Computer repair – where to go?

[carterbiosea]

Having a small issue with a Sony Vaio laptop, and want to patronize a local business, but not sure which is best.

There’s:

West Seattle Computers (used to be Quid Nunc)

PC Mobile Help (by True Value)

Ace1 COmputers (by Espresso Diva).

Any others?

Any opinions?

Much appreciated!

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[JanS]

try Ken Davis..local, in HighPoint…and has helped quite a few people on here…he’s great..

ken@ken-davis.net

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[luckymom30]

What issues are you having, my husband has a VAIO laptop, we finally got it working better than it had before.

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[Ken]

What kind of problem are you having?

Sony makes some nice stuff, I have several, but fixing the hardware is often hopeless after the warranty period has run out. Parts are not available in many cases and info is hard to come by for some models.

Software problems are no more difficult than on any other computer and if you post a summary here I can tell you if it is something you can fix your self or really need a diagnostic or a malware scan.

My email is linked to my name above but I will repeat it here:

ken@ken-davis.net

My google voice phone (206 801-0349) 8010fix rings every phone in the house so call me and I can give you the direct cell number.

I mainly do free repairs for anyone on SS/SSI/SSD, unemployment or public assistance. Anyone else can donate but only the amount they feel comfortable with.

Commercial shops usually have to charge what they do based on the sheer hours involved in many software fixes and the fixed cost of their location and payroll. I work out of my cluttered garage amid the bones of recycled computers I use for parts for PC desktops, laptops and macs of all ages :)

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[jego_misia]

if it turns out to be a hardware issue, West Seattle Computers can find you the parts, might be a tad expensive, but components on laptops are never cheap… they have an awesome component technician that can fix almost anything ;-)

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[carterbiosea]

Oh, we’re getting a “battery disconnected/incompatible” error message, completely out of nowhere. The battery is fully charged, no previous problems. The system itself seems to be running just fine. Ken, I will shoot you an email.

Thanks, all!

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[Ken]

Does the error message contain the phrase:

Click ok to hibernate and reinstall the battery

?

And the OS is vista or win7?

If so, related urls are:

http://sarabannerman.blogspot.com/2007/04/sony-laptop-battery-mal-ware.html

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7hardware/thread/93fd88e7-3c80-46c8-9822-9e03e93a1a50

Existing sony batteries may produce this message if the battery firmware, ac adapter or motherboard are bad. More commonly, third party replacement batteries (non sony) are detected by a sony marketing utility designed to detect non sony batteries. Sony batteries are 3 to 5 times the price of 3rd party batteries and are available (sometimes) at https://servicesales.sel.sony.com/ecom/accessories/web/index.jsp

Most of them are out of stock but can be ordered from the professional site (the site for those depot repair sites that pay thousands of dollars to Sony for their secret shop manuals)if you have a paid up account. (pretty rare as far as I can tell)

https://www.servicesplus.sel.sony.com/default.aspx

Sony batteries for laptops within the first two years are often the same price as a new notebook of another brand 300 to 400 dollars.

Third party Chinese batteries are available on Amazon, often using the picture and part numbers of the original Sony battery. These usually include a firmware hack file that needs to be run as a bios update. I have returned all those I have recieved in the past since the documentation changlish has some alarming and demented warnings in it.

Here is an excerpt:

3 , If you install the CD driver as instructed ,the laptop wonot boot itself after closing automaticlly ,it may not be compatiable your laptop .This ratio is very small .We feel pity that our battery can not be 100% compatiable with all modes at present because of so many laptop models.Please repair your laptop in the professional refreshing motherboard BIOS company to make your laptop work again. If you can not find the suitable repairing company,please concact your supplier ,we will try our best to restore it.Usually,it can be finished within one day as long as your hard driver is same state .

4, The CD driver program wonot destroy any laptop hardware device, but there will be the danger that may not succeed in installing ,please choose carefully before installing!!

5,If your computer damaged due to this driver,we will not undertake any responsibility!

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[jego_misia]

carter, start with replacing the battery, & if that doesn’t work then the connector on the motherboard needs to be fixed or replaced (which involves soldering). Good luck.

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[Ken]

jego_misia:

Just curious, did you read any of the links I posted?

Until someone sees the laptop in question, neither one of us should be making suggestions that cost the user money and may not even narrow down the issue.

Here is a video that shows the message saying the battery is incompatible.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTjSDM0AjxU

Note the battery is an actual sony OEM battery yet the ISBMgr.exe program triggers the annoying message anyway.

While any laptop can have a damaged power connector, I have never seen one trigger the sony marketing battery manager message.

My oldest sony laptop that still runs came with NT4 on it. It runs linux now but is so ancient it just sits on the shelf unless I need to loan it out for a training session.

The first laptop I repaired was a toshiba t-1000

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/75226

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[Cate]

I’d love to put in a plug for PC Mobile (next to True Value). They were SUPER helpful to me with issues on my Sony Vaio desktop, going above and beyond the call to help me immediately. They also gave me an extra diagnostic disk.

Their name – PC Mobile – does not cover all they do. They have a nice office and you can just drop off your laptop and computer to get good (not home visit) rates.

I think they are GREAT!!!!

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[Michael Waldo]

I have had very good experience with Computer Maintenance Service, a local guy who does house calls.

Here is his craigs list posting:

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/cps/2305753542.html

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[elizabeth0001]

If your computer isn’t functioning properly, hiring a professional technician will cost you an average price of $79.50/hr to have it fixed. However, this rate can still go for as low as $55/hr if you only have a minor computer issue or as high as $99/hr for a more complex problem that needs a major repair

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