# Help, I dropped my laptop.



## kronickm (Apr 3, 2008)

So I dropped my laptop about 2 feet. I turned it on afterwards and it did work although the screen was all messed up with funky green and yellow lines running across it. I restarted hoping that just maybe they would go away. The windows boot screen came up just fine, but after loading for a few minutes, the screen washed out to grey and stayed there. I hooked the laptop up to my tv via S-video cable and there was a blue screen of death claiming ati2dvag stuck in loop, blah blah blah.

It is a dell laptop, and upon logging in to dell to check out my waranty info, I saw that my waranty was up over a year ago, but Dell is offering to sell me an extended waranty including Complete Care which covers things like dropped laptops and spills. The cost of buying into the extended plan is slightly over $200. Basically my question is this. Is it some sort of fraud if I buy this extended coverage and then ask them to fix my broken laptop a day or two later? I imagine that $200 to fix what was a perfectly good 3 year old $1500+ laptop is a good deal. I am just concerned that the availability of this extended coverage is to good to be true.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

reinstall the video driver


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## kronickm (Apr 3, 2008)

dai said:


> reinstall the video driver


I am not sure how to do that since windows loads directly to the blue screen of death, which I can only see if I hook up my computer to my TV through S-video. Doesn't that mean there is something physically wrong with the LCD due to the fall, not just the driver?


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## Raylo (Feb 12, 2006)

If it has a separate (as opposed to integrated) video card it might help to open the computer up and reseat it. It could have been dislodged by the impact.


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## kronickm (Apr 3, 2008)

Raylo said:


> If it has a separate (as opposed to integrated) video card it might help to open the computer up and reseat it. It could have been dislodged by the impact.


pretty sure graphics are integrated.


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## Jolt (Apr 3, 2008)

If you can't get past the Windows boot screen, try a live CD of a linux distrobution. That won't install anything on your system, and will tell you whether you have a problem with software or hardware.


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## kronickm (Apr 3, 2008)

dai said:


> reinstall the video driver


To update, after about 24 hours of rest, I turned the computer back on and it loaded fully to windows, albeit with a messed up screen. I then reinstalled my video driver and rebooted. On reboot the problem repeated itself again with the washout to grey, and through S-video to tv, showed a blue screen of death. Since the laptop is 4 years old, I am going to buy a new one (and be more careful). I would still like to salvage my hard drive to transfer to my new computer. From this new information, is this definitely a hardware problem due to the fall?


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## craigwatanabe (Jan 28, 2008)

You could have locked up your HDD from the fall. I acquired a Dell 2650 with a locked 60gb HDD. The previous owner told me it became locked after dropping it. The left hinge was destroyed (but some Gorilla Glue fixed it). 

If you want to have your laptop repaired you may want to check out these guys I picked up a refurbished 2650 keyboard for $29 and have ordered from them before with decent results. They also offer Dell laptop repair for a modest cost.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

you have probably damged the heads on the hard drive,you can try slaving it in another computer and see what you can salvage


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