Like Tree26Likes

Worth getting laptop fixed or just buy new one?

Closed Thread
Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 ... LastLast
  1. #1

    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    207

    Worth getting laptop fixed or just buy new one?

    Hey folks,

    the laptop that I'm using now was bought back in 2011 in Broadway -
    Fujitsu, quite a good machine, but last 12 months or so, it's been acting weird like shutting down randomly.
    It could be the heat? I even bought a can of compressed air and opened it up to clean out the dust - saw some Youtube tutorial videos. Worked well for a few days then started shutting down randomly again especially when I have mulitple programs running - mainly Firefox, Photoshop, etc. or when I go to certan websites to upload photos like Photobucket (could be the size of the webpage) and it can't handle it =_=

    Just wanna know if this is normal, and can the laptop be salvaged?
    Is it worth the money to get it checked and fixed, if possible? How much roughly?

    I got the laptop for about 11k in 2011, saw some nice lappys at the shop for under 10k the other day XD
    Should I just buy a new one? Not sure what the life expectancy of a laptop is, but guessing it's around the 3 - 4 year mark. This is currently the 3rd one I'm on lol

    Cheers


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Tai Wai
    Posts
    1,376

    Try using another browser other than Firefox.

    I had a similar problem a few months back... when I had facebook open on firefox, sometimes I would get the blue screen of death and computer shuts down. Apparently both Firefox and FB uses a LOT of memory, so that was the cause of the crash. I deleted Firefox and installed Chrome. Problem solved.

    nickelodeon1997 likes this.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Tri-State
    Posts
    11,644

    If you feel up to it, remove the heatsink/fan and scrap off the old paste and reapply new thermal paste. Buy a cooling fan to set your laptop on.



    Both of these things will cost less than $100hk, which is a cheap investment to see if you can squeeze some time out of your laptop.

    nickelodeon1997 likes this.

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Tri-State
    Posts
    11,644

    Another thing is that you are just overloading your RAM. Upgrading that is a simple thing, especially if you have an open slot for another RAM module.

    nickelodeon1997 likes this.

  5. #5

    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Posts
    6,745

    DIY repair. Fujitsu lasts long, used mine for 10 years.


    Sent from my iPhone using GeoClicks


  6. #6

    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Posts
    638

    Almost certainly overheating.

    Can you hear the fan?

    A new fan installed will be around $500 at one of those little computer shops...

    nickelodeon1997 likes this.

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    11,884

    Yeah, another "check out the fan" post here. Just because you blew out the dust (a good thing to do) doesn't mean the fan works.

    Can you hear it spinning up, and do you get a significant amount of hot air coming out the cooling vents?

    If you can safely get to fan and drop some lube into the bearings, that would be one option. Don't use WD40- that's not designed to be a long term lube (and it sprays all over the place). I've found that a couple of drops (only one or two) of bicycle chain lube works perfectly with fans. Use wet chain lube, not the sort with "dry" or "wax" in the name.

    You also don't really go into much detail describing the shutdown- do you get specific error messages, or does the machine just turn off suddenly with a blank screen? There's a chance it could be a software thing (i.e. reinstall everything), but so far it does sound like heat is the most likely culprit.

    Also: Should I just buy a new one? Not sure what the life expectancy of a laptop is, but guessing it's around the 3 - 4 year mark. This is currently the 3rd one I'm on lol

    Hell, no. 3-4 years from a laptop is terrible. If you spent 11K on it and it only lasts 3 years, you could literally be buying yourself a new desktop PC every year for the same amount of money. My current laptop is from 2009 or 2010 and it works the same as when I bought it, except for the battery which wears over time so that part has been replaced. I've also replaced the hard drive with an SSD, so it's still faster than most low modern cost PCs. I can think of people with working laptops from 2006 and 2008... they are mainly good for web browsing and light Excel/Word, but they still work fine.

    The only reason to be replacing a laptop on a 3 year cycle is if your company pays for it, or it's such a key part of your work that you should always been running the latest and greatest regardless of cost (and even this second point is a bit dubious- new machines might not be noticeably faster).


  8. #8

    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    11,884

    Oh, and I should add that I've done the bearing lube thing several times (not on my current laptop) as have the guys with the older machines.


  9. #9

    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    207
    Quote Originally Posted by Eddy Mundo:
    Try using another browser other than Firefox.

    I had a similar problem a few months back... when I had facebook open on firefox, sometimes I would get the blue screen of death and computer shuts down. Apparently both Firefox and FB uses a LOT of memory, so that was the cause of the crash. I deleted Firefox and installed Chrome. Problem solved.
    sounds like scary shit if the screen just turns blue and shuts off lol
    don't think I had that before.. sometimes I get no warning.. usually the fan goes crazy - really loud and starts spinning like there's no tomorrow and the whole system shuts down.

    Then there's times when I get a grey box with a red circle and a message - this flashes for a few seconds then powers off. The box flashes so quick I can't even read it lol


    Quote Originally Posted by jgl:
    You also don't really go into much detail describing the shutdown- do you get specific error messages, or does the machine just turn off suddenly with a blank screen? There's a chance it could be a software thing (i.e. reinstall everything), but so far it does sound like heat is the most likely culprit.
    I don't think it's the software, only got a few on the laptop that I use really.. mainly Photoshop and Firefox are the only ones I touch everyday.
    But I you are right, it probably is the heat that's killing the lappy =(
    Last edited by nickelodeon1997; 02-08-2015 at 10:00 PM.

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Hong Kong
    Posts
    207
    Quote Originally Posted by huja:
    Another thing is that you are just overloading your RAM. Upgrading that is a simple thing, especially if you have an open slot for another RAM module.
    do you know any reliable and good for money places that would upgrade the RAM for you?
    like any of the computer centres in Mong Kok or Sham Shui Po?


    Quote Originally Posted by huja:
    If you feel up to it, remove the heatsink/fan and scrap off the old paste and reapply new thermal paste. Buy a cooling fan to set your laptop on.
    Both of these things will cost less than $100hk, which is a cheap investment to see if you can squeeze some time out of your laptop.
    I would too afraid to try that and pretty sure would mess it up and make it worse =_=
    any recommendations from the computer centres?


    Quote Originally Posted by Enderman:
    Almost certainly overheating.

    Can you hear the fan?

    A new fan installed will be around $500 at one of those little computer shops...
    Ohhhh yeahhhh buddy, I can hear it lol
    I can hear it when I leave the bloody room ;p
    when it's really noisy, I know that it's gonna shut down soon.
    Any places you can recommend that would fit in a new fan for me?
    What places have you been to to get your new fan installed?
    Enderman likes this.

Closed Thread
Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 ... LastLast