Laptop Dead?

Bleedred

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 21, 2001
9,963
Boston, MA
I have a Lenovo Thinkpad (about 5 years old). Yesterday I was working on it and the screen went a little haywire, epileptic like shaking and blurry lines everywhere. I couldn't ctrl-alt-del or do anything other than turn it off. When I try to turn it on now, it turns on for about 10 seconds, black screen, and then shuts down. I tried to refresh/reboot by pushing the opening in the back, no help.

Is it time to throw in the towel? Where locally (Needham/Boston) might I bring it.

Any thoughts welcome
 

tonyandpals

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Mar 18, 2004
7,856
Burlington
The folks at the Computer Cafe on Mass Ave in Arlington are pretty helpful. You can give them a shot.
 

The Napkin

wise ass al kaprielian
Moderator
SoSH Member
Jul 13, 2002
28,534
right here
A Lenovo? It's very possibly a screen issue. Lenovo's have awful screen problems. I'd try having someone replace it (or do it yourself if you're into that kind of thing) before pitching it.
 

Bleedred

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 21, 2001
9,963
Boston, MA
A Lenovo? It's very possibly a screen issue. Lenovo's have awful screen problems. I'd try having someone replace it (or do it yourself if you're into that kind of thing) before pitching it.
@Coup: 1. I have tried operating it while plugged into the charger and via battery. Same result

@ Napkin: 2. Thanks for the tip on the screen, I'll check (not my thing to do it myself).

@tonyandpals: 3. Thanks for the Arlington referral. Any others?
 

Couperin47

Member
SoSH Member
The odds that it's worth repairing any 5 yr old laptop are very low, but removal of it's hard drive and saving everything on it should be easy and inexpensive. It's rare, but one thing to try is running it with the charger but with the battery removed, it's rare but sometimes a battery can fail as a short, not open, and this can cause major problems.