Introduction

. Computers have become part of our day-to-day life. It is not possible to escape contact with computers. Portable computers also have a good influence in modern life. So Laptops, Personal digital assistants (PDA) ,tablet PC etc are came with their style of glory today. A laptop computer, or simply laptop (also notebook computer or notebook), is a small mobile computer, which usually weighs 2-18 pounds (around 1 to 8 kilograms), depending on size, materials, and other factors. A laptop computer is much smaller than a desktop. Laptops usually run on a single main battery or from an external AC/DC adapter which can charge the battery while also supplying power to the computer itself. Many computers also have a 3 volt cell to run the clock and other processes in the event of a power failure.

As Personal computers, laptops are capable of the same tasks as a desktop computer, although they are typically less powerful for the same price. They contain components that are similar to their desktop counterparts and perform the same functions, but are miniaturized and optimized for mobile use and efficient power consumption. Laptops usually have liquid crystal displays and most of them use different memory modules for their random access memory (RAM), for instance, SO-DIMM in lieu of the larger DIMMs. In addition to a built-in keyboard, they may utilize a touchpad (also known as a trackpad) or a pointing stick for input, though an external keyboard or mouse can usually be attached.

HISTORY OF LAPTOPS It is a little hard to determine what was the first portable or laptop computer, the first portable computers did not look like the book-sized and folding laptops that we are familiar with today, however, they were both portable and lapable, and lead to the development of notebook style laptops. The First Laptop? Designed in 1979 by a Briton, William Moggridge, for Grid Systems Corporation, the Grid Compass was one fifth the weight of any model equivalent in performance and was used by NASA on the space shuttle program in the early 1980's. A 340K byte bubble memory lap-top computer with die-cast magnesium case and folding electroluminescent graphics display screen. There are two other computers to be considered as first laptop commercially Gavilan Manny Fernandez had the idea for a well-designed laptop for executives who were starting to use computer. Fernandez, who started Gavilan Computer, promoted his machines as the first "laptop" computers in May 1983. Many historians consider the Gavilan as the first fully functional laptop computer. Osborne 1 The computer considered by most historians to be the first true portable computer was the Osborne 1. Adam Osborne, an ex-book publisher founded Osborne Computer and produced the Osborne 1 in 1981, a portable computer that weighed 24 pounds and cost $1795. The Osborne 1 came with a five-inch screen, modem port, two 5 1/4 floppy drives, a large collection of bundled software programs, and a battery pack. The shortlived computer company was never successful.

Experiment no:1

TOOLS IDENTIFICATION

ESD Safe Compact SMD Rework Station

Works as well as our full sized models at a price that is more suitable for the hobbyist & other light duty users.
It is a hot air rework station for use on surface mount devices. The units compact design and low cost provide light duty users and hobbyists with an inexpensive solution to soldering and disordering surface mount devices. The CSI860 comes with 3 hot air nozzles. As seen in the nozzle chart below, the unit includes a 2.5mm (straight single, item#A1124), a 4.4mm (straight single, item#A1130) plus an 8mm single general purpose type for large area heat targeting or even shrinking heat shrink tubing. Also included is a device pick up tool to lift heated devices away from the PCB. A thermal protection circuit automatically shuts the unit down if it overheats, and allows for resumption of use after cool down. Separate controls for heat and air flow provide maximum system flexibility. Air control for this station is monitored by an easy-to-read airflow meter. General Features: Power Consumption: 20W (2W w/power switch off) Pump: Diaphragm Pump Pump Capacity: 23 L/min (max) Outer Dimensions: 187mm (W) x135mm (H) x245mm (D), (7.36"x5.31"x9.64") Weight: 10lbs. Power: 110/120VAC/ 260W max Air Temperature: 100C to 420C (212F to 788F) Handle Length: 7.7"

 Hose Length:: 32.5"

Experiment no:2

Laptop parts identification

SYSTEM BOARD aka MOTHERBOARD

The system board is the main logic board in any laptop. All internal components are connected to the system board. This is one of the most expensive parts in a laptop.

