iMac G4 Music Recovery Narre Warren North

iMac G4 Music Recovery – Narre Warren North – South Eastern, Eastern suburbs and surrounding such as: Berwick, Beaconsfield, Cranbourne, Dandenong, Endeavour Hills, Mulgrave, Narre Warren, Pakenham, Rowville, etc. – CMSS provides first class Technical Support, Data Recovery Services! Call 8790 4460

Dead iMac G4 Music Recovery Narre Warren North

Workshop Job – Non-booting iMac G4 Desktop

The customer requested to recover his music files as much as possible when he brought over his non-booting iMac G4.

The dead computer had been used solely as a media player for music only. Great if it can be fixed, otherwise please recover as much of the music files as possible.

Push the power button, nothing, no light no noise.

Tried resetting it, still no joy.

Connected another power supply, no movement.

Highly likely a motherboard problem although no visual clues i.e. blown caps or the likes.

Not worth trying to fix this any further due to the value and purpose of the system.

Remove the HDD caddy. Two PATA drives. Connect them to one of the data recovery PCs. First drive is readily accessible but completely empty.

Second one presents a lot of bad sectors. Retrieval of the music files is going to require preparing the drive accordingly.

After processing for access, this turns out to be the system drive with all the user account folders. Recovery of the music files will now be possible indeed. As expected all other user folders are empty, so there is no other type of files to worry about.

Recover and extract the music files successfully to a safe recovery drive. All the files are integral so they should be in perfect state and playable. Test play samples, 100% good.

The customer supplied a transfer drive, appropriately format it for access by Mac OS. Copy over the recovered music folders and files.

Yes, no matter what kind of data are important to you, we can help you recover them when bad luck strikes.

Dead Lenovo Laptop Legion Repairs Narre Warren North

Dead Lenovo Laptop Legion ~ Repairs with a twist at Narre Warren North – South Eastern, Eastern suburbs and surrounding such as: Berwick, Beaconsfield, Cranbourne, Harkaway, Dandenong, Endeavour Hills, Mulgrave, Narre Warren, Pakenham, Rowville, etc. – CMSS provides fair and honest laptop repairs! Call 8790 4460

Dead Lenovo Laptop Legion Repairs ~ Gaming class laptop. The client was happily playing when the laptop just shutdown! No light, no noise, no movement! The laptop was just shy of fourteen month old. Googling on the smartphone did not help.

Dead Lenovo Laptop Legion Repairs ~ Under warranty

Outline

Location: At our workshop
Client type: Personal
Problem – Symptoms: No light, no noise, unresponsive.
Diagnostics: Physical, battery, power adapter,
Findings: Failed – power adapter, battery, motherboard
Solution: Get Lenovo to repair/replace failed components under warranty
Outcome: Laptop successfully repaired under warranty

Where: at our workshop

Lenovo Legion Gaming Laptop ~ The client got in touch, his gaming laptop just died, no light, no response, whilst he had been gaming hard. Really panicking, he’d been all over the internet googling how to get around this, no luck!

From experience I knew this was not a simple case, so I advised him to drop the laptop off so I can run diagnostics to find out the source/s of the trouble.

Client Type

The owner bought the Lenovo Legion which is a gaming series laptop just for personal use. No especially valuable data to worry about. Just wants it back working so he can play his games! Really stressing out as he had it custom upgraded at the time of purchase with higher performance components.He wanted a really top class rig and put the money in to get it. And now the thing died just shy of fourteen month old. And he might lose all these expensive upgrade components as well.

Well, at fourteen month we might be able to get Lenovo to own up to this failure if it turns up to be from main hardware components. Even though the basic 1-year warranty had expired, purchaser life expectancy might still prevail at fourteen month? Still have to make sure it was not software related or user-induced damage. And identify the origin of the failure in the process.

