Laptops Laptop problems galore !

Crazy_Eddy

Crazy_Eddy

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Keymaster
Having issues with a laptop.
Frequent BSODs pointed to a corrupt windows installation. Reinstalled with the same problem a couple of hours later. A couple of times the system would freeze at the boot screen during what seemed like it was trying to detect the HDD. Removed the HDD and the BIOS would boot fine.

All things done, it seemed the HDD was at fault. Surprisingly when i put the HDD in an external USB casing to backup files, the disk functioned flawlessly. Ran numerous Disk scans with no bad sectors picked up (used HD Tune for that). It appears SMART utilities cant pick up info on the drive via USB. So any conclusive way to make sure its the HDD thats at fault? Whenever I did boot into windows, I did run the windows based Memtest .. had 1400% coverage without problems - so RAM seemed fine. However when I left it like that for a while and returned, it would have BSOD'ed. :huh:

Another side problem, I seem to keep having frequent issues with my Laptop AC Adaptor conking out. The original one conked out quite a few months back. Unfortunately its a little high on specs - 120W which is much higher than the usual standard. HP was askin a whopping 8k+ for a replacement :tongue:
Obviously picked up one from Ritchie street, but the build quality did not look too original. As a result, the one i bought has again conked out :( . So any suggestions for something thats cheap and reliable?
 
1. Sounds like a problem with the board, if not with the HDD.
2. How do you get your adapters die on you so easily? My advice: get a cheap UPS and connect the adapter to it. It'll work, at least when you're not on the run.

Thankfully, a new ThinkPad adapter costs only 2.5k or so. Ah, I feel so much better now!
 
@Yamaraj: No idea why it dies out so soon (its my sister's laptop, she has no idea hehe). After the 1st incident, got a spike guard to run the AC adapter off it. Electricity out here seems pretty fine, so not sure whats causing the issue. Hope it aint a board issue, will try a new HDD and confirm.

@Superczar: I did use Coretemp to monitor temps while running Prime95, it peaked at around 61C. Idle temps were close to 37C. Its a Mobile 130nm A64 2800+, so temps seem pretty reasonable.
 
Bought a new AC adapter. The problems seem to have disappeared all of a sudden - atleast for now :ashamed:! Will do indepth testing a little later.

Any chance a faulty AC adapter can have an effect on instability? I thought the battery would automatically sort of "filter" out any irregularities in power. Plus with the adapter plugged in, it would clearly indicate that it was running either on battery or on AC power i.e. no fluctuating between the two states.
 
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