Problem laptops are so problematic quite simply because a casual user is often clueless about what goes on under the hood. It is a vast landscape of unfamiliar ICs and jungles of wires down there, and even power users may not have an idea what to fix. For this reason, very few users actually work up the nerve to tinker around with the case off.

This is not to say that you should automatically reach for the tools if something is amiss with your problem laptops. If your machine is still under warranty, it would be best to take it back to the shop where you bought it from and have them deal with the problem. If the warranty period has lapsed however, and you at least have a cursory knowledge of desktop computers and electronics, you may want to pop the hood open and have a look around.

Keep in mind that laptops tend to be a bit more sensitive than desktops–ironic since they are designed for transport–and there is a good chance that you may not do any good. If the problem is particularly difficult, you may not even be able to diagnose it at all. In any case, it would be worth having a look-see, and if you are reasonably careful you shouldn’t do any more damage to your problem laptops. Just don’t go in boots planted wielding a machete and a flamethrower and you should be okay…well as okay as can be considering your laptop already has issues!

Even if you do decide to take your problem laptops to a qualified professional later on, popping the hood will give you some familiarity with its components. At the very least, you might be able to tell the technician what went wrong.

A fairly familiar form of laptop boot problems is when the unit powers up when switched on, after which it unceremoniously shuts down after the fan and the CD-ROM drive has whirred to life for a few seconds. No image is displayed on the screen at all.

The problem is when the laptop is no longer covered by warranty. If this is the case, you won’t lose anything by opening up the case and having a look around provided that you don’t touch anything you aren’t absolutely sure about. You may be lucky and the problem could be fixed by simply reseating the cable to the hard disk. While you are looking around, you may also want to check for other cables that appear to be out of place. Keep in mind that you will void your warranty if it is still active by opening up your laptop.

You also have to make sure that what you are experiencing are indeed laptop boot problems and not issues with the video card. Connect an external monitor to your laptop and see if an image shows up. If it does, there is probably something wrong with your video card.

More worrying are laptop boot problems that have to do with a damaged motherboard or CPU. This will likely mean a complicated and expensive replacement procedure, and depending on how old your laptop is, it may not be a worthwhile course of action to take at all.

In a small number of cases, laptop boot problems can be caused by nothing more than a dead battery. Many newer laptops do not exhibit this behavior although if your laptop is an older model, it may be a good idea to check if a new battery will make the problem disappear.

But perhaps one of the most common Acer laptop problems is the dreaded “blackscreen.” In such cases, the problem is usually with the LCD display in which the backlight has burnt out. In order to repair these types of Acer laptop problems, the monitor will have to be opened up and the cold cathode tube replaced.

Before you attempt such a repair or take your laptop in to a qualified technician however, first make sure that you didn’t simply turn off the backlight by accident. You can do this by pressing the Fn button and F6 at the same time. This will toggle the display backlight on and off. You may also find it helpful to hold down the Fn button and press the left and right arrow keys, which will raise and lower the backlight brightness respectively.

One of the other fairly common Acer laptop problems has to do with the USB port failing. In such cases, the USB ports still do not work even after the proper drivers have been installed.

Some other Acer laptop problems involve Windows failing to detect the hard drive. There may be numerous reasons for this, but if the hard rive itself has failed, your only option would be to replace it. This problem is different from the fairly common “click of death”, in which case a brand new hard drive makes clicking noises, which is itself a sign that it isn’t running at the proper speed.

Still another common Acer laptop problem has to do with the DVD burner simply ceasing to work, being unable to burn new discs or to read discs that were previously written with the same drive. In these situations, you may have to replace the DVD burner.

Nevertheless, many a laptop monitor problem can be remedied, and you have a number of options to check out before you start to panic. Below are some of the steps to take in troubleshooting a laptop monitor problem.

If after turning on your laptop you don’t see any image on the monitor, try adjusting the brightness setting. This can either be done via the control panel or by the F key assigned to the monitor display.

Try plugging in an external monitor in order to determine if the laptop monitor problem is a hardware issue or not. If an image appears on the external monitor as normal, your laptop monitor is probably damaged and should be checked by a qualified technician.

