Student Laptops: Maintenance and Troubleshooting

Student Laptops: Maintenance and Troubleshooting

Most issues with the school-issued student laptops can be prevented or fixed with a few simple maintenance steps. Before seeking tech support make sure you have completed all of these steps.

Restart Your Computer

Unlike smartphones and tablets, laptops need to be restarted regularly in order to work properly. We recommend restarting your student laptop at least once per week.

Step 1: Shut Down Completely

  • Method 1: Click Start Menu > Power icon > Shut Down
  • Method 2: While holding down the [Ctrl] and [Alt] keys, hit the [Delete] key.  Then click the Power icon in the bottom right corner, and choose Shut Down
  • Method 3: If neither of the first two methods work, hold down the power button for 10 seconds or until all the LED lights on the laptop have turned off.

Step 2: Restart

  • Power On: Wait until the lights on the laptop turn off, then press the power button to restart. (If you do not see the circular Dell logo while the computer is restarting, it did not shut down completely. Try the methods above again and make sure it shuts off completely.)

Company Portal Sync

Company Portal is how the school technology department applies settings and installs software to your computer.

  1. Click the Start menu and click Company Portal.
  2. Wait until Company Portal is fully loaded, then click the gear icon ⚙ in the lower left corner to open settings.
  3. In the settings menu, click the Sync button. Make sure the sync process completes before closing Company Portal.
  4. After Sync is completed, restart the computer.

Dell Command Updates

Dell Command Update is a tool to download and install updated drivers and firmware for your computer’s hardware. You can fix and prevent problems by installing these updates yourself:

  1. Make sure your laptop is connected to the charger and the charger is connected to power.
  2. Click on the Start Menu, find the Dell folder, and open Dell Command Update (Or click on the Start menu and start typing “Dell Command” to find it)
  3. On Dell Command Update screen, click the CHECK button.
  4. Check the boxes beside any available updates, then click INSTALL.
  5. Keep your computer connected to power while the updates install.
  6. Restart as needed to complete the updates, and restart again after all updates are installed.

Windows Updates

Windows updates should happen automatically, especially if you are restarting the computer on a regular basis. However, you can force Windows to install updates if needed to fix a problem.

  1. Make sure your laptop is connected to power and to the internet.
  2. Click on the Start menu, then Settings
  3. Type “updates” in the Settings search box and click on “Check for Updates”
  4. On the Windows Update screen, click “Check for Updates” (Check for new updates even if it says the system is up to date. Sometimes new updates appear after the computer has been restarted or resynced.
  5. Allow any updates to install. (If installation progress stops for a few minutes or more restart the computer and check for updates again.)
  6. Restart the computer when prompted, and restart again after all updates are completed.

Comments are closed