Hi there Internet!
Dan here with another edition of the NexiPC BLOG. Today we are going to talk about some common laptop issues and how to deal with them. This will not be an exhaustive listing of any kind though. We can only cover the absolute broadest range of things here with such limited space. There are ten or so major components to a laptop, and each of those components is made up of in some cases hundreds of other parts. So there are more things that could go wrong with a computer than could be put into a library. As such, we will cover just a couple topics in some detail and hopefully give a broad overview of ways to find help for any other issues that you might encounter. And as always if you have any questions or comments please send us an email at cs@nexipc.com, we are always happy to help and we would love to hear from you.
To begin, it is helpful to keep in mind that laptops are machines (well duh, lol), and as such they are going to have problems. No machine is perfect, and mass produced ones are going to have more than their share of flaws. Most of the things that are going to go wrong typically though will be very similar from unit to unit, as these are usually due to things that the manufacturer had to do to save costs or due to design limitations, and they know these components will be prone to failure. As such manufacturers tend to have pretty good resources to help with these common issues and we have put together a list of links to the manufacturers support sites for most of these problems. https://www.nexipc.com/pages/drivers-and-downloads. If the issue you are having is not one of the ones we are covering here please check out this page, you can locate your manufacturer, find the issue you are dealing with, and then immediately link to support information for exactly that issue.
With that said, one of the most common issues that we hear people are facing are issues with the battery in their laptop, and these issues tend to fall into two primary categories. Either the battery does not work in some fundamental way (e.g. the battery does not charge, or the battery does not power the system), or the battery does not hold a charge as long as it should. One thing you can try for both of these issues though is a battery reset. Due to the way that batteries are built they have to have some safety features to make sure they work right. Sometimes those safety features will trip even though there is not a problem basically because it is better to have the safety features work too well than it is to have them work not well enough. Sometimes the battery itself just needs to have its systems reset. And because of this manufacturers build in a way to reset the batteries systems so that if it is just a fake issue the system can get back up and running.
Performing a power reset may be different from manufacturer to manufacturer, and might also be different even between different models from the same manufacturer so it is always best to check the manufacturer link above to find the procedure for your unit. But for most systems across all manufacturers the procedure will be to unplug the laptop from all external devices. This means everything. The power cable, any USB devices, even the battery if the battery is the removable type. When everything is removed press and hold down the power button for (x) seconds. The (x) will be a different number between manufacturers typically, but if you hold it for 30 seconds this will fulfil the requirements of all of the major systems. After doing this plug the battery back into the system, plug it back into the power and HDMI if absolutely necessary, but don't plug in USB devices yet. Then hit the power button and see what happens. Ideally this will fix the issue you are having and if the system turns on it is best to run whatever version of a battery diagnostic program that your manufacturer offers which can be found on their support site to check the health of the battery. If it did not fix the issue or if the system does not turn on at all still it is time to seek help, it could still be a simple issue like a driver problem but it could also be something physically wrong with the system. Give us a call or send us an email explaining the issue and we will be able to get you in touch with the resources that you need for your issue.
This all leads eventually to the larger issue. Due to design limitations, laptops will in many cases face issues due to those designs. Some of the biggest issues that we see people encountering due to designs are: computers that are running very slowly for no apparent reason, systems restarting randomly, error messages involving memory and hard drives, systems that are too hot to put on your lap comfortably, ports not working correctly, and batteries not charging. These issues can often be traced back to design choices that are made with laptops that are not made with other units, or that do not have the same impact in those systems. In most cases these types of issues will require repairs to be made on the system to fix the thing that is not quite working the way it is supposed to. If you are having any of these issues please contact us so we can help you get those repairs.
Hopefully these tips have been helpful. There is a lot of very good information available on the internet on all of these topics and more, and I highly recommend two YouTube channels in particular for this as well as for any other issues you might be having. One is called “Linus Tech Tips” and the other is “Gamers Nexus”. Both channels offer a wealth of information on computers and they can help you understand this complicated field. The BLOG next week will be about how to choose the right amount of RAM for your system, and what drives may be best for your needs. Thanks for joining me everyone.
Till next time folks, have fun. I will talk to you then.
Dan