Need Help With Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pi1505

ynul31f47k6b59

I've had an Amilo Pi1505 for about 6/7 years and never had any problems with it until last year, when the hard drive failed. I had it replaced, same thing happened again. It is now in the repair shop for the 4th time, getting the 4th hard drive in under 2 years.

My question: What's causing them to fail? The last drive was an expensive enough Hitachi that only went into it this January.

Also, my inverter cable is failing and I can't find one online - the computer repair lad can't find one either. Is there an alternative brand that would fit my model?

I know the obvious thing to do is to get rid of the laptop, but I'm getting married in October and can't afford a couple of hundred quid for a new one at the minute. The hard drive is under warranty, so if I could get an inverter cable it'd tie me over until I have spare cash.

Can anyone shed any light on where to get a cable or why my hard drives keep failing?

The laptop is always left on the same place, so it never got any knocks or bangs. Would heat affect it? There's a radiator behind the computer desk.

Apologies if they're stupid questions, my head is wrecked with it.

Monotype

A few things come to mind:
- The repair shop is giving you substandard hard drives
- Power surges
- Environment

Power surges would be more common in a desktop, although if your power adapter, or even the battery or internal circuitry wasn't right, it might put extra strain on the drive.

Wen you say inverter, do you mean the power inverter for the screen or the actual power brick? I assume since you mentioned cable, that you're talking about the power adapter brick.
Your computer repair guy didn't look very hard. Ebay is usually a good place to look for this kinds of items.
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/New-FUJITSU-Siemens-Amilo-Pi1505-Pi2510-Laptop-Charger-/261056110210
Double check that that's actually what you're looking for.

Environment can affect the laptop hard drive - now you said it doesn't get any knocks or bangs, which would be the most likely suspect for hard drives. Heat could affect it, but it's not usually a serious problem in laptops as heat will generally bring down other components first. One way to find out is to put your hand on where the hard drive is and make sure it's not too hot.

One alternative option would be to get a solid state drive. This would be more robust against environmental damage as there's no moving parts. It would involve you forking out €100 really for a decent one though as they're more expensive than hard drives. Make sure that laptop isn't resting on a fabric surface or that you have excess clutter around it which would restrict airflow around the machine.

http://www.dabs.ie/products/samsung-128gb-830-series-sata-6gb-s-2-5--ssd-laptop-kit---free-norton-ghost-15-7SR9.html
http://www.dabs.ie/products/kingston-128gb-ssdnow-v200-sata-6gb-s-2-5--solid-state-drive-7V53.html

ynul31f47k6b59

Thanks for your reply.

It's definitely not the power brick, I had to get a new one of those a couple years ago. It's something to do with the inverter and the display cable leading into it, he mentioned soldering but with limited space that's not an option.

The laptop is always roasting hot, even this one I have now is boiling hot. It's on a solid wooden desk with a radiator behind it, I've been keeping the window open beside it.

I'm just baffled regarding the hard drives - and it's not the repair shop, because I was initially bringing it to a different shop and thought he was giving me bad drives. To go perfectly for 5 years and then blow that many drives over the space of 18-24 months - mind boggling.

Monotype

That's the inverter for the screen so. It converters from DC power in your battery to AC power like at the wall socket, which is needed for LCD screens. You might be able to use ones from other manufacturers but you'd probably have to be very familiar with the industry to know which ones are compatible.

If your laptop is that hot then you might have a problem. Are the fans working effectively at all? Maybe the need a cleaning out. Did the bloke in the shop open that area of the laptop, I wonder. Best way to clean it out would be a can of compressed air, although you might not want to be spending money unnecessarily. It might be more than trapped dust. Put a piece of paper next to the vents and see how well they are pulled or pushed.
You can get cooling plates for laptops although this probably isn't worth your while at the moment.


Another option to explore is a BIOS update. Sometimes manufacturers will only get calls later on about laptops being overheated and so release updates to increase the fan speed.
I don't know if this link will work...
http://support.ts.fujitsu.com/Download/Showfiles.asp?OSOpenedTree=&IsOSSelected=YES&RHRead=&OS%20Independent%20%20(BIOS,%20Firmware,%20etc.)-Childs=0&OSText=FFFFFFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFF-FFFFFFFFFFFF_OS%20Independent%20%20(BIOS,%20Firmware,%20etc.)_True
You're probably best off with the windows flash method as it's easiest. The latest version is 1.14. Make sure you're plugged in if you do this.

Orlock

is the AC Adapter that you are using ( the one you replaced previously ) a proper Fujitsu adapter or a universal generic one ? If the voltage is not correct going into the laptop, then the inverter will burn out as it is only designed to inert the correct voltage and if its too high or too low then damage occurs. Check the power requirements on the laptop, usually 19v, 2.3 amps etc,and usually in small print underneath the laptop or battery and if the adapter is not exactly the same as the requirements of the laptop then this could be the common denominator,