Started as a site combining the do-it-yourself ethic with computing, Repair4Laptop's collection of user-submitted manuals has grown to number more than 600, ranging from step-by-step instructions for popular repairs to more exotic laptop modifications. Since notebook computers are difficult, expensive and time-consuming to repair, the site fills a needed niche as both knowledge-base and as community.
Repair4Laptop.org just celebrated a birthday and passed a milestone. The community for do-it-yourself laptop repairs has been online for just over a year. In that time, users have submitted just over 600 guides covering almost all aspects of notebook computer repair. The guides are free to access and share.
"I became addicted to portable computers after my very first one, an HP Omnibook 800," said Werner Heuser, originator of Repair4Laptop and a respected figure in the Linux community. "While working on the TuxMobil project, I came into possession of many, many laptops, some of which needed repairs. I found it difficult to get free do-it-yourself information on the Internet, so I decided to start a source myself."
Repair4Laptop (http://repair4laptop.org/) offers a wide variety of resources for repairing, upgrading, modifying and servicing laptops and notebook computers. There are so many laptop brands and varieties on the market, no single person or repair shop can handle them alone. The site, therefore, offers specialized intelligence from experienced and enthusiastic do-it-yourselfers.
"It is a veritable encyclopedia of information about laptop modding, and a useful guide to upgrading, and repairing your mobile gadget," said Ian Bandy in a post on Laptopical, a mobile computing blog. "It has clear instructions that are written in the main by users themselves, and so is constantly growing and evolving into an even handier tool every day."
Repair4Laptop depends on plans, advice and pictures contributed from laptop owners around the world. All guides are free with copyright retained and controled by the user who submits the guide. Beginners will find material covering basic upgrade procedures like replacing RAM and a hard disk or changing a broken display. For the experts there are illustrated step-by-step take apart instructions available as well as advanced guides for overclocking laptops and repurposing old laptops.
Most manufacturers do not offer service manuals for their laptops. If they offer guides, they charge handsomely or limit distribution to professionals only. But without a service manual, disassembling, upgrading and repairing a laptop can be difficult, tedious and even result in computer damage. Contracting for professional laptop repair outside of the warranty is often expensive, very slow or exposes secret data to repair workers. In all these cases, do-it-yourself instructions come to the rescue.
All guides on www.repair4laptop.org are ordered by manufacturer and by part, including keyboards, hard drives, optical drives, displays, RAM, CPUs, batteries and more. There is an additional section for portable computer accessories (PCMCIA cards, sun shades, bags, projectors, docking stations and port replicators). A modding section is the place to learn how to push a laptop to its performance limits by adding accessories under the keyboard. Or push it past the limits of imagination by painting and treating the case. A final section shows how to use a old laptop past its computing prime, as a photo frame for example.
A special Wireless LAN section covers topics like adding a wireless antenna to a laptop, building different models of wireless antennas and repairing and upgrading wireless access points.
For the experts who are not satisfied with commercial laptops, there are instructions to make custom made portable computers or assemble bare-bones laptops from components.
"If your laptop is giving you trouble, take a look at this wealth of information, bookmark it and file it under just in case," Bandy said. "If things ever go a little off track you will be glad you did."
About Repair4Laptop:
The Repair4Laptop project was founded in February 2005 by Werner Heuser. Working many years for TuxMobil (http://tuxmobil.org), a project dedicated to Linux and portable computers, he often needed to investigate or repair laptop and notebook hardware. Often he found it difficult to get necessary information, so finally Heuser started to collect it himself at Repair4Laptop.
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