A dying laptop is always tricky to diagnose. It’s often hard to pinpoint the exact nature of the problem. In some cases, it might just be a software failure and Windows just needs a fresh new installation. But occasionally, the problem is the hardware, and no amount of reformatting can fix that dying laptop.
The key is to determine which is which so that you’re 100 percent certain that the problem is in the hardware.
Knowing that can help you save time and money especially if you plan on going back and forth between repair centers.
Moreover, knowing the signs and symptoms of a dying laptop can help you be more careful with your future devices.
Check if your laptop exhibits some of these if you suspect that it might be having hardware issues.
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Screen Artifacts
These can be anything from dead pixels to colorful lines on the monitor that won’t go away.
More often than not, permanent artifacts on your laptop that weren’t there before can be attributed to either a failing screen or a failing GPU/graphics card.
One way to be sure that it’s a hardware issue is to eliminate the possible software culprits. That means updating or reinstalling the display drivers. These websites offer the display driver downloads for your specific GPU brand:
If you have updated or reinstalled your display drivers and the artifacts are still there, there’s a big chance the screen itself or the GPU is just failing. By then, it’s likely on borrowed time until the artifacts become bigger or proliferate or the screen won’t turn on at all.
Sadly, the GPU and screen of a laptop aren’t modular. If they break or die, then you’ll have to replace the laptop itself or purchase a separate monitor (if it’s just the screen that’s broken) and plug it into the laptop body. Such is the case for most laptop models.
Overheating & Idle Noise
Heat and noise during heavy gaming sessions are somewhat understandable for most gaming laptops. However, if you’re not gaming at all and you notice the laptop fan is whining or wheezing it could be a sign that the laptop’s cooling is failing.
To monitor your laptop’s temperatures, an application like HWInfo64 comes in handy. Generally, any temperature above 85 degrees Celsius for laptops is worrying. Past 90 degrees Celsius, your laptop might be in need of a hardware checkup. Both the CPU and GPU typically tiptoe those numbers.
There are a number of hardware factors that might cause this such as:
- Worn-out thermal paste on the CPU or GPU
- Excessive dust
- Failing fans
Those factors are mostly due to wear and tear though they’re easy to remedy. Thermal paste and fans are cheap to replace, and dust can be easily cleaned.
If you have eliminated those common hardware factors and the fan is still overheating or is constantly running, then something might be causing them on the software side.
There might be malware involved or someone might have installed a shady crypto-mining program on your device and is using it to mine remotely. In such cases, your most effective solution is to wipe and reformat Windows instead of playing whack-a-mole with anti-virus software.
Battery Drains Fast
If the battery is constantly draining fast or has trouble holding a charge anymore then there’s a big chance that it has run its course.
Lithium-ion batteries, after all, are not known for their longevity.
But you’ll be pleased to know that it’s just your laptop’s battery that’s dying, not the laptop itself; laptop batteries are modular and can easily be replaced– even if they’re not under warranty. You will be spending more for the replacement if it’s not under warranty.
Once you do manage to get the battery fixed or replaced, you might want to practice some preventive tips to prolong the battery’s lifespan.
Unresponsive Keyboard
A broken keyboard on a laptop might be tricky since some laptop models allow for modular replacements while others don’t, and you might be forced to purchase a separate keyboard for the latter.
In any case, laptop keyboards aren’t built for durability given their small inner mechanisms. Most of them are also just membrane keyboards and those don’t last long compared to mechanical keyboards.
All it takes is one important key to stop working and the keyboard is as good as replaced, assuming it’s a membrane keyboard. For mechanical keyboards on laptops, the individual keys might be easier to replace and repair.
Still, it’s better to just purchase a cheap separate keyboard instead of hammering away your fingers at the laptop’s meek keyboard. Prevention is better than cure, after all.
Memory Errors
Memory errors can be just as tricky to diagnose as overheating. It’s hard to pinpoint the culprit here but in case you’re getting memory errors (Windows usually says so), then you will have to perform an elimination process starting with the software.
You can easily determine which program or application is causing the memory error. Specific programs can crash if they run out of available memory to use.
In case there’s no program culprit, then you can chalk it up to a faulty driver or Windows installation. Again, in that case, it might be easier to just reformat.
Now, once you’ve performed a reformat and the memory error still persists, it’s time to point fingers at the hardware and check your RAM or memory sticks. This can be an expensive process of diagnosis.
You will need spare laptop RAM to test whether it’s your old RAM that’s causing the error by swapping them out to see which one works. You could also try re-seating the RAM to see if it just got loose.
Therein lies another problem; some laptops have soldered and non-modular RAM. If that’s the case, you’re doomed to the repair center, or you might even have to replace the whole laptop since you can’t replace soldered RAM.
That’s why it’s highly advised to avoid laptops with soldered RAM.
It Won’t Boot
Yet another tricky problem for laptops to diagnose. Sometimes they just won’t turn on.
Where do you even begin with this? Well, you can start with the modular laptop components or those you can replace to check if swapping out newer parts will solve the issue. Those parts are usually:
- The RAM/memory (some laptops have soldered RAM, however)
- The storage (HDD/SSD)
- The battery (if the battery is completely dead, you might need to keep the charger plugged in)
If swapping out those components still didn’t fix the issue, then the problem might be with the soldered or non-modular components such as the CPU, GPU, motherboard, and screen. The laptop is as good as gone if those are the causes.
There’s always a chance that it’s just the power button that’s not working; but even so, you will still need to take it to the repair center to check if the connectors got shorted or loose since self-repairing might cause more harm.
Creaking Hinge & Loose Seams
If the hinge that binds the screen to the laptop body sounds like it ran out of lubricant or is creaking too much, you might want to be more careful with it.
Those hinges are prone to wear and tear and once they have gone, it’s hard to repair them by yourself unless you have the degree/knowledge and the tools for it.
Likewise, a laptop screen that opens up like a sandwich at the slightest pull is more often than not, a manufacturing oversight. The screen shouldn’t be doing that at all. There’s a chance that blunt force trauma might have loosened it, but again, repairing that by yourself is troublesome.
It’s best to let professionals handle it, or have a civil “conversation” with the store from whence you bought the device.
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