Category: Computer Repairs

Computer Repair stories, examples, or recommendations.

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Asus G72Gx Gaming Laptop Repair

Asus G72Gx Gaming Laptop Repair

Hey iNFLUX PC Repair friends! Looking for a repair on your laptop? Let us know what you need and we’ll take care of it for you.

Oldie but Goodie – Asus G72Gx Gaming Laptop Repair

A couple weeks ago we received a gaming laptop that definitely had seen better days and needed multiple repairs. The Asus G72Gx originally came with a 17″ in LCD screen, 1GB of dedicated graphic memory, 500GB hard drive, and 6GB of RAM. This was clearly designed for gaming use and is still a decent laptop today. Why not repair it, right?!

Asus G72Gx Gaming Laptop Repair

Our friend Daniel, brought us the laptop after it accidentally dropped out of a parked vehicle. Fortunately, he had insurance on it. We worked with the insurance company to justify the time and materials required for the repair and it was at very little cost to him. This laptop had so many things wrong with it, probably more than we have ever seen on a single device within the last 10+ years  that we’ve been in business.

It’s easier to ask, “What is working?!”

  1. The LCD screen was only showing black and gray; however, the attached external monitors worked fine.
  2. The laptop would not completely boot and sometimes froze at the windows boot logo.
  3. The Keyboard back-light was intermittent and sometimes wouldn’t register that keys were being pressed.
  4. The exterior had cracks in the plastic, mainly the bottom case and screen bezel. This was strictly cosmetics though.
  5. WiFi was not working. The laptop knew the card was attached but the radio would not enable.
  6. DVD burner was not working. Again, Windows knew the drive was there; however, CD’s and DVD media could not be read or written.
  7. The battery would not keep a charge.

The repairs.

We ordered the parts needed to get the laptop back up and running. The first problem was the screen. If a laptop doesn’t have a working screen, what is the point of having a laptop? So, we ordered the following parts right away:

  1. LCD panel and bezel
  2. Bottom case/cover.
  3. Battery
  4. DVD Burner.
  5. 500GB Solid State Hard Drive.

Once we swapped the LCD panel and bezel we could then see what was going on with the boot up process without having to use an external monitor. The bottom case swap fixed the gaps in between palm rest and bottom case. The battery swap kept the device mobile since it would now keep a charge. We put in a 500GB Solid State Hard Drive in addition to his 500GB spindle drive; now he had 1TB of hard drive space to work with.

Asus G72Gx Gaming Laptop Repair Woes…

Once booted, we determined that it was best to go ahead and do a clean install of Windows 8.1. Everything was going fine until we updated the BIOS using Asus’s update tool in Windows. The bios is a a set of computer instructions in a firmware that control input and output and if it goes wrong the laptop becomes a brick. This is the first time in 10+ years of updating BIOS’s that we actually witnessed a no boot failure after an updating. Short version of the story, we ended up ordered a new motherboard for him. The BIOS update on the new motherboard went perfectly, phew! Asus G72Gx Motherboard

Once the new motherboard was in, we were back in business. We finished up all the Windows 8.1 update and a couple days later, Windows 10 was released. The Windows 10 update was simple and quick and fixed some other weird operating system issues.

Upgrades

We upgraded a few things to bring the laptop up to date. First, a brand new SSD. The solid state hard drive (SSD), is the best upgrade anyone can pay for. We’ve been turning 5-7 year old laptop into scream machines. This laptop allows two internal drives so we installed the Samsung 850 Evo SSD as his primary drive that has the operating system (Windows 10), his applications, and primary data on it. The 500GB spindle drive was installed in the secondary slot and can now be used for data that is not frequently accessed or even as a backup drive. This is the best setup for high performance. We also upgraded him to Windows 10 from Windows 8.1. I guarantee this laptop is at least 30% faster than the first day he got it.

It’s was great to see this shamble of a system go through repairs to become such a great computer again.

Now then, what could be so wrong with your laptop? Our laptop repair is $150 flat rate + at cost parts; love your laptop again!

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Dell Inspiron 3541 Virus Removal

Virus Removal Needed

We had a patient this week, a Dell Inspiron 3541 laptop that needed our virus removal service. The notebook was brought in by an ASU student that desperately needed to get the machine back up and running to complete her homework assignments. Her mom, who lives in California, found us on Google by typing in “Avondale az pc repair” and found our impressive customer satisfaction rating at 4.9 of 5 stars! She also loved our 5-day guarantee and $120 flat rate. She mentioned that our $120 flat rate service was much better than Office Max’s $165, non-flat-rate and referred us to her daughter.

