How Do I Replace My Keyboard?

You've been working on your laptop for a while now. But then suddenly the keys on your keyboard start falling off. You then say to yourself "oh oh! it's time to replace it. But how do I replace my keyboard?"  Let me show you how. But first:


Things You Need For This Exercise

• A replacement keyboard
• T-8 screw driver(star-shaped) or Phillips screw driver
• The correct RAM for your laptop
• ESD Anti Static Wrist Strap
  

Now onto the exercise:

To Remove The Old Keyboard

• Turn the laptop off. Make sure the adapter is unplugged and the battery taken out.
• Turn the laptop over.
• Remove the screws with your T-8 or Phillips screw driver
• Turn the laptop over again. Look out for plastic pieces or clamps tucked under the keyboard. If either of the two exist, remove them.
• For the plastic pieces carefully remove them with a toothpick
• If there are any screws unscrew them and remove the keyboard from top to bottom.
• You will then see a thin data cable connecting the keyboard to the system board. Take the plastic pick to connect the plastic connectors holding the data cable.
• Then carefully remove the data cable to completely release the old keyboard

To Replace The Old Keyboard

• Take out your brand new keyboard
• Slip the data cable back in between the plastic connecters on the system board. Make sure the data cableis all the way in.
• Use the plastic pick to re-insert the plastic connectors and make sure they are holding the data cable.
• Slip the new keyboard into place from bottom to top.  Make sure the screws line up at the top.
• Tighten up the new keyboard at the top
• Replace any screws that you removed. If there are plastic pieces that you removed, snap them back in.
• Now turn the laptop over and replace all keyboard screws
• Last but not least, put the batery back in, and turn on the power.
• The keyboard sould be ready to roll.

Tips:

• Each laptop model varies but the general idea is still the same
• Make sure you wear the ESD Antistatic wrist strap before you start working the laptop. The last thing you want is to be electrocuted.

If you are searching for a replacement keyboard, try the following online retailers:

• Amazon.com 
• CompUSA.com - Buy Computer Parts, Components, Desktop, Laptops and more 
• LaptopZ.com - Free Shipping for All Laptop Keyboards 

That's a wrap on "How Do I Replace My Keyboard." It may look a bit difficult. But with a little patience and persistence, you should get the hang of it.


If you are laptop  owner looking to learn how ti fix your laptop including keyboards download  the following laptop repair training products:

• Laptop Repair Videos
• Laptop Repair Made Easy
• The Laptop Repair Workbook: An Introduction to Troubleshooting and Repairing Laptop Computers.

How to Change Corrupted RAM in Your Laptop

You are working on your laptop one day when all of a sudden, your laptop starts beeping like crazy.  Then the proverbial  blue scree shows up on your screen and you are like  "oh oh something is wrong here.  You try to run Photoshop and all of a sudden, our laptop crashes...kaput! Do you want to know the cause of your laptop's  demise? It's your corrupt RAM. corrupted RAM causes the applications on your laptop to crawl like a tortoise.  When that happens, remove your corrupt RAM immediately or else Memory Optimizer laptop could be  seriously damaged. Here is how to change your corrupted RAM.

• Run the memory test software to determine if your RAM is really corrupt.  Download Memagent Memory Optimizer or Memory Optimizer Expert to do the memory test . These two pieces of software come highly recommended.
• If you have multiple memory sticks, you need to test them individually.
•   If you establish your RAM is really corrupt, switch off your laptop and turn off the power.
• Depending on the type of RAM on your laptop, installl either SIMM(or single-in line memory module) or DIMM(duak in-line memory module)chips. You can have either a single 1 GB chip or a pair of MB chips.
• Open up your laptop with a + screwdriver
• Check the RAM slots for dirt. If you find any clean it out before inserting the RAM chip. Use a vacuum cleaner to clean the memory slots.
• Now open the RAM socket latch. The RAM  socket  latch should hold the RAM chips in place.
• Place the chip in the latch and re=clip it. If you hear a snappy sound it suggests  successful attachment.
• Next test the RAM installation. You can put the covers on but do not screw the laptop case on completely. Reconnect all your cables and turn on your laptop. Check your BIOS(Basic Input/Output System) . IF you are not sure, F2 or F8. And then check your "Control Panel, click on Sysyem and Maintenance to locate the RAM memory and make sure the  RAM you installed is reflected.
• Reboot your laptop. and  tighten all the screws. Hopefully your laptop should run with the newly installed RAM.

