Well, my laptop is now officially dead. It all started a few weeks before when the grounding plug in my power cable broke off. I didn't think much of it, and I was going to get a new cable soon enough. However, before I went out to buy my new cable (several weeks later) I was sitting in the comp-sci lounge in uni, and there was a sudden power spike. My computer's screen went black (this was during bootup) and then shut off. I then tried turning it back on only to have the fan go on full and my screen stay black. Problem was, that my assignment that was due that night was stuck on that hard drive, and without a working laptop, I couldn't hand in my assignment. I then bought a 2.5" HD adapter at the closest computer store and copied all of my files, bit for bit, onto a spare HD. What I discovered is that the inner 3 sectors of the HD were toast, the motherboard was toast, and the video card (a nice new (at the time) ATI M9) was toast. I'm not sure about the processor and RAM, but I've got no way to test it. Luckily I was able to get an extension from my prof for the assignment, and I was able to hand it in on time. So the lesson is: If your grounding plug breaks, go get a new one immediately!
How does one manage to break the grounding rod? They are solid fixed onto the plug! EDIT: Realised its not a UK plug, which are stronger!
Well, it wasn't a name-brand laptop (Syntax) so the cables weren't of the highest quality. Still don't know how the ground pin broke off though. Doesn't make any sense.
awwww thats unlucky reaper.......but on a slightly different note i'm now on holiday in Canada! i'm in ottawa also staying with relatives
No way, South Side rocks! As long as we're talking about Barrhaven and not South Keys *shudder*. Back on topic... this just gives me an excuse to buy a new laptop though. That Acer Ferrari laptop is looking quite attractive right now. It would only cost me.... well ok, about 1.5 months of pay.
Ouch, Laptopfries aren't good But does the ground pin protect your hardware from powerspikes? I tought not... Ground pin only works when inside your hardware something goes terribly wrong and things that don't suppose to hold voltages do, like a cable breaking off and touching the chassis... (wow what an expination that was..) If you had a Surge Protector your laptop would have survived... this leads the over-Volts/Amps to the ground pin... But the Surgeprotector must be installed before the adaptor, so it acually doesn't matter if you have the ground pin or you don't... But, I must admit, it is a good exuse for a new one
Unfortunately it was fairly high spec at the time. It was a Centrino 1.4, 512MB DDR400, ATI Mobility 9000, 60GB HD, 15.4" screen, and a DVD+-RW drive. Of course nowdays that's not quite so high spec, but it was the fastest of the laptops amongst the Comp-Sci Society people. But now at least I'll be able to buy me a new laptop that's even faster! That ACER Ferrari notebook looks really sweet right now. Maybe the price will go down before I buy it in december.
Can't you buy some odd bits for the same laptop from ebay, and try and get it working? If all else fails, ebay it!
I had a similar problem with a projector, the ground pin broke off, and it was working fine for about three or four months. I used it quite a while before it started pouring out smoke into the room. I got a new cable and it worked perfectly.
man smoking projector dosnt sound to good fried laptop sounds with a torched assignment sounds worse.
