Iarfhlaith Kelly – Code agus Craic

I’ve had my HP Compaq nx7300 for over 6 years now. It owes me nothing. Over the years, I’ve practically rebuilt it entirely. It’s on it’s second motherboard, 3rd hard drive, second battery, and will more than likely need a new screen in the next few months. It’s also on it’s second power adaptor, which for the last month has been threatenting to fail. And this morning, that’s exactly what happened. Bye bye power adaptor. At least for now.

I’ve ordered a new adaptor from the good folk at laptopchargers.ie, based in Cork.  But in the mean time, and with nothing to lose, I thought I’d have a go at repairing my own one.

The Right Tools for the Job

To do the job, I used only the tools that most people have in their toolbox. If you want to try this yourself you’ll need a wire-strippers, scissors, masking tape, a long nosed pliers, wire cutters, a blade, a mini hacksaw, and something to pry open the case. I used a tool for wedging up hammered nails, but a chisel or sharp flathead screwdriver will work just as well.

Opening the Plastic Casing

The hardest part of the repair job is getting the black plastic casing open. For this, I started with the blade and worked into the seam around the entire adaptor. Once the grove was large enough, I used the hacksaw to open it further until I could see that I’d broken through the plastic.

There are four little clips inside the adaptor at each corner which you’ll have to break in order for it to come apart. This is where you’ll need the screwdriver or chisel. Pry open each corner until you hear a little snap. After you’ve done each corner you should be able to lift off the top and bottom of the plastic casing.

Finding the Problem

Once the casing was off I could see more clearly where the cable enters the adaptor and how it’s wires were organised. In your case it will help to have an idea of where abouts your wire is damaged. For me, I knew it was very close to the inside of the casing as there was no visible damage to the adaptor and it could only be damaged at the point where the cable meets the board.

As it happens my hunch was right, as the majority of the secondary shielding had snapped.

Removing the Insulation

Next, I cut the power cord about one inch from the hard plastic surround at the base of the cable. I wanted to leave myself enough wire to work with at that end.

There were three parts to the power cord, an outer shielding, and inner shielding, and a central wire to carry the current. Once cut, I stripped off the outer insulation and twisted them off to keep them neat.

I then did the same thing with the end of the cable, discarding the broken section.

Here you’ll see I stripped back the cable, exposing the three different layers. I was careful to stagger the stripped insulation so as not to cause a short circuit later on. The photo above only shows two layers stripped back but remember to strip back the third blue inner wire as well.

Adding Insulation

Now that each side was stripped and all the damaged cable had been removed it was ready to be re-connected. I carefully twisted each cable together and then covered each connection with masking tape.

Next, I added another layer of masking tape over the individual cables, bringing them together and stabilising them.

In the above photo, you can see I’ve added the extra layer of masking tape. And in the background of the photo lies the hard outer protection designed to stop the cable becoming damaged by rough use. I had to slit this down the side to remove it, but having done that, it meant it was quite easy to wrap it back around the cables, giving them even more support.

Adding Back the Casing

Once the wires were fuly protected and insulated, I added back the plastic casing, wrapping masking tape at each end to hold it in place.

And that was it!

The whole process took about an hour, and costed just a few pieces of masking tape. Can’t get much better then that. The adaptor is working fine again now, for the moment anyway. I’ll update this post if I have any issues with the repaired adaptor over the next few weeks.

Here’s one more close up photo of the fixed outer casing.

I’m thinking of buying an iPhone. One of the new 3GS’s with video recording, improved battery life and all those lovely bells and whistles…

Now I know I’m a little late to the party on this, and everyone in the tech industry already has theirs, but the truth is, I’ve been waiting for an iPhone with a better camera before I dove in and signed myself up for an 18 month contract with O2.

One thing has been bugging me a little over the decision to buy. Something holding me back, and I haven’t been able to put my finger on it – until now. So here goes.

Staying Ahead

The thing is, I love being ahead of the posé and I love having something different. I always want to be the one that has the gadget no one else has. The coolest TV or the fastest broadband. Whatever it is, if I haven’t got the best one, I’d often prefer not to have one at all.

It’s pretty shameful I know, but I’ve always been like this. Recently I’ve been thinking about why I crave it. And I think the answer is that I want to be seen as a leader and not a follower. That’s not so strange right? I mean who doesn’t? But what I’m coming around to now is that it’s not about being different or special. That’s not important. It’s about being yourself. So whether that’s wacky and unusual, or completely mainstream, the key is being honest with yourself.

Mainstream versus Alternative

I’m coming around to the idea that if I want to be alternative and quirky, then that’s what I should do. Similarly, if I fancy going mainstream and moving with the crowd then that’s what I should do too. So long as in both cases, I’m being true to myself and not making decisions on what other people think.

