inside your laptop: Read the rest of this entry »

Q: My son’s HP Pavilion dv5000 was dropped going through airport security. The LCD is clearly cracked and just displays lines and big blank white areas. We tried connecting it to an external monitor to see if the rest of the computer still works. The boot up goes as far as the first Windows Splash screen and then the monitor goes blank – no signal.

Here are the questions: Is there a way to verify that the CPU and hard drive are really working? Is it worth it to buy a new LCD display (17 inches)? More importantly, how can I get all the docs and music and pictures off the Hard Drive? Going to a Mac (with plenty of space) is the only option in this house.

A: Try pressing F4 together with the Fn button once the external screen goes blank. Shorthand for that is F4+Fn (do not press the + button). The Fn key should be somewhere near one of the Ctrl keys. You’ll notice that Fn and the picture on the F4 key are the same color. This is a reminder to you that to do what the picture describes, you must always hold down the Fn key too. If this procedure works and the rest of computer seems to be undamaged, then replacing the screen on your son’s laptop should be the only repair that is needed. Read the rest of this entry »

Q: I dropped my laptop from about 3 feet in the air. The computer seems to boot up and there is power to the screen but it is blank. The computer is a HP nc6400 with Windows XP professional.

A: I’m sorry to learn of the accident that occurred to your laptop. As I explain in greater detail below, you will almost certainly have to send your laptop in for repairs. You should Contact HP if you purchased your laptop directly from them. Talk with the IT department at your work if your laptop is owned by your employer. Otherwise, take the laptop to the store where you purchased it, and their repair department will make the necessary arrangements with HP. Don’t forget to use your extended warranty (also called service agreement or protection plan) if you purchased one. Some extended warranties will cover damage caused to your laptop in a fall — that is your repair could be free. Otherwise such repairs are very expensive! Please read the details below: Read the rest of this entry »