Fix it one piece at a time.
A hands-on guide to servicing, maintaining and troubleshooting computers. Open a piece, work through its steps, then place it on the board.
Guided diagnosis
Not sure where to begin? Answer a few questions and the guide picks your first piece.
Troubleshooting board
Each piece is a common failure. Steps run from the simplest check to the most drastic fix.
Put the service procedure in order
Every unit gets the same seven steps. Tap them in the order you would do them.
Maintenance schedule
Small routine jobs prevent most failures.
The troubleshooting method
Nine steps sit behind every fix. Open each one to read it.
Before you open anything
Protect yourself and the hardware first.
- Shut down and unplug the power cable. Remove a laptop battery if possible.
- Hold the power button for 10 seconds to discharge residual power.
- Wear an anti-static strap, or touch bare chassis metal before handling parts.
- Never open a power supply unit. It holds a dangerous charge.
- Photograph cables and parts before removing them, and sort screws by location.
- Back up the owner’s data before changing anything.
Commands worth keeping
Run these in an administrator Command Prompt.