Pick the thing yours is doing. Each one says what usually causes it, what putting it right involves, and what is worth trying yourself before you pay anybody — us included.
This is the usual suspects, not a diagnosis. Two machines can behave identically and have different faults. It is here so you know roughly what you are dealing with and can describe it properly, whoever ends up fixing it.
Laptops
The most common ones first.
It won’t turn on at all — no lights, no fans
Usually
The charger or its cable, the charging socket on the laptop, a battery that has failed completely, or the board itself.
What that means
The charger gets tested first, because it is the cheapest thing to be wrong. A charging socket that has worked loose from the board is one of the most common laptop faults there is, and it is a soldering repair rather than a new laptop.
Try this first
Try a different charger of the right type if you can borrow one. Then unplug everything, hold the power button down for thirty seconds, plug the charger back in and try again.
The screen panel, the ribbon cable that runs through the hinge, the backlight, or the graphics chip.
What that means
There is a quick test that splits this in two, and it costs nothing: plug the laptop into a TV or monitor with an HDMI lead. If a picture appears on the TV, the computer itself is working and the fault is on the screen side — a much smaller job than it looks.
Try this first
HDMI to a television. Also press the brightness-up key a few times; it gets knocked all the way down more often than you would think.
An old mechanical hard drive, a drive that is nearly full, too much software starting with Windows, or heat from a fan packed with dust.
What that means
On most machines more than a few years old, swapping the old drive for an SSD changes the machine more than anything else you can do to it — start-up goes from minutes to seconds. It is usually the best value work there is on an older laptop.
Try this first
Check the free space on the drive: under about ten per cent left and Windows struggles. Then Ctrl+Shift+Esc, Startup tab, and switch off anything that does not need to run the moment it turns on.
Dust packed into the cooling fins, thermal paste that has dried out, or something working the processor hard in the background.
What that means
A strip-down, a proper clean and fresh thermal paste. Worth knowing: a laptop that overheats deliberately slows itself down to protect itself, so this is often the real cause of “it has got slow” as well.
Try this first
Check it is not sat on a duvet, a carpet or a lap blocking the vents. Ctrl+Shift+Esc will show you if something is using all the processor.
A drop, or something left on the keyboard when the lid was closed.
What that means
A screen replacement. The panel is a separate part from everything else in the laptop, so a cracked screen does not mean a dead laptop. Tell us the exact model — it is usually printed on a sticker underneath — and we will find out what panel it takes.
Try this first
Nothing that helps the glass, but do back your files up. A cracked panel sometimes comes with damage further in, and it is easier to copy things off while it still displays.
The lid is loose, or the hinge is splitting the case
Usually
A hinge that has seized and is slowly pulling its mountings out of the plastic every time the lid moves.
What that means
This is the one worth catching early. Left alone, a stiff hinge cracks the lid, tears the screen cable or breaks the case around the mounting points, and a small job turns into three jobs at once.
Try this first
Open and close it as little as you can, and gently, until it has been looked at.
Nearly always the socket — the DC jack — working loose from the board. It is a soldering repair, and it is far better done before the socket comes away completely.
Try this first
Look at the lead for kinks near the plug. If a different charger behaves exactly the same way, it is the socket and not the cable.
A worn battery. They are consumable — every charge takes a little capacity away, and after a few years there is not much left.
What that means
A replacement battery. Tell us the model and we will check what is available for it. On some machines this is a five-minute job and on others the whole base has to come off, which is why we quote per model rather than in general.
Try this first
Windows can tell you exactly how bad it is: open Command Prompt and run powercfg /batteryreport. Worth knowing the real number before spending anything.
Failing memory, a failing drive, a driver problem, or overheating.
What that means
This one is a process of elimination rather than a guess — test the memory, read the drive’s own health report, and look at what the crash logs say. It is worth doing properly, because “reinstall Windows” often just hides a hardware fault for a fortnight.
