Come in for one problem, get two free!

[ZedOmega]

tl;dr: GF's friend needed laptop repair and ended up finding out it's got a lot worse than a few keys not working.

One of Lady Omega's friends found out last week that I dabble in computer repair and do tech support full-time. Naturally she asks us for help because she's got a couple of keys that won't do anything if you press them. Against my better judgment, I agree to take a look at it and she drops it, the charger and the disks she got when she bought it from the pawn shop. I did manage to get the facepalm out of the way as soon as I heard that. Plus, Dell laptop.

So I plug it in, and right before I even test the keyboard out, I noticed the laptop's Battery light is flashing orange four times before going blue for a second, repeat ad nauseum. I ask her about it and she tells me she hasn't even charged it for a month because of the keyboard. She's got another two power supplies for it; can I wait while she gets them. At least the first one is feeding the laptop power; the other two don't even try it.

Put the battery and power supply on the back burner while I check the keyboard. I won't go into details, but even pulling up Notepad and trying the keys out that way told me that the keys aren't sticking or anything, but as many of them as there are that just won't do more than sit there and look pretty, pricing of replacement parts for it tells me 'you know what, just switch the entire keyboard out, it'll save you about $20 or so'.

Lady Omega's computer has a USB keyboard, so I grab it long enough to check a couple of other things out and the bottom two rows of the keyboard are kinda necessary for them. I made it a habit a while back to check for viruses and spyware no matter what the issue is. The ones I found were unrelated, but numerous. Okay, make that an epilogue, but try to talk her into at least letting me clean the stupid thing.

So, gameplan:
1) Replace the keyboard. Let's just get that outta the way first so I won't have to worry about it.
2) Replace the battery and charge it overnight.
3) Optional: full virus/spyware scan, get her something decent to use so she can clean it herself without having to call me again.

So here's my question: is that gameplan in the right order?

[KiaKat]

Sounds like a good gameplan to me. You need a working keyboard to do almost anything else, even to diagnose any further problems.

Also, before replacing the battery, might want to check the connections. If it's just a loose connector, you don't want to have to spend the money on a new battery when it'll just take a bit of solder.

Side note: Any time I hear of anyone buying a computer at a pawn shop, I think of my poor stolen laptop. Even though it was years ago, I still keep hoping it'll show up at a pawn shop one of these days, and that I'll get a call from the cops...

[ZedOmega]

Also, before replacing the battery, might want to check the connections. If it's just a loose connector, you don't want to have to spend the money on a new battery when it'll just take a bit of solder.

...didn't even think of that. About how easy would it be to even open it up, 1-10 scale? Inspiron 1525?

[KiaKat]

Can't say for certain, I'm not that good with laptops (used to custom-build desktops for a living), but you should be able to get at everything when you have the keyboard off for replacement. Usually that's how you get in to the guts, unless non-Apple laptops have radically changed over the last decade. You'd have to get in there anyway, to connect the new keyboard to the motherboard, may as well check all the power couplings at the same time.

[PepperElf]

Side note: Any time I hear of anyone buying a computer at a pawn shop, I think of my poor stolen laptop. Even though it was years ago, I still keep hoping it'll show up at a pawn shop one of these days, and that I'll get a call from the cops...

Ya i know the feeling.

happened to one of my friends with her guns. she got one of them back at least ... about 10 months after the local police station got it back. O_o

and at my last job we had several who brought in pawnshop computers that were pieces of shit. or ones they didn't even know the password to. (which is also why we had to document / copy ID cards when resetting passwords, just in case something turned out stolen, & why we were allowed to say "no" if something didn't seem legit.)

[dendawg]

About how easy would it be to even open it up, 1-10 scale? Inspiron 1525?

This link should give you an idea:

http://www.ifixit.com/Device/Dell_Inspiron_1525

[Andara Bledin]

Regarding the flashing: The battery is failing and will need to be replaced.

There is some conjecture that it might also do the flash code for off-brand batteries, but most of the time it's a warning that you need to procure a new battery before the one in question finally gives up the ghost.

But I do agree that without a fully functional keyboard, getting a new battery is a bit of a waste.

Before that, though, I think I might check for other internal issues prior to paying money for anything just to make sure that the keyboard issue is the problem and not just a symptom.

^-.-^

[suburbandecay]

Dell also puts the basic service manuals online for all their computers. This one can be found at: http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...5/en/index.htm

Otherwise your game plan seems sound. If the laptop is more than 3 years old though, a bad battery is a more likely culprit than a loose connection, but it never hurts to check. Some people abuse the crap out of their laptops. If you do decide to take it apart, make sure you have a number 1 and a number 0 philips. I have stripped many a screw on a dell with the wrong screwdrivers

[ZedOmega]

Update!

The keyboard came in yesterday while I was at work, so I installed it (and the links that dendawg and suburbandecay posted came in very handy, so thanks and booze to ya both) and test it out. Fully functional. I also looked at the connector and that's fine. All we need now is for the battery to be delivered and that should be it.

[ZedOmega]

Update!

...or so I thought. Now it's a different set of keys that doesn't want to play nice, plus the touchpad won't respond half the time. At least the new battery and power supply do what they're supposed to, but at this point?

[Andara Bledin]

Did you take a look around under the hood to check for things like corrosion or water damage?

^-.-^

[ZedOmega]

Did you take a look around under the hood to check for things like corrosion or water damage?

^-.-^

That's the odd part. There wasn't really anything in there more than a little bit of dust, and a blast or two of compressed air took care of that.

[suburbandecay]

Update!

...or so I thought. Now it's a different set of keys that doesn't want to play nice, plus the touchpad won't respond half the time. At least the new battery and power supply do what they're supposed to, but at this point?

I would take the keyboard back out and reseat the cable. They can be finicky at times, especially if you have big fingers. Often times I need to use a scribe or a very small screwdriver to seat and push the clip for the ribbon cable in place

[ZedOmega]

No luck. The keys are still out. I even double-checked to make sure the keyboard's ribbon cable was seated the way it should be (it was), that the motherboard wasn't damaged in any way (even ripping it apart told me it was in excellent shape), and just to make sure I did everything short of bring out the holy water, uninstalled the keyboard's drivers and reinstalled them. I swear this fucking thing's gonna be the death of me. >.<

[suburbandecay]

Well, it is possible that the replacement is a dud. I would see if you can RMA the keyboard and get another. Otherwise, something metal is touching something it shouldn't or the mobo could be on it's way out. (or any other random assortment of WTF)