FINEWEST GOES DOWN!

[Finewest]

Yep! It had to happen eventually and it did! But it wasn't a Zippo this time, it was... A GLASS OF MILK! All over my laptop! Tried to clean it, but it would only start to boot and stop at the media-card load looping over and over and over! Total loss!

So I went out and bought a new one: a HP Pavillion DV9000 with a dual-core AMD processor, 17 inch widescreen, 120 gig drive, 1 gig of mem. It had Vista pre-installed and I dumped that for XP and had to work all day yesterday and today to reconfigure it back to the way I like it. Finding all the drivers was a pain! Now its rocking! Faster than the other, but then the cover is black and as we all know black is faster!

So the lesson is: WATCH THAT MILK GLASS! :22yikes:

[Computer Nerd]

Yeah, couple of months ago I went down without the aid of a motorbike and got this chunk of wook in me leg.

I don't know which would be more painful though, wood in the leg or milk on the laptop. :)

[Bikedad]

Sorry to hear about the crash, Fred :( but all is not lost... strip out that keyboard and wash it in the sink in warm water. Usually gets 'em going again!
The little sub-boards underneath also get a dose of whatever you spilt on it and they are also removeable and usually respond to the same water treatment. Just make sure that you dry everything out real good before reassembly.
Had similar problems with somebody's laptop a while back and it got going again except for the looping problem you describe... disable the card reader in the Bios and see if the beast will go through the bootup sequence without it.
Another thing... see if your machine will boot from a (bootable CD/DVD). I have a Linux distro on CD that I use to check out machines that will not start off the HD (Hard Drive... not Hardly Ableson). You may find yourself with a useable Laptop that will be ideal for taking on the road without risking your nice, new Rocketship.
Good luck and best wishes for a speedy recovery :)
Allan

[CrashTestDanny]

hmmm - glass of milk, you say? I've been needing a new laptop... had my eye on a nice Asus G2S-Extreme (http://promotions.newegg.com/intel/091407/index.html)... I'll have to look into this glass of milk excuse... :D

[Spencer]

Fred !!!!

I had a cow when I read your headline :eek:
Quite a mooooving story though. Happy to hear you hoofed right out and solved problem. But hay.....new toys are always fun to have around the farm.

Spencer

[Blrfl]

"Finewest has a spill" would have been a better title.

--Mark

[SupraSabre]

Geez Fred, at least this was a "road rash free" crash! :(

[ChipSTer]

I once did a similar sort of thing to my lap top.... A whole bowl of chicken soup... Ended up with a new key-board (dang it - I wanted a new one)... :crackup
:cool:

[Finewest]

"Finewest has a spill" would have been a better title.

--Mark

DOH! You're right! Darn!

As for the "spilled milk" excuse... THE WIFE BOUGHT IT! Woo hoo! :D

[Mark]

Nice one Fred.
I tried that; but, red wine in the keyboard didn't get me a new desktop system... :o: :rolleyes:

Nice sounding system; but, with the amount of video editing (:bow1: :bow1: :bow1: ) you do you might want to immediately check and see if you can upgrade to 2 gig of ram.

Good luck,
Mark

[Finewest]

Fred !!!!

I had a cow when I read your headline :eek:
Quite a mooooving story though. Happy to hear you hoofed right out and solved problem. But hay.....new toys are always fun to have around the farm.

Spencer

You're too punny Spence! :crackup

[Byron]

O.K. Fred, here is your spill award. :)

I know it's not as good as the zippo but it's the best I could do on short notice.

Glad you're all better. :D

[Finewest]

O.K. Fred, here is your spill award. :)

I know it's not as good as the zippo but it's the best I could do on short notice.

Glad you're all better. :D

:crackup :crackup :crackup

[Highway Troll]

ATGATT??
Im not computer type, so what saves a lap top ??

[sparkinator]

FRED!!! You scared the c### out me!! :Chair1:

I'm getting tired reading these '... goes down' threads.

Good to hear you're OK. :)

[sherob]

I have the dv6000 AMD Turion 64x2... loaded... Vista Home Premium... :bow1:

[curmudgeon]

I'm sorry you're PC junk crashed and you were unable to buy anything but another POS PC. Maybe if you save your money you can eventually buy a MAC. :rolleyes:

Phil

[Finewest]

I'm sorry you're PC junk crashed and you were unable to buy anything but another POS PC. Maybe if you save your money you can eventually buy a MAC. :rolleyes:

Phil

Why in the world would I get a Mac? A better pc and 3 software titles? Might as well buy a Concours too! :rolleyes: :D

[BlaSTr]

I fed my HP Pepsi and ice. It was never the same afterwards (too much carbonation and sugar?). The HD was OK so I was able to get some of the data back.

I ended up getting a MacBook Pro and added an XP partition for a dual-boot system. I seldom go to the M$ side, but many of the programs I use in my work are PC only.

I am much more careful with the Mac though.

