Repairing and upgrading laptops

Once in a while you will come across the moment of laggy truth, when you know that the laptop demands some checking which require intricate attention. After all, you do not want to just dump your long-time companion that has been there for you without a proper checkup.

Is it easy to repair a laptop?

Laptops are more complicated devices than desktop computers due to the components inside being crammed. Therefore, repairing or upgrading laptop generally requires either competent hand or specialists. Still if you are confident enough to do so or want to take the risk anyway, keep the basics in mind. You got to have your tech screwdriver and avoid electrostatic discharge (ESD) at any cost.

Also note that repairing your laptop requires through research, patience, organization, special tools and proper documentation. You need to train to have a steady hand. You need to remember about the rising number of form factors out there and compact portables are quite tricky to open apart.

Disassembling steps

Disassembling a portable is not much of a big deal. It was designed with the flexibility of upgrading and serviced by regular users. What is challenging is putting the pieces together and back in working condition. This is due to the laptops compact and vulnerable nature inside, requires steady and careful hands. Therefore, you need to remember these four step process to successfully disassemble / reassemble your laptop.

The very first thing you need to do is to document and label each and every cable and screw location. Laptops do not use general-purpose standard screws or connectors. Prepare yourself to come across screws of varying size and threads. In case if you put a screw in wrong hole and keep twisting it with the driver, you will end up stripping the screw, hole or wedged into the wrong hole. Therefore, documenting and labelling from the very beginning will save you tons of time, effort and topmost laptop’s health.

Secondly, put all of the parts you extract from the laptop in an organized fashion. Lay out a big white piece of construction paper. Put each and every extracted piece out in a logical fashion. Then obviously mark each of the components, where it connects and what it connects to. You may additionally record yourself during the disassembly process via your smartphone or webcam. These measures will save you when you are reassembling them.

Thirdly, refer to the manufacturer provided resources out there. This point is crucial. Typically desktops have standard internal structure which upon fiddling with desktop and their motherboards, even kids get familiar with the desktop structure laid out inside. You will know at a glance that which is for RAM, CPU, PCIe slots and so on.

This is not the same for laptops. Each and everything inside the portable has been designed by the manufacturer’s top notch engineering efforts. Two of the portables from the same manufacturer might have same layout inside but the same it is a way more likely that all of the model differs from each other from some to great degree.

The fourth step and final one, you need the appropriate hand tools. Inside the portables, you will have remarkably tiny variety of screws which you can not remove or insert without the proper screw drivers like tiny-headed Phillips or Torx drivers. You will also need tiny pry bars both metal and plastic to open the components. You can get a variety of tool-kit for laptops all over the online.

Further steps

So, you have now know the official ways of disassembling process. Let’s get one thing downright clear. There are lot of manufacturers who do not provide access to their resources just by any tech or anyone but only to their authorized repair or service centres. Now, what do you do when you are faced with an unfamiliar laptop? (This point is especially true for techs).

You have two options. First one, you find a dedicated laptop tech and send you client to that person. In case the problem is exceptional and complicated and the portable itself is mission critical, that is the best route to refer to the dedicated laptop person. Now in case you feel like this is something you can tackle then go to YouTube or iFixit.com. They may have the solution you are looking for.

All the portable computers have their own make and model. The best bait for the solution you are looking for is, straight google the make and model and your problem. For instance, “HP eq 2690au touchpad behaves strangely when plugged-in” and so on. Now look from the list of results. You will find that some one may have faced the same issue as you are facing and a solution is already out there. Do not forget to check the video tab from the google, which will show you the list of results typically lot of Youtube. Even if this do not fix the problem, will high likely lead you towards the solution.