My HP 520 laptop battery discharges even though it is connected to the DC power and another thing the battery starts charging if i shut down the laptop. Please give me the solution.

I think this problem is related to the DC jack failure. In HP 520 laptop the DC jack soldered directly to the motherboard. Overtime, if you plug/unplug AC adapter a lot, connection between the DC jack and motherboard breaks and it stops charging the battery.

Most likely you can fix the problem if you resolder the the DC jack.

In order to repair the jack, it’s necessary to disassemble the laptop and remove the motherboard. This service manual will help you to remove the motherboard.

I accidentally spilled a little soda on my Dell Studio XPS 1640 laptop. The keyboard still works but some keys are sticky. I would like to replace the keyboard myself but it looks like this model is different than any other laptop I worked on.
Can you help me to replace the keyboard?

You are correct. Your Dell Studio XPS 16 laptop built a little different than most other laptops.

In order to remove and replace the keyboard, you’ll have to remove the palm rest assembly first.

Take a look at this service manual for Dell Studio XPS 16 series laptop. The manual has step by step laptop disassembly instructions.

If you need a new keyboard, you will find it here. A new keyboard for this model is less than $30.

How can I replace a broken screen in an HP Pavilion dv8 notebook? This is a brand new notebook but I accidentally dropped it from the desk and broke the screen. HP doesn’t cover this under warranty, so I have to figure out how to replace the screen myself. Is it possible?

Yes it’s possible to replace the broken scree but not easy.

Here’s official service manual for HP Pavilion dv8 series notebooks. It’s a 3.3MB pdf file. You’ll find disassembly instructions in there.

First, you’ll have to disassemble the notebook and remove the display panel assembly as it shown on the page 4-35 in the service guide.

Second, you’ll have to disassemble the display assembly and remove the LCD screen as it shown on pages 4-35 through 4-40.

You can search for a new replacement LCD screen here.

Mine is Toshiba Satellite u300-11v. I have it for the past 2 years. I never carried it anywhere. It is making huge grinding noise when starting it for the first time, now a days it is making noise even when starting it from hibernation. I don’t know exactly weather fan or hard drive makes noise. However i suspect the sound from the left side of the laptop. Please advice.

It’s easy to find out if the grinding noise comes from the hard drive or fan.

First of all, remove the hard drive and start the laptop with the hard drive removed. Now listen for the cooling fan. Make sure the fan actually spins. If the grinding noise is still there, you’ll have to replace the fan.

If the noise is gone when the hard drive is removed, it’s not the fan problem. Most likely you’ll have to replace the hard drive.

I have a Sony Vaio VGN-FZ series laptop. The video stopped working but it didn’t fail in one day, it failed gradually. The laptop was working fine for the first 14 months. One day I turned it on and the screen had some strange characters all over. I restarted the laptop right away and after that the video worked fine for a few days. Later I got same characters on the screen again but this time I couldn’t get rid of them. Finally, today my laptop video failed completely. There is no video when I turn it on. The bad thing is the laptop is not covered by the warranty anymore. Is it expensive to fix it?

This might be a known NVIDIA graphics chip failure issue. Sony knows about this problem and you have a chance to fix your laptop at no charge. This offer from Sony is valid for 4 years since the purchase date, click here for more details.

Problem description:

Distorted video, random characters or blank screen issues due to failure of the NVIDIA graphics chip.

Affected Sony Vaio laptop models:

•    VGN-FZ11x, VGN-FZ18x, VGN-FZ21x, VGN-FZ31x, VGN-FZ38x
•    VGN-AR11x, VGN-AR21x, VGN-AR31x
•    VGN-C1Zx, VGN-C2Zx
•    VGC-LM1xx, VGC-LM2xx
•    VGC-LT1xx, VGC-LT2xx

My screen on my HP Pavilion dv6-1259dx is broken (hit with a pillow, and has funny lines all over it) How do I change the screen on my own. I cannot find any screws for the top where the screen is, like all the sites say to find?

Your Pavilion dv6 laptop should have eight screw covers on the front bezel.
Remove those eight covers and remove all eight screws hidden under those covers.
After that you remove the bezel and access the screen.

You’ll find detailed instruction with pictures in the service manual. This is a 5.5MB pdf file and might take some time to download.

The display panel disassembly instructions are shown on the page 158 in the “Recycling” chapter.

I have an Acer aspire 9500 laptop and my power button doesn’t work. At first I had to press it 2-3 times at different angles and it worked. Yesterday I tried about 500 times and I didn’t manage to power up my laptop. I took the plastic covering off and pressed the tiny button on the green plate but still nothing! Can anybody help me?

In an Acer Aspire 9500 the power button is located on the power button board.

If the power button stopped working, you’ll have to replace the entire power button board. I believe the part number for this board is 435906BOL11. Google the part number and you’ll find it.

Remove the plastic cover, disconnect the power button board from the motherboard and replace it with a new one.

I have my Nec Versa laptop which works perfect when turned on. However when I switch on the power, the front blue power light turns on but without anything on the screen. I have to force the blue light off by pressing down the power switch. I try the turn on/off process for quite a while until the screen finally starts. This process irritates me because sometimes i have to make so many trials or even give up. Any ideas about the causes and solutions?

First of all, I would check the memory modules. It’s possible that one of the memory modules is not making good contact with the slot or failing.

Try reconnecting both memory modules and test the laptop.

Try removing memory modules one by one and test the laptop with only one module installed. When the faulty module is removed, the laptop should start properly.

Try installing different memory module into different slots on the motherboard. It’s possible not the memory module but the slot itself going bad.

I have just purchased a laptop hard drive enclosure for my old laptop’s hard drive. It seems to work well however I can’t find some documents. Is it possible to see files that were on the desktop of my old laptop?

If you can see all other files, most likely your desktop documents are still on the hard drive. You just have to search in the right location.

Here’s how you can navigate to the desktop documents:

Windows XP
X:\Documents and Settings\User_Name\Desktop

Windows Vista
X:\Users\User_Name\Desktop

Windows 7
X:\Users\User_Name\Desktop

Where X:\ is your laptop hard drive in the enclosure  and User_Name is your login name.

I have a broken LCD on a HP Pavilion DV6-2157 notebook. I don’t see any screws on the bezel. How do I replace the LCD on this model? Any info would be helpful.

You are correct, this model doesn’t have any screws on the screen bezel.
In order to remove and replace the LCD screen you’ll have to separate the display panel from the laptop base first. After that disassemble the display panel and remove the LCD screen.

All disassembly steps are shown in this service guide for HP Pavilion dv6 series notebooks. This is a 5.5MB pdf file and might take some time to download.  The display panel disassembly instructions are on the page 70.