Laptop repair
 

Hi friends,

My Dell laptop will not stay on. I have tried all home fixes (you tube) but no luck.
Please recommend who or where I should go.
Thanks and have a great 2025.

Jerseyjets

Basically, anywhere but Best Buy. If you can't find an individual who can help, try U Break, I fix. They also sell warranties that cover all of the electronics in your house (computers, cell phones, TVs... I pay $16.99 per month to cover everything and no longer feel a need to purchase an Asurion warranty for high $ items on amazon, because this will cover them.

Jacob's Computers
Address: 102 S Main St, Wildwood, FL 34785
Hours:
Closed ⋅ Opens 9 AM Mon-Friday
Phone: (352) 399-6801

Located across the street of Wildwood Town Hall same side of 301.

Taken laptops and I-Phones to him and never been disappointed.

MMD computers are excellent

How old is it? Is it a touch-screen? Is it a Chromebook? Is it a gaming laptop (aka Alienware)? How old is the operating system? You might have a dead battery, that won't hold a charge anymore. Does it shut down even when you have it plugged in to the wall outlet with your power adapter? Does it make unusual noise when you turn it on? So many possible reasons why it wouldn't stay on, but it all depends on what EXACTLY the situation is with your machine.

When you say it won't stay on, what do you mean by that? Do you power it up, it starts to load the OS, and then shut itself off immediately without ever opening to Windows? Or does it power up, load the OS, stay on for a few minutes, and then shut down? Is it "shutting down" or is it "turning off?"

Have you installed any new software in the past month? It could be that you've run out of memory. Or it could be that you have a virus. Or it's possible that a new download self-installed and is sucking all your RAM on bootup. That's not likely, but it's possible. The most likely culprit is the battery, but other likely possibilities would be a faulty power jack or damaged hard drive.

Staples

Staples doesn't do repairs in house, with very few exceptions. They can swap out a battery but pretty much anything else gets farmed out.

Power supply is good. I even took ram out and put back in. Thanks for advice.

Not sure of the model or age of laptop, but there are Dell known issues with batteries, awake from sleep, and battery charging / monitoring, and will not tell you what you should do, but here is my current Dell experience after owning dell's for 30 years.

I have an 8 year old Dell Precision, and have had plenty of battery issues. The batteries have a questionable life, so after talking to Dell, here was their steps to check the battery

1) Shut off the laptop
2) Take the battery out.
3) Plug in the power supply
4) Turn on the laptop.

If the laptop turns on and boots and windoz or linux comes up, great.
The laptop still works.

5) Shut down
6) Put battery back in, leave shore power plugged in
7) Turn on the laptop
8) After boot up, check the battery level
9) Battery shows 100% charged? maybe it is, maybe it isn't
10) are there any hardware lights, like near the disk activity light, which show an indication of a battery issue? Check your model manual to see if there are any battery indicator lights for a battery issue.

11) I have a flashing orange light near the disk activity light that tells me that the battery and charger are not talking to each other properly, and the battery won't work. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't

12) If the hardware lights don't show an issue, then unplug the shore power.
Check the hardware lights for any changes.
13) If the screen goes blank, check your sleep settings on battery. Sometimes, it goes directly to sleep. Dell's have known issues with awake from sleep.
14) From your manual, follow the steps to awake from sleep.
15) if you can't awake from sleep, follow steps to power back on, usually holding the power on button down for 3 seconds or so.

If you can't awake from sleep, or the computer won't boot up and stay on very long on battery only,
and there are no hardware light issues, either the internal charger is weak/dead, or the battery is weak/dead, or both.

My internal charger is iffy, and the battery is old and doesn't hold a charge for very long at times. Other times it does fine, So i run the laptop, which is relatively big and heavy, on battery all the time. When the battery non charging light is flashing, I play around with the booting on or off to get the issue to go away, if i need the battery for a bit.

good luck

former finance and IT guy,
home built several windoz tower models from pahts

Another vote for MMD.

I have been very satisfied with Best Buy.

My Dell was shutting down from time to time. I finally figured out that it was overheating. This would happen when I used it in my lap without a hard surface. I purchased a laptop tray and problem solved. When it overheated, I would have to let it cool all the way to room temperature before it would power up.

In the new Dell models, overheating is a known problem, as told to me by a Dell service person, while golfing up in NE. the race to be the thinnest and the lightest means the battery is closer to you and there is less of a heat sink for everything.

Am debating buying a new Dell for my next laptop. .

