Laptop Lab Manual

Introduction

.

Computers have become part of our day-to-day life. It is not possible to escape contact with computers. Portable computers also have a good influence in modern life. So Laptops, Personal digital assistants (PDA) ,tablet PC etc are came with their style of glory today.

A laptop computer, or simply laptop (also notebook computer or notebook), is a small mobile computer, which usually weighs 2-18 pounds (around 1 to 8 kilograms), depending on size, materials, and other factors.

A laptop computer is much smaller than a desktop. Laptops usually run on a single main battery or from an external AC/DC adapter which can charge the battery while also supplying power to the computer itself. Many computers also have a 3 volt cell to run the clock and other processes in the event of a power failure.

As Personal computers, laptops are capable of the same tasks as a desktop computer, although they are typically less powerful for the same price. They contain components that are similar to their desktop counterparts and perform the same functions, but are miniaturized and optimized for mobile use and efficient power consumption. Laptops usually have liquid crystal displays and most of them use different memory modules for their random access memory (RAM), for instance, SO-DIMM in lieu of the larger DIMMs. In addition to a built-in keyboard, they may utilize a touchpad (also known as a trackpad) or a pointing stick for input, though an external keyboard or mouse can usually be attached.

HISTORY OF LAPTOPS

It is a little hard to determine what was the first portable or laptop computer, the first portable computers did not look like the book-sized and folding laptops that we are familiar with today, however, they were both portable and lapable, and lead to the development of notebook style laptops.

The First Laptop?

Designed in 1979 by a Briton, William Moggridge, for Grid Systems Corporation, the Grid Compass was one fifth the weight of any model equivalent in performance and was used by NASA on the space shuttle program in the early 1980's. A 340K byte bubble memory lap-top computer with die-cast magnesium case and folding electroluminescent graphics display screen.

There are two other computers to be considered as first laptop commercially

Gavilan

Manny Fernandez had the idea for a well-designed laptop for executives who were starting to use computer. Fernandez, who started Gavilan Computer, promoted his machines as the first "laptop" computers in May 1983. Many historians consider the Gavilan as the first fully functional laptop computer.

Osborne 1 

The computer considered by most historians to be the first true portable computer was the Osborne 1. Adam Osborne, an ex-book publisher founded Osborne Computer and produced the Osborne 1 in 1981, a portable computer that weighed 24 pounds and cost $1795. The Osborne 1 came with a five-inch screen, modem port, two 5 1/4 floppy drives, a large collection of bundled software programs, and a battery pack. The short-lived computer company was never successful.

Experiment no:1Experiment no:1

TOOLS IDENTIFICATIONTOOLS IDENTIFICATION

ESD Safe Compact SMD Rework Station

Works as well as our full sized models at a price that is more suitable for the hobbyist & other light duty users.

It is a hot air rework station for use on surface mount devices. The units compact design and low cost provide light duty users and hobbyists with an inexpensive solution to soldering and

disordering surface mount devices.

The CSI860 comes with 3 hot air nozzles. As seen in the nozzle chart below, the unit includes a 2.5mm (straight single, item#A1124), a 4.4mm (straight single, item#A1130) plus an 8mm single general purpose type for large area heat targeting or even shrinking heat shrink tubing. Also included is a device pick up tool to lift heated devices away from the PCB. A thermal protection circuit automatically shuts the unit down if it overheats, and allows for resumption of use after cool down. Separate controls for heat and air flow provide maximum system flexibility. Air control for this station is monitored by an easy-to-read airflow meter.

General Features:

Power Consumption: 20W (2W w/power switch off) Pump: Diaphragm Pump Pump Capacity: 23 L/min (max) Outer Dimensions: 187mm (W) x135mm (H) x245mm (D), (7.36"x5.31"x9.64") Weight: 10lbs. Power: 110/120VAC/ 260W max Air Temperature: 100°C to 420°C (212°F to 788°F) Handle Length: 7.7"

Hose Length:: 32.5"

Experiment no:2

Laptop parts identificationSYSTEM BOARD aka MOTHERBOARD

The system board is the main logic board in any laptop. All internal components are connected to the system board. This is one of the most expensive parts in a laptop.