If you are looking for new RAM to install on your laptop, try the following vendors:

• Nerds.net
  
• Compuvest.com
  
• Amazon.com
  

That's a wrap on "How to Change Corrupted RAM in your laptop." Just follow the above instructions and your laptop should be up and running again.

If you are a laptop owner looking  to learn how to fix your laptop including how to fix and update RAM,  download   either or a combination of the following laptop repair training products:

• Laptop Repair Videos
• Laptop Repair Made Easy
• The Laptop Repair Workbook: An Introduction to Troubleshooting and Repairing Laptop Computers.

The Downlow on Changing Your Laptop Processor

Ask most laptop experts and they’d   tell you that changing a laptop processor (or CPU) is a breeze once you take the laptop apart. The tricky part about working on laptops is dealing with the delicate and smallness of the laptop components. So tricky that you could end up placing the wrong component in the wrong place. Lucky for you, most laptop manuals have detailed diagrams showing you, step by step where each component fits. The laptops manuals   furnish you information on the type of processor you need for your laptop. You have all the information at your finger tips.  So here is the lowdown on changing your laptop processor.

Things You Need For The Exercise:

•          Laptop Manual
•          Assembly Guide
•         New Laptop processor
•     Thermal Compound
•         Small screwdriver

Onward:

•         Turn off the laptop and unplug it.
•       Remove the battery, CD/DVD drive and the hard drive. In case you don’t know the hard drive is located on one side of the laptop
•         Use your screw driver to remove the screw that holds the laptop cover, and then pull the           hard drive out.
•        Turn the laptop over and then use the screw driver to remove the screws holding the keyboard.
•          Flip the laptop over, open it and then remove the keyboard.
•          Unplug the keyboard connecting the keyboard to the motherboard.
•         Unplug the heat sink fan.
•         Unscrew and release the old mechanism holding the old processor and then remove it from the laptop.
•          Apply a small layer of  Thermal Compound  to the  the new processor.
•         Make sure the processor is tightly secured and aligned in the processor compartment and then replace the heat sink  fan.
•          Connect the keyboard to the motherboard  temporarily , restart it then, following your manual instructions, enter the system BIOS.  Hopefully, the new processor should be recognized by the processor.
•          Once the BIOS   recognizes the new processor, turn off the laptop, unplug it and remove the keyboard.
•       Reassemble the laptop. Just don’t tighten  the screws to hard while putting the laptop back together.

If you're looking for new processor(or CPU) for your laptop ,Amazon.com  will be a good place to get it from.

Well, that’s a wrap on “ The Downlow on Changing Your Processor.” The exercise is a bit challenging but so long as you take your time and get every component in the right place you should have no problem replacing your processor.

If you are a laptop owner looking to learn how to fix  your laptop including replacing your laptop processor try  te following laptop repair products:
,

• Laptop Repair Videos.
• Laptop Repair Made Easy
• The Laptop Repair Workbook: An Introduction to Troubleshooting and Repairing Laptop Computers.

Time to Replace Your CD/DVD Drive

You are working on your laptop and you decide pop a DVD into your laptop. When you pop the DVD all of a sudden you hear this strange noise. You are like ”What is going on here?” You try to pop in the DVD one more time and this strange sound rings in your ear again. Then a still small voice tells you ”It’s time to replace your CD/DVD drive. You need to get a new one.” Then you fire back with another question” What could possibly have caused it to make such a strange noise?” Then the still voice responds saying” Well, it could be a virus or that the drive itself just jammed.” So now that we’re through with the formalities let me show you how to replace your CD/DVD drive.