MEMORY aka RAM

More memory you have installed better the performance of the laptop. Learn about different types of memory, compatibility issues and how you can replace or upgrade memory yourself. The memory is a user replaceable part.

HARD DRIVE

The hard drive is the main storage of information in a laptop. All system files, personal files are stored inside the hard drive. Find the difference between SATA and IDE hard drives. Faster hard drive you have installed faster data access you get. You can upgrade the hard drive yourself.

PROCESSOR aka CPU

The processor is the brain of your laptop. Faster CPU means faster data processing.

KEYBOARD

The keyboard is the main input device. Find out how the keyboard is connected to the motherboard and how it can be removed or replaced.

CD/DVD OPTICAL DRIVE

The CD/DVD drive allows you to read/write data from/to a CD or DVD disc. Lear about the difference between drives with regular and SATA connectors.

z
COOLING FAN

The cooling fan is a part of the cooling module in a laptop. The fan helps to cool down the processor when the laptop is turned on.

VIDEO CARD aka GRAPHICS CARD

In most modern laptops the video card is integrated into the system board. If the video card fails you have to replace the whole motherboard. In some laptops the video card is a discrete module and can be removed or replaced separately from the motherboard.

AUDIO BOARD aka SOUND BOARD

In most laptops the audio board is a part of the motherboard. If thats the case, all audio board input/output components such as volume control, microphone jack and headphone jack are soldered directory to the motherboard.

WIRELESS NETWORK CARD

The internal wireless card helps you to connect to the Internet without running a cable. Learn about different types of internal wireless cards and how they are connected to the motherboard.

CMOS BATTERY aka RTC BATTERY

The CMOS battery provides power to the CMOS chip when the laptop is turned off or disconnected form the wall outlet.

LCD SCREEN

The LCD screen is one of the most expensive parts in a laptop computer. The LCD screen mounts inside the display panel. If you accidentally cracked the screen, it has to be replaced. You cannot repair a cracked screen.

SCREEN INVERTER BOARD aka FL INVERTER

The inverter board is a power supply for the backlight lamp inside the LCD screen. When inverter fails, the LCD screen goes very very dark and you barely can see any image on the screen. In most laptops the inverter board is mounted inside the display panel below the LCD screen.

SCREEN BACKLIGHT LAMP aka CCFL TUBE

The backlight lamp is the main source of light in the LCD screen. The backlight lamp is mouted inside the screen. When the backlight lamp fails, you have to replace the whole LCD screen. Its possible to replace just the lamp inside the screen but its very hard and has to be performed by an experienced technician.

The video cable connectes the Laptop screen to motherboard. The video cable carries data signal for the LCD screen and power for the ivnerter board.
SCREEN CABLE aka VIDEO CABLE

WEB CAMERA

Many modern laptops come with a web camera built into the display panel. The web camera is not a part of the LCD screen. The web camers is located on a separate board and can be replaced separately from the LCD.

The dispaly hinges connect two main parts of any laptop the display panel and base assembly.
DISPLAY HINGES aka SCREEN HINGES

AC/DC POWER ADAPTER

The AC/DC power adapter converts high voltage AC power from the mains to low voltage DC power required by the laptop.

MAIN BATTERY

The battery is a secondary source of power for a laptop. The battery gets charged while the laptop is plugged into the mains and keeps the laptop running when its unplugged from the mains.