Symptoms

This Lenovo Legion Gaming laptop was indeed dead – Plugged in the  power adapter ~ no show on charging indicator LED; push on power button ~ nothing on power ON LED, no sign of life;

Diagnostics – Assessment

Visual check

The Legion laptop appeared in perfect condition, no dent or scratch, and pretty clean/brand new looking. No dust or fluff around the fan grills. Indeed someone’s who loved his rig!

Dead Lenovo Laptop Legion - Charger Connector and DC-In

The power adapter also looked very neat – wires properly coiled, no kinks or knots, no visible damage. Power jack in the laptop looking in perfect shape, no damage. Pin in power connector present and straight. Should be making perfect contact with power jack.

Ok, pull the multimeter out and check the power adapter. Well, no life in it at all. So the adapter was dead. Pull out a known working well test charger, plugged it in, still no light on charger and power LEDs.

Ring customer and let him know the laptop’s power adapter was definitely dead. He will need a replacement one and these are not cheap. That’s when he mentioned that the battery should be fully charged as he had kept the charger plugged in whilst playing. He remembered the battery charge indicator showing full charge before everything went dark.

So if the battery was fully charged, this Legion laptop should at least start and  run on battery. Unless the battery also died along with the charger? To check whether the battery also failed, disconnect it from the motherboard, plug in the good charger for testing. Still no sign of life. Replaced the RAM, removed the SSD, no joy.

Looks like the motherboard also died. Tried resetting the BIOS, still no response ~ definitely dead motherboard.

At this point in time, since the system was only fourteen month old for such a general failure, I felt Lenovo should take responsibility of this mess. I then requested the client to provide me with copies of the purchase docs.

Findings about this dead Lenovo Legion Gaming laptop

Visual checks – no sign of physical abuse or damage;

Charger – tested with multimeter ~ dead;

Battery – unconfirmed but potentially damaged as well from adapter death;

Motherboard – dead, not responding with test charger even with potentially major components replaced.

Solution

As the dead gaming Legion laptop basic warranty had recently expired, I contacted Lenovo support and presented the case along with my testing procedures and findings.

And yes, they agreed to take care of the matter. They organised the product pick up and return. I properly package the laptop as per requirement and sent it back for assessment and repairs under warranty.

Outcome – Lenovo Gaming Laptop Legion ~ Repaired

The Legion laptop was repaired under warranty. The client was ecstatic! Extremely happy and relieved to get his laptop back and working perfectly when he had already given up any hope about it. And especially at minimal cost considering the high cost of the replacement components.

 

 

 

Home Networking Support Narre Warren North

Home Networking Support Connect EcoVacs DEEBOT Narre Warren North – South Eastern, Eastern suburbs and surroundings such as: Berwick, Beaconsfield, Cranbourne, Dandenong, Endeavour Hills, Mulgrave, Narre Warren, Pakenham, Rowville, etc. – CMSS offers first class Networking Support! Call 8790 4460

Home Networking Support Narre Warren North

Onsite/Offsite Job – Connect EcoVacs DEEBOT

Home Networking Support – The client called and asked for help installing a new modem for their NBN service.
Once onsite, the client explained that their current modem was unreliable with their EcoVacs DEEBOT OZMO 900 robot vacuum cleaner. They also could not connect their smartphone with the DEEBOT as required to configure the mapping for cleaning.

 Findings

First the smartphone is supposed to connect to the modem on the 2.4GHz wireless band. Then the  DEEBOT connects to the smartphone on the 2.4GHz band.
Although the current modem indicated it offered 2.4GHz and 5GHz, there was no option to differentiate the SSIDs and manually select which one to connect to. This modem automatically detects the capabilities of the connecting device and initiates the connection accordingly. As the smartphone is 5GHz enabled, the modem therefore automatically connects it on the 5GHz band, thus making it impossible to access the DEEBOT on the 2.4GHz. Home Networking Support Modem-DEEBOT
The new modem totally refused to pick up the NBN internet connection – presumed dead-on-arrival (DOD).
After trying a number of different possible options, we couldn’t determine for sure whether the fault was solely from the old modem, the DEEBOT or both.

