Dropped laptop

[stevo1210]

A friend of mine dropped his 17" Medion laptop onto the floor. It has three thin vertical lines (green) running up the screen towards the left with one being in the centerish position.

Now here's the thing... he wants to sell it dirt cheap and I have some interest as I'm looking for a Core i7 17" to replace my ageing Toshiba P25.

Apart from the screen fault, the laptop runs flawlessly. No BSODs or anything that I could see through some extended use I did, and the audio system is superb. No cracks or scratches on the laptop cover or anywhere really.

Could the fault be with the motherboard, the screen cable or the LCD itself. For $100 for a 1 year old laptop, it seems tempting but if it's gonna be something expensive then I'm gonna have to think about it as I have a car shitting itself right now which probably is more important I suppose.

What do you guys think?

[yyonline]

Re: Dropped laptop

If they're 1 pixel thick lines, it's the screen itself.

I'd be careful with dropped laptops. By that I mean to check it out thoroughly, not to avoid altogether. Be sure to scan the hard drive for bad sectors if the computer was powered on when the drop happened. I've seen cases where a laptop looks fine externally, but once opened all the internal plastic tabs are broken. That's something to consider should it ever need to be opened for repair work.

[ratdude747]

Re: Dropped laptop

can you get a picture of the damage?

at the worst it needs a new LCD/mainboard connector, at best a new display cable.

sounds like the lid flexed and cracked the lcd... but without a picture I can't tell.

[stevo1210]

Re: Dropped laptop

If they're 1 pixel thick lines, it's the screen itself.

I'd be careful with dropped laptops. By that I mean to check it out thoroughly, not to avoid altogether. Be sure to scan the hard drive for bad sectors if the computer was powered on when the drop happened. I've seen cases where a laptop looks fine externally, but once opened all the internal plastic tabs are broken. That's something to consider should it ever need to be opened for repair work.

Yup, 1 pixel line thick running down the screen. A few of them though. As for internal plastics, I know exactly what you mean. This one wasn't a hard drop though but you never know. As for the HDD, that I don't care about because I have my own HDDs to play with but nonetheless the current HDD in there has no issues.

[stevo1210]

Re: Dropped laptop

Two things going through my mind right now... spend money on laptop or fix the holes in my cars exhaust with that money? :S

[ratdude747]

Re: Dropped laptop

what do you have for a laptop now?

does it do what you need it to do? well?

one pixel line= bad screen cable... it may have been bad all along and the drop was what put it over the edge (no pun intended).

[stevo1210]

Re: Dropped laptop

I have several, but I was just planning to replace the Toshiba P25 my dad uses because he complains it is slow and the screen goes all funny sometimes due to a motherboard fault.

My main laptop is a Dell Latitude D400... just got a new battery for it as well! Solid as a rock, best laptop I've owned so far and does everything I need!

These days the D400 is only used to type up lectures and do university related things... and surf the web when I am at university, otherwise I use my Ipad, that thing does wonders!

[ratdude747]

Re: Dropped laptop

still using the d400 i see... mine is semi-out of service... once i get a hold of some software, there will be less of a reason to use it (it has the software on it).

how long of a battery life do you get on it? keep your old battery in your bag, as these units have a backup battery that if stock varta (german made, not a chinese knockoff), will keep the unit in sleep mode while you switch batteries. this makes the somewhat short battery life last a good deal longer.

one other note- my d400's internal PS/2 port must have fried, as the touchpad and trackpoint both stopped being detected in linux or windows... I almost always use an external mouse anyway, but I thought you might want to know.

[kc8adu]

Re: Dropped laptop

bad lcd.
unless you mean the heat fused on ribbons.

what do you have for a laptop now?

does it do what you need it to do? well?

one pixel line= bad screen cable... it may have been bad all along and the drop was what put it over the edge (no pun intended).

[otoluk]

Re: Dropped laptop

Be sure to scan the hard drive for bad sectors if the computer was powered on when the drop happened.

Useless suggestion. High level disk checking won't reveal anything until it is too late. Need to check S.M.A.R.T data and use utilities from hard disk manufacturer so it can scan the surface in a low-level and force the disc controller sector remapping if needed.

[ratdude747]

Re: Dropped laptop

bad lcd.
unless you mean the heat fused on ribbons.

I thought screen lines indicated a bad cable?

if ye LCD be dead, then it may or may not be worth it.

[yyonline]

Re: Dropped laptop

I thought screen lines indicated a bad cable?

if ye LCD be dead, then it may or may not be worth it.

A screen "band" (thick line) can indicate a bad ribbon cable. A single pixel line is a bad screen.

[ratdude747]

Re: Dropped laptop

noted.

[kaboom]

Re: Dropped laptop

High level disk checking won't reveal anything until it is too late. Need to check S.M.A.R.T data and use utilities from hard disk manufacturer so it can scan the surface in a low-level and force the disc controller sector remapping if needed.

It'll remap to the spare sectors until they run out. Only after that will CHKDSK show anything. But the drive will be long past shot by then.

[Uranium-235]

Re: Dropped laptop

I thought screen lines indicated a bad cable?

if ye LCD be dead, then it may or may not be worth it.

if its an I7, its probably worth it, bad lcd or not (depding on how much hes selling the top for)

[lti]

Re: Dropped laptop

It'll remap to the spare sectors until they run out. Only after that will CHKDSK show anything. But the drive will be long past shot by then.

When my laptop's hard drive failed, the Chkdsk log was so long that there wasn't enough room on the drive to save it. That as almost exactly a year ago, and the computer still works. The drive is slow and there are a ton of corrupt files, but it won't fail completely. The bad sector count hasn't increased since then.

[ratdude747]

Re: Dropped laptop

if its an I7, its probably worth it, bad lcd or not (depding on how much hes selling the top for)

it was $100 AU.

except when you need the money for other things, it becomes less of a bargain, especially since for what he uses his existing d400 is within what the d400 can do.

[stevo1210]

Re: Dropped laptop

it was $100 AU.

except when you need the money for other things, it becomes less of a bargain, especially since for what he uses his existing d400 is within what the d400 can do.

spot on there RD, spot on. $100 may not seem a lot... in fact that's how much the family spends on weekly groceries, but at times when my car wants money and university wants money, it does seem like a lot. Only a year and a bit to go with the degree and I'm outta there though!

[mockingbird]

Re: Dropped laptop

You must be out of your mind to be asking!! $100 Aussie Dollars? The processor alone can be sold for that much!!!

[stevo1210]

Re: Dropped laptop

like i said earlier, i have other costs to pay for. but what is going through my mind right now? buy and sell back on ebay for profit? or fix and sell for profit?