xkcd0137
Galvanizer
Hello people, I live in a Tier 2.5 city and getting laptops repaired here is a difficult job. I have two old laptops as given below -
1) HP Pavilion dv2910tx - This laptop is around 11 years old and is not in working condition since 3-4 years or maybe even more.
The display of this laptop is divided into 4 identical sub-columns and is quite blurry and unusable. This series of Pavilion laptops (dv2000) was prone to graphics issues. I once wasted Rs. 500 to get it repaired. It got okay for a few hours and the next day the display was back to the same issue. IMO since its a graphics card issue, replacing the motherboard is the only solution, but not to the original one (Core 2 Duo). I was thinking of replacing the motherboard with a more powerful config. I have found a few mobos on ebay from US (Cost: 900 Mobo + 1600 for shipping), and dropped query to the seller about their specs. I couldn't find any in India, if you know some reliable seller, do let me know.
OR
Is their someone reliable who can repair my current Mobo for nominal charges if I send them by courier?
OR
Should I salvage its parts? For eg. I am already personally using its 320GB HDD as an external storage. Its Display, RAM (DDR2), Panel etc work fine. Should I sell them for some bucks?
2) Dell Inspiron 15R N5110 - This is almost 10 yrs old laptop and currently this laptop is being shared between myself (5%) and my younger sis (95%) (who is a computer science student). I do most of my work on phone and use laptop rarely (for filling forms or opening some sites which are not mobile-friendly etc). I have upgraded its RAM to 8GB DDR3 1666MHz.
a) Its original display (LG display) worked okay for almost 6-7 years but then it started developing some vertical lines. Now these vertical lines cover almost 20% of the right region of screen, so 1 year back I got the screen replaced (Rs 1800-2800) from a local computer shop. He gave me a 3 (or 6) month warranty which ended in Jan (or March). Unfortunately, this screen too developed a few vertical lines but since we were under lockdown and the 3 (or 6) month warranty had passed, there was no way of/point in asking for a replacement. But then one fine night, maybe I sprayed a little more water to clean the screen and water seeped in and the screen went mad. There were continous Down-to-Up blurry movement and nothing is readable. So I am back to the original Screen right now.
There are two options for a new screen - Rs. 4800 for 1 Yr Warranty from local Dell Service Centre (NOT LG display) or Rs. 6800 for 3 Yr Warranty from Amazon (Seller: Online SBS, Brand: SellZone). Do you people know any other reputable seller?
b) Its Hard Disk makes hell lot of noise, especially when multi-tasking or while opening Chrome. The Back panel gets pretty HOT and CPU Usage also shoots to 90-100% often. I am currently running Windows 7 as Windows 10 hangs a lot on this system. Earlier I ran Hard Disk Sentinel to check if there was any fault with the HDD but found none. 2 days ago I installed CrystalDiskInfo and it showed 'Caution' highlighting the 'Reallocating Sectors Count' which is at its worst score. I think this HDD is going to fail in some time, so planning to replace it with a 256GB SATA SSD (May cost around 3-3.5k during sale). Will this improve performance in any way?
c) I don't know why but the laptop has also stopped charging since last week. Its running on direct power currently. I had bought this current battery in Jan 2018 only (Rs. 2653). I have already bought 2 batteries for this laptop till now.
So should I get a new Screen, SSD and Battery and spend approx 10k on this laptop? Changing Battery is not compulsory though.
PS - I have recently left my job so I am not really interested in buying a new laptop. But if its the only option, I may ask parents to buy laptop for younger sis but I will continue to use this Dell system only. So does (atleast) an SSD Upgrade make sense? I can manage with faulty display or plug it to the TV (lol) if needed.
PPS - I have a habit of tinkering with electronics and have repaired my phone (replaced display, battery, mobo etc) and Laptops in past. So I am pretty comfortable in buying parts and replacing myself and doing some small repairs too. Also, even if I have no need for these systems, I would like to get them to their best form if and when I resume my job and get enough cash.