Suggestion

Take the DEEBOT back to the workshop and test its connectivity. Our Telstra SmartModem can be configured to allow SSIDs differentiation and manual selection for connection.
The client’s ISP is  also Telstra. So to help mitigate the instability of the NBN service we advised him to request/get a Telstra Smart Modem. These modems have a SIM card which automatically defaults to the mobile 4G network service when the NBN service gets flaky. As long as the mobile signal is good, the internet service would also be just as fast for no extra charge.

Back at the workshop

The DEEBOT successfully accepted the connection with the smartphone. However we did have to work out the correct procedure to make that happen.
Client bought a SmartModem a couple of days later.

Back onsite

Successfully setup the new SmartModem working on both the mobile network and NBN service.
Then as per the previously developed procedure, successfully connect client’s smartphone with the DEEBOT. All good.

CMSS – Narre Warren North
Taking care of your Networking problems for you

 

Gigabyte Gaming Laptop Broken Screen Narre Warren North

Gigabyte Gaming Laptop Broken Screen Narre Warren North – South Eastern, Eastern suburbs and surrounding such as: Berwick, Beaconsfield, Cranbourne, Dandenong, Endeavour Hills, Mulgrave, Narre Warren, Pakenham, Rowville, etc. – CMSS offers first class Laptop Repairs! Call 8790 4460

Gigabyte Gaming Laptop Broken Screen Narre Warren North

Workshop Job – Laptop Screen Repairs

Gaming Laptop Broken Screen Gigabyte P27K came in for repairs. The owner dropped it and apparently drove over it. Miraculously everything still worked except the broken screen! Only other problem, the slightly bent metal frame holding the LED panel to the screen back cover.

 Findings

Now one potential problem, Gigabyte no longer carries spare parts for the model as it’s over 6-years old.
However we can source out compatible components from third party suppliers. One problem though – about 10-days ETA.
This is a desktop replacement exclusively used for work. So the client needs this laptop for work on a daily basis. As he usually connects it to a secondary monitor when at work, and that still works, he takes it back pending receipt of the part.

The Fix

He dropped the laptop back when notified about the delivery of the panel.
To perform the repairs of the broken screen, first disassemble the screen set.Gaming Laptop Broken Screen - Gigabyte P27K - Repaired
Then temporarily replace the damaged screen with the new one, connect, test, all good!
One more thing to fix, remove the bent metal screen frame and carefully straighten it back to normal.
Finally re-assemble everything, test again, perfect!

Something extra

Login to Windows and do a general software check. Disable some unnecessary startup items to improve logon performance. Apply latest Windows, drivers and BIOS updates.
Also review and optimise the settings in Chrome for performance and ease of use.

Nice touch

Although this was simply a broken screen repair job we always round off the service. Remove all covers and perform internal dust and fluff cleanup with brush and compressed air. Will definitely improve cooling and stability.
Then using rubbing alcohol and microfibre cloth, cleanup screen, keyboard as well as the external covers.

CMSS – Narre Warren North
Taking care of your Laptop and IT needs for you

 

Reorganising Laptop Data Narre Warren North

Reorganising Laptop Data Narre Warren North – South Eastern, Eastern suburbs and surrounding such as: Berwick, Beaconsfield, Cranbourne, Dandenong, Endeavour Hills, Mulgrave, Narre Warren, Pakenham, Rowville, etc. – CMSS offers first class IT Support! Call 8790 4460

Reorganising Laptop Data Narre Warren North

Onsite-Offsite Job – Call out to reconfigure data

Reorganising Laptop Data for easier access was the client request when she called for onsite visit to help.
She had been frustrated with her laptop slowness especially when accessing and working on her Gmail.
She decided to use the Windows backup utility to save her data to a portable hard drive, then perform a clean system reset. However after returning the data following the system reset, she could no longer find her most recent documents and photos.

