Laptop Hardware Replacement
Background
Around the same time that I began fixing other people’s iPods and phones for them, my own laptop started acting up in various ways. The battery completely died and could no longer hold a charge, its RAM wasn’t enough for the programs that I was trying to run, and the fans were having a hard time keeping it cool. As I do with most anything that isn’t working properly, I took it apart to see what could be causing the cooling issue.
The RAM and battery were easy enough to fix using the internet to find what I needed, but the cooling wasn’t something that I could just replace. When I pulled everything apart, I discovered a large amount of dust and dog hair clogging the cooling fins attached to my processor. Upon removing it everything ran at much lower temperatures. That was my first experience pulling apart a laptop which had previously seemed like a daunting task. I have since operated on other people’s laptops as well, removing free-floating internal screws, unbinding fans, reattaching internal cables and ribbons, and cleaning and replacing processor cooling paste. I’ve replaced laptop screens and keyboards as well as hard drives, and even re-soldered a few power ports that had lost contact.
I enjoy having experience in taking things apart and repairing them because I feel that being able to use my hands for small operations and working through problem solving situations is an irreplaceable skill. It can be fun and very rewarding if It means extending the life of an otherwise hindered or useless device.
