That was scary

Someone asked me to have a look at their HP laptop as it kept shutting down after a repair attempt, now i have looked at this laptop twice before, I said on the second time that the drive was on it's way out. It is a 12-year-old machine. I told them it needed a new hard drive, but I rescued one out of an old laptop I have here.
I wish I never started it, the amount of screws that have to be removed and then the palm rest and ribbon cables and I hate ribbon cables.. Got the drive in, connected it all back up, and it seems to work, at least all the keys, the power button and the touchpad works, I just hope the hard drive is fine,

With my eyes and my hands, I was not sure if I could do it.
I just hope I don't have to do it again with a new drive.
Is it really worth spending out on a new hard drive for a laptop so old? All she uses it for is to watch catch up as she don't have a TV and listen to radio, maybe a bit of browsing, to be honest, she may be better off getting a tablet if the machine does go belly up.

Windows is installing and seems to be going okay at the moment, still wondering if I should put Windows 11 on it. Linux would be fine as well for what she uses it for as long as I can get one that feels like Windows.


Coffee time, to steady my nerves

the worse ribbon cables i've found are inside a mx master 3!!!!!!!!

reattaching laptop wifi cables are a pain too .......

Laptops are a pain. A pain to repair and a pain to use.

It used to be no problem, I remember putting new keyboard on ZX81 and spectrum and around 8 years ago, put a new keyboard on a Toshiba laptop.
I don't like laptops, use or fix, I normally leave well alone.

Thankfully, she has agreed to keep the drive I have installed. If it lasts for another couple of years, then it will not be bad.

So tomorrow I will finish putting the thing together, still wondering if I would put windows 11 on it. I have until Tuesday before I can get it back to her, so I may have a look at some Linux distros.,

Depends on the laptop, a lot like many Lenovo models its just a case of taking out four screws which gives access to HDD and memory.

I'd not bother putting W11 on, just explain that its not all going breasts up when MS stop support.

About six screws from the bottom from the machines, then take the DVD drive out and another two from where that was, two below the battery, then take the keyboard off, another four screws below that, then two small ribbon cables, and the keyboard one, and then take the palm rest off, then the drive is below that, so another two screws to remove it from the machine and another two screws to remove the drive from the bracket

I tried 11, but it was a bit slow on it, so went back to 10, still a little slow, I wonder if the drive is a bit slower than what was in there.

Anyway, I just replaced all the screws and the machine works, it will do for what she uses it for and save her money on a new drive, maybe.

It don't help that she just turned the machine off by the power switch, I am surprised the hard drive lasted so long.

We will see how it goes.


My own Acer laptop was so easy to work on, just two flaps on the base, one for memory and one for the hard drive, sadly it is getting to the stage where installing memory and hard drive in a laptop is impossible.

Says me who got a Mac mini last year, where both things are impossible to do, well for me anyway

It will be interesting to see phone makers reaction to 2027 EU regs saying all phones must have easily replaceable batteries

'Batteries must be removable without special tools or solvents
Spare parts must be available for up to seven years after a device's release
Batteries must maintain a certain capacity after a number of cycles '

In reply to a post by neo_wales:

It will be interesting to see phone makers reaction to 2027 EU regs saying all phones must have easily replaceable batteries

'Batteries must be removable without special tools or solvents
Spare parts must be available for up to seven years after a device's release
Batteries must maintain a certain capacity after a number of cycles '

3310 is reborn

In reply to a post by neo_wales:

It will be interesting to see phone makers reaction to 2027 EU regs saying all phones must have easily replaceable batteries

I read one of the reasons for fixed internal batteries were that Airlines worried about poor dodgy quality batteries (e.g. from online stores) that were not made to the same safety criteria as the original. We saw with the Galaxy Note 7 what happens when battery tech goes wrong. Airlines banned the phone from their services.

The EU may not be a big enough market for some makes… some could decide to exit EU. Not Samsung or Apple though.

I read a long time ago it was to make the phone thinner. I think it is all bunkum and mine and other people's view is the reason they did it is to get people to buy new phones more often.

My oppo will be five years old in a few months and so far is still working fine, the battery can still keep going for 2 days, depending on the use, so still pretty good.

I see some people change their phones like they are changing their socks .

