Computer Repair Tips

Tag: laptop repair

  • The Laptop Repair Workbook by Morris Rosenthal

    This is a review and recommendation of The Laptop Repair Workbook: An Introduction to Troubleshooting and Repairing Laptop Computers by Morris Rosenthal.

    If you are getting started in laptop repair or you are looking for a laptop repair course, this is a fantastic lightweight book for beginners and professional alike.

    This book is written in simple, straightforward language aimed at all levels of readers and will keep you interested.  Many people read it from cover to cover, even the sections not related to their repair, just because it’s a great read. (more…)

  • Laptop Repair Videos, Podcasts & Tips

    Anyone that has worked in the Computer Repair field will know that laptops are a very different animal than your average desktop PC.  Although they share a lot of similar concepts, in terms of hardware, repairing them is a whole different art.  This article includes a lot of laptop specific tips that I used including laptop repair videos.

    When I started in computer repair, it was laptops that I was primarily interested in.  It was more of a niche market that I thought would be good to get into.  So I bought a few broken/spares/repairs laptops off ebay to practice taking them apart, and see what was inside.

    You very quickly learn that although the general concept of taking them apart tends to be quite similar, each model of laptop can have it’s own problems.  Tiny screws hidden under rubber bumpers, cables that have to be fed through a hole in the motherboard, the list goes on.. (more…)

  • Recommended books for Computer Repair Technicians

    There are loads of books out there providing help and guides for computer and laptop repair.  These are a few that I would highly recommend from my own experience.  If you want to learn laptop repair or computer repair, these books are a great place to start. (more…)

  • Fix Laptop Overheating Shutdown Problem

    This article describes a common overheating laptop scenario along with a fix that works.

    Overheating laptop and related shutdown problems are very common in notebook computers, especially in home use.  Common symptoms of laptop overheating include some or all from this list;

    • Laptop is extremely hot to the touch, especially around the fan exhaust area
    • Laptop fan is constantly running at high speed
    • Laptop shuts down by itself when doing nothing
    • Laptop shuts down when playing games
    • These laptop overheating or shutdown problems become worse over time, rather than getting better.

    In around 1 in 10 cases of laptop overheating, there is potentially a phyical fault with the cooling hardware.

    By this I mean either a mechanical failure with the fan where it can no longer spin, or it spins too slowly, or a motherboard electrical fault which exhibits itself by not telling the fan to spin fast enough to cool the laptop. (more…)

  • How to Reflow a Laptop Motherboard

    This article describes a reflow procedure that can be performed at home in a conventional household oven for a common laptop motherboard repair of the broken graphics chip.

    What is a Reflow?

    The term ‘reflow’ describes a process of briefly melting (reflowing) the solder on an electrical circuit board, in this case a laptop motherboard.

    Why would you perform a Reflow on a laptop motherboard?

    The solder used in laptop motherboards tends to degrade over time, becoming brittle and weak. It can change from being a solid block of solder into more of a honeycomb structure. This weaker solder joint can fracture causing tiny broken connections in the circuit, invisible to the naked eye. The idea behind performing a reflow is that it melts the solder, allowing it to form a solid block again and joining up the electrical circuit. (more…)

  • Fix for a missing CD or DVD drive

    If you find that your CD or DVD drive no longer appears in My Computer and you can’t read or write to disks, there is a known Windows registry fix that could help you.

    Of course, you should first check that the drive is properly connected, just in case.

    This Windows registry fix is based on a problem that can occur related to CD/DVD writing software.  Unnecessary registry entries get created which interfere with how Windows communicates to your CD/DVD drive. (more…)

  • Customer wants me to fit a backlight into their laptop LCD

    I don’t turn away much repair work, but I turned down a job today. Here’s the story.

    A customer phoned up and said his backlight had failed. He had ordered a new one and had started taking his laptop apart to replace it. But he soon got out of his depth, didn’t want to risk breaking the delicate backlight and wanted me to finish the job for him. (more…)