So, this week. Two broken laptops decided to boot again. They didn't give signal at all anymore. I did try to do disconnect a few hours of power before I decided they're dead. Now months later, bam, both boot. I'm happy as F, but now the chromecast died. Ofcourse I'll try several days without power now.

Thanks for listening

Eyyyyyyy, that sounds nice.
I've had similar things before. No idea how, but sometimes if I just leave a broked device for a long time, it just... starts working again?? idk.

@SoldierOfCode yh, I'm known with the trick of disconnect for a while, but for so long? We'll see. If it starts to work again I'll post. I kept the laptops because of sentiment value. I tried again because my last one did actually work again after hours of disconnect several times and they're all same model

ohh, bro

@tobiaszbartosz Bot?

@SoldierOfCode no haha

I mean hardware isn't going to fix itself and software isn't going to either. The only thing I can think is issues with the power supply. Maybe the batteries needed to settle their chemicals and before they prevented boot?

Did you just boot them up or wipe them and start over?

My guess is something is wonky with the batteries.

ghosts

Replaced a faulty keyboard and got a new battery for a Dell XPS (4 years old). The keyboard replacement required a lot of components to be taken out, and after reassemly everything was fine. For a while, 10-20-30 minutes then dead. No reaction, no lights - bricked. Then I leave it for an hour or two and it comes back to life, might run for hours and then dead again. Put the old battery back in, no difference. Running on battery power or on the charger - no difference. Replaced the RAM, no difference. Can't find any error logs in BIOS or Windows. Someone suggested a screwed up capacitator or whatever, I don't know. Wasn't worth the repair costs and 4 years is a good stretch for a dev laptop. Sucks though, could have been used for other cool projects.

@jestdotty please tell me you understood the reference... I will be a bit sad if you didn't. One of the best animes ever made.

@devdiddydog that really blows. Wild problems too.

So here is one laptop we DID fix. We have 3 identical Dells. They are about 3 years old at the time. The Dell my colleague has battery starts swelling and bulging out his keyboard. It was still under warranty on site. So dude comes out and changes battery. Good to go? Yes, but then later the battery starts bulging again. The other laptops are NOT doing this and never have. So I start asking him questions. I find out he is running the laptop with a bigger screen. He has disabled any actions on closing the lid. So he closes the lid. Then he blissfully starts doing things like compiling big code bases. So I said to him: "Some laptops require the lid to be open to cool properly." He has this "oh shit" look. So after replacing the bulging battery a second time he has never had that issue again. It has been another 2 years since then. So lesson is don't run stressful programs with lid closed.

@Demolishun I did nawwwwwt

ohhai mark

I can do that tho

I think my ADHD came back today

@Demolishun ohno I was paranoid my laptop's battery looked swollen

guess I'm not paranoid

irony being, I took it apart to fix the SSD and to do so the guide said lift the tab that connects the battery before you do it. well evidently when I was putting everything back together I didn't press the battery tab in right all the way or something. the laptop eventually stopped detecting the battery (worked for like 1-2 months though)
and once it stopped detecting the battery the laptop, I guess, began functioning in low energy mode? so the GPU refused to go fast, things lagged, and also the fans wouldn't run as easily as they used to, which led to the laptop running hotter

once I figured out the issue and plugged the battery back in now the GPU runs better and the fans cool better

so effectively, by having the battery unplugged my computer ran hotter and maybe heated up the battery to be fat lol

gg

@jestdotty if you have a way to stream it watch "Ghost in the Shell". The anime is really good.

@Demolishun oh... I've already watched ghost in the shell 🤔

and I did really like it and it's up there for me

guess the amnesia ate it

@devdiddydog an xps should live for 4 years, it's not a cheap device. But I get it - my devlaptops had a rough life too, took it to bars and stuff. I learned lisp in a bar.

Sidenote: recently played with lisp again, what a stupid language. Waste of time

@Demolishun nice story about the lid closed.

My laptops all died when very hot. I don't have the guts to compile glibc anymore

@retoor did you get a lisp when you drank too much too?

@Demolishun I got tipsy and lips at once. Goes well together. Stupid language

@retoor My XPS had the issue many others have reported as well: the keyboard stops registering random key strokes. Makes wrtng rlly werd fr oths t read. Should have gotten it replaced by a technician, but I thought what the hell - how hard can it be. And it wasn't hard, but I must have short circuited something in the process. 😖

Replaced it with a Lenovo X1 Extreme, and very happy with that.

@devdiddydog I had bulging battery in most expensive XPS.

Support of XPS is amazing tho, I couldn't find replacement adapter (had one off brand, got on fire) and I tell to lonovo that I lost mine and then got scammed a faulty one, they sent one for free!

That was my work laptop. Privately I use a decade old x270. My employers should've know hihi

@retoor I used to prefer Dells, always happy with them and they had the best keyboards (personal preference obviously). Once they sent a technician out to a town in the middle of nowhere where I happened to be at the time to replace a faulty screen within 24 hours.

I didn't have a valid warranty on that XPS (4 years old), hence the DIY replacement. Other than that, great laptop. Excellent screen.