I think my computer's going to die . . .

where are the 'oh no' and 'sobbing' smilies?

[roddy]

There I was, happily checking my SERPS when my computer just . . . stops. Black screen. No LEDs flashing away. There seemed to be a bit of a popping sound, but that could have been an overactive neuron.

Flicked the on-off switch a while. Checked power supply and so on. It's a laptop, so checked both mains and battery. Seemed ok. Complete lack of life suggested it was a power problem, but after the mains and battery supplies link up, otherwise one or the other would have kicked in.

Turned it upside down and got my screwdriver - it's four years old and second hand, so the only thing the warranty will get me is laughed at.

Decide to plug it back in and give it one more try. LEDS come on, and it whirrs through the start-up routine, but still with a black screen - and with a laptop screen, you get a very deep black to stare at gloomily.

Windows started up fine - I heard the Microsoft WOOOOSSSHHH. I then managed to close it down by guessing where the start button was, and that went fine.

Turned it on again, and the screen worked and it's been fine for the last few hours - but this can't be good, can it. I'm going to be buying a new laptop soon, or else going to have to figure out how to fix laptops . . .

Roddy

[roddy]

And just noticed my battery is still at 0%, despite the charging LED flashing away for an hour. Still, it was a rubbish battery anyway.

R

[mivox]

Replace the battery first off... if the battery is actually faulty, it can create a drain on the system that causes all sorts of strange problems. A dead battery just lacks power... a messed up battery can actually suck more power than a dead one would, and really screw up the entire electrical system.

If it does it again with a new battery, well... dunno what the problem would be then.

[Mardi_Gras]

Good time to back up everything - including those things you might not often get to - cookies, favorites, passwords, etc.

My new (1 month old!) compaq was not so gracious. Sunday night - no problem. Monday morning - dead main circuit board. Nothing. Nada.

I had backed up all my financial stuff on Friday but I still lost a few files and things from my last full backup.