well.. i woke up this morning, turned on my hp dv2000t laptop only to hear 3 loud beeps and a blank display. no boot up, nothing. just the beeps. my laptop was dead
. after a quick search of the internet using my roommates computer, i found out that the beeps are indicating a graphics card error.. 1 long beep.. 2 short beeps.
so then i do a little more searching and find out that the hp laptops have a more or less known issue with certain models that the integrated nvidia 7200 ge force mobile graphics card dies after a while. it apparently was such a problem that hp even extended their normal 1 year warranty to 2 years for certain laptops and are replacing the motherboard of affected laptops 100% free of charge. so I called up HP to see if i was eligable to receive the free replacement since obviously I found out I have one of the defective mobo/graphics cards. but here's where I get even more bad news. My particular product model of the dv2000t's product line is NOT included in the list of free extended warranties. AND I bought my laptop about 1.5 years ago. so i'm basically SOL with my laptop. it would cost me a fortune to get the laptop mobo replaced (about the same to just buy a basic desktop machine).
so im a little bummed right now because I dont have extra funds to fix or replace my laptop.. but i wouldnt be able to continue working on my software projects here until i get a machine up and running.
so in any case, here's a heads up that I might not be around or online much in the next few weeks. hopefully I can figure this out soon!
oh, and i guess ill be setting up a special donation fund (you can use the normal PayPal one for now) if anyone is kind enough to help donate $20 or whatever towards helping me fix or get a cheap new barebones desktop ($500 or less).
sad friday.
-chip