General System Care and Handling

Laptop computers are expensive machines built with significantly tighter tolerances than their desktop counterparts. Although most laptops are designed to function reliably in normal environments, it helps to use some common sense when transporting, operating, or otherwise handling a laptop system. If you treat the system as if it were a very expensive piece of precision electronic machinery (which it truly is!), you will greatly minimize the chances of problems occurring.

Instead of telling you what you should do to take care of your system, it is perhaps easier to tell you what you shouldn’t do. I often observe people doing things to their laptop computers that make me cringe. While some of these are painfully obvious, here is a list of bad things you should not do to your laptop computer:

·         Bump, jar, shake or physically punish the system, especially while it is running.

·         Drop the system. Even if it is in a carrying case, many cases are not padded well enough for excessively rough treatment.

·         Pack a laptop in luggage that will be checked at the airport, thus subjecting it to very rough handling.

·         Place heavy cases or other objects on top of a laptop (such as in the overhead compartment on a plane), even if it is in a carrying case.

·         Store the system where the temperature is below 41°F (5°C) or above 95°F (35° C).

·         Operate the computer on a blanket or other soft surface where material might bunch up and cover the cooling vents on the sides or back, which will cause the system to overheat.

·         Operate the computer while it is still half-inside a carrying case, which will block the cooling vents and cause overheating.

·         Place the system closer than about 5 inches (13cm) from any electrical device that generates a strong magnetic field, such as electric motors, TVs, refrigerators, and large audio speakers.

·         Operate two-way radio transmitters in close proximity to the system, which can induce currents and voltages causing lockups or failures.

·         Spill liquids on the system, which may contaminate the internal components and/or cause a short circuit.

·         Place heavy objects on the system with the lid closed or pack the system in a tightly compressed suitcase or bag, which may put excessive pressure on the LCD panel.

·         Place an object between the display lid and keyboard, which may cause damage when the lid is closed.

·         Pick up or hold the system by the LCD panel, which may damage the display and/or the hinges.

·         Scratch, twist, or push on the surface of the LCD panel.

·         Move the system or pull on the AC adapter cord while the adapter is plugged in, which may cause the plug to break off and/or damage the socket.

·         Plug a modem cable into an Ethernet port (and vice versa), which may damage the connectors.

·         Hard-mount the system in a vehicle or anywhere that it is subject to strong vibration.

·         Crush, drop, or press on the cover of a disk drive while it is removed from the system.

·         Insert a floppy disk into a floppy drive at an angle or upside down, which may cause it to jam in the drive.

·         Place more than one label on a floppy disk, which might cause it to jam in the drive.

·         Touch the lens on the CD-ROM tray when it is open, which may contaminate the lens and/or throw it out of alignment.

·         Connect the internal modem in the system to a private branch exchange (PBX) or other digital telephone line that may subject the modem to improper voltages, thus causing permanent damage.

Forget your passwords. If you forget a supervisor or hard disk password, there is no easy way to reset it, and you may have to replace the motherboard or hard disk.