 Investigating

On checking up what was going on, it became apparent she had previously done other backups to the external drive. In her frustration with not finding the documents she was after, she had restored multiple sets of previous backups. Total mess and total confusion!
To make matters worse, the most recent backup set was longer present in the external drive. Were this available, a quicker way to solve the problem would have been to remove whatever she had restored, then restore from the latest set.

Findings

There were multiple copies of various folders and files everywhere. Reorganising and optimising data access in the laptop would not be a quick fix.
This was going to take some serious time. Copying/transferring large amounts of data definitely take a while, so I suggested doing the job back at the workshop for better time and cost efficiency.

Solution

Back at the workshop, set the system to sort out folders and files according to last modified date. Create appropriate folders and copy/paste accordingly. When all the reorganising is complete, delete the source folders/files to reclaim disk space.
After resetting the system, the customer could no longer access her old MS Office 2010 package. She decided to take up an Office 365 subscription. Unbeknown to her, that afforded her a one TB storage space on OneDrive.
One of her requirements was to have a backup system that would allow her to readily see the data just the same as when browsing through her folders.
The data allowance in OneDrive enabled configuring it as a cloud storage solution.
Reformatting the external drive, setting it up and configuring SyncToy as a backup agent to synchronise with OneDrive was the next step.
That pretty much covered the biggest parts of the requests.

Results

When the client was notified about the results her comment was: Wow! All that sounds so amazing! I was desperate that I could not access my data anymore. To hear I haven’t lost anything is just amazing.

Nice touch

Remove all covers and perform internal dust and fluff cleanup with brush and compressed air. Will definitely improve cooling and stability.
Using rubbing alcohol + microfibre cloth, clean up screen, keyboard and external covers = squeaky clean brand new looking machine.

CMSS – Narre Warren North
Taking care of your IT needs for you

Servicing computers and troubleshooting IT problems – that’s our passion at CMSS Narre Warren North!
We offer on-site and off-site services. Some people prefer to drop off their device to our workshop whilst others would rather us visiting. It all depends on the nature of the problem and the client’s preferences.
Issues like internet, emails, networking, printers, are prime candidates for on-site visits or remote access support.
Suspected hardware, severe corruption/malware issues are best handled off-site for efficient diagnostics and troubleshooting.
Drawing from our extensive technical experience and knowledge, we will suggest the best service options when you contact us and describe your problem.
Broken laptop screens/hinges/body, PC not booting up-no sign of life, weird error messages/noises, can’t get emails, accounting package issues, can’t print, no internet/ISP can’t help, what do I do now feeling, etc.
Whether at the office or at home – CMSS can help!

Home users often comment

CMSS for best IT Problems Technical Support services – serving South Eastern and Eastern suburbs – From Pakenham to Oakleigh as well as Box Hill to Cranbourne ~ and surroundings such as: Berwick, Narre Warren, Clyde, Belgrave, Narre Warren South, Fountain Gate, Hallam, Narre Warren North, Doveton, Beaconsfield, Harkaway, Narre Warren East, etc. – Computer Maintenance & Support Services – the best team for top quality PC, Mac and laptop repair as well as IT support services.

IT Problems Technical Support

IT Problems Technical Support ~ All this computer stuff is way over my head. I just want to turn it on, read my email and print out some recipes, or my payment records. How on earth do they expect me to make sense of all these things?

Confusing stuff

Things keep popping up asking me if I want to install this, update that, restart the computer, etc. How am I supposed to know whether this is required or not? Why do I have to restart the computer anyway? And these updates, is it just another way to get more money out of me? I don’t want to keep paying for things I might not need anyway. IT Problems Technical Support - Home Users Technical Help

And with all these bad things you hear about, you see on TV about being careful. Do not open emails if you don’t know who sent it. Don’t install things willy-nilly cause a lot of these are just tricks to con you and invade your privacy and steal your stuff. Except for some photos and my music, I don’t really have anything to get stolen. Should I worry about it? How would your everyday Joe Bloke make sense of all these?

I’m not stupid but all these computer speak, why don’t they just call things like everybody does. Speak  simple English. You see all these fancy words, and it just doesn’t make sense.

