Alas, poor Yorick!
Bismillah,
The title above is not related to what I am going to write right now ... well, it is in a sense but mostly not.
It's like this, recently I went to a computer and reparation shop. It is because my notebook which is an IBM T40 has a slight --not mostly slight because it affects the entire laptop operations-- problem with its VGA chip. So sometimes my T40 hangs during regular operations, not only that ... when I reboot my laptop it cannot even initialize to the operating system; There must be something definetely wrong. I reckon the problem and thought that it might be the VGA because I had the same symptoms in PC and it was VGA. The first shop I went to repair this laptop is located in ITC Kosambi Bandung. First the technician analyzed the problem and suggested that this laptop must be kept for few days for further analysis, yeah I agreed with him. A day after he analyzed the problem, he told me that the problem was the display connector which was quite loose. The problem seemed solved ... yet he didn't know what's the real cause.
After running for few days ... the problem arose again. This time I went to the same shop reporting the same symptoms, again ... this laptop was kept for 2 days. Later the technician reported that the problem lied either in memory slot or the memory itself. Frankly, I didn't agree with that statement but I kept silent in order to fully acknowledge the cause. But after I received and tested for a day ... it happened again, and the technician gave up; returned the money and apologized for not completing the probable cause.
And next, I consulted with my friends in lab about the cause that most likely to occur. There are three main causes producing similar symptoms:
Processor
The symptoms processor problem is that after we energized the laptop, it suddenly shuts down immediately. In my case it did not shut down .... <- Did not happen in my case so this theory failed.
Inboard VGA chip
It can be in many forms such as screen suddenly blank with/out distorted image, the operating system "freezed", nonsensical characters appeared, etc. <- 80% close to what had happened to my laptop, theory acknowledged ... well I still need to collect all facts so it converge to this point though.
Memory
Prior to initialize the operating system i.e. right after energizing ... beep sound with ~1-2 seconds duration occur. Otherwise, well-known "blue screen" shows up returning error usually in hex codes. <- Did not happen in my case even when I swapped the memory location primary-secondary vice-versa. Theory unsupported.
Now after I sorted the problem ... I finally came to conclude that it is really this VGA chip. The problem is where could I find an affordable repair shop I can count on ? Because it might be very difficult for me to recover the motherboard which cost a brand new laptop more than I could afford --recovering the VGA chip would cause the entire motherboard to be recovered--. Eventually I repaired my laptop in JP where usually all electronics including portable radios, audio peripherals, computers and even laptops are repaired.
Yep, the technician also told me the same thing I thought so far; VGA chip. He didn't tell me the exact problem within the ATI Radeon 7500 chip due to policy reasons, although my laptop still running but this problem occurs occasionally and disturbing though. Anyway, I really appreciate their effort in bringing my laptop to live.
Now after considering the cost-benefit of having a crippled laptop, I decided to back up all my files and programs for later use. I'm thinking of selling this laptop I'm currently using and purchase another one on the same type yet has modern features. Pheeeew ... divorcing my laptop in my opinion really sucks but if I have to do it there's no reason for delays.
Well that's all for tonight folks,
--Dimas
The title above is not related to what I am going to write right now ... well, it is in a sense but mostly not.
It's like this, recently I went to a computer and reparation shop. It is because my notebook which is an IBM T40 has a slight --not mostly slight because it affects the entire laptop operations-- problem with its VGA chip. So sometimes my T40 hangs during regular operations, not only that ... when I reboot my laptop it cannot even initialize to the operating system; There must be something definetely wrong. I reckon the problem and thought that it might be the VGA because I had the same symptoms in PC and it was VGA. The first shop I went to repair this laptop is located in ITC Kosambi Bandung. First the technician analyzed the problem and suggested that this laptop must be kept for few days for further analysis, yeah I agreed with him. A day after he analyzed the problem, he told me that the problem was the display connector which was quite loose. The problem seemed solved ... yet he didn't know what's the real cause.
After running for few days ... the problem arose again. This time I went to the same shop reporting the same symptoms, again ... this laptop was kept for 2 days. Later the technician reported that the problem lied either in memory slot or the memory itself. Frankly, I didn't agree with that statement but I kept silent in order to fully acknowledge the cause. But after I received and tested for a day ... it happened again, and the technician gave up; returned the money and apologized for not completing the probable cause.
And next, I consulted with my friends in lab about the cause that most likely to occur. There are three main causes producing similar symptoms:
Processor
The symptoms processor problem is that after we energized the laptop, it suddenly shuts down immediately. In my case it did not shut down .... <- Did not happen in my case so this theory failed.
Inboard VGA chip
It can be in many forms such as screen suddenly blank with/out distorted image, the operating system "freezed", nonsensical characters appeared, etc. <- 80% close to what had happened to my laptop, theory acknowledged ... well I still need to collect all facts so it converge to this point though.
Memory
Prior to initialize the operating system i.e. right after energizing ... beep sound with ~1-2 seconds duration occur. Otherwise, well-known "blue screen" shows up returning error usually in hex codes. <- Did not happen in my case even when I swapped the memory location primary-secondary vice-versa. Theory unsupported.
Now after I sorted the problem ... I finally came to conclude that it is really this VGA chip. The problem is where could I find an affordable repair shop I can count on ? Because it might be very difficult for me to recover the motherboard which cost a brand new laptop more than I could afford --recovering the VGA chip would cause the entire motherboard to be recovered--. Eventually I repaired my laptop in JP where usually all electronics including portable radios, audio peripherals, computers and even laptops are repaired.
Yep, the technician also told me the same thing I thought so far; VGA chip. He didn't tell me the exact problem within the ATI Radeon 7500 chip due to policy reasons, although my laptop still running but this problem occurs occasionally and disturbing though. Anyway, I really appreciate their effort in bringing my laptop to live.
Now after considering the cost-benefit of having a crippled laptop, I decided to back up all my files and programs for later use. I'm thinking of selling this laptop I'm currently using and purchase another one on the same type yet has modern features. Pheeeew ... divorcing my laptop in my opinion really sucks but if I have to do it there's no reason for delays.
Well that's all for tonight folks,
--Dimas
Labels: Story
posted by Dimas @ 7:43 PM
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