Replacing a Laptop Keyboard

It’s easy to damage a laptop keyboard. You may have spilled something on it, a small child in the home may have torn off some of the keys, or the keyboard may have just quit working mysteriously. Whatever the reason for the damage, we can remove your old keyboard and install a new one so that your laptop will work correctly again.

Laptop Repair

Your laptop is now very important in your day-to-day life, and we get that.

That’s why we offer 2-business-day in-house (our store) repairs.

Whether you have an Apple, Acer, HP/Compaq, Lenovo, Sony, Dell, Fujitsu, MacBook, or anything else, we can assure you that we can fix most problems that arise.

Call Computer Idiot® at (805) 650-5981 and tell us what the issue is,

or come in for a FREE diagnostic check.

No Power to Your Laptop

If your laptop stops working and has no power, it can seem like there is no clue what is wrong with it. But we can diagnose and fix problems with laptops that have no power. The power problem may be caused by a faulty power button, a broken DC jack, RAM that has gone bad, a fried motherboard, or a short-circuit in any of the other components of the laptop.

The only way to know for sure is to disconnect and reconnect each component until we find the one that is causing the problem. Once this is done, we can replace the faulty part and get your laptop working again.

LED/LCD Replacement

Sometimes laptop screens get damaged through a fall or other kind of accident. In other cases, the laptop may display no image even though the screen looks fine. Laptop screens can crack or fail, sometimes without visible damage. We carefully remove and replace the screen, ensuring a quick turnaround.

Pricing & Estimates:

• Costs vary by screen type.
• We can estimate based on your laptop model but need to check the part number for exact pricing.
• If your laptop is over 4–5 years old, consider whether a replacement is worth it—give us a call first!

Laptop Power (DC) Jack Repair

The DC jack is the laptop’s weak spot—one trip over the power cord can damage it. This tiny metal box, plugged in (sometimes soldered) to the motherboard, is crucial for charging. If it breaks, your laptop won’t charge or stay powered on.

Signs of a Failing DC Jack:

• Battery won’t charge or charges intermittently
• Power flickers on and off
• Laptop loses power when moved
• Overheating near the power jack

What You Should Know:

• DC jacks are fragile – Frequent plugging/unplugging wears them out.
• Hardwired to the motherboard – A small part with a big role.
• Difficult to access – Requires disassembling most of the laptop.

The Good News:

You likely won’t need a new motherboard! We can replace just the DC jack, saving you time and money.

Replacing or Upgrading Laptop Memory

If your laptop will no longer boot up, it may be because one of your memory sticks has gone bad. We can open the laptop and use a process of elimination to determine which stick is causing the problem. We can then replace that particular RAM stick, allowing your laptop to boot up normally again.

Even if your laptop memory is working correctly, you may not have enough memory to do the things you want with it. For example, you may want to play 3D games or do video editing, which are very memory-intensive applications. We can upgrade your laptop’s memory so it will do what you want it to.

Replacing a Laptop Hard Drive

If your laptop has been showing you error messages and crashing randomly, it may be because there is a problem with your hard drive. At Computer Idiot®, we can check the status of your hard drive using the S.M.A.R.T. system. If your hard drive is not in danger of failing but is still causing crashes, we can eliminate errors using check disk.

We can also reinstall your hard drive’s operating system and device drivers if the hard drive is not being recognized.

If there is something physically wrong with your hard drive, we can replace damaged or loose cables, the hard drive PCB, or even the hard drive itself (SSD/SATA/IDE types).

Replace Broken Fans Causing Overheating Problems

If your laptop CPU fan is broken, your computer may cut off randomly. It may also give you an error message telling you that your fan is broken.

We can remove your fan from your laptop and diagnose what is causing the malfunction. In a few cases, we can lubricate the fan and get it working again. In most cases, we will have to replace the entire fan.

Either way, we can fix overheating problems on a laptop so that your PC will stop cutting off on you.