Repairs on Out of Warranty Clemson Recommended Laptops

If you have a Clemson laptop that is more than three years old and you did not purchase the extra one year service contract, here are some repair options / ideas:

1) If your hard drive fails, you can purchase a new hard drive for it. It can be purchased from any office supply store or web page, but for your convenience, they are also offered in the Clemson Apple Store. The CCIT Support Center can install and image the new hard drive for you - and try to get data from the old one (depending on how 'dead' it is).

2) If you get 'fan error' first try blowing out the fan with some canned air (which can be purchased in any office supply store). If that does not fix the problem, you can bring it to the CCIT Support Center (PC Repair Desk) for a new fan. The cost of the fan plus labor will be around $100. You may call PC Repair at 656-4454 for a current price estimate.

3) If your power supply breaks, you can also buy them at either the CCIT Support Center (PC Repair Desk) or directly from the vendor.

4) If your battery will no longer charge and you may want to purchase a new one on-line or contact the laptop vendor.

5) If your laptop will not turn on (even though you have a working power supply attached), it is likely that your motherboard needs to be replaced. We do not recommend having that done - it will cost over $600 (at the time of this article) - and you can purchase a low end new laptop for less that will be better than your laptop (since it is more than three years old).

6) If your wireless card, ethernet card, modem, or ethernet ports do not work we recommend purchasing a PCMCIA card or USB device to replace that functionality (rather than replacing the motherboard or giving up on the laptop). All of those devices can be purchased rather inexpensively from an office supply store.

7) If your screen breaks, you can attach the computer to a monitor and turn it into a 'desktop'. There is a port for monitors on every Clemson laptop. A new laptop screen is very expensive and not generally recommended for a three year old laptop.

8) If your software 'breaks' or you're not sure of what is wrong, bring your laptop by the CCIT Support Center and we'll be glad to image it or help diagnose the problem.