It will be interesting to see what happens and to be honest it is about time they went back to easy to change batteries

Well, the laptop is back together and is on a soak test, seems to be okay, even if the drive is a little louder than the one that was in it. I do need to get some glue to stick the feet back on, not sure what to use for that, I don't want them to be stuck on so they can't be removed again, just in case I need to go back into it.
I hope not, I hope this is the last fix.

Edited by zyborg47 (Thu 23-Jan-25 09:28:30)

Not that that will affect us in the UK.

The manufacturers will probably produce special models for the EU, much as they do with automobiles. It's a big enough market.

The rest of us will be stuck with built-in obsolescence unless we choose to enact the EU regulations.

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

The manufacturers will probably produce special models for the EU, much as they do with automobiles. It's a big enough market.

Unlikely... some removed phones from EU market that didn't comply with the new USB-C connector... so this will be one to watch.

I think there’s a difference between removing a few, mainly obsolete, models from a market and removing your entire range. You can still buy conforming phones from Apple and Samsung in the EU.

Whoever makes the only phone that can be sold in the EU will have a massive market at their disposal.

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

The manufacturers will probably produce special models for the EU, much as they do with automobiles. It's a big enough market.

The rest of us will be stuck with built-in obsolescence unless we choose to enact the EU regulations.

I don't know, it depends on cost, may be easier just to produce the same models for E.U and U.K

Found out something about the drive i installed into the laptop, it is SATA2 not 3, so is slightly slower, not by much, just a bit slower to boot up and start up edge and that is all she uses.
I gave her the choice,i can get a 512GB Orico for around £22, which while smaller in capacity will be fine for the machine and what she uses it for, hopefully she will stick with it as it is

The manufacturers obviously see some advantage, for various reasons, to make phones with non-replaceable batteries. I can’t see why they would forego that advantage in markets that don’t force them to.

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

I think there’s a difference between removing a few, mainly obsolete, models from a market and removing your entire range. You can still buy conforming phones from Apple and Samsung in the EU.

True, it will be interesting to see the outcome of this.

Whoever makes the only phone that can be sold in the EU will have a massive market at their disposal.

not as big as china, which is apparently insanely large.

…and is becoming increasingly adept at producing electronic devices.

Couple that with Trump’s economic policies and China may no longer be a viable market for US firms.

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

…and is becoming increasingly adept at producing electronic devices.
Couple that with Trump’s economic policies and China may no longer be a viable market for US firms.

You've seen Apple starting to manufacture in India?

Yes. But if Trump carries out his threats to impose swingeing tariffs on China they might well respond by imposing similar tariffs on goods from American companies, wherever they are produced. Or they could just put a ban on the import of such goods.

In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

Yes. But if Trump carries out his threats to impose swingeing tariffs on China they might well respond by imposing similar tariffs on goods from American companies, wherever they are produced. Or they could just put a ban on the import of such goods.

Yep, tariff wars are never good. Lets hope its more bluster, or the Congress doesn’t end up supporting all his ideas (not all his party like him).

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

Someone asked me to have a look at their HP laptop as it kept shutting down after a repair attempt, now i have looked at this laptop twice before, I said on the second time that the drive was on it's way out. It is a 12-year-old machine. I told them it needed a new hard drive, but I rescued one out of an old laptop I have here.
I wish I never started it, the amount of screws that have to be removed and then the palm rest and ribbon cables and I hate ribbon cables.. Got the drive in, connected it all back up, and it seems to work, at least all the keys, the power button and the touchpad works, I just hope the hard drive is fine,

With my eyes and my hands, I was not sure if I could do it.
I just hope I don't have to do it again with a new drive.
Is it really worth spending out on a new hard drive for a laptop so old? All she uses it for is to watch catch up as she don't have a TV and listen to radio, maybe a bit of browsing, to be honest, she may be better off getting a tablet if the machine does go belly up.

Windows is installing and seems to be going okay at the moment, still wondering if I should put Windows 11 on it. Linux would be fine as well for what she uses it for as long as I can get one that feels like Windows.


Coffee time, to steady my nerves

I gifted an old 24-inch iMac (June 2008 vintage) to a friend back in May 2022, but before doing so, decided to give it a fighting chance in the modern world - so chucked in an SSD drive in place of the old spinning rust 750GB 3.5" Hitachi drive.

That was a bit of a chore to fit...both physically (see typical disassembly video) and also imaging the drive, as I documented here at the time.

Still going strong!!