Deployment Guide/Service Repairs

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10. Service and Repair

Laptops are shipped with an overstock of 1% of the order. These “extra” laptops should be used as replacements for failures in the field. To date, the vast majority of failures have involved problems with either the touchpad or keyboard. Thus the “broken” laptops are a ready supply of spare parts for other components, such as the display, the wifi antennae, and the motherboard. Most repairs, including replacement of the motherboard can be done in the field with just a screwdriver. The children can make these repairs themselves and are encouraged to do so by OLPC. Regional distribution of spare parts is something to consider, as well as the authorization of regional repair centers.

While commercial-grade support could be arranged, it is discouraged by OLPC both because it tends to raise costs and it adds a level of external dependency that is unnecessary. If you feel the need to invest in support, we encourage you to make that investment locally: the local community really can do this themselves.

Most parts are inexpensive and easy to replace.

Give One Get One donor communities in the developed world have been working on a number of community repair centers. The volunteers running these repair centers have produced some training materials about common repair tasks and represent a potential resource for assistance with establishing similar repair centers in deployment areas.