[Voxx]

I'm going to be moving and I'm going to need a laptop. My old laptop had root beer spilt on it a year ago and I shut it off and wiped it down but after that it never turned back on so I kept it under my bed. Now I need a laptop and I dont know what to do with this one. Its a compaq from HP (I could write all the details but I'm lazy). It wasnt a great laptop but it was something and now I need one.

My question is: What should I do with it? Should I try to get it repaired/try to get data back from it and where could I go to get that done for a low price?

[Lina]

My friend spilled coke on his mac's keyboard and it almost killed the thing. His 'v' key won't work so he has to use the slashes to make a 'v'.

You can find laptops for pretty cheap. My friend got a great HP for around 500 bucks. My dell was a little over 900 bucks and it works wonderfully.

if you can find someone to get it repaired for cheap, I'd do that, but if it's not worth it, then just get a new one for a good price.

[redx1]

Ska_Toranpetta, on Mar 8 2010, 02:53 PM, said:

My question is: What should I do with it? Should I try to get it repaired/try to get data back from it and where could I go to get that done for a low price?

How valuable is the data that's on the hard drive to you? What's your defenition of low price?

I'm fairly confident I could get that data off for you and put it on an external hard drive. If you only wiped the surface of the laptop off and then tried to power it on, I'm pretty sure some of the components are shot. Depending on the model of Compaq you might be able to part it off for a few hundred dollars. I would say that the LCD is worth the most out of it.

[Voxx]

redx1, on Mar 8 2010, 03:58 PM, said:

How valuable is the data that's on the hard drive to you? What's your defenition of low price?

I'm fairly confident I could get that data off for you and put it on an external hard drive. If you only wiped the surface of the laptop off and then tried to power it on, I'm pretty sure some of the components are shot. Depending on the model of Compaq you might be able to part it off for a few hundred dollars. I would say that the LCD is worth the most out of it.

Well its not super valuable...just all my music lol so kinda but I can deal with getting it back from other sources. I dont want to pay the same price that I would to buy a new one. I spilt it on the keyboard so I'm sure the internals might be fried. x__x

If I was to scrap it where could I go to do that?

[redx1]

I've donated stuff here before.

http://freegeekchicago.org/

They should take your Compaq happily with no donation fee. They will give you a receipt so you can claim it on your taxes. Good people, they make a huge impact in the community.

[simonsaz3]

Ska_Toranpetta, on Mar 8 2010, 04:05 PM, said:

If I was to scrap it where could I go to do that?

Someone I know drilled holes through their hard drive. Problem solved. Be cautious if you try this effective approach though.
XD

[Voxx]

redx1, on Mar 8 2010, 04:14 PM, said:

I've donated stuff here before.

http://freegeekchicago.org/

They should take your Compaq happily with no donation fee. They will give you a receipt so you can claim it on your taxes. Good people, they make a huge impact in the community.

Thanks! I'll have to check that out. ^.^

[redx1]

simonsaz3, on Mar 8 2010, 04:14 PM, said:

Someone I know drilled holes through their hard drive. Problem solved. Be cautious if you try this effective approach though.
XD

I used to take apart hard drives to use the platters as lethal frisbees. I'm really surprised my brother and I didn't kill each other with them :-P

[KirbyFanOne]

*Raises hand*

I know it's a bit off topic, but I'm confused. Whats ratatt beer? o.O

[simonsaz3]

redx1, on Mar 8 2010, 04:18 PM, said:

I used to take apart hard drives to use the platters as lethal frisbees. I'm really surprised my brother and I didn't kill each other with them :-P

Haha, didn't know that could be done; pretty crazy, much like those hard drives being microwaved in YouTube videos. =P

[Jguy]

redx1, on Mar 8 2010, 04:18 PM, said:

I used to take apart hard drives to use the platters as lethal frisbees. I'm really surprised my brother and I didn't kill each other with them :-P

I've sent those into walls before.

Quite scary when you think about it. think CD's but much thinner and metal.

ZING!

[wrexness]

simonsaz3, on Mar 8 2010, 04:14 PM, said:

Someone I know drilled holes through their hard drive. Problem solved. Be cautious if you try this effective approach though.
XD

That's one alternative. If you want to be able to part the HDD though you'd have to use a software hard drive wiping tool. At my previous job we used Wipe Drive. As the little table on the page states, most of the ways that people think of to remove data don't particularly work. Typically when you 'delete' something, it's just made invisible to the operating system. It's not truly gone until it's overwritten, so you need a program that will go over the hard drive bit-by-bit and overwrites everything. The standard we used at said previous job was 3 passes over the entire hard drive. The way it was explained to me is what the program does in that case is that it hits every bit and puts a 0 on top of it, goes back and puts a 1 on top of it, and then goes through a third time and puts a random bit in every spot in the hard drive. I'm thinking of picking up that program myself here eventually when I decide to get rid of my old PC.

[Voxx]

KirbyFanOne, on Mar 8 2010, 04:20 PM, said:

*Raises hand*

I know it's a bit off topic, but I'm confused. Whats ratatt beer? o.O

Its rattata beer. Mmmm delicious pokemon beer.