MEMORY aka RAM

More memory you have installed – better the performance of the laptop.Learn about different types of memory, compatibility issues and how you can replace or upgrade memory yourself. The memory is a user replaceable part.

HARD DRIVE

The hard drive is the main storage of information in a laptop. All system files, personal files are stored inside the hard drive. Find the difference between SATA and IDE hard drives. Faster hard drive you have installed – faster data access you get. You can upgrade the hard drive yourself.

PROCESSOR aka CPU

The processor is the brain of your laptop. Faster CPU means faster data processing.

KEYBOARD

The keyboard is the main input device. Find out how the keyboard is connected to the motherboard and how it can be removed or replaced.

CD/DVD OPTICAL DRIVE

The CD/DVD drive allows you to read/write data from/to a CD or DVD disc. Lear about the difference between drives with regular and SATA connectors.

z

COOLING FAN

The cooling fan is a part of the cooling module in a laptop. The fan helps to cool down the processor when the laptop is turned on.

VIDEO CARD aka GRAPHICS CARD

In most modern laptops the video card is integrated into the system board. If the video card fails you have to replace the whole motherboard.In some laptops the video card is a discrete module and can be removed or replaced separately from the motherboard.

AUDIO BOARD aka SOUND BOARD

In most laptops the audio board is a part of the motherboard. If that’s the case, all audio board input/output components such as volume control, microphone jack and headphone jack are soldered directory to the motherboard.

WIRELESS NETWORK CARD

The internal wireless card helps you to connect to the Internet without running a cable. Learn about different types of internal wireless cards and how they are connected to the motherboard.

CMOS BATTERY aka RTC BATTERY

The CMOS battery provides power to the CMOS chip when the laptop is turned off or disconnected form the wall outlet.

LCD SCREEN

The LCD screen is one of the most expensive parts in a laptop computer. The LCD screen mounts inside the display panel.

If you accidentally cracked the screen, it has to be replaced. You cannot repair  a cracked screen.

SCREEN INVERTER BOARD aka FL INVERTER

The inverter board is a power supply for the backlight lamp inside the LCD screen. When inverter fails, the LCD screen goes very very dark and you barely can see any image on the screen. In most laptops the inverter board is mounted inside the display panel below the LCD screen.

SCREEN BACKLIGHT LAMP aka CCFL TUBE

The backlight lamp is the main source of light in the LCD screen. The backlight lamp is mouted inside the screen. When the backlight lamp fails, you have to replace the whole LCD screen. It’s possible to replace just the lamp inside the screen but it’s very hard and has to be performed by an experienced technician.

The video cable connectes the Laptop screen to motherboard. The video cable carries data signal for the LCD screen and power for the ivnerter board.

SCREEN CABLE aka VIDEO CABLE

WEB CAMERA

Many modern laptops come with a web camera built into the display panel. The web camera is not a part of the LCD screen. The web camers is located on a separate board and can be replaced separately from the LCD.

The dispaly hinges connect two main parts of any laptop – the display panel and base assembly.

DISPLAY HINGES aka SCREEN HINGES

AC/DC POWER ADAPTER

The AC/DC power adapter converts high voltage AC power from the mains to low voltage DC power required by the laptop.

MAIN BATTERY

The battery is a secondary source of power for a laptop. The battery gets charged while the laptop is plugged into the mains and keeps the laptop running when it’s unplugged from the mains.

HOW TO INSTALL WINDOWS XP

This procedure demonstrates how to install Microsoft Windows XP Professional. The procedure to install Windows XP home edition is very similar to the professional edition. Since Windows XP Pro is more advanced operating system, it will be used to demonstrate the installation procedure.

The best way install Windows XP is to do a clean install. It is not difficult to perform a clean installation. Before you perform the installation I recommend that you check Windows XP Compatibility List to ensure that your hardware is supported by XP. If your hardware is not on

the compatibility list you can check your hardware manufactures website to download the drivers for Windows XP. Save all the necessary drivers onto floppy disks or CD before you start the installation.

