The Laptop Repair Workbook

The Laptop Repair Workbook includes twelve full page troubleshooting flowcharts for laptop hardware troubleshooting (four drafts in miniature below) and explanatory text for every decision point. The 180 page book also includes an introduction to basic laptop terminology, troubleshooting procedures, and cost decisions. The printable eBook version of The Laptop Repair Workbook is now available for download for $13.95 anywhere in the world.

The printable eBook version of The Laptop Repair Workbook is now available for download for $13.95 anywhere in the world.

From the introduction to the book:

The author of this book is the proud owner of a 1986 Dodge Omni that was purchased new and has never been taken to a garage for repairs. But laptops aren't cars and they are rarely as cost effective to repair as desktop PC's. A twenty or forty year old car in good operating condition is just as serviceable as a new car and may even get better gas mileage. But a ten year old laptop isn't going to run the latest Microsoft operating system or even the previous version. Computers are no better than the software they can run. You're going to need an up-to-date operating system if you are a mainstream user who wants to run the same software you use in work or the current year tax program. A laptop computer that cost as much as a new small car in the 1980's isn't worth a gallon of gas today. Think of computers as software appliances. Unfortunately, laptop computers are among the shortest lived appliances found in the American household today.

If you make an appointment with a doctor for a health issue, the first thing you might expect to hear is, "So, what seems to be the problem today?" This is the most important part of the diagnostics process for a good physician, listening to the patient describe the symptoms and asking some follow-up questions to probe deeper. The patient who responds, "I don't know what's wrong with me" might get a blood test or a psychiatric battery but is unlikely to walk out of the office with a cure. When it comes to diagnosing your laptop problems, the laptop is the patient and you are the physician. The laptop usually can't describe its symptoms, so you have to be a keen observer of laptop behavior if you want to nail the problem your first time out.

Some health issues, like puncture wounds and broken limbs, manifest themselves in an obvious manner so there's no difficulty with the doctor or patient diagnosing the problem. The same is true if you've broken the hinges off your laptop, if the battery burst into flames or if you knocked your orange juice over the keyboard and it stopped working. The solutions are generally both obvious and expensive, and since laptops aren't family members, replacement is often the most sensible solution. But the majority of laptop symptoms, at least at first blush, may be attributed to any number of different problems. And, just as human beings have pre-conceptions and neuroses clouding the diagnostic picture, laptops have software issues that pose as hardware malfunctions. In extreme cases, laptop technicians will talk the owner into the "Nuke and Pave" approach, using the manufacturer supplied software to restore the laptop to its factory fresh condition to see if that solves the problem. Sometimes this makes more sense than letting a technician spend several hours (and several hundred dollars of your money) trying to solve a suspected software problem. But you can do this just as easily at home.

This book can't make you into a professional computer technician. It will help you troubleshoot your laptop problem and take the most cost effective approach to repairing it, getting it repaired, or replacing it. But the troubleshooting process depends on your observations of the symptoms and your willingness to keep your mind open to solutions other than your first impression, or those suggested by friends who say they had "exactly the same problem." If the laptop is still usable but acts up, pay close attention to when and where it acts up, whether the problem always occurs after the laptop has been moved, or shut-down for the night, or running all day. Even the weather plays a part in troubleshooting some problems, so try to read through all of the general troubleshooting sections, just to get a feel for the things that go wrong with different components. If it doesn't make you into a laptop hypochondriac, it will make you a stronger diagnostician.

You may notice we don't talk about the razzle-dazzle technology of computer components in this book. The reason is simple. You can't upgrade or repair your laptop by using the latest technology available, nor can you save money by repairing it with older technology rescued from a random laptop at the recycling center. You have to use the exact parts your laptop was engineered to work with. Hard drives and memory are the only replaceable parts that are often compatible between models of a similar vintage. For some readers, the lack of an illustrated discussion on how hard drives store data bits will take some fun out of the book, but that knowledge can't help you when it comes to troubleshooting. There are plenty of books with beautiful color illustrations that try to explain basic computer technology, but they do so at the expense of helping you solve real laptop problems.

Two final notes about using this workbook. First, if your laptop is in warranty, it doesn't make any sense to take it apart in hopes of fixing something yourself. This book can still help you troubleshoot the problem to determine if it's a software setting or incorrect use, which may save you sending the laptop out for repair. Second, feel free to cut out the twelve flowcharts in the second half of the book and staple them together. This will save on page flipping as you read the expanded explanations of the decision symbols. It's a workbook, not English literature.

The printable eBook version of The Laptop Repair Workbook is now available for download for $13.95 anywhere in the world.