Try this first
If a blue screen shows a code or a file name, write it down or photograph it. It genuinely narrows things down.
A lot of these overlap with laptops, but the fixes differ.
Nothing at all happens when I press the power button
Usually
The power supply, the wall socket or lead, the power button itself, or the board.
What that means
Power supplies are one of the few parts that tend to fail outright rather than gradually, and they are a straightforward replacement.
Try this first
Check the switch on the back of the power supply and try a different kettle lead and socket. It is not always the obvious thing, but it is always worth ruling out first.
The monitor or its cable, the graphics card not seated properly, memory that has worked loose, or the card itself.
What that means
If the fans spin and the lights come on, the machine is getting power and the problem is further along. Reseating the memory and the graphics card fixes a surprising number of these.
Try this first
Try the other socket on the monitor and a different cable. If the PC has a display output on the motherboard as well as on a graphics card, try that one.
A failing drive, corrupted Windows, memory, or a board fault.
What that means
The first thing worth establishing is whether the drive is dying, because that changes everything — including whether your files need rescuing before anything else is attempted.
Try this first
Before anyone reinstalls anything, say out loud what is on that machine that you cannot replace. It is the most important sentence in the whole conversation.
Lint packed into the charging port, a worn port, or a failing cable.
What that means
Surprisingly often it is simply compacted pocket lint, and that costs nothing to deal with. If the port itself is worn, it is a replacement.
Try this first
Look into the port with a torch. If you can see grey fluff packed at the bottom, that is very likely your fault — but do not dig at it with anything metal while the phone is on.
Nothing is broken in these — two things simply cannot see each other.
A new printer will not connect to the laptop
Usually
The two being on different Wi‑Fi networks without anyone realising, or the printer software installing while the driver quietly did not.
What that means
Most routers now broadcast two networks with almost the same name, one 2.4GHz and one 5GHz. A lot of home printers can only join the 2.4GHz one. If the laptop picked the 5GHz network, the two are on separate networks in the same house and will never find each other, no matter how many times the setup runs.
Try this first
Check which network the laptop is on, and which one the printer joined — the printer’s own screen or its test page will tell you. Put them both on the 2.4GHz one. If they already match, remove the printer under Devices and Printers and add it again as a network printer.
The Wi‑Fi drops on one device but everything else is fine
Usually
The device’s own wireless card or its driver, power saving switching the adapter off, or a weak signal where that device happens to sit.
What that means
If one machine drops and the others never do, the router is almost certainly not the problem, which saves an afternoon of restarting it. On a laptop it is very often Windows power saving turning the wireless card off to save battery and not turning it back on cleanly.
Try this first
Device Manager, network adapters, your wireless adapter, Power Management, and untick the box that lets Windows turn it off to save power.
The connection between the house and the outside world rather than anything on the computer, or occasionally DNS.
What that means
Connected with no internet means the computer reached the router perfectly well and the router could not reach anything beyond it. That points at the line or the provider, not the machine, so it is worth checking a phone on the same Wi‑Fi before anyone starts changing settings.
Try this first
Check whether a second device on the same Wi‑Fi also has no internet. If everything is out, restart the router and give it five minutes before judging it.
Photos, documents, anything you cannot replace. Some repairs need the storage wiped or replaced, and a drive that is already failing can lose data no matter who is working on it. If you are not sure how, say so when you get in touch and we will talk you through it before the device comes anywhere near us.
Liquid is the one where speed counts
If anything has been spilt on it: switch it off, do not charge it, do not try to dry it with heat, and do not leave it in a bag of rice and hope. Corrosion carries on working while it is wet, so the damage at the end of the week is not the damage on day one. Get it looked at quickly.
Still not sure? That is completely fine.
Most people have no idea which of these it is, and you do not need to. Tell us the make, the model and what it is doing in your own words. Quotes are free and there is no charge if you decide not to go ahead. We are open 24 hours, so send it whenever suits you.
