# I Broke My Wife's Laptop



## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

So I'm embarrassed to post this as I should know better but my wife was complaining her computer was having problems connecting to websites. It would display the windows error message then it would automatically reload the correct page. So I started doing all the windows updates that were pending and there was some optional driver, bios and firmware updates as well so I figured, what the heck, might as well do those as well. So every time the computer said it had to restart I did and then it started saying the computer needed to be restarted to do the firmware/bios update so I restarted it and nothing happened but when the computer booted up it said the same message again so I restarted it again. This happened a few times but one time on a restart, the computer just started beeping and there was a progress bar. I let it go for a while but the bar never moved and the noise was frustrating me so I manually turned the laptop off. There was no warning on the screen about not turning the power off. I thought it was stuck or something. I turned it back on and a few lights came on the keyboard but nothing on the screen. So I think I turned the power off during a bios/firmware update. Google seems to say it's fixable by downloading the bios from Lenovo's website on another computer and putting it on a usb stick but at this point I am afraid to touch it.

It's still under warranty and I heard back from Lenovo and here are my options:

1 Ship the laptop to Texas. I'm guessing this could take a while with covid and there's chance we will never see this laptop again or they will have to wipe it. It would be nice to not lose everything on her laptop but not the end of the world.

2 I try and find a local repair place and see if they can fix it. If they can't I can always ship it to Texas.

What would you do?

EDIT For Canada it's North Bay not Texas.


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

If I was in your position I'd take it to the Canada Computers store in Kingston.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Doug Gifford said:


> If I was in your position I'd take it to the Canada Computes store in Kingston.


I'm in Oakville so a little far.


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## BlueRocker (Jan 5, 2020)

Guncho said:


> Google seems to say it's fixable by downloading the bios from Lenovo's website on another computer and putting it on a usb stick but at this point I am afraid to touch it.


Do this - you can't do any more damage. Be patient.


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

Guncho said:


> I'm in Oakville so a little far.


There's one in Oakville.




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Oakville Location - Canada Computers & Electronics


Oakville Location - Canada Computers & Electronics




www.canadacomputers.com


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

BlueRocker said:


> Do this - you can't do any more damage. Be patient.


Couldn't I?

I fear I could and would rather take it to a pro.


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## terminalvertigo (Jun 12, 2010)

Check your local Kijiji for tech help. It'll be cheaper than a store


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## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I can probably fix it. If you want to bring it to Hamilton


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

Trying pulling the battery for a few minutes. There is also a key sequence to help with this reboot but i can't recall it right now.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

fretzel said:


> Trying pulling the battery for a few minutes. There is also a key sequence to help with this reboot but i can't recall it right now.


I think I would have to open the case to access the battery.


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

Guncho said:


> I think I would have to open the case to access the battery.


That's a pain if that's the case. Make sure that there is no sticker saying that you will avoid the warranty if you decide to try. 

Trying to find the sequence I mentioned for you.


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

Haha. Should have remembered this. 

Unplug, pull battery, press and hold power for 10 seconds, install and plug in. Restart.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

fretzel said:


> Haha. Should have remembered this.
> 
> Unplug, pull battery, press and hold power for 10 seconds, install and plug in. Restart.


I don't see a sticker but I don't want to risk voiding the warranty.

Thanks though.


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

Guncho said:


> I don't see a sticker but I don't want to risk voiding the warranty.
> 
> Thanks though.


I can appreciate that. I recently had a black screen and this method worked for me. I have pulled the battery before to fix this type of thing but this time I had to hold the power to get it back up and running. Laptop is over 10 years old.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Guncho said:


> So I'm embarrassed to post this as I should know better but my wife was complaining her computer was having problems connecting to websites. It would display the windows error message then it would automatically reload the correct page. So I started doing all the windows updates that were pending and there was some optional driver, bios and firmware updates as well so I figured, what the heck, might as well do those as well. So every time the computer said it had to restart I did and then it started saying the computer needed to be restarted to do the firmware/bios update so I restarted it and nothing happened but when the computer booted up it said the same message again so I restarted it again. This happened a few times but one time on a restart, the computer just started beeping and there was a progress bar. I let it go for a while but the bar never moved and the noise was frustrating me so I manually turned the laptop off. There was no warning on the screen about not turning the power off. I thought it was stuck or something. I turned it back on and a few lights came on the keyboard but nothing on the screen. So I think I turned the power off during a bios/firmware update. Google seems to say it's fixable by downloading the bios from Lenovo's website on another computer and putting it on a usb stick but at this point I am afraid to touch it.
> 
> It's still under warranty and I heard back from Lenovo and here are my options:
> 
> ...


