Hardware tips  

Some tips and helpful things to know:

Ideally, It's good practice to shutdown or restart your device every now and then so your laptop and can "start new" and not try to remember everything all of the time. Can be the reason why Chrome can quit/freeze up/close.

A few other benefits are:

• Prevents overheating: 

  • Leaving your computer on can cause it to overheat.

• Resets software: Shutting down your computer resets the state of your software, clears out your RAM, and stops all processes.

• Maintains your computer, meaning that it will last longer in a good condition. 

We've noticed some computers juggling a lot of open tabs and windows. This can make your laptop feel a bit sluggish. Closing out unused tabs and windows can help it run more smoothly. 

• Can't turn on your chromebook? 

  1. Try a hard rest! Hold Refresh ( ↻ ) + Power until you see your device turn on

• Device not working?

  1. Make sure the device is turned on and charging.

  2. look for signs of life - LEDs should be on your dock, devices, etc. Make sure everything is plugged in and charged

• A lot of devices have a magnet in the charging port, small metal things can easily get stuck in there. Please make sure when putting and pulling out the charger, to not do it roughly, and make sure the entry way is always clear before plugging it in

  1. Please do not pull by the cord, but by the base of the charger

• Keyboard, mouse, etc not working?

  1. Check your connection - make sure they are plugged in fully

  2. Reseating your connection - unplug them, and plug it back in

  3. Change the batteries, if you have wireless hardware

• Sound issues? (I always recc.  playing a YouTube video while doing this)

  1. Sometimes you may have to manually change your sound input/output

  2. Go to your sound settings and look for INPUT and OUTPUT options, please select the option that pertains to the device you are using for sound input/output

Note: Not all of the sound choices naming convention correlate (Ex: Using a smartboard with your laptop, the sound option won't be called smartboard speakers, it'll be called something different), so you may have to select options until it works. 

3. Ensure that all external speakers are plugged in or connected to bluetooth properly. To ensure they are connected to device.

4. Laptops are devices that are most likely to get debris stuck in the audio jack, please check the port and see if theres anything stuck inside, please contact us if so!

When in doubt, resetting your device, hardware, or anything that you can restart/unplug, just might do the trick to help!

Chromebook tips  

Key shortcuts: 

• Take a screenshot: Ctrl+Show windows (a rectangle with two vertical lines on the right side).

• Take a partial screenshot: Shift+Ctrl+Show windows, then click and drag.

• Hard Reset: Hold Refresh ( ↻ ) + Power until you see your device turn on

• Enabling Caps Lock:   enable it easily by pressing the “Search” and “Alt” keys at once. A notification will pop up that Caps Lock has been turned on it will remain there until you turn off Caps Lock using the same shortcut.

• Lock your Chromebook: Search + L

• Keyboard Cheatsheet: Ctrl + Alt + ? (Shows you all shortcuts)

Free up storage on your Chromebook

If your Chromebook is running slow, try freeing up space. The hard drive has limited storage space, so deleting files you don't need can speed up your computer.

Delete old files

• Click Launcher > Open Files.

• Select the file or folder you want to delete.

• Click Trash.

• Files are permanently deleted from Trash after 30 days, or you can confirm that you want to permanently delete the files in the Trash folder.

***OR move your files to Google Drive and then delete**