All versions of Windows XP CD are bootable. In order to boot from CD/DVD-ROM you need to set the boot sequence. Look for the boot sequence under your BIOS setup and make sure that the first boot device is set to CD/DVD-ROM. You can then perform the following steps to install Windows XP:

Step 1 - Start your PC and place your Windows XP CD in your CD/DVD-ROM drive. Your PC should automatically detect the CD and you will get a message saying "Press any key to boot from CD". Soon as computer starts booting from the CD your will get the following screen:

Step 2 - At this stage it will ask you to press F6 if you want to install a third party Raid or SCSI driver. If you are using a an IDE Hard Drive then you do not need to press F6. If you are using a SCSI or SATA Hard drive then you must press F6 otherwise Windows will not detect your Hard Drive during the installation. Please make sure you have the Raid drivers on a floppy disk. Normally the drivers are supplied on a CD which you can copy to a floppy disk ready to be installed. If you are not sure how to do this then please read your motherboard manuals for more information.

Step 3 - Press S to Specify that you want to install additional device.

Step 4 - You will be asked to insert the floppy disk with the Raid or SCSI drivers. Press enter after you have inserted the disk.

Step 5 - You will see a list of Raid drivers for your HDD. Select the correct driver for your device and press enter.

Step 6 - You will then get a Windows XP Professional Setup screen. You have the option to do a new Windows install, Repair previous install or quit. Since we are doing a new install we just press Enter to continue.

continue

Step 8 - This step is very important. Here we will create the partition where Windows will be installed. If you have a brand new unformatted drive you will get a screen similar to below. In our case the drive size is 8190MB. We can choose to install Windows in this drive without creating a partition, hence use the entire size of the drive. If you wish to do this you can just press enter and Windows will automatically partition and format the drive as one large drive.

However for this demonstration I will create two partition. The first partition will be 6000MB (C: drive) and second partition would be 2180MB (E: drive). By creating two partition we can have one which stores Windows and Applications and the other which stores our data. So in the future if anything goes wrong with our Windows install such as virus or spyware we can re-install Windows on C: drive and our data on E: drive will not be touched. Please note you can choose whatever size partition your like. For example if you have 500GB hard drive you can have two partition of 250GB each.

Press C to create a partition.

Step 8 - Windows will show the total size of the hard drive and ask you how much you want to allocate for the partition you are about to create. I will choose 6000MB. You will then get the screen below. Notice it shows C: Partition 1 followed by the size 6000 MB. This indicates the partition has been created. We still have an unpartitioned space of 2189MB. Next highlight the unpartitioned space by pressing down the arrow key. Then press C to create another partition. You will see the total space available for the new partition. Just choose all the space left over, in our case 2180MB.

Step 9 - Now you will see both partition listed. Partition 1 (C: Drive) 6000MB and Partition 2 (E: Drive) 2180MB. You will also have 8MB of unpartitioned space. Don't worry about that. Just leave it how its is. Windows normally has some unpartitioned space. You might wonder what happened to D: drive. Windows has automatically allocated D: drive to CD/DVD-ROM.

Select Partition 1 (C: Drive) and press Enter.

Step 10 - Choose format the partition using NTFS file system.This is the recommended file system. If the hard drive has been formatted before then you can choose quick NTFS format. We chose NTFS because it offers many security features, supports larger drive size, and bigger size files.

Windows will now start formatting drive C: and start copying setup files as shown on the two images below :

Step 11 - After the setup has completed copying the files the computer will restart. Leave the XPCD in the drive but this time DO NOT press any key when the message "Press any key to boot from CD" is displayed. In few seconds setup will continue. Windows XP Setup wizard will guide you through the setup process of gathering information about your computer.

Step 12 - Choose your region and language.

Step 13 - Type in your name and organization.

Step 14. Enter your product key.

Step 15 - Name the computer, and enter an Administrator password. Don't forget to write down your Administrator password.

Step 16 - Enter the correct date, time and choose your time zone.

Step 17 - For the network setting choose typical and press next.