What would I do?
tell my wife the truth....that I was looking at porn on it and it’s best if that’s all she knew, since we are now in this together, and to burn the laptop and buy a new one.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Is there a Best Buy around? They might be able to help. These guys,




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Geek Squad Winston Park Retail Centre: Technical Support in Oakville, ON


Visit your local Geek Squad at 2500 Winston Park Dr., Unit A in Oakville, ON to get support from our certified agents to help setup, repair & protect your tech products.




stores.bestbuy.ca




Any time I do bios and firmware upgrades or install new operating systems, things like that I hard wire to the router and not go wireless and if it's a laptop have it plugged in and not on battery.


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## StratCat (Dec 30, 2013)

Buy a guitar. It will take your mind off of things.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

When you update the BIOS it removes all your settings. You will need to reconfigure the BIOS for your wife's machine. The BIOS is the program that tells the computer what it has for ram, hard drives, all types of settings. When you restart the machine you need to watch what it says like "hit delete to open BIOS". Then the BIOS program will open up and the settings will be accessable. I would be careful not to screw up the hard drive settings in case you get the sectors wrong and then the drive won't recognize what is on it already. This is not a big deal for a computer guy I don't think.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

player99 said:


> When you update the BIOS it removes all your settings. You will need to reconfigure the BIOS for your wife's machine. The BIOS is the program that tells the computer what it has for ram, hard drives, all types of settings. When you restart the machine you need to watch what it says like "hit delete to open BIOS". Then the BIOS program will open up and the settings will be accessable. I would be careful not to screw up the hard drive settings in case you get the sectors wrong and then the drive won't recognize what is on it already. This is not a big deal for a computer guy I don't think.


The problem is the screen is black. I can't get into the setup screen or any screen.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

The laptop is bricked. To unbrick you will need a recovery disk...lots of them floating on the net. The recovery will need to be done at the low-level stage.


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## guitarman2 (Aug 25, 2006)

BlueRocker said:


> Do this - you can't do any more damage. Be patient.


I agree with this. You probably can't fuck it up anymore than it is.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

"2 I try and find a local repair place and see if they can fix it. If they can't I can always ship it to Texas."

might want to verify that...texas may not honour their warranty if Bob the Fixit Guy is deemed to have messed it up.

a 3rd option: try a new drive in the laptop, or use another computer to see if you can access the data on the old one externally, or if its really critical data, maybe send it to a recovery firm.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Guncho said:


> The problem is the screen is black. I can't get into the setup screen or any screen.


just read the above.
that does make it seem like a motherboard (or potentially screen) issue.
Can you plug a monitor into it to see what that does?
the good news is, the HD could be fine, the laptop itself is likely bricked. you should get a boot menu even if the drive is bad.


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## Paul Running (Apr 12, 2020)

If the BIOS is successful then you should be able to interrupt the bootloader and gain control from that point.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Diablo said:


> "2 I try and find a local repair place and see if they can fix it. If they can't I can always ship it to Texas."
> 
> might want to verify that...texas may not honour their warranty if Bob the Fixit Guy is deemed to have messed it up.
> 
> a 3rd option: try a new drive in the laptop, or use another computer to see if you can access the data on the old one externally, or if its really critical data, maybe send it to a recovery firm.


Just dropped it off at a local guy and stressed to not do anything that would void the warranty.

I'm not personally doing anything that involves opening the case.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Diablo said:


> just read the above.
> that does make it seem like a motherboard (or potentially screen) issue.
> Can you plug a monitor into it to see what that does?
> the good news is, the HD could be fine, the laptop itself is likely bricked. you should get a boot menu even if the drive is bad.


Tried external monitor via HDMI. Nothing.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Paul Running said:


> If the BIOS is successful then you should be able to interrupt the bootloader and gain control from that point.


The screen is black. I have no access to the setup menu.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Guncho said:


> Tried external monitor via HDMI. Nothing.





Guncho said:


> The screen is black. I have no access to the setup menu.


im betting on the board.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

@Guncho 
Does your wife know?
Are you "dead man walking"?

Good Luck with getting the repair done


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

greco said:


> @Guncho
> Does your wife know?
> Are you "dead man walking"?
> 
> Good Luck with getting the repair done


Yeah she knows and is being very understanding.


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## terminalvertigo (Jun 12, 2010)

If i was local, I'd have already offered help!  
(i deal with shit like this on the daily in my job)

Sounds like sound advice in here. Good Luck!


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Local tech couldn't fix it. Lenovo thinks it's a hardware issue. Sending it to them.

Thanks everyone for their help and offers of help.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

fretzel said:


> I can appreciate that. I recently had a black screen and this method worked for me. I have pulled the battery before to fix this type of thing but this time I had to hold the power to get it back up and running. Laptop is over 10 years old.


10 years ago the batteries just detached from the bottom. These days they're inside the casing and not easy to get to without a few appropriate tools, a steady hand and some steel balls.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

allthumbs56 said:


> 10 years ago the batteries just detached from the bottom. These days they're inside the casing and not easy to get to without a few appropriate tools, a steady hand and some steel balls.


Lenovo actually told me that on their newer laptops, holding down the power button for thirty seconds is the same as detaching and reattaching the battery.


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

allthumbs56 said:


> 10 years ago the batteries just detached from the bottom. These days they're inside the casing and not easy to get to without a few appropriate tools, a steady hand and some steel balls.


Gee, why would they do that? $$$$


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

fretzel said:


> Gee, why would they do that? $$$$


Good question. Used to be that you could change the battery in no time and upgrade the number of cells just by getting a larger one. Now, they're inside the case and I believe that opening the case voids the warranty. Given that the batteries only last a couple or three years you've no choice but take it to an authorized service center. I went ahead and did Magg's laptop a few months ago. Got the battery on Amazon and watched a Youtube video or two and did the job. They recommend a plastic pry thingy to separate the halves - I used a couple different gauges of guitar picks and it worked fine. Tiniest screws in the world too - you need a full set of jeweler's drivers. Got it done though and it's working fine.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

According to Lenovo opening the case does not avoid the warranty.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

allthumbs56 said:


> Good question. Used to be that you could change the battery in no time and upgrade the number of cells just by getting a larger one. Now, they're inside the case and I believe that opening the case voids the warranty. Given that the batteries only last a couple or three years you've no choice but take it to an authorized service center. I went ahead and did Magg's laptop a few months ago. Got the battery on Amazon and watched a Youtube video or two and did the job. They recommend a plastic pry thingy to separate the halves - I used a couple different gauges of guitar picks and it worked fine. Tiniest screws in the world too - you need a full set of jeweler's drivers. Got it done though and it's working fine.


Tiny magnetic screwdrivers. I updated the ram in the Macbook pro I built from scratch the other day and dropped one of the damned screws that help hold the case together. I thought it bounced under the dryer so I forgot about it. Tiny they may be but the hurt almost as much as Lego does. Another thing I've found is that they are not all the same size and length. As far as battery life goes, both this Lenovo and the Dell have their original batteries....9 and 11 years respectively. 
Being that it's still under warranty sending it back to Lenovo is the best idea.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Yeah it's going back. I'm surprised that Lenovo's repair facility is in North Bay.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Guncho said:


> Yeah it's going back. I'm surprised that Lenovo's repair facility is in North Bay.


A hell of a lot faster. That's what, a couple of hrs away. Take the wife and hit a few music stores while you're there.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Electraglide said:


> A hell of a lot faster. That's what, a couple of hrs away. Take the wife and hit a few music stores while you're there.


Oh I don't think it's going to be fast at all. With shipping there, processing, shipping back and Covid on top of all that? I think we're looking at a month at least.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

I hate taking computers in for repair. All passwords, emails, browser history, online accounts etc. are now compromised and available to strangers at Lenovo.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

Remove the hard drive, and pay them to put in a new drive, configure the pc, then send it back. You then have the option to start fresh, or try your old one. I bet lots of people do this.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

.


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

Electraglide said:


> A hell of a lot faster. That's what, a couple of hrs away. Take the wife and hit a few music stores while you're there.


Lockdown.


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## player99 (Sep 5, 2019)

JBFairthorne said:


> Lockdown.


Essential laptop.


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## JBFairthorne (Oct 11, 2014)

My comment was addressing the suggestion that he take his wife for a road trip and cruise music stores.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

player99 said:


> I hate taking computers in for repair. All passwords, emails, browser history, online accounts etc. are now compromised and available to strangers at Lenovo.


I actually had cleared all cookies, browser history and cache before it died. We can remotely log out of Google and other sites and no passwords are stored on the laptop. All in LastPass which requires log in when all browsers are closed.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Guncho said:


> Oh I don't think it's going to be fast at all. With shipping there, processing, shipping back and Covid on top of all that? I think we're looking at a month at least.


