Disaster struck, in the night between 15 and 16 September 
It struck my laptop. Its screen, to be specific. If that doesn't sound too bad, just wait; it gets worse. I don't quite understand what happened actually, so maybe laying it down in text will help me discover the truth.
Any feedback or suggestions are welcome, obviously. For those who want to speed read this, I got you covered. I'll be using bold font to help y'all map out this wall of text.
I attempted to diagnose the laptop visually, and figured that the backlight was out of order. I could shine a torch on the screen and see my GUI, the OS was still working, etc. The backlight went out suddenly, as far as I can tell. So it was probably not the backlight itself, rather the inverter or the cable. Now, the screen plastic case had been broken a few years ago, no damage other than superficial, but some cables were exposed. I had dismantled the thing and reinforced it a few times; and the last time I did that, I left a cable exposed. I then took the laptop with me on a weekend in the countryside, to keep working on my 100DaysOfCode project. And the aforementioned tragedy occurred. Naturally, I identified the cable sticking out as the likely culprit, since it very well could have been worn and twisted just by folding the laptop.
When I got back, I unscrewed the screen, took it off, and disconnected the few cables that linked it to the motherboard. I dusted and cleaned inside as I went for good measure. I plugged the functioning laptop half to a desktop monitor, and it worked. Great, right? The only problem was... I had unplugged the WiFi antenna, not realizing that that was what it was, connected as it was to the laptop screen. The laptop worked, but wasn't getting any signal. My better half had expressed the view that that particular cable was probably the antenna, and now I had evidence suggesting that she was right.
I opened the laptop again, plugged the antenna back in, closed it, and booted it up; the desktop monitor couldn't detect the laptop anymore. Super weird, right? I booted the laptop again, tried unplugging and plugging the screen back in, no change. Okay, what if I remove the antenna, will I get a visual but no WiFi signal, like before? Nope, nothing. What if I plug the original, broken screen back in, to see if I get a visual, albeit without backlight? Nothing. After a few tests like that, and a few rounds of taking the laptop apart and putting it back together in different configurations, it wouldn't even boot anymore. I know I forgot to turn the laptop off before opening it at least once. It seems likely I broke something, caused it to short or something.
So there, no more laptop. I don't know what is broken, beyond the screen, and I don't really have the tools to test all the important parts. Yet. I'll get a good multimeter soon, and I'll see if I can resurrect that old husk and install Linux on it or whatever. For now, since I can't boot from the HDD even from another laptop, I'll assume I managed to wipe it or damage it. Maybe the motherboard still works. Holy crap, I just need to plug another, working 2.5" HDD to the motherboard and give it a try! Stay tuned
Edit: it does not appear to be just the HDD. It might be that the HDD is fine, but I doubt it since I tried to use it on another laptop and couldn't even boot the OS from it. I'm gonna use a SATA/USB cable to perform further tests as soon as I get it delivered to me. So the HDD is very likely wiped or damaged, but the comatose laptop refuses to boot even with a different HDD. Granted, that second HDD may also be damaged, but it seems unlikely. When the laptop is plugged to the wall socket, the LED indicating that it is charging lights up, so I assume the power supply is ok. When I try to boot, the LED indicating that the computer is on lights up for a couple of seconds, then off. No noise from inside le laptop as far as I can tell. I am wondering whether the motherboard simply doesn't interface correctly anymore with some component(s), and/or whether some component(s) may be "fried." Would that be consistent with a dead CPU, maybe? Feels like, with enough documentation on the hardware, a precise multimeter, and that cable I'm waiting for, I should be able to figure that out in a day.
But maybe this story will sound familiar to a helpful fella or fellette out there, and I'll get some input from them to help me along on my personal path... to Truth
It struck my laptop. Its screen, to be specific. If that doesn't sound too bad, just wait; it gets worse. I don't quite understand what happened actually, so maybe laying it down in text will help me discover the truth.Any feedback or suggestions are welcome, obviously. For those who want to speed read this, I got you covered. I'll be using bold font to help y'all map out this wall of text.
I attempted to diagnose the laptop visually, and figured that the backlight was out of order. I could shine a torch on the screen and see my GUI, the OS was still working, etc. The backlight went out suddenly, as far as I can tell. So it was probably not the backlight itself, rather the inverter or the cable. Now, the screen plastic case had been broken a few years ago, no damage other than superficial, but some cables were exposed. I had dismantled the thing and reinforced it a few times; and the last time I did that, I left a cable exposed. I then took the laptop with me on a weekend in the countryside, to keep working on my 100DaysOfCode project. And the aforementioned tragedy occurred. Naturally, I identified the cable sticking out as the likely culprit, since it very well could have been worn and twisted just by folding the laptop.
When I got back, I unscrewed the screen, took it off, and disconnected the few cables that linked it to the motherboard. I dusted and cleaned inside as I went for good measure. I plugged the functioning laptop half to a desktop monitor, and it worked. Great, right? The only problem was... I had unplugged the WiFi antenna, not realizing that that was what it was, connected as it was to the laptop screen. The laptop worked, but wasn't getting any signal. My better half had expressed the view that that particular cable was probably the antenna, and now I had evidence suggesting that she was right.
I opened the laptop again, plugged the antenna back in, closed it, and booted it up; the desktop monitor couldn't detect the laptop anymore. Super weird, right? I booted the laptop again, tried unplugging and plugging the screen back in, no change. Okay, what if I remove the antenna, will I get a visual but no WiFi signal, like before? Nope, nothing. What if I plug the original, broken screen back in, to see if I get a visual, albeit without backlight? Nothing. After a few tests like that, and a few rounds of taking the laptop apart and putting it back together in different configurations, it wouldn't even boot anymore. I know I forgot to turn the laptop off before opening it at least once. It seems likely I broke something, caused it to short or something.
So there, no more laptop. I don't know what is broken, beyond the screen, and I don't really have the tools to test all the important parts. Yet. I'll get a good multimeter soon, and I'll see if I can resurrect that old husk and install Linux on it or whatever. For now, since I can't boot from the HDD even from another laptop, I'll assume I managed to wipe it or damage it. Maybe the motherboard still works. Holy crap, I just need to plug another, working 2.5" HDD to the motherboard and give it a try! Stay tuned
Edit: it does not appear to be just the HDD. It might be that the HDD is fine, but I doubt it since I tried to use it on another laptop and couldn't even boot the OS from it. I'm gonna use a SATA/USB cable to perform further tests as soon as I get it delivered to me. So the HDD is very likely wiped or damaged, but the comatose laptop refuses to boot even with a different HDD. Granted, that second HDD may also be damaged, but it seems unlikely. When the laptop is plugged to the wall socket, the LED indicating that it is charging lights up, so I assume the power supply is ok. When I try to boot, the LED indicating that the computer is on lights up for a couple of seconds, then off. No noise from inside le laptop as far as I can tell. I am wondering whether the motherboard simply doesn't interface correctly anymore with some component(s), and/or whether some component(s) may be "fried." Would that be consistent with a dead CPU, maybe? Feels like, with enough documentation on the hardware, a precise multimeter, and that cable I'm waiting for, I should be able to figure that out in a day.
But maybe this story will sound familiar to a helpful fella or fellette out there, and I'll get some input from them to help me along on my personal path... to Truth
the mirror-like surface is a bit scratched, and what's that smudge above it? cuz I know it's not dirty...
I'll post the results in about an hour
Comment