Gripe of the day - What is yours?

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by Sir Trev

My five year old HP laptop had an odd screen flicker last night and when black. Now it won't turn on. Rats. Off to Google to see if there is a reset option of any kind or if it looks like it's toast.

We ended up with father-in-laws old Lenovo so I eventually managed to get that running tonight as a stop gap. Quite like the keyboard on it...

Sir Trev that sounds like a screen invertor (£15-£25) failing, if it's an LED screen this will be built in so you need a new screen but thankfully they're cheap (£40 or £50).

I'm taking it you mean only the screen is all black (and you have power LED's on etc).

If not and all sign of life is gone it could be the battery and or powerlead as bibio said but I'd be worried the motherboard has blown (probably new laptop time but the cost may surprise you).

[Seeker]

Originally Posted by Dave20046

(probably new laptop time but the cost may surprise you).

surprise as in "yay!" or surprise as in "good grief"

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by Seeker

surprise as in "yay!" or surprise as in "good grief"

Either way to be honest. Occasionally it's a yay on older laptops.

[Seeker]

Just don't buy a Lenovo 330S. It has a poor colour reproduction display, short duration battery life, no dvd drive and no ethernet port (you have to buy a usb-c adaptor or use wifi only). I really messed up in buying one.
I prefer my 10 year old Toshiba Satellite fitted with an SSD and a larger battery.

[Sir Trev]

Originally Posted by Dave20046

Sir Trev that sounds like a screen invertor (£15-£25) failing, if it's an LED screen this will be built in so you need a new screen but thankfully they're cheap (£40 or £50).

I'm taking it you mean only the screen is all black (and you have power LED's on etc).

If not and all sign of life is gone it could be the battery and or powerlead as bibio said but I'd be worried the motherboard has blown (probably new laptop time but the cost may surprise you).

The power light comes on but now I have no screen at all, no caps or num lock lights and no other features like illuminated keys work. Then it will not power down at all, even if you hold the button for a while. Charged it up again and it all did the same thing.

We have an indie repair place up the road - I'll see if they're open. If it's not economic to repair then so be it. I've had reasonable life from it and thankfully my company records (my Ltd company bought it) are on my Google Drive. Thanks for the suggestions all.

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by Sir Trev

The power light comes on but now I have no screen at all, no caps or num lock lights and no other features like illuminated keys work. Then it will not power down at all, even if you hold the button for a while. Charged it up again and it all did the same thing.

We have an indie repair place up the road - I'll see if they're open. If it's not economic to repair then so be it. I've had reasonable life from it and thankfully my company records (my Ltd company bought it) are on my Google Drive. Thanks for the suggestions all.

Sounds like motherboard. Can be anything from £80-500. Your data is unlikely to be gone, that's stored on the harddrive if you need it.

At it's age maybe buy another. Black Friday deals perhaps...

[CheGuevara]

Went to a Timpsons in Asda to get a key blank cut for my old Toyota. I brought a blank with me (bought online for £2.50), but he said they were only allowed to cut blanks they sell. I said fair enough, and asked if he had a blank. He said "I do. It's £40" Looked identical to my £2.50 one fwiw.

He had that slightly sheepish look like he knew they were taking the ****. I'm amazed they sell any at that sort of money. Now very clear why they won't cut one they didn't sell.

Will go visit a local independent once this round of lockdown is over.

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by CheGuevara

Went to a Timpsons in Asda to get a key blank cut for my old Toyota. I brought a blank with me (bought online for £2.50), but he said they were only allowed to cut blanks they sell. I said fair enough, and asked if he had a blank. He said "I do. It's £40" Looked identical to my £2.50 one fwiw.

He had that slightly sheepish look like he knew they were taking the ****. I'm amazed they sell any at that sort of money. Now very clear why they won't cut one they didn't sell.

Will go visit a local independent once this round of lockdown is over.

Funnily enough I had a very similar conversation in Morrison's Timsons. It's starting to show that they hire ex-robbers ...£10 for a standard key cut?!

[chris8886]

Originally Posted by CheGuevara

Went to a Timpsons in Asda to get a key blank cut for my old Toyota. I brought a blank with me (bought online for £2.50), but he said they were only allowed to cut blanks they sell. I said fair enough, and asked if he had a blank. He said "I do. It's £40" Looked identical to my £2.50 one fwiw.

He had that slightly sheepish look like he knew they were taking the ****. I'm amazed they sell any at that sort of money. Now very clear why they won't cut one they didn't sell.

Will go visit a local independent once this round of lockdown is over.

Well that is a massive pi55 take I think! Good on you for saying no thanks and going somewhere else.

[Craig380]

Originally Posted by Dave20046

Funnily enough I had a very similar conversation in Morrison's Timsons. It's starting to show that they hire ex-robbers ...£10 for a standard key cut?!

Hah, I was going to post the same thing ....