Team-BHP - The Laptop Thread: Configs, deals & questions

I have one serious issue with my Dell XPS15 (SEp 2011). It is core i7-2760, 8gb, FHD, Seagate Momentus 7200rpm 750 GB. OS is win 7 x64 which is backed up and the backed image is clean (I restore every fortnight, update and then backup immediately; repeating the process).

Over the last week, I have seen that pre-boot load up is normal, but the PC gets stuck on `loading/starting windows'. Plus, after 4-5 mins, when I get the desktop, it is extremely slow and the mouse can almost be considered non responsive. It is like I input a command, have a tea break, and then come back to see it still being executed.

Could it be the hard disk now failing or something else. I have restored my clean image with no benefit. The only software option could be reinstalling win 7/8 though I suspect that this is more of a hardware problem.

Please help.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vasudeva (Post 3215225)

Seems to indicate an HDD problem. Get hold of a good HDD diagnostics program and run it overnight. There are plenty of free programs on the net. Most of then do a read/write/read cycle on the whole disk. Most will identify problematic sectors and in some you can delete bad sectors from the HDD map, so that they will not be accessed in future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aroy (Post 3215484)

Thanks. I have those and will run them soon.

Will you advise a zero level writing or clean erase of the entire disk, restoring my old win 7 image and data, and then seeing the difference. My laptop is a secondary computer and never the source of data. Data is backed from desktop PC in multiple places and so cleaning the entire laptop disk is not an issue at all.

For this, should I try Acronis (0 level writing as per DoD or whatever)/Partition wizard or Seagate disk tool or Ultimate Boot CD. I will have to run these from boot/DOS though as windows environment is so slow as to be useless. With that in mind, which boot CD would you recommend. I never had a disk die on me before and so though I have some boot CDs, I hardly ever use them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vasudeva (Post 3215225)

it is extremely slow. Could it be the hard disk now failing or something else. I suspect that this is more of a hardware problem.

All modern hard disk drives have a SMART interface for predicting hard disk failures and you can read it from some BIOSes. Windows (supposedly; I've never had a disk fail with a SMART warning before) logs SMART events in the System event log and you can look for them using the Event Viewer. I can imagine it must be really slow to even get to the Event Viewer so check if your BIOS can display the SMART status before trying to get to the Event Viewer in Windows. It may even be something as simple as a loose connection of the hard disk drive, so you can open up the hard disk drive compartment to take a look.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vasudeva (Post 3215492)

I will advise a fresh install. The image would have the corrupt disk areas so that will not help.
. Install only windows
. Run disk diagnostics and isolate the bad sectors.
. Install all the software a fresh. For my XP the fresh install, including at least 15 applications, takes around a couple of hours.

Yes I will do that. Today when loading, windows ran chkdsk corrected it, but the problem was still there when I got the desktop.

Right now I am wiping off the hard disk clean with Acronis Plus Pack Boot CD (DoD method). Once that is done overnight, I will reinstall windows only and will find out immediately if it is a software or a hardware problem.

I do not mind a fresh install. Infact do it usually on my desktop every 45-60 days.

Which disk diagnostics boot CD would you suggest. I am not doing a fresh install tomorrow anyway and so can do a disk diagnostics before installing windows. My laptop is a secondary computer and I can live with it easily for days and maybe even weeks.

Hello,

I am in the lookout for a new laptop - below are my basic requirements :

i5 processor
500GB+ HDD
4 GB + RAM
Separate Graphics card - 2G ?( might use it for slight gaming )
light weight
15 in screen
touch screen -optional
Budget - 50 K max

Please suggest...

Thanks

Guys,

this is a laptop thread - but I want to pick up half a dozen desktops for regular office work, running stock market software, very basic desktop publishing etc.

Can someone give me any pointers on any good providers in Delhi? Which config to look at etc?

Quote:

Originally Posted by barcode (Post 3220405)

It depends on how much display real estate you want. In case you need to watch a lot of stock charts then a multi monitor set up will be ideal.

In case normal displays would do, I would suggest laptops as you would
. Need no UPS
. Lesser table space
. Lower power consumption, hence less AC requirements

and then you will also need a wireless LAN hub and a DSL router.

Hi All,

Need help for my friend.

He is planning to buy a laptop in a couple of days. His usage is mostly on MS office. Can you please suggest a suitable configuration along with the price range. I have no idea on the current configurations available in the market.

Highly appreciate the help.

Cheers

I find that some of the online classified sites such as Olx etc tend to get the ad some good responses at times , its free to post an ad so no harm even if you dont get many responses.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 9thsphinx (Post 3219519)

Guys, what's a good place to sell/trade-in old laptops? I'm looking for a physical store in Ahmedabad, but if it's an online store I wouldn't mind shipping the item out (providing they're quoting a decent price for it).

I bought a Toshiba C-Series laptop for INR 16k in Aug 2011 from Flipkart. Soon after the purchase I moved out of India. I removed the battery and kept the laptop safely wrapped in a box before leaving. After my return, I used the laptop very gently only for 3-4 months and it developed loose hinges, very weak wi-fi and crack in the body due to loose hinges.

I visited the Toshiba service centre last week to get it repaired. I was given an estimate of 10k+ for parts (service charges & tax extra) to get it back working. Isn't that too much for repairing a laptop that is 2 years old and costed 16k. lol: