Q. A few days ago, I spilt juice on computer desk and it somehow got underneath the laptop, now it's making a weird sound, it's changing the ways my videos sound when I play them. It's not all videos but some are a little off, please HELP!
And one more thing, If you could tell me how much it would cost, thats great.
And one more thing, If you could tell me how much it would cost, thats great.
A. You posted this in the wrong section...should be in computers and tech, not languages.
Either way, first you MUST get a portable hard driveand back up all of your files! 20-40 GB is good because you probably won't run out of room, but you can get a 2 GB portable USB if you don't have a huge amount of files and programs to save. If you don't have a boot disk, you'll need to burn a copy of that as well, and make a copy of your programs so you don't lose them.
Odds are good the motherboard got partially fried by the liquid. It's a crap shoot really, as to what will happen. Sometimes computers can rebound. You can try shutting it off, then pulling out the battery and taking a blow drier that has a cool setting and using it on there for about 5 mins moving it around inside where the battery sits, as well as in any open vent areas. You can also do this with a fan and just leave it blowing on the battery area/vent areas for an hour or so.
The hard drive is probably safe because the casing is usually snug but it's always best to back up because they can always get fussy and once it starts going you may not have the chance to back up.
Also, you may not be under warranty, but if you are you can have the repair company check it out. Odds are good though your warranty won't cover water damage, and chances are the moisture indicator will have been triggered on the hardware inside. Only way to know if you're covered is to make a call or take it in if you are still under warranty and they can tell you.
After you've patiently dried it out for awhile, then boot up the laptop again and try to play some videos. It may heal itself. Stranger things have happened.
I've gotten my blackberry battery area wet before and lost the ability to move the cursor and space bar. I dried it out and it still was like that for 2 weeks. Then all of a sudden it came around and began working correctly again. Pure luck.
But before you end up spending thousands to a data recovery company to get back old files off the hard drive, take an hour or two just to make a boot disk, and back up programs and files so if your machine does go down, you're prepared.
Please ask any other IT questions in the IT category....you'll get more answers and faster responses :)
ADDITIONAL DETAILS:
In regards to cost, for about $30-$50 the repair shop can try to determine the prob and give an estimate for what a full repair would cost you. Keep in mind that the estimate (and final cost) for a full repair could be in the hundreds to over $1,000 depending on how many components got damaged.
As far as costs for backup drives, for a small 2GB USB drive, it's usually under $10 at most stores. For a bigger one that holds 20GB and up to around a Terabyte (TB) (which will hold a ton), it will range from around $40 to $150.
You can burn to CD/DVD-R but they usually only hold about 700KB and won't hold a lot of programs and files. It's a good route to go for bootup disk though because if you create a boot disk on USB, you'll have to configure the BIOS to boot from USB because it's generally defaulted to the CD drive. (USB boot up just adds more work if you don't know what you're doing.)
A cost effective method of really drying it out is:
1) Take a large ziplock bag (if your laptop will fit in it) or a trash bag
2) Place it on flat surface
3) Fill bottom of bag with silica
4) Place cookie/cake cooling rack on top of silica (stands about 1 inch off surface and has holes to allow air to cool cookies)
5) Put the laptop (with battery removed) in bag on top of rack (this will allow air to reach all areas of laptop and allow silica to remove moisture without getting the silica inside the laptop) and place battery on another part of rack or just in bottom of bag
6) Tightly seal the bag
The silica will absorb most of the remaining moisture. Depending on what crevices it got into, or what damage was done, it still may not fix it, but it's something you can do yourself. You can also use rice (I use Minute Rice when I don't have silica. It will take longer than silica, but you can get that at any grocery store.) For silica you should wait at least 24-48 hours. Rice I would give about 5 days.
FYI - The silica can be found in craft stores in the flower section (used to dry flowers), and can be found at some hardware stores in the mildew/mold prevention section, or you can find it online by doing a search for "silica dry packs".
If the machine isn't covered under warranty, I myself would backup and then do silica before I took it to a repair shop. It's cheaper and odds are good the repair shop will just charge you $30-$50 to tell you they have to send it out for very costly repairs. At least you can give it a whirl for cheap before you shell out loads of cash. :)
Either way, first you MUST get a portable hard driveand back up all of your files! 20-40 GB is good because you probably won't run out of room, but you can get a 2 GB portable USB if you don't have a huge amount of files and programs to save. If you don't have a boot disk, you'll need to burn a copy of that as well, and make a copy of your programs so you don't lose them.