So, if I want to buy an iPhone, I shouldn’t have a problem that everyone else already has one. I should recognise that Apple have made a killer device that’s head and shoulders above the rest. So despite the fact that it may be cool and different to buy a Pre or a Hero, I should embrace the iPhone because it’s the best phone in the world. Who cares if everyone else agrees with that!

The Little Voice

But it’s not that easy, because there’s this little voice inside my head saying “Hold out for the Hero, it’ll be awesome”. – That’s just me sitting on the fence again. I really wish that voice would disappear and let me get on with purchasing that iPhone I want so badly.

The point here is that regardless of whether you want to do something amazing, buy something outrageous or be something totally different, or whether you want to follow the crowd, fit in, and play it safe it’s all absolutely fine. So long as you do it for your own reasons. Being different is great, it gets you recognised. But if that means having an inferior phone (or whatever else you’re considering), then maybe it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.

Now watch me buy that iPhone.

With good design, the user instinctively knows what to do next. Everything from a web app to a door handle. Pretty much everything we use. For example, when you see a tap you already know how to turn it on. All it needs is a twist.

If we use the conventions that have gone before, people will know what to do. It’s simple right?

Well, not quite.

For instance, what about innovation? Where does that fit in? How can we move forward if we rely on the rules that already exist? It’s a really difficult question but one way to answer it is to show you what not to do. Sometimes, in an attempt to break convention, to create something new, the designer gets it wrong. So wrong in fact that an action that used to be simple actually becomes more confusing then before. Regression in it’s truest sense.

Unwanted Innovation

Recently I was in a hotel bathroom and noticed this message above the sink.

If a tap needs instructions so people know how to use it, then that’s a FAIL in my book. The tap problem was solved way back in the late 19th century. The original tap design works. People know how to use it. They don’t need instructions to figure it out.

Designing a tap that looks like a miniature hair dryer just confuses people.

Lets not over engineer things to the point of confusion. If the problem is solved, leave it alone. There are plenty of other problems out there just begging for our attention.

I firmly believe that great customer service is the key to success for online businesses. And the great thing about it is that when you’re a startup, it’s easy to give your customers the time and attention it takes to deliver it.

This week I experienced great customer service. And the company who provided it was Sxoop Technologies. These are the guys behind Twitter Mosaic, the Twitter app that lets you order custom clothing and accessories with a mosaic of your Twitter friends printed onto it.

As some of you may already know, last week I received my order from Twitter Mosaic only to find that they sent me the wrong product. A simple mistake to make but after waiting almost 3 weeks for it to be delivered I was massively disappointed to find I’d received someone else’s order and not the Twitter mug I’d expected.

To show my dissatisfaction, I uploaded a photograph of the wrong mug and tweeted about it. Most people thought it was hilarious, and to be honest I can’t blame them! It was pretty funny. But at the same time I was very disappointed too.

Just a few minutes after I posted up the photograph, Sxoop man, Walter Higgins, got in touch with me and apologised for the mistake, despite the fact that it actually wasn’t his fault, but the fulfilment company he uses behind the scenes. Nevertheless, he stressed how sorry he was and reassured me that he would take care of the situation.

Another few minutes later I received a voucher from him worth £25 (which was more then the cost of the mug) and was reassured that my original order had been found and would be sent out to me immediately via express delivery.

Just 3 working days later, I received my actual order. Hurray! The mug looks great, so now I’m very very happy.

Walter and his team have succeeded in turning around a bad customer experience into a great customer experience. And have made a once unhappy customer into one of their biggest fans, all through timely customer service that exceeded expectations.

If you run an online business, then this post is for you. Great customer service is the difference between mediocrity and success. And if you’re a small company, it’ll be a lot easier for you to provide it then it is for large businesses. That should be your differentiator, that should be why people should choose you over the others.

It’s a piece of low hanging fruit, so take it. Great customer service is always appreciated. So to Sxoop and Twitter Mosaic, a big thank you for turning this around. You guys rock.

Niels Bohr once famously said that an expert is “a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field”. Baring this in mind, it’s fair to say that in the last week I’ve become an ‘expert’ in HP laptop repairs.

Here’s what happened:

Monday morning, back from holidays. Within five minutes of turning my laptop on for the first time in two weeks, it suddenly shut down. There was no life out of it whatsoever. No lights, no noise, no laptop. Panic hadn’t yet set in but it was on its way. After about 10 minutes of frantically hitting the ‘on’ button the internal fan kicked in and a couple of LCD lights started to flash. I thought I was getting somewhere. I figured maybe it was just a temporary problem that had managed to fix itself somehow.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Thirty seconds after the fan kicked in, a puff of black smoke came out the side air vent followed by the dreaded smell of burning silicon. It was toast. My treasured laptop had become nothing more then an expensive paper weight in the space of about 15 seconds. At this point, panic had properly set in and I was seriously worried.

