Recycling Laptop

Tae_Lia_2

Not 100% sure where to put this thread, I guess this is as good a place as any.

I have a Asus AT7000 3.4ghz AMD dual core, 1 gb ram, 100gb HDD, 512mb 7600 Nvidea Gefore go gpu. The sad news is it pretty much fried itself being such high performance with pathetic ventilation. It is possibly a transistor on the gpu itself as there were no abnormalities or noises, one minute the screen was on, the next black. I had it tested and one thing that was confirmed was the gpu is dead. The laptop as a whole still works, no abnormal noises etc.

Was wondering what I could do with it as it seems a terrible waste of a decent laptop, but have been advised against getting the gpu replaced (which is what went wrong) as not only are they difficult to get hold of, but its also expensive and it may or may not be the only thing that got fried.
I am going to get a special cable and put the laptops HDD in my new pc, but what about other things. I know that sadly the card reader (which would be handy for me) cannot be taken out and added to my PC, the lovely silent keyboard cannot be made for use with my PC.

I read somewhere that you can make laptop screens into digital photo frames, but this only seems to be for IBM powerbooks.

Anyways, the point I am trying to make is...Is there anything on my laptop that can be reused elsewhere? I would like to make this a lil future project and recycle the parts in some way but don't really know where to start or look and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions. I really don't want to sell it on ebay for a tenner as spares as the whole thing cost me £1,100 and is less than a year old.

Red_Rose_Exile

If it is less than a year old, surely you have warranty on it?

If anything under the SOGA, I would consider spending over a grand on what is little more than a paperweight is not of merchantable quality to me.

aa6972

If you are serious about turning it into photo frame, here is the link http://www.instructables.com/forum/TB0IKD1F5Y3YPIN/ - there are other links too...
How about donating it to charity since they might people who can fix it?

bookduck

Tae_Lia wrote: »

...I had it tested and one thing that was confirmed was the gpu is dead. The laptop as a whole still works, no abnormal noises etc.

Warranty!!! Also under European law isn't there a 2 year warrany on all products?

"The Directive on Sale of Consumer Goods and Guarantees: If a product you buy does not conform to the agreement you made with the seller at the time of purchase, you can take it back and have it repaired or replaced. Alternatively, you can ask for a price reduction, or a complete refund of your money. This applies for up to two years after you take delivery of the product.", if not is it an unfair contract that you have signed, making it illegal? http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/07/48&format=HTML&aged=1&language=EN&guiLanguage=fr

Who tested it and how? CPU or motherboard? "still works"? as makes a noise, hdd led comes on and flickers? Caps lock, scroll lock working? I'd plug it into a normal monitor just to see if there is anything on the screen?

Unless you are the cpu manufacturer there are 2 ways to test a cpu (1) plug a new one in, or (2) plug your cpu into a new computer. These test are not foolproof and they do not test every function or permutation of your processor. Most businesses will not be able to replace the processor nor may want to test this.

Something is strange about your problem, was under the impression that cpu these days have inbuilt thermal shutdown?

I'd contact amd and ask them about a warranty on their cpu.

There are companies out there that sell laptop spares and Ebay too.

Tae_Lia_2

years warranty ran out literally days before it died, you saying I possibly have 2 years?

KeithP

Tae Lia, take it back where you bought it from. Tell them you expect a laptop costing over £1000 to last well over one year, it has failed, please repair it. Do not take any excuse like the warranty has run out. The warranty/guarantee is probably provided by the manufacturer... it is the seller that has a responsibility to sell things of durable quality and I would imagine two to three years life (if not more) could reasonably be expected from a £1000 machine.

Talk to Trading Standards if you get nowhere with the seller.

Tae_Lia_2

Will do, Mesh supplied the laptop, but was built by Asus, I have a feeling that trying to return to Mesh they will say like they said before, its Asus' problem. And I felt that because the warranty ran out I had no real chance.

KeithP

Also look here ===>>>
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/consumer-rights-refunds-exchan

bookduck

Take it back! this is a top of the range laptop. If you get the 'No, sorry!' bit ask them which name of the director as you are going to small claims court. This is much cheaper than buying a new laptop, and if they exchange it, think you get another years warranty - just use a invisible marker mark the bottom of the dvd drive and under the memory too try to mark the board if possible ant take photos (they may swap the bottom unit and keep the s/n to avoid the new warranty period - done this before)

When you purchased the goods you entered into a contract with the Retailer not the Manufacturer. This contract is governed by the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended) which says that you are entitled to expect the goods to be of 'satisfactory quality'. This means they should not be faulty or unsafe, and be reasonably durable etc. The Act gives you rights for up to 6 years. If I sell you my bottom of the range laptop for £200, it can be argued that it is one of the cheapest on the market and that at this price you would not expect it to be a quality product. Hopefully this is where you hopefully have kept their advertising saying what a fantastic laptop you are buying. If not, the price alone indicates have bought a top-ish of the range product, so expect it to last ?!

Eu law say the seller is liable - not the manufacturer.

http://www.myreader.co.uk/message/1958625.aspx - interesting read
http://www.legalspring.com/articles/uk-legal/20031108/800307_Sale-of-Goods-Act.html
http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=475729
http://www.lbbd.gov.uk/6-living/hcs/consumer/hcs-consumer-advice-questions.html

If mesh were the company that told you that there were air flow/overheating problems, I would get them to say this many times, record it, bring a friend or two to be a witness, before stating the above

Tae_Lia_2

They never warned us of overheating problems. However, I will have a go at this.