Step 18 - Choose workgroup or domain name. If you are not a member of a domain then leave the default settings and press next. Windows will restart again and adjust the display.

Step 19 - Finally Windows will start and present you with a Welcome screen. Click next to continue.

Step 20 - Choose 'help protect my PC by turning on automatic updates now' and press next.

Step 21 - Will this computer connect to the internet directly, or through a network? If you are connected to a router or LAN then choose: 'Yes, this computer will connect through a local area network or home network'. If you have dial up modem choose: 'No, this computer will connect directly to the internet'. Then click Next.

Step 22 - Ready to activate Windows? Choose yes if you wish to active Windows over the internet now. Choose no if you want to activate Windows at a later stage.

Step 23 - Add users that will sign on to this computer and click next.

Step 24 - You will get a Thank you screen to confirm setup is complete. Click finish.

Step 25. Log in, to your PC for the first time.

Step 26 - You now need to check the device manager to confirm that all the drivers has been loaded or if there are any conflicts. From the start menu select Start -> Settings -> Control Panel. Click on the System icon and then from the System Properties window select the Hardware tab, then click on Device Manager.

If there are any yellow exclamation mark "!" next to any of the listed device, it means that no drivers or incorrect drivers has been loaded for that device. In our case we have a Video Controller (VGA card) which has no drivers installed.

Your hardware should come with manufacturer supplied drivers. You need to install these drivers using the automatic setup program provided by the manufacturer or you need to manually install these drivers. If you do not have the drivers, check the manufacturers website to download them.

To install a driver manually use the following procedure:

(a) From the device manager double click on the device containing the exclamation mark.

(b) This would open a device properties window.

(c) Click on the Driver tab.

(d) Click Update Driver button. The Wizard for updating device driver pops up as shown below:

You now get two options. The first option provides an automatic search for the required driver. The second option allows you to specify the location of the driver. If you don't know the location of the driver choose the automatic search which would find the required driver from the manufacturer supplied CD or Floppy disk. Windows would install the required driver and may ask you to restart the system for the changes to take affect. Use this procedure to install drivers for all the devices that contain an exclamation mark. Windows is completely setup when there are no more exclamation marks in the device manager.

How to disassemble Toshiba Tecra M2. Repair laptopyourself instructions.

Toshiba Tecra M2 laptop is very similar to Toshiba Tecra M3 and

share the same disassembly steps. Here's the main difference. Tecra

M3 doesn't have a memory slot that you access from the bottom of

the laptop as it's shown on the step 2. Both memory slots in Tecra

M3 are located under the keyboard, as it shown on the step 3. All

Tecra M3 users can use this guide.

STEP 1

Turn the laptop

upside down.

Remove the

battery.

Need spare parts for Tecra M2 laptop? Search here.

STEP 3

Remove the

hard drive and

the DVD drive.

STEP 4

Remove all

marked screws

on the bottom

of the laptop.

STEP 5

Turn the

notebook right

side up.

Insert a thin

object under

the securing

strip and lift it

up.

Be careful, it

may be very

tight.

STEP 6

Remove the

securing strip.

 STEP 7

Remove two screws securing the keyboard.Turn the keyboard over and place it on the palmrest.

Removing LCD screen from Toshiba Satellite M55 and Satellite

M50 laptop.

I made these instructions for a Toshiba Satellite M55 laptop. I believe you can use them for taking apart a

Satellite M50, which is a similar model.

inverter board from Toshiba Satellite M35X and Satellite M30X.

This guide will work for both models: Toshiba Satellite M35X and Satellite M30X. Both models are similar.

Use this guide if you want to remove, replace laptop LCD screen, LCD display video cable, FL inverter board, LCD

display mask, wireless card antennas.

STEP 1

First of

all,

remove

the laptop

battery.

Remove

two LCD

mask

seals.

Remove

two

screws

hidden

under

seals.

STEP 2

Put your

fingers

between

the mask

and the

LCD

screen.

Work with

your

fingers to

release

the LCD

mask

plastic

latches.

STEP 3

Remove

the LCD

display

mask.