Odds are good the motherboard got partially fried by the liquid. It's a crap shoot really, as to what will happen. Sometimes computers can rebound. You can try shutting it off, then pulling out the battery and taking a blow drier that has a cool setting and using it on there for about 5 mins moving it around inside where the battery sits, as well as in any open vent areas. You can also do this with a fan and just leave it blowing on the battery area/vent areas for an hour or so.
The hard drive is probably safe because the casing is usually snug but it's always best to back up because they can always get fussy and once it starts going you may not have the chance to back up.
Also, you may not be under warranty, but if you are you can have the repair company check it out. Odds are good though your warranty won't cover water damage, and chances are the moisture indicator will have been triggered on the hardware inside. Only way to know if you're covered is to make a call or take it in if you are still under warranty and they can tell you.
After you've patiently dried it out for awhile, then boot up the laptop again and try to play some videos. It may heal itself. Stranger things have happened.
I've gotten my blackberry battery area wet before and lost the ability to move the cursor and space bar. I dried it out and it still was like that for 2 weeks. Then all of a sudden it came around and began working correctly again. Pure luck.
But before you end up spending thousands to a data recovery company to get back old files off the hard drive, take an hour or two just to make a boot disk, and back up programs and files so if your machine does go down, you're prepared.
Please ask any other IT questions in the IT category....you'll get more answers and faster responses :)
ADDITIONAL DETAILS:
In regards to cost, for about $30-$50 the repair shop can try to determine the prob and give an estimate for what a full repair would cost you. Keep in mind that the estimate (and final cost) for a full repair could be in the hundreds to over $1,000 depending on how many components got damaged.
As far as costs for backup drives, for a small 2GB USB drive, it's usually under $10 at most stores. For a bigger one that holds 20GB and up to around a Terabyte (TB) (which will hold a ton), it will range from around $40 to $150.
You can burn to CD/DVD-R but they usually only hold about 700KB and won't hold a lot of programs and files. It's a good route to go for bootup disk though because if you create a boot disk on USB, you'll have to configure the BIOS to boot from USB because it's generally defaulted to the CD drive. (USB boot up just adds more work if you don't know what you're doing.)
A cost effective method of really drying it out is:
1) Take a large ziplock bag (if your laptop will fit in it) or a trash bag
2) Place it on flat surface
3) Fill bottom of bag with silica
4) Place cookie/cake cooling rack on top of silica (stands about 1 inch off surface and has holes to allow air to cool cookies)
5) Put the laptop (with battery removed) in bag on top of rack (this will allow air to reach all areas of laptop and allow silica to remove moisture without getting the silica inside the laptop) and place battery on another part of rack or just in bottom of bag
6) Tightly seal the bag
The silica will absorb most of the remaining moisture. Depending on what crevices it got into, or what damage was done, it still may not fix it, but it's something you can do yourself. You can also use rice (I use Minute Rice when I don't have silica. It will take longer than silica, but you can get that at any grocery store.) For silica you should wait at least 24-48 hours. Rice I would give about 5 days.
FYI - The silica can be found in craft stores in the flower section (used to dry flowers), and can be found at some hardware stores in the mildew/mold prevention section, or you can find it online by doing a search for "silica dry packs".
If the machine isn't covered under warranty, I myself would backup and then do silica before I took it to a repair shop. It's cheaper and odds are good the repair shop will just charge you $30-$50 to tell you they have to send it out for very costly repairs. At least you can give it a whirl for cheap before you shell out loads of cash. :)
Where should I go to get a computer?
Q. I need a computer for making films and video editing. Is HP a good place to go? Apple seems too expensive, Craigslist and Ebay seem too risky and hard, Best Buy and Wal Mart I am told are rip offs, as for New Egg I am not sure that I could assemble my own computer, so what computer company is best what about HP or is there something better?
A. There are several places where I can read between the lines in your question. I recommend for you to talk to some local computer places. You should look for one that can help you make the decision by asking you many questions about what you are going to do with the computer.
You need someone who can help you learn to use the machine properly and is going to be able to answer questions as you use it. They will also need to fix problems as they come up. National chains are terrible at doing all of those things. They tend towards a one-size-fits-all approach to every issue.
ANYONE can recommend a computer. I have seen no end to those who consider themselves experts. You need someone who is not phoney. Unfortunately, that is hard to find. Ask them probing questions and get names of references.
If they have been at this less than three years or have worked at the same place all their career, I would recommend against them. Also, it is hard to find a true expert who can also communicate in terms that YOU can understand: you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince.
If the person cannot make you understand what you need to know to do the task, they are not the right person. If they have a "one size fits all" solution, they are not the right person. If they sell only one brand, they are not the right store.