Out of Warranty

The first thing I thought of doing was ringing HP. I’ve used their support in the past and they’ve been really helpful. But after a quick check, they told me my laptop was out of warranty (only just) and that it would cost €90 to assess the laptop so they could give me a quote for the repair. I didn’t need to spend €90 to know that my motherboard was toast, the smell was all over the office. So I had a decision to make. Would I fork out the money and let HP fix it for me or would I try doing it myself, save some money and learn something new in the process? For me, that’s a no brainer. I would try it myself.

Dismantling the Laptop

Before ordering a new motherboard, I wanted to take apart the laptop to make sure that’s what the problem was.

Have you ever taken apart a laptop? It’s not as easy as you might think. At first I tried it without a guide. I managed to take out over 20 screws but I still couldn’t open it up. I decided I needed some help, so after a little Googling I discovered that all HP laptops have their own service manual which explains step by step how to replace any component, and the order in which they need to be replaced.

Here’s the document I used as a guide: HP nx7300 Service Document (PDF – 4.2Mb). Without this I had no chance.

Turns out that before the motherboard can be removed, you also have to remove:

• Hard Drive
• Optical Drive
• Bluetooth Module
• Keyboard
• Thermal Plate
• Fan
• Heat Sink
• RTC Battery
• Switch Cover
• Display Assembly
• Top Cover

Over the next two hours I slowly worked my way through the guide, dismantling the laptop piece by piece. There were over 70 screws (15 different types) and 25 components that needed to be removed before I could get the motherboard out. It was painstakingly slow. Here’s a quick photo of what it looked like fully dismantled:

Finding the Damaged Chip

Once the motherboard had been removed it was pretty easy to see what had happened. One of the microchips on the board had been completely destroyed. I could even see where the flame had scorched the casing on the pc card slot. Have a quick look at this image to see what happened:

At first, I considered trying to replace just the chip rather then the entire motherboard. I mean, it seemed a shame to have to replace the entire board when only a tiny portion of it was damaged. But after some more thought I decided it would probably be best the replace the whole thing. I didn’t know what else had been damaged and my skills with a soldering iron are clunky at best.

The Replacement Motherboard

I used the HP parts website to price a new board which cost €266 plus VAT and included all taxes and delivery charges. They had the board in stock and said delivery would take 3-4 days.

So, 3-4 days later I received a shiny new motherboard in the post, ready to replace the damaged one.

Here’s a couple of shots taken while I unboxed it:

Fitting the New Board

To fit the new motherboard, I just reversed the steps taken to dismantle the laptop. Each part went in, one after the other. It was a little harder putting it all back together because I had to make sure I was using the right screws each time (there were more then 15 different types), and that I left nothing out. Having to fit it all together is pretty tricky, but by following the service guide I managed to get it all back in without too many issues.

During the reassembly, I had a second laptop (same model) which I used to read through the different steps and make sure I got it all right. Here’s a few shots of the reassembly. If you look closely you should be able to see the corresponding manual page on the screen at the right side of each photo.

The Components Explained

While working on something like this, you really get an appreciation for just how well designed these things are. Everything has been thought of. All the components fit perfectly together. It’s like a jigsaw, only much more elegant.

Here’s a quick top down view of the different components in the laptop:

The Final Test

After the last screw was tightened and the last component was clicked in, I finally had the laptop back in one piece. All I needed to do now, was turn it on.

So, I held my breath and clicked the ‘on’ button.

The fan kicked in, the screen flashed on, and I could hear the wonderful sound of a hard disk being accessed.

It had worked.

My laptop was whirring quietly away as if nothing had ever happened.

I was thrilled. My gamble had paid off, and I’d learned a lot along the way.

The Benefit of Hindsight

I think the cause of the problem was dust and overheating. Not surprisingly, the damaged chip was located very close to the main processor, which generates a huge amount of heat. It was also very close to the fan and heat sink, where dust can build up.

I have a habit of using my laptop in bed, and surrounding the laptop’s air vents in a duvet. This, I now know, leads to overheating and ultimately, component damage.

To extend the life of my laptop and the new motherboard I’m going to do two things:

1. Clean it regularly using compressed air (this stuff is awesome and you can get in Maplins).
2. Stop using it in bed.

I think these two small changes should keep my laptop in good shape for a good few years to come.