AbsoluteRaleigh Laptop Repair Blog

Win 7 Ultimate Beta Expires Today

2010-03-01T14:14:00.001-08:00

If you're seeing this message....

Stop procrastinating!

MacBook Repair Extension Program for Hard Drive Problems

2010-02-21T05:26:00.000-08:00

Apple has determined that a very small percentage of hard drives that were used in MacBook systems, sold between approximately May 2006 and December 2007, may fail under certain conditions.

Symptom:
A flashing question mark appears on screen when the MacBook is turned on.Your hard drive is bad and data may be lost.

Affected models:
13-inch black and white MacBook models with the following processor speeds and hard drive capacities:

* Processor speed - 1.83GHz, 2GHz, or 2.16GHz
* Hard drive capacity - 60GB, 80GB, 100GB, 120GB, or 160GB

Some customers may have paid for out of warranty repairs that qualify under this program. Apple will contact affected customers (where contact information is available) with details on the reimbursement process

For more information please visit Apple support here:
http://www.apple.com/support/macbook/hd/repairextension/

MS10-015 Windows XP Update blue screen

2010-02-12T06:55:00.000-08:00

There are some reports that a recent Windows XP update (MS10-015) will cause a machine to BSOD or blue screen on boot. From our quick research the problem seems rare and may even be caused by a file conflict in an infected machine.

02-12-2010 Winter Weather Advisory in Effect

2010-02-12T06:53:00.000-08:00

Winter weather advisory is in effect for our area.

If we get over 1" - 2" snow we may be closed on Saturay, 02-13-2010.

More news coming soon.

How To fix an Upside Down Display on a Dell Laptop

2010-02-10T09:20:00.000-08:00

One of our customers had an upside down display today. Their kid had been pressing a bunch of buttons on their Dell laptop.

The solution is to press [CTRL] + [ALT] + Up Arrow / Down Arrow.

You can also change this deep into display settings.

DV9000 T5500 to T7600 Upgrade?

2010-02-10T08:10:00.000-08:00

We had a DV9000 in recently with a T5500. Our customer wanted to upgrade to a T7600. While the upgrade may be possible in some laptops, it will not work in a DV9000 that shipped with a T5500. We're not sure if it is due to the cache increase (2mb to 4mb) or if it is a BIOS limitation, but it will notwork. Inserting a T7600 will make the laptop produce 4 short beeps.

ASUS A8J Video Card Not Available

2010-02-04T11:29:00.001-08:00

We had an ASUS A8J come in for repair this week. It just needs a video card to work again We called the ASUS Estore and they insisted there is no A8J. Obviously they are incorrect. We were left to conclude that the part is not available. That is a shame, it would have been an easy fix. We're big ASUS fans here, but not supporting a $1,500 computer with a simple part is disappointing.

Toshiba Tecra A8

2010-02-01T17:57:00.000-08:00

We've had a few Toshiba Tecra A8 laptops come in for power jack repairs as they were running on battery only. The jack for them is not currently available, however, all of them we have had in did not have a bad power jack. The problem was a few loose components on the motherboard near the jack. It is possible that applying pressure to the power cord or holding it in a certain position would work temporarily. This is not recommended. We can fix the problem here with our standard power jack repair service.

We will be closing at 5PM Today!!

2010-02-01T11:16:00.000-08:00

We will be closing at 5PM Today!

The roads are going to freeze again.

Monday we will open at 12PM

2010-01-31T19:13:00.000-08:00

We will likely be up and running earlier, but due to ice we will be opening at 12PM.

Outgoing packages may or may not ship. We'll be shipping but we're not sure if UPS will be on schedule or not.

We will be Closed Saturday 01-30-2010

2010-01-29T08:51:00.000-08:00

We will be Closed Saturday 01-30-2010.

It is going to snow in North Carolina! That means everything will be shut down.

Even us!

Lenovo Warehouse Sale in Greensboro, NC

2010-01-29T08:46:00.000-08:00

It is just a rumor but the Greensboro Lenovo Warehouse sale may take place on a Saturday towards the end of February.

Will's HTPC

2010-01-29T07:16:00.000-08:00

Here are pics of a HTPC (Home Theater PC) we built for someone in 2009. The case was black to match the rest of the customer's stuff (cable box, blueray, DVD players, tuners, etc). We used a slim case- it almost looks like a VCR or DVD player! The case we used has nice ventilation on the top and a fan on the side to remove heat floating around the case. The case fan was a standard size so if it burns out in a few years it will only be about $3 to replace.

Up front we have a DVD+-RW which wil play DVDs, record CDs and DVDs. On the right is a card reader which will read flash memory, SD cards, etc. & also provides a front mounted USB port.

