HELP! My laptop doesn’t work anymore. What now?

Imagine the following scenario: You are sitting in your Monday morning lecture, it happens to be math and you are carefully listening and writing everything down on your brand-new laptop to the last inch. During the struggle of staying awake and keeping up with the lecturer, your wonderful morning gets spoiled by your laptop letting you down in the moment of truth either by overheating or operating system error. The question that pops up instantly in your mind is going to be: What now? Do not panic and cry for help, there are various ways to help yourself or get help from the professionals. We as humans and society have been working with computers quite for some time and depend on them in our everyday life. That means: there are enough resources on the world wide web or in the real world that will offer you the right solution for your problem, even for the oddest cases. It is up to you whether you are willing to do the research or hand it to the experts.

The Three Big Steps

We at Projekt Neptun have encountered numerous incidents over time. For that reason, we have gained an understanding that has allowed us to derive three ways of providing support to our customers in which we will go further into details. What we always recommend, is in the first step to do an error analysis by running one of the various support applications that are provided by the manufacturer and usually include a systems diagnosis check. Depending on your device, they are called “Dell SupportAssist”, “Lenovo Companion App” or “HP SupportAssistant” and are designed with the goal to keep your device up-to-date and running smoothly. If these applications do not show any sign of issue in your system and updating your drivers does not solve the problem, a quick web search might do the trick. Many problems, especially software related ones, just require changing a few settings to resolve. However, if this does not help, it might be time to contact the experts.

For customers that have a more severe issue with their laptops, we recommend contacting us via email at kontakt@projektneptun.ch with a detailed description of the problem, so we can evaluate further steps on how to proceed with your case. Normally, you can bring your device to the Help Point of your choice but there are some distinctions in between the ones in Zurich. For Apple devices, you are best served in the Help Point at Hoenggerberg where our Apple experts work. Additionally, you can bring your Apple laptop directly to your warranty provider. In case of Neptun devices by Apple bought before Fall 2015, you can bring them to any Apple Store. Devices bought after Fall 2015 will be fixed at any DataQuest store. For PC devices, you are free to go to any of the Help Points. Regardless type of device your having trouble with, try to anticipate our support process and work with us by making a protocol with all the errors and strange behaviours you have encountered since your issue first appeared, so that we can quickly draw the circle around the cause of it.

If the problem with your device requires replacing or repairing any components, it might be necessary to open a warranty case with the manufacturer. The warranty procedures for all Neptun partners are detailed on our website. Naturally, we are always happy to help you assessing the problem at our help points and we can assist you in setting up your warranty claim properly. In case you have to send in your laptop, or if it does not work anymore, we can lend you a replacement device free of charge while your laptop is being repaired.

Conclusion

Finally, whether it is a small or big issue you have with your device or everything is fine, try to be responsible and active. Most of the problems are avoidable by making little but meaningful checks such as keeping up your device up-to-date with current software updates, frequently backing up your system and clearing and by keeping your device away from dust and coffee spills.