Laptop Repair Recommendations?

[angiem357]

I have a 4-year old Dell Inspiron 2200 laptop. It's a little beat up, but it works well and has been relatively well taken care of. It probably needs a new battery, so I have to keep it plugged in during use. However...my charging port has gotten loose and wiggles. It won't always charge, depending on the angle of the cord. You kinda have to stick your tongue out, hop on one foot, make sure it's partly-cloudy outside, and you must be wearing purple for it to work. Yeah, one of those...

I've read different articles online that say some models need a full motherboard replacement, while some can be re-soldered and work just fine, although most places don't want to do it because it's such a PITA.

I am looking for a shop who is reliable, honest, and capable. Inexpensive is always a plus! I don't need a fast turnaround on it, as I have a desktop as well. Who have y'all worked with, or do you know anyone who does this kind of work?

TIA!

[Truckman]

Have you called Dell?......Ben

[angiem357]

It's so out of warranty (and it's always a fight to get those outsourced people in the Philippines to understand what I need) that I figured I'd be better off going through a local businessman. Probably get WAY better customer service, too. It helps to have a face-to-face.

[Truckman]

Understood...The only one I've used locally is Blue Chip Computers, but that's a long drive just to get a laptop fixed...Ben

[Bill M]

These folks fixed up my HP when the same thing happened. Call them.

http://wintercomputersolutions.com/

[Flea77]

Originally Posted by angiem357

I have a 4-year old Dell Inspiron 2200 laptop. It's a little beat up, but it works well and has been relatively well taken care of. It probably needs a new battery, so I have to keep it plugged in during use. However...my charging port has gotten loose and wiggles. It won't always charge, depending on the angle of the cord. You kinda have to stick your tongue out, hop on one foot, make sure it's partly-cloudy outside, and you must be wearing purple for it to work. Yeah, one of those...

I've read different articles online that say some models need a full motherboard replacement, while some can be re-soldered and work just fine, although most places don't want to do it because it's such a PITA.

I am looking for a shop who is reliable, honest, and capable. Inexpensive is always a plus! I don't need a fast turnaround on it, as I have a desktop as well. Who have y'all worked with, or do you know anyone who does this kind of work?

TIA!

What you have read online is true mostly. There are actually three possibilities:

1) The motherboard must be replaced. This is usually the case when the layers of the motherboard are used for other traces around that area, or if the board is actually cracked from the stress.

2) The connector can be replaced on the board. The problem here is that the entire board has to be removed from the casing, this is a LOT of work, so not terribly cheap. You normally can not get a warranty for this type of work either as it is a multilevel board (several layers, only two of which usually are connected to the power directly).

3) The connector assembly is separate from the motherboard and is a replaceable part. This has been standard for some time on many Macs, but only a handful of PC notebooks have this feature. There is a 99.99% chance yours is not one of them (at least if your luck is like mine).

As far as someone to do it.....well.....<COUGH>my company can<COUGH>

Allan

Flea77 added 8 Minutes and 36 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Originally Posted by Truckman

Understood...The only one I've used locally is Blue Chip Computers, but that's a long drive just to get a laptop fixed...Ben

I was fairly certain Blue Chip went out of business quite a while back in Conroe. I know their building on 336 has been empty for more than a year, and their web site www.bluechipusa.com is just a spam ad page now. Their phone just seems to go to a nondescript answering machine.

Allan

[johnastovall]

I would say after four years just write it off and get a new one. If not that get a new battery if you repair it.

[Buddha]

Ditto Johnstovall. After 4 years, the cost of repairs will be more than it's worth and probably not much lower than the cost of a new one from Office Depot or some place like that. Or you can look for a used one.

[celticmama36]

We are having a similar problem with our laptop...to the point that we can no longer get it to turn on. I know this will sound stupid to those "in the know" but I'm not, so here's the question....Is there a way to get the stuff from the hard drive into our desktop computer when we can't even get the laptop to power up? There is info in there that we really need to retrieve.

[groovyone]

I just replaced the motherboard in my Compaq V2000 for the same reason. A new-in-box board cost me a whopping $80 off eBay and the laptop is working great. I think it is a lso 4 years old. Google Dell 2200 Service Manual or Parts List to get the P/N, or just pull it apart.

Be very careful with the flat cables. Be sure to open the latches where they attach. I bent one and they are hard to find.

BAM - Service Manual for the 2200

[tc95]

Tia....you might want to look on ebay and pic a good used one....then just transfer your Ram/HD/Optical drive to it...and keep going....

Here is one with a bad DVD-R/RW drive..Dell 2200 on eBay...

You can probably get one of these for less than $150.00 with shipping...and a tech will at-least cost you $100.00 for repairs...if they can fix it...not including the MB and other things you may need once he gets into it.....

Good Luck...I have done this with several laptops...very easy...and quick fix....

tc95 added 6 Minutes and 13 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Make sure if you buy one from eBay you check out the sellers feedback rating first and make sure he has sold stuff recently....keeps the bad things from happening...

This seller looks a little better than the one before....sorry did not look at the feedback earlier....Better eBay seller.....

Hope this helps out....

[Buddha]

If you can get the hard drive out of the computer, it can be plugged into another computer, even your desktop, and the data retrieved unless the hard drive itself has gone bad. Any PC repair technician can to this and not charge you much.
If the data is important enough, data recovery companies can some times retrieve 'lost' data, but they expect to be payed. Your choice on that one.
You might also think about what it means if you are using your desktop to backup your data for safekeeping. Just moving it to a desktop isn't any safer than what you have now. That hard drive can fail, too.

[JP171]

you can buy a brand new notebook/laptop for around 400$ just get a new one

[celticmama36]

Originally Posted by Buddha

If you can get the hard drive out of the computer, it can be plugged into another computer, even your desktop, and the data retrieved unless the hard drive itself has gone bad. Any PC repair technician can to this and not charge you much.
If the data is important enough, data recovery companies can some times retrieve 'lost' data, but they expect to be payed. Your choice on that one.
You might also think about what it means if you are using your desktop to backup your data for safekeeping. Just moving it to a desktop isn't any safer than what you have now. That hard drive can fail, too.

Thanks. We wouldn't be using the desktop as backup, just as a means for viewing the data and backing it up elsewhere, preferably in several other formats.

Thank you for your help. :)

My apologies if this was considered a thread hi-jack. That wasn't the intention.

[groovyone]

Originally Posted by Buddha

If you can get the hard drive out of the computer, it can be plugged into another computer, even your desktop, and the data retrieved unless the hard drive itself has gone bad. Any PC repair technician can to this and not charge you much.
If the data is important enough, data recovery companies can some times retrieve 'lost' data, but they expect to be payed. Your choice on that one.
You might also think about what it means if you are using your desktop to backup your data for safekeeping. Just moving it to a desktop isn't any safer than what you have now. That hard drive can fail, too.

You can buy the external HDD case at Fry's for $15-20 for DIY. I did that to make sure the data was backed up on my old laptop before repairing the board.