Wasn't sure if I should put this in the quick questions thread, but after scouring a lot of different search results, I think this'll be a better approach.
So, I've had this thing for years. A good while somewhere around roughly 4 or so years. It's an eMachines e627 series laptop that's run into its fair share of problems but I usually find a way to make it bounce back. Problem is, this time, I can't figure this one out. And I need to, because I have a shit ton of docs and files that I need access to.
I put it into sleep mode last night, thinking it would be fine as usual. I had a lot of shit running, and considering this is a pretty old laptop, it was probably under some processing strain or something. I've done this before, if it matters, but this is the first time this has happened. Anyway, woke up this morning and hit the power button to wake it up. It starts up slow sometimes, so I waited about ten minutes until I got bored enough to look at it.
It's at a black screen, no cursor or anything else. Monitor is basically completely blank. Power button's light is on, so are the charged and on lights near the front. Fans are whirring, and occasionally spike into a higher level of whirring like they do when the computer is running something strenuous. Any peripheries like mouse, trackpad, keyboard, etc., don't seem to register. The three lights near the power button (HDD, Caps, Scroll) don't all blink at once like they usually do when I start it up. Wifi and trackpad buttons have no lights either, if it matters. Haven't spilled anything on it or dropped it. It basically functions as a desktop at this point. Battery is basically sterile, because I didn't know that keeping it perpetually on charge would fuck it up. That still didn't hurt the way it functioned, though.
Now, I'll go into the methods I tried that failed, to save someone from suggesting it. I tried restarting, unplugging everything, holding down the power button with no battery/power, removing battery/power and letting it sit, leaving it at the blank screen for an hour or so, and some other shit. Nothing seems to work. At this point, I'm assuming it's some sort of hardware failure, probably the HDD, but I know nothing about computer so I'm asking here for hopefully some better answers. If the laptop can't be realistically saved, I'd like to know some way of salvaging the files and shit that I got on there. I kinda have limited information, since I can't get into it, but I'll try to provide whatever info I can from what I remember. It's a stock eMachines laptop, so they're probably all the same.
Like I said, I'm thinking it's an HDD issue, but I'm not a computer expert and the only reason I think so is because the light is off. So, any ideas/solutions?
If it doesn't show the initial splash screen / text (POST) when you press the power button and the power lights aren't flashing like normal, likely the memory or motherboard is dead. If the hard drive was dead, then you would likely be seeing a "no boot device" error or similar.
The display being dead is generally ruled out by the flashing lights acting differently if the laptop doesn't show the initial splash screen or text, but you can check by plugging the thing into a monitor and spamming the display switch button (FN + Fsomething).
If only one of the (possibly more than one) sticks of memory is bad in the laptop, you can take either stick out and see if it boots with one less stick, because bad memory can keep a computer from booting.
Otherwise, the last thing to try would be to disconnect the CMOS battery (it's a round buttoncell battery like you would find in a watch, sometimes with a cable, inside the laptop) and leave the computer unplugged. This resets the BIOS to default settings.
You can easily salvage the files off the laptop by taking the hard drive out and sticking it in a regular desktop using an extra SATA / USB-to-SATA cable.
Thanks for the help.
Tried a different monitor and it didn't really change anything. I'll try checking the memory sticks, but is this thing feasibly workable again? I'm assuming it's as dead as can be at this point without buying new parts, but I'd like a second opinion. Considering its age, it probably isn't worth the money to repair, right? Probably smarter to buy a new one.
No idea on laptops but the exact thing happened with my pc when one of my RAM sticks died.
If you can find a confirmed good stick of RAM out of another laptop produced in a similar time period, then you could really test if it was just bad RAM (after taking all the sticks out of the current laptop), but really a new laptop isn't much more expensive than repairing your laptop if it's not just bad memory.
A replacement motherboard for your computer is almost as expensive as the used value of your laptop. Workable laptops nowadays start at around $150-200, though, so it's not too bad.
Page 44~ on this service manual has details on how you can take out the hard drive for data recovery.
[url]http://tim.id.au/laptops/acer/emachines%20e627.pdf[/url]
For an easy way to get your data off:
Find a nearby (reasonably modern) desktop with a DVD drive, open up the side cover and unplug the big and small cables connected to the DVD drive (they are side by side, the smaller one may have a metal bit you have to press upon to unplug it).
Plug those in the corresponding parts of the hard drive.
Restart the desktop and you should see your data, as I don't think your problem is hard-drive related.
I'll look into this stuff and see what I can do about it. Kinda feeling that it isn't even worth it to bother with trying to troubleshoot it further through the memory sticks though. It'll probably be less of a hassle to just find a new one.
Seriously though, thanks for the help. Trying to figure this shit out myself gets me frustrated to no end usually.
Yeah, testing the sticks of memory individually is just something you do if you have time to check if one of them had gone awry for no reason, as they occasionally do.
If you need to find a replacement laptop for cheap, facepunch can be of good help as well if you post your budget, preferred websites / brand / required battery life / primary use / refurb-used-or-new / etc.
Also, dollar stores often sell precision screwdriver sets if you can't find tools to open the bottom, although you have to be careful not to strip the screws (use a rubber band wrapped around the handle for leverage if a screw doesn't want to come out).
[QUOTE=fishyfish777;47265317]If you need to find a replacement laptop for cheap, facepunch can be of good help as well if you post your budget, preferred websites / brand / required battery life / primary use / refurb-used-or-new / etc.[/QUOTE]
I'll find the thread for doing that once I actually develop a budget. Got a backup laptop that should be fine until then though.
What happens if you remove all the RAM and try to power the laptop?
Let us know if it reacts differently in any way.
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