Laptop Build Binder Drafts

Core Tasks Pages

Laptop Build Guides
Laptop Evaluation Guides
Laptop Recycling Guide
Laptop As-Is Guide

Media

Editing Laptop Build 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	The Keeper label is used to ensure that all systems are built to proper specifications, and to keep track of the build process. Accurate information on the Keeper label is also essential for keeping our laptop hoards organized. If something is confusing or looks wrong, fix it or check with your instructor. Information about the system that you can't deal with right away can be entered in the Notes section. To begin the build process, check the Make, Model, CPU, and RAM portions of the Keeper Label and add whatever is missing. See How to Fill out the Keeper Label for more details.
Get a Power Supply	Look for a label on the bottom of the laptop that described its output Voltage and Amperage requirements. Grab an appropriate power supply from the labeled boxes on the shelves (the box labels are color-coded by brand for easy locating). The barrel or 'jack' of the AC adapter will need to fit into the laptop plug, and the AC adapter center pin will need to be the correct length to provide power. See How to Test an AC Adapter for more details.
Install imaged hard drive	We pre-install hard drives with Ubuntu 10.04. Our image includes some in-house additions such as the `printme` script, and other testing scripts. If you're curious, try typing "freegeek" in the search bar of the Ubuntu Software Center, and take a look at the results. For most internal build purposes, hard drives are imaged by instructors beforehand. Install an appropriately sized hard drive in the laptop caddy (attach an adapter if necessary) and then install it in the laptop.
Install appropriate optical drive (if missing or CD read only)	Look on the Optical Drive shelf to see if any are available for the model you are working with. If nothing seems like it will fit, ask your Instructor if any Parts Machines are available.
Power Up Laptop	Start your engines!
Enter BIOS	Pay attention to any error messages that appear during boot. Your instructor can help you troubleshoot. See Entering BIOS for more help.
Set boot order in BIOS	Look for the boot order option in BIOS. The preferred order is CD-ROM boots first, hard drive boots somewhere between CD-ROM and network, and network boots last. Other boot devices that may be available can be ignored. Get as close as possible, depending on the BIOS, but make sure the network boot option is not set before the hard drive. Different BIOS versions and manufacturers will use different naming conventions; if you're not sure, ask an experienced builder or instructor for some tips.
While in BIOS, check the RAM	The build category (High End, Mid Grade, Low End, etc) of your laptop is determined by the specifications on the Keeper label. Check the whiteboard and make sure that the correct amount of RAM is installed. The BIOS may not report the exact amount you have installed, but it should not be less than about 128MB of the total RAM installed. If some RAM is not reported in BIOS, you may have a bad stick of RAM, or a bad RAM slot or memory controller. Keep in mind the Hardware Detection Kit on the network may be helpful when BIOS does not provide adequate information.
Boot to Ubuntu	Boot to the hard drive. Log in as "oem" (password: freegeek). This account is automatically set up by our customized Ubuntu installation.
Verify Wireless Connectivity	Click the Network icon on the top panel to see if wireless is installed and working. Wireless is present and shows networks to connect to Select freegeek from the list of available wireless networks, Once you're connected, open Firefox and try navigating to a webpage (for example, http://llama.freegeek.org), You should see a Free Geek's Wireless Terms of Service page. Read through it, if you care to, and click I accept at the bottom of the page, Confirm that you can browse to webpages, and move on to the next step. Wireless is present, but no networks are seen If you see a message like "Wireless is disabled", try right clicking the Network icon and confirming the Enable Wireless option is checked off. If that doesn't work, try locating the Wireless switch on the keyboard; either a physical button or switch, frequently located on the sides of the laptop or above the keyboard. If you see a messsage like "Device not ready", the proper drivers may not yet be installed. Go to System >> Administration >> Hardware Drivers and see if any options are listed there. Before you select an option from the list, make sure you're connected to the network with an ethernet cable. After it's finished installing a driver, if you still see the same error, try running the following in a terminal: `sudo service networking restart` If none of the above works, consult your Instructor or try looking online. You can also try looking at the Wireless Tips page for some ideas. Wireless isn't present If the Network icon doesn't show an option for wireless, you may not have a wireless card installed. Ideally, we would like to use PCI or Mini-PCI wireless cards, although PCMCIA cards are an acceptable alternative.
Run basiccheck	Open the command line terminal and type `basiccheck`. You will need to be connected to the network (Either Wireless or LAN) to test the networking step. If you encounter any errors, check with your instructor.
Test optical drive - data, sound, and DVD	Optical drive testing can be finicky. Interactions between Ubuntu, different optical media types, and drive firmwares can make for some interesting results. Whenever possible, determine if problems you are encountering are media based (i.e. a scratched disk) or software based (the disk is not automatically unmounted after burning). Reference Troubleshooting Optical Drives from the CLI is a detailed reference. First time builders: All about Optical Drives and Optical Media exercise. 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. Skip this test if you have a RW, you will test data read in the next step). Test the DVD-ROM. If a DVD icon appears on the desktop, the test passes. Do not install proprietary codecs. Detailed Optical Drive and Media Testing Instructions
Test CD/DVD writing	We generally use Brasero to test CD/DVD writing, although it will occasionally fail. If this happens, then we use another writing utility called K3b. If the drive is a DVD-RW, you only need to test writing to DVD. For Brasero: Open up Brasero Disc Burning (under Applications >> Sound & Video) Click Data Project Click the green + symbol (near the top left of the window) and select examples.desktop. Click Burn on the lower right-hand corner. A new window will appear with a few options. If available, select User burnproof and Burn the image directly without saving it to disk and click Burn. When a disk is done, verify that it contains the files you wrote to it by inserting the disc and checking out what pops up. For K3b: Check that K3b is installed. Look for it under Applications >> Sound & Video, and select it if it's there. If K3b isn't listed, you can install it by searching for `k3b` in the Ubuntu Software Center, or by typing `sudo apt-get install k3b` into a terminal. Select New Data Project (near the bottom of the window, or through File >> New Project >> New Data Project). Double-click examples.desktop in the top-right window pane so that it appears in the bottom window pane. Click Burn, and then click Burn again on the window that pops up. When a disk is done, verify that it contains the files you wrote to it by inserting the disc and checking out what pops up. \|-
Blank the CD	For Brasero Select Tools >> Blank. Make sure Fast Blanking is selected and click Blank. For K3b Select Format (Near the top of the window, or through Tools >> Format/Erase rewritable disk... Make sure Quick Format is selected and click Start. If either program cannot successfully blank a disc but manages to successfully burn to disc, then we'll include a note in the printme to indicate as much.
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.
Keyboard and Trackpad Testing	TBD
Run printme from terminal	This will give you a System ID number. If an ID number is shown, the laptop has been through the system previously. You must be on the wired network From a terminal, type `printme` *NOTE: Always select Laptop* for system type Make sure to double check for FG-PDX or Uncovered electronic device** stickers Make a note of anything special or any problems you encountered that weren't corrected and should be disclosed Reference the whiteboard for what to write in the "notes" section h Select Print, and then choose Print to file on the Desktop. Call it something like "BUILD" or "BUILD PRINTME"
Clean up and check in with Laptops Instructor.	Your instructor will direct you to your next task.

