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Hard Drive install for HP laptop. #hp #laptop #RapidTech

A post shared by RapidTech (@rapidtech) on May 16, 2019 at 4:11pm PDT

This Week in RapidTech Gaming/Streaming 5/13-5/19

Recently, I've been all about playing Free games. Either thru memberships or just totally free games. I have PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold. This month is not so great. You can see my posts on VinnySoFresh.com.

So, this week I'm playing What Remains of Edith Finch which is free for PlayStation members this month. Since, we're on PS4, I might continue The Surge. But, I feel like I'm stuck. I need to do research. I'll just continue farming to level up.

Of course, I'll be making time for Fortnite. Want to squad up? Shoot me a message.

Let me know if you have any game suggestions.

Check out the Facebook Stream Tuesday and Thursday and Follow at https://fb.gg/RapidTech

Recent Project: ASUS X551M Rebuild

This laptop was given to me by a customer. It didn't turn on or charge. No sign of life. But, it was complete. No missing parts. No physical damage. It had the original charger. So, I opened it up. I see that it had been opened up before. So, there was an attempt to fix it. I tested the hard drive. It worked perfectly fine. Again, there was nothing missing.

My diagnosis is that the motherboard went bad. This is an older laptop, so finding new parts were near impossible. So, I went to eBay to see what I could find. Found a used motherboard from a reputable seller. 

The part came in and I started the rebuild.

Used the RAM from the original motherboard. Applied new thermal paste to the CPU. Installed a new CMOS battery. I put everything back together and the computer turned on. Booted into Windows. I ran hardware diagnostics and everything passed. Now, the only thing left was to replace the bad battery now that I knew everything worked fine. I buy only original parts, batteries and chargers. I stay from third party parts. Well, the battery came in and I installed it. The laptop keeps a charge and works like nothing ever happened.

The laptop has been sold since. This was a fun project. On to the next build and rebuild. 

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Bid for RapidTech Services on the KEDT Auction

Update: Ask for the Treasure Chest. That's where RapidTech is listed. Starting bid only at $23. Call 361-855-2000 for more info and to place your bid.

I'm happy to announce that RapidTech has donated a number of Computer Service certificates to this year's KEDT auction. They will go live today (5/10/19) and tomorrow (5/11/2019). Do you want to save on my already low prices and help a great cause? Go to https://www.kedt.org

I love public television. Of course, like a lot of people, I've been watching it since I was a kid. Mister Roger's Neighborhood. Sesame Street. I watch the science shows and dramas. Great entertainment and information. This is why I donate my services. I'm proud to support.

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Do you have an auction that needs donations? I love to support and donate my services to good causes. Call or message me. I'll be happy to arrange something.

PlayStation State of Play May Live Stream

This update includes updates about games. It does not include any news on any hardware including the PS5. 

Weekend Project: Update Cable Enclosure and Connections

I don't cable professionally. However, this is something I've been needing to do for a while. The original enclosure was beaten up by the sun and weather. It had a big hole. The old splitters were getting old and corroded. So, I ordered a new cable enclosure, TV splitter, and a ground block.

This setup is for an Over-The-Air TV antenna and cable internet.

The cable internet goes directly through the grounding block to a surge protector to the modem in the house. The TV antenna goes through the ground block to the splitter which sends the signal to the different TVs. 

I felt this was going to take long. But, this part of the project went pretty smooth and everything was back up and running in short time. Next time I need to organize and staple down the cables going into the enclosure. 

The following affiliate links can help me earn a commission for purchases made with them.

              

Lenovo All-In-One Repair

This is a recent repair. Customer called me with a situation where his motherboard went bad and he went ahead and replaced it. Now, the computer didn't want to boot into Windows. I agreed to take a look at it and see what I can do. I'll admit, I don't like coming into someone else's work. Either it be another tech or a customer trying to do it themselves. 

But, I was surprised to see how everything looked when the computer was opened. The customer did a great job installing the motherboard. Everything was connected correctly. The only thing missing was thermal paste on the CPU. The customer admitted cleaning off some dry stuff from the CPU and heat sink. Yea, I'm pretty sure it was old. But, I told him I was glad he brought it in. Even if the computer booted into Windows, it wouldn't have lasted long. He would have dealt with random shutdowns from overheating. And, even worse, damage to his CPU and motherboard. So, it was a blessing that his computer didn't want to boot.

To start the repair, the first thing I did was apply thermal paste. The computer still didn't want to boot. So, I started to troubleshoot. I reseated everything. RAM, Hard drive, and Optical drive. I'm not sure which one did the trick, but as soon as everything was connected, it booted into Windows. I rebooted it a few times. Then, I ran hardware diagnostics and stress tests. All hardware passed. The customer was happy to have his computer back up and running.

When I followed up, he even sent me a photo of his computer at home. The PC is working great.