I dropped my laptop and now I'm dead inside.

If you frequent these parts you might remember me trying to connect my laptop up to my projector. Well, I did. And it was all great.

Since the cord connecting the laptop to the projector is quite short I had to keep my laptop on the shelf beside the projector itself, this is located just behind my couch. While I was browsing around looking for another movie I had my laptop rested on the back of the couch WHEN SUDDENLY (yes, you guessed it) my laptop fell off the edge of the couch onto the ground. THWACK.

It landed quite precariously onto the power cord whilst still conected to the laptop, meaning, the cord rammed up inside of her, err, it...

Now the jack is askew and I can't recharge my laptop no more.


Could anyone 1. give me a price estimate of what it would cost to replace the jack, 2. give me the name of a trustworthy/cheap/quick/commendable repair shop that deals with this kind of repair, 3. know how to repair it themselves and A. give my a blow-by-blow on how to f**k up my ordeal even more or B. fix it for me for free/low cost?!?!? or 4. does anyone have a spare laptop going that they want to give me/sell to me?!

Any help would be AMAZING. I am truly heart broken. At the moment I'm a little numb and the consequences of my misfortune haven't quite surfaced but I know I can't handle being without my beloved laptop. My exams are coming up in a while and I NEED my laptop. I need it.

More info:

Laptop in question = Samsung NC10
It's pretty old and, not going to lie, it's not in great shape.. I might have posted other topics on various other defects that my laptop has incurred.. So it's not worth much (if anything).

Please, search your soul; help me..

Torqay

Luna Embarrassed Thud wrote: »

It landed quite precariously onto the power cord whilst still conected to the laptop, meaning, the cord rammed up inside of her, err, it...

Since the connector is soldered to the mainboard, you'll probably need to replace the mainboard, unless you find someone willing to do the soldering.

carbon nanotube

the pcb could also be smashed , in which case its more or less scrap.

just open it up and see what the damage is, dont be a pu$$y, its not like you got anything to lose.

GarIT

TechPros in Tallaght and Lucan will fix it for €99, €5 discount if you like the Facebook page (you have to ask for the discount) and have a collect and return service to anywhere in Ireland for €10 if you need it.

Chuck Stone

How old is it?

Torqay

And you believe this is a serious offer???

If they have to get a MoBo replacement, it'll cost them, like or no like on FB?

Chuck, it's about 5 years I think, maybe more. I can't quite recall when exactly it was bought because I got it second-hand off my brother a good while ago.

As for taking it apart myself, I am not a techno-wizard. Youtube has told me what a motherboard is but I have no idea how to inspect it for damage..

Sugarman, yeah that's a good idea. I was just gonna do that last night but I gave up and watched the Devil's Advocate on tv.. But I'm just gonna pop over to Adverts now.

Thanks so much for all your help, if anyone's got anymore ideas please go right ahead. It's unlikely that I'll do anything about this straight away, I'm a tad busy.. Stupid stuff to do..

Thanks again!

Overheal

Luna Embarrassed Thud wrote: »

As for taking it apart myself, I am not a techno-wizard. Youtube has told me what a motherboard is but I have no idea how to inspect it for damage..

Not that hard to figure out really, you look at one side of your motherboard, all shiny and stuff (maybe a tad dusty) and you look at the other which might have torn pieces, scorch marks, etc.

strangel00p

sugarman wrote: »

Outrages money:eek: I should get into PC repair:p

Why is it outrageous money? stripping a laptop down to component level and repairing a dc jack might look easy on youtube but in reality it's not so straightforward. I guarantee you, your first attempt at doing this will leave you with a handful of left over screws and a week later your laptop is falling apart..:D

My fridge stopped working a few weeks back. It cost over a hundred for a repair man to look at it - why should pc repair be any different?

SVI40

Why is it outrageous money? stripping a laptop down to component level and repairing a dc jack might look easy on youtube but in reality it's not so straightforward. I guarantee you, your first attempt at doing this will leave you with a handful of left over screws and a week later your laptop is falling apart..

My fridge stopped working a few weeks back. It cost over a hundred for a repair man to look at it - why should pc repair be any different?

Because most people forget the cost of travel, insurance, tax that needs to be paid, wages, rent etc. all needs to be taken out of the cost, and assume the €100.00 call out charge is pure profit.

Agent Smith

Is the data on the laptop Important?

Might be worth cutting your losses, and getting a new (or second hand) laptop, and salvaging the data from the old one.


if you choose to go down that root, I'll give you a hand if your stuck that way

johneire31

Not to sure if its always a good idea to recommend that folk take their laptops or other appliances apart and start messing with them. I think that we have go accept that some people are good at somethings and not so at others. There are health issues as well as safety issues to be concerned with when working on electronic components and appliances that will be plugged in after the repair. A dodgy solder that is not conducting the the power or which may be creating resistance is a fire hazard concern. Also, for a novice with a soldering iron burns are common enough as well as the iron melting into something important.
The repair in question is not rocket science either in fairness but it can only be completed by completely dismantling the laptop. For most people dismantling the laptop is beyond their capabilities. Then it requires a requires a fairly sturdy clean solder and then the whole thing is put back together again without breaking anything or destroying components with static electric or injuring one's self in the process.

So, you are paying for somebody's time, there knowledge and experience and training in some cases. Having said all that, you should be able to a bit better than the prices mentioned previously.

j

Overheal

Nobody ever suggested soldering, just inspection. I don't know **** about soldering. I know how to buy new parts and put them into place however. And that works dandy.

From the sound of the problem though this isnt a solder fix anyway, this is a crushed PCB issue. This is either replace the power board (usually seperate from the motherboard on most machines) or if that doesn't appear to be feasible, replace the laptop. This isn't a blown capacitor, this is a charger shoved deep inside the computer. Once the PCB is cracked there is no soldering it back together.

johneire31

On a Samsung N10 the DC Jack is soldered to the motherboard by its two connectors, when a laptop falls on the power jack the common scenarios that follow are that it either snaps the connect of the motherboard or breaks the connector itself, the fix is the same, remove the old one and all traces of solder used to hold it in and replace with the new one and solder (properly).

On the Samsung N10 the jack connector on the motherboard is far enough away from anything to cause damage even if the board itself was cracked by the impact. In other words this is quite repairable, however, there is great potential to cause more damage if not approached in the right way.

j

Capt'n Midnight

can you post a picture of the damage ?

might have an Acer Aspire One

Orlock

Have you tried your house insurance to see if it is covered ?

portarldub

You have nost likly damaged the ac jack on the Mother Board, most good repair shops will repair this for around 60-70 euro.
Do not open it up yourself if you are unsure, you could damage the plastics or even other components while "checking it out". You could try the guys in http://www.computerrepairs.ie They are located just across from the old mill.