User:Lynnae/Laptop Extended Build Guide

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Build Guide Extended

1. Inspect the system

☐ Check the system for missing or damaged parts.
☐ Make repairs as directed by your instructor.
☐ Note any cosmetic damage or unresolved issues on the Keeper label.

Things to watch out for
Take a moment to look over the system while completing the steps above. Keep an eye out for physical problems, such as:

  • Cracks in the case or bezel
  • Missing battery or cover plates from the underside of the laptop
  • Damage to the screen or hinges
  • Damage to any of the ports or power jack
  • Discoloration, scratches or marks on any surface
  • Dirt, dust, cat hair and/or grime above and beyond what can be cleaned

2. Verify Keeper label information

The Keeper label is used to:

  • Keep track of basic hardware information.
  • Track the laptop through RAM testing (called memtest), battery testing, and the build process.
  • Transfer notes about the laptop from builder to builder, and to the instructors.

Add any missing information to these fields:
☐ Laptop make and model
☐ CPU type and speed
☐ RAM size and type

If you need help
Follow the Evaluation guide for instructions on using the Hardware Detection Kit from the Free Geek network, or BIOS.

3. Install an imaged hard drive

☐ Use the laptop spec guide to figure out what size hard drive to install.

  • Reference the whiteboard in the laptop buildroom, or
  • Use the Laptop Specs (A-6) sheet in the Appendix.

☐ Figure out if you need a SATA or IDE hard drive, and ask your instructor for the drive. They may have you skip this step in some cases.
☐ Find caddy parts, adapters and screws as needed.

4. Check optical drive hardware

☐ Make sure an optical drive is installed if needed.
☐ Check the optical drive faceplate:

  • DVD-RW drives are preferred; CD-RW/DVD-ROM drives are acceptable.
  • Swap CD-ROM drives for a CD-RW/DVD-ROM or DVD-RW drive.

☐ Note the optical drive type on the Keeper label.

Tip
There are some optical drives available in the build room, sorted by brand. Ask your instructor if you are not able to find the drive you need.

5. Find an appropriate AC adapter

Requirements
For an AC adapter to power the device correctly, it must:

  • Match the input voltage (V) of the laptop exactly.
  • Match or exceed the recommended amperage (A).
  • Have a plug that fits into the laptop snugly and provides power.

☐ Find the input voltage and amperage listed on the laptop. This may be printed on the back of the laptop, or on the chassis under the battery.
☐ Find an AC adapter that matches the voltage and amperage listed on the laptop. You will be looking in the output section printed on the AC adapter, which should look like this:

INPUT:  100-240V~1.9A
        50/60Hz
OUTPUT: 16V ⎓ 4.5A

Tip
AC adapters are sorted in bins by voltage, amperage, and brand; the bins are color-coded by brand.

6. BIOS

☐ Boot into BIOS.
☐ Find the section for setting boot options. Set the following boot order: 

First:    Optical Drive
Second:   Hard Drive
Third:    Network Device (also called LAN, Onboard NIC, or PXE)
  • Disable or ignore other devices.

☐ Verify that BIOS recognizes about the same amount of RAM as is marked on the Keeper label.

  • BIOS may report slightly less RAM than the total amount installed. It should not be more than a couple hundred megabytes. The 'missing' RAM is being reserved by the system.

☐ Make sure that no BIOS or administrative passwords are set.

  • If you encounter a start-up or BIOS password, check with your instructor or visit the Free Geek wiki for further guidance.

Background information

  • BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System. It is made up of software stored on a chip installed on the motherboard, rather than the hard drive.
  • Different companies manufacture BIOS firmware chips. This is why different computers can have very different-looking BIOS screens.
  • BIOS is being replaced by something called "Extensible Firmware Interface", or EFI. You may encounter this on newer systems. Functionally, it will appear very similar to BIOS.

7. Configure networking

Requirements
All laptops sold or given away by Free Geek must have a working wired internet connection and must be able to browse to a website wirelessly.

Test wired internet connection

☐ Plug in an ethernet cable from the bench.

  • Watch the desktop panel, top right corner. You should see a ↑↓ symbol appear.

☐ Open a web browser (Xubuntu 12.04 uses Firefox by default) and navigate to a website, such as http://www.freegeek.org

Troubleshooting tips

  • Try a different cable. The workbench ethernet cables see a lot of use. If you do find a faulty cable, please notify an instructor so they can promptly replace it.
  • Check to see if the up lights are flashing on the LAN port. No lights may indicate a failed port.
  • Open a terminal and run ifconfig. Have your instructor help you interpret the results.

Test wireless internet connection

☐ Test wireless

  • Disconnect the ethernet cable.
  • Click on the WiFi symbol to select the FreeGeek network.
  • Load a website in Firefox. Pick a different site than you used for the wired networking test, such as http://wiki.freegeek.org.

☐ If you run into issues, reference the Wireless Troubleshooting Guide (A-5) in the binder Appendix.

7. Run basiccheck

☐ Open a Terminal window.
☐ Type basiccheck and hit enter.
☐ Follow the onscreen instructions.