STEP 4

Insert a

thin

object

under the

securing

strip and

lift it up.

Be

careful, it

may be

very

tight.

STEP 5

Remove

the

keyboard

securing

strip.

STEP 6

Remove

two

screws

securing

the

screen to

the LCD

cover.

How to clean Toshiba Satellite P15 heatsink and fix laptopoverheating problem.

Do you have any comments or questions about this guide? Please post

them here.

STEP 1

Turn the laptop upside

down.

Unlock and remove the

battery.

 Need spare parts for Satellite P10 P15 laptop? Search here.

STEP 2

For this step you need Torx

8 screwdriver.

Remove three torx screws

securing the CPU

fan/heatsink cover.

STEP 3

Disconnect two fan cables

on the sytem board and

remove three screws

securing the fan to the

laptop.

Lift the fan from the laptop.

STEP 4

Loosen four screws

securing the heatsink.

When you remove the

heatsink move if back and

forth to disconnect it from

the greased CPU.

STEP 5

Carefully lift the heatsink

up from the CPU.

STEP 6

This heatsink is completaly

clooged with lint.

A clogged heatsink causes

CPU overheating. If your

laptop shuts down by itself

without any reason, check

the heatsink first.

Overheating is a very

common problem among

Toshiba laptops.

STEP 7

Remove old grease from

the CPU and the North

Bridge chipset and clean

them with an alcohol pad.

Before you install the

heatsink back into the

laptop, blow the dust away

from the system board with

compressed air and apply

new thermal grease on the

chips.

STEP 8

Clean the heatsink and the

fan with compressed air

and install it back into the

laptop.

 Laptop is dead. How to troubleshoot the problem.

Sponsored Links

In this post I’ll explain how to troubleshoot a dead laptop and find the problem. The following troubleshooting tips are not model and brand specific, they should work for most laptops.

Let’s take a look at two different scenarios.

Example 1. The laptop is absolutely dead. When you plug in the power adapter and press on the power button, there is no signs of life at all. The laptop will not make usual noises, LEDs will not light up, the fan will not spin, the screen is blank and black, etc… In short, the laptop is dead.

What you can do in this case?1. Make sure the wall outlet is working and the laptop DC adapter is getting power from the outlet. Try another wall outlet.2. Test the laptop DC power adapter, make sure the voltage output is correct. You can test the DC power adapter with a voltmeter.3. Let’s say the DC adapter is fine and the adapter outputs correct voltage. In this case unplug the power adapter from the laptop, remove the battery, wait for 1-2 minutes, plug in the adapter and try turning on the laptop again.

OK, you tested the adapter and it’s bad. If you decide to replace the original DC adapter with a generic one, you’ll have to follow this rule:The voltage output on your new adapter has to be exactly the same as on the original adapter. The amperage on the new adapter could be the same or higher.

If nothing helps and the laptop is still dead, apparently the

motherboard is fried or there is a problem with the DC power jack. It’s possible the DC power jack is broken and the motherboard is not getting any power from the adapter. In this case you’ll have to disassemble the laptop and replace the power jack. Check out this guide for fixing laptop power jack.

Example 2. When you plug the DC power adapter and press on the power button, the laptop starts making normal noises, the LEDs work properly but noting appears on the screen. The laptop will not start.

First of all, take a closer look at the LCD screen. Look at the screen under bright light. It’s possible that the image is still on the screen but it’s very faint. If that’s the case, check out these tips for troubleshooting laptop with backlight failure.

If there is no image on the laptop LCD screen, test the laptop with an external monitor. Connect an external monitor to the VGA port on your laptop and turn the laptop on. You can toggle video output between the internal LCD screen and external monitor by pressing Fn and F4 keys simultaneously on HP laptops, Fn and F5 keys on Toshiba laptops, Fn and F7 keys on IBM laptops. Other laptops may use different key combinations.

Let’s say the external monitor works fine but the internal LCD screen has no image at all. If that’s the case, your problem could be related to the LCD screen or the video cable. Also, make sure the video cable makes good connection with the motherboard and the LCD screen. Try reconnecting, reseating the cable.

