Recent content by Onus

I am sorry, we are unable to provide password-cracking assistance here. You will need to take it to a shop, and provide whatever proof of ownership they require in order to assist you. Good luck.

If a key is stuck, you might be able to unstick it, by one by one giving every key on the keyboard a firm tap. Don't hold them down, just tap them. After doing that with all of them, backspace out any actual keystrokes (although you can do this with the machine off), then see if you are able...

The slam probably caused a fatal head crash. Hopefully no circuitboard was cracked, but the drive is certainly dead. Fortunately, if you install Windows 10 on a new drive, you will probably not need a key; the installation will read the motherboard information and auto-activate. Unfortunately...

The laptop jack is probably for a four-conductor plug, and the speakers only have three. You'll need an adapter to break out the speaker and mic connectors separately; they exist, I've bought some, I think on Amazon.

Are you also using a wireless mouse? Remove its dongle and see if it was interfering with the keyboard. And yeah, I'd try a cheap wired KB.

Make sure the power cable is firmly inserted. It may not be fully seated. If that's not it, then yes, you'll need to return it. DOA units are rare, but they happen. Sorry if you got one.

If you know the battery is good, you could attach it in parallel to an existing battery in a car; start it and let it run for a while.

A lead-acid battery actually requires at least 13.2V to charge, and an "intelligent" charger may use up to 14.5V during some parts of the charging cycle. The laptop charger is a bad idea not just because it will be very slow, but because it doesn't know when to stop charging, which will damage...

Test the voltages at home and at work. If you do not have a multimeter, you can get a cheap one for $8; it's a tool worth having.

Check the voltage at the outlet. Chances are, the outlet at work is on the high end of the 110V-120V, and your outlet at home is on the low side of it, maybe even under the "standard;" this will increase the stress on the adapter considerably.

It's a shame that the term "laptop" was selected, when the possibility of clothing blocking vents is so high for most "laptops" actually used in a lap.

^That's a nice-looking machine. If your need for portability includes long battery life, you might want a smaller screen, but then I don't know how good your eyes are (FHD on a 15" screen is getting difficult for me).

I also own two Lenovo Thinkpad laptops, and neither has "cooling issues;" one has a R7 370 in it, although I don't play a lot of games on it. It is very hard to beat the durability of the Thinkpad line. Those are their business machines (although some have gaming cards), whereas the cheaper...

What do you mean "unblock?" If your computer is in a corporate environment where Group Policy has disabled the drive for security reasons, attempts to circumvent it will a) not be successful, and/or b) get you fired. Ask your supervisor or IT Support organization if there is an exception...

Does Ctrl-Alt-Del wake it up? If not, holding down the power button for >4 seconds should cause it to shut off.