Laptop is stuck in auto repair loop

Trading Tech and Tools
21

I took my laptop to the shop finally. And something unexpected happened. He asked for my password.

Maybe for you guys it’s normal, but I’m not accustomed to giving up my passwords.

He said he needed it. I reluctantly gave it to him.

But I felt like it was a bad idea. I only use that laptop for trading. My two main accounts log in automatically. If someone wanted to ruin my accounts, they could easily do it.

These are lessons I can attribute to trading. Is it worth the risk?

Are these files worth compromising my accounts?

And the answer was no.

I went back in, asked for my laptop and took the receipt where he wrote my password.

I guess I’ll just have to reformat the whole thing and say goodbye to those journals.

Life goes on. No big deal.

22

I have an adaptor like this. But the drive is hardwired into the motherboard. I open it up and looked.

23

It really is simple if you know the name of you journal files - if not the whole name then even a piece will suffice.

Just switch on and keep pressing f8 - then you have your start up menu

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24

Thanks!

What do I do next? How do I search by file name?

25

number of options 1st
You will have choices - 1st thing is “last known good…” - it seldom works but worth a go.

Then next time will be safe mode (no need for cmnd prompt yet) then look ‘system restore’
It will walk you thru that (if there is a restore date on the system) - no data loss.

Advanced startup options (including safe mode) (microsoft.com)

Last resort will be safe mode with cmd propt - will tell you how to do that if above fail.

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26

Are you sure about this? I’ve never heard about a non-removeable HD in a laptop. RAM yes, HDs, no. That would mean it’s part of the motherboard, one and the same. Let me see…

Okay, I pulled up a video of your device, and you’re in lucky, the HD is removable. And now I understand why the 2.5/3.5 in drive adapter won’t work. You have a NvME SSD HD. So you need a different adapter.

Something like this.

Here’s a video of the HD removal.

I hope I have the right model. If so, you have some options.

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27

Thanks! But wrong model…

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image750×645 170 KB
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image750×564 164 KB

I hope this helps.

28

Yep - drive in your model is soldered in - it’s a software prob,

Edit: trading is about overcoming challenges - Command Prompt is how windows works in the background.

A folder in win is a directory in msdos (Cmd Prompt) - spreadsheets usually have a file extn name of .xls - a file extension is usually 3 letters after a stop and denotes the purpose of the file - e.g .exe means a file that executes a program.

The root directory is the very start of the drive - the command cd\ takes you back to the root which looks like c;\

then a simple dir shows you the layout.

dir/s .xls will show you all files on the drive © that have any name () with the extn xls.

That’s your starting point to meet the challenge.

Edit to the edit: for some reason the command on this site is not printing correctly - dir *.xls should read as dir space asterisk dot xls - the asterisk is a ‘wildcard’ meaning anything that ends in xls will be shown.

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29

Here’s a look inside

image
image4032×3024 2.37 MB

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image4032×2775 2.85 MB

30

It says 0 files. I searched for .ods files and nothing. What do you think I could try next? Any other searches maybe?
image

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image

32

do you remember the location of your files? the specific folder as you remember in windows? If so you can go to it’s location by typing:

cd C:\mydirectory\subdirectory\

cd = change directory
substitute “mydirectory” & “subdirectory” with the folder structure for your files.

If unsure you can use the dir function to peek at the folder structure and manually find your files. For e.g. this screen reads that you have 6 folders in the C drive:

C:\Windows.~BT
C:\Perflogs
C:\Program Files
C:\Program Files (x86)
C:\Users
C:\Windows

image

so if you wanted to go the the users folder you’d type cd c:\users. Doing the dir function after this will show you the subfolders within Users.

Edit: I think the .xls extension was used till Excel 2003. Later versions use .xlsx.

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33

Here are some steps to:

  1. Make a folder in cmd prompt to copy files to
  2. search files with specific extensions. Can substitute .ods for .xlsx
  3. identify file name and location
  4. copy files to newly created folder

CMD prompt
CMD prompt1103×639 701 KB

If you want to copy an entire folder, as in everything in that folder is needed, then use the XCOPY function

Edit: Since you’re not familiar with cmd prompt it might be a good idea to practice in your working laptop first with blank files. Once you’re confident about it you can try on the broken laptop.

34

Cd users then dir that - you will see your user name - cd that (no typos allowed).

Then you will see documents - cd that - then good chance you will see your spreadsheets and word docs

35

Hi,

See that great big glob of grey stuff about in the middle of this snippet? When you took off the copper heatsink, was the glob like that or did you or somebody else try to put too much paste on that chip? The reason I ask is that it looks to me like the paste is causing a physical short circuit on the pins surrounding that chip.

image

Edited later. I have found a repair vid for your model. Note at 1 min 32 sec he says “the amount of paste on the CPU (that is your AMD dual core processor) is criminal”. You may wish to remove as much of that paste as you can because it is 50/50 the actual cause of your problem. Small syringes of paste can be bought from eBay for as little as $1 per syringe, plenty more than needed for the job. It looks like a really cost effective machine for the sticker price, but the heat paste is about ten times what is needed just to transfer heat to the copper heatsink cover. Best of luck - don’t give up.

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36

Thanks! I’ll try that. Actually, I’m using an MS Office alternative: LibreOffice

Same thing but free. So the extension I’ll be using is .ods

37

Actually ignore that whole post where I mentioned the .xls bit. The following post containing the gif is more relevant. Instead of .xlsx use the .ods to find and retrieve your files.

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38

Ah yes eMMC, something I haven’t used personally. But you’re right, soldered to the mobo.

That’s not going to help you. But it looks like you might be getting along on the software side. Good luck!

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39

Thanks for everything guys!

I decided to throw in the towel and reset my laptop.

I’m setting it up now. Just gotta set up a restoration point. Hopefully my computer doesn’t delete because of some self-destructive motive.

Also, I just realized it has an SD card slot. So does my other laptop.

I may buy some of those…

Anyway, thanks again for all your help!!

2 Likes
40

LOL - I had a Microsoft Surface Pro for four years until the batteries began to swell and eventually split the case open but still worked. I bought a second hand one for use whilst I sent the other one away for repair, and the advertisement on eBay showed a small slot just below the hinge for a 200GB card, and one came with the second hand computer. My new one I never used the slot in it because I didn’t know it existed. All my data had been on the MS365 Onedrive in the cloud so I didn’t have to transfer any files to the replacement one.

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