HOW TO INSTALL WINDOWS XP

This procedure demonstrates how to install Microsoft Windows XP Professional. The procedure to install Windows XP home edition is very similar to the professional edition. Since Windows XP Pro is more advanced operating system, it will be used to demonstrate the installation procedure. The best way install Windows XP is to do a clean install. It is not difficult to perform a clean installation. Before you perform the installation I recommend that you check Windows XP Compatibility List to ensure that your hardware is supported by XP. If your hardware is not on the compatibility list you can check your hardware manufactures website to download the drivers for Windows XP. Save all the necessary drivers onto floppy disks or CD before you start the installation. All versions of Windows XP CD are bootable. In order to boot from CD/DVD-ROM you need to set the boot sequence. Look for the boot sequence under your BIOS setup and make sure that the first boot device is set to CD/DVD-ROM. You can then perform the following steps to install Windows XP: Step 1 - Start your PC and place your Windows XP CD in your CD/DVD-ROM drive. Your PC should automatically detect the CD and you will get a message saying "Press any key to boot from CD". Soon as computer starts booting from the CD your will get the following screen:

Step 2 - At this stage it will ask you to press F6 if you want to install a third party Raid or SCSI driver. If you are using a an IDE Hard Drive then you do not need to press F6. If you are using a SCSI or SATA Hard drive then you must press F6 otherwise Windows will not detect your Hard Drive during the installation. Please make sure you have the Raid drivers on a floppy disk. Normally the drivers are supplied on a CD which you can copy to a floppy disk ready to be installed. If you are not sure how to do this then please read your motherboard manuals for more information.

Step 3 - Press S to Specify that you want to install additional device.

Step 4 - You will be asked to insert the floppy disk with the Raid or SCSI drivers. Press enter after you have inserted the disk.

Step 5 - You will see a list of Raid drivers for your HDD. Select the correct driver for your device and press enter.

Step 6 - You will then get a Windows XP Professional Setup screen. You have the option to do a new Windows install, Repair previous install or quit. Since we are doing a new install we just press Enter to continue.

continue

Step 8 - This step is very important. Here we will create the partition where Windows will be installed. If you have a brand new unformatted drive you will get a screen similar to below. In our case the drive size is 8190MB. We can choose to install Windows in this drive without creating a partition, hence use the entire size of the drive. If you wish to do this you can just press enter and Windows will automatically partition and format the drive as one large drive. However for this demonstration I will create two partition. The first partition will be 6000MB (C: drive) and second partition would be 2180MB (E: drive). By creating two partition we can have one which stores Windows and Applications and the other which stores our data. So in the future if anything goes wrong with our Windows install such as virus or spyware we can re-install Windows on C: drive and our data on E: drive will not be touched. Please note you can choose whatever size partition your like. For example if you have 500GB hard drive you can have two partition of 250GB each. Press C to create a partition.

Step 8 - Windows will show the total size of the hard drive and ask you how much you want to allocate for the partition you are about to create. I will choose 6000MB. You will then get the screen below. Notice it shows C: Partition 1 followed by the size 6000 MB. This indicates the partition has been created. We still have an unpartitioned space of 2189MB. Next highlight the unpartitioned space by pressing down the arrow key. Then press C to create another partition. You will see the total space available for the new partition. Just choose all the space left over, in our case 2180MB.

Step 9 - Now you will see both partition listed. Partition 1 (C: Drive) 6000MB and Partition 2 (E: Drive) 2180MB. You will also have 8MB of unpartitioned space. Don't worry about that. Just leave it how its is. Windows normally has some unpartitioned space. You might wonder what happened to D: drive. Windows has automatically allocated D: drive to CD/DVD-ROM. Select Partition 1 (C: Drive) and press Enter.

Step 10 - Choose format the partition using NTFS file system.This is the recommended file system. If the hard drive has been formatted before then you can choose quick NTFS format. We chose NTFS because it offers many security features, supports larger drive size, and bigger size files.

Windows will now start formatting drive C: and start copying setup files as shown on the two images below :

Step 11 - After the setup has completed copying the files the computer will restart. Leave the XPCD in the drive but this time DO NOT press any key when the message "Press any key to boot from CD" is displayed. In few seconds setup will continue. Windows XP Setup wizard will guide you through the setup process of gathering information about your computer.

Step 12 - Choose your region and language.

Step 13 - Type in your name and organization.

Step 14. Enter your product key.

