Laptop repair in Virginia Beach, VA

[JerryNH]

The display died on my Toshiba laptop. I am looking for a competent repair shop in Virginia beach area or southbound to the Outer Banks where I will be staying next week Sep 23-28. Anyone have any info. Thank you!

[1492]

I think jadenathanau point was to spam the forums. Now history.

[LarryJM]

jadenathanau,

Note sure what your point was, but I have spent less on laptops in the last ten years by one than just one of those you linked to goes for. Nowdays $500 to $600 will get you a very capable general purpose laptop with all the latest ... just not a gaming or CAD targeted one. As I said IMO these are basically throwaway items sort of like all these smart phones ... which I have never had and still am using my 2005 era Samsung SCH-650 "FLIP PHONE" ... no camera, video, bluetooth and I wouldn't know a TWEET, TWIT whatever if it slapped me in the face.

Larry

[LarryJM]

JerryNH wrote:
The display died on my Toshiba laptop. I am looking for a competent repair shop in Virginia beach area or southbound to the Outer Banks where I will be staying next week Sep 23-28. Anyone have any info. Thank you!

Toshiba LCD screens are a known problem and can give you all sorts of failure modes. I have three Toshiba Laptops and two have display problems and both are different. One bought around 2003 now will sometime boot up with a blank screen and several power off/ons will solve the display problem as long as I don't turn it off and then it's a roll of the die if the issue recurs or not on the next power on. The other bought in 2010 will always boot up with a display on battery, but plug it in and the screen goes blank, but leaving it on the screen will usually come back on within an hour or two and be alright until I turn it off. The same issue happens if I turn it on plugged in ... a blank display from 30min to about 1 1/2 hours then the display comes on and is fine until I turn it off. Both these are back ups now to my current one bought in Dec 2012 and to be honest these general purpose laptops are basically throw away items and if you get two years use you are doing good and three is like winning the lottery. I just bite the bullet and get a new one when my current one starts giving me fits. My issue is that I have some hardware such as my scanner and some software that won't run on WIN 7 or 8 and I have had to order special laptop configurations generally the small business versions and made sure I got WIN 7 Professional so I can run the VM XP mode and use my old S/W and hardware. However, my current laptop is probably going to be the last one I will get with WIN 7 so my next one hopefully with the follow on to WIN 8 is what I'm going to have to deal with and upgrade things as necessary.

Bottom line is IMO it's time for a new laptop and don't mess with trying to get the old one fixed since a new one with the most recent S/W or if your even able to be a full stand alone version of an older WIN XP or 7 that will work with any new laptop hardware is quickly becoming a non option.

Larry

[sdianel_-acct_c]

I have always used Best Buy for service for my laptop on the road. 3 locations in Virginia Beach.

[JerryNH]

Thanks, I now have a few options to pursue. All is not lost for the trip which will last for another seven weeks.

Jerry

[1492]

Using an external LCD monitor w/VGA might be a good temp solution for a notebook LCD issue. Even most HDTV have VGA inputs, so can use both as a TV and monitor. In fact, an inexpensive solution might be to check local Goodwill stores. They tend to have a number of 4:3 monitor for about $15.-$20. And 16:9 wide screens tend to go for $20.-25. I've bought several including an HP W2207 22" LCD for $25. However, I'd avoid monitors that require an external power supply.

[JerryNH]

Thanks for getting back to me. When turned off the screen has the same odd screen look as when it is on. I will look into getting a new LCD screen and installing it but I need a system now, so I will look for a cheap external display or find a new unit with Windows 7, (forget about 8). And swap hard drives for now. Any other thoughts?

[1492]

That might be difficult, as they would likely have to order the specific LCD replacement panel for your notebook. Assuming its the LCD, and not an inverter board? Or just a loose connection itself?

It's not overly difficult to replace an LCD yourself, and will save $$.