Doug

[wjbertrand]

Reminds me of when I ruined the keyboard for my desk top a couple years ago. The little keyboard shelf that slides under the main test top will clear a can but not a bottle of beer. Yup, dumped pretty much all of a freshly opened bottle into the keys when I slid the little shelf in. Did you know that a keyboard will hold almost exactly 12 oz of beer before it over flows?

[John Anthony]

I feel your pain. When ordering laptops for my collegiate kids, Dell's complete accident insurance program, has been worth its weight in gold. My oldest daughter first dumped a grande Starbuck's latte on her keyboard. That one triggered a MB replacement and new keyboard assembly. About 6 months later, it was a pretty full cup of coffee (not sure of the brand) and that one took out MB, keyboard, and HD. About this time, the Dell tech and I were getting to know one another on a first name basis.

Figuring Dell had sustained enough loss on this particular laptop, #1 daughter left it in her sorority main lounge where it sprouted legs and ran down the street lickity split. Went out and got her a Mac hoping this might change our luck.

John

[travlr_45]

I was hoping this was not a motorcycle thing - WHEW!

when I saw the headline I thought " omg, not another 1"

[killerST6]

MMmm Milk, Need some cookies now. :)

BTW, Congrats on the new LT. :)

[RibsST1300]

Yep! It had to happen eventually and it did! But it wasn't a Zippo this time, it was... A GLASS OF MILK! All over my laptop! Tried to clean it, but it would only start to boot and stop at the media-card load looping over and over and over! Total loss!

So I went out and bought a new one: a HP Pavillion DV9000 with a dual-core AMD processor, 17 inch widescreen, 120 gig drive, 1 gig of mem. It had Vista pre-installed and I dumped that for XP and had to work all day yesterday and today to reconfigure it back to the way I like it. Finding all the drivers was a pain! Now its rocking! Faster than the other, but then the cover is black and as we all know black is faster!

So the lesson is: WATCH THAT MILK GLASS! :22yikes:

I got the same laptop-DV9000 after my house burned down in July. So far so good, I kept Vista. Did you get the Docking station for $250? I love mine! It stands the laptop up a little, and you get a wireless keyboard/mouse and a ton of ports, speakers, a HD bay...... It's an "xb3000 notebook expansion base".

On nother note, my mother just poured sweet tea in her 1 year old Dell, the one I bought the complete care insurance for..they replaced it in 24 hours....

[sirepair]

Of all the crashes you could have had, this one is certainly less painful (not painLESS, though!) It's quite a pain to "recover" from a crashed PC.

So you say the laptop is lactose intolerant? WUWT?? You would think the calcium would help it grow....

I would suggest disassembling the crash victim and have-at-it with a can of contact cleaner (keep the cleaner away from the plastics, though) Once the boards have dried, carefully reassemble and test. Many laptop keyboards can be found on ebay, and I frequently use http://www.sparepartswarehouse.com/ for replacement parts (yep, another IT guy!)

If you don't want to mess with fixing it, send it to me! I'll have a shot at it.

Glad you're OK!

[dteel]

Wow Fred glad you are all right. Looks like you've made a pretty remarkable recovery in a very short time. My baby is still at the stealer under going surgery. They've already replaced the fuel level sensor in the upper tank, now if they can only solve the howling problem...

Did you make it a dual booting system or just format and start over. If I had the opportunity I think I would have left Vista and spent some time getting to know it. Looks like an ideal opportunity.

One question, did the new laptop come in faster black?

[Tom B.]

FRED!:o4: Very funny!:doh1: UNBELIEVABLE!

Now that you've scared the heck out of everyone...hey...wait a minute...OH! Now I get it! With that heading, you were just trying to make this the most popular post of the week! Good thinking! You might just have done it!!!:clap2:

After the relief of knowing YOU are ok, I was gonna say 'Glad you're ok' but after a mean joke like that: :noway

:crackup :crackup :crackup

[Sink]

Glad it wasn't Pepsi... Isn't that what happened at three mile island???? (Saturday night live....)

Fred.... Always use a keyboard condom for protection...:wink: didn't your father explain that to you years ago???? ATGATT!

[UNTMatt]

Vista is pretty cool compaired to XP once you get used to it. I've not had many issues with it...not any more than I've had with XP. Both good but since Vista is where things are headed, might as well jump ship and get used to it now.

My laptop is a Dell D620, T7200 Core Duo 2.0 GHz processor, 2 gig RAM, 80 gig 7.2k SATA HDD, Sony DVD+/-RW dual-layer burner, auto/air/AC charger, BT module, 802.11AG wireless, and a 14.1" WXGA+ screen. Light enough to travel but big enough to see the screen...love the wide screen as well. Might upgrade the HDD down the road but love the speed of the one I have. Will wait until prices come down, though. Same with the memory. I would rather have had 4 gig's but that was a little out of our price range when we purchased it. Love this laptop.

[805gregg]

There are some spill proof lap tops ot there Durabook and Toughbook, both will take a spill or drop and still work.