Laptop Troubleshooting Guide

Not Powering On
Is your power supply plugged in? Does it actually work? Try a new one. Try swapping ram. Bad ram can make a laptop fail silently. Take out the hard drive, a bad hard drive can make a laptop fail silently.

Screen Not Working
Any signs of life? If the back light is bad but the screen shows some faint picture, or the screen is cracked, try plugging in to an external monitor. If the external shows normal video output, continue with evaluation. If it ends up as a keeper, make sure you write any screen issues on the keeper label.

No Post
Try swapping ram. Bad ram can make a laptop fail silently. Take out the hard drive, a bad hard drive can make a laptop fail silently. Take out any cardbus cards. It could also be overheating, check bottom of laptop for hot spots. Check fan areas for buildup of dust or blockage.

Still Not Working
Don't fret too hard, we have lot's of laptops to work on. Still, ask your instructor if there are any model specific issues he or she knows about. If all avenues have been exhausted, reject it.