First, don’t buy anything from CyberPowerPC. Their customer service sucks, and they can’t fix their own laptops. But this is a topic for a Pit thread. . .
But to the point: I have a laptop where the screen will intermittently cease to function. The rest of the machine is fine, but for whatever reason . . . say either on bootup or after I open it up from being on standby, the screen will just be blank (no power, no picture. . . nothing). I’ve found that on occasions more oft than not, if I unplug the machine and take out the battery overnight, I’ll try it in the morning, and the screen will boot up normally like nothing was ever wrong.
I’m seriously considering scrapping the laptop and selling it for spare parts. It is beyond the warranty, and CyberPowerPC was never able to fix the original problem while it was under warranty. What I wouldn’t mind doing is just buying a recently used/reconditioned laptop, but put in my own hard drive from the CyberCrapperPC machine, keeing all of my old data and programs (some of which were a PITA to load, are registered, or some I’d have to buy a whole new license to reinstall).
Basically, I want the same software and all, but on an actual working piece of hardware. Can I just swap out the hard drive to a new machine?
Tripler
If you want details on my experience, PM me.
I’m assuming it’s a Windows system (because you didn’t specify).
The answer is that it probably won’t work.
There are physical differences in laptop hard drives - mainly the thickness of the unit - so it may be that your existing drive simply won’t physically fit in some other machines.
But chiefly, moving a hard drive to another machine is, from the POV of the installed OS, equivalent to changing all the hardware at once - if the recipient machine had a fairly similar hardware specification (particularly the motherboard) as the donor, it might work, otherwise, it will either completely fail to boot, or at best, boot and be buggy and quirky until you give up and do a wipe and reinstall.
There are published instructions for Upgrading a Motherboard without Reinstalling, but the whole process is highly iffy and prone to complete failure - and even if it appears to work fairly well, there are likely to be niggly little problems that manifest here and there later.
Yup, it is a Window’s system. And I sort of figured the physical dimensions may not match up with other frames. . .
Is it possible to simply copy from the one existing drive all of the data to a new hard drive? Back in Minot, ND, one of the computer guys called something similar “‘Ghosting’ the Hard Drives”–i.e. swapping the hardware, but copying the software to the point that the switch would be invisible to the user.
Tripler
Man, I’d really like to save the data without having to deal with the unreliable hardware.
It can definately be done. But it might be difficult.
Here’s the easy scenarios:
you plug it in, and it boots fine
it doesn’t boot, but you insert the win xp cd and when you go to install the OS (NOT the ‘recovery console’) it asks if you want to upgrade. You say yes, and windows fixes itself and all your programs remain. Often, the upgrade uption is not there.
If the above two don’t work, then you start researching on the net. However, i’m not sure what Mangetout meant by “even if it appears to work, there will be little problems here and there.” As far as i know, that’s not correct. If Windows manages to boot and detects all the hardware, it’s fine. Of course all the crud that’s accumulated ain’t going nowhere, and I still suggest you bite the bullet and clean install.
Yes, doing a faithful copy is possible. You have to connect both hard drives to the same machine and use a program like Acronis Disk Director to copy the partition. Afterward, though, you may have to boot into winxp’s recovery console and fix the boot record. (This doesn’t make the other problems go away, but gets windows to try to star).
But you keep talking about “data.” Data itself is very easy to copy. Even program settings are often doable without any fancy hacking.
Btw, I performed such a transplant recently and had to do two things. First, change the driver used for “Computer” (in device manager). Second, followed a MS kb article to do registry changes that let windows recognize a range of hard drive controllers. These two things should be enough in the majority of transplant cases.
There are a number of things that can complicate it - chiefly that you end up with a load of clutter in the registry that wouldn’t be there with a new install on the new hardware - redundant hardware entries, settings, etc - in the very best case, these will do nothing much more than take up unnecessary space and slow down the system generally. But clutter like that can also cause the system to behave in subtly odd ways at times - I’ve seen a few cases of attempted motherboard upgrade done ‘by the book’ - and they all had weird things happening - on one, it was just that the Windows menus were messed up - instead of saying File Edit View…, they said |||| |||| |||| - on another, the system would freeze for about 30 seconds whenever the common dialog box was called to save or open a file.
I mean, it might work. but I’d never attempt it unless I had no other choice.
What I’m trying to avoid is having to reinstall a bunch of software (in some cases to a couple ‘o’ hundred clams) just to get back to my working functionality–for what I can only assume is a hardware problem. I’ve exhausted my ‘Home Use Program’ supplied MS Office 2007 for just a few bucks (certain agencies buy licenses where employees can buy the whole suite for like $50).
I tried to open up the laptop this evening to reseat the video card, but found that I can’t figure out how to get the case open. So, I’ll take it to an actual professional and have him/her open it up, but for if something is so screwed up with the hardware, I may consider just hauling off and buying a new machine–but keeping the old programs. The software side works great. It’s just the friggin’ monitor that is driving me up the wall.
I’m wondering if anyone’s got any thoughts on what might actually be causing the monitor to just not shut off. This company claimed to have “checked everything out”, but recurring problems are just that–recurring and annoying. :dubious:
Tripler
Thank God I still have the desktop (aka, the “Mothership”) Four years old, and it still runs like a champ.
I dunno… clutter. I think that’s just ocd. Windows installs new drivers, windows saves old drivers in a far off place somewhere, windows keeps chugging along. Menus that display weird characters? Doesn’t sound like it’d have anything to do with drivers or anything besides fonts/regional options. Which book are you referring to? Never tried sysprep or something fancy, just the steps I mentioned above.
Tripler, what software are you taklng about that you can’t reinstall? Even office, which has activation, will install two times just fine.