The printer the other day, went to print and something popped up about a paper jam. It’s a brand new pack of paper.

Does this mean it’s cactus already and I need to buy another printer? I don’t do that much printing anyway and the day I want to use it this comes up!
I just don’t have the time to learn all these things, can they just make it simple for us non techies?

New device issues

Got this new phone, fair enough the guy at the shop set it up and it’s working fine. I’m not technical at all, but I’ve taken photos that I’d like to put into the computer. And then delete them off the phone. Sounds like an IT problem I’d need help with. Do you do this kind of stuff?

I used to connect my camera to the computer with the USB, a little pop up use to come up. I clicked on transfer, done. It no longer happens with the new computer. Really need to get the photos into the computer.

How do I get the emails on my new phone please? I get them on the computer fine but I was told I could get them on the phone as well?

I’ve got photos on the computer I want to email to some to relatives, but the computer is asking to choose a program. A bit frustrating!

 

Computer Repairs Beaconsfield

Computer Repairs Beaconsfield – We cater for all nearby and surrounding suburbs – Berwick, Beaconsfield Upper, Guys Hill, Belgrave, Officer, Pakenham, and so on. Dead computers, broken screens, slow, not charging, etc.

Computer Repairs Beaconsfield – Computer Maintenance & Support Services for all related IT matters, CMSS is a well-established laptop and computer repairs company.
We have streamlined our laptop as well as computer repair process and can fix any kind of issues as quickly and efficiently as possible. We will craft a customised IT plan t0 cater for all your computer support requirements.

Certainly, whatever laptop, computer, printer, internet/email problems you might be experiencing, we’re sure we can help you as well with expert technical assistance for just about any technological support you may need.

Why choose us for Computer Repairs in Beaconsfield?

Firstly we deliver a full line of computer repair services ~ any brand:

  • Laptops Computer Repairs Beaconsfield ~ Laptop Fan
  • Desktops
  • All-in-Ones

Secondly what types of computer

  • Windows
  • Macs
  • Linux
  • Android
  • etc.

Thirdly – What sort of issues do we fix

  • Dead, not turning on, push the button nothing happens, no sign of life, no signal error on screen …
  • Not charging, cracked screen, keyboard problems, Touchpad not working …
  • Not loading Windows/OS, weird startup issues, stuck at logon screen …
  • Hard drive died
  • Macbook fix
  • iMac repairs

Moreover, we also are expert at:

  • Data recovery, data backup and preservation
  • Disaster mitigation
  • Malware, virus removal, cleanup and system rehabilitation
  • Our technicians are also trained to provide new computer set-up service. Therefore you can have peace of mind knowing that your PC is configured safely and correctly in accordance with your requirements.

What we stand for

With a strong emphasis on integrity and ethics, we provide offsite, onsite and remote IT support to businesses and home office users alike. Efficiency and convenience top priorities.

At CMSS we know how frustrating the PC repair process can be. Our technicians are friendly and courteous, and will be available to guide you throughout the repair process. Give us a call on 03 8790 4460 so we can help you with your computer servicing and repairs needs!

Our Service areas:

CMSS – Narre Warren North
Taking care of all your Computers and IT needs for you

Technical Support

Technical Support – CMSS Narre Warren North

Business Technical Support

Technical Support – For a small/medium business or organisation outsourcing IT Support and Maintenance can be a very cost effective and efficient way to have full technical department services without having to invest in a full in-house tech desk.
Pro-active maintenance, day-to-day technical/networking queries or hiccups, emergency interventions and more, all can be achieved through outsourcing. This can also help your organisation to optimise costs and commitments.
Whether you work at a dedicated business premises or an office at your residence, no two businesses are ever the same. CMSS can tailor a custom technical support plan to cater for your specific needs or requirements.
For business continuity and a productive work session, CMSS technical support is just a call away to help you.

How we can help.

