Computer help needed

To All:

During my recent stay in hospital my computer system suffered
extensive damage, apparently when a cat convinced an equipment rack to
collapse. Unfortunately, I was using a lap-top as a temporary
terminal on my LAN and it was physically damaged in the crash. Until
I can repair the lap-top so as to recover its contents, several Groups
will be without a moderator. (The lap-top's keyboard is cracked (!)
It needs to visit the repair shop in San Diiego, a trip I won't be
able to manage for a while.)

You can still reach me directly via email at , but I
will not be able to assist you with file transfers and the like. No
data has been lost, it simply isn't available for the time being.

Since all of the address files went down with the lap-top, please
cross-post this message so others will be aware of the problem.

If there's anyone local (San Diego) who can help me get the lap-top to
& from the repair shop on Ronson Road (ie, Kearny Mesa), please give
me a shout.

-R.S.Hoover

Use an external keyboard.
Get an inexpensive USB keyboard somewhere, plug it and Bob's your uncle!
If your computer is too old to have a USB connector, it may have an PS-2
(no, PS-2 does not mean PLAY STATION 2, kiddies) you can plug any older
keyboard into that connector.

On Jul 16, 12:22*pm, John Smith wrote:
Use an external keyboard.
Get an inexpensive USB keyboard somewhere, plug it and Bob's your uncle!
If your computer is too old to have a USB connector, it may have an PS-2
(no, PS-2 does not mean PLAY STATION 2, kiddies) you can plug any older
keyboard into that connector.

Apparently the damage extends to the adjacent C-drive, since it fails
POST.

-R.S.Hoover

wrote in message
...


Apparently the damage extends to the adjacent C-drive, since it fails
POST.

Error message?

On Jul 16, 12:40*pm, "Steve Foley" wrote:

Error message?

---------------------------------------------------------

Yes. It says: "Take me to a repair station." :-)

wrote:
On Jul 16, 12:40 pm, "Steve Foley" wrote:

Error message?

---------------------------------------------------------

Yes. It says: "Take me to a repair station." :-)


A bad keyboard can cause it to fail POST and stop. What is the make
and model of laptop?

Charles

It looks as if I'll have to do the repair myself.

New keyboards are available from the OEM (Vivo) for about $40. The HP
maintenance manual is available via the internet. That leaves a few
issues unresolved but since the thing was working in the past I'll
assume it can be returned to service.

-R.S.Hoover
-(KA6HZF)

schreef:
It looks as if I'll have to do the repair myself.

New keyboards are available from the OEM (Vivo) for about $40. The HP
maintenance manual is available via the internet. That leaves a few
issues unresolved but since the thing was working in the past I'll
assume it can be returned to service.

-R.S.Hoover
-(KA6HZF)

Bob,
Allow me to suggest some clarification.
I understand you are after an "identical" or "matched"
or "certified" keyboard - but there's no need.
Any PC keyboard with the proper interface
(in your case, USB, I understand)
and the proper layout (US English, assumedly) will do.
Indeed it shouldn't be too difficult to locate a
suitable keyboard near you (neighbours? friends? shop PC?)
and borrow it for a quick swap, just to confirm the diagnosis.

As for returning the PC to service:
yes, sooner or later that's always possible.
Questions are
1) if it's worth the money (I abandoned a laptop
after breaking the display, the replacement was over-expensive)
2) whether you can recover the data from the harddisk.
This is crucial: a new harddisk is easily available
at reasonable cost, but is unfortunately supplied blank.
Indeed you'll likely find the data on the disk
much more valuable than the PC as such.

There's companies specialized in recovering data
from crashed harddisks but they're horribly expensive.

Hoping this helps,
KA

On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:52:38 +0000, jan olieslagers
wrote:

schreef:
It looks as if I'll have to do the repair myself.

New keyboards are available from the OEM (Vivo) for about $40. The HP
maintenance manual is available via the internet. That leaves a few
issues unresolved but since the thing was working in the past I'll
assume it can be returned to service.

-R.S.Hoover
-(KA6HZF)

Bob,
Allow me to suggest some clarification.
I understand you are after an "identical" or "matched"
or "certified" keyboard - but there's no need.
Any PC keyboard with the proper interface
(in your case, USB, I understand)
and the proper layout (US English, assumedly) will do.
Indeed it shouldn't be too difficult to locate a
suitable keyboard near you (neighbours? friends? shop PC?)
and borrow it for a quick swap, just to confirm the diagnosis.

An IMPORTANT correction here.
This WILL work - BUT. The original damaged keyboard MUST be
disconnected first if, as I suspect, at least one key is "stuck"
electrically.

As for returning the PC to service:
yes, sooner or later that's always possible.
Questions are
1) if it's worth the money (I abandoned a laptop
after breaking the display, the replacement was over-expensive)
2) whether you can recover the data from the harddisk.
This is crucial: a new harddisk is easily available
at reasonable cost, but is unfortunately supplied blank.
Indeed you'll likely find the data on the disk
much more valuable than the PC as such.

It is not out of the ordinary for the data to be worth HUNDREDS of
times more than the computer it is on.

I'd pull the hard drive, stick it into a USB drive case, and connect
it to another computer to see if it is readable before wasting ANY
more time on the computer. No need to get the old computer running if
you can just pop the data from the old drive into a new computer.
(by the way, I do this a LOT in my business - repairing and
maintaining computer systems)

There's companies specialized in recovering data
from crashed harddisks but they're horribly expensive.

Hoping this helps,
KA

** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

In article ,
clare at snyder dot ontario dot canada wrote:

I'd pull the hard drive, stick it into a USB drive case, and connect
it to another computer to see if it is readable before wasting ANY
more time on the computer. No need to get the old computer running if
you can just pop the data from the old drive into a new computer.
(by the way, I do this a LOT in my business - repairing and
maintaining computer systems)

There's companies specialized in recovering data
from crashed harddisks but they're horribly expensive.

If the drive works when inserted in an external case and you get error
messages trying to read it, you can order and download a copy of
SPINRITE from grc.com. Cost is $89, money well spent.

It may take some time (the longest reported recovery time is 3-months, I
personally had one run 23-days on a 250GB HD on a Toshiba laptop) but it
will recover anything that is recoverable.