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Sometimes, things go wrong.
Sometimes, things go wrong.
It's inevitable. It's frustrating. It almost always happens when your child is in a time crunch! If you find yourself ready to toss that school Chromebook out of a window (oh, please don't do that!), there are some things you can try to fix the problem.
And of course, if nothing below solves the issue, you can send it with your child to the school (or on eLearning days, a GCS Career Center) to trade it out for a loaner while the professionals fix it for you.
Display
Display
My screen won't turn on at all.
My screen won't turn on at all.
If a Chromebook is drained of power, it won't turn on until it's gotten enough charge to boot up. Plug in your Chromebook and leave it plugged in for 2-5 minutes. Make sure the LED light indicating that it's charging is on. (If it's on, it's charging. If not, make sure your charging cables are plugged into a working outlet.)
The text on my screen is too large *or* I have a message saying my screen resolution is not correct.
The text on my screen is too large *or* I have a message saying my screen resolution is not correct.
Press ctrl + shift + 0 to reset your display size to default.
My screen is super zoomed in and moves around when I move my mouse.
My screen is super zoomed in and moves around when I move my mouse.
Oops! Somewhere along the way, you turned on the magnifying accessibility feature. Go to your settings menu in the lower-right corner of your screen, select "Accessibility" and turn off the magnify function.
Charging
Charging
My Chromebook won't turn on at all.
My Chromebook won't turn on at all.
If a Chromebook is drained of power, it won't turn on until it's gotten enough charge to boot up. Plug in your Chromebook and leave it plugged in for 2-5 minutes. Make sure the LED light indicating that it's charging is on. (If it's on, it's charging. If not, make sure your charging cables are plugged into a working outlet.)
If you do not see an LED light and your screen doesn't come on at all, it may be a battery problem. Bring it to the school or Career Center and trade out for a loaner device.
My Chromebook only works if it's plugged in.
My Chromebook only works if it's plugged in.
Plug in your Chromebook and check for a battery/charging icon in the lower-right corner of the screen. If you do not see one, close the device and leave it plugged in for 5-10 minutes. Check again. If you still do not see a battery icon and unplugging the device turns it off, there is a problem with your battery. Bring it to the school or Career Center and trade out for a loaner device.
My Chromebook didn't charge at home, but it charges fine at school.
My Chromebook didn't charge at home, but it charges fine at school.
Check all of the plugs and outlets. Make sure it's all the way plugged into your charge port (on the side of the Chromebook), at the adapter (aka "the brick"), and at the wall outlet. If it is still not charging, move to a different outlet that you know works. It's helpful to test the outlet with something like a hair dryer or phone charger.
If those don't work, it might be your charger itself. Bring it to school with you to trade out for another. If it's just not working and was nothing you caused, you can trade it out at no cost. If it's damaged due to a bent USB-C plug or exposed cables, you will have to pay for a new charger ($30.74).
Audio
Audio
My sound isn't working on one site, but is okay on others.
My sound isn't working on one site, but is okay on others.
In the top bar of your browser, two-finger/right-click the tab you don't have sound on. This should pop up a menu. If you see "Unmute site", click it and try the sound again.
If it's a video or audio player, you should also check that the player's volume setting is not muted.
My speakers won't play audio, but my headphones will.
My speakers won't play audio, but my headphones will.
Open the volume control by clicking on the lower-right corner of your screen. Look to the right of the volume control for an icon that looks like headphones. If you see one, click on it to disable headphones and switch to internal speakers.
My headphones are only playing audio in one ear.
My headphones are only playing audio in one ear.
If they are plugged into your device, make sure the headphones are plugged in all the way. If not, this may be why you're having problems.
If the headphones are plugged in all the way or they are wireless, it may just be a problem with the headphones themselves. Test them on another device playing the same audio to check whether they're working.
Keyboard
Keyboard
My apostrophe isn't working/looks weird *or* my punctuation marks aren't working as they should.
My apostrophe isn't working/looks weird *or* my punctuation marks aren't working as they should.
You need to adjust your keyboard language settings. Chances are very good that if you look to the lower-right corner of your screen, you will see INTL (this means your "International" keyboard is selected, and allows for accents and other punctuation over letters -- handy for Spanish class, not so great for Language Arts.) Press ctrl + spacebar until you see US in the lower-right corner to reset.
My ___ key is sticking.
My ___ key is sticking.
Do not pry the key off to see if you can fix it. Please bring your Chromebook to the school or a Career Center to check and clean. If it's bad enough, you may be given a loaner to use. In the meantime, please stop eating/drinking near your device, clean out your backpack, and don't let your younger sibling near it. 9 times out of 10, one of these things is what caused the problem.
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