If they are like Acer they'll pull the HDD and that's it as far as working on it goes....unless there's something special about the case, especially if there is hardware problems. Write down the serial number before you ship it. I guess since you're in Ont. you can't sneak out so check and see if you can Fedex (insert your favorite courier) it there and they can Fedex it back. Shouldn't take more than a week. Covid has nothing to do with it that way.....just as long as the ont gov't doesn't shut them down.


JBFairthorne said:


> My comment was addressing the suggestion that he take his wife for a road trip and cruise music stores.


I forgot to post this. Ab. so far has not gotten to that point.


player99 said:


> Remove the hard drive, and pay them to put in a new drive, configure the pc, then send it back. You then have the option to start fresh, or try your old one. I bet lots of people do this.


It's under warranty.....why pay them? They'll do the swap easier than Guncho can probably do it.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

I'm considering getting a new to me laptop. For some reason, according to win 10, this Lenovo doesn't have an optical drive. It's there but it's not. I've gone as far as pulling it, cleaning the contacts etc. and re-installing it.....nothing. I do have another DVD player so maybe I'll do a swap and see what happens.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Electraglide said:


> If they are like Acer they'll pull the HDD and that's it as far as working on it goes....unless there's something special about the case, especially if there is hardware problems. Write down the serial number before you ship it. I guess since you're in Ont. you can't sneak out so check and see if you can Fedex (insert your favorite courier) it there and they can Fedex it back. Shouldn't take more than a week. Covid has nothing to do with it that way.....just as long as the ont gov't doesn't shut them down.
> 
> I forgot to post this. Ab. so far has not gotten to that point.
> 
> It's under warranty.....why pay them? They'll do the swap easier than Guncho can probably do it.


Yeah Lenovo is sending a shipping box to us then we will ship it via Fedex. I really, really doubt we are going to have a working laptop back in a week but that would be great. Why do I need to write down serial numbers? I have the serial number for the laptop itself.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Guncho said:


> Yeah Lenovo is sending a shipping box to us then we will ship it via Fedex. I really, really doubt we are going to have a working laptop back in a week but that would be great. Why do I need to write down serial numbers? I have the serial number for the laptop itself.


To see if they fix whatever and send you your laptop back or just do a HDD swap and send you a new one back. Among other things it could affect your warranty depending on how old your wife's laptop is and how much warranty is left. If they just do a HDD swap then you should get a full warranty because it's a new laptop. The sn for the laptop is the one you need.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Electraglide said:


> To see if they fix whatever and send you your laptop back or just do a HDD swap and send you a new one back. Among other things it could affect your warranty depending on how old your wife's laptop is and how much warranty is left. If they just do a HDD swap then you should get a full warranty because it's a new laptop. The sn for the laptop is the one you need.


Ok I have that.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

I suspect your laptop will be a future refurb sold by a discounter.

but who cares, as long as your HD retains its data.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Diablo said:


> I suspect your laptop will be a future refurb sold by a discounter.
> 
> but who cares, as long as your HD retains its data.


Just before I bricked it I had cleared all cookies, cache and browser history. I have remotely logged out of chrome, google, yahoo mail, last pass, etc.

Feeling pretty secure.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Update to this. Laptop just arrived back so it took one month. Looks like they replaced the motherboard and hard drive.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Guncho said:


> Update to this. Laptop just arrived back so it took one month. Looks like they replaced the motherboard and hard drive.


Did they re-install everything from the old HDD to the new one and send you back the old one also?


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Electraglide said:


> Did they re-install everything from the old HDD to the new one and send you back the old one also?


Actually according to the action report all they did was replace the motherboard but they must have reset the computer as all my wife's stuff is gone and I had to go through the new computer setup again.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Guncho said:


> Actually according to the action report all they did was replace the motherboard but they must have reset the computer as all my wife's stuff is gone and I had to go through the new computer setup again.


Having just done that on a couple of laptops/macbooks that's a time consuming PIA.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

Electraglide said:


> Having just done that on a couple of laptops/macbooks that's a time consuming PIA.


I'm actually surprised in the age of disposable electronics that they fixed it at all and didn't just replace it.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Guncho said:


> I'm actually surprised in the age of disposable electronics that they fixed it at all and didn't just replace it.


Probably cheaper to fix it depending on it's age. Plus if they sent you a new one you could raise bloody hell if they didn't put what was on your old HDD onto the new HDD. You might have had the directions and passwords to 1000 bitcoins that you mined in 2009 on the old HDD.


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