You may be starting up and you need some help deciding, planning and organising the computers, software and IT requirements you will need to get going. Making sure the internet is correctly working, organising your emails and communications needs.
Maybe you have been already running the business for some time and now need to re-adjust things. Your accounting package might need to be updated/upgraded as well as the data or settings.
Or something that used to simply work no longer does and you urgently need it operating back properly and efficiently.
A remote session can be a real time saver and efficient way to quickly get you back in action.

Home User Technical Support

Home users often comment:

‘At work we just call the IT Department when things go wrong or we’re stuck’.
Computer Maintenance & Support Services can be your at home ‘IT Department’!
You probably just want to be able to turn on your PC or laptop, whether you’re checking emails, your banking, Skype or Facebook and simply go through it without a fuss.
We’ll take care of the technical aspects.

How we can help.

Pro-active maintenance, day-to-day technical/networking puzzles or hiccups, emergency interventions and more. We aim to help you enjoy whatever you want to do. Technical Support - CMSS Home User Help
CMSS can tailor a custom suite of services to cater for your specific needs or requirements or just at call when you need support. Our extensive experience and technical expertise allow us to help you simply do what you want do.
It could be something you may not be sure how to go about.
Maybe you bought a new device (printer, scanner, etc) and you can’t quite figure out how to set it up properly or use it.
You want to transfer photos from your camera/phone and the device is not showing up in the computer.
Or something unexpected might have happened.
Whatever you may need help with and don’t know where to get support. Call CMSS and we’ll sort it out for you.

Our Service areas:

Stress at Work – How to Reduce?

There are so many factors that can raise tension and create stress at work even when one has been lucky enough to secure the ideal job!
Some people say: ‘I just enjoy so much what I’m doing, it doesn’t feel like work.’
Others dread just turning up at the same work. An experience that can be comparable to real sickness!
The reality is we are social animals, and work is one major means for contributing to society.
Work should also be contributing to our livelihood (our family needs, our personal needs, then society at large).
Not many of those people who feel ‘work is so much fun’ would gladly work for free when their essential needs (food, bills, healthcare, recognition, etc) had not been met.
Personal attitude
Regardless of which group we belong to, we all need to be mature enough to accept that what we are doing needs (in the vast majority of cases) to be done by somebody. So if we are the ones doing it, as the saying goes: ‘if it’s worth doing, do it at the best level you can’.
That just means putting value on what we’re doing, then giving it the best interest and attention we have. Human nature drives us to apply ourselves the best we can.
Someone once said: ‘even the staunchest pacifist will strive to do a better job whilst forced to work at a weapons production line’.
So once we’ve decided that we are going to work on that job, we need to start programming ourselves to accept it. As humans, we are born to learn. We can learn from somebody else. And we can also learn from ourselves and teach ourselves positive outlook and expectancy.
Being on the positive side will help us negate feeling like a defeated victim.
It’s not about being blindly positive. We need to take stock of our capabilities and limitations. Just about any limitation can be overcome through learning and positive expectation.
We are all different. So are our gifts. We all learn differently. The key here is that difference. That will help to accept ourselves (forget how the one next to us goes about things), our capabilities, and the way we learn and perform. Add some perseverance and positive outlook to that, and we sure will be able to soon feel comfortable doing that scary job.
So there is a lot we can do to help feeling us good about the job, no matter what it is. There is also a lot out of our control as well. Topics for future articles!

CMSS ~ Laptops All-in-Ones Desktops Macs Repairs all brands Parts & Service Virus Removal Data Recovery Networking & IT Support for Fast and Efficient Service - Home Users Small Businesses.

Call 0438 804 126
03 8790 4460

7 days a week From:

Monday to Friday: 9am – 9pm
Saturday & Sunday: 9am – 7pm

Address
1 Cleveland Close Narre Warren North
Victoria, 3804, Australia.
Phone
M: 0438 804 126 P: 03 8790 4460
Timings
Monday - Friday : 9am - 9pm Saturday & Sunday : 9am to 7pm