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qhtrinh · Nov 18, 2005, 07:39 AM

Hey,

I dropped my 14" iBook, and just before it got down from the table the screen turned black and bam on the floor.

The machine just turned off.

Anyhow, I tried to reboot the machine, it's slower, and when I reach the OSX desktop, I only see my background picture. The pop-up messages of my startup programs still appear, but no dock and no upper bar and no icons.

When I push the power button, there's a window that appears to ask me if I want to reboot, shut down, log out like usual. It's like everything is normal, but I don't see anything.

Please, any suggestions? I have many lab reports and I can't spare time to go to the store to make repairs...

Athens · Nov 18, 2005, 07:44 AM

You might have lost some critical data. Hard drives a magnetic, a good drop can cause the data to get messed. Try a boot CD to see if the machine operates normally first, if it does DONT reinstall OS X or install anything, the next step will be to recover the data that you can before you do a format and reinstall. Try that and let me know how it goes.

Athens · Nov 18, 2005, 07:47 AM

PS there is a real possibility you damaged your hard drive and it cant finish loading your data because of hardware problems. Do the CD thing first to make sure your computer itself is still working. Lets hope the opitcal drive isnt damage.

But cheer up, if its just the hard drive, that is a easy enough, cheap enough repair. It could have been ALOT worst. Ram could be loss too, booting off the CD is just part one of tracking down whats causing it.

ghporter · Nov 18, 2005, 07:51 AM

Make sure the RAM is properly seated, that your AirPort card (if any) is also properly seated, and then try to boot from the CD. As Athens says, it could be a lot worse-I'm looking for a new LCD for my son's Windows laptop, and that is not a fun task!

Athens · Nov 18, 2005, 07:53 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

Make sure the RAM is properly seated, that your AirPort card (if any) is also properly seated, and then try to boot from the CD. As Athens says, it could be a lot worse-I'm looking for a new LCD for my son's Windows laptop, and that is not a fun task!

If its really really new ITS NOT WORTH IT. Turn it into a perm desktop and get another laptop unless you can find a used dead laptop with a good screen and feel you can do the transplant. Tried 4 times in 5 years, only once it worked.

production_coordinator · Nov 18, 2005, 08:02 AM

Even if you are able to get it back up and running, you may want to consider getting a new HDd. Athens gave some excellent advice... Start by isolating problems...

- No physical damage you can see
- RAM inserted properly
- HD Works

etc. etc. That being said, once you drop a HD, it's a potential time bomb. What's even worse is... it COULD be perfectly fine... but you will never know.

RevEvs · Nov 18, 2005, 08:09 AM

Ive had a similar bump with my iBook.

If it boots (as you say it does) chances are its fine, but the HD is damaged. Mine got corrupted. i partitioned off a fe gig and it kindof worked, but had to buy a new HD int he end.

Athens · Nov 18, 2005, 08:27 AM

of the laptop was off chances are its just data corruption, if the laptop was ON chances are good for damage to the hard drive. Ive dropped hard drives in the past that lots the data, a reformat and everything was good agian. So it just depends.

qhtrinh · Nov 18, 2005, 09:03 AM

Thanks for the help, now I'm really depressed.

I'll do everything and update tonight. I have 3 unfinished labs on it and I'm extremely low on cash. I'll probably go for recovering the data and formatting, hoping that I won't have to lose too much $$$. Man same thing happened with iPod... dropped it and bam hard drive is dead.

galarneau · Nov 18, 2005, 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by ghporter

As Athens says, it could be a lot worse-I'm looking for a new LCD for my son's Windows laptop, and that is not a fun task!

You let your son run Windows?

ghporter · Nov 18, 2005, 07:05 PM

My son's laptop is not new at all, but I don't want to have to build a new Windows computer for him to play some specific games (Warhammer 40K stuff), and this sounds like an interesting way to get him involved in tiny hardware-at least paying for the new LCD, because it broke while in his custody.

I'd hate to have a NEW laptop of any brand need a new LCD.

qhtrinh · Nov 20, 2005, 08:15 PM

Hey, I ran into a few problems... I put the CD in, but when I turned the machine on, it was even slower and it only booted into a blue screen. Something tells me I'm screwed...

Sould I start a HDD repair by myself or turn the laptop in for repair? If I were to do the latter, how much would it cost me for them to repair it?

Thanks for the help...

mduell · Nov 20, 2005, 08:26 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

I'd hate to have a NEW laptop of any brand need a new LCD.

Unless it's a Dell with CompleteCare. Or a Toshiba with a 3rd party warranty... I swear the depot that did those repairs wanted me to break my laptop so they could get more money from Toshiba (I got 2 new screens, and 4 new hard drives in 5 years... yea, I dropped that laptop a lot).