The Laptop - LapDawg
(retired) So, I took it home and started
researching everything I could find on it. I found a support forum on
Dell's site that outlined the symptoms it was having and how to fix it -
basically that the machine has a poorly-designed heat exchanger that needs
to remain absolutely clean to work properly. So, I pulled it apart and
cleaned out what seemed like a half pound of dog hair, dust, and cigarette
ashes. Once that was taken care of it ran great for about 45 minutes -
long enough to reload Windows XP Pro. I also discovered that they had suspect power supplies that would
overdrive the power distribution section on the motherboard, causing a
thermal shutdown. So, I got on eBay and found a new power supply which
seemed to solve the problem - the machine runs like a champ.
One of the guys at work had this machine and it crapped out on him - it
would only run for a few minutes at a time and not even boot. He mentioned selling it for parts on eBay once he found out how much
a new motherboard was going to cost. I offered to buy it from him, but
he wanted to keep the hard drive because of all of his stuff that he was
sure I'd be able to pull off of it after a format - whatever. I bought
a new, bigger drive for $60... no biggee.
Unfortunately, after about a month of running great, the motherboard crapped
out. Apparently too much abuse from the previous owner had taken its
toll. I was able to have a notebook repair shop in Austin, TX repair
the machine (since they wouldn't just sell me a new mobo). It ran $700
all said and done, but I'm still several hundred dollars ahead of the game
considering the machine I have.