global Laptop and motherboard repair tutorial | Page 13

Hard Drive -
This is where data is stored, the
laptop can use different kinds of hard drives. The current 3 most common found are SATA, PATA
IDE and SSD. SSD refers to Solid State Drives, which are similar looking to a laptops Wi-Fi card.
The SSD is the newest of these three drives. The PATA Ide is the oldest of the three. The SATA and
PATA drives are identical except for the connection plug ends, as they both use Platters and
magnetics to store data. SSD cards are made with no moving parts. This is what makes them different
than the typical drive. They will not produce heat like the SATA/PATA drives, most commonly used
in Fanless Netbooks.
Wi-Fi Card -
This can either be located on the bottom
side of the laptop (most common place) or the upper side – under the keyboard. This part is one
of the most stable parts on the laptop and it will rarely fail, so if you are experiencing Wi-Fi issues,
you would test all software end issues prior to changing the wireless card. The brand of the card will
be listed on the sticker of the card, and will help you in determining what driver to use for that
specific laptop. It is ok to mismatch the color guide for the Wi-Fi antenna wires. Typically the wires
are white and black, and will have colored arrows on the Wi-Fi card showing you what wire to
connect to what site input plug. It is ok to plug the black onto the white port and visa versa as it will
still allow for signal gain of the antenna wires, because remember, they are just that, antenna wires,
not power wires which about 60 percent of the laptops shipped out of the Factory come mix-matched
– reversed wires from day 1…
Ethernet Card -
Most laptops will have this
integrated into the motherboard, and some will have an extension board that connects to the
motherboard. Used for internet access or networking purposes, every laptop will have one of these on
it, whether integrated or a card.
Power Button
-
Usually located just above the keyboard, some laptops will place the power button in different
areas, like the lid of the laptop, or the front of the laptop or its sides. Power buttons can be lever
style, button style, touch sensitive or switch style. Most common is the push button style. When a
power button is pressed, it pushes a button pad on the motherboard or a daughterboard.