In my case, both internal and external monitors were absolutely dead. Neither of them had image. That means the problem is not related to the LCD screen or the video cable. From my experience I know that this problem could be related to the laptop memory.

Try reseating the memory module, maybe it’s not making good connection with the memory slot. Try cleaning contacts on the memory module with pen eraser. Try moving the memory module into another slot. Try replacing the memory module with another known good module, it’s possible that your original module is dead.If you have two memory modules installed you can try removing them one by one, it’s possible that one of the modules is bad. Try installing different memory modules into different memory slots.

In my case reseating, swapping the memory module didn’t help. I was pretty confident that my problem is not memory related and I moved on.

Try removing battery, hard drive and DVD drive and turning on the laptop without these components.

Also, try turning on the laptop with an external monitor when the video cable is unplugged from the motherboard. If the laptop start with video

on the external monitor, apparently there is something wrong with the laptop display panel.

In my case removing the hard drive and DVD drive didn’t help. Unplugging the video cable didn’t help either.I continued taking my laptop apart piece by piece and tested it after each step.I removed wireless card, modem, disconnected the keyboard but it didn’t help.

I still wasn’t able to boot the laptop with video on the external monitor.

Finally, I disassembled the laptop and removed the motherboard.

On this picture you see my final test. The motherboard has been removed from the base and I assembled basic barebone system on my bench.1. Motherboard. Like on most laptops, in my case the video card is integrated into the motherboard2. CPU with heatsink and cooling fan.3. Known good memory module.4. The power button board witch I need to turn on the system.5. Working DC power adapter.

Still cannot get any video on the external monitor. The system turns on, the cooling fan starts spinning but there is no video.

At this point I’m 95% sure that the motherboard is dead. CPU failures are not very common, so it must be bad motherboard

Laptop Lcd Repair

It is common problem that laptop lcd not working. For Laptop Lcd Repair and troubleshoot first you need to check whether video display card working properly or not. So you need to connect external monitor to the VGA port normally back side of laptop. If you get clear image that mean your video card is working properly

and problem is with your lcd screen.

Now there are two possibility either lcd screen compeletely out of order or it may working but very very dull. So screen is getting perfect data from video card but there still problem with lcd and most probably problem with backlight lamp

So from this you can guess that problem related to faulty inverter board, back light lamp or lid switch. You need to check all of them.

LID close switch is a small button which triggers sleep mode or hibernation when screen is closed. Lid switch located near LCD screan.So make sure the lid switch moves freely. If lid close switch is dirtly then it might get stuck and soo it cut power from inverter board and invertor board works as power supply for backlight lamp and if there is no power then the backlight lamp will not light up soo lcd screen get very very dull display.<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><!--[endif]-->

If now you find that LID switch working properly is did not stuck then problem may be with inverter board or backlight lamp. Now press lid button very fast and check lcd light up for sometime or not and if it light up then also check image is clear or pinkish or other colour shown in image(I mean image is crystal clear or not).

If you get pinkish image that means inverter board

working properly but problem is with backlight lamp. But still if you want to troubleshoot in details then you can check the laptop with another invertor board and if with another invertor board laptop is not working properly then you can judge that problem is with backlight lamp. Soo now you replace backlight lamp with another backlight lamp and your laptop will work properly

Laptop Black Screen Issues and Troubleshooting

6 Digg Digg

The procedure below is to be carried out once you have addressed any Software, Driver, Malware/Virus or Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) issues or if your laptop does not power on at all.

There are many things that can cause a laptop to have a Black screen, Shutdowns, and/or Restarts. I would like to assist you to go through this mine field of issues and narrow down possible solutions to assist you. Previous to moving on, I want you as a person to be fully prepared to get under the hood a little and be willing to try a few things to get your Laptop going. If you are uncomfortable about doing this then take your laptop to a competent Laptop Tech or repair shop.

At the end of my procedural steps you will need to decide if they are not helpful, if it might be best to consider taking your laptop to a repair shop. In my process, you will learn what works and what does not work. With that process done and you have not found a solution, you will be able to assist the repair shop to pinpoint possible issues and make their job easier, that possibly might end up being less costly.