1) HP Pavilion dv2910tx - This laptop is around 11 years old and is not in working condition since 3-4 years or maybe even more.
The display of this laptop is divided into 4 identical sub-columns and is quite blurry and unusable. This series of Pavilion laptops (dv2000) was prone to graphics issues. I once wasted Rs. 500 to get it repaired. It got okay for a few hours and the next day the display was back to the same issue. IMO since its a graphics card issue, replacing the motherboard is the only solution, but not to the original one (Core 2 Duo). I was thinking of replacing the motherboard with a more powerful config. I have found a few mobos on ebay from US (Cost: 900 Mobo + 1600 for shipping), and dropped query to the seller about their specs. I couldn't find any in India, if you know some reliable seller, do let me know.
OR
Is their someone reliable who can repair my current Mobo for nominal charges if I send them by courier?
OR
Should I salvage its parts? For eg. I am already personally using its 320GB HDD as an external storage. Its Display, RAM (DDR2), Panel etc work fine. Should I sell them for some bucks?
2) Dell Inspiron 15R N5110 - This is almost 10 yrs old laptop and currently this laptop is being shared between myself (5%) and my younger sis (95%) (who is a computer science student). I do most of my work on phone and use laptop rarely (for filling forms or opening some sites which are not mobile-friendly etc). I have upgraded its RAM to 8GB DDR3 1666MHz.
a) Its original display (LG display) worked okay for almost 6-7 years but then it started developing some vertical lines. Now these vertical lines cover almost 20% of the right region of screen, so 1 year back I got the screen replaced (Rs 1800-2800) from a local computer shop. He gave me a 3 (or 6) month warranty which ended in Jan (or March). Unfortunately, this screen too developed a few vertical lines but since we were under lockdown and the 3 (or 6) month warranty had passed, there was no way of/point in asking for a replacement. But then one fine night, maybe I sprayed a little more water to clean the screen and water seeped in and the screen went mad. There were continous Down-to-Up blurry movement and nothing is readable. So I am back to the original Screen right now.
There are two options for a new screen - Rs. 4800 for 1 Yr Warranty from local Dell Service Centre (NOT LG display) or Rs. 6800 for 3 Yr Warranty from Amazon (Seller: Online SBS, Brand: SellZone). Do you people know any other reputable seller?
b) Its Hard Disk makes hell lot of noise, especially when multi-tasking or while opening Chrome. The Back panel gets pretty HOT and CPU Usage also shoots to 90-100% often. I am currently running Windows 7 as Windows 10 hangs a lot on this system. Earlier I ran Hard Disk Sentinel to check if there was any fault with the HDD but found none. 2 days ago I installed CrystalDiskInfo and it showed 'Caution' highlighting the 'Reallocating Sectors Count' which is at its worst score. I think this HDD is going to fail in some time, so planning to replace it with a 256GB SATA SSD (May cost around 3-3.5k during sale). Will this improve performance in any way?
c) I don't know why but the laptop has also stopped charging since last week. Its running on direct power currently. I had bought this current battery in Jan 2018 only (Rs. 2653). I have already bought 2 batteries for this laptop till now.
So should I get a new Screen, SSD and Battery and spend approx 10k on this laptop? Changing Battery is not compulsory though.
PS - I have recently left my job so I am not really interested in buying a new laptop. But if its the only option, I may ask parents to buy laptop for younger sis but I will continue to use this Dell system only. So does (atleast) an SSD Upgrade make sense? I can manage with faulty display or plug it to the TV (lol) if needed.
PPS - I have a habit of tinkering with electronics and have repaired my phone (replaced display, battery, mobo etc) and Laptops in past. So I am pretty comfortable in buying parts and replacing myself and doing some small repairs too. Also, even if I have no need for these systems, I would like to get them to their best form if and when I resume my job and get enough cash.
