Repair News

The redesigned MacBook Air is only two weeks old, and reports of display issues have begun to crop up.

Cult of Mac reported earlier this week that it noticed flickering horizontal lines sometimes appearing on the display of its 13-inch model. A quick check of Apple support forums reveals a couple dozen reports of similar issues.

Though Apple has yet to publicly acknowledge the problem, a leaked internal memo shows that the company's support staff is indeed aware of it. Boy Genius Report received the memo from an unnamed source, and published it today. 

Sources tell BGR:

(T)hat the manufacturer is investigating several of them internally. Included among the issues is a bug where the display flickers or shows horizontal lines of varying colors when a computer wakes from sleep or after hot-plugging a display. Another bug causes the screen to fade from light to dark repeatedly after waking from sleep. Apple's internal support system includes suggestions for interim fixes in each of these cases, but no permanent fixes are available at this time.

We've reached out to Apple for comment on the memo and the issue with displays to see if it will confirm either. We haven't heard back but will update the story if we do.

If your Macbook displays flickering lines all the time not just when it wakes up from sleep, then your LCD is probably at fault. Dr. Laptop can do diagnostic on your LCD and see if they can fix the issue with the same LCD but if not we can always replace the LCD with a brand new screen. We will keep you updated if Apple offers any kind of warranty replacement for this particular issue besides rolling out software update.

For those who own a laptop, one of the most common problems users experience hardware-wise is a broken or malfunctioning laptop screen. Laptop screens are essential to anyone using their laptop computer.Laptop screens can be incredibly delicate pieces of hardware,however, there are several options to get them fixed .

Troubleshoot Your Laptop Screen Problem

Before you decide to go ahead and outright replace your laptop screen, it is wise to troubleshoot the problem or let the Doctor Laptop experienced technicians do it for you. While obvious damage to a screen will usually require full replacement, other types of damage that are visible on the laptop screen may not be due to the screen itself. This is why before you replace the screen, definitely troubleshoot the problem.

Pixel Problems

Many times pixels will be damaged on your laptop making your screen very difficult to read and use. Your laptop uses  LCD (liquid crystal display) to show images, these images are made from thousands of pixels (little dots). If a few pixels in one area are damaged, this can ruin your entire computing experience. In most cases, it is best to remove the entire laptop screen and replace it with a new one.

Laptop Screens with Faint Images

Laptop screens are back lit to improve visibility of your screen. However, sometimes the back light does not work making your screen extremely difficult to read. A common problem might be as simple as one of the latches is stuck in the closed position. For instance, if you opened your laptop, but the switch stayed stuck in the closed position, the computer will usually be on, but the backlight will remain off. First find the back light switch. These switches are usually very tiny and located near the laptop hinges. First try to open and close your laptop a few times, if this doesn't work, usually a gentle tap or using a small  pin to try to gently un-stick the latch will do the trick.

Your laptop Screen Flickers or is a Solid White Color

If your laptop screen flickers on and off, the cause is probably due to an inverter problem. The inverter supplies power to the screen's backlight. Inverters are easy to get replaced and usually cost about $100 to $200. If your laptop screen is a solid white color, then the problem is possibly a bad cable connection between the monitor and the system board. Our technician will open up your laptop and make sure that the cables and connections are set correctly and undamaged.

Images on Screen are Jumbled

Many times laptop users will see images that are all jumbled. In most cases this is not due to the screen itself, but possibly the video card. One quick way to determine whether or not it is your monitor that is causing the screen to be jumbled is to connect another monitor to your laptop using the VGA port. If the other monitor shows jumbled images, then it is probably your computer's video card and not the monitor.

Replacing Your Laptop Screen

If your image problem is due to a broken or malfunctioning laptop screen replacing it is fairly simple. It should be noted that laptop screens are extremely expensive and can sometimes cost 50% or more of the total price of the computer, for instance more than $500 for a $1,000 computer. It is highly recommended that you let the Dr. Laptop Experienced technician replace the screen instead of doing it yourself. Though there are several you tube videos and DO IT YOURSELF instructions available on various websites, none of them offer you any warranty or refund it you break your laptop trying their cheap fix. This is where we come to rescue your laptop Screen. You can just take your laptop with broken screen to one of our nearest repair centers and get it fixed while you wait or mail-in your laptop to our Nationwide Repair Facility (FEDEX Box Pick up Service available) to get it fixed in as quick as one business day.

Laptop Overheating Issues:
Does your laptop shutdown at random? Does it slow down during heavy operations? Do you need to wait 10 min. before you can start it up again? These are all the symptoms of a laptop overheating problem in or around the cooling system. 

What needs to be remembered is that a lot of the current laptops on the market today are running specifications that traditionally were reserved for desktops. Some even contain desktop CPU’s and a kick ass cooling system to match. Take a look at the cooling modules in some of the current Toshiba notebooks.

