I may have broken my laptop

[wolfmother]

Hi guys,

I may I have dropped my laptop. Now it seems to make the same noises when it starts but nothing happens. I connected it to tv with hdmi cords to see if it was just the screen.

Any advice or magic tricks are very appreciated,

Cheers,

[Dae314]

If you have accidental damage warranty see if you can send it in and get your data recovered.

The most common things that break during a fall are the Hard Drive and the Screen. If your computer was on when you dropped it, it's more likely that there was a hard drive failure. When you try to start the computer listen for some mechanical clicking coming from around the area where the hard drive is located (

). If your hard drive's been damaged and you need data from it you'll need to get a professional to recover your data (which could cost quite a lot so be prepared). If you don't hear anything wrong with the hard drive and you're willing to open the laptop up (possibly voiding the warranty which you might want to use), you can try to remove the hard drive and attach it to another computer via a SATA to USB converter in order to recover your data. If your hard drive is broken, sending it in isn't going to fix it (you'll just have your data back). You still need to get a new hard drive and get a copy of whatever OS you were running on it.

Now with hard drive failure you can usually still boot to the POST screen, but you cannot? You said you tested it on an external monitor, but you didn't tell us what the results of that test were. If you were lucky or your computer was off when you dropped it, it's possible that you just have screen damage. It's usually possible to replace a broken screen on a laptop although depending on your level of familiarity with disassembling laptops you may want to have a professional do it for you.

If your laptop's fans don't even spin up when you try to turn it on then you'll need to get professional help with it.

Edited July 29, 2012 by Dae314

[wolfmother]

Hi dae,

It is well out of warranty,

When I connected it to tv it did not work. Can still hear the fan though.

Oh well I believe it may be time for some computer surgery XD

Thanks mate

[Babybluex]

Gosh, could be anything, motherboard damage, cpu damage, or a number of things. You better take it down to a maintenance store.

Hang in there, I know how it feels like to just lose a laptop or a hard drive so suddenly; I literally lost more than five laptops to falls and drops, and two hard drives.

Good Luck getting that sorted out

[Mujklob]

Well, the battery and power supply are probably fine, but you could have broken any (and all) the other components. If your laptop is far enough out of warranty, paying for any sort of repair (especially a replaced screen) will probably cost you as much as a low-end new laptop.

Aside from the fans, can you hear the HDD spinning up? II would suggest pulling your HDD out, throwing it in a desktop (your may have to remove a IDE to SATA adapter from the HDD), backing up your files and saving up for a new laptop. If your HDD was damaged, there is a small chance you can freeze it in a plastic bag for a few hours to have enough time to recover your data (if it happens to have a bad solder joint that can be fixed by shrinking the board down to make contact again)

Edited July 30, 2012 by Mujklob

[Dae314]

I really wouldn't recommend freezing your hard drive under any circumstances (same for baking it). You can do that with boards, but not with physical spinning drives. By freezing your drive you run the chance of allowing condensation to form on the platters (which would render your hard drive REALLY useless). Even if you stick it in a plastic bag, the condensation can still form if you didn't seal the bag properly or you broke the seal before the drive returned to room temperature. The chance that freezing your drive will fix a bad solder (if a bad solder is even your problem) is not worth the risk of bricking your drive even more .

[Mujklob]

It's definitely a last resort and not so likely to work, but if the HDD is otherwise unrecoverable, I don't think there aren't many people willing to pay a lot of money to recover their data. But he wanted a magic trick, so.

I find it funny how easily data can be come irrecoverable and the extent to which people go to destroy it. (Microwaves, magnets, "Gutmann pass", boot and nuke etc.)

[ZeroPenguins]

I really wouldn't recommend freezing your hard drive under any circumstances (same for baking it). You can do that with boards, but not with physical spinning drives. By freezing your drive you run the chance of allowing condensation to form on the platters (which would render your hard drive REALLY useless). Even if you stick it in a plastic bag, the condensation can still form if you didn't seal the bag properly or you broke the seal before the drive returned to room temperature. The chance that freezing your drive will fix a bad solder (if a bad solder is even your problem) is not worth the risk of bricking your drive even more .

I kinda agree with the freezing part, though in my opinion it does have it's benefits for devices such as flash memory. I have recovered files that have been lost on my USB flash drive before using the freezing method. Also on another note I thought HDDs were air tight vaccum sealed, so how would it condensate without no gas inside? But regardless I would not recommend you freeze your HDD unless you're knowing what you're doing.

On topic:

You will have to open your laptop like everyone else suggested here and examine the damages. Who knows your motherboard might have popped off a few chips here and there. (Poorly designed ones of course, with no crumble zones also known as impact zones or conformal coding that may help). Anyways good luck with fixing your laptop.