Student-Contributed Wiki

An awesome team of students from our education program made this wiki.

Computer takes a long time to boot up after the power button is pressed.

Clean out unnecessary or unused programs and give the computer at least 200GB of free space. This gives the computer more space for it to work and can increase boot times.

If the computer still starts up slowly replace the hard drive with an SSD with at least 250GB of free space. Hard drives tend to have much slower startup times than an SSD, so installing an SSD with a lot of free space can help start times significantly.

  • If you don’t want to reinstall the operating system then you can just add a second drive to help the first one load better.If you want even faster start times, install your operating system on an SSD so it loads into Windows faster. You will have to reinstall Windows for this, however.

When the computer is turned on, it takes too long to load simple tasks such as internet or word editing programs.

If the computer has trouble running multiple tasks or starting programs, add more RAM or replace existing RAM. This is a common problem because the laptop doesn’t come installed with much, so adding some more RAM is likely the best way to increase day-to-day performance.

Make sure the computer is using the proper graphics card and not the integrated card attached to the motherboard. You can check by going to your device manager and selecting “Display Adapters” and confirming the AMD “Radeon ™ R4 Graphics” is selected.

If the correct card is being used and problem persists especially when playing video games or using 3-D modeling software, replace the graphics card. You can use (this) guide to learn how to replace the graphics card.

The battery charging indicator does not appear and the laptop does not charge when plugged in, or the laptop can’t hold a charge for very long.

Make sure your laptop is plugged in for enough time to charge and unplugged when fully charged. Also be sure the clear out any dust from the inside of the charging port and ensure the cable is properly connected to the power brick and wall.

If your laptop doesn’t hold a charge or only works when plugged in you will need to replace the battery. This is something that eventually happens to all batteries but to prevent this from happening in the future be sure to only charge your device when it needs to be charged. Learn how to replace the battery (here).

If computer still does not charge when plugged in, you might have a faulty charging cable and the best way to fix this is to buy a new one. If computer does not charge with a new cable then try replacing the charging port or cleaning the ports out of any dust that could be breaking the connection. Remember not to use any power cables with exposed wires or torn edges.

Display will often flicker from a normal image to a white distorted image.

Check for device updates or updated screen drivers. This can be done by connecting to the internet and restarting your device. You can also go to device manager, double click the screen icon, go to the drivers tab and check for updated drivers.

If screen still flickers you may have a open the laptop up and make sure the wires are secure. This can happen if you move your laptop around often.

If the problem still occurs then replace the screen.

If certain keys or the whole keyboard is not functioning

Ensure the Num Lock feature is off. This may cause a problem if trying to use the number pad on the keyboard.

Be sure your computer is connected to the internet and restart to check for updates.

If the solutions mentioned above do not work, then replace the keyboard.

In this case, the computers power button is pressed and nothing happens, not even a boot menu appears

Make sure laptop is plugged in for enough time to charge and unplugged when fully charged.

If the computer is powered on when connected to a working charger and there is no noise coming from inside the computer and no boot menu shows up, the CPU is likely dead and needs to be replaced.