Things That Go Wrong With Laptops

The main selling point of laptops is that they are portable and can operate on batteries. Not surprisingly, two of the main drawbacks of laptops are that they are portable and can operate on batteries. Portability leads to a whole series of problems that you don’t normally encounter with desktop computers. About the worst of these problems is that laptops are easily stolen or lost, simply by forgetting them in funky places, like on top of the car or on the bus or train. Beyond losing the whole laptop, portability introduces the problem of getting banged around and stepped on. You won’t encounter too many desktop computers with cracked LCD screens, but people often treat closed laptops like a plank of wood, which they aren’t. Stacking things on top of laptops, especially in overhead baggage compartments, can result in enough point pressure on the lid to crack the screen. Component or board level damage is also possible when sufficient violence is done to a laptop.
For most electronic products, high reliability is achieved by reducing the number of moving parts. Unfortunately, laptop designs universally feature a hinged screen that is opened and closed each time the laptop is moved somewhere. While the engineers have gotten very good at designing the hinges and the cables that bring signal and power to the LCD screen and backlight in the lid, they are still moving parts. Intermittent problems with notebook screens that seem to come and go at random after you move the laptop are usually related to the opening and the closing of the lid. One time the wire twists the right way, next time the wire twists the wrong way. The wiring bundles are no fun to fix, and doing any repair job on a laptop that requires working with the hinges can lead to wires getting broken or shorted. All this means that if you aren’t going to be carrying your computer from place to place, you’re better off buying a desktop.
Batteries, which make laptops such popular café and classroom accessories, are another Achilles heel that desktops do without. Battery technology has advanced tremendously in
the last 20 years, but the same basic problems still plague all high power battery devices. Battery packs achieve a high enough voltage to operate a notebook computer by including multiple battery cells connected in series. This makes it very difficult for Before We Start Troubleshooting.
The computer to fully comprehend the state of discharge of the battery pack as a whole. Additionally, with some technologies, user behavior makes a huge difference in how long the battery will remain viable. The most recent battery technology to achieve wide acceptance is Lithium-Ion. These battery packs are the least demanding in terms user lifecycle management, but they have issues of their own, like limited shelf life and
occasionally bursting into flames. Another generally unremarked flaw of laptops is the
moral hazard. The convenience and portability of laptops promotes reckless behavior on the part of their owners. Who hasn’t been guilty of working on shaky tables in cafes while
traveling, with a tall Pilsner glass or a paper cup of coffee just inches from the keyboard? If somebody bumps into the table or elbows over the glass, it could be curtains for the computer.
Eating and drinking over a desktop computer normally only puts the keyboard at risk, a $10 replacement part. Eating and drinking around a laptop puts the whole unit at risk should liquid find its way past the keyboard membrane and cause a short circuit. A sticky desktop keyboard is easy to clean or replace, while a sticky laptop keyboard is a nightmare to clean, and will cost around $80 to replace if you do the job yourself, and as much as $250 if you pay somebody else.
If you do spill something on your laptop, the best bet is to hold in the power button (and your breath) for three or five very long seconds to turn it off. The normal human reaction of
pulling the plug after spilling a liquid on electronics doesn’t accomplish much when the battery is installed. After it shuts down, unplug it if it’s plugged in and sop up as much of the
liquid as possible with a paper towel. Once it’s turned off, if you have to turn the laptop upside down to remove the battery, sopping up most of the liquid before it gets past the keyboard membrane is probably a better choice. In any case, when you’ve cleaned it up as good as you can, remove the battery and let the laptop dry out overnight. If it was anything worse than a little splash of water or coffee on the keyboard, remove the keyboard
to check for any signs of wetness underneath before attempting to power it up again. You should find some well illustrated disassembly instructions for your model online.
Leaving laptops in cars is another killer. You don’t want to leave your laptop in a hot car anymore than you want to leave your children or your dog. Well, there are laws against leaving children and dogs in cars, and unless you’re a cloning advocate,
they can’t be backed up. Backing up your laptop is your only defense against all of the awful things that await it in the world.
The only critical component in your laptop when it comes to preserving your data, your programs, your favorite websites and e-mail addresses, is the hard drive. A nasty jolt at the wrong moment, a bad power surge, too much heat or an overturned
cup of coffee can all lead to a hard drive’s premature demise. There are services that can recover most of the data from hard drives that aren’t too badly damaged for a cost between a few hundred and a few thousand dollars, but making it happen in a hurry costs extra.