My first step in this process of elimination will be to identify faulty hardware. For example, before you can say it is a motherboard fault, you need to explore other possible hardware solutions to make sure you have viable working components. Time and patience will be required in this process.

Step One

Please remove any media from media slots including USB, CD/DVD drive and flash drives etc. Disconnect all items connected to USB, hdmi, firewire ports etc.

• Start your laptop.

• Start your laptop while using only your AC cord without the battery.

• Start your laptop with battery only.

• If you can, please remove your CD/DVD drive and repeat the last tests.

• If that does not work, then I will move to next step.

Step Two

• Remove the battery and AC cord.

• Remove the bottom access cover/covers of your laptop and make sure the cooling path is free of fluff and dust. If there is dust in there, then get a can of compressed air from you local hardware/computer store and blow out the dust.

• Check the heat sink on the CPU to make sure it is not loose. If it is not secure, then tighten the screws back down that hold it on.

• Remove and re-seat your RAM modules.

• Replace your covers.

• Hold down your power button for 1 minute (Battery and AC still disconnected).

• Replace your AC power (not battery) and turn the computer on.

This is called a hard reset. If it works COOL, then replace your battery. Problem resolved.

• If that didn’t work;

• Remove and re-seat your CPU and don’t forget, if you remove it then it is necessary to clean off the old thermal paste and put new.

• If you have a removable graphics card, remove and re-seat this. Most laptops do have an integrated graphics chip and therefore this step is not necessary.

Note: More information will be discussed later about graphics.

• One little thing to try before we move on. If your laptop’s motherboard battery (CMOS) is accessible, (little silver coin shaped cell that looks like a watch battery), then remove this for about 15 minutes and replace it just like you took it out. This will reset your bios to default settings and is certainly worth a try. If you can’t find your motherboard battery or don’t know where it is (or if it is soldered to your motherboard), then don’t worry about that issue and let’s move on.

• Start your laptop. If your laptop is now working, problem solved, if not move to next step.

Step Three

• Remove your HDD and try starting your laptop. If it goes through the POST, and a black screen appears with the message something like “Operating System Not Found” and remains at this screen, then your HD is faulty or the OS is corrupt so we need to proceed to HDD test #1.

• However, if having the HDD removed and the fault is still present (Black screen or restarting loop), then you will need to move on to Step Four.

HDD test #1

• Restart your laptop with the HDD still removed. Enter the bios set up menu using your laptops recommended keystrokes to enter the bios screen. In the bios set up screen, set the first boot device as your CD/DVD drive, save and exit your bios. Your laptop will reboot to the screen that says “Operating System Not Found”. Open your CD/DVD drive and insert your Windows disk or Recovery disk. Shut down your laptop and replace the HDD.

• Restart your laptop. What will happen next is the laptop will boot from the Windows CD, and give you a series of options including; repair Windows, clean install of Windows, etc. The first option should be to try a repair. You could also try Hard Disk diagnostic/repair tools run from a CD/DVD as well (advice can be given on this). If you have only Recovery disks, then the option will be a recovery. If you are able to carry out a successful repair, recovery, or a Fresh Windows install, then it was only a software problem and your problem is solved.

• If, however, you are getting an error messages like; “Can’t perform repair or recovery”, or any other error message, then it is a great possibility the Hard Disk Drive is faulty. Replace the Hard Disk Drive and reinstall Windows. If this process is a success, then you have found and solved your problem.

Step Four

• The next thing you need to look at is either the RAM or the CPU, since both are needed to satisfy the bios pre-post test. Because of the nature of operation between the CPU and RAM (which can give the same fault condition), you need to eliminate the faulty component. In the majority of cases RAM gives more problems than CPU’s, so let’s move on to working with your Ram modules.

• Shutdown the laptop.

• Remove all the RAM.

• Insert only one stick of RAM at a time and swap it between the RAM slots to see if the laptop will start. If it starts you have one good RAM stick and RAM slot, your problem is solved.

