I was depressed quite a bit as my Laptop was not working smoothly for many a weeks. Actually, till last year my Laptop was in warranty period (HP), and HP service center guys have changed the motherboard, HardDisk perhaps 2-3 times during this period --- the usual problem was system not getting powered up (in simple language the Orange LED was not blinking ...). Almost similar kind of problem started popping up for some weeks, and my brother went to HP Service center, but then the charges were quite not affordable . They demanded some 2500 rupees for adapter, some 4000-5000 for battery, again some thousand rupees for CDROM ... and these charges were quoted before complete diagnosis. No doubt I told my brother to leave Laptop's checkup for few other months ...
When I wake up today morning, I saw my Laptop ... and its pale, silent state made be really worried. Suddenly, my sixth sense stepped in, and told me to play with the hardware aspects of the power adapter. Actually, earlier I found that by putting power adapter in some position, the Laptop used to start up. However some times the Laptop could not boot up, whatever be the configuration I put the adapter in. But then I was in mood to take risk ... I opened the adapter ... which is not tough ... you can even use sharp end of a spoon to open it ... (not recommended, ;-) ) ... Interestingly the internal adapter circuit did not seem too complex, also my work was going to be lot easier. I used razor blade, and sliced the plastic sheath over wire entering to adapter(from laptop side) ... and to my excitement the wire (which was flattened, breaded copper wire sheath) had a disjoint at one point. I simply connected them, put tape over it (5 rupees investment) ... and the Laptop got powered up! No doubt, I saved lot of money, but more than that my worry about the state of extremely dear some Laptop ended.
Contrary to a Desktop, when a Laptop gets into problem we go to its authorized service center. Often the charges become so unaffordable that it causes abandonment of the system, though I am sure most of the times problems can be solved by simple engineering. Actually many of the devices inside a system, are quite fault tolerant, but then Service Center guys are adamant to throw off hardware just for the sake of ... laziness, company policy or ...! I am smelling presence of tonnes and tonnes of reusable hardware abandoned in this particular way ...
When I wake up today morning, I saw my Laptop ... and its pale, silent state made be really worried. Suddenly, my sixth sense stepped in, and told me to play with the hardware aspects of the power adapter. Actually, earlier I found that by putting power adapter in some position, the Laptop used to start up. However some times the Laptop could not boot up, whatever be the configuration I put the adapter in. But then I was in mood to take risk ... I opened the adapter ... which is not tough ... you can even use sharp end of a spoon to open it ... (not recommended, ;-) ) ... Interestingly the internal adapter circuit did not seem too complex, also my work was going to be lot easier. I used razor blade, and sliced the plastic sheath over wire entering to adapter(from laptop side) ... and to my excitement the wire (which was flattened, breaded copper wire sheath) had a disjoint at one point. I simply connected them, put tape over it (5 rupees investment) ... and the Laptop got powered up! No doubt, I saved lot of money, but more than that my worry about the state of extremely dear some Laptop ended.
Contrary to a Desktop, when a Laptop gets into problem we go to its authorized service center. Often the charges become so unaffordable that it causes abandonment of the system, though I am sure most of the times problems can be solved by simple engineering. Actually many of the devices inside a system, are quite fault tolerant, but then Service Center guys are adamant to throw off hardware just for the sake of ... laziness, company policy or ...! I am smelling presence of tonnes and tonnes of reusable hardware abandoned in this particular way ...
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