well got the Acer laptop power cord from ebay, charged her up, and....nothing.

Computer runs but has zero display working, its just a black screen. i dont think it even boots up.

looks like i'm back to getting some coding done by a local who's in my area...

Try hooking up an external monitor to see if you can see anything

Getting my X coded tomorrow for $60.00 bucks.

He's out of NJ but he's here in Chicago for the holiday.

Here's his Facebook page and contact.

http://www.facebook.com/Tripl3OCoding

This was going to be my suggestion. Hook up a monitor to the VGA jack on the laptop before you power it on. It should power up that display too.... if it works, at least you'll be able to see what's on the laptop and copy off anything you want to save. You could also try re-seating the memory as a long shot... there is probably a little cover on the bottom that comes off. the memory is under there
If the laptop was newer, I'd take a look at it for you but I don't think it's worth putting any money into it for a repair. Screen problems can be pretty expensive to repair.
If you come across another used laptop, let me know and we'll get that one working for you....

I would start looking on craiglist now... one with core 2 duo or higher and 2gb or more ram for cheap... i can help you with software. I even got ETK bmw parts catalog

Thanks man, really appreciate your input. I'm gonna bring the laptop to work to see if it powers up one of my work computer screens, i'll let you know. If i get something on the cheap that is working, I'll let you know too. Not gonna waste your time with a hunk of junk. Speaking of which, what is the best way to dispose of this thing, its a really annoying paperweight right now lol!


Might get this 60 bucks guy to take care of a few things for me next time he's in town, just would really like to have the ability for diagnostics when and if I need in the future, the X is going to be with us for the next few years at least (we just got married and bought our house this year, I own the car outright and we only have a small payment on the wifes car)

Thanks for the tips on laptop choice Alex, I'll scour craigslist too.

Our local Good Will takes all computers and related equipment regardless of condition. They give a receipt so you can write it off on your taxes.
Not all Good Wills will take them so you should call first...

If you want to get a diagnostic scanner get a Bluetooth scanner that connects to the OBD II port under the driver side dash and get the app called Torque. It can read error code and clear error code. I have Torque on my Android phone and I always carry the scanner in the car in case I get an error code. In fact I used it a couple of weeks ago when my X threw up a SES code while we were coming back from Christmas shopping. I could feel the engine miss and didn't want to drive it back home like that so I stopped at my brother house. Read the code a P0304 which mean a misfire in cylinder 4 and the injector was turn off by the computer to prevent raw gas from entering the CATS. Change the spark plug and I still could feel the engine miss and the code was still a misfire in #4. So I swapped the coil pack from #4 to #2 and clear the code. The engine was still missing but this time the code was P0302, misfire in #2. So I had a bad coil. Got a coil at Autozone and I was able to repair the car and drive it home.

I like the app so much that I brought the Pro version for my tablet.

I just got my car coded this morning. One push of the remote opens all the doors instead of just the driver door, the door self lock once I start to drive the car and I can blind the drivers in front with fogs and high beam at the same time.

RK, Brooklyn ny. Bring beer. I will code it for you in 10 min.

I would take you up on that offer, but gas would be more than $60 bucks to drive out to NJ. Besides there a big snow storm headed your way.

It missed us. Or they saying it will. Well Ricky bobby can bring the beer.