The laptop does not work. How to understand what's wrong

According to statistics, overheating is the most common cause of laptop breakdowns. Parts fail due to malfunctions of the cooling system or its insufficient performance. This is due to the design features of laptops. In the system unit of a desktop computer, there is usually more space between the components and, accordingly, air for blowing.

Computer malfunctions can be software and hardware. Software, most often, are manifested by freezes and crashes of certain applications or the entire OS. Hardware problems are manifested by shutdowns / reboots of the computer, uncharacteristic behavior of the image on the screen, sound effects, non-working nodes (keyboard, devices connected to USB ports, touchpad).

Hardware malfunction

It is better for the average user not to solve most hardware problems on their own, but to contact a service center. However, this does not mean that you do not need to figure out what the matter is. If the owner of the equipment has zero understanding of what is happening “under the hood”, in the service center they can easily impose unnecessary services on him (yes, like with a car). That is why we suggest that you get an idea of the characteristic signs of laptop failures.

Computer does not turn on

Possible reasons:

1. If the LEDs do not light up when the cable is connected, the problems are probably with the power supply, cable, or connector. Check the integrity of the cable and the connection density to the laptop connector. If the power supply can be disconnected, check its connection as well.

2. If the indication lights up, but there is no reaction to turning on the button, the power management circuit could have failed. Also, the problem may be in the button itself and the cable that connects it to the board (most often it is a connector independent of the keyboard).

Solutions:
First, try plugging the power cable into a different outlet, it may have failed. If it is possible to check with another power cable (voltage and connector must match), do this before taking the laptop for repair. Probably a simple replacement of the power supply will help you. In a situation where the indication works, as an option, try disconnecting the battery and power cord and after a few seconds, connect the power without connecting the battery.

Sudden shutdowns/reboots

Possible reason:

With a high degree of probability, the overheating protection is activated. The temperature of the components rises to critical due to high load or failure of the cooling system (when the coolers stop spinning). Sometimes, they are forgotten to connect after disassembling the laptop.

Shutdown protects the motherboard components from burning, and you — from significant costs.

Solutions:

• measuring the temperature of the components (read how to do it in our article at the link);
• cleaning from dust, checking coolers, replacing thermal paste;
• We highly recommend using a special laptop stand with additional fans, especially in summer.

Laptop works, but monitor doesn’t

Possible reasons:

1. If the screen remains dark, but at a certain viewing angle or lighting you can see that there is an image, then the matrix backlight does not work. Roughly speaking, this is a light bulb that illuminates the image on the monitor, its intensity you change in the screen brightness settings.

Solution: take it to the service to replace the backlight.

2. If the screen is completely white or white stripes / distortions appear on it, but this does not depend on the mechanical impact / tilt angle of the monitor, the problem is in the video chip. This component takes the second place in terms of the level of constant load after the central processor.

Solution: try to connect an external monitor, switch the default operation from integrated to a discrete video card (if there is any). Take it to a service for disassembling and checking the video chip.

3. When the image on the screen disappears / is distorted due to changes in the tilt angle of the monitor, and appears when moving / pressure, the thing is in the cable or the matrix board.

Solution: take it to a specialist to parse the screen and check the connection of the matrix.

Mouse / other devices connected to USB ports / speakers / keyboard / touchpad do not work

Possible reasons:

1. Flew the driver for the input / output devices.

Solution: Check if the computer "sees" the connected devices in the "Device Manager", and try updating the drivers.

2. Faulty connector. If the computer does not see the device, the port, or circuit section could burn out.

Solution: reconnect to other ports, diagnostics in the service.

3. The south bridge departs. The main signs of its departure are the periodic inoperability of ports, keyboard, touchpad, webcam, speakers.

Solution: a trip to the service center.

4. Loops departed after assembly. If only certain keys on the keyboard do not work, there is a chance that you spilled something on it (but the cable is still not ruled out).

What are south and north bridges

These components are called bridges for a reason. These two microcircuits are the largest (after the processor) and the most important nodes for the exchange of information between components. The north bridge is responsible for the interaction of the central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU) and random access memory (RAM). It is also responsible for the speed of the system and the control of the video adapter bus.

This microchip handles resource-intensive tasks, is located next to the central and graphic processors, which means that it is seriously heated. Usually, the north bridge is 30 degrees hotter than the south bridge. And this despite it is provided with cooling in the form of a radiator.

The south bridge is responsible for the performance of information input-output devices, the interaction of LAN, Audio, USB, SATA / SSD interfaces. It also manages coolers, system clocks, bios and power supply. This fighter is the first to take a hit in the event of a shorted connector, a hard drive malfunction. Its chip is not equipped with cooling and often fails due to overheating.

Signs of the failure of the north bridge:
– arbitrary shutdowns of the laptop, not related to the power circuit;
– the computer does not turn on after being turned off;
– a noticeable decrease in performance;
– no image on the screen when the indication is on.

Signs of failure of the south bridge:
– the keyboard and touchpad do not work;
– the webcam, mouse, flash drive and other devices connected to the USB port do not work;
– the laptop does not "see" the connection of the hard drive / SSD / optical drive.

Software problems

A software malfunction is easy to identify by the fact that the laptop starts up, and only then it starts to “behave badly”.

Long loading of the operating system and freezes

Possible reasons:
1. The hard disk is full or defragmentation is required.
What to do? Control the occupancy of storage media, send files to the trash or to the clouds on time. Clean the system of everything unnecessary (try CCleaner), do a defragmentation.
2. The north bridge began to disconnect.

3. Internal operating system errors.
What to do? If possible, do a restore or reinstall the OS.

Blue screen

We all at least once saw a message about a critical system error on our screen. In the people, such a message when turned on is called the Blue Screen of Death (BSoD). However, the wolf is not so terrible, this error, as it is called. After all, the computer turned on, started loading the system, and even told the user what was wrong with it. If you look closely, then on any blue screen you can find an error code (after the word STOP), which will become the key to solving the problem. If you can still boot into safe mode (via F8) after this error appears, it is not so critical.

Common error codes:
1. DATA_BUS_ERROR most often indicates incorrect drivers. It is also possible that you installed incompatible hardware. One way or another, the precursor to this error is usually a software or hardware component update, and you can easily understand the cause. First try updating the drivers.

2. PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA — the requested data is missing. Usually, this error is caused by incorrect operation of the RAM or a software conflict. Try deleting recently installed software.

3. KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED is most often a driver error. Paired with it is the address of the source of the error, which can be reinstalled / removed after booting in safe mode.

4. NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM / FAT_FILE_SYSTEM — error reading / system drive write. The cause may be hard disk corruption or fragmentation. To get started, we suggest defragmenting and checking the status of the hard drive.

Error codes on the blue screen are usually displayed in encrypted form, there are a lot of them. There are articles that collect all the errors that can be displayed on BsoD, as well as possible ways to resolve them.

General recommendations

To avoid stuttering and system shutdowns, clean your case and change your thermal paste regularly. To prevent software problems, check for viruses, clean up unnecessary files, do not install software that you are not sure about, do not follow unfamiliar links. Cooling and cleanliness in every way are the best friends of any laptop.