Resources: Getting Help in the Laptop Build Room; Free Geek Reuse Infrastructure Resources Map; Laptop Life Cycle Diagram

Grand Unified Binder

GRUBinder Table of Contents (by Category)

Procedures: Recycle; As-Is; Build; QC

Testing: Battery Testing; Memtest; Badblocks (Instructor only because of database logging stuff?); (POST verification/eval); (BUILD TESTS); (Keyboard/Trackpad testing)

Appendix

Glossary

How to fill out keeper label

Tools guides

Netboot tutorial

HW detection kit

other options

Laptop infrastructure tools (imaging station, research stations, testing shelf documentation...)

CLI tips and tricks (wiki only)

Wiki tutorial and scavenger hunt/ideas for hands on activities

Audience: volunteer; volunteer instructor; staff trainee; (resource for outside orgs)

Example Templates

Procedures

As-is guide condensed

GOALS: Learn POST troubleshooting skills; Practice locating RAM and HDD; Practice assembly and disassembly skills and organization; Learn about identifying hardware from software tools

EXERCISE

Remove HDD: Leave caddy, screws and any adapter with the laptop
Check Optical Drive: Remove and recycle any disks
Find an AC Adapter
POST
Enter BIOS or HW detection tool
Affix As-Is Sticker: DO NOT fill out AC adapter info
Remove stickers: Asset and MS windows
Clean up: Brief clean-up and cable wrapping
Instructor sign off

REFERENCES

AC adapter article
POST troubleshooting guide
BIOS guide

Recycling Guide:

GOALS: Hands-on anatomy introduction; Getting oriented in the Build Room; Assembly and disassembly practice

