1. Is there a way to simply put my beat up laptop in the corner doing nothing but acting as a big hard drive? Would something like that cause the laptop to heat up? Best Best Buy is quoting me $80 or so for the external USB case, not including costs for removing the hard drive. With everything, I bet it will be $150 or so....which I would like to avoid if I have other options.
Or
2. Is there an unofficial HP installer that can get me to factory install? It seems ridiculous that they have to mail out restore CDs.
The issues: My laptop's fan on the bottom is busted along with the sensor, but it still boots up. HP support is pretty useless and I would have to order restore CDs just to even try to wipe and reinstall to factory defaults. The local tech places around Boulder are quoting me an ungodly amount per hour to assist, with my lowest price quote being about $600 to wipe, find drivers, reinstall OS, and fix the fan. The thing is, this is about 6 years old and I picked it up at a pawn shop like a year ago for $250, and it is built for working, so I would love to keep using it.
Or
2. Is there an unofficial HP installer that can get me to factory install? It seems ridiculous that they have to mail out restore CDs.
The issues: My laptop's fan on the bottom is busted along with the sensor, but it still boots up. HP support is pretty useless and I would have to order restore CDs just to even try to wipe and reinstall to factory defaults. The local tech places around Boulder are quoting me an ungodly amount per hour to assist, with my lowest price quote being about $600 to wipe, find drivers, reinstall OS, and fix the fan. The thing is, this is about 6 years old and I picked it up at a pawn shop like a year ago for $250, and it is built for working, so I would love to keep using it.