The laptop was actually in great physical condition and was brand new to the customer. There were only 3 problems that she wanted to be resolved; 1. Viruses, 2. Windows 8 Tiles, and 3. Cannot watch DVD’s

Antivirus Cloud GraphicViruses

The viruses were self-inflicted from clicking questionable links on the internet and in an email. The virus attacked her antivirus software and took it out of commission. We removed the no longer functioning Antivirus software and put on a Free program that auto-updates and scans and is much better than what she was using. We also used our bag of tricks to remove everything from the system. In fact, we left some tools on her desktop in case she runs into another issue in the future.

Windows 8

Windows 8 really isn’t a problem. Sure she didn’t like the tiled start screen and start button hiding underneath it, but Windows 8 is actually a great operating system. Tomorrow Windows 10 will be released (hopefully). She qualifies for the free upgrade but will likely hold off until she has us upgrade it for her. In the meantime, we installed a program called ClassicStart that automatically skips the tiled start screen and changes the Start button back to the Windows 7 style functionality. Yay for Windows 10 going back to a classic start button style.

Can’t Watch DVD’s

While Netflix, Amazon Prime, Google Play, Pandora, and all other streaming multimedia source are gaining popularity but there are still some that want to play their DVD’s or CD’s on the computer. This is fine, except that Microsoft doesn’t include DVD player software that will do this for you. We installed a free player for her and trained her how to use it.

Recommendations

We recommend a SSD hard drive and an online backup solution be put on all systems; however, they were not entirely necessary for what she uses her computer for. Other than that the repair was quite easy and she had the laptop back in ~24 hours. Now that is service!

What’s wrong with your PC? How can we help?

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Dell Inspiron E1705 Issues

Dell Inspiron E1705 Fan Replacement

Dell Inspiron E1705 with Multiple Issues

Dell Inspiron E1705 Fan ReplacementThis Dell Inspiron E1705 had so many issues when it came to us. The customer knows the laptop is old and he should probably just replace it with a new laptop. We think the sentimental value is more than the value of the laptop itself.

The laptop was overheating and shutting down to protect itself. We found that the CPU fan failed and was no longer spinning. We decided to replace the CPU and GPU at the same time as well as the BIOS battery. The parts were less than $10 total.

After we replaced the parts we dealt with the operating system and software updates.

The customer purchased Windows 7 from Discount Mountain Software and had a legitimate license key. Unfortunately, the company sent the wrong media download link and the wrong version of Windows 7 was installed by the customer and the would not activate. The company is ranked “F” at the BBB and were completely unresponsive to any requests we made via email and phone.

Fortunately, we had the correct media that matched his purchased license key. We were able to reinstall the OS and get it activated with Microsoft to get all the security updates available.

The computer is in “as-good-as-new” condition and the customer is very happy with it. A solid state hard drive would be the next step to restoring this laptop to faster than new conditions.

What old laptops do you have sitting around that are ready to be revived?

 

 

 

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HP Pavilion 500 Virus Removal

HP Pavilion 500 Virus Removal

HP Pavilion 500 Virus Removal

HP Pavilion 500 Virus Removal

This week we worked on an HP Pavilion 500 with a massive amount of viruses and spyware, 504 to be precise. The system desperately needed virus removal services. The customer didn’t have time to drop it off with us; we offered our remote services instead. We used our tools to remote control the computer without him even having to leave the house. We used our remote control tool to connect over the internet to repair the PC. We also used our various tools and expertise for the virus removal and optimization of his PC. We corrected registry issues, removed viruses, removed spyware, optimized the PC, and installed protection tools for prevention.

Our customer mentioned that the issue has been going on for months. We found the reason; his antivirus had been expired since 2014.  He computer is running very quickly now and is malware free. He is one happy customer and wishes he would have come to us sooner.

The only thing that would make this system faster is a Solid State Hard Drive. He already has plenty of RAM with a decent processor; the bottleneck here is his hard drive.

Every computer that comes through our doors comes with Virus Removal and Optimization. We don’t just fix the problem, we do much more than what you ask us to do.