Why would you even consider it, when you already know that overheating is a known problem with them? OTOH, their gaming computers have 4 fans in their cooling system. So as long as you aren't planning on gaming and overclocking, you shouldn't ever have overheating problems with Alienware laptops. Of course, you'd have to pay between $1500 and $5000 for an Alienware laptop.

Or you could just - get some other brand that isn't known for overheating problems? My sister loves her Lenovo, I'll probably get either a Lenovo or another HP before the end of this year when Windows10 stops getting security updates.

How old is this laptop? If over 6 years old I would just trash it and get another one. Probably spend 1/2 of what it’s worth to get it fixed anyway?

If it's a Windows machine and over 6 years old, it's obsolete already and time to replace.

I trash all but one windows unit, windows when compared to Apple like model T to corvette.

Another vote for Jacob's Computers in Wildwood. He is a good guy, does good work for a reasonable price, and above all is honest.

Definitely sounds like a heat buildup issue. See if any vents are clogged. Do you hear the fan kick in, and then it crashes? If you have enough time while up, change your power settings to lowest efficiency, low power consumption. Also might be a setting in the CMOS for saving power or reduced performance. Always use your PC on a hard surface. Place a fan under it and see if you get a longer run time. If so fan or clogged air vents.

Computer repair
 

I have used PC Planet in Leesburg after trying two other places. They solved my problem with two computers, and the cost was much less than what I was paying at our former location.

Trade it in at the Apple Store

There are a few clubs in the villages that may be able to help you. I did that a few years ago. He ordered a new battery and installed it. Wonderful people who live here.

There are many good suggestions on this site on who to go to, to solve this problem.
Before you move forward price them out and decided is it worth getting it repaired or purchasing a new one.
Unless you're a gamer or need a computer with all the bells and whistles, you can get a new one at a decent price.

OP:
If your computer is older and has Windows 10 operating system, you may be near the practical end of your computer’s life. Microsoft plans to end support for Windows 10 in October 2025 (link below). Older computers may not be capable of installing and running the Windows 11 upgrade. In those cases, Windows 10 computers overall will still operate but face increasing risks of viruses/cyber attacks/etc and problems with hardware interfaces such as printer drivers.

Bottom line: You might consider buying a new computer.

End of support for Windows 10, Windows 8.1, and Windows 7 | Microsoft Windows

You don’t have to go anywhere. Jon Townsend will come to your house!
He is incredibly talented, fair and very nice.

He has been doing this for over 15 years here in The Villages.

Give him a call at 352-638-2348

Hi: Recently had a similar problem with my Dell laptop. Check the battery and see if it is fully charged. I keep mine plugged in all of the time and the battery was nearly fully discharged (only 2% remaining) causing the laptop to shut down. The fix was to plug it in to a different outlet, let the battery charge up and then all was well.

Best Buy Geek Squad

My wife has a Lenovo, has multiple screen issues with a Lenovo docking station. Screens going blank randomly, she is constantly unplugging, replugging in cables. . .

why? the off the shelf brand monitor is not a Lenovo is the only answer we can find, and its more than one docking station tested. . . . with two monitors, one cable is an HDMI, the other cable has to be the old IBM L shaped video . . .

just a pain in the ass. . no thanks with the chinese laptops

Another vote for Jacobs. He does great work.

Highly recommend MMD Computer in Lady Lake.

I second this motion.

Stay away from Best Buy. We bought a laptop there with an extended warranty. Less than 3 months later it wasn't working right. My husband took the laptop back and was told it would cost $200 to run diagnostics on the laptop ...

We ended up taking the laptop to a computer repair shop at the Market of Marion. They were very helpful and fixed the laptop while we waited for $20. I don't recall the name of the shop but if you call the Market's main number they can direct you to the computer repair shop/phone number. Here's the Market of Marion phone number(352) 245-6766

Thank you all.
 

I thank all of you for your advice. You are all good people.
I think I will go to Jacobs in Wildwood and see what they say.

Again thanks to all

Jerseyjets

MMD Computer Service, Lady Lake

Are there concerns about leaving a computer with a repair shop if it contains banking, passwords, and other info.?

To: OP

If you decide to take it somewhere to repair, please post the results here. The posts offer some excellent suggestions for self-analysis, and the information might help someone else with a similar issue.

computer problem
 

Jacobs computer repair. He is on 301 in wildwood. good guy

yes i agree, jacob is very honest.

I've tried MMD, but they charge at least $135.00 per visit (may be more now). I took out a yearly membership for Tech Support to the tune of about $200.00 with Geek Squad. I have UNLIMITED access to their technicians, either by phone or in person. I can bring in my laptop every week if I want, and it's covered! Imagine what that would cost at MMD. It's the best $200.00 I've ever spent!