In some cases, a software issue causes this laptop monitor problem. In order to find out if that is the case, simply restart your laptop and see if that solves the problem.

Try turning the power button on and off. If this causes your monitor to flicker, you may have a problem with the laptop’s switch. This could happen a lot more easily than you think, since the switch is typically located near a hinge where it could easily be damaged.

One other simply way to resolve your laptop monitor problem is simply by turning it off and removing the battery. Leave it powered down for a few minutes and then place the battery back inside and restart the laptop. In many case, this should be enough to solve your laptop monitor problem.

Finally, you may find it useful to know a few basic troubleshooting procedures for the occasional laptop monitor problem. This may save you a lot of time, effort and money.

Some of the more common Compaq laptop problems involve units that can be shutdown or placed into hibernation as normal, but then simply refuse to boot up when restarted. In some of these units, the power light may come on, and the various drives–hard disk, floppy, and CD-ROM–may appear to be in order, but the monitor does not show any image at all. These Compaq laptop problems may be preceded by episodes in which twisting the laptop a certain way or bumping the cord will cause it to shut down completely, in which case it could only be restarted by holding down the power button for 30 seconds. A close inspection of the inside will generally reveal nothing out of the ordinary, with the processor showing no signs of damage.

The thing to remember with regard to Compaq laptop problems is that the CPU is rarely the problem. Instead, you should look into faulty or damaged components such as the power supply, some capacitors, batteries, inverters, and the screens.

As for the power supply, battery, and inverter, these are the three most common problems areas in certain Compaq models. It would be helpful to tell your technician whether any odd behavior occurs for more than a few seconds in the days leading up to the malfunction. You should also taker note of whether you have been running your laptop too hot or if you had noticed the smell of burning components at any time.

Finally, you will want to check on the condition of the CMOS battery. It’s a long shot but this may explain some of the Compaq laptop problems that you have been having. The sad news is that many Compaq models continue to exhibit odd behavior even after these issues have been addressed. If that is the case, you may have no choice but to pony up for a new laptop.

A fairly common laptop bluetooth problem is when Windows is unable to find a driver for your device. This problem can have many causes, the most common of which have to do with an outdated driver or the absence of a USB dongle. Another less common issue is when the device itself is actually defective.

If your laptop bluetooth problem is the result of a missing or corrupted driver, try to see if downloading and installing the latest driver for your device can fix it. If doing so fails to fix your laptop bluetooth problem, you may have a defective device that needs to be replaced.

Some users may experience problems during the installation of the device. An error message may appear that states that there is something wrong with the inf file. This file gives your operating system information about the particular device that you are trying to install. If Windows cannot find the appropriate information regarding the said device, the installation obviously cannot proceed normally.

Keep in mind that Windows may try to update your driver automatically if you are constantly connected to the Internet. In order to prevent this from happening, you may want to disable your Internet connection while you are troubleshooting your laptop bluetooth problem and perform the driver update manually. Of course it is important to make sure that you have the proper drivers for your device and that it is the latest version.

A laptop bluetooth problem can be quite inconvenient and bothersome, although it doesn’t have to mean the end of the world. Try out the tips that we have outlined above and see if they don’t make a difference. If your laptop bluetooth problem persists, it may be time to seek some professional assistance.

The first step in solving laptops problems is diagnosis. For instance, many people assume that the cause of their laptops problems is a dead battery when it is something else entirely. For example, a dead LCD screen could be caused by anything from a bad motherboard, memory problems or video adapter issues. These laptops problems–although by no means simple–could be repaired easily enough by a competent technician. More serious laptops problems are caused by a damaged inverter or backlight, which can take a long time to repair, depending on the model of your computer. If your laptop has been discontinued for a while, it can take several months for a repair to be completed. In the worse case scenario, you may even have to ditch your laptop entirely due to lack of parts.

A malfunctioning LCD screen could be the result of a crack in the glass or dead pixels. As for laptops problems regarding unreadable CDs, these may be caused by bad discs or dirty read/write heads in your drive, for which the solutions are trying different brands of CDs or a cleaner kit respectively. In these cases, it may also be a good idea to check the power and data cables before throwing out the old drive for good. Keep in mind also that it would probably be cheaper to simply get a new drive rather than having your old one repaired, even if it were possible.