Is your AntiVirus solutions and up to date? Ask us if are unsure and we’ll help get you protected.

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Kindle Fire Screen Repair

Kindle Fire Screen Repair – Lighter and Smaller

Devices are constantly getting lighter and smaller. This creates a problem, people drop them, step on them, or set heavy items on them, which leads to shattered screens and other damages. What is the natural response to broken tablets, phones, or 2-in-1’s with shattered screens?! Consumers go out and spend big bucks on protective gear such as screen protectors, cases, and other accessories to ensure the safety of their beloved device. The Kindle Fire shown below was stepped on so the protective case didn’t help one bit.

 

Is the device worth the repair?

Consider if the device is worth repairing. Is it cheaper to buy a new device? Is it cheaper to buy and “new-to-you” (used) device? Is it worth the money to repair if there are cheaper alternatives? With technology changing and improving every day, sometimes it’s worth it to just upgrade. This is especially the case for devices that fall under $100 brand new. If you are repairing flagship handhelds such as iPads, Galaxy Tabs, and Asus Transformers, those are well worth the investment to repair. $50 Kindle Fire’s, not so much. The screen digitizer (the glass layer of the screen that detects the touch) can be half the cost of a new device. This doesn’t include a new LCD screen panel which just adds to the expense.

Do it yourself?

Screen repair is not easy; however, if you have the right parts, tools, access to YouTube, and a whole lot of patience, you can probably do it yourself. This saves you money!.. Many times it’s easier to replace the digitizer, screen, and bezel all in one.

Summary

For the scenario pictured below, we repaired the shattered screen on the Amazon Kindle Fire HD 7. Fortunately, the LCD panel was still good. Only the first layer glass (digitizer) was cracked but the screen below appear just fine. We ordered the parts 2 day air and got it swapped out the same day the parts arrived. We’ll admit it was a tough job. We had to use our heat gun to soften the glue between the digitizer and the bezel! All the components tested working and the customer was super happy to get it back in one piece without having to buy a new one and reload all their apps and data on it.

How many times have you broken a screen on any device?

 

Kindle Fire Screen Repair

 

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Toshiba Satellite L305-S5958 Laptop Repair

This week a customer dropped off a Toshiba Satellite L305-S5958 laptop that has truly seen better days! The laptop wasn’t charging because of a broken DC jack. The jack was shattered into 4 or 5 pieces and even severed from the harness and bottom shell. My guess is that someone dropped the laptop perfectly onto the charging cable while plugged into the jack or they stepped on it; who knows?! You can see the DC wire harness here with the severed positive and ground cables that are supposed to connect to the jack itself.

20150329_091240

After pulling apart the laptop, we noticed that it desperately needed a new bottom shell. The bottom shell that we ordered came with the wire harness and DC jack for ($10); score! DC jack repairs are much easier when a harness is in the mix. These jacks simply plug into the motherboard with a 4-pin connector as opposed to unsoldering and resoldering a new jack directly to the motherboard. The old bottom shell had cracked plastic all over and was missing the rubber feet too so it was well worth the replace.

We did a few other repairs to it at well. Some of the keys were missing or stuck down. We decided it was best to just order a brand new keyboard for $10.

The laptop could still use a new battery for $15 and a new screen bezel that has a hairline crack in it but other than that it is ready to go! As usual we removed 30+ viruses and optimized the system for best performance.

Our customer watched YouTube videos on how to perform Toshiba Satellite L305-S5958 laptop repairs but admitted it was more difficult that it looked and decided on us.

 

 

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Free Antivirus Software

I recommend free versions of antivirus software to my residential clients. Free versions can prove just as powerful as the paid versions. I usually recommend FREE AVG. I have been using the free version of AVG for over 10 years and really like it’s protection. Lately, I have been testing out Microsoft’s free antivirus software called Microsoft Security Essentials. I have put this free version through the ringer and have come to really like it. Residential versions of Norton/Symantec and McAfee are, in my opinion, are junk. They consume high resources and are attacked more frequently. Not only are they troublesome to the home users, they cost a lot of money each year.

I want to give everyone a challenge. If you use Norton or McAfee on your home computer; uninstall it and try any one of the recommended antivirus programs. Let me know what your experience is like. I would like to think you will experience a smoother desktop environment, less problems with viruses, and more money in your wallet.