[wrexness]

Ska_Toranpetta, on Mar 8 2010, 07:11 PM, said:

Its rattata beer. Mmmm delicious pokemon beer.

So... does that mean it's made FOR rattata, or OF rattata? O_o

[Kii]

wrexness, on Mar 8 2010, 08:12 PM, said:

So... does that mean it's made FOR rattata, or OF rattata? O_o

From the blood of rattatas, obviously.

[Suigetsu]

Part A + Part B = R@@t Beer

[Voxx]

Kii, on Mar 8 2010, 07:38 PM, said:

From the blood of rattatas, obviously.

Exactly.

And then on your 20th b-day you become Raticate....

and if you're already past 20 someone spammed b...


jerks.

[this_chick25]

Quote

Part A + Part B = R@@t Beer

^I thought it was more like that...

o wait--that's R@@@t@ beer...


...and I wouldn't recommend giving your lappy away without wiping it first--depending on how long you had it, there may be a lot more important info on it than you think.

This post has been edited by this_chick25: 08 March 2010 - 08:02 PM

[Neko_master_Luna]

If ya hurry, Walfart had e-machine laptops for under 300, that sounded pretty good. Not sure how good those are though.

[wrexness]

Neko_master_Luna, on Mar 9 2010, 03:23 AM, said:

If ya hurry, Walfart had e-machine laptops for under 300, that sounded pretty good. Not sure how good those are though.

They're not, end of story. XD

Oh right, I thought about this last night but forgot about it until this morning, but it also depends on what you're going to do with your laptop. If you just need internet and maybe Office on it, you could always go for a little netbook instead of a full laptop.

[simonsaz3]

wrexness, on Mar 8 2010, 07:06 PM, said:

That's one alternative. If you want to be able to part the HDD though you'd have to use a software hard drive wiping tool. At my previous job we used Wipe Drive. As the little table on the page states, most of the ways that people think of to remove data don't particularly work. Typically when you 'delete' something, it's just made invisible to the operating system. It's not truly gone until it's overwritten, so you need a program that will go over the hard drive bit-by-bit and overwrites everything. The standard we used at said previous job was 3 passes over the entire hard drive. The way it was explained to me is what the program does in that case is that it hits every bit and puts a 0 on top of it, goes back and puts a 1 on top of it, and then goes through a third time and puts a random bit in every spot in the hard drive. I'm thinking of picking up that program myself here eventually when I decide to get rid of my old PC.

That makes perfect sense. It's actually one of the steps that my college tech department took with old HDDs from all over the campus PCs.
=)

[Neko_master_Luna]

I need a desk top, while I have your attention on the same thing, I would need it for gaming, art work & actually writing a book. What brand, amount of memory & works well with photo shop, computers would you suggest? I'm not actually all that computer smart, so any advise would be great.

[Voxx]

What I basically need is just a laptop for going online, saving some music on it, and word documents. Pretty basic stuff. Does anyone know of a laptop I can get for a decent "preferably low price maybe around 200 or less" that is basic and wont suck?

[wrexness]

Ska_Toranpetta, on Mar 9 2010, 01:45 PM, said:

What I basically need is just a laptop for going online, saving some music on it, and word documents. Pretty basic stuff. Does anyone know of a laptop I can get for a decent "preferably low price maybe around 200 or less" that is basic and wont suck?

In that case, I'd start looking at the netbooks I referenced earlier. I'm not sure that you'd be able to get one for less than $200, but you probably won't have to go much more than that. If you're really strapped for cash you might be able to get a refurb from a place like Tiger Direct. I would probably drop by Best Buy and see their selection though, because they'll probably do the job for you if that's all you're looking for, but they are quite small compared to their laptop brethern so it'd help to have a general idea what they look like and their size. XD

This post has been edited by wrexness: 09 March 2010 - 01:54 PM

[Voxx]

wrexness, on Mar 9 2010, 01:52 PM, said:

In that case, I'd start looking at the netbooks I referenced earlier. I'm not sure that you'd be able to get one for less than $200, but you probably won't have to go much more than that. If you're really strapped for cash you might be able to get a refurb from a place like Tiger Direct. I would probably drop by Best Buy and see their selection though, because they'll probably do the job for you if that's all you're looking for, but they are quite small compared to their laptop brethern. XD

Thanks. Tiger Direct is a really good site. I dont know why I didnt think of going there before lol. That and NewEgg.
=3

[wrexness]

Given the choice between the two I tend to prefer NewEgg... no sales tax! \o/ *now has the temptation to browse again*

[Animexcel]

Poor champagne on your computer, it will come alive and fall in love with your girlfriend

[Voxx]

Animexcel, on Mar 9 2010, 04:50 PM, said:

Poor champagne on your computer, it will come alive and fall in love with your girlfriend

But I dont have a girlfriend... ;__; wait...what? Not to mention I can't legally buy alchohol yet (3 more months!)

[Animexcel]

Ska_Toranpetta, on Mar 9 2010, 10:53 PM, said:

But I dont have a girlfriend... ;__; wait...what? Not to mention I can't legally buy alchohol yet (3 more months!)

Hahaa, it was a reference to the 80's movie Electric Dreams. I just thought about it when I read the topic.