Step 15 - Name the computer, and enter an Administrator password. Don't forget to write down your Administrator password.

Step 16 - Enter the correct date, time and choose your time zone.

Step 17 - For the network setting choose typical and press next.

Step 18 - Choose workgroup or domain name. If you are not a member of a domain then leave the default settings and press next. Windows will restart again and adjust the display.

Step 19 - Finally Windows will start and present you with a Welcome screen. Click next to continue.

Step 20 - Choose 'help protect my PC by turning on automatic updates now' and press next.

Step 21 - Will this computer connect to the internet directly, or through a network? If you are connected to a router or LAN then choose: 'Yes, this computer will connect through a local area network or home network'. If you have dial up modem choose: 'No, this computer will connect directly to the internet'. Then click Next.

Step 22 - Ready to activate Windows? Choose yes if you wish to active Windows over the internet now. Choose no if you want to activate Windows at a later stage.

Step 23 - Add users that will sign on to this computer and click next.

Step 24 - You will get a Thank you screen to confirm setup is complete. Click finish.

Step 25. Log in, to your PC for the first time.

Step 26 - You now need to check the device manager to confirm that all the drivers has been loaded or if there are any conflicts. From the start menu select Start -> Settings -> Control Panel. Click on the System icon and then from the System Properties window select the Hardware tab, then click on Device Manager.

If there are any yellow exclamation mark "!" next to any of the listed device, it means that no drivers or incorrect drivers has been loaded for that device. In our case we have a Video Controller (VGA card) which has no drivers installed. Your hardware should come with manufacturer supplied drivers. You need to install these drivers using the automatic setup program provided by the manufacturer or you need to manually install these drivers. If you do not have the drivers, check the manufacturers website to download them. To install a driver manually use the following procedure: (a) From the device manager double click on the device containing the exclamation mark.

(b) This would open a device properties window. (c) Click on the Driver tab. (d) Click Update Driver button. The Wizard for updating device driver pops up as shown below:

You now get two options. The first option provides an automatic search for the required driver. The second option allows you to specify the location of the driver. If you don't know the location of the driver choose the automatic search which would find the required driver from the manufacturer supplied CD or Floppy disk. Windows would install the required driver and may ask you to restart the system for the changes to take affect. Use this procedure to install drivers for all the devices that contain an exclamation mark. Windows is completely setup when there are no more exclamation marks in the device manager.

How to disassemble Toshiba Tecra M2. Repair laptopyourself instructions.

Toshiba Tecra M2 laptop is very similar to Toshiba Tecra M3 and share the same disassembly steps. Here's the main difference. Tecra M3 doesn't have a memory slot that you access from the bottom of the laptop as it's shown on the step 2. Both memory slots in Tecra M3 are located under the keyboard, as it shown on the step 3. All Tecra M3 users can use this guide.

STEP 1
Turn the laptop upside down. Remove the battery.

Need spare parts for Tecra M2 laptop? Search here.

STEP 3
Remove the hard drive and the DVD drive.

STEP 4
Remove all marked screws on the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 5
Turn the notebook right side up. Insert a thin object under the securing strip and lift it up.

Be careful, it may be very tight.

STEP 6
Remove the securing strip.

STEP 7 Remove two screws securing the keyboard. Turn the keyboard over and place it on the palmrest.

Removing LCD screen from Toshiba Satellite M55 and Satellite M50 laptop.
M50, which is a similar model.

I made these instructions for a Toshiba Satellite M55 laptop. I believe you can use them for taking apart a Satellite

inverter board from Toshiba Satellite M35X and Satellite M30X.

This guide will work for both models: Toshiba Satellite M35X and Satellite M30X. Both models are similar.

Use this guide if you want to remove, replace laptop LCD screen, LCD display video cable, FL inverter board, LCD display mask, wireless card antennas.

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How to clean Toshiba Satellite P15 heatsink and fix laptopoverheating problem.
Do you have any comments or questions about this guide? Please post them here.

