Laptop dropped and won't turn on

[kevwal43]

I need some advice on what to do with my laptop. I was browsing the Deli forum in 1 window and RM in another window late at night in bed when I fell asleep. When I woke up in the morning, my laptop was on the floor, so I picked it up and noticed it was a frozen blank white screen. I manually powered it off, attempted to turn it back on and it never turned back on. I researched to death how to get it to power on again, and nothing worked. It's obviously dead.

 

So what would you do with this laptop? If anyone attempts to fix it, will they see this site as soon as it turns on? Would you throw it away? Is that dangerous too? It has all my personal information on there plus this site and the RM site which were in my browser when it fell. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

[+ oldNbusted]

If it had full disk encryption, like macOS FileVault or Windows BitLocker, there isn't much to worry about.

 

If no FDE was running, you could attempt to remove the drive and destroy it some way. If it has a mechanical hard drive, that can be trashed with a strong magnet held very close. If it uses solid state storage, physically breaking the chips will render them unrecoverable.

[bigvalboy]

will they see this site as soon as it turns on? Would you throw it away? Is that dangerous too? It has all my personal information on there plus this site and the RM site which were in my browser when it fell. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

 

I don't know what's wrong with your laptop, but speaking for myself, over the years I have always had "The Geek Squad" from Best Buys repair my computers. Of course there is a lot of porn on there, including numerous screen savers, and porn websites. I would imagine that they've seen everything. I have always talked to the person who would be working on my computer privately first, just to give him a heads up as to what he might run into. I've never had any of the guys so much as bat an eye.

Edited October 20, 2018 by bigvalboy

[JayCeeKy]

I used the Geek Squad about five years ago when my motherboard went dead. They fixed it with no questions asked - they are Geeks, after all. It took a couple of days and they called and said "Your laptop is ready." I think as long as you don't have kiddie porn popping up, they couldn't care less what you were watching. They were pretty reasonable, cost-wise.

[kevwal43]

Thanks for the replies.

 

This is the laptop.

 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-15-6-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i3-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive-hp-finish-in-jet-black/6181603.p?skuId=6181603

 

I'm considering using geek squad now. How much do you think they'll charge?

[+ Funguy]

Have you plugged it in to recharge it?

I know ... stupid question. LOL.

[rvwnsd]

Have you plugged it in to recharge it?

I know ... stupid question. LOL.

It really isn't a stupid question.

 

A few years ago I was convinced my laptop was dead. I even plugged it in. Then I noticed the cable that goes from the outlet to the transformer had come out. Plugged that back in and sure enough the computer worked.

[KeepItReal]

Thanks for the replies.

 

This is the laptop.

 

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-15-6-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i3-8gb-memory-1tb-hard-drive-hp-finish-in-jet-black/6181603.p?skuId=6181603

 

I'm considering using geek squad now. How much do you think they'll charge?

A year ago they charged me $99 to diagnose and attempt to repair my old Asus laptop. They charged me another $99 to setup the new laptop and transfer files from old to new. Call them and ask - they have standard rates for service, on top of the bundle pay-per-month deal they sell when you buy a new tech device.