Here are are the FREE ANTI-VIRUS programs I recommend most:

MICROSOFT SECURITY ESSENTIALS
FREE AVG

What free antivirus software do you like and recommend?

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How to Fix the “Couldn’t Install on USB or SD Card” error message on Android

Have you ever seen this message on your Android phone? I have been an avid user of Android since the very first Android Google Phone; the T-Mobile G1. I am now using the T-Mobile G2 which is really a HTC Desire Z and I love it. Now I have my eyes set on the G2x. I have never really experienced any problems with my phones until the other day. The market would show I have several updates that needed to be installed. I’d click the “Update All” icon and wait for them all to download. This is where I started noticing a problem. All the installations were for some reason unsuccessful. After clicking on the Installation was unsuccessful notification I would get an error message similar to the one here that said “Installation Error: Couldn’t install on USB storage or SD Card.” As you can imagine this to be super frustrating. What’s this? An Angry Birds update? Awesome! WHAT?!?! NOOOO! It’s not updating! I tried several basic troubleshooting steps like powering down the phone and powering it back on, mounting and unmounting the SD card, pulling the battery and SD card and replacing; nothing.

Here is a simple tutorial on how to fix the problem without losing any of your data. Although you will not lose your data it is always good practice to back it up before tampering with it. Please follow these instructions to get rid of this annoying Android caused Error Message. As far as I am aware all Android phones are prone to this message at one point or another. The problem appears to stem from a corrupt app installation and the temporary/cache file needs to be cleared.

 

  1. Plug the phone into your computer via USB cable.
  2. Tap the “Turn on USB Storage” on your device.
  3. Copy the contents of your SD Card / “Removable Disk” to a safe place on your computer. *If you do not have a current backup of your data.
  4. Find and Open the .android_secure folder on your Android’s SD Card.
  5. Find the file named smdl2tmp1.asec and rename it to smdl2tmp1.asec_backup.
  6. Tap the “Turn off USB Storage” button on your phone.
  7. Unplug your phone, power it off, and power it back on.
This method will fix the error message and get you using the latest Android Market apps and games.
Please let us know how this method works for you!
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Dell Inspiron 1440 Resurrection

Dell and HP are some of our favorite laptops to work on because of how easy the systems are to repair and their customer service is awesome! If you can get past the language barrier that is. Plus their support sites have just about every piece of information and software readily available for download. We worked on this Dell Inspiron 1440 which would not boot. Have you ever seen a computer boot up to a white blinking cursor? Nasty stuff right? No safe mode, no command prompt, no system restore, nothing.

First thing we think about is the data sitting on the drive and whether or not it is recoverable. Fortunately, we were able to back up all of the data sitting on the drive. The backup took nearly 15 hours combined. The drive was near death and the read / write speeds were terrible. We were finally able to backup the clients movies, music, pictures, documents, and everything else important. We performed the backup by pulling out the Western Digital hard drive and plugging it into a USB to IDE / SATA adapter. This tool is so important and makes life much easier when trying to get at information sitting on a drive. Simply plug in the old hard drive to the device, plug the device into a known working computer and within seconds you will have full access to the drive and can copy the files. Once you have the files in a safe spot you can play around with the old drive all you want. Ideally, everyone should already have a backup of their data but they don’t.

The problem we have seen recently with repairing newer laptops and desktops is the manufacturers not providing restorations discs for the computers. Manufacturers are putting the restoration software on secondary partitions on the drives which is fine until the drive completely fails; then what? Users rarely use the Restoration Disc creator software to burn the media onto disc before computers dies. If you are in need of restoration discs try calling your computer manufacturer to get a hold of them. In most cases the registered user can call up the manufacturer and demand they mail them a copy of the restoration discs free of charge. We called Dell and ask them to provide the discs but they needed us to provide the registered owners name, mailing address and phone number. This laptop has swapped hands a couple times but we were able to eventually track down all of the required information and one business day later we had the software in hand from Dell.

We ran several hard drive diagnostic tools and were not able to save the drive itself. Fortunately, hard drives are reasonably priced and it’s always cheaper to buy a new drive than to have the old drive physically repaired. We replaced the dead drive with a brand new one, restored the operating system (Windows 7), and restored the previously backed up personal files. The laptop is now ready to be returned to the owner. We are sure they will be happy with the system; it is better than new now!