EXERCISE

Remove HDD
Check optical drive: Remove any disks and recycle
Remove Stickers: MS Windows and Asset tags
Remove Parts: Ask your instructor if needed
Remove Battery: For uncovered electronic devices only, place in bad batteries box. Otherwise leave attached to laptop.
Reassemble Laptop: Do the best you can
Affix HDD REMOVED : Sticker
Instructor Sign Off

Optional Exercise

Locate and remove these components from a few different machines: HDD, RAM, Modem or WIFI card, Keyboard, Optical Drive, (Screen), Battery

REFERENCES

Laptop anatomy references
Build Room Tour/Orientation references

Eval

GOALS: Learn about identifying laptop specs via triaging procedure; POST troubleshooting

EXERCISE

Remove HDD: Make sure all caddy parts and adapters stay with the machine
Check optical drive: Remove and recycle any disks
Check for Floppy Drive: If YES, recycle
Check for USB ports: If NO, recycle
Check for damage: Broken screen, hinges, missing parts, etc. If YES, check with instructor
Find AC adapter
POST testing
Memtest instructions (Netboot Guide)

Build Guide

see table above?

REFERENCES

Determining Specs guide
AC adapter guide
POST troubleshooting guide
Keeper label guide
WiFi troubleshooting guide
Imaging station/about our OS image/About Printme
Optical drive testing references
Keyboard testing guide (see netboot guide)
Repair references
Google-fu article
Testing appendix

GOALS

EXERCISE

See CORE TASKS list

Testing

Requires the most knowledge and awareness of tools. How to separate educational materials from testing process.
Turn existing Laptop_Testing sheet into a transcluded document. Make separate document template for each guide (only want to transclude the bare bones steps into Laptop_Testing sheet, and have the verbose information listed in a more education-focused guide)

Battery Testing

Draft for cheat sheet needed

CLI COMMANDS

cat /proc/acpi/battery/*/{info,state}

rm ~/bat_mon batterytest while : ; do stress-test ; sleep 300 ; done

REFERENCES

tutorial to give additional info for each command, pretty much the existing guide

Memtest

Cheat sheet needed:

Via NETBOOT MENU

Via CD

Via GRUB

Badblocks

Instructors only because of database logging project?

Optical Drive Testing

Optical Drive Testing Procedure Draft

Appendix Topics

Specifically those that would make helpful transcluding templates.

Free Geek Network Boot

Definition of Terms

Free Geek maintains a number of internal servers. One feature of our server infrastructure is our Network Booting setup. Any computer that supports booting to a network via an ethernet cable should be able to access our network boot menu in most parts of the building.

Network booting loads software from a server, rather than an internal hard drive or optical disk.
At Free Geek, menu options can be used to diagnose faulty hardware, test hardware, install an operating system and more.
Enabling or disabling network booting is generally done in BIOS.
Network booting may be called LAN or PXE boot in BIOS.

How to access the Network Boot Menu

Connect to the Free Geek network via an ethernet cable. You can find these in the Build room, and most post-build areas.

Boot to BIOS.

Set the boot order settings:

Optical Drive first
Hard Drive second
Network boot/PXE/LAN last
Other options can can be disregarded or disabled

Save changes and exit BIOS.

Boot to the network.

Look for a network boot key listed on the POST splash screen; the key is most often F12. Otherwise look for a boot device list key.

Documentation Tasks/Brainstorm

(DONT FORGET TO CHECK FOR EXISTING DOCUMENTATION):

BIOS and POST
wifi troubleshooting/networking guide
netboot
educational guide for each of the testing steps
'error codes' for builder orientation sheets
document keyboard testing (would be really cool to make some of our testing code outward facing...)
glossary
build room tools and infrastructure (software (printme, basiccheck), hardware (research stations and imaging station), and screwdrivers (outward facing tools list a la ifixit.com)
update RAM table, remove unnecessary information
builder orientation exercises for instructors (scavenger hunt, match AC adapters, can be transcluded possibly)
HDD guide: form factor, interfaces, mechanical vs SSD (Illustrations needed!)
finish DMM illustration
turn Laptop_Testing into a few transcluded pages
update and finalize new keeper label
introduction to our homebrew scripts and the freegeek-extras package
Optical Disk Testing:

intro to disk utility, terminal and GUI

mount, eject, dmesg

what to do when a disk isn't recognized

ISO burning

Running updates & installing programs
CLI cheat sheet
keeper label example sheet/how to fill out keeper label

User:Lynnae/Laptop Binder

Contents