IT help needed please- Urgent.

T

Trug

Well-known member
I spilt tea over my old laptop a few weeks ago. I really need to get some information from it. When I turn the lap top on this page is as far as I can get. I can move the mouse acrossthe top and select all the options and the relevant page will open, But I can get no further. Can anybody help please, Thank you
1591036418614.png
 
That's booting into the BIOS. If you spilt liquid, it might mean the liquid is making it think a key is being pressed which is why you are going in there. If you go across to the 'Boot' menu, can you screenshot the boot order, we'll be able to see if it still sees the system drive.
 
Use the tab and arrows keys to move about the display, if you can. Then use space and enter to apply.

But this program won’t really help you much, unless you changed some of these settings previously.
 
Thanks guys I went to the Boot menu but it just says Boot Configuration. I cannot use the arrows on that page.. On the other pages I can use the arrows to click on to an option and then apply but nothing happens.
I think from what you are both saying is that the hard drive is goosed. If t hat is the case then is there anyway that I could recover information from it? The bairn has saved all her Duke of Edinburgh award stuff on the desk top of this laptop.
 
Last edited:
If you buy a new laptop, take the disk out of this one and buy a hard drive caddy. Put the disk in the caddy and its basically a portable USB disk on the new machine.
 
Thanks Baron. I really am thick on these things. I have bought a new laptop but what do you mean by "hard drive caddy"?
 
Thanks Artie.Nothing like that on my new laptop. plenty of USB and HDMI ports but no trays for DVD etc. Not like in the old days!!
And thanks for all your help fellas. I really appreciate it.
 
No trug, you buy the caddy such as in my link, then take the hard drive out of the broken laptop and put it in the caddy, then you plug the caddy containing the hard drive via usb into the new laptop in order to download the content from old machine onto the new
 
I have a couple of ideas to get the data from the laptop.

Firstly you can use a boot disk/usb to boot from. You would probably have to change the boot order. Once booted you can then copy stuff to a DVD.

I would suggest getting someone to create a bootable ubuntu USB stick.

Alternatively, try a hair dryer on the keyboard, or, switch the laptop on and wrap it in a towel (sounds mad, but I fixed someones graphics card like that once. It basically makes the laptop run hot and dries it out - I used it to melt the solder on the graphics card (I know sounds idiocy, but it works)
 
Top tip for spills, take the battery out and put both of them in a shoebox full of rice. Leave it a couple of days, dries out pretty good :)
 
I would suspect the hard drive will be ok normally its motherboards and keyboards that suffer from water damage
 
Laughing said:
I have a couple of ideas to get the data from the laptop.

Firstly you can use a boot disk/usb to boot from. You would probably have to change the boot order. Once booted you can then copy stuff to a DVD.

I would suggest getting someone to create a bootable ubuntu USB stick.

Alternatively, try a hair dryer on the keyboard, or, switch the laptop on and wrap it in a towel (sounds mad, but I fixed someones graphics card like that once. It basically makes the laptop run hot and dries it out - I used it to melt the solder on the graphics card (I know sounds idiocy, but it works)
Click to expand...
I once fixed the red ring of doom on my Xbox 360 with the wrapping on a towel method.
It works.
 
While you knowledgeable folks are here... I have just got a new laptop. My old PC had a couple of 3.5inch drives in. I do already have an old caddy that I could put them in but speeds are really slow. Are there any more modern solutions, like that one linked for those bigger drives with USB-C? Something I could put on a network would be ideal but if they are too old, or that's too expensive I'm open to other suggestions. I want a drive to store photos on and that is a 3TB and a 1TB drive that will be doing nothing if I don't use them.

I have a 2019 Nvidia Shield pro which I could use to access the drives I believe? My laptop will obviously only on when in use so not accessible by phones or other laptops etc.
 
boromike85 said:
While you knowledgeable folks are here... I have just got a new laptop. My old PC had a couple of 3.5inch drives in. I do already have an old caddy that I could put them in but speeds are really slow. Are there any more modern solutions, like that one linked for those bigger drives with USB-C? Something I could put on a network would be ideal but if they are too old, or that's too expensive I'm open to other suggestions. I want a drive to store photos on and that is a 3TB and a 1TB drive that will be doing nothing if I don't use them.

I have a 2019 Nvidia Shield pro which I could use to access the drives I believe? My laptop will obviously only on when in use so not accessible by phones or other laptops etc.
Click to expand...

personally, I would rather have everything on a cloud these days, and not have mechanical hard drives just waiting to go wrong, which they will sooner or later. I've had the lot - NAS drives, caddies, network servers.... but by far the best is a speedy internet connection and cloud syncing. just remember the golden rule with any data - it should be in at least 2 places at any time ie on your new laptop, and the cloud. lots of people just put photos etc on one device - not a good idea.
 
Last edited:
Have you tried / can you try plugging a *USB* Mouse & Keyboard into it and see if you get any joy with usability that way - even if just to see what options it gives you?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top