Date: 01/14/06 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: no keywords

Dell laptops now suck.
My sister's laptop screen started showing random pretty colors when she started it up (only sometimes). She couldn't see the bootup or windows or anything. I called Dell and they said "well, you can take out the video card and put it in your PC to test it" - I was totally surprised by that.

The problem happened again today, and she said "it keeps happeneing every time I tap/hit the bottom!" I opened it up following Dell's online instructions, and lo and behold, the video card is nothing like a normal AGP video card. It def cannot go into a PC. What I did notice is that the instructions said UNSCREW THE 2 SCREWS HOLDING IN THE VIDEO CARD.

There were no screws holding down the video card. Something tells me that the card was moving when she bumped the bottom. I found some tiny screws (they needed to be allen-wrenched into place, so I can't lose that), and now the card is in the correct spot.

Hopefully, won't happen again.

Dell Inspiron 5100 - purchased in Summer 2003

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/860524.html