Repairing laptops

[thonglorjimmy]

I have two laptops in need of attention, can anybody recommend a good repair location, Pantip, Fortune?

One laptop doesn't seem to open the internet, shows as being connected but will not open.

The other one just will not open, i suspect the battery is dud but I assumed it would work when plugged into a power socket. I was using it overnight to download a couple of movies, did a restart this morning and nothing.

I'm visiting Europe next month and am planning to buy a new one, as they seem a lot cheaper there, in the meantime i just need to get one of them going again.

Thanks

[phil2]

Reinstall your OS for the one that's not connecting to the internet. That's if you don't know how, or have the time to fiddle with its settings.

For the other one, try removing and cleaning the ram. Maybe it'll help.

I do this whenever I try to start my backup laptop and it won't start.

There're two lights blinking whenever it happens.

[rakman]

The first one seems like a DNS issue.

From a cmd prompt (elevated for Win > Vista) type:

ipconfig /all

Check for the DNS IP

If the dns cache is bad, run:

ipconfig /flushdns

Ping a site (e.g.)

ping www.thiavisa.com

if you get an ip listed, dns is working. If not try a different DNS server such as 8.8.8.8.

Look in the Device Manager to see if the ethernet connection or wifi driver is working.

Second one sounds like a bad battery since you don't have a charger, pick one up, too.

[dddave]

If it turns out you do need repair; PRO-CORNER COMPUTER REPAIR on the 3rd floor of Fortune is the best I have found. The proprietor, Nick speaks excellent English and is reputable.

The shop is located along the back wall on the right side as you are facing in

[thonglorjimmy]

Thanks guys.

I took the one laptop into a random shop in Pantip, it was too late to go to the shop suggested by dddave as I had already left, but thanks anyway. The guy did a quick test and it wasn't the battery it was something else inside, picking it up this afternoon, cost of 2,300 Baht.

Called True on my return home and a very patient lady talked me through reconfiguring the settings and that is now up and running.

My laptops are six and five years old respectively and seem to be well past their sell by date, so I will be replacing them in London next month.

Thanks for your responses, and I will come back and advise what the "thing inside" was that was broken.

[Jiu-Jitsu]

What is the brand name and full model number of the other machine?

[thonglorjimmy]

Both machines up and running now, in laptop that wouldn't open, an HP Pavilion dv3000, it was the graphics card that was duff, that cost 2300 Baht.

The other one, a Packard Bell easynote, is also connected to the Internet, with the help of True.

I'm buying a new one in the UK next month, looking at a Toshiba, which seems to suit my needs, with 8mb of RAM and a 1 TB hard drive, after the VAT refund it's about 13,200 Baht, I hadn't realised how much cheaper computers are in Europe.

Thanks for all the advice.