Wherein TA kills a student laptop

[technical.angel]

So, I think I've recovered sufficiently in order to post this story of lappy DEATH.

I come back from lunch on Friday (I guess that's where my problem started... shouldn't have come back!!!), to find a student laptop awaiting my attention. It had a fake AV on it, and I needed to clean it. Fine. Simple.

I get working on it, and GEEZE!!! HOT!! Even the keys were getting warm.

So, I get the fake AV off the system. After moving it to a file rack to keep it cool enough to run. It had shut off on me twice.

I talk to the student, who gives me permission to take the back panel off and see what was up. I could hear the fan running, but I was hoping it was just a little dust build up I could take care of.

Now, yes, I know. Cracking the case is BAD MOJO. It's against our policy, and well, common sense. But dang it, I wanted to know why it was over heating, and the headache I had was preventing me from thinking clearly. Plus, if it was as simple as replacing the fan, I could do it as a side job, and make some money.

Well, of course, it was NOT as simple as taking the back cover off. Yes, I know, I should have stopped there. But, I just needed to remove another screw... and another.... and another....

There was a cable, later found out that it was the mic cable. I looked at it, though, hu. I should probably disconnect that from the mobo. Promptly forgot about it, and moved on.

Until it broke. Yes, broke.

Two parts of the cable went into the port that connected to the mobo. One just came out of the port, and the other snapped. THANKFULLY, our network admin could soder, and sodered everything back together, good as new. Lesson learned, I started putting the thing back together, vowing never to touch another laptop again.

THAT'S when I noticed the cable that connects the power button and the wifi button to mobo was looking... frayed.

I carefully put everything back together, and hit the power button. And hit it again, and again. I carefully took the keyboard cover assembly apart, and took it to the network admin. Apparently, no way to fix it. I started to shake.

I started researching the price of a replacement part. $60. I could handle that. So when my manager got back into the building, I filled her in on the new development, (she was there earlier for the first part), and showed her the broken part, and what Steven had said. I then showed her the website I found and offered to pay for the replacement part.

She TRIED to calm me down, and assured me that I wouldn't need to pay for the replacement, and that since it was the first and LAST time this would happen, that I wouldn't get in trouble. Well, didn't really help.

I had a miserable weekend. Started hydroplaning on the highway, and almost hit a car. Got another lecture from my mom about the depression, and generally worried all weekend about Monday.

Sunday night, barely slept. I would start thinking about it, what I did, what I should have done, what the big boss was going to say.

First thing Monday morning, I started calling parts stores to make sure that the part I was looking at had the attached cable to plug into the mobo. My stress level started to rise with each phone call as each of them said that it didn't.

Finally, I went to Ebay, and found what I needed.

Manager called down Big Boss for THE TALK. And, oddly enough, I didn't get into trouble. I didn't even get so much as a talking to.

Big boss laid down the rule that we aren't to crack cases for ANY REASON WHATSOEVER. Which I was cool with.

In the end, Big Boss and manager decided that, due to the liability reasons I ignored in the first place, that we would send the laptop off to HP to get both the keyboard plate assembly and the overheating issue fixed. That way, we were not the ones that fixed it, and couldn't be blamed in the future for it not working.

As it stands right now, the box arrived to send it to HP. It's packaged up and waiting for me to take it to our post office to get sent out tomorrow. Then, in 7-9 business days, the student will have a fully functional and cool laptop.

The end.

[lordlundar]

Take a deep breath. You didn't kill it if it was that far along anyway. You simply put it out of it's misery.

On a more serious note, had you ignored it, the (l)user would have got it back still overheating, would have damaged it beyond repair and would have blamed you for it. This way it works better than when he left it and you learned something out of it.

[technical.angel]

Thanks, LL, it does help.

[Darkforge]

Hey, personally I'd prefer a tech as thorough as you, rather than one that let me have the lappy back overheating, and then have it explode on my lap (or maybe i've been reading too many scare stories about people who had dodgy batteries that went boom)

I'd say next time you get something like that, flag it up real hard with your superior's (if necessary wait till a particular sup' is in) so that even if they don't let you crack it open they are aware of the issue and will do something about it (even if its only to tell the customer to get the manufacturer to look at it)

that way you end up helping the customer whilst still staying out of potential trouble with bosses

hmmn, tempted to ask what company you work for just so i can send my comp there when it breaks so a competent and thorough tech can take a look, but then I realise that shipping all the way across an ocean might make it a little tricky.

anyway, have a cookie

[lwb]

Take it from someone who teaches people how to be a computer tech, TA, you did the right thing by owning up and your bosses did the righter (New word!) thing by letting that be a lesson for you. Good on them! Laptops are a total and complete PITA when they screw up, aren't they?

[technical.angel]

Ugh, you have no idea. I just don't know how that cable broke so easily. You have to move that piece to get to the keyboard, so you think they'd make it stand up to a little abuse.

[Midorikawa]

Ugh, you have no idea. I just don't know how that cable broke so easily. You have to move that piece to get to the keyboard, so you think they'd make it stand up to a little abuse.

Apparently not. I HATE working on laptops, because it seems they were all designed with child labor assembling them, and not a normal person with normal sized hands/fingers. I can't tell you how many times I've had to get mom's hemostats out to rebuild a laptop (since she's no longer a nurse, she just keeps them in a drawer at her house) back when I ran my business. Coincidentally, there's also a reason I charged more to work on the blasted things.

Edit: When I read the title from the unsupportable forum, it said "Wherein TA kills a student." I clicked thinking it'd be an amusing story about some TA at a college about murdering some idiot student, but I was wrong. :-P

[Eric the Grey]

Ugh, you have no idea. I just don't know how that cable broke so easily. You have to move that piece to get to the keyboard, so you think they'd make it stand up to a little abuse.

Oh, it's very easy to break the cables in a laptop. I did exactly that to my own, when I tried to take it apart to clean out the coffee that was spilled into the keyboard. There was this little bitty strip of flat cable that went from the MB to the keyboard that simply came apart from the cable end (instead of coming off the MB.

I ended up sending the laptop back to Compaq, where they told me it would cost more than I paid for it to fix it. I told them to send it back, and they sent it back... fixed! I think the techs figured I would pay, and saved themselves the bother of re-opening the case.

Coincidentally, there's also a reason I charged more to work on the blasted things.

I won't even consider working on laptop hardware unless it's something designed to be gotten into by a non-certified tech like me. Things like memory, or hard drive replacement...


Eric the Grey

[crashhelmet]

In this case, it could have very well been the overheating issue that made it so fragile. The solderings could have cracked or weakened. Isn't that what causes most RRoD errors for XBOX owners?

If you continue through a career in IT, you'll find different times where you accidentally make something worse than when you got it. Sometimes coincidence rears its ugly head at the same time. Laptops and printers are famous for it. It's all a part of the trade.

CH

[Salesmonkey]

TA, it sounds like you are just being a great tech. You can't fix everything. Sometimes the manufacturer is the right person to send things to. But you were very conscientious and tried your best to help your user.