Thread: How long does your laptop usually last ? What killed your past ones ?

Originally Posted by Troy

^ He's special, that's for sure. Fancy replacing the laptop because of a hard drive failure. Just replace it and carry on.
There was a time when laptop HDs were on an antivib mount but that went years ago to reduce cost. I usually go through 2 or 3 in the lifetime of a laptop...or did before ssd came out.

Sugar ants nesting on the motherboard has happened to me more than once. Windows is the biggest killer of hardware.

I've had mixed results fixing phones or computers. Sometimes it works out. Other times you spend $150 for a repair and the thing breaks a little later anyway.

I spent $150 replacing the screen on my S7. Then the new screen failed 2 weeks later. So I'll never fix a phone again.

This hard drive swap cost $150 too

Originally Posted by Troy

^ He's special, that's for sure. Fancy replacing the laptop because of a hard drive failure. Just replace it and carry on.
There was a time when laptop HDs were on an antivib mount but that went years ago to reduce cost. I usually go through 2 or 3 in the lifetime of a laptop...or did before ssd came out.

Sugar ants nesting on the motherboard has happened to me more than once. Windows is the biggest killer of hardware.

Acer are fucking shit. We used to buy hundreds but their quality went to shit so we dumped them. HDD's used to fail with monotonous regularity.

acer backdoored their BIOS a few years ago - so nil trust now

Mine usually last about 5 years. I try to use cooling pads and take pretty good care, I will also upgrade them if it is possible. One, the motherboard fried, and the other I gave to a friend who really needed one. I have bought a couple cheap ones and those are lucky to get past two years.

Originally Posted by Troy

Windows is the biggest killer of hardware.

You might be right. My Asus laptop is about 8 years old and so far so good. However, it does seem to get a bit overtired occasionally and wander off for a nap. Don't we all?
The day before yesterday it was dragging its feet and then yesterday it slowed to a complete standstill. Eventually I forced it to restart and ran AVG, which reported nothing but also stopped at 87%. I suspected some background process. I stopped again and restarted and began sniffing around the registry, which isn't as techy as it sounds because by chance I had used CCleaner to tidy up broken registry items a few days ago so it was easy to pick out the recent changes.
There was the culprit - effin Microsoft helpfully installing Microsoft Edge on the 9th and Edge update on the 10th. It's like someone dumping a skip on your driveway and telling you they were doing you a favour because you really needed a skip.
If I wanted Microsoft Edge then I'd have downloaded it already. My old laptop has sufficient resources for my needs but not if Microsoft keeps sucking them dry with stuff I don't want.
Yes, Microsoft is like Russia, invading my laptop to fix problems I don't have and ultimately to force it into submission.
No matter, I thought. I'll simply uninstall it. Oh no you won't, that cannot be done, at least not in the straightforward way through the control panel.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Acer are fucking shit. We used to buy hundreds but their quality went to shit so we dumped them. HDD's used to fail with monotonous regularity.

I had Toshiba's in the early 2000's and then Sony and the Acer lasted the longest

Originally Posted by baldrick

acer backdoored their BIOS a few years ago - so nil trust now

wtf is bios

Originally Posted by Backspin

wtf is bios

Give up Skiddy and get yourself an abacus...

Originally Posted by Backspin

wtf is bios

Originally Posted by Backspin

wtf is bios

You are by far the dumbest motherfucker on TD. What makes it even more laughable is that you think you're the smartest.

If they ever come out with a coffee and wineproof laptop, I'm a starter.

Originally Posted by Troy

Give up Skiddy and get yourself an abacus...

That would require manual dexterity. He’s not out of nappies yet on this subject! lol

Originally Posted by sabang

If they ever come out with a coffee and wineproof laptop, I'm a starter.

The Best Waterproof Keyboards 2020: Water-Resistant, Dustproof Typing - Rolling Stone


And for you, a high chair and bib to go with it.

^ My Z book is good for the occasional food or wine spill but there are better protected laptops out there. You just need to pay lots more, although still cheaper than a mac...

Originally Posted by Shutree

There was the culprit - effin Microsoft helpfully installing Microsoft Edge on the 9th and Edge update on the 10th.

And today, the less than glorious 12th, the laptop wouldn't respond, again. Yes, it's Microfookinsoft again with a monster update. 'Background' my arse. I lost track of how long it took, longer than the washing machine and that is an 80-minute cycle.
After the restart and everything updated and finished I looked at Task Manager and my Disk is showing 100%, with nothing running. I went to Windows Update, which I thought could be switched to manual but I couldn't find that option. So I put it to sleep for two weeks instead. Disk now at 1%.
Coincidence? I think not.

Originally Posted by Shutree

And today, the less than glorious 12th, the laptop wouldn't respond, again. Yes, it's Microfookinsoft again with a monster update. 'Background' my arse. I lost track of how long it took, longer than the washing machine and that is an 80-minute cycle.
After the restart and everything updated and finished I looked at Task Manager and my Disk is showing 100%, with nothing running. I went to Windows Update, which I thought could be switched to manual but I couldn't find that option. So I put it to sleep for two weeks instead. Disk now at 1%.
Coincidence? I think not.

Run Disk Cleanup as Administrator.

And move all that goat porn to an external drive.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Run Disk Cleanup as Administrator.

And move all that goat porn to an external drive.

Thanks. The disk space is not a problem, there is an empty 100GB on the C and 200GB on the D. Still I gave DiskCleanup a go as you suggested and it found 6.8GB of useless old Microsoft Windows updates hiding there, so I got rid of that. It took all morning so, to Troy's point, having lost four half days to MS BS in the past week I am unthrilled.

My post wasn't clear, it is the utilisation that is titled 'Disk' in Task Manager that was at 100%. This seems to be a common problem according to the Interwebby and stopping Windows Update brought my utilisation down to 0%. The Update wasn't doing anything, I was already fully updated, but something about it in the background keeps the disk spinning and thinking that is fully occupied reading and writing data.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

In Task Manager -> Performance, if you click on Disk it will sort by disk utilisation. Sort it descending and post a screenshot.

Thanks, I think that closing the Windows Update thing for a couple of weeks has already fixed the problem. My Disk is typically showing 0% to 5% now. Of course, Windows Update will wake up again after a couple of weeks and I'll wait to see if the problems return.

Originally Posted by Shutree

Thanks, I think that closing the Windows Update thing for a couple of weeks has already fixed the problem. My Disk is typically showing 0% to 5% now. Of course, Windows Update will wake up again after a couple of weeks and I'll wait to see if the problems return.

Windows update is usually monthly and if you don't apply the updates then disk utilisation will probably end up being the last of your problems.

And of course Windows Update will use the disk for the few hours it spends installing.

Originally Posted by Shutree

the disk spinning

in this day and age a SSD is just about essential with the prices so low - put a SSD in the laptop and reinstall windows , then place your old hard drive in an external enclosure so you can copy you stuff over

and you say you have a C and D drive ? what year was windows installed on this laptop and have you just upgraded it over the last 10 years of use ?

^ I guess he is referring to the recovery image on the 'D'

if he has been upgrading windows on the same computer for 10 years it might explain the issue

My previous Acer lasted 5 years and would have lasted another 5 if it was not for it's unfortunate sudden deceleration against the wall opposite to me during a moment of unwise emotional reaction.
but I fell much better now, Thank you very much

Originally Posted by Buckaroo Banzai

My previous Acer lasted 5 years and would have lasted another 5 if it was not for it's unfortunate sudden deceleration against the wall opposite to me during a moment of unwise emotional reaction.
but I fell much better now, Thank you very much

Yes, they tend not to respond well to that kind of "motivation".