Tech support

[wellinghall]

(1) Two mini fluorescent tubes in the kitchen don't work. We have replaced the tubes, but to no avail. Any ideas? (The third does work, so there is at least power in the general area).

(2) The DVD drive on the laptop doesn't work. It makes a grinding noise when there's a disk in it, but the laptop doesn't acknowledge the disk. Any ideas?

Comments

[alitalf.livejournal.com]

Have you checked the starters of the fluo lamps?

Do you get any faint aetherial glow in the dark if they are switched on?

Have you got a neon screwdriver or a multimeter with which you might check that electricity is *really* getting to the lumainaires?

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Are you going to the seminar, BTW? There's something I should talk to you about sometime. (Oh, and would you be able to return The Prestige book / DVD sometime? I've a hankering to re-read / re-view).

[alitalf.livejournal.com]

Yes, we should be at the seminar. When I am around in the evening you are welcome to phone for tech support on such things as fluorescent lamps or whatever else.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

No, no, and, er, no!

[alitalf.livejournal.com]

It is possible to replace laptop dvd drives - and it does seem likely that if a drive makes a grinding noise, unless the noise is because the dvd was not clicked into place, and the grinding is the mechanism scratching it, then the newness has worn off the mechanism itself.

[malaheed.livejournal.com]

Most CD and DVD type drives are fairly cheaply made and the grinding could come from one of the plastic gears or wheels getting out of alignment. It used to be relatively easily to fix them but they are getting smaller and smaller and often tightly sealed. Normally the easiest way is to pop out the entire assembly and put a new one in. Or if you do not want to do that, then the other option would be to get a cheapo usb dvd drive and you could use that instead. Or if it is still under warranty to get them to replace the unit.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

It isn't under warranty, by all of three months. I like the idea of getting an external DVD drive, especially now I've seen how cheap they are. Thanks.

[rustica.livejournal.com]

1/ Starters (a cylindrical thumb sized part that screws in/out, if your lights are anything like mine).

2/ Try a different cd in it - it may be that the drive is struggling with that particular disk. Otherwise, replace the drive. Laptop drives are often sh*t, ime.

[rustica.livejournal.com]

Ooh, also, did you buy those replacement tubes recently? I have had problems with ones that were several years old not working when they were put in. Still, it doesn't hurt to change the starters. Some say you should do it every time you change a tube, though I never have.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Ditto starters.