New Laptop Documentation

Draft/Working/Beta Documentation

Possible Thought Process

A listing of the steps gone through and thoughts I had while going through the current eval. process on a few laptops, with which I had varying degrees of sucess . Hoping this will give an idea of what a volunteer would be thinking.

1. Is it all in 1 peice ?

2. Hard drive has to come out for data security and testing

A. Where's the HD ? Under the keyboard ? Accesible from the side ? Labels to indicate as such ?
 I. From the side: Have to have lid open to open slot ? Have to pry open cover, or does it slide right off ?
B. Unscrew HD from cady. What to do with any adapters, maybe attached ones ? What of dropped/lost screws ?
C. Replace cady, keep screws (attach w/ masking tape). Keep cadies ? And where the hell is the tape ?

3. Retreive A.C. adapter for POST and BIOS check.

A. Match barrel type.
B. Match voltage. Must be exact (right ?).
 I. Is the appropriate value known ? If not, how to find out ?
C. Match amperage. Can go high (right ?).
 I. Is the appropriate value known ? If not, how to find out ?
D. Match power cable (the one that plugs into the outlet). Two or three prong, or proprietary (such as Dell)
 I. Don't force it.
E. Not dropping a heavy box of adapters on oneself.
F. Brand doesn't matter (right ?) Or does it ?

4. Boot to BIOS/Memtest/Hardware ID tool

A. Open the BIOS: Which key ?
B. Looking for CPU make, model, and speed.
C. May not all be listed in BIOS, may need to network boot into memtest or HD id tool (How ?)
 I. What if network boot isn't working. Live CD ?
D. Machine doesn't even turn on.
 I. Exising docs says check the wiki for common issues
 II. Adapter volts and amps match, so check the RAM (reseat it, try new stick(s))
  > What's RAM ? Where is it and how do I find it ?
  > The origional RAM in't labeled, how do I know what to replace it with ? Match up the notches ?
  >> About a centimeter worth of difference between the notch of DDR1 and DDR2.
 III. New RAM didn't help. Crack it open and start checking connections ? 
  > Worth the time and effort ?
  > Still in apprent good condition, parts machine ?
 

5. Keeper label: Eval checklist

A. Make vs. Model
 I. Perhaps: "Ford" vs "Ford Model t"
B. CPU speed: Mega vs Giga Hz. Hz ?
C. Pen or pencil ?

6. After the keeper label: Memtest

A. Finding a place on the shelf
B. Network boot: Supported by the BIOS ? Enabled in BIOS ? Working NIC ?

--JacksonT 07:49, 1 January 2012 (UTC)