My friend Tommy smashed a jager bottle on his laptop and fucked it up pretty bad. The CD rom is pretty much FUBAR'd. The impact also fucked up the filesystem on the HD but the it still appears to be working. There are a few keys missing but they are not ones that you use a lot.

I am trying to re-install windows on it but since the cd rom is bent and so its scratching the CD (i made a backup OS cd before putting it in). I dont know if the OS is going to finish loading before the label scratches all the way thru and it stops reading. The question is since the laptop cd rom is FUBAR'd is there any way to load the OS using my external CD rom, maybe a network load or something. I can probably get the laptop cd rom to run long enough to run some drivers if that would help.

Anyone with ideas please post them.

2/8/2006 9:45:17 PM

sounds like it's fucked up beyond all recognitioned.

2/8/2006 9:47:07 PM

Well it loaded all the blue screen files to the HD now its stuck saying "please wait while windows formats the HD" but the bar is still at 0%.

2/8/2006 9:50:08 PM

it would make more sense if it was a bottle of bacardi

-ZiP!-

2/8/2006 9:51:30 PM

He must have been inspired by the whiskey bottle thread:

message_topic.aspx?topic=385741

2/8/2006 10:23:47 PM

Tommy needs to learn the difference between expensive electronic equipment and a frat boy's noggin

2/8/2006 11:09:41 PM

Sounds like tommy has some growing up to do maybe? Yeah that usually fixes things.

Oh and it's likely there's more wrong than just the cd-rom drive. If the impact fucked up the file system, it means it actually did physical damage to the harddrive. Repair costs should be about 250 parts+500 labor or so, maybe as little as 200 if it's not bad. Probably alot more. If he doesn't have accidental damage coverage under his warranty, he may just want to look into buying a new computer, and maybe going to some AA meetings. If he does have accidental damage protection and feels like defrauding the company that sold him the computer, he can give that a try I guess. Where'd he get it anyways?

[Edited on February 8, 2006 at 11:20 PM. Reason : ]

2/8/2006 11:17:10 PM

Quote :

"he may just want to look into buying a new computer, and maybe going to some AA meetings."

He already went thru that, and residential for two months, and a month of jail. Im pretty sure hes complacent drinking like theres no tomorrow and occasionally having to replace something he destroyed. Its a lifestyle even I cant hang with, but I grew up with this kid and we been freinds forever so I am trying to help him out.

Quote :

"Where'd he get it anyways?"

He got it from his old boss who has since skipped town. I dont think there is any of the paperwork that would be required for warranty service available. Even if there is, the laptop shows too much physical damage for them to do warranty work on it.

Quote :

"If the impact fucked up the file system, it means it actually did physical damage to the harddrive."

Yeah, I have been unable to format the HD but the windows installer copies files to the HD. How would I go about testing to see if the problem is in the mainboard or on the hard disk. If the mainboard is intact it may be worth salvaging (replacing HD & cd rom). If the MB is damaged the thing is probably a total loss and only good for parts.



[Edited on February 9, 2006 at 10:36 AM. Reason : ]

2/9/2006 10:35:32 AM

i would think that you're wasting your time fucking with it

it's gone

2/9/2006 11:13:13 AM

^^ Well shit, I was just kidding about the AA meetings.

If it's just the cd rom drive and the harddrive, then yes the mainboard is worth salvaging, as long as everything else works besides those two drives.

There's only one way I know of that'll work with no working harddrive, and that's try known working drives. Is it IBM t series or something? If so, they use easy-swapable drives so that shouldn't be too hard to test.

If that doesn't work though, then it's probably either too far gone, or too difficult to be worth fixing.

2/9/2006 5:10:27 PM

Its an averatec 3280 series

2/9/2006 9:58:10 PM

edit

[Edited on February 9, 2006 at 9:59 PM. Reason : ]

2/9/2006 9:59:00 PM

anyone got an averatec HD???

2/9/2006 10:54:04 PM

any standard laptop harddrive should work, it's the optical drive that's harder to find.

2/9/2006 11:02:16 PM

Quote :

"How would I go about testing to see if the problem is in the mainboard or on the hard disk. If the mainboard is intact it may be worth salvaging (replacing HD & cd rom)."

if you're calling it a "mainboard" I don't think you have what it takes to fix this one, kid

2/9/2006 11:04:37 PM

^ meh, alot of the IBM/Lenovo customer service/tech support people like to use that terminology. and if it is just the two drives, then it really isn't ungodly to fix. but yeah, you are probably going to want to get someone else to actually help you do the installation/laptop opening espescially if the drives aren't readily accessible.

2/9/2006 11:12:44 PM

The system is down, yo.

2/9/2006 11:39:31 PM