Everyone will experience common hardware issues in their laptops, here are a few examples, reasons and the solution to fix them:
Issue 1- Laptop will not turn on or function
Problem When pressing the power button, no lights will display, the monitor will not respond and/or you will not be able to hear a fan spinning in the laptop. Solution - The Laptop could possibly be out of charge, to charge the laptop, find a wall plug and plug in the charger that came with the laptop into the laptop. Leave this for around 30min before turning it on again. If the laptop charger or laptop battery is broken, replace them immediately by contacting Mr. Palmer (E-Learning Coordinator/IT teacher) through our Home page where a direct email can be sent to him. - The motherboard could be faulty so this means that it MUST be replaced immediately. -Could be an issue with the graphics card, connect an external monitor or other display to your laptop to check if the external display works, if it does then it is a problem with your personal laptop's display (screen). -Overheating could have automatically shutdown your laptop since the graphics card might not be able to sustain in heated temperatures due to dust building up around the fan, heat sink or air vents. Use a compressed air canister to blow the dust away to provide an air path for your laptop's system. - The video on the right explains some quick solutions on how to fix it. |
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Issue 2- Laptop restarts /unexpected shutdowns randomly or nothing is displayed on the monitor (Blue Screen)
Problem The laptop will turn on but no images will be displayed on the monitor and the laptop then shuts down and reboots itself again. You will then receive this popup. Solution - The RAM could be missing or is faulty, this means that this RAM must be replaced in order for the monitor to function - If the cause of the problem is not the RAM then it would lead to a motherboard failure. This means that the laptops motherboard has to be replaced - The laptop could be overheated so it will automatically shut itself down to cool down before rebooting again. - The video on the right has a solution on finding the problem with these unexpected shutdowns. |
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Issue 3- Laptop's fan is very loud
Problem The laptop works fine but the fan in the background makes a really loud ringing sound or a rattling noise. Solution - The noise comes from the cooling fan or its Hard Disk Drive (HDD). This can be fixed by replacing the HDD to a Solid State Drive (SSD) as there are no moving parts on an SSD - This could also be too much dust in the fans, this would mean you will have to take the laptop apart and see where all the dust is caught at and clean it. - Placing a cooling pad under the laptop or keeping it elevated can prevent the laptop from overheating. - NEVER USE YOUR LAPTOP INSIDE THE LAPTOP CASE |
Issue 4- Battery Does not charge properly
Problem The charging port acts differently to how it is intended to work. When the charger is plugged in, it may not charge properly or not charge at all. Another problem is that the chargers position has to be adjusted carefully so that the laptop can actually charge. Solution - The charging port is the most sensitive part of a laptop, when someone trips over the charger, it could damage the parts in the charging port. When the wire is tripped over while the laptop is charging, this could most likely damage the charging port severely and it will not be able to work. - The battery pack could be broken so when the charger is plugged in, it will not charge the laptop and will just provide a back up power. - This video solves the problem that most people come across with their laptop battery not charging while plugged in to AC power |
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Issue 5- Keys on the keyboard stopped working or don't function as normal
Problem When pressed the keys do not work such as nothing will show up when pressed or show an incorrect key. Solution This video on the side describes step by step on how to fix broken keys |
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Issue 6- Spilling water or any liquid on the laptop
Problem The laptop has stopped functioning because liquid was poured inside the laptop Solution - Liquid and electricity is extremely dangerous remove the battery pack straight away - Do NOT touch the laptop until it has been confirmed that there is liquid in the internal - Turn the laptop over and remove the battery pack. Now there will be no power able to get inside the laptop |
Issue 7- Constant beeping sound when starting up the computer Problem When turning on the laptop, there are no images or videos on the screen and instead it starts to make a constant beeping sound. Solution - There could most likely be a stuck key in the keyboard. You would most likely have to replace the laptop keyboard. - You should also randomly press every key as there could still be a button that is pushed in and a way to eject this is by pressing that key down again. But this is only a temporary fix. |
Issue 8- Strange colour on the screen or distorted images
Problem The laptop turns on and still works fine but there is an abnormal colour on the screen and shows distorted like images. Solution - You must test your laptop first on a different monitor such as linking it with a HDMI, VGA, AVI or DDI cable to another monitor or the home TV. If the images still appear on the external monitor then it is confirmed that it could be a graphics card problem. - The graphics card could have failed but this can still be replaced or upgraded by taking the laptop apart and replacing it. - When the problem does not show up on the external monitor but shows up on the laptops monitor then the laptops monitor could be faulty. There could be some wiring issues with the monitor connection to the other parts of the laptop. |
Issue- 9- Worn charger chord or broken
Problem The charging chords wires are leaking out from the tape that surrounds it and this could be a hazard. This could lead to overheating the charger causing it to stop functioning or burnout Solution The video below will demostrate how to solve this problem. The video may show a Macbook but they all are the same solution to fix the chargers |
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Issue 10- Cracked laptop case pr screen.
Problem When laptops get dropped, they would generally land on the corner, which is one of the weakest parts of the case. Either the case or the screen will get cracked. Solution - The video below demonstrates how replacing the screen or case is to be completed. |
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