My computer is too slow, and I'm losing patience.

There are several different types of upgrades that can keep your computer up to speed with the demands of newer, more visual, and complex software of the future.

The most surefire, cheap, and quick upgrade is memory. RAM installation is free if you purchase memory in our shop, so bring your computer with you if you are planning on buying memory.

We can also upgrade your HDD. We can install a larger drive, and then make the larger one a mirror image of your current drive. This keeps your data intact while allowing you to continue storing the things you need. This typically takes 2 hours, and we do charge for service and parts with this upgrade.

Call us or bring your computer by to find out what upgrades are right for you.

My laptop isn't getting power. Why is that?

Symptoms:

- When pressing the power button none of the LED lights blink or turn on
- When pressing the power button the LED lights turn on for a second and then turn off.

Laptop/Notebook power jacks are notoriously easy to break. If when you plug in your laptop to its power adapter, and the power link light blinks when you wiggle the plug, or even if you can wiggle it at all, it is possible that the power jack has been ripped off of the laptop's mainboard. This is a costly repair. The laptop will either need a new mainboard, or the power jack will need to be soldered back on. Soldering the jack back on is risky, but is the only choice on older notebooks without available replacement parts.

The first step to determining why your laptop doesn't get power is to take the battery out and try turning it on with only the power adapter plugged into it. This will rule out a bad battery or a power glich. Sometimes a glich will occur where the laptop won't get power with the battery plugged in. Usually after plugging the battery back in the glich is resolved.

After you've ruled out a power glich or battery defect, and your laptop still isn't getting power, you'll know that you either have a mainboard issue or the power adapter itself is defective.

Mainboard replacement/repair is costly, it usually costs from $400 - $600. If you have determined that you have a mainboard problem it is usually more cost effective in the long-run to buy a new laptop. Make sure you bring the laptop in to our shop for a second opinion, however.

My laptop's screen isn't working. What should I do?

Symptoms:

- Screen is blank, but the computer is clearly running. The LED lights look normal.
- When tilting my screen back and forth, the LCD screen turns off and on. (this is usually a bad vga data cable connection to the video processor)
- There are visual defects on the screen or the picture is very dim.

If you have visual defects on the screen, like random characters or splotches of color where they shouldn't be, this is usually bad video drivers or a faulty video processor on the motherboard. There is a part in the LCD system called an inverter. Inverters can go out over time, and usually are the culprit of LCD screen problems. The other issue can be that the data cable connecting the screen and the video processor has broken or unplugged itself. Fixing LCD screen problems is usually cost effective. Bring your laptop into our shop for a diagnosis.

Should I be worried about hard drive failure?

A hard drive dies somewhere every 15 seconds. If your hard drive dies and it contains valuable data that can't be recovered with special software, it could cost between $1000 - $2000 to retrieve. In the event that data recovery tools aren't effective, your drive has to be shipped to a clean room and taken apart. Even if your drive is still somewhat functional, the data recovery process is time consuming and costly. In order to ensure that your data doesn't go out the window when your hard drive does, you should consider backing up your important files. There are many reliable ways to back up your data, ranging from burning data cd's, to tape backups, to whole servers whose singular role is to ensure that company-wide data is replicated and safe.

Backups are a crucial part of keeping your business, home office, or even standalone computer in a state of productivity.

Whether you should be woried or not depends on how much critical data is on your computer, and what it is worth to you in terms of cost and time to keep it backed up.

Contact us today to find out what kind of backup solution is right for you.