Common Laptop Problems
Liquid Spills on Laptop
Many Laptops have been damaged by accidental liquid spillages. In most cases, this is an easily remediable condition. It is important to act quickly to clean up the mess (before internal soakage or corrosion occurs). These types of damage can be caused by liquid intrusion to laptops:
- Short circuit caused by the conductive nature wet liquid (problem might be resolved as liquid dries).
- Dry liquid residue can cause short circuits
- Corrosion can occur (especially volatile with certain acidic soft drinks like Coke).
- Short circuits can cause damage to electronic components
To get rid of any liquid residue:You can have someone take out the keyboard assembly and clean it. To remove contamination, you can use cotton buds and distilled waters. If you suspect that there may be corrosive side effect (with coke), gently rub the affected areas with a cottonbud dampened in WD-40 or CRC. The WD-40 anti-corrosive solution should be removed from the treated areas. Use a magnifying lens and bright light to examine any areas in which the liquid came into contact with the keyboard.
Laptop turns off randomly
It is usually due to:
- AC power adaptor detecting an overload of power drain
- Overheating processor caused by a buildup of internal dust (clogged fan).
- AC power adaptor unable to sustain normal power requirements (faulty power adaptor).
- Overheating of the battery due to internal faults or low charging levels
- Check condition of power leads for an intermittent short circuit or open connector
Poor cooling is the main reason for older laptops. You might try going to an air-conditioned place and see if it helps. Check the area around the fan to see if dust fibers are present. This is easy to test: Turn on the unit and feel for airflow. Is it very low? If the answer is yes and the unit operates at normal temperature, it could indicate that the internal cooling system has become partially blocked.
Troubleshoot LCD Video Display Problems on Laptops
These are some helpful tips and tricks to troubleshoot and fix your laptop's video issues. Video problems are common with portable computers. The following tips will help you identify and fix basic laptop video issues.
The LCD screen of a laptop has a very dark or faint image.
Take a close look at the LCD screen of your laptop to see if there is a faint image. If so, it's possible that the Laptop LCD lid shut switch is in an open position. The LCD lid is open and the backlight will stay on. This is done to save power when the LID is closed and the laptop is on. The LCD lid switch is located close to the back. This pin is small and located near the back LCD hinges. Tap the lid switch several times to test if the screen backlight can be turned on. If this fails, I recommend replacing the FL inverterboard.
The LCD screen of a laptop is either a solid white or garbled colour.
An external monitor can be connected to your laptop. If the external monitor image is not showing any problems, it could be a problem with either the LCD screen on the laptop or the cable connection. If the external monitor image looks the same as the Laptop LCD's, it could be an issue with the integrated onboard video. This means that the Laptop's motherboard will need to be replaced.
An LCD laptop display assembly
Here is an explanation of the components involved in a Laptop LCD video monitor problem.
- LCD ConnectorVideo data is transmitted from the motherboard to the LCD screen. The video cable also supplies voltage to the FL Inverter Board on the LCD panel
- FL inverter PCB:This section converts low voltage DC to high voltage AC as necessary to power the backlight bulb. The LCD screen of a laptop will display a dim image if the FL inverter PCB fails.
- CCFL (backlightbulb):The LCD screen image will be visible when the backlight bulb works. Some Laptops have the backlight bulb as a component of the LCD screen assembly. This part must be replaced with the complete LCD screen assembly. To replace the backlight bulb, a specialist Laptop repair shop is required.
- Switch to close laptop lid:This small switch, either magnetic or mechanical in size, is located near the rear display hinges. When the LCD is closed, most laptops can either hibernate (or operate in standby mode) This can be done by connecting to the BIOS power management software of your laptop. This is then linked to the Windows operating systems.
Laptop slow, keeps showing Internet popups
Spyware is most likely to have infected your laptop. Spyware is software that disguises itself on your computer and collects information about your internet activity. Sometimes spyware is transferred to your computer by downloading unknown software or linking to free Internet music programs (KaZaA Limewire BearShare etc). Spybot is the best way to get rid of spyware and prevent it from coming back. Please refer to my Spyware Software Help Page.
The laptop is not responding to keyboard or mouse and has been frozen.
This is a common problem with most laptops that I've seen. This problem can be solved easily by:
- Unplug the power cord from your laptop
- Take out the battery
- Give it a minute (10 seconds).
- Install the Laptop battery in the unit
- Reconnect the Laptop Power Cord
- Turn on the Laptop
The Laptop will restart normally and become fully functional. You may notice that your data has been automatically recovered if you were using Microsoft Word or Excel at the time of the problem. If this is the case, the Microsoft program will prompt you to open the document you last worked on.
Troubleshooting Laptop Standby and Hibernate problems
Sometimes, power management options can cause problems for laptops. Hibernate or Standby modes are power-saving modes for laptops powered by batteries.
Hibernation refers to a process where the contents of your work are saved to disk before the computer goes into hibernation. The Laptop wakes up and you're restored to where you were before. Standby and Hibernation have a low power consumption mode that can preserve the contents of memory. Laptop computers can be woken up without the need for a complete restart or loss of work.
Laptop doesn't wake up after Standby or Hibernation
These are my tried and true suggestions.
- Take your time. Some older laptops can take up to 30 seconds for to wake up.
- Some Laptops may have buttons or keys that allow you to 'wake up'. Please refer to the manual.
- Hold the power button on your laptop for at least five seconds. Some Laptops can suspend or hibernate by pressing the power button. The Laptop will typically be reset by holding the power button down for at least 5 seconds.
- Take out the battery and power cord from your laptop. Wait 30 seconds and then replace them.
Once the Laptop is functional, it's time to investigate the root cause. These problems are usually caused by a conflict between the power management features on the Laptops BIOS or Windows.
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