Fried Laptops

[AlanHo]

One of my grandson's brought his dead laptop over yesterday to see whether I could get it working.

He said it would not boot up and smelled "funny". I couldn't smell anything so I tried to boot it from the battery - nothing happened.

I then plugged in the power supply and before I had a chance of pressing the start button I saw a whiff of smoke from the laptop side vents. There is now the unmistakable odour of frying electrical insulation.

It transpires that he has a habit of using the laptop in bed propped on the bedclothes - thus unwittingly blocking off the ventilation slots.

This is the third dead laptop that has been brought to me this year by family and friends who were ignorant of the fact that you should not prop a laptop on a soft surface like a bed or the arm of a sofa etc. for what will eventually become obvious reasons.

It might be worth reminding the kids in your family - both young and old - of such consequences.

 

[Fire cat]

Yep. That's a fried laptop.
Only thing to do is to have it refunded or exchanged if the garanty is still valid.
Though, would the manufacturer even accept to do so? I mean, this is in the safety manual that came with the laptop.

I've had to warn my sister about that, or he laptop would be dead by now.

 

[Nibiru2012]

It certainly is a laptop that got too hot and the end results are as you just stated!

This is why I ALWAYS tell my friends and clients who use a laptop to get a laptop cooler stand and USE it!

If they're going to spend $400-900 for a laptop computer and $20-50 for a nice padded carrying case for it, then they should spend another $20-50 for a decent laptop cooler w/stand for it.

Plus a lot of laptop users forget that, on average, laptops are more prone to dust build-up than desktop, just due to the nature of where and how they're used.

FC - Taking a laptop in on warranty or a guarantee because of abuse probably won't be honored. It will probably be inspected and such to verify what exactly happened. Remember that all warranties have "abuse" or "proper use" clauses in them.

 

[AlanHo]

The laptop is 3 years old and way out of warranty. A local laptop repair shop have quoted my daughter £130 to replace the motherboard. I have recommended she buys him a replacement laptop complete with cooler stand.

She is not a happy bunny - there goes the holiday money.

 

[Kalario]

i like mine over-easy

 

[Nibiru2012]

Wow! That's about $232 US !

It would be better just to get him the replacement like you stated.

Then she should give him a chore list that will keep the fella busy for quite a while so he'll remember that laptops and money don't grow on trees.

 

[AlanHo]

In fact Apples do grow on trees

 

[TrainableMan]

Every year in Texas, USA they come up with some new fried food - like fried pickles, fried Coke, fried Snikers bars ... so when I saw the thread title it made me chuckle but it is an unfortunate situation.

I bought my 12 yr old nephew a laptop this past Christmas and he told me it gets hot just sitting on his desk so I immediately bought him a cooling stand and I belive that helps but I should mention to my brother and to my nephew to be careful when using it on the bed or couch.

 

[catilley1092]

I've seen so many people do the same, with a couple that done as above. My stepson is bad, I mean very bad for leaving his laptop on all night, on carpet. It really gets hot. I asked him, why leave it on all night, it's not like he's running anything. His response was that it's bad on the bootloader to turn it off & on. Then why not put it to sleep (or standby, in XP terms)?

Not only is there the danger of frying the laptop, but a fire could be started as well. If you can't get a laptop stand & cooler, at least improvise. If you're leaving it on, place it on a glass counter saver, and use a small personal fan to force cool air underneath the laptop. It's not perfect, but it works for me. I do this when I'm folding, when the laptop runs for days or weeks at a time.

 

[Thrax]

I have nothing constructive to add to this thread except the good chuckle I had over "it's bad for the bootloader." ;D

 

[catilley1092]

I actually thought it was funny, too. The bootloader is software, not hardware. That's what he thinks that sound is when you power up the computer.

 

[clifford_cooley]

Tell him he needs to leave his car running, because there is a computer in every car made today. When you first crank the car, the first few minutes are used to boot up the computer. During the first few minutes all the sensors are ignored and the computer is using the data that was recorded from the sensors the last time the engine was running.

 

[Mychael]

Maybe I'm just getting old and grumpy but "sheesh" what do they think the cooling vents were there for in the first place.
It's getting like new cars everyone can name the latest models but fewer know how to drive properly.. End of rant.

Mychael

 

[Digerati]

I think we should all join my push to stop calling them laptops, and use "notebooks" insteads. Notebooks should never be used on laps. But should these users insists, in spite of being informed of the danger, then insist they at least use a Notebook Cooling Pad w/ext. power supply.