• First turn off the power on your laptop and pull off the power plug from the bag.. Unscrew the screws holding the case cover of your laptop and open the case of your laptop. You now have access to the screws holding the drive 
• Now locate the CD/DVD drive. Unplug the cable transmitting sound to the sound card and label ti for purposes of reference. Next. Unscrew the four screws in the side of the drive . 
• Then remove the power plug from behind the drive and disconnect the cable for the drive. Keep track of the location of the red wire . In some drives it connects to the power connector and in some drives it is adjacent to the connector. 
• Now that you’ve unscrewed everything, remove the drive jumpers and take note of the settings: You should see Slave Master, and Master Only 
• Now take your new CD/DVD Drive drive and set the jumpers on the back of the drive, similar to that of the old drive. 
• Reconnect the drive cable and align the red wire with the pin on the drive connector. 
• You then connect the power cable and slide the drive into the drive compartment and tighten it with the four screws. Finally plug in the sound cable you disconnected earlier. 
• Close the laptop screws and tighten the sides with the screws you removed earlier. Then reconnect the power cable to the laptop and restart the laptop. 

Well, that’s a wrap on ”Time to Replace Your CD/DVD Drive.” Hopefully you should be able to change you’re your drive so long as you follow the above instructions. So if you’re a laptop owner hoping to learn how to fix your laptop including your CD/DVD drive, Download Laptop Repair Videos.

What To Do When Your Laptop Overheats

You are working on your laptop one day and for some weird reason your laptop is placed on your lap. All of a sudden, you get this weird sensation that your thighs are about to catch fire. And then you scream out saying” Gosh, my thighs are burning up!” Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is yours thighs aren’t burning up. The bad news is your laptop is overheating and your laptop is the cause of your laptop overheating. Overheating is probably the biggest threat to the survival of your laptop.  It can do serious damage to your laptop not to mention permanently disabling it. Oh! and placing your laptop on your lap or any other uneven surface accelerates the overheating of your laptop.  Let me show you what to do when your laptop overheats. But first let’s answer some pertinent questions..


First Question

How Do You Know Your Laptop is Overheating?

Anytime your fan is operating at an unusually fast speed, get worried. Because your laptop is heating up, the fan has to overcompensate by  over-spinning. As a result, it puts your hardware in harms way. Consequently, the CPU has to fend for itself by cutting down on its clock speed to escape the rising heat as well. And when that happens, it could cause the laptop to shut down to protect the hardware from further damage.

Next Question:

How Do You Prevent An Overheating Laptop?

Before  I answer this question,  please do the following

•    Shut down the laptop
• Remove the battery
•      Unplug the AC/Adapter
•      Make sure  your hands are dry to avoid electric shock

Now to the solution:

Clean The Fan

The first thing to do when your laptop is overheating is to clean the fan. The fans provide cooling to the CPU and the graphics card. Over time layers of dust and dirt build up in these fans causing the laptop to overheat. So here is how to clean the fan.

·     Carefully, clean the fan with a cotton swap dipped in a drop of alcohol. Make sure the laptop     has completely evaporated before you turn the  power on.

·         You can also use a vacuum cleaner to remove the dust and dirt which clog up the fan. But make sure your fan is not spinning in the wrong direction or else it could get damaged.

·         You can also use compressed air to clean the fan by holding the fan down.

·         Next you clean the exhaust port by sucking out air with the vacuum cleaner. The exhaust port is located on the side of the laptop and it is the opening where the hot air blows out of.

·         Next spray the intake grills with the same compressed air. The intake grills are the small openings where air is sucked into the laptop by the speedily revolving fans.

·         Finally, apply thermal grease  to the interface between the CPU and the graphics card.

Keep The Laptop on a Flat and Even Surface

Most laptops cool down through their behinds(or bottoms).  So if you put your laptop on an uneven surface such as your pillow, blanket, or your lap, the airflow into the laptop becomes disrupted, causing the temperature of the cooling air to rise and the laptop to eventually overheat. You can easily avoid this situation by placing your laptop on a flat surface such as a tray, laptop holder  or  lap stand 

Buy a Laptop Cooler

A  laptop cooler  will do your laptop  a lot of good as it contributes additional cooling to offset potential overheating. Make sure you get the right cooler  because the last thing you want  is a cooler merely sitting under your laptop and sucking air away from it. This of course will cause the laptop to overheat and we don't want that do we? Buying a laptop that blows air upwards will be beneficial as it will take care of problems such as intake grills at the bottom of the laptop. Or you can buy  a  passive cooler which does not consume power but absorbs heat. So the issue of rapid overheating does not arise.

