Technology

Laptop Troubleshooting and Repair - Toshiba, Dell, HP, Thinkpad, Acer and Sony laptops

The first step in repairing any laptop or notebook is troubleshooting the problem accurately. For example, some people will run out and buy a new battery on the assumption it's failed when the problem is a frayed wire or a bad connector on the power cord, something that can be fixed with a little solder or electric tape. Likewise, a "dead" LCD screen could be a mainboard or video adapter failure, a bad inverter or a burnt out backlight. When the LCD itself needs replacing, it will probably be due to a physical crack in the glass or blocks of dead pixels. If your CD or DVD drive won't work anymore, make sure you've tried a selection of discs and try a cleaner kit before replacing the drive, and always double-check the connection before discarding the old drive. About the only problems that will identify themselves as imminent failures are increasingly loud hard drives or steadily decreasing battery life over time. The six troubleshooting flowcharts below are linked to the full size troubleshooting flowcharts and text excerpted from "The Laptop Repair Workbook. "

Power Failure If your laptop doesn't turn on when you hit the power button, the power system is a logical place to begin the troubleshooting process. The laptop power system can be viewed as three separate parts: The A/C adapter that gets plugged into a power outlet on one end and into the laptop on the other end, the laptop motherboard or power regulation daughter card that monitors and distributes power to the laptop components, and the battery. The vast majority of laptops manufactured these days can operate without the battery installed. In some cases, the manufacturers will suggest that you remove the battery and store it somewhere cool if using the laptop in one location for extended periods of time, as in weeks or months. One of the oddities about troubleshooting laptop power failure as opposed to PC power...