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MyRedrum
Easily Amused



Registered: 03/20/07
Posts: 332
Loc: Portland
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is my laptop dying?
#8879146 - 09/04/08 08:14 PM (15 years, 8 months ago) |
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a.) for a while now, my CD burner has not been working. it will go through the whole process of burning the CD (including finalizing), but when i turn the disc over after it's done, there is no written data on it. it's still blank. this makes me think it's a hardware problem rather than with software.
b.) microphones don't work when i plug them in. they did up until around 6 months ago. (driver problems?)
c.) now for the last 4 weeks or so, my screen has had a vertical blue line on it near the right side; only in the last two days it has turned red. usually it goes away after 5 minutes but it won't now. 
i'm doing a virus scan now to see if it comes up with anything... i think i probably just need to reformat and see what happens. 
i have a dell inspiron 9300 and it's about 3 years old. this may be relevant -- i changed the original (i think 512 each) RAM sticks for 2 1GB RAM sticks about 3 months ago.
any ideas or advice would be awesome, thanks.
-------------------- there's someone in my head, but it's not me
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 3 months, 8 days
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Re: is my laptop dying? [Re: MyRedrum]
#8882495 - 09/05/08 01:46 PM (15 years, 8 months ago) |
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Does the line on the display show up immediately when you turn it on, or only after the OS starts to boot? Most likely immediately, in which case the LCD panel is going bad.
The other problems could be hardware or could be driver related.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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delta9
Active Ingredient


Registered: 10/28/04
Posts: 5,390
Loc: California
Last seen: 13 years, 6 months
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Re: is my laptop dying? [Re: Seuss]
#8882550 - 09/05/08 01:58 PM (15 years, 8 months ago) |
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Also, the connection to the LCD may be falling out some (this happened to my Girlfriend's laptop).
-------------------- delta9
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 3 months, 8 days
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Re: is my laptop dying? [Re: delta9]
#8883274 - 09/05/08 04:54 PM (15 years, 8 months ago) |
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I've seen that cause distortion, but never a single line of pixels out. Usually, the cable contains video signal, and a DSP board on the panel itself converts the data into what is seen. Never hurts to reseat the cable if you are going to junk the laptop anyway.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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Minstrel
Man of Science



Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 1,974
Loc: Hogtown
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Re: is my laptop dying? [Re: Seuss]
#8883642 - 09/05/08 06:29 PM (15 years, 8 months ago) |
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Damn things just aren't built to last.
Consumer electronics
Edited by Minstrel (09/05/08 06:29 PM)
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MyRedrum
Easily Amused



Registered: 03/20/07
Posts: 332
Loc: Portland
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Re: is my laptop dying? [Re: Minstrel]
#8884101 - 09/05/08 08:14 PM (15 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Minstrel said: Damn things just aren't built to last.
Consumer electronics
haha yeah, electronics seem to go obsolete within a year or less these days
-------------------- there's someone in my head, but it's not me
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freeDOOM
Stranger then you



Registered: 07/28/08
Posts: 1,536
Loc: New York, USA
Last seen: 2 years, 4 months
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Re: is my laptop dying? [Re: Minstrel]
#8887226 - 09/06/08 03:13 PM (15 years, 8 months ago) |
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Quote:
Minstrel said: Damn things just aren't built to last.
Consumer electronics
more like comsumer everything
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Minstrel
Man of Science



Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 1,974
Loc: Hogtown
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Re: is my laptop dying? [Re: freeDOOM]
#8890253 - 09/07/08 09:59 AM (15 years, 8 months ago) |
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It is better to end than to mend
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