When should you open your laptop during the computer repair diagnosis process? – A laptop repair tip

Our laptop repair technicians always has to answer this question, “When should I open up the customer’s laptop?”  Or “Do I need to open up this laptop to diagnose it?” Now, this is a question being posed by the tech.  95% of our techs love opening up laptops for pure joy and geekdom, but there is a measure of controls and checklists that we have in order to see if it’s necessary to do so.  I’d like to share this with you as a consumer to see if and when you can handle your own diagnostics and when to determine to leave it to the pros.

First, you have to determine how grave your laptop’s symptoms are.

Laptop is slow.  Laptop is freezing.

No need to open it up.  Run tests on your hard drive and scan for viruses.  Those are typically the two biggest culprits.

Laptop is making sounds.

First, run a hard drive test.  If it comes up clean, you’ll want to open up your laptop to see if the fan is running properly or to see if something got physically stuck in there.

Laptop won’t start.

You can try replacing the AC adapter charger.  If that doesn’t work, the laptop should be opened up to further test all the components.

Laptop screen is cracked.

Any crack or damage on a laptop will require opening it up, at least partially, to replace the part.

Laptop is running very hot or shutting down on its own.

This is another one where the laptop should be opened up for a physical cleaning.

Software issue?  Email not working?

You’re in luck on this one.  Just fix the software and keep truckin’ along.

I think that covers the major laptop repair issues.  When in doubt, feel free to stop in for a free laptop repair diagnostic in NYC so we can further check to see the exact issue.  Most importantly, if you’re not 100% confident about opening up your laptop, don’t do it!  We have had our fair share of YouTuber’s coming in with further damaged laptops.  Be careful!