Student-Contributed Wiki
An awesome team of students from our education program made this wiki.
The computer is on, but the screen won’t display normally
Use Fn+Left Arrow to turn the brightness up.
Use the serial port on the back right of the laptop to plug your computer into a working monitor. Make sure the other monitor is plugged in. Then turn both it, and your laptop on. If the display shows up on the other monitor, the issue is most likely with either your screen, or the connection to your screen. Link to the display replacement guide
The computer won’t power on normally when the power button is pressed.
Try plugging in the computer before you turn it on.
Try removing each stick of RAM one at a time. Try to power on the computer with each stick of RAM individually.(Link to ram replacement guide)
If the laptop turns on with only one stick of RAM, the other stick of RAM is most likely the problem.
The laptop won’t charge when you plug it into an outlet.
Try plugging your laptop into a different outlet and see if it charges.
If your computer won’t charge at all, and your computer didn’t warn you that your battery was getting old, the problem might be your charging cable.
Batteries get old and eventually stop working. If your computer has warned you that your battery was getting old, you may have to replace your it.
Some or all of the keys are unresponsive.
Turn off sticky keys by hitting shift 5 times. When the message box pops up, select ’no'
Everyone’s keyboard collects dirt eventually. Sometimes debris in your keyboard can interfere with functionality. Try cleaning your keyboard (not with water).
Use a guide to carefully remove the keyboard. Put it back carefully, making sure the ribbon cable is plugged in completely. If this doesn’t fix the issue, you may need a new keyboard. (Link to the keyboard replacement guide)
The computer is overheating and it’s not cooling
Try to identify where the heat is coming from. No air flow means no heat transfer, so figure out where the air vents are and try not to block it while the computer is running. Move your computer to a hard, flat surface where the air vent will not be blocked.
An accumulation of dust in the vents and fan through the cooling channels can restrict the air flow. If you notice any caution messages about overheating your fan is probably not working properly or it is broken. Link to our fan replacement guide to replace your fan.
