Setbacks

While booting up a slightly modded version of CD in DDDK today (to get exact figures on the spawn limits of the boss drops) my laptop overheated. The motherboard was fried, and I can't even load it up into BIOS anymore.

This is just a heads up for people who rely on me for anything: I currently have no access to DDDK, and may have potentially lost all of my custom scripts I've been working on (Sorry Nexus! Hopefully I'll be able to recover the HDD but it'll take a while to find out if this is covered by warrantee)

There are some things I know off the top of my head from seeing them so often, so I might be of use in the item check thread, but for now, I can't do anything with certainty.

Unfortunately, my only options right now are a 7 year old tower, and a 4 year old laptop. Neither can handle playing the game or loading up DDDK, so I can't really confirm much that isn't purely script-related right now.

Oh no!!!!

I really hope you get everything fixed and can save your work!!

*fingers crossed*

damn, so sorry to hear that, wish you the best!

The Dingle is DOOOOWWNNNNNNN!!!!

very sorry to hear that :(

i hope you get your hardware up and running.

While booting up a slightly modded version of CD in DDDK today (to get exact figures on the spawn limits of the boss drops) my laptop overheated. The motherboard was fried, and I can't even load it up into BIOS anymore.

This is just a heads up for people who rely on me for anything: I currently have no access to DDDK, and may have potentially lost all of my custom scripts I've been working on (Sorry Nexus! Hopefully I'll be able to recover the HDD but it'll take a while to find out if this is covered by warrantee)

There are some things I know off the top of my head from seeing them so often, so I might be of use in the item check thread, but for now, I can't do anything with certainty.

Unfortunately, my only options right now are a 7 year old tower, and a 4 year old laptop. Neither can handle playing the game or loading up DDDK, so I can't really confirm much that isn't purely script-related right now.

Iv heard of a lot of motherboards frying lately.... weird. Best of luck to you acquiring a replacement!

Iv heard of a lot of motherboards frying lately.... weird. Best of luck to you acquiring a replacement!

When it happened, I paid a visit to Dell's website (laptop is a Dell Studio 1558)

Turns out, there's an issue with the BIOS that causes intermittent shutdowns with no warning - the machine thinks it's overheating when it isn't, or something like that. This might be a running issue on a lot of Dell products, and I haven't noticed anything other than a help topic in their support website. Certainly you'd think something like this would get a mass email to any customers who bought the product, or something?

I could be on the wrong end of that. I know it wasn't running any hotter than usual when this happened. Problem is that I can't even turn it on anymore to try updating the BIOS, if that was the cause... I'm basically stuck until Dell Technical Support get to me. If they can fix it, it'll take up to 5 days, and if they can't it might take longer to get a replacement.

Hopefully, they'll have the parts on hand and get it back to me in a couple days... but the worst case scenario is enough of the parts are damaged they'll have to get me a replacement laptop, and it'll take ages to get here. Dell's factories tend to be in China.

Good luck. You can always pull the drive to get the data off if needed, either to get back up and running quicker of if the laptop is not fixable. That sort of thing is easier these days with SATA drives.

Ouch. I hope you can get back in action soon!

sorry to hear I too have fried a few pcs i know the loss all to well
wishing you the best of luck

Pretty sure il be with you soon on the frying of the laptop...
After melting a Dell back in college I tried an acer this go around and it's lasted over twice as long

Acer aspire 7740g, had it around 3 years now iirc, old Dell barely made it a year

Phone tripping out. This new keyboard isn't agreeing with me used to one I downloaded on my droid x and this galaxy s3 one is just different enough to drive me nuts

This is why kids you SHOULD NEVER buy company made computers

This is why kids you SHOULD NEVER buy company made computers

It has its ups and downs.

The ups include 3 years warranty, just in case this did happen. Considering some of the parts are likely destroyed, getting replacements (and fitted) for free is a good thing.


@Gungniir: Amusingly, my first ever laptop, 10 years ago, was an Acer. The battery died within one year, and the entire thing failed within 2. And this laptop that just died... also failed within 2 years, but the battery was still good. So that's a win?

This is why kids you SHOULD NEVER buy company made computers

Don't buy company made computers? As opposed to what?

Don't buy company made computers? As opposed to what?

Building your own, from parts.

Tends to be surprisingly cheaper than buying pre-built machines, and you don't get any pre-installed software (Dell's terrible for that; had to disable so much stuff when I first got it)

Of course, the drawbacks tend to be things like only getting warranty for individual parts, needing the skill to put the entire thing together yourself including drivers/OS/BIOS installation, not getting a free maintenance/repair service with it...

Dell machines tend to be put together in factories in China, though. And like anything technical made in China, there can be... issues with the manufacturing, especially when it's not something that's put together by a machine.