Inside, nice and neat. We have a 3Ghz Celeron D in there, nice & cool. A fanless, low profile fan keeps the noise down while giving the machine dedicate graphics and SVGA, DVI, HDMI & S-Video outputs.

Audio ports on the back allow the unit to interface with the customer's stereo system.

As requested by our customer, this unit is running XP Pro w/ SP3. As of now, it has been up and running approximately 6mos with absolutely no problems.

Thanks Will!

Lifted Cadillac?

2010-01-29T07:12:00.000-08:00

This was in our parking lot not too long ago and has been seen around Cary and Apex, NC.

What is it?! Looks like a dually truck frame w/ a Caddy on top.

Cockroaches Living in a Laptop

2010-01-29T07:03:00.001-08:00

We’re used to seeing lots of “computer bugs” but we only see this kind about once a year.

This filthy laptop came in the other day full of cockroaches. Live cockroaches. We promptly put it in a large contractor trash bag and blasted it with fogger. We’re not even going to look at it again until next week. But we will. It is very rare we say this, but this will need major cleaning and additional labor if these people want it fixed. All the fecal matter and other legs and such floating around in there are not good. We had many more pictures, but we’ll just share this one. You get the idea.

Most of the dead cockroaches were under the keyboard. The big fat ones were living in the bottom of the laptop near the heatsink/fan area. Must’ve been nice and warm in there. A couple were so large they couldn’t get out, which means their only source of food was- other dead cockroaches!!!!

Custom Soldering job

2010-01-29T06:55:00.000-08:00

Here is a pic of a custom soldering job that we did not too long ago. We were just brought the board and a schematic but we're pretty sure we were adding a mod chip to an old Playstation 2. We charge by the hours for this.

Clear 4G Wireless Internet Map

2010-01-27T22:50:00.000-08:00

Clear, which we sell here, is now 4G. Here is a map of the current coverage area.

We may be Closed on Saturday January 30 2010

2010-01-27T22:47:00.000-08:00

We will be closed on Saturday, January 30, 2010 if it snows out or if there are icy conditions. The forecast has changed 7 or 8 times this week, so we're leaving it that simple: if it snows or ices out in Cary on Saturday morning, we'll be closed all day long. We're normally open from 9-2.

Thank you & drive safe.

Looking for a Motorola WPC1810G driver?

2010-01-27T21:34:00.000-08:00

Solved, driver for WPC1810G. A customer of our was looking for this driver. A quick search online revealed many others are looking for it, too. After talking to the customer for a minute or two we realized they were looking for a WPC1810G but they actually had a WPCI820G.

That is the letter I instead of the number ONE.

=)

DV2000 Coprocessor Driver

2010-01-27T21:26:00.000-08:00

Solution for your DV2000 SMBUS & Coprocessor driver problem in Windows Vista. If you've done a clean Vista install, when you go to download the drivers from HP, surprise, they're not all there! The drivers are hidden on HP's site.

The file to get which contains the drivers is:
SP37730.EXE

N610c 233411-001 Wireless Driver

2010-01-27T21:19:00.000-08:00

Get the driver here. Compaq N610c Wireless Driver. If you need a driver for compaq p/n 233411-001, aka Compaq 802.11b Multiport Module (PE3010) which shows up as a (USB Device) in Device Manager, you need to download a driver off of HP's site. The magical driver name is:
SP21123.EXE

This is not to be confused with the W200 driver.

iPad release

2010-01-27T20:56:00.000-08:00

The iPad was released today. There are some reviews online, good & bad...

Read the reviews below:

Engadget review:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/apple-ipad-first-hands-on/

An article on Gizmodo "8 things that suck about the iPad":
http://i.gizmodo.com/5458382/8-things-that-suck-about-the-ipad

Windows 7 GodMode

2010-01-12T08:29:00.000-08:00

Coined "GodMode" by people online, below is a link to developer shortcuts to play with in Vista & Windows 7:

http://tinyurl.com/yeq5m6g

ACER AS-Series Laptop Recall

2010-01-08T18:39:00.000-08:00

Acer recalls laptops due to burn hazard 01/07/2010.

Recalled models: AS3410, AS3410T, AS3810T, AS3810TG, AS3810TZ, AS3810TZG.

Problem: In the affected units the microphone cable may overheat.

For replacement ACER may be reached at 1-866-695-2237.

For more information visit the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's website here:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml10/10103.html

We'll be Closed New Years Day

2009-12-31T07:11:00.000-08:00

We'll be closed New Years Day. Normal hours will resume Saturday 01/02/2010.

Have a Happy New Year!