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So I purchased a very nice Samsung Sens R55 a couple of years ago in Korea. This winter break, I decided to upgrade my laptop in order to get a couple more years out of it. Additionally, the cooling fan had started making some weird noises that I wanted to get checked out.
My plan was simple. First, I was going to open up the notebook, locate the fan, and clean out the dust (which I figured to be the cause of the fan making noise.) Second, I was going to upgrade the RAM to 3 gb (which is the max for this computer.) Third, I would get a larger hard drive, and put the current one in my ps3 (I have a launch 20 gb model.) Finally, I was going to wipe the hard drive and do a fresh install of the operating system using a disk that had been given to my by my work back in Korea.
Have no previous experience of actually opening a notebook before, I found a page on the internet with someone who had a similar model to mine. It wasn't the best explanation, but I managed to get the cover off successfully. There were, however, two problems. First, I couldn't get the cover off of the cooling fan. The screw were on so tight that I was starting to strip them (which would be bad.) Second, after reassembling the computer, my wireless stopped working properly. This was causing me to get angry.
I resigned that I was going to have to take my computer in to get looked at. But before I did that, I decided that I might as well wipe the hard drive with a fresh install of windows. Little did I know that after install windows, I got a message saying that my version of windows wasn't an authentic version of windows. No problem, I thought. I actually purchased an authentic version of windows on this computer. Granted, the stall in Yongsan where I bought it used a shady copy to install the English version operating system onto my computer, but I was able to insert the original software key to validate the system. This time, it wouldn't let me insert my validation key.
At this point, I decided to upgrade to Vista. I'd been playing with the idea of upgrading for a while, and decided that now was as good a time as any. I got the cheap student version of Vista ultimate for $65 dollars, and upgraded. Hooray, I had Vista. Though, no cd. The cd was sent to my address in Virginia (for an extra $13 dollar.) Thanks to a memory stick and my mom's work laptop, I was able to transfer the necessary drivers from her computer to my computer (thankfully found on the Samsung UK site) and I had a working, legal computer again. Hooray.
I decided to take my computer to Fry's. After about a week and three visits, it was determined that A: Hardware wise, the diagnostic didn't detect any problems, B: The antenna cables to the wireless card had been removed when I opened my laptop, and the technician reconnected them for me, and C: Sounds like the fan needs to be replaced, but since this is a Samsung model, can't get the parts easily in the states. So, unless the computer really starts to overheat, don't worry about it for now. (All this for $80.)
So I took it home, ungraded the ram ($45 on new egg,) purchased Office 2007 Ultimate ($55 +$13 DVD) and received a new hard drive (320 GB) from my parents for Christmas. After doing some checking on the internet, I discovered that I needed to have an installation CD to install my new hard drive. Since I downloaded my copy of Vista from the internet, I would have to wait until I got back to Virginia to install the hard drive.
Today (4 weeks later!) I got the Vista DVD in the mail. I spent a couple of hours backing up my data, and switched out the hard drive, and inserted the Vista DVD. When prompted, I'm asked to insert my confirmation key. When I'm then told that I can only use this key if an existing copy of windows is installed to the hard drive. SMRKENJTENTOAMNEJRT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Having left my corrupt version of Windows back at my parents, I'm currently downloading an illicit copy of Windows XP, so that I can once again update to a legitimate copy of Windows Vista.
Like I said, I hate windows. The worst part of this is I own two legitimate windows licenses, one for XP and one for Vista. I just have to jump through hoops and perform illegal tasks to get them to work properly.
My plan was simple. First, I was going to open up the notebook, locate the fan, and clean out the dust (which I figured to be the cause of the fan making noise.) Second, I was going to upgrade the RAM to 3 gb (which is the max for this computer.) Third, I would get a larger hard drive, and put the current one in my ps3 (I have a launch 20 gb model.) Finally, I was going to wipe the hard drive and do a fresh install of the operating system using a disk that had been given to my by my work back in Korea.
Have no previous experience of actually opening a notebook before, I found a page on the internet with someone who had a similar model to mine. It wasn't the best explanation, but I managed to get the cover off successfully. There were, however, two problems. First, I couldn't get the cover off of the cooling fan. The screw were on so tight that I was starting to strip them (which would be bad.) Second, after reassembling the computer, my wireless stopped working properly. This was causing me to get angry.
I resigned that I was going to have to take my computer in to get looked at. But before I did that, I decided that I might as well wipe the hard drive with a fresh install of windows. Little did I know that after install windows, I got a message saying that my version of windows wasn't an authentic version of windows. No problem, I thought. I actually purchased an authentic version of windows on this computer. Granted, the stall in Yongsan where I bought it used a shady copy to install the English version operating system onto my computer, but I was able to insert the original software key to validate the system. This time, it wouldn't let me insert my validation key.
At this point, I decided to upgrade to Vista. I'd been playing with the idea of upgrading for a while, and decided that now was as good a time as any. I got the cheap student version of Vista ultimate for $65 dollars, and upgraded. Hooray, I had Vista. Though, no cd. The cd was sent to my address in Virginia (for an extra $13 dollar.) Thanks to a memory stick and my mom's work laptop, I was able to transfer the necessary drivers from her computer to my computer (thankfully found on the Samsung UK site) and I had a working, legal computer again. Hooray.
I decided to take my computer to Fry's. After about a week and three visits, it was determined that A: Hardware wise, the diagnostic didn't detect any problems, B: The antenna cables to the wireless card had been removed when I opened my laptop, and the technician reconnected them for me, and C: Sounds like the fan needs to be replaced, but since this is a Samsung model, can't get the parts easily in the states. So, unless the computer really starts to overheat, don't worry about it for now. (All this for $80.)
So I took it home, ungraded the ram ($45 on new egg,) purchased Office 2007 Ultimate ($55 +$13 DVD) and received a new hard drive (320 GB) from my parents for Christmas. After doing some checking on the internet, I discovered that I needed to have an installation CD to install my new hard drive. Since I downloaded my copy of Vista from the internet, I would have to wait until I got back to Virginia to install the hard drive.
Today (4 weeks later!) I got the Vista DVD in the mail. I spent a couple of hours backing up my data, and switched out the hard drive, and inserted the Vista DVD. When prompted, I'm asked to insert my confirmation key. When I'm then told that I can only use this key if an existing copy of windows is installed to the hard drive. SMRKENJTENTOAMNEJRT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Having left my corrupt version of Windows back at my parents, I'm currently downloading an illicit copy of Windows XP, so that I can once again update to a legitimate copy of Windows Vista.
Like I said, I hate windows. The worst part of this is I own two legitimate windows licenses, one for XP and one for Vista. I just have to jump through hoops and perform illegal tasks to get them to work properly.
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