STEP 1
Turn the laptop upside down. Unlock and remove the battery.

Need spare parts for Satellite P10 P15 laptop? Search here.

STEP 2
For this step you need Torx 8 screwdriver. Remove three torx screws securing the CPU fan/heatsink cover.

STEP 3
Disconnect two fan cables on the sytem board and remove three screws securing the fan to the laptop. Lift the fan from the laptop.

STEP 4
Loosen four screws securing the heatsink. When you remove the heatsink move if back and forth to disconnect it from the greased CPU.

STEP 5
Carefully lift the heatsink up from the CPU.

STEP 6
This heatsink is completaly clooged with lint. A clogged heatsink causes CPU overheating. If your laptop shuts down by itself without any reason, check the heatsink first. Overheating is a very common problem among

Toshiba laptops.

STEP 7
Remove old grease from the CPU and the North Bridge chipset and clean them with an alcohol pad. Before you install the heatsink back into the laptop, blow the dust away from the system board with compressed air and apply new thermal grease on the chips.

STEP 8
Clean the heatsink and the fan with compressed air and install it back into the laptop.

Laptop is dead. How to troubleshoot the problem.

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In this post Ill explain how to troubleshoot a dead laptop and find the problem. The following troubleshooting tips are not model and brand specific, they should work for most laptops. Lets take a look at two different scenarios. Example 1. The laptop is absolutely dead. When you plug in the power adapter and press on the power button, there is no signs of life at all. The laptop will not make usual noises, LEDs will not light up, the fan will not spin, the screen is blank and black, etc In short, the laptop is dead. What you can do in this case? 1. Make sure the wall outlet is working and the laptop DC adapter is getting power from the outlet. Try another wall outlet. 2. Test the laptop DC power adapter, make sure the voltage output is correct. You can test the DC power adapter with a voltmeter. 3. Lets say the DC adapter is fine and the adapter outputs correct voltage. In this case unplug the power adapter from the laptop, remove the battery, wait for 1-2 minutes, plug in the adapter and try turning on the laptop again. OK, you tested the adapter and its bad. If you decide to replace the original DC adapter with a generic one, youll have to follow this rule: The voltage output on your new adapter has to be exactly the same as on the original adapter. The amperage on the new adapter could be the same or higher. If nothing helps and the laptop is still dead, apparently the motherboard is fried or there is a problem with the DC power jack. Its possible the DC power jack is broken and the motherboard is not getting any power from the adapter. In this case youll have to disassemble the laptop and replace the power jack. Check out this guide for fixing laptop power jack. Example 2. When you plug the DC power adapter and press on the power button, the laptop starts making normal noises, the LEDs work properly but noting appears on the screen. The laptop will not start.

Laptop Black Screen Issues and Troubleshooting

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The procedure below is to be carried out once you have addressed any Software, Driver, Malware/Virus or Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) issues or if your laptop does not power on at all. There are many things that can cause a laptop to have a Black screen, Shutdowns, and/or Restarts. I would like to assist you to go through this mine field of issues and narrow down possible solutions to assist you. Previous to moving on, I want you as a person to be fully prepared to get under the hood a little and be willing to try a few things to get your Laptop going. If you are uncomfortable about doing this then take your laptop to a competent Laptop Tech or repair shop. At the end of my procedural steps you will need to decide if they are not helpful, if it might be best to consider taking your laptop to a repair shop. In my process, you will learn what works and what does not work. With that process done and you have not found a solution, you will be able to assist the repair shop to pinpoint possible issues and make their job easier, that possibly might end up being less costly. My first step in this process of elimination will be to identify faulty hardware. For example, before you can say it is a motherboard fault, you need to explore other possible hardware solutions to make sure you have viable working components. Time and patience will be required in this process.

Step One Please remove any media from media slots including USB, CD/DVD drive and flash drives etc. Disconnect all items connected to USB, hdmi, firewire ports etc. Start your laptop. Start your laptop while using only your AC cord without the battery.