Junk laptop... sell it for parts?

[CoupedUpSubie]

I know a bunch of you are more into fixing/working with computers and whatnot more so then I am. My laptop recently fried its second motherboard and is no longer under warranty. Is it worth selling the parts or should I just scrap it. Its an HP Pavilion dv7. Only good parts are the RAM, wireless card, screen and any other little thing that didn't go kaput with the motherboard. Just looking for a way to make getting a new one easier on the wallet.

 

[Chris]

Nobody is going to give you much for it. I don't pay for broken laptops/computers unless it has some really awesome part in it. Computers aren't like cars where broken one's have significant value, unfortunately.

 

[CoupedUpSubie]

Nobody is going to give you much for it. I don't pay for broken laptops/computers unless it has some really awesome part in it. Computers aren't like cars where broken one's have significant value, unfortunately.

I wasn't sure if anyone had sold stuff on ebay or amazon. I to a quick glance and there are lots of parts on there. I know I would only be looking at probably $70 or so in the end. I'm keeping my hd because it has tons of stuff on it.

Most likely I will strip everything except the stuff I know to be good then use the shell for target practice.

 

[Chris]

Every now and again when I'm looking at computers on craigslist there are adds saying they'll give $50 or whatever for broken laptops.

I have a dealy to plug hard drives into usb, so if you want your stuff off the old drive, I can do that.

 

[CoupedUpSubie]

I bought one of those in Germany after the first motherboard went. I was at sea, taking lots of pictures and filling my memory card up so I needed something to transfer stuff.

 

[Tyler]

Is it the motherboard or the video? I had a similar model and they are known for overheating and taking the video chip out ... same reason for the red ring on the xbox. If it boots fine but there is no video, there is a way to get it (possibly) working again. I did it with mine and was able to get it running for a bit longer before it happened again. Supposedly the solder heats up so much that it melts off the contacts and so by heating it back up, you can potentially fix the issue - also look into creating a better heat sink for it. It's kind of a PITA to take apart/put back together if it's not something you're used to though ...

 

[Chris]

It's the DV6000 series with the nvidia 7 series graphics cards that have the video issue. Nvidia took a 6 series card and overclocked it calling it a 7. It failed in more than just the hp. Same card killed a really nice thinkpad I used to have.

Although, if it a video issue, it'll probably beep three times on bootup.

 

[Tyler]

Good to know! I think mine was a dv9000 series though and I didn't have any beeping with mine. I did get it working again for a bit. It wasn't worth doing a second time though.

I agree with Chris. If you can find someone to give you $50 for it, take it!

 

[CoupedUpSubie]

I'm 100% sure its the motherboard. It was about $500 for it to be fixed last time, under warranty so my bill was $0. They replaced a bunch of other stuff also, no idea why. I'm guessing this particular model has problems, I had one go in less then 2 months that was a bit of a lower grade then this one. That was also a dv7 with similar parts.

 

[Tyler]

Well they don't replace just the chip, they would have replaced the whole board anyway. They quoted me $400 to replace mine. I figured for that price I could get a new one that isn't known to have problems.

 

[Flipswitch]

Pull the hard drive & patch it into a working computer to extract the data. Also pull any bits you could put in your next computer (ram, wireless card, etc)

Then take the laptop to a field with a bat...

 

[CoupedUpSubie]

They replaced enough so it was basically a new computer. Basically the frame, keyboard and battery were original when I got it back. Everything else was new or at least replaced. I was hoping for a new one. The ram and stuff is already out. I plan on pulling a couple other pieces then using something a bit more destructive then a bat.

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