• Try the same sequence for the other stick of RAM. If that stick produces the fault, throw it out and replace it with new.

• If each stick still produces the fault, then you may have two sticks of bad RAM or bad RAM slots.

• Now here is a possible problematic situation, because if you have not found a fix yet, it could still be the CPU, because both CPU and RAM can give the same fault. Therefore, you need to eliminate the fault, although it is not as easy as some earlier steps.

• You need to borrow a stick of known working RAM (bonus, because it costs nothing). Use a friend or family member with the exact model of laptop that uses the exact type of RAM, to borrow for testing (slim chance), or you can take your RAM to a Laptop Tech to test it for a nominal cost. You could even buy one if you wish to go that route, but that is certainly not the least inexpensive option. If this does not produce results, then we need to move to the CPU.

• You need to borrow a known working CPU (bonus, because it costs nothing). Use a friend or family member with the exact model of laptop that uses the exact type of CPU, to borrow for testing (slim chance), or you can take your CPU to a Laptop Tech to test it for a nominal cost. You could even buy one if you wish to go that route, but that is certainly not the least inexpensive option. If it

turns out to be a CPU fault, and your laptop is now working, you have solved your problem.

• At this point, if your Ram and CPU appear to be fine, and the fault remains, we need to move to the next step.

Step Five

• Your next step is to check the GPU, the graphics chipset. This is not so easy, as most are integrated onto the motherboard. If yours is a high-end laptop then you may have a removable graphics card. Remove and re-seat this, if that did not work, borrow or buy a known working GPU to test in your laptop..

• For integrated graphics, there are diverse ways to try a repair, but this requires the removal of your motherboard. At this stage you are most likely to have a motherboard fault.

• As you will have realized by now, this is not a fault with one common solution. That is the reason I have had to walk through your steps and process of elimination to identify faulty hardware before you can say it is most likely a motherboard fault.

• If one has gone though all the steps provided and has not resolved the issue, you are now at the point that you have to decide to try a new motherboard (this comes at a price), send the Laptop to an expert repairman to resolve the issue at substantial cost to you or go shopping for a new laptop.

Laptop Repair Help

Feb 22

How to troubleshoot and fix laptop video problems

Sponsored Links

Here are some tips and tricks for troubleshooting and fixing laptop video problems. Video issues are very common within portable computers and with the following tips you should be able to detect and eliminate basic laptop video problems.

Laptop LCD screen has a faint image.

Look at the LCD screen very closely and check if you can see a faint image on the screen. It’s possible that the LCD lid close switch stuck in the “closed” position and the backlight stays off even when you open the LCD screen or turn on the laptop. The switch turns off the backlight when you close the LCD display to save the laptop battery power. Check the LCD lid close switch. Usually it is a small plastic pin located close to the LCD hinges. Try to tap on the switch a few times to turn on the backlight. If after tapping on the LCD lid close switch the backlight stays on, you fixed the problem.It is also possible that after tapping on the LCD lid close switch the backlight works fine, you see a normal video on the screen for some time and then the backlight turns itself off again. In this case I would blame the FL inverter board. Try to reseat cables on both end of the FL inverter to make a better contact between the cables and the FL inverter board. If it doesn’t help I would try to replace the FL inverter board.

Laptop LCD screen is solid white color.

Most likely it is just a bad connection between the LCD display and the system board. I would try reseating the video cable connector on the back of the LCD screen first and check if it fixes the problem. After that I would try reseating the video cable connector on the system board. I would also try reseating cables if there is no video on the LCD screen at all.

The video on the LCD screen is garbled.

Try to connect the LCD screen to an external monitor. If the external video is fine, you have a problem with the LCD screen or the LCD video cable. You can try to fix the problem by reseating the video cable on the back of the LCD and on the system board.If you see the same garbled video output on the external monitor most likely it is not the LCD screen problem. In this case the system board (with onboard video) is bad or the video card is bad.

I understand that these tips will not cover all video problems with portable computers. If you have a different problem, you are welcome to leave a comment and I will try to help you if I can.