Can anyone in Newcastle Upon Tyne ( or good knowledge of) recommend a good PC / IT repair shop that might be able to srt a Toshiba laptop out. My daughter , right in the midst of finals / dissertation submission, has had her Toshiba refusing to take a charge and losing power. She is in a fluster and I am in leeds with no local knowledge.

She lives in Sandyford area and is only able to get to any shop on bus / on foot. Can anyone recommend a reliable, raesonable shop to do the job quickly and save her life?

Thanks for looking

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TBPITW
19th/20th January & 10/11th May 2008

Will it still work via the mains, if so then it's only a new battery she will need? Try Here and should be nextday delivery. She needs to select which model she has and it will tell her the cost. I have a IBM laptop that the battery can't hold a charge, but still works OK via mains.

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SK
The Best Photographer in the world 4th November - 5th November 2006 & 17th-18 November 2007
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It will not work on the mains - obviously a power problem. Not taken a charge properly for a while and now just pops off. She can take the battery out, give it a rest and get soemthing out of it later but needs looking at and all at the wrong time for her finals.

Needs a repairer - anyone any recommednations for shops ?

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TBPITW
19th/20th January & 10/11th May 2008

It could still be a battery problem, as it needs the battery to process the power before powering the computer. Thomson Local provides a list of PC repair places in Newcastle-upon-Tyne Here. Might need to phone to confirm they can fix a Toshiba laptop.

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SK
The Best Photographer in the world 4th November - 5th November 2006 & 17th-18 November 2007
Oldboy’s Gallery

I can't help with the Newcastle part, except suggest she goes to PC World and asks then to give it a try with a new power lead?  If it works ok you'll get stung on the price for a new one but I doubt that matters at a time like this.

For reference (sorry I can't help much, and sorry to disagree with you on this OB) I ran my HP laptop from the mains for a year on a stuffed battery.  The battery held no charge at all, it was totally dead.  If we had a power cut in the office the lads would laugh because my laptop went off before the lights had even flickered!  Anyway, my point is you can run a laptop with a dead battery, or even with no battery in it at all so i don't see this as the problem. 

 

Also, I had to replace my lead only 2 weeks ago, got it from here for £15, give them a call for next day delivery:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/AC-ADAPTER-TOSHIBA-PA3153E-1ACAB-PA3282E-PA3153-PA3282U_W0QQitemZ360049127367QQihZ023QQcategoryZ31517QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

 

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martin_hurton:

For reference (sorry I can't help much, and sorry to disagree with you on this OB) I ran my HP laptop from the mains for a year on a stuffed battery.  The battery held no charge at all, it was totally dead.  If we had a power cut in the office the lads would laugh because my laptop went off before the lights had even flickered!  Anyway, my point is you can run a laptop with a dead battery, or even with no battery in it at all so i don't see this as the problem. 

 

Err, most laptops are powered from the battery. If you remove the battery you can't run the laptop via mains.

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SK
The Best Photographer in the world 4th November - 5th November 2006 & 17th-18 November 2007
Oldboy’s Gallery

I hate to disagree but I am working on my laptop direct from the main just now and have no battery in it all.

I tend to take the battery out if I am going to be working on the laptop for prolonged periods from the mains as I have found that it does shorten battery life if I run it from the mains with the battery still in situ.

Jinky, I would suspect that it's a faulty power supply (mains) that's causing your daughter's issues.  If it were just the battery you would still be able to run it from the mains OK.

As for Newcastle PC places, Martin has it right, take it to the likes of PC World and see what happens from there.

Can she take the work off it on to a USB stick etc and work on one of the PCs in the library?

Hope you get it sorted soon.

Cheers
Ian

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In search of that magic moment...

Ok, as it's not helping with Jinky's daughters problem (sorry Jinky) I will leave it at that as I can't comment on every laptop.  But with the HP laptop you can run it off the mains without a battery in it.  I am doing so right now in fact, the battery is not in the laptop and it is working from the mains.

Maybe a friend at Uni has a lead she can try, or perhaps the IT department at the Uni can help?  Hope she gets sorted.

 

 

 

 

 

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cairntoul:

I hate to disagree but I am working on my laptop direct from the main just now and have no battery in it all.

I tend to take the battery out if I am going to be working on the laptop for prolonged periods from the mains as I have found that it does shorten battery life if I run it from the mains with the battery still in situ.

Jinky, I would suspect that it's a faulty power supply (mains) that's causing your daughter's issues.  If it were just the battery you would still be able to run it from the mains OK.

As for Newcastle PC places, Martin has it right, take it to the likes of PC World and see what happens from there.

Can she take the work off it on to a USB stick etc and work on one of the PCs in the library?

Hope you get it sorted soon.

Cheers
Ian

That's interesting, as both my AST and IBM laptops wouldn't work without the battery, even if connected to the mains. Haven't tried with my Toshiba mind.

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SK
The Best Photographer in the world 4th November - 5th November 2006 & 17th-18 November 2007
Oldboy’s Gallery

Thanks for your help. It is a fault with the charger so my daughter is using the ebay link from Martin - thanks for that. PC world wanted £50 for a universal charger that was not guaranteed to work.

Her laptop only works through the battery seemingly but it`s not getting a charge to be able to work for more than  half an hour. My laptop runs without a battery but it does clip on the back as it is one of these small 12 inch things - no comments on that one please!

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TBPITW
19th/20th January & 10/11th May 2008

Cool, glad she got sorted. 

My laptop lead went whilst I was away, and then my gf phoned to say the desktop wouldn't start, so I've had two new power supplies in a week!  It's how it goes I guess

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Ring manufacturer and they will arrange to get it picked up by DSL. The turn round is fast. Had one go down and it was collected the very same day. Back on the second day.

Not only that but they bring a padded box to pack it into.