Troubleshooting mobile device issues( Comptia Objective 5.5)

Question 1

How can you increase the lifespan of a mobile devices battery?

Answer 1

• Avoid draining the battery: Charge the device often, before it gets too low
• Conserve power / set sleep mode to 1 minute or less. Decrease brightness
• Keep the device away from heat sources as this can cause an immediate shutdown causing battery wear.
• Turn off the mobile device when not in use.
• Don’t bang or throw the device
• Select protective cases carefully: Make sure it has good airflow. Sometimes cases can envelop the battery causing it to overheat.

Question 2

If working on a mobile device and are disassembling for instance what would be a good resource?

Answer 2

• Use manufactured supplied resources such as manuals, tech support and forums for helpful advice.
• E.G. ifixit.

Question 3

If you have no display or dim video when using a laptop what can you do?

Answer 3

• Verify the backlight is working, look closely it may be barely visible
• You can use a flashlight to light the screen and confirm if any image is present. If there is no backlight you may need to replace the inverter.
• If you still have a black image you can test if this is a video issue by connecting to an external display. Could be a case where the video is good but the display not so.

Question 4

Flickering video could be caused by?

Answer 4

• A connector problem
• Bad video cable
• Bad video hardware.

Question 5

If you see your mouse curser slowly drift across the screen or bounce what is this known as and how can this be rectified?

Answer 5

• Ghost cursor or Pointer drift.
• Can sometimes be fixed by modifying the configuration settings to check for palm press
• Often this issue can be fixed by updating the touchpad drivers.

Question 6

If you have issues with your laptop battery not taking a charge and it is not related to the battery needing to be replaced what could this also be a sign of?

Answer 6

• The laptop charging hardware itself may be faulty.
• You could try charging the battery in an identical laptop and see if it can be charged if so you know you have an issue with the charging hardware.

Question 7

If after connecting a laptop to a power source using the power adaptor and you still don’t have power what can you do?

Answer 7

• Check the external power adapter( brick) using a multimeter and confirm continuity.
• Or the system may need to be reset by holding down the power button for 10 seconds or more( If battery can’t be removed) .

Question 8

How can you perform a hard reset using an Apple IOS device?

Answer 8

• Can be performed by holding down the power and home/volume button for 10 seconds until you see the device restart.

Question 9

How would you perform an android device restart?

Answer 9

• If the android device has a removable battery you can turn off the device remove the battery put it back in and then power on. If battery is non removable just hold down the power button and select restart when prompted.
• To perform a hard reset you would hold down the power and volume button down until it restarts.

Question 10

If you have an issue with problematic apps that are either not loading or have slow app performance what can be done?

Answer 10

• Stop the app and restart
• On iphone you can double tap the home button, and slide app up
• On android go into settings>apps> select app and force stop.
• From there you can restart the app from the main screen of the device if this doesn’t help try starting the phone altogether or update the app.

Question 11

If you have issues decrypting emails what can this be caused by?

Answer 11

• Many corporations use built in encryption with their emails internally by using email services such as Microsoft outlook or Exchange, each user is supposed to have a private key to decrypt the emails
• Each individual mobile device should have a private key installed by centralized management such as MDM( Mobile Device Manger)

Question 12

How can you check application battery usage?

Answer 12

• Iphone> Settings/Battery

- Android: Settings/Battery

Question 13

If you continue to have issues with Frozen mobile devices even after soft and hard resets what can you do?

Answer 13

• Factory reset. This will wipe the device of all it’s apps and data and start everything from scratch.
• Only attempt this as a last resort. First try a soft reset by holding down the power button and turning the device off. Then attempt a hard reset.

Question 14

When dissembling a laptop or other mobile device what would be a good practice?

Answer 14

• Document and label everything. Keep all of the components separate and label them.
• Check sites such as iFixit and similar sites for advice
• Make sure you document where every single cable goes as well as screws.
• You can organize parts using a plastic container which different sections similar to a fishing tackle box
• Take pictures to remember where components/screws etc go and use a big workspace.

Question 15

When disassembling a laptop or mobile device other than a small screw driver what is a must have tool?

Answer 15

• A set of tweezers to handle the many types of small screws.
• May sometimes need specialized tools such as very small screwdrivers use magnification to see what you are doing clearly.
• Also an anti static mat is a must.

Question 16

When performing maintenance on a Laptop/ mobile device what is something that could easily accidently happen?

Answer 16

• Could accidently disconnect one of the multiple antennas such as the ones for wifi, bluetooth etc which wrap around the laptop screen
• Make sure all are secured properly before reassembling the laptop of mobile device.

Question 17

If you are getting no sound from a mobile devices speakers what can you do?

Answer 17

• First check the volume settings of both the device and the app being used.
• Could be caused by bad software( bad app) which could be deleted and reinstalled.
• Try using a pair of headphones to confirm if the sound issue is created by the phone or an application.
• If you have sound but then it stops could that two or more apps are dueling for control of the audio output of the mobile device.
• If there is no speaker sound from any app( no alarm, no music or audio) try loading the latest software( firmware) or try a factory reset.