Want to repair a Windows Surface Laptop? Sorry, not possible

[GreyGeek]

[Rod J]

Man, that's pathetic! Throw away device for sure.

I've worked on an Asus laptop that was a little like this ... quite difficult to take apart and the ram soldered to the motherboard, etc, but not quite as bad as this one. Cheap and nasty ... but not so cheap to buy of course!

[dibl]

A couple weeks ago I had the occasion to put a SSD into this old laptop to bring its performance up to tolerable. With a lightweight LXQt desktop it is now perfectly usable for non-intensive daily tasks, but the hdd bay is literally buried on the floor of it under the mainboard. You have to remove the screen, the keyboard and bezel, and the motherboard to get to the hdd bay. Ridiculous! I did the same maneuver on an older HP laptop last year and it was 3 screws, lift off the cover, and swap in the SSD.

System:    Host: n5110 Kernel: 4.11.5-towo.1-siduction-amd64 x86_64 (64 bit)
         Desktop: LXQt
         Distro: siduction 17.1.0 Patience - lxqt - (201703051830)
Machine:   Device: portable System: Dell product: Inspiron N5110
         Mobo: Dell model: 034W60 v: A11
         BIOS: Dell v: A11 date: 08/03/2012
CPU:       Dual core Intel Core i3-2330M (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB 
         clock speeds: max: 2200 MHz 1: 800 MHz 2: 799 MHz 3: 802 MHz
         4: 805 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller
         Display Server: X.Org 1.19.3 drivers: modesetting (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
         Resolution: 1366x768@60.00hz
         GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Sandybridge Mobile
         GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 13.0.6
Audio:     Card Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio Controller
         driver: snd_hda_intel
         Sound: ALSA v: k4.11.5-towo.1-siduction-amd64
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet controller
         driver: r8169
         IF: enp5s0 state: down mac: <filter>
         Card-2: Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030 [Rainbow Peak]
         driver: iwlwifi
         IF: wlp9s0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 80.0GB (9.8% used)                                
         ID-1: /dev/sda model: INTEL_SSDSA2CW08 size: 80.0GB               
Partition: ID-1: / size: 16G used: 5.4G (37%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1        
         ID-2: swap-1 size: 2.15GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda2                                                                            
RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present       
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 53.0C mobo: N/A                         
         Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A                                     
Info:      Processes: 189 Uptime: 28 min Memory: 1206.2/3864.8MB             
         Client: Shell (bash) inxi: 2.3.11

[woodsmoke]

That's why I usually default to a Toshiba lappy. They "used to be" that "usually" one could get "at" everything from underneath with a few screws. HD, wireless card, memory, cd tray all easily accessible.

woodain'tbuildingnomore'puterssadlysmoke

[GreyGeek]

That's why I usually default to a Toshiba lappy. They "used to be" that "usually" one could get "at" everything from underneath with a few screws. HD, wireless card, memory, cd tray all easily accessible.

woodain'tbuildingnomore'puterssadlysmoke

My Acer is like that. Easy to repair.

Today, however, I found out that not everything on my Acer is FRU (a Field Replaceable Unit). While my WLAN (wireless) is, my 1Gb Ethernet port is not. It is soldered to the mobo.. It got hit by lightening last night as I was unplugging everything. The lights flickered twice to give warning, followed immediately by a flash outside the windows. Started yanking cords afaic, but just wasn't quick enough. The next flash got my eth0. The cable modem and my cisco wireless router survived.

However, in looking around for an eth0 adapter I discovered that they sell Ethernet to USB adapters. I got one. because it is the Linux 4.x kernel has its drivers built in. Cost $26, including 2 day shipping (not Prime), otherwise it would be $17. If you get a USB 2 adapter you'll have a 100Mb device. If you get a USB 3 adapter you have a 1Gb device.

Allo just completed installing the plastic conduit pipe for the 1Gb fiber optic service in our apt complex. They used the Ditch Witch jt20 horizontal drilling tool to put two pipes 4-6' underground for 120 or more without busting the sod. 17K lbs pushing pressure. They attached the plastic pipe to the end of the drill and pulled it back through with 20K lbs of pulling pressure. Very neet. Very clean. Took just a week to pipe up the entire 12 buildings apt complex. Sometime within the next couple of weeks they'll thread the fiber optic through the conduit and be ready to hook up customers.
I'm going with the 100Mbps connection for the same price I am getting 65Mbps from Spectrum now.

[woodsmoke]

as to the ethernet adapter, I have used them before. They could get iffy "back then" but nowadays, usb just woiks.

Wish I...had fiber! lol

woodsmoke

[Rod J]

As far as laptop repair-ability goes, I think there is a huge difference between consumer grade laptops and business grade laptops. All the business grade HP laptops I've bought and converted to Linux laptops have all had covers on the bottom to access various parts (Dell business laptops are similar). But the trend in consumer laptops seems to be they are sealed for life, throw them away when something breaks.

[wizard10000]

The spousal unit has a less-than-a-year old Dell 2 in 1 laptop that's currently in Texas for a warranty repair; apparently there's a motherboard issue.

When troubleshooting with one of Dell's techs on the phone he told me to remove the battery. When I said that the battery was not user-replaceable he corrected me and said that his script said that it was.

Well, okay then. After removing all nine screws that held the bottom on the laptop and popping off the bottom cover there the battery was - it wasn't until after I'd pulled the power plug off the motherboard and tried to start it on AC adapter only that he officially determined the laptop was broken

Now I have no problem disassembling a laptop but I have quite a bit of experience doing it. For the average non-techie user it would have been a nightmare.