HDD crash, Grub loader won't install

[AZgl1800]

my laptop took a nose dive this weekend, hauled it to Missouri in the motorcycle, should have been okay
but for some odd reason, and was working just fine for 3 days, it up and quit doing most system things.
nemo can't copy files, create folders, none of the things it should do.

it can open folders and see files. This laptop previously experienced some corrupted blocks on the HDD and supposedly it "fixed them" and went to work.... but now it don't

So, I tried to do a fresh install of 18.3 Cinnamon over the old install, that halted with the message "GRUB installation failed"

Tried twice, same result.
So, tried XCFE and the install worked just fine, came up like it should.
okay, figured that fixed GRUB, so tried to do a reinstall of 18.3 Cinnamon.

halted again with the failed GRUB message.

any thoughts?

[Spearmint2]

sounds like your HDD is failing.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Recov ... ingWindows

https://www.howtogeek.com/196740/how-to ... wont-boot/

Alternate temporary fix is to buy a cheap 16-32 GB USB flashdrive and install a USB LIVE with persistence on it and use that in the interim. Use mkusb to create it.

[AZgl1800]

I have an emergency backup Dell laptop, keyboard is wonky, have to hit the keys hard, and the screen is broken on the left side, two inches of it are foggy...

but I can read this forum okay... with it...
I am taking the ASUS apart tomorrow and see if I can shoehorn in the new SSD and lighted keyboard on the bad laptop that has failed... ordered the parts a couple months ago, but Life got in the way.

guess now is as good a time as any to throw those parts in

[AZgl1800]

Got started on the refurb of the TP500L

right now, it is in disarray, have a lot of pictures to help guide me putting it back together.

when finished, it will have an added 8gB RAM chip, which I presume will add onto the OEM 4gB RAM as I have not been able to find the OEM 4 gB RAM. it is in there somewhere, but not visible to my eyes, or the camera's eye.

The HDD is now a 500 gB SSD, and fit the OEM HDD frame perfectly, love Samsung for doing that.

and the lighted keyboard is a project in progress, I have uncovered the OEM keyboard, but not figured out how to remove it just yet. There are zero tutorials on the internet for doing this on this specific model laptop.

only found 2 tutorials on other laptops in the TP5..... series, but none of them are the 360 degree phablets like this one.... one a pain in the arse this has been.


https://imgur.com/gallery/Gj38KEf

.

[Spearmint2]

wont' the keyboard just pop off, carefully, then remove it from the cable?

[AZgl1800]

wont' the keyboard just pop off, carefully, then remove it from the cable?

this particular laptop's keyboard is buried in the bottom of the case, the "top of case" will not come off separate.
This thing is a one piece aluminium housing, you lay it upside down, lay the keyboard in it first, and then you carefully start reassembling the different pieces back onto the "bottom of the keyboard" one at a time."

wish I knew how it was made before I bought it, it would still be sitting on the dealer's shelf.

Note to self: "Don't ever buy a laptop until you look at YouTube and see how it is assembled"
one day, you just might have to replace something.
just getting to the HDD is a PITA, and it is super fragile.

one thing of interest, there is a small circuit board labeled "SSD board" and no ribbons to it at all, nothing.
going to take a picture of that right now.


https://i.imgur.com/xxPzlxl.jpg


and here is the kybd viewed from the inside of the case, which is "upside down"
just above the kybd you can see two small green circuit boards, those are the Touchpad and the Touch buttons left/right clickers
https://i.imgur.com/j8XgQQD.jpg


and there are a bunch of the mylar insulators all over the "bottom" of the kybd, so when you push down, they keep the underside from shorting out on something.

https://i.imgur.com/rbaf6Ii.jpg

we are eating our supper tonight on the couches in the TV room

[Spearmint2]

wow, good luck with it!

[AZgl1800]

Found a tutorial that makes sense.

showed how to get it apart, and how to put it back together.

Suggests using a very small tipped soldering iron at 275*F and push the new kybd down over the plastic nipples that were broken off to remove the kybd. Touch the iron to the plastic and jump off quick, smashing the plastic around to hold the circuit board tight. Plastic cools fast....

also suggests to cover those melted points with Super Glue to help secure them a bit better.

going to take along time, gotta be careful or muck it up.

[Spearmint2]

use silicon from a tube to make a new "nipple" behind it, but it has to dry awhile to rubber hardness.