HP_Mini hits concrete . . . ICU or Research Cadaver . . .

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

. . . :?: That's a big question mark . . . it's time almost to find out. After almost five years of faithful service, I finally dropped my precious onto the floor at work. The 9 cell battery/kickstand pack went one way, its retaining tabs broken off, and the NetBook went the other way. I never tried to fire it up because I was looking for the original battery pack . . .

. . . and I didn't really wanna know.

I found the original battery pack this morning, determined that HP_Mini's comatose body was intact and tried to fire her up, not good.

I think this is the longest I've ever had anything electronic and not cracked the hood, but she's going on the bench for a final, life saving, operation or she's going to be an organ donor for test fitting an operable twin into a Duo lid . . . maybe so even if the paddles jump start her heart! [}] ]'>

Only time will tell, for now I'm already in mourning. :'(

edit: anybody got a link to an inexpensive USB trackball?

 

[Gorgonops]

Did the screen crack? Screen damage (and possibly a ruined hard disk) aside, honestly I'd be mildly surprised if a bounce off concrete would definitively kill a modern notebook completely unless the case *really* flexed. I've seen laptops that fell off a moving car onto a freeway that would still boot to the BIOS.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Screen's OK, I need to take it apart and put it back together. It's the 16GB SSD model.

Could be something as simple as retaining clips for the SDRAM card coming loose. Duuno?

 

[volvo242gt]

Did the screen crack? Screen damage (and possibly a ruined hard disk) aside, honestly I'd be mildly surprised if a bounce off concrete would definitively kill a modern notebook completely unless the case *really* flexed. I've seen laptops that fell off a moving car onto a freeway that would still boot to the BIOS.

Case in point, I had my old Inspiron 8600 slide out of my car when I opened up one of the doors. Landed on the parking lot. Picked it up, hit the power button, and it booted as if nothing happened. Continued to work fine for two more years until I sold it. Last I heard, it's working fine for the current owner as well.

-J

 

[Gorgonops]

The worst victim I saw had a spiderwebbed LCD and the hard disk was kaput, but when you consider it came off the roof of a car at freeway speed and very possibly may have been run over it was amazing that the motherboard was essentially undamaged.

Anyway, yeah, I'd suggest you take it apart and reseat everything, Trash. Something may well have just popped loose. Unless you find that the motherboard cracked or the impact knocked a component off it there really shouldn't be much to go wrong in something like a NetBook.

 

[uniserver]

i had an iMac233 fall face first to the concrete from about 4 feet high. all the inter plastics were shattered.. but the crt was still good.

and it still booted up… go figure.

 

[CC_333]

You're HP Mini is probably fine.

Since we're sharing stories, a few years back, someone gave me a laptop that someone smashed on the side of a table, allegedly in a drunken rage.

Needless to say, it was a total loss. The only salvageable components were the hard drive (which surprisingly escaped harm and is working perfectly to this day), the optical drive (which was initially nonfunctional, though a little bending of the metal cover fixed it (it was jamming the eject mechanism)) and the RAM. The screen was a disaster, being so totally smashed up that it might as well be dust. The case and battery are mostly intact.

It was too bad, because judging from the specs, it could've been a semi-decent machine (except I hate Dell, so whatever... )

Anyway, I hope you'll get your machine going again!

It's probably as simple as a dislocated connector somewhere. Unless you dropped it from like the top of a double story house, it's probably OK.

The apparently unscathed LCD is a very good sign as well

c

Uniserver: I never dropped an iMac (and I hope I never do). Good thing none of the electronics were damaged.

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

It's going on the bench tonight just to check the accessible cards.

If that doesn't work, I tracked down, printed and bound the service manual that first summer, so no problem! Wednesday is my crash day after the long stretch at work, so I've got all day to play with the toys. [] ]'>

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

Wasn't the RAM card's clips. Gotta tear her down on Wednesday and re-seat her guts back into some semblance of the way they're supposed to be. :/

 

[Gorgonops]

I'm sure you've found this already, but it looks like iFixit has teardown/repair guides for the various models of HP Mini.

I'd expect if it had been, say, a loose RAM chip the system would have produced some error beeps. Does it show any sign of life at all (LEDs flashing, beeps, etc) or is it solidly bricked?

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

iFixit Lock Pick Set 10 piece lock pick set to open long-locked containers.

It's CinderBlocked. :-/

I've got the official HP Support Manual which looks to be about 10x as detailed as a ServiceSource from Apple, but I'll have a look at that extra info, thanks, g!

 

[max1zzz]

Maybe you cause some damage to the soldering of one of the bga chips? Had a xserve g5 come to me recentley with a dead logicboard, but no outward signs of damage. the damage happened in shipping and the only thing i could think that could be at fault is that one of the bga chips had a weak connection and the shock of shipping managed to disconnect it. One day i will sit down and track down which chip is causing the problem with that board (the seller paid the cost of a replacement logicboard, so it's all good)

And since we seem to be sharing stories, last year i had a ipod classic come to me from one of my sisters friends, it's fair to say it had a very impressive amount of damage. It was in three pieces and every single metal piece of the ipod was bent (even the hdd had been bent into a U). I had to replace the back case, frame, hdd, battery and the headphone socket / lockswitch assembly. It also had had the battery connector knocked off the logicboard. After reassembly and having the ipod software restored to the new hdd it worked perfectly

I also had a fairly new laptop from him in similar condition, that didn't fare so well, the logicboard was bent and thus ruined

 

[markyb86]

One of these little trackballs run ~$12.00 free shipping.

[attachment=0]$T2eC16NHJG!FFmp1hv(oBRzQnpfC9Q~~60_12.JPG[/attachment]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/USB-One-Hand-Finger-Trackball-Mouse-PC-Laptop-Netbook-/180497701509?pt=Mice&hash=item2a06805a85

 

[Trash80toHP_Mini]

That's almost perfect, I need a board from a USB TrackBall to retrofit to the Duo case, when and if, thanks!

I wasn't in the mood for MicroSurgery. I spent a lazy "crash day" off by piddling around, taking power naps and doing something just a bit less than useless, but something I've been working out for a very long time.

I've got a 2 PCI Slot, G3 powered 6XXX Road Apple just about finished. Gotta dig out the plastics so I know what the hell it's supposed to be,[i/] finish up the backside to keep the cooling paths intact, swap in a 6500 board and the real PCI Cards for the sacrificial 6400/junkers and power it up.

 

Feels good! :approve: