Yesterday, I brought my laptop to the computer store where I used to rent a back room to run a tutoring business. I told the owner that my laptop had not turned on for two weeks. He was able to boot it and shut down successfully three times. The battery light was flickering orange though, which is a possible sign of a defective battery according to my owner's manual. My battery is fine; I've swapped it with my housemate who uses a Dell Inspiron 5160. I've also swapped my AC adapter with him to eliminate that as the source of the trouble. I brought the laptop home and was able to boot and shut it down once before it stopped working again.
I brought it immediately back to the computer store where I was told it was better to buy a new CA$1400 laptop (the LG P1-5001A9 was recommended) instead of paying ~CA$300 to repair it. Not fully convinced, I priced some similar machines. If I had to buy one, I would probably buy the Lenovo ThinkPad Z61m (part number 9452W1Q) for the same price (IBM stockholder pricing).
Replacing the motherboard would be better for the environment and my bank account, so that's what I will likely do -- after my laptop finally breaks. It turned on today repeatedly and I am currently using it to write this posting. The battery light is also behaving normally.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
No deals for me on eBay.ca
Two auctions for Dell Inspiron 5150 motherboards ended last week with winning bids higher than the cost of buying one directly from Dell Canada.
- http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270018748809
- http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290019286520
Similar items aren't much cheaper.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Broken pin?
I was told about the Dell forum posting about the Inspiron 5150 load-bearing IC on the motherboard. When inspecting the surface mount chip in question under a magnifier, I couldn't see any broken pins and, when my computer did work, it did not intermittently shut off . I'm wary of re-heating the pins with a fine-tipped soldering iron to ensure a good connection even though I have nothing to lose.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Weight comparison
I weighed my LG XNote LS50a notebook computer provided by work and the masses are as follows.
The equivalent mass in imperial units is 6 lb 12 oz.
This significantly lighter than my defunct Dell Inspiron 5150.
| Part | Mass (g) | |
| Laptop | 2,688 | 87.9% |
| Power adapter | 237 | 7.8% |
| Power cord | 132 | 4.3% |
| 3,057 |
The equivalent mass in imperial units is 6 lb 12 oz.
This significantly lighter than my defunct Dell Inspiron 5150.
Dell Inspiron 5150 Disassembled View
Screen
View with keyboard removed
Motherboard top view (The top left bay is for the hard drive, the bottom left for the CD drive, and the bottom right for the battery.)
Motherboard bottom view
Inside of top shell (The circuit board on the left is the bottom of the touchpad.)
Inside of bottom shell (The two pieces of the wireless card antennae are the small green circuit board on the mid-left and white plastic bracket on the top left. On the bottom left, the larger circuit board is the wireless card and the white package is the modem.)
Hard drive
CD-RW/DVD drive
Video card
Monday, August 14, 2006
Laptop woes
Last Wednesday, my Dell Inspiron 5150 notebook computer shut down as if the battery were discharged. After charging it for an afternoon, the computer not longer turned on. If the laptop were disconnected from AC power and power button pressed, the power and battery lights would flash once. If the laptop were connected to AC power and power button pressed, no lights would come on.
Pressing the Function key and the power button was supposed to start a 30 sec diagnostic, but nothing happened. Pressing the left Shift key and the power button started the fan whirring until I pulled the battery out. Not even holding down the power button would make it shut off. Dell technical support concluded that a new motherboard was in order and that would cost CA$317 after shipping and taxes.
I borrowed a electronic scale (Soehnle, 5000g x 1g) from a co-worker and weighed all the pieces. The masses are as follows.
The equivalent mass in imperial units is 10 lb 3 oz.
Pressing the Function key and the power button was supposed to start a 30 sec diagnostic, but nothing happened. Pressing the left Shift key and the power button started the fan whirring until I pulled the battery out. Not even holding down the power button would make it shut off. Dell technical support concluded that a new motherboard was in order and that would cost CA$317 after shipping and taxes.
I borrowed a electronic scale (Soehnle, 5000g x 1g) from a co-worker and weighed all the pieces. The masses are as follows.
| Part | Mass (g) | |
| Screen | 1,302 | 28.2% |
| Power adapter | 720 | 15.6% |
| Battery | 635 | 13.8% |
| Motherboard w/ P4 and heatsink | 576 | 12.5% |
| Bottom cover w/ wireless card and modem | 331 | 7.2% |
| Top cover w/ touchpad | 301 | 6.5% |
| CD drive | 185 | 4.0% |
| Power cord | 136 | 3.0% |
| Hard drive w/ holder | 126 | 2.7% |
| Keyboard | 95 | 2.1% |
| Video card | 49 | 1.1% |
| Heat sink cover plate | 26 | 0.6% |
| Memory cover plate | 22 | 0.5% |
| Wireless card cover plate | 22 | 0.5% |
| Video card heatsink | 21 | 0.5% |
| CD drive guide | 20 | 0.4% |
| 2 x SDRAM | 19 | 0.4% |
| Power switch cover | 16 | 0.3% |
| Battery bracket | 7 | 0.2% |
| 4,609 |
The equivalent mass in imperial units is 10 lb 3 oz.
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