Other signs of the wrong store include ANY of the following:
they only do "in shop" repairs
they know "everything" about computers
their main use of computer is gaming (gaming and business computing are not the same)
they have never used an Adobe product
they have used only one or two brands of computer
they have no experience in data recovery
they have no experience in performance tuning
they have never edited the registry or worse yet, they don't know what that means
they think you need a $600 graphics card
they think that all Windows machines can use as much RAM as you want
they think that no Windows machine can use over 4GB of RAM
they think everything should be wireless
they think the most expensive product is the best
they think the least expensive product is the best
they think it is okay to spend $400 or more to replace a power supply
they think it is okay to spend $50 or less to replace a power supply
if you ask what size power supply is the best and they answer without asking you a ton of questions
they are experts at overclocking (mission critical machines shouldn't be overclocked)
they can't name four RAM manufacturers off the top of their head
they can't name four hard drive manufacturers off the top of their head
they use generic parts from China, Taiwan, Korea, etc because they are the same quality and are cheaper than name brand
Those are clues that they are not ready for high end, professional video support. Actually, they are probably not ready for support of any high end, professional systems. That gives you some questions to ask them to help gauge their competence.
You need someone who can help you learn to use the machine properly and is going to be able to answer questions as you use it. They will also need to fix problems as they come up. National chains are terrible at doing all of those things. They tend towards a one-size-fits-all approach to every issue.
ANYONE can recommend a computer. I have seen no end to those who consider themselves experts. You need someone who is not phoney. Unfortunately, that is hard to find. Ask them probing questions and get names of references.
If they have been at this less than three years or have worked at the same place all their career, I would recommend against them. Also, it is hard to find a true expert who can also communicate in terms that YOU can understand: you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince.
If the person cannot make you understand what you need to know to do the task, they are not the right person. If they have a "one size fits all" solution, they are not the right person. If they sell only one brand, they are not the right store.
Other signs of the wrong store include ANY of the following:
they only do "in shop" repairs
they know "everything" about computers
their main use of computer is gaming (gaming and business computing are not the same)
they have never used an Adobe product
they have used only one or two brands of computer
they have no experience in data recovery
they have no experience in performance tuning
they have never edited the registry or worse yet, they don't know what that means
they think you need a $600 graphics card
they think that all Windows machines can use as much RAM as you want
they think that no Windows machine can use over 4GB of RAM
they think everything should be wireless
they think the most expensive product is the best
they think the least expensive product is the best
they think it is okay to spend $400 or more to replace a power supply
they think it is okay to spend $50 or less to replace a power supply
if you ask what size power supply is the best and they answer without asking you a ton of questions
they are experts at overclocking (mission critical machines shouldn't be overclocked)
they can't name four RAM manufacturers off the top of their head
they can't name four hard drive manufacturers off the top of their head
they use generic parts from China, Taiwan, Korea, etc because they are the same quality and are cheaper than name brand
Those are clues that they are not ready for high end, professional video support. Actually, they are probably not ready for support of any high end, professional systems. That gives you some questions to ask them to help gauge their competence.
Best way to clear out ALL internet history, files, downloads, etc?
Q. What is the best and most thorough way of deleting ALL internet browsing history from a company lap top? I already know how to clear history, clear cookies, and delete all files in the temporary internet file folder. But I have a feeling that there are other ways for my company to see all the porn that me and my wife like to look up! Is there a way to delete it off the hard drive? Is my internet browsing history stored anyplace else? How do I completely get rid of ALL browsing history, short of dropping my lap top on a hard surface from about 12 feet up?
A. You need to get the CCleaner (see below).
Tools > Internet Options > Delete Browsing History and choose what you wish to delete.
If your using Firefox just go to Tools and click "Clear Private Data". If your not using Firefox I recommend getting it (you can even set it up so it clears the cache every time you close the browser!).
If your really concerned about privacy, there are still traces of your online activity stored in the registry and "index.dat" files that cannot be removed from within your browser. CCleaner will remove these "index.dat" files making future recovery very difficult. CCleaner is free and removes all traces of your online activities (highly recommended).
Tools > Internet Options > Delete Browsing History and choose what you wish to delete.
If your using Firefox just go to Tools and click "Clear Private Data". If your not using Firefox I recommend getting it (you can even set it up so it clears the cache every time you close the browser!).
If your really concerned about privacy, there are still traces of your online activity stored in the registry and "index.dat" files that cannot be removed from within your browser. CCleaner will remove these "index.dat" files making future recovery very difficult. CCleaner is free and removes all traces of your online activities (highly recommended).
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