Her cousin had ensured her that the problem with her laptop not starting up was due to a fried power supply due to a severe lightning and thunderstorm that knocked out the electricity to the house.

It makes obvious sense. Occam’s razor theory would suggest that the most logical and simple cause is more than likely the one you’re looking for as a solution. The only problem this time though is that it didn’t work. I replaced the power supply as suggested and still no power to the machine.

I’ll be the first to admit that when it comes to hardware on a computer, the power supply is an area I have the least amount of experience. But I followed the instructions as suggested and made sure all wires were reconnected as needed from the original power supply.

No power though.

That leads me to the remaining question then for this person’s desktop and my own. Why won’t it power up? How do you go about troubleshooting an issue like this? Is there some easier way to narrow down where the problem might be coming from?

I’d really like to not have to replace the desktop if it’s something simple, but I’d also like to not waste a bunch of time trying to diagnose and issue that will end up costing more to fix than the $300-400 to replace the entire unit.

Image: knowprose on flickr

Post from: EveryJoe

Diagnosing Power Problems on Desktop PC

I’m not quite sure why it took me so long to figure out the way to really speed-up my start-up and shut-down process was to completely stop doing it. I should start using the “Hibernate” function instead.

Are you using this already? Why not?

Doing consulting work I’m moving from client site to client site and home and back and here and there. I used to do a complete shut-down and power-up with each move. When I stopped doing that I started saving significant amounts of time in the process.

Compare these numbers:

Again, there’s no big secret to this. We’ve had Sleep and Hibernate modes on our computers for quite awhile. Why wasn’t I using it before? Why aren’t you?

I think perhaps the reason I wasn’t was ignorance of what occurred during hibernate. The computer uses minimal to no power consumption during the process. Nothing is running so there’s no heat generated while it’s in my back-pack.

It’s just a great tip to saving a lot of time. I do recommend doing a shut-down and reboot on a regular basis though. I usually do one at least every other day.

Image: sxc.hu

Post from: EveryJoe

Speed Up Start-up/Shut-down… Stop Doing It!

MacBook Pro Family, Image courtesy of Apple Inc.

According to Walt Mossberg who had the chance to test both the 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pro and put it through the paces of his own battery test, both laptops performed well. The 13 inch lasted a slighty below the 5 hour mark while the 15 inch was 21 minutes above the 5 hour marker. This says well considering no power saving feature was turned on and the screen brightness was cranked up. In normal usage, expect battery life to be even slightly higher.

I for one was at first skeptical of the notion that I can’t replace the battery of my laptop. However looking back, ever since I’ve owned a laptop, I’ve never bought a spare battery. Hmmm… I guess I just like the thought that I could replace it if I wanted to. Mossberg cites in his article that only less than 5% of consumers actually buy spare batteries. This figure was from NPD, a research firm. I would believe that this figure is close to the truth.

I guess we just need to let go of our need to control things and trust that technology works. Apple was able to increase battery size and life in its MacBook Pro line of computers without adding weight or heft. I guess its a decent trade-off to the fact that you can’t replace it yourself. Apple also claims that their batteries will last up to 5 years. So by the time it’s time to change batteries it’s also time to change computers.

So we’ll see in the days to come if indeed sealed batteries are the way to go.

Post from: EveryJoe

MacBook Pros Sealed Batteries Perform Well

After checking a variety of websites I ended up at DuracellDirect.com and purchased a replacement battery for my laptop. After receiving my battery, on the paper that was included with the packaging it gave me some tips on prolonging the life of my new battery. Among those tips were to not charge it unnecessarily. It recommended that when computing on direct power by being plugged into the wall, to remove the battery from the laptop.

I began to think that would be a great idea. That was quickly followed by asking why there wasn’t a software switch within my operating system to disconnect my battery from being charged when the computer was plugged-in. After typing that sentence I thought to myself why this couldn’t be automatic when the computer knows it’s plugged-in.

Does anybody know if this is an option at some point on some system in the future? If it really helps batteries, why wouldn’t that be a standard feature these days?

Image Source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/83534

Post from: EveryJoe

Battery Management Functions on Laptops

The laptop had been docked, but the power supply unplugged due to some neighbourly reasons. When I restarted the laptop, it simply shutdown. When I powered it again, it brusquely answered with a series of flickers across three of its LEDs (power supply, battery life and something else that I don’t remember now) in a most NSFW manner. The laptop won’t start. I had read it as a signal to get a new laptop.

Upon undocking the laptop, going home, and powering it on again, it worked! Was my laptop for once being helpful? Enabling me to idle away my time in the office?

I was naturally suspicious. Upon further investigation, the following has been established: A docked laptop uses the power provided through the docking station while booting and won’t use the battery power. An undocked laptop, and a docked non-booting laptop can use the battery power.

Do you have more light to shed about this issue? Do you think it is a sweeping generalization?

Post from: EveryJoe

Power Policy With Laptop Docking Stations

The reason is not far-fetched. Push buttons have a very limited life as compared to that of a mouse. The mouse is built to be abused by humans. Moreover, push buttons are usually a part of something complex, and getting them repaired is more cumbersome and could end up costing more than a new mouse.

1. Computer: These days, the power button can be used to shut down the system. But the “Start -> Shutdown -> Turn Off” or its equivalent is not convoluted either. Same with the restart button provided. Frankly, I’m especially suspcious about the restart push button, as suspsicious about any spineless creature.

2. Monitor: With more people feeling the need to go green, turning off the monitor is being seen as a better alternative to running a screensaver. If you’re the kind who turns off the monitor when you leave your desk for a considerable period of time, you can opt to open the “Power Options”, “Power Schemes” tab and set the “Turn off monitor” option to “After 1 min”.NOTE: You may find it a good idea to keep the “Power Options” in your taskbar. For this, open it using “Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> Power Options” in Category View or “Control Panel -> Power Options” in Classic View. Click on the “Advanced” tab and check the option to “Always show icon on the taskbar”.

3. CD/DVD Drive: An alternative to pressing the eject button is to right-click on the drive (in My Computer or Windows Explorer) and left-click on “Eject”. While laptops don’t have the options, desktops usually also have the option to “Close Tray” in a similar way, when the tray has been ejected.

In any instance, when there is an alternative between a push button and a mouse click (or a sequence of clicks), the latter alternative wins. Any? What if the push button is a key (or a sequence of keys) of the keyboard? Key is after all a push button, right?That is when you choose a side between CLI fanatics and GUI lovers. What did you choose?

Image Courtesy: Microsoft.

Post from: EveryJoe

Avoid Using Push Buttons