Laptop Build Checklist

The evaluation should have been completed to reach Build. Work through each step as well as you can, and ask if you have questions. Try and learn the reason for each of the steps. This knowledge will come in handy later on when, inevitably, things aren't going as smoothly. Your instructor will be able to answer questions and check your work. Never overlook the help that the builder to your right or left might be able to lend. You can also find information on the Free Geek wiki at Laptops. Check with your instructor to find out what type of box to build, then work your way down this checklist. STEPS NOTES AND DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS Check For Broken or Damaged Parts Visually inspect laptop for broken screen, missing keys, weak hinges, cosmetic problems, etc. If in doubt, check with your instructor and make repairs as directed. Look at the Keeper Label Check whiteboard to make sure nothing looks out of line, e.g. there's only 256 MB of RAM, the CD is read only, no PCI slot for wireless(its used by a modem/lan card) so provide PCMCIA wireless. If there isn't a Keeper label already on the laptop, Evaluation has not been done. Mark the start box on the Build line. Get a Power Supply Grab appropriate power supply from the labeled boxes (the box labels are color-coded by brand for easy locating). Not sure how to determine which power supply the laptop wants? Ask your instructor and he/she will show you how to find this info out. Install imaged hard drive To do this: Look at the whiteboard to see what size hard drive is appropriate for the laptop and ask your instructor where you can get one. Attach any necessary adapter and/or caddy. Install in laptop. Install appropriate optical drive (if missing) Check the whiteboard to see what kind of optical drive to install. Enter BIOS If you see an error message which reads something like "checksum error, defaults loaded" then your CMOS battery is dead. Ask your instructor what to do about it. Check the RAM To check the RAM, check in BIOS or use Memtest if the BIOS doesn't tell you. Is there at least 512 MB of RAM? If not, add RAM. If the laptop is High End, then it should have more than 512 MB of RAM. Set boot order in BIOS Look for the boot order in BIOS. Of the available options, the preferred order is as follows : CD-ROM boots first; Hard drive boots somewhere between CD-ROM and Network; Network boots last. Get as close as possible, depending on the BIOS, but make sure the Network boot isn't before the hard drive. Save and exit BIOS Continue on to boot to the hard drive. Log in as "oem" (password: freegeek). Battery Check On the Desktop toolbar, a battery icon is visible when the battery is charging. Check the icon to see the percent of charge and make a note of it for use later on. If no icon is visible, the battery is fully charged. Get wireless working. If there isn't already a wireless card installed, then install, configure and test a wifi card (to determine if wireless card is already present and working, try and access a website like Google). Internal (mini-PCI) is best, but PCMCIA is an acceptable second option. For wireless advice, try the Wireless Tips page. For Testing_Wireless_Cards, use this link for the procedure. Set freegeek.org as homepage In Firefox, go to freegeek.org Then set this page as the home page under Edit > Preferences > Main. Alternately, you can drag the Free Geek icon (on the left of the address bar) and drop it on the "Home" icon (immediately to the left of the address bar). Run basiccheck You will need to be connected to the wired or wireless network to test networking step. If you encounter any errors, check with your instructor. Test optical drive - data, sound, and DVD. For each drive: Use a music disc to test sound. Test-read a data CD (if any data shows up in the file browser that opens, test passes). If there is a DVD-Rom, use the "Free Geek DVD" to check whether a movie will play Don't forget to remove discs! Test CD/DVD writing Write to a CD and a DVD, if DVD-RW is present. You can use Brasero Disc Burning or, if this fails, install and use K3B. Put a blank disk in and drag and drop a few files from /home/oem/examples to the CD/DVD writing folder that appears. Click "Burn". When each disk is done, verify that they contain the files you wrote to them. Blank the CD Using Brasero Disc Burning, select Tools > Erase. Using K3B, select Tools > Erase CD-RW Check battery Charging percentage Is it almost charged or is it charging compared to last check? Make a note. Test all USB ports Using a USB mouse, make sure that the cursor moves and can interact with things. Do this on all the USB ports. If any of the ports don't work, check in with your instructor. Test Cardbus/PCMCIA slots Put a wifi card in each slot -> if it lights up, then it's good. Run "printme", from terminal This will give you a System ID number You must be on the wired network From a terminal, type "printme" Answer the questions printme asks, NOTE: Always select Laptop for system type. Make sure to include something in the notes section which specifies whether the laptop is Covered or Uncovered A webpage will open with info about the system. Click "Print." Choose "Print to file." Choose the PDF checkbox and save the file to the Desktop (name the file something with the word build in it, e.g. "Build Printme" or "BUILD" Test the battery Step 1. Make sure battery is fully charged: Battery icon missing indicates full charge. Charge hasn't increased since the last check(minimum 10 minute time lapse). If either condition is met, move to Step 2. If neither condition is met, move to Step 3 Step 2. Put a music CD in the optical drive to put a power draw on the laptop: Select "Repeat" Start playing the CD Open a terminal and run bat_check. Pull power plug and place the laptop on the waiting rack. Don't forget to note on the Keeper label that you've started Bat Check and the Charging check has been started and completed. If you want to see for how many minutes bat check has run, open up another terminal and type watch wc bat_time. Step 3.If the charge is not complete: Mark the keeper label Build started and completed Mark the keeper label Charging started Place the laptop on the waiting rack, plug it back in and let it complete Charging. Clean up and check in with Build Instructor. Ask what to do with the Laptop