Rambles On Tech

Broken Laptop Repair Guide

Posted by: Paul

Tags: broken laptop, broken laptop hinge, broken laptop key, broken laptop power, broken laptop screen, broken laptops, favorite, fix broken laptop, laptop

A broken laptop is never a fun thing to deal with. For most people in fact having a broken laptop is one of the most stressful things they have to deal with, especially if they haven’t backed up their data. Luckily most broken laptops can be fixed with some good old investigating and research. I’ve broken the article up into sections to help fix whatever part of your laptop is broken. These sections include; broken laptop screen, broken laptop hinge, broken laptop key, and broken laptop power. Hopefully one of these sections will cover your broken laptop problem. So lets get started fixing your laptop!

Broken Laptop Screen
If you have a broken laptop screen it usually falls into one of two categories. We’ll go over each of the two most common problems with suggestions to help fix each one.

1. Laptop screen won’t turn on at all – Either your laptop screen is physically broken or the laptop is set to output the picture that you would usually see to an external monitor. Most laptops have function keys at the top ranging from F1 to F12 and then a Fn key which is located at the bottom left of the keyboard. If you hold down the Fn key it lets the Function keys at the top do different things such as change the volume or brightness on the computer. You are looking for the key that looks like two monitors sitting next to each other. Hold down the Fn key and press that Function key at the top, if nothing changed press it one more time to make sure. If that doesn’t work your next best bet is getting an external monitor to hook up to your laptop. If the display appears on the external monitor, but still doesn’t appear on your broken laptop screen then most likely just the display screen itself is bad and the video card inside the laptop is still good.
2. Laptop screen is very dim – Hopefully this will be an easy fix and the brightness of your laptop is just turned down. In the same way we talked about using the Function keys to change the monitor output above, we will be looking for the Function key at the top that has a symbol that could be interpreted as brightness. Again, hold down the Fn key in the lower left hand side of your keyboard and tap the Function key at the top a few times, does the screen brighten at? If so continue to tap until the brightness is at a level that you like. If that doesn’t help then most likely the backlight is bad on your broken laptop screen. Your best bet is to find a local computer repair store to do a hardware test to verify.

Broken Laptop Hinge
Having a broken laptop hinge can be very frustrating and depending on how broken the hinge is, it can render the broken laptop completely useless. The two most common causes are an actual broken hinge which will have to be sent off to be repaired. Often times however there is a very simple fix the is almost always overlooked. If you carefully remove the plastic cover around the hinge area, you will reveal the actualy hinge itself. Once those covers are removed to reviel the broken laptop hinge you might find that the screws that hold the hinge and screen in place have simply come unscrewed and just need to be retightened with a household screwdriver. Put the plastic covers back in place and you’re all set. The broken laptop hinge and broken laptop is fixed.

Broken Laptop Key
This is one of the most common broken laptop problems; the broken laptop key. Most times broken isn’t even the right word and missing is a better suited way of describing the problem. Usually it’s only one key that disappears. Having a broken laptop key is a very easy fix. Places like eBay have made is very easy to order not only replacement keyboards for your laptop that are very easy to install, but you can even order individual keys for your particular laptop model. They usually cost around $2-4 dollars for the keys and snap into place, it’s really that simple. The broken laptop key problem is one of the easiest and cheapest to repair.

Broken Laptop Power
Having a power issue with your broken laptop is one of the more serious problems. When electricity is involved, messing around with the laptop could cause the problem to get worse instead of better. You even run the risk of permanently damaging your laptop. There are a few things you can safely check out thought before taking the broken laptop in for repair.

1. Power Cord – Sometimes a broken laptop power supply is all that’s broken and the actual laptop is in great shape. Most power supply’s have some sort of power light, most times it’s a LED that turns on when the power supply is plugged into a power outlet. If that light is on when it’s plugged in, then the laptop is in good working order and all you need is a new power supply.
2. Loose Connection – First turn the laptop off, remove the battery, and the unplug the power supply from the wall. Now plug the power supply into the back of the laptop and wiggle slightly. If the connection seems loose or wiggles a bit then you might have a common problem where the sodering comes loose from the motherboard where the power plug connects. A lot of local computer repair places will be able to fix this type of broken laptop with a little soldering.

Hopefully I’ve covered a lot of the common issues that come up with a broken laptop. If your issue isn’t covered and you’d like more help free to leave me a comment below and I’ll be happy try and help. Purchasing a laptop sleeve or case is also a great way to protect your laptop or notebook from future damage.

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