next »

[Coolwater]

I had plugged in my XO to recharge, and carefully threaded the cord through the legs of a chair up against the wall, so no one would trip over the cord.  My poor old dog, confused by his brain tumor, decided to go somewhere, but ended spiraling around the room.  He managed to go under the table, over the chair rungs and through the chair legs, and instead of unplugging the cord, he yanked the XO off the table.  It's case popped open a bit, and while it seemed to be booting up OK, the screen will not work.

So, since there seem to be no XO specialists anywhere nearby, I took my XO to the local penguin head shop, Computer Reboot, where they were absolutely delighted to see it.  The owner called the rest of the shop together and announced, "Gentlemen, who can identify this?"  Some of them could, but none of them can figure out why it isn't working, even after consulting the manual, and reading that the screen connector is the most fragile part of the machine.  Everything tests out, but the screen will still not work.

Now what?  I'm not a computer geek, and apparently not as bright as your average third world child, and this has me stumped.

[GregYohn]

Hello!

Try searching for Repair or replacement parts in the search option. Someone is repairing them, but that's the method I would use to look for what you would need, so I am advising you to do the same.

I can not assist directly otherwise.

[AuntiMame]

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Directory_of_repair_centers

The repair centers

[Coolwater]

   OK, maybe I am as smart as a third world child.  I did check that link, thanks, but before shipping my baby laptop hundreds of miles away, I was hoping someone had had a similar experience (OK, maybe not the spiraling dog part) and had a guess as to what was wrong with it for me to take to the local guys.

Does anyone know why there is no contact address for the Chicago group?  That's driveable from here, and maybe I can coax the local Linus guys to come with me for the education.

[AuntiMame]

re: contacting ILXO
You have to follow the repair page links to the ilxo wiki page to the ilxo blog to the ilxo home page and scroll down and find the contact page link on the right.... not exactly intuitive    but here's the link: http://ilxo.org/contact.html

re:repairing it yourself
1. have you submitted a question to [email protected]? The OLPC Support Gang has probably seen this before.
2. the http://wiki.laptop.org/go/XO_Troubleshooting_Guide page has a section just for display problems
3. you can purchase a replacement screen and replace it (full disclosure -- I'm http://www.xoexplosion.com, one of the two authorized resellers of parts. the other is http://www.ilovemyxo.com)

Aunti

[Coolwater]

Aunti, you are a gem.  I'll go look at all go that.  (Repair it myself???   Next you'll want me to remove my own appendix!)

[Jordan]

Just a quick question: what do you mean by the screen does not work?  Can you see stuff on the screen under bright light, but the backlight isn't working?  Is the backlight itself working, but there is nothing on the screen (if I recall correctly, it has its own power cable)?  Do you have no backlight and nothing on the screen?  Does stuff come up on the screen, but it is a garbled mess?  If it is a garbled mess, does it look like a digital garbled mess (horizontal and vertical lines, random pixels, or blocks) or a "this is physically damaged" garbled mess (diagonal or irregular lines)?

As for the appendix comment:

Repairing an XO is slightly (and only slightly, mind you) less traumatic than removing your own appendix.  It also involves a lot less blood.

Seriously though.  You should be able to do it if you have a pair of steady hands, a good enough spatial sense to remember where you removed stuff (so that you can put it back), and have the patience to do things slowly and without too much force.  I understand that there are a lot of people that don't have these skills, but those skills have nothing to do with smarts.  Besides, what you lack (may) lack in these departments people like I lack elsewhere. :p

There isn't anything inside the XO that can cause you much harm as long as it is unplugged and the battery is removed.  The worse thing that you can do yourself is receive a cut, and even that will be awfully hard to do given the XO's design.  For the most part, it is difficult to damage the XO when you are inside of it, short of dropping it or yanking at something too hard.  That's why a bit of patience is a virtue here: if something is not coming out as easily as you think it should, slowly look around and make sure there isn't a screw or a cable that you forgot to remove or disconnect.  Patience is also handy when pulling stuff out because you're more likely to remember what it looks like when you put it back in.  Remember, the key idea is to repair the thing.  It is not a race.