Test 1/8" Audio Jack

For the first basiccheck test, you were probably testing the internal speakers. Both the 1/8" jack and internal speakers (if present) should be tested.
☐ Find the headphone jack; it is usually colored green or marked with a headphone symbol.
☐ Find a pair of headphones or speakers from the shelf.
☐ Repeat the basiccheck audio test or use an audio CD to test the jack output; mark your findings on the Keeper label.
Troubleshooting Audio
In laptops, we cannot physically replace the sound card, like we can in a desktop system. This limits our options when things go wrong. However, we can:

  • ensure that the sound card is recognized by the system by running lspci | grep -i audio.
  • double check that audio is not muted in the operating system. Click on the audio symbol in the top panel of the Desktop to check the volume settings.
  • run alsamixer in a terminal and check that volume levels for "Master" and "PCM" are set around 90.

Requirements
At best, all audio outputs should work.

  • Note if speakers do not work, or are not present.
  • Note if the headphone jack does not work.
  • If neither the internal speakers nor the headphone jack work, check with your instructor.
Tip

Run the command basiccheck -m if you just want to run a single basiccheck test.

8. Test Optical Drive

We test the basic ability of an optical drive to boot a live disk, read data, and write data. Start by confirming which functions you need to test for the optical drive installed.

  • All drives should have CD read and CD write functions (CD-R/W).
  • Check the drive faceplate or Keeper label to see if your drive has DVD read and write capabilities (DVD-R/W), or just DVD read (DVD-ROM).

☐ You will need three testing disks:

  • Live bootable disk (all optical drives)
  • CD-RW for CD read and write functions (all optical drives)
  • DVD-RW for DVD read and write functions (DVD-RW drives)
  • DVD-ROM for drives without DVD write functions (DVD-ROM drives)

Live boot test (all optical drives)

Booting a live disk tests the optical drive firmware (the little bit of software installed on the drive itself). The goal of testing the live boot first is to eliminate hardware problems before testing read and write functions in the operating system.
☐ Insert a live disk and reboot.
☐ You should end up on a screen from the disk, rather than the Xubuntu login screen. Remove the disk and reboot back to Xubuntu.

Troubleshooting steps
  • Make sure your BIOS boot order is set correctly.
  • Try a few different live disks.
  • If the drive still fails to boot a live disk, it's probably time to try a different optical drive.
Tip

Live disks are often very slow to load.

CD read and write test (all optical drives)

Write

☐ Insert a CD-RW disk.
☐ Open the burning program Xfburn from Menu >> Multimedia.
☐ Create a new data project:

  • Select New Data Composition from the Xfburn main menu.

☐ Select a file to burn:

  • In the Xfburn file browser window select Desktop >> freegeek-manual-desktop
  • Add the file by selecting

☐ Start the burning process:

  • Hit the Proceed to Burn button.

☐ Eject the disk once the burning process has completed.

  • The disk will autoeject in some systems.
  • Eject by right clicking on the disk Desktop icon >> Eject.
  • Open a terminal and type eject.
Read

☐ Reinsert the disk, and wait a few moments. Confirm that the file you burned is on the disk.

  • A file manager window should pop up, with the file you burned.
  • If the window does not appear, check Places for the disk.

☐ Blank the disk from Xfburn >> Blank CD-RW to prepare the disk for the next tester.

DVD read test (for DVD-ROM drives only)

☐ Insert a DVD-ROM disk. Confirm that the operating system can read the files on the disk.

  • A file manager window should pop up, with the file you burned.
  • If the window does not appear, check Places for the disk.
Tip
  • Copywritten software is required to play DVD videos. We do not install this software, but verify instead that the files on the DVD are readable by the operating system.

DVD read and write test (DVD-RW drives)

☐ Follow the instructions for CD-RW testing, with a DVD-RW disk.

Troubleshooting steps for -/+RW media

Optical disk media is finicky.

9. Test USB Ports

Requirements
Laptops should have at least two functioning USB ports.

☐ Note the number of USB ports on the system. Look for any physical damage, gunk, or oxidation around the ports.
☐ Use a USB mouse to test each port. Make sure you can move things around and switch between windows with the mouse cursor.
☐ If there is a broken port, make a note on the Keeper Label to be included in the printme notes, and cover the port with black electrical tape.

Note: Some ports may seem to work but are missing the internal plastic guide the protects the metal pins. These are considered damaged because the pins are unprotected and may short out, causing damage to the USB device or the laptop motherboard. Please point out any damaged ports to your instructor.

Troubleshooting tips

  • Run the command lsusb in a terminal to see if devices attached to each port are recognized by the operating system.
  • Check BIOS to make sure that all USB ports are enabled.

10. Test Input Devices

GIVE INSTRUCTIONS FROM NETWORK BOOT?

11. Run printme

☐ Open a Terminal window.
☐ Type printme and follow the onscreen instructions.
☐ Make sure to have your instructor sign off on the digital copy of your work.
☐ Print a copy of the Printme to the desktop 12.04 check INSTRUCTIONS: example page like the keeper label example, with screenshot

12. Next steps

☐ Review the Keeper label:

  • If battery or memory testing has not been done yet, start needed tests on the testing station. Instructions are in THE APPENDIX LINK RIGHT HERE.
  • If there are still repairs or parts needed, check with your instructor.
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