Checks of an XO laptop being re-used:

charge the battery<ref>with batteries stored for some years, it may be necessary to upgrade the firmware and then charge the battery, rather than the other way around, but you can only do this if you have a spare battery.</ref>,
upgrade the firmware<ref>upgrading the firmware is essential for best support of the latest software release.</ref>,
use the collection stick, get a developer key, and disable-security,
run the hardware diagnostics, with menu, concentrating on keyboard<ref>on membrane keyboards look for keys that might be able to come off, usually one edge will wear through first.</ref>, touchpad<ref>the 166 mm wide touchpads are prone to instability and this grows worse as they age.</ref>, and touchscreen,
for XO-1.5 with serial numbers SHC02 and earlier, check the heat spreader by typing test /switches<ref>the XO-1.5 before SHC02 may eventually stop working due to thermal cycles, see <trac>10314</trac>.</ref>,
set the clock, with ntp-set-clock or using Linux,
install the operating system, see latest releases for install instructions,
clean the keyboard, touchpad, and display,
tighten the case screws, tighten the hinge screws, check the battery latch,
test the wireless antenna<ref>broken antenna cables inside the laptop can lead to problems downloading or collaborating with activities, and cable breaks are more likely with laptops that have seen heavy usage.</ref>.

If problems are encountered, refer to the troubleshooting guide.

Some problems expected for any laptop manufactured more than five years ago:

a limited main battery operating life, of about half normal time,
a limited RTC battery life, of about three to five weeks storage, (hence the recommendation to disable-security),
mechanical failure of the membrane keyboard,
increased unpredictable response of the 166mm wide touchpads,
age discolouration of the plastic.

Notes

Reuse checklist