Anyhow, in order for these CPU’s to perform they have to be kept as cool as possible so manufacturers like Toshiba, Compaq/HP and the like struggle with the limited space and power to do this, hence they have had some laptop overheating issues.

If your laptop does show some of the symptoms mentioned before here’s what you can do..

On the under side of a lot of the machines you can gain access to the CPU/cooling module compartment, be warned – when tinkering around near the CPU, electro static discharge may be your worst nightmare - be careful to control ESD. Once you have located where the fan is you will be able to see quite clearly if this is your issue.. take a look below.



1: Heat sink
2: Fan

The heat sink runs off to the right of this picture and sits on the CPU, you can see the copper pipe running to the CPU here(1).

The fan and the heat sink have a small gap in between them, this is where dust will be sucked into and will accumulate.


Dust build up inside a Toshiba Satellite A10

You can use a soft paint brush safely enough here to loosen all the dust and then use a vacuum with a brush attachment to remove it. If you're game you can take the fan out (2 screws to remove) and give it a good clean out. This isn’t always so easy, on other models of notebooks the fan or fans are only accessible by removing the main board, not a job for a novice. 


Dust build up inside a Toshiba Satellite A10 with the fan removed.


Arrows mark what should be cleaned out before re-assembly.

Once all the dust and lint is removed, re-assemble your machine. This procedure is something that should be done periodically to ensure that your laptop overheating issues will be a thing of the past.

Courtesy:Laptop-Repair.info

The blue screen of death is a source of concern for all computer users. BSOD may occur when the computer shuts down for no apparent reason and on switching it back on gives a blue screen with an error message.

This may be a grave cause for concern as it indicates that Windows has encountered a serious problem and important data may be lost. Here are a few pointers to prevent computer crashes and to retrieve data stored on the hard drive, should such an issue happen.

Causes of Blue Screen

When new hardware, software or drivers have been installed incorrectly, or Windows faces a problem in recognizing them, it shuts down “to prevent damage”. On restart it gives an error code known as the STOP code. BSOD or the Windows Stop Error codes are of different types depending on the root cause for the abrupt shut down.

It is best to note down the error code for future reference in case the issue does not get resolved at home and a technician has to be called in for repairs. However, a technician is not always needed to resolve a problem of this kind. It is perhaps a good idea to shut down the computer and take it off power supply before attempting to remove any recent hardware changes made to the computer. The hardware could vary from a printer, hard drive, memory cards or even graphics cards.

If no known additions have been made to the computer, its best to shut it down and restart. If it reboots normally into the operating system or the Windows interface, one must back up any data that one wishes to store. It also indicates that the operating system files are not causing the BSOD. After the data has been backed up, the system needs to be scanned for damaged hardware or corrupted files.

Diagnostic Mode in Laptop Computers

There are in-built tests to check the proper functioning of hardware components. For example, Dell computers have the option of starting up in the diagnostic mode by pressing the Function or Fn key while powering up. The diagnostic mode for a desktop can be accessed by pressing F8 during start up. Similar tests are available for all other computers.

In case, the laptop or personal computer does not reboot in the normal mode and gives the same error, shut it down again and remove all peripherals like printers or scanners. After restarting, one needs to immediately tap F8 a few times to reach Advanced Boot Options. Pressing the down arrow key brings up the safe mode option.

System Restore as a Crash Fix

If it boots in safe mode, the issue is with the software and can probably be reversed by selecting the system restore option from accessibility in Windows Xp or just typing in the words “system restore” for Windows Vista or Win 7. It is best to back up all important data and then proceed with the troubleshooting. System restore allows the computer to reconfigure itself to a time before the error occurred and reverse all changes that could have caused the BSOD.

After reaching the Windows desktop, one must proceed to test hardware and software components for correct diagnosis of the problem. It is recommended that a technician with relevant experience of troubleshooting such issues be called to service the computer for faults. This way important data will be saved and the problem resolved sooner.

Data Backup and Antivirus Protection

If none of the above mentioned trouble shooting steps work, a technician needs to be consulted, right away. There is no need for anxiety if the data is backed up periodically as that will cause minimal damage. Anti-virus programs must be updated regularly. Any hardware or software changes made to the computer need to be monitored during installation.

These are precautionary measures to reduce damage in case BSOD does occur and they are applicable to most blue screen issues. However, BSODs may be caused by viruses and these steps may not be sufficient to resolve the issue. System restore is a good way to undo changes made to software and drivers and will save time and anxiety till a technician arrives.

Reference

• Mike D. (2006) "Beginners Guides: Crash Recovery and the Blue Screen of Death." PC Stats. Linking (accessed July  27, 2010)