Don't buy company made computers? As opposed to what?

Building your own. Which is a lot cheaper when your building a higher end gaming rig. You also know what parts are inside, and can easily upgrade parts later on, like if your graphics card died you can easily replace it or get a better one.

needing the skill to put the entire thing together yourself including drivers/OS/BIOS installation

Its pretty easy, actually. Plug this here, screw that there, etc. The only hard part (for me) was figuring out what plugs go to where for the case power buttons, indicator lights, etc.

Building your own isn't really an option if you want a laptop however.

100% agreed on towers though. I always build my own. Although these days it's less of an issue as everything is so cheap and fast anyway. Still, it's fun!

Building your own isn't really an option if you want a laptop however.

100% agreed on towers though. I always build my own. Although these days it's less of an issue as everything is so cheap and fast anyway. Still, it's fun!

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. I've never seen someone build a laptop from scratch. And I never see "Laptop Shells" or anything ever being sold anywhere.

You pretty much HAVE to buy laptops pre-made.

So I guess DarkSoul's snarky comment just has no bearing, since this was an issue with a Laptop, not a Desktop.

yea laptops aren't exactly a build-your-own. but that's part of the reason why heavy coders never bother with them... they're just not as powerful, or as easy to replace parts for, as a desktop.

dingle, if you're covered under warranty you're a lucky duck. data recovery can be expensive (200+), and that'd probably be covered if the motherboard was faulty. hopefully (and likely), the HDD is fine and they'll be able to extract the data without an issue.

yea laptops aren't exactly a build-your-own. but that's part of the reason why heavy coders never bother with them... they're just not as powerful, or as easy to replace parts for, as a desktop.

dingle, if you're covered under warranty you're a lucky duck. data recovery can be expensive (200+), and that'd probably be covered if the motherboard was faulty. hopefully (and likely), the HDD is fine and they'll be able to extract the data without an issue.

Warranty's good for another year. I made sure to get good cover on it. Apparently my cover includes in-house repairs - the guy that's gong to fix it will come out to where I live sometime next week and fix it for me there and then. No need to wait for delivery. The date isn't confirmed, but I've made all the necessary contact to confirm it can be done.

Also pretty certain the just motherboard's damaged beyond the point of return, and nothing else. The HDD should work fine.

yea the way you made it sound the HDD should definitely be fine. which is good news since you've got all that work you put in.

might be a good time to invest in a flash mem stick though! cheap, and a small stick would backup all your work with minimal hassle and less stress of possibly losing all that work!

out of curiosity, do you have a desktop or just prefer laptops that much? not many people who delve into code do it on a laptop.

I've been using laptops since I started at university, for taking notes, working on a familiar machine at campus, and keeping all my work in one place. It was mostly a matter of convenience - can't take a tower setup to university on a motorbike every day. Gotten very used to using a laptop now, though - pretty much prefer it, although there are some games that rely on a proper mouse, so the touchpad makes things difficult. I do like being able to pull out my laptop on a journey and start coding, too.

For raw coding work, any machine that can handle the strain is useable - the code itself is just raw text, and you can cut down on the amount of the processor's power compiling uses, so it just takes longer. DDDK's also got the graphics-rendering thing going and needs a powerful machine, but my laptop should theoretically have been able to handle it (running a core i7, plenty of RAM and a graphics card that was mid-range when I got it.) Laptops can wear down quickly compared to towers, though, which is most likely where the issue came up. Towers have a life span of 3-4 years before you want to upgrade hardware, laptops have a lifespan of 2-3 years before you have to replace the hardware.

Just graduated a month ago, so the next machine I build will probably be a desktop, but I'm not gonna do that until I get a job to fund it.

speaking of mice and laptops, i got my girlfriend a wireless mouse for her laptop for when she plays terraria or DD. and she couldn't begin to play borderlands with me if she didn't have one.

buying a mouse might buy you some time until you can afford to build that desktop

speaking of mice and laptops, i got my girlfriend a wireless mouse for her laptop for when she plays terraria or DD. and she couldn't begin to play borderlands with me if she didn't have one.

buying a mouse might buy you some time until you can afford to build that desktop

I beat Borderlands with a touchpad. It's an... acquired skill.

Actually, I don't mind the interface so much, but a lot of games, like DD, don't pick up the scrollwheel action on touchpads. And sometimes, like DD, you can't rebind -every- function attached to it... (zooming overlord mode, scrolling the stats/in-game awards and achievement lists)

Plus the whole "laptops are typically used on surfaces which might not be perfectly flat for a mouse" - I might benefit from one all the same, but after using this for gaming for 2 years, I'm more or less used to the touchpad now. A lot of games are willing to let me use my gamepad, too.