We are experts and we can fix most faults that a laptop might have, so even if you don’t see your issue listed on this page, reach out via the button below as we can almost certainly help.

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How can we help?

Laptops come in all shapes and sizes (well not really, they’re all mostly fold-in-the-middle, half-screen, half-keyboard type things) but the issues they can have are largely the same. To save you some time, we have collected the most common types of fault in the links below along with some common causes and tips.

If you want to save even more time, drop us an email and we’ll book you in for a service and do the detective work for you 🕵️.

🐢 My laptop is slow!
🔥 My laptop is too hot!
😵 My laptop won’t turn on or shuts off suddenly…
🧐 I can hear fans / see lights but my screen won’t come on…
🫗 Some liquid spilled onto my laptop!
👇 My touchpad is stiff or isn’t clicking
🖥️ Desktop Repair


My laptop is slow!

When your laptop was brand new it (hopefully) whizzed through all the things you used it for without skipping a beat, however over time things can start to get a bit sluggish.

Some common reasons for this (in no particular order) are:

SoftwareHardware
Too many programs (that you probably aren’t even using) running in the backgroundYou’re running low on RAM
You’re in a low power modeYou’re running low on storage
Your operating system is a lot newer than the hardware it is running on1Your CPU is too hot

We can help with both software and hardware issues, just drop us an email and we’ll let you know how we can help.


My laptop is too hot!

Just like us, most laptops need to breathe2! Unlike us, they don’t appreciate being wrapped-up and snuggly.

Obstruction of cooling fans either by placing your laptop on soft surfaces or through the accumulation of dust in vents can lead to your laptop getting too hot.

💡 Laptop stands, trays and supports are handy ways to ensure that your laptop has ventilation regardless of where it is being used.

You don’t need us to tell you (because you are here reading this page!) that laptops that are too hot are no fun because:

  • in the short-term they are loud and slow
  • and in the long-term… Well there isn’t really a long-term as hot laptops don’t tend to live very long.

If your laptop (literally) feels like it is running too hot and it’s fans aren’t being blocked when in use, drop us an email and we’ll be happy to have a look under the hood.


My laptop won’t turn on or shuts off suddenly…

If your laptop won’t turn on or seems to shut off suddenly during use, then this suggests a power supply related hardware fault.

In order for your laptop to laptop, it needs a supply of electrical power, either from it’s charger or from its battery. There are a number of links in the chain from mains power from the wall, through the charger, into the battery and out to your laptop, and an issue with any of these could lead to it working intermittently or not at all.

Laptop charging ports are common failure points due to the strain they come under in regular use, but shock from an impact like a drop can also cause internal connectors to come loose and even components to break off inside your laptop - even if there’s no obvious external damage.

🔎 The first thing to do is to check that your laptop charges when it is plugged in. While not foolproof, an LED on your laptop coming on and staying on3 when you plug in the charger is a good sign that it is receiving power from the wall, the charger is working and the battery is charging.

Leaving it charging for a while and then trying to turn it on while still plugged is a good way of narrowing the issue down to a battery fault: if it comes on but goes off when unplugged, the battery is most likely kaput; if it won’t come on, even when plugged in, then that suggests power isn’t getting where it should within the laptop - either way, we can help!


My screen won’t come on!

The lights aren’t on but somebody is home.

Similar to the power issues mentioned above, it’s possible that the display connector has come loose inside your laptop, or that for some other reason, power isn’t getting to some or all of the display circuitry like the backlight. Displays are one of the more venerable components to wear in a laptop because the electrons that power it have to make the treacherous commute back and forth through the hinge!

🔎 One way to narrow down the issue is to shine a bright light like your phone’s flash onto the display when you think the laptop is on but can’t see a picture on the display - if the backlight is out but the screen itself is still working you should be able to see the ghostly outline of your operating system (spooky).

Display connector or backlight faults are best case scenarios for laptop screen issues; if you are seeing an image but it looks garbled or corrupted, that could indicate an issue with the GPU or the screen itself which while not necessarily terminal, will definitely need some expert help to solve 👋.


Some liquid spilled onto my laptop!

No one is blaming anyone - accidents happen! 🤬😤😇

It goes without saying that electronics and water do not get on, and unlike most phones nowadays, laptops are not well equipped to go for a dip.

The reason water (or let’s face it tea - it was probably tea) is so damaging is because, in combination with metal (the stuff your laptop is made of) and electricity (the stuff your laptop runs on), it causes corrosion. You can think of corrosion as rust that happens very quickly and which causes short circuits.

Short circuits are baaad. Clever engineers put a lot of time and effort into herding the cats that are the electrons in your laptop, so that they all go to very specific places along very specific paths, and short circuits dump them all (the electrons not cats) straight into a single point like from a laser pointer (think cats again). This generates a lot of heat and can lead to the release of the magic blue smoke that often signals the death of a piece of electronics 😶‍🌫️.

Fortunately not all shorts are terminal, most internal components can be replaced and there’s nothing that a bit of isopropyl alcohol and a toothbrush can’t do to clean up corrosion. So if you (again, no one is blaming anyone) have had a spill and a clean up is needed on aisle QWERTY, we are here to help.


My touchpad is stiff or isn’t clicking

Definitely unlike us, batteries tend to bulge out a bit as they age.

🔎 One noticeable side effect of this can be that your touchpad and or its buttons can become stiffer and harder to click.

Batteries are one of the only consumable components in your laptop. They make use of some very clever chemistry to quickly collect and then slowly release a lot of energy to keep your laptop going when it’s away from the wall. This process is not completely reversible however and so every time you charge your battery, it is losing a little bit of this capacity and generating waste products including gases (😐 this is serious business) - not enough to be noticeable on a day-to-day basis but over years or hundreds of charge-discharge cycles.

As well as aging, battery swelling can also be caused by overheating, allowing a battery to discharge too much (or leaving it flat for too long) or manufacturing defects.

⚠️ While a stiff trackpad or bulging laptop case can be mildly annoying, continuing to charge and use a swelling battery is very risky and could lead to a fire (remember batteries can hold a lot of energy) and so should be dealt with as soon as possible.

We can help source and replace new (and safely dispose of old) batteries for most laptops. Get in touch to find out more.


Didn’t see your issue mentioned? 😓

We are experts and we can fix most faults that a laptop might have, so even if you didn’t see your issue listed on this page, reach out via the button below as we can almost certainly help turn that frown upside down!

Get in touch



Glossary

TermDefinition
CPUCentral Processing Unit (CPU) literally your laptop’s brain
GPUGraphics Processing Unit, like the CPU but decided to pursue a career in art rather than management for the obvious salary prospects
LEDLight Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are helpful little electrical components that produce light when powered often to indicate whether various functions are or are not happening inside your laptop
RAMRandom Access Memory (RAM) is speedy temporary storage that your laptop uses to hold onto things it is actively working on such as programs

  1. All is not lost! You can always run a different operating system and get straight back to whizzing around. ↩︎

  2. Even if your laptop doesn’t have a fan, if it can’t radiate heat sufficiently it can still lead to throttling (think dog panting or you after a parkrun) ↩︎

  3. If no light comes on then the issue could be with the charger, charging port or internal components of the laptop. ↩︎

The information on this page is provided for reference only.