Once you're inside, you have to deal with the "hard" part.  It's not really hard to do, but it does take a bit of familiarity with computers to recognise when something doesn't look right.  And that's what you have to do when you're inside: look for something that doesn't look right.  Little black scorches are one sign, and usually a bad one.  Very bad, since only very skilled people can fix that type of problem.  The other thing to understand about computers is that things like to be in straight lines or at right angles.  So if a wire looks like it's plugged in at an angle, you probably found your problem.

Anyway, I should stop rambling since it sounds like you don't much like the thought of repairing things, but I just thought that I'd offer the suggestion.

[Jordan]

Oh yes, and I think your dog deserves a nice big hug.  The falling laptop probably scared the daylights out of him/her, and you did kinda discuss their medical problems in a public forum.

[Keith]

You should be able to do it if you have a pair of steady hands, a good enough spatial sense to remember where you removed stuff (so that you can put it back),

My technique for this is to take digital photos the whole way through the process!  During a  recent mechanical rehab project with something I was not familiar with working on they pics save my bacon several times!!!

[Coolwater]

Oh, I hope the computer fares better than my late dog: I was being literal when I said he was brain tumored.  Wolf was 15, and lived a very good life, but we would have loved having him around indefinitely.  He was a good, kind hearted dog, and a clever vermin hunter.

Anyway, the screen is not coming up at all, and the Linux guys who took it apart for me couldn't find anything odd.  In fact, they tested all the parts as much as they could and everything worked fine until they put it together again. The whole XO is clearly greater than the sum of its parts!

Ah, photos are a good idea; failure to remember where the parts go is likely if you have no idea of how the parts work or even what they are. Still, if the Linux guys couldn't find anything wrong, that doesn't bode well for me.  Do you think I should go with the odds, buy the most commonly broken connector part and replace it?

[clm42]

how did they test the screen? it could have broken in a way that it flat doesnt work. that would be an issue with power getting into the screen. you can buy new ones if thats the only issue. i cant imagine how to test the screen without hooking it up to another xo, so short of taking the screen apart (which i dont think you can do) to check the power control parts inside, youll have to either meet up with another g1g1 or buy a new screen and cross your fingers.

[AuntiMame]

so short of taking the screen apart (which i dont think you can do) to check the power control parts inside, youll have to either meet up with another g1g1 or buy a new screen and cross your fingers.

or send it to an XO repair center: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Directory_of_repair_centers

[jrghoull]

i'm sorry to hear about your pup coolwater, mine was possibly as old as 14, and got cushings disease.

good luck getting your XO repaired, please keep us up to date so that when mine or other XOs break, we'll have a better idea of what to do about it in the future.

[clm42]

AuntiMame, Ive never used a repair center. Wouldnt they charge you like if you bought the screen yourself? Hmm I wonder if I could sign up to be a repair center. Not to make money or anything, since it would only be right to have people pay for parts, It would just be fun to help out all those sad broken xos.

[AuntiMame]

sorry to take this off topic:

clm42,

Wouldnt they charge you like if you bought the screen yourself?

Yes, a repair center would charge you, but they also have access to other XOs to test parts (maybe its the screen, maybe its the motherboard...) and do more diagnostics on the unit.

Hmm I wonder if I could sign up to be a repair center. Not to make money or anything, since it would only be right to have people pay for parts, It would just be fun to help out all those sad broken xos.

Go for it! http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Repair_centers  Some are not-for-profit. Some are for-profit. OLPC is supportive of both models. But you need to talk to OLPC about getting "official" recognition. (They don't have a "badging" or certification process in place yet, but the repair centers are talking about it amongst themselves.)

As a parts supplier (XOExplosion.com), I deal with the repair centers and stock parts for them. As start-ups most are too small to be able to stock large quantities of parts -- which requires a sizable $ order from OLPC.

OLPC is not against the concept of capitalism.  For example, both XOExplosion.com and ILoveMyXO.com are for-profit, but both shops donate $ back to OLPC. (And I volunteer 20-30 hours a week to OLPC on top of that, 'cuz I live in the Boston area). Both companies are official OLPC parts suppliers -- in fact you can't get parts that haven't passed though one of us first because of the $$ requirements in ordering parts -- and act as wholesalers for the repair centers.

Aunti