Well, that's a wrap on "What to do When Your Laptop Overheats"  The laptop is prone to overheating due to a combination of external factors and user habits that threaten  the laptop's existence. However, so long as you follow these hardware suggestions and  treat the laptop with love and care, your laptop should live a little longer.




So if you are a laptop user looking to learn how to fix ypur laptop including  preventing overheating, Download Laptop Repair Videos.

How To Handle a Laptop That has Liquid Spilled on It.

Laptops are a  sensitive as our ego because they're not waterproof. The smallest drop on the keyboard, and and you could snuff the life out of it. The god news is  that it's possible to fix a a laptop with liquid spilled on it. The trick here is you have to act fast and smart,. Wait another second longer, and you reduce the chances of your laptop surviving the spillage. Here is how to handle a laptop that has liquid spilled on it.

• Turn off the laptop immediately. Remove the AC Adapter. Doing so cuts down the possibility of the adapter shorting out.
• Disconnect all external devices
• Turn the laptop upside down to stop the water from flowing any further.
• Use paper towels or clean lint-free cloth to clean the liquid
• Double-check the keyboard. Pour out any leftover liquid, then remove and clean the keyboard.
• Use  another piece of clean lint-free cloth, slightly dampened to wipe sticky areas of the laptop such as the screen, keys on the keyboard, and any other buttons located on the laptop
• Don't get your hands anywhere near static electricity as it causes high voltage and could destroy your laptop even when it's dry.

• If you can't reach the spillage quickly enough, I suggest you disassemble the laptop to prevent the circuit boards from corroding. As part of the disassembly,remove your hard disk to prevent loss of data and the Network Card, Video Card, e.t.c
• If you happen to spill non-water stains such as Coca Cola and coffee on your laptop, use a tooth brush or lint-free cloth to clean the residue from the spillage.. Then blow the residue away with  compressed air. 
• Put the laptop back together, and test it to see whether it's working.

That's a wrap on "How To Handle a Laptop That has Liquid Spilled on It." It is possible to handle spillages but you need to act quick  to accomplish this task. Do this, and you should be able to handle the spillage breezily.

If you are a laptop user looking to learn how to fix your laptop including cleaning liquid spillages,  try the following lapotp repair training products:

•  Laptop Repair Videos
• Laptop Repair Made Easy
• The Laptop Repair Workbook: An Introduction to Troubleshooting and Repairing Laptop Computers

How to Disassemble Your Laptop-Part II

This week we continue  from where we left off with our tutorial on"How to Disassemble Your Laptop-Part II" by Removing the expansion Memory.

Remove the Memory Module


To remove the memory module

• Put the laptop in boot mode
• Turn the power off and disconnect all cables from the laptop
• Turn the laptop upside down and take out the battery and the screw securing the memory module socket cover
• Slide your finger nail under the socket cover and lift it off. Push the latches to the outside to free up the memory module. A spring then forces one end of the module up.
• Hold the module and pull it out.
• Seat the cover and secure the screws
• Replace the battery
• Remove the memory bay cover

Remove the Modem

To remove the modem:

• Remove the strip cover and keyboard
• Remove the two black screws securing the modem module
• Lift the unit off the connector
• Disconnect the modem cable from the modem module

Once you've taken all these part apart, put the entire laptop back together again.

That's a wrap on 'How to Disassemble your laptop-Part II. Hope you all have learnt a lot in this two part series. Although it seems scary, at first, once you get the hang of it, taking your laptop apart  should be a breeze.

So if you are a laptop owner looking to learn how to learn how to fix your laptop, including taking it apart, Download Laptop Repair Videos.