Fixing a laptop

Today, I rediscovered my hardware knowledge and fixed my son's laptop - a Lenovo ThinkPad X390.

Some keys weren't working when pressed, only to have the characters appear a few seconds later.

Fun fact: I started my career refurbishing and repairing laptop computers.

My first job was for a local laptop company that refurbished ex-business laptops for resale, followed by working for Panasonic where I'd repair laptops from blue chip clients across Europe.

I used to build custom PCs, but have done little to no hardware work since I started in software development in 2010.

Today, though, I took the laptop apart and after checking the motherboard and keyboard were OK, I reseated the keyboard and cleaned any dust from inside the casing.

It worked!

If I'd have returned it to a manufacturer or taken it to a local computer repair shop, I'd have had to pay for them to diagnose and (hopefully) resolve the issue.

Here's the thing

Most laptops and phones today are sealed units and not as modular, repairable or upgradable as the devices I used to work on.

In some cases, you can't upgrade or repair them yourself.

Similar to having control and ownership of my own data, I like the ability to repair a keyboard myself or to add more memory or storage to my laptop.

As well as installing and running my own software, starting a homelab has also reignited my interest in hardware and being able to upgrade and repair my own devices.