About the monitor… I had a similar problem on a Dell laptop. The little button that gets pressed when you close the lid would get stuck.
Specifically which titles? Quite a few: AutoCad, PSpice, and a few other proprietary engineering programs I can’t get my hands on anymore, but which are indispensable to me.
And my laptop doesn’t have “the little button to press”. There’s a weird little blank spot on it where presumably a logo on the inside of the lid would go . . . but I doubt that’s a sensor.
Tripler
And no, I tried installing Office a second time. I had to get a new code.
Look harder for the button, it’s tiny. It’s also possible it’s somehow internal, but wherever it is it might be fault.
Wow, autocad, pspice… sound old. Have you tried modern cad stuff like solidworks/inventor? In any case I don’t suppose your thousand-dollar programs have legal licenses to them anyway
Not really. Lots of redundant entries in the device manager will make the system boot slower, and can cause other kinds of subtle problems.
Yes, chugging is quite an appropriate term
I was unable to resolve it in that particular case (in part because it was just difficult to navigate any of the windows and dialogs when certain parts of them weren’t displaying properly.
I’m referring to the common tutorials on the operation (many of which show as results in my Google link in a post above).
I just did a search on previous threads on this topic and it appears I’m not alone in my reservations about this, and more importantly, my experience of the problems it can cause.
Of course none of that is to say it’s impossible to transfer a system like that, but I personally won’t be attempting it again unless there’s no alternative.
Some of those applications Tripler mentioned probably won’t work after a transplant anyhow. Application registration usually involves generating a system key based on installed hardware. Some of the items used during this process include the ethernet MAC address, motherboard serial number and Hard disk identifiers. Change enough of these at one time, and the registration will fail. Far better to anticipate this, contact support desks and deregister the applications, then re-register on new hardware. It saves pain (says the man with hundreds of pounds worth of registered audio software who regularly changes hardware).
And as an engineer whose stock in trade is large-scale OS and application deployment, I’m with Mangetout on this one. Windows XP transplants can work, but it is not a given, and things are painful when they don’t. I wouldn’t try with a laptop. Ensuring that all possible drivers are preinstalled helps, but the whole hardware signature thing will bite you (particularly with Windows Genuine Advantage). In a corporate context, SYSPREP and Volume Licence Keys are necessary, and even then, different hardware platforms generally have their own images. I actually prefer raw clean OS delivery and postboot application deployment. A bit slower, but miles more reliable.
Of course, Linux is a different bucket o’ bits. I regularly swap the hardware for my server under the disks - it just boots and works once I identify the ethernet cards.
Buy a ten-dollar external hard drive case, put your old hard drive in it, and transfer all your programs over to your new laptop hard drive, USB-style. No installs, just drag and drop the whole application folder from the old program folder to the new one. Probably several hours of download time, but no extra money spent.
To be honest, you might be able to just run all your programs off of the external hard drive, but I don’t know.
Or you could buy a new LCD for your old laptop and practice a little amateur computer repair.
I’m not sure it sounds like it’s the LCD that’s dead. It could be any of:
-The LCD driver circuitry
-The display adaptor
-The backlight (when the screen isn’t working, can you see anything on it at all when you hold it up to the light/tilt it/shine a bright light on it?)
-The bit of the motherboard that the display adaptor connects to (if it’s a separate adaptor)
-The ribbon cables connecting any of the above together
-Some weirdness in the circuitry that controls power distribution/energy saving
-Remotely possible - some weirdness in the driver installation or configuration (but I don’t think so).
If you’re willing to spend $110 then Acronis True Image Workstation with the Universal Restore add-on will do just what you want. It images a drive and then automatically adjusts for any differences in hardware. I’ve used the Server version to image a corporate server (Xeon with hardware RAID-5, SCSI, etc.) onto a plain old P4 laptop and Windows booted up on it just fine.
Unfortunately, I’m sure it’s not the backlight or the LCD screen itself–I can never see anything when it randomly occurs. And then just as randomly, the screen will work again back on bootup. Unfortunately, I’m not good enough to dig into the laptop to unseat/reseat the video card or check for loose connections. Would that be it?
I’ve been extremely hesitant to force parts apart that seem unwilling to easily come apart after taking the screws out. Can I safely open the thing up with a little elbow grease and “tactically applied” force?
Tripler
Tell me I should “Man up, Nancy boy!” and just rip the thing apart.
yeah, laptops aren’t super fragile, for obvious reasons. Never pull “hard” (ie, think of the force to break a pencil) but don’t be afraid. Use pulling/jiggling to figure out what’s still connected and what isn’t. It’s not straightforward. The mechanisms can be quite clever, and remember you always have to unscrew only a subset of the screws (some screws hold the case together, others just attach pcbs to the plastic).
P.S. 95% of the time applying force is not the necessary step to get it open (ie, the plastic clicks with itself instead of using screws). Occassionally it does happen, but be really sure and study how it moves. Again, using pulling and flexing. Think of it as a puzzle.
That depends on whether you have actually written off the machine and are prepared to face the risk of destroying it in the attempt to fix it.
In my experience though, casings that don’t snap open fairly easily on equipment like this usually indicate that there are some more screws somewhere that you haven’t undone - maybe concealed beneath stickers or little rubber feet.
There’s no single construction methodology for laptops - sometimes the casing just comes off when you undo all the screws, sometimes undoing the screws underneath only allows the top casing of the keyboard section to be removed (and the bottom casing comes off when you undo screws accessible only from inside, sometimes the top casing of the keyboard section unclips and comes off without undoing any screws, and in a few cases, seams might have been welded, making clean disassembly almost impossible.
To be honest, I think your best chance of getting this machine repaired would be to take it to a local small computer repair shop and talking to an expert computer repair humanoid about it.
