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Author Topic: It's a sad day.... dead laptop  (Read 831 times)

Offline Tig

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It's a sad day.... dead laptop
« on: June 13, 2022, 10:20:56 AM »
It's a sad day, y'all. I installed DCS last week on this laptop to experience jets, since my laptop met the minimum requirements for DCS.
Well I got to fly a few sorties with the F-15C Eagle, and even scored 2 kills on MiG-29 Fulcrums. Not bad considering I don't have a joystick, so I was restricted to DCS's weird keyboard controls. Tricky to handle in a supersonic dogfight, to say the least.
Well yesterday it crashed shortly after I took off. And the laptop was very, and I mean very hot. So after letting it sit overnight without power, I booted it up today, and now the vast majority of my apps crash on startup, even Thunderbird email.

And that includes Aces High and DCS, they crash while opening.  :bhead

I've run all the file system checks and stuff, and the hard conclusion I've come to is that this laptop is permanently damaged due to overheating.

It has 8 GB RAM, a 500 GB SSD that I think I can reuse, an Intel Core i7 quad core CPU, and an integrated 2 GB AMD graphics card. Unfortunately it turns out this chassis doesn't have great cooling properties, as I just found out.

I really am sad, it ran Aces High great, but now I'm out of a $500 laptop. And I was just getting going in Aces High, too!!

Talk about a bad day.
« Last Edit: June 13, 2022, 10:23:40 AM by Tig »
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Offline Bizman

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Re: It's a sad day.... dead laptop
« Reply #1 on: June 13, 2022, 10:43:20 AM »
Sad indeed.

My best guess is that the video card has fried and for the most part they're soldered to the motherboard. But not always! Another potential culprit is the processor which most likely is replaceable. So you may be able to fix the laptop by some tinkering.

For the future try to give your laptop some more air! For the looks they try to make them as thin as possible which means they sit too close to the table. A pair of simple adhesive 1 cm tall bumpons under the hinges have proved to help a lot and I really mean a lot.

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Offline Tig

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Re: It's a sad day.... dead laptop
« Reply #2 on: June 13, 2022, 11:40:08 AM »
Quote from: Bizman on June 13, 2022, 10:43:20 AM
Sad indeed.

My best guess is that the video card has fried and for the most part they're soldered to the motherboard. But not always! Another potential culprit is the processor which most likely is replaceable. So you may be able to fix the laptop by some tinkering.

For the future try to give your laptop some more air! For the looks they try to make them as thin as possible which means they sit too close to the table. A pair of simple adhesive 1 cm tall bumpons under the hinges have proved to help a lot and I really mean a lot.

It's possible, Bizman. I can replace the CPU on this laptop, but a fresh i7-4810MQ is about $200. I might be able to save up, but at the moment I'm a broke teenager. I don't think it's the GPU, because my apps crash while opening the menus, not when it's on heavy graphics load. I might be able to save up enough, but if I get a fresh CPU, I might just upgrade the RAM as well.
I suppose it's cheaper than buying a whole new laptop.....  :frown:
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Offline Bizman

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Re: It's a sad day.... dead laptop
« Reply #3 on: June 13, 2022, 12:33:59 PM »
For repairing I wouldn't use brand new parts. There's several to choose from at Ebay for $55 or so. I don't know about your local online auctions but most likely you can find some Facebook garage sale or other places for computer parts. You might even consider a used i5 of the same age, they might even have a faster single core speed! And be cheaper...

Unless there's free RAM slots I wouldn't bother upgrading that.
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Quote from: BaldEagl, applies to myself, too
I've got an older system by today's standards that still runs the game well by my standards.

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Offline Tig

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Re: It's a sad day.... dead laptop
« Reply #4 on: June 13, 2022, 12:48:01 PM »
Quote from: Bizman on June 13, 2022, 12:33:59 PM
For repairing I wouldn't use brand new parts. There's several to choose from at Ebay for $55 or so. I don't know about your local online auctions but most likely you can find some Facebook garage sale or other places for computer parts. You might even consider a used i5 of the same age, they might even have a faster single core speed! And be cheaper...

Unless there's free RAM slots I wouldn't bother upgrading that.
Hmm, I'll do some research on sockets and such, make sure I get something compatible.
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Offline The Fugitive

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Re: It's a sad day.... dead laptop
« Reply #5 on: June 13, 2022, 03:36:02 PM »
The first thing Id do is open it up and make sure the fan on the CPU is running and the channel/vents are all clear. A CPU can run without it, but as soon as you open an app they will start crashing as the CPU gets warm.
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Offline Shuffler

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Re: It's a sad day.... dead laptop
« Reply #6 on: June 13, 2022, 03:44:38 PM »
Also after a heat event like you described, make sure everything is still seated properly.
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Offline Tig

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Re: It's a sad day.... dead laptop
« Reply #7 on: June 17, 2022, 07:18:44 PM »
Well, now that a little bit of time has passed, I'm happy to say I'm back in the air! I plugged my laptop's SSD into my tower, which has similar power. It runs Aces High just fine, and DCS with about the same amount of lag. Needless to say, I'm being more careful and watching the component temperature readouts.

Plus, I have a fresh replacement CPU on the way!  :rock
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