Friday, December 30, 2011 How to fix hardware problems without taking apart the laptop

Here’s how you can fix, or to be precise, work around some hardware problem without taking apart the laptop.

1. Network port failure.
In most laptops the network port (aka RJ-45 port) is soldered directly to the motherboard. If for some reason the network port fails (I’m talking about hardware, not software failure), the whole motherboard has to be replaced.
Instead of replacing the motherboard, you can use a PCMCIA network card (aka LAN PC card). You plug this card into the available PC slot in your laptop and get a network port instead.