5.5 Troubleshooting Laptiops Flashcards
LCD display troubleshooting
- No display or dim video
- Verify the backlight
- Look closely, it may be barely visible
- No backlight, replace the inverters
- Confirm video with an external display
- Video good, but LCD bad
- Replace the LCD display
- Flickering video
- Connector problem
- Bad video cable
- Bad video hardware
Input issues
- Sticking keys
- Difficult to clean
- Keycaps are very (very) delicate!
- Ghost cursor / Pointer drift
- Mousepad causes cursor to bounce around
- Modify the configuration to check for palm press
- Update your drivers
- Num lock indicator lights
- The letters are numbers!
Wireless troubleshooting
- Multiple antennas
- WiFi main and aux, Bluetooth
- Antenna wires wrap around the laptop screen
- Easy to accidentally disconnect during maintenance
- No 802.11 wireless, no Bluetooth
- Check the connectors
- Loose cables can cause intermittent wireless access
Power issues
• Battery not charging • Batteries lose capacity over time • Laptop charging hardware may be faulty • No power • Check the external power adapter “brick” with multimeter • Master laptop reset • Hold power for 10 seconds - Each laptop is different
External monitor issues
- Toggle Fn keys
- Secondary functions
- Toggle between LCD / external monitor / both
- Use external monitor
- Bypass the LCD (but not the video hardware)
Touchscreen non-responsive
• Touchscreen completely black or touchscreen
not responding to input
• Buttons and screen presses do not register
• Apple iOS reset
• Press power button, slide to power off,
press power button
• Hold down power button and Home|volume
for 10 seconds
• Android device restart
• Remove battery, put back in, power on
• Hold down power and volume down until restart
• Some phones have different key combinations
• Some phone do not have a key-based reset
App issues
- Problematic apps
- Apps not loading, Slow app performance
- Stop the app and restart
- iPhone: Double-tap home button, slide app up
- Android: Settings/Apps, select app, Force stop
- Restart the phone
- Hold power button, power off
- Update the app
- Get the latest version
Unable to decrypt email
- Protect your email
- Encrypted communication channels
- Built-in to corporate email systems
- Microsoft Outlook
- Each user has a private key
- You can’t decrypt without the key
- Install individual private keys on every mobile device
- Use a Mobile Device Manager (MDM)
Short battery life
- Bad reception
- Always searching for signal
- Airplane mode on the ground
- Disable unnecessary features
- 802.11 wireless, Bluetooth, GPS
- Check application battery usage
- iPhone: Settings/Battery
- Android: Settings/Battery
- Replace aging battery
- There’s only so many recharges
Overheating
- Phone will automatically shut down
- Avoid overheating damage
- Charging/discharging the battery,
- CPU usage, display light - creates heat
- Check app usage - Some apps can use a lot of CPU
- Avoid direct sunlight - Quickly overheats
Frozen system
• Nothing works
• No screen or button response
• Soft reset
• Hold power down and turn off
• Hard reset
• iOS: Hold power and home|volume for 10 seconds
• Android: Various combinations of power, home, and
volume buttons
• Ongoing problems may require a factory reset
• Install latest operating system and reload
No sound from speakers
• No sound from a particular app • Check volume settings • Both app and phone settings • Bad software / delete and reload • Try headphones • Sound starts but then stops • Dueling apps / keep app in foreground • No speaker sound from any app (no alarm, no music, no audio) • Load latest software or factory reset
GPS not functioning
- Check settings to enable GPS
- iOS: Settings / Privacy / Location Services
- Android: Settings / Location
- Configure location mode
- iOS: Settings / Privacy / Location Services
- Android: Settings / Location / Location mode
- Need a good view of the sky
- You’re listening to satellites in space
Swollen battery
- Buildup of gas
- Designed to self-contain
- Do NOT open the battery packet/container
- Significant fire risk
- You’ll be sorry
- Faulty battery
- Stop using immediately
- Dispose of properly
- Device can be damaged
- Better than having a fire
Device disassembly
- Different than working on a desktop computer
- Many different pieces
- Intricately engineered
- Tight quarters
- Taking it apart is easy
- Getting it back together…
- Easy to break something
- Very delicate parts