Regardless of what laptops problems you are facing, accurate diagnosis is the first step in solving the problem. If you can’t seem to get to the root, it may be time to take your laptop in for servicing.

• If your laptop seems to start up as usual but the screen remains black, yet appears normal when you move it, the problem is likely the cable.
• If your laptop seems to start up normally but the screen stays very dark, with a slight color change and a faint image, the laptop screen problem is likely the result of a malfunctioning inverter or cable.
• If after you start up your laptop the screen remains dark with pink or reddish tints and then becomes dark after a while, the cause is probably a failing backlight.
• If your laptop screen flickers to life a few times but then becomes dark, and flickers again when moved or tapped lightly, this laptop screen problem is probably due to a damaged cable or LCD.
• If the laptop screen stays black or white with no image visible, yet an external monitor displays an image normally, the cause is probably a problem with the cable or LCD.
• If there are vertical or horizontal stripes present on your screen, which change when the screen is moved or tapped, the problem again probably lies with a failed cable or the LCD.

For diagnosing all of the above laptop screen problems, you may need to plug in an external monitor. To do this, you will have to press the “Fn” key along with one of the “F1? to “F10? keys in order for your laptop to “see” the external monitor.

Your laptop screen problem may also be the result of the “lid closed” switch being stuck, which means that the operating system may think that the lid is indeed closed. Simply try to push this switch a few times and see if that does the trick. In order to prevent this fairly common laptop screen problem, many newer laptops have magnetic switches that never get stuck.

In many cases, the laptop USB problem is characterized by a message stating that the device plugged into the USB port cannot be recognized. This message may also be accompanied by a beep. Strangely enough, the laptop USB problem may persist even after the USB device is disconnected. A few users have even reported the problem occurring when the laptop monitor is moved. To make thins even more confusing, the USB ports sometimes work normally when a device is connected and may show up normally in Device Manager.

As to what may be causing this laptop USB problem, this may vary depending on the brand and model of the laptop. With some systems for instance, the laptop USB problem wherein the ports work normally when devices are plugged in but an error message pops up when the device is unplugged, the most common cause is an issue with the USB driver.

The first step in solving this laptop USB problem is installing the latest drivers for the particular motherboard you are using. The drivers may be downloaded by using the utility software that comes with your laptop. Doing this may be enough to solve issues with the USB controller as well. If installing the latest drivers doesn’t work, the problem may be caused by your operating system.

Some users also seem to have traced this particular laptop USB problem to a bluetooth emulator. In such cases, the error message pops up at the same time as the emulator. You could check for this in Device Manager. If there is indeed an icon for the emulator in there, you could see if disabling the minipci feature will solve the problem.

First make sure that the AC power adapter’s light is on. This is usually on the adapter box itself although some laptops have the LED on the side of the computer.

In some cases, laptop power problems are caused by the circuit breaker or overload detection circuit being tripped such as during a power fluctuation. When this happens, unplugging it for a few minutes and then reconnecting it will generally reset the adapter.

If you suspect that your laptop power problems are the result of a dead adapter, try borrowing a similar one and seeing if that works.

Short circuits are also common causes of laptop power problems. These could be caused by anything from physical to electrical damage anywhere in your laptop. A short circuit will actually use up all the power available power, resulting in your laptop being unable to turn on. If the adapter comes on when plugged into the wall socket, but turns off when the laptop is plugged in, you likely have a short circuit on your hands.

One way to isolate laptop power problems caused by a short circuit is to remove anything that could potentially be the culprit. This would include the battery, the hard drive, the DVD drive, the floppy drive, and other removable storage media, and USB devices. After you have removed all of them, try to see if your laptop will go on.

In some cases, laptop power problems may be caused by a spill. If only a small amount of liquid has been spilled, your laptop may still be easily repairable. Spills can cause all sorts of laptop power problems due to the following factors:

• Short circuits resulting from liquid
• Short circuits resulting from liquid residue
• Corrosion caused by sugared drinks
• Electronic components damage caused by short circuits

In cases of laptop power problems caused by spills, your best option is to turn off your laptop, turn it upside down and dry it for at least 48 hours. If that doesn’t work, you may have to bring your laptop in for servicing.