Is there any need to keep a Laptop HD in with sendning it in for a DC jack repair?

[pstokely]

I'm taking it to a local shop for loose DC jack repair, guy says he needs to the HD for more though testing unless to see if it will charge unless it can be done though the bios instead of Windows. It has Phoenix bios. I'd rather leave it out due to security concerns. Is there any other way to test it without the HD.

[saras]

1. Most repair people have boot CDs with diagnostics on them.

What's the guy going to do if you bring him a laptop with a dead hard disk? Or one that's infected and won't boot?

Takes ten minutes or so to download and burn a Linux CD with diagnostics that could monitor the battery charge. But if he has NO familiarity with Linux, it isn't going to happen. You can make Windows boot disks with extra diagnostic software, but it's quite a bit harder. Some repair people have them. I find them utterly necessary to clean an infected machine.

One would need more information than just the brand of BIOS to find out whether it has a battery charge/condition monitor, which seems to be what they're looking for. You could boot into BIOS yourself and look for battery information - just don't change anything, and don't save your changes at the end. If BIOS has a page showing how much charge is in the battery, you're set.

You could also pack all your documents into a passworded archive file. The machine will boot, software will run, but all your documents are inaccessible. Internet history, etc, is still there, though.

[pstokely]

2. I think it's Phoenix bios

All of my documents are on an external HD. Is there a place where I can download something that has diagnostics stuff to burn on CD that I could give him with the Laptop?