Laptop Startup Tasks

Check Your Battery
Start the Laptop
Log into the Laptop
Check Your Airport Connection

1. Check Your Battery

Place the laptop on a flat surface. Turn the laptop over carefully so that you can see the bottom.

Locate the battery (a rectangular piece about 4 inches wide and 6 inches long, inset at one corner). Press and release the round button on the battery and note how many of the four, small indicators on the battery become lit.

• If three or four indicators show a steady light, you have one hour or more of battery power and can use the laptop normally.
• If two or fewer lights show a steady light (or if all lights blink), you do not have sufficient battery power to use the laptop. You should plug the laptop back into a cart or connect it to wall power to charge it for at least 4 hours.

Troubleshooting!

If your laptop battery is frequently low, then one of two things is happening. Either your battery has gone bad, or your battery isn't charging.

• Plug your laptop into wall power.
• Start your laptop and login as usual.
• Look at the battery indicator at the top right of your screen. It should look like the picture below. The small power plug inside the battery icon shows that the Macintosh is connected to wall power and is charging. If your battery indicator looks like the picture below, skip to step [2], below.
  
• If your battery indicator doesn't look like the picture above but, instead, looks like the picture below (there is no power plug inside the battery icon), then your Macintosh is not receiving wall power even though it is plugged in. There is most likely a problem with your power connector. You will be able to work only for a few hours before your Macintosh runs out of power. You should see the Tech Department as soon as possible.
  

• If your battery has an X through it, then the battery is not functioning. You must remain connected to wall power to use the laptop. You should ask the Tech Department to replace the battery as soon as possible.

Faculty, please note! You should connect your laptops to wall power whenever possible to preserve battery life. You should run the laptop from battery power only when necessary for teaching purposes.

2. Start the Laptop

Turn the laptop right-side up, and open the cover. Press and release the power button (a circular button above the keyboard).

It takes at least 2 minutes for laptops to start. Please be patient.

When the laptops have started, you will be asked to enter a login name and password.

Troubleshooting!

If the screen remains black for an unusually long time after you press the power button, press the caps lock key.

• If the caps lock light turns on, the laptop has power and is starting. Be patient!
• If the caps lock light does NOT turn on, then the la[ptop never started and is not getting power. To fix this problem, press the power button again to start the laptop.
  
  

3. Log into the Laptop

1. Enter your login name and password, as follows:
   
   

   	Name	Password
   On student laptops/desktops	studentx4	kid
   On faculty laptops/desktops	your personal login name and...	your personal password.

   
   
2. Click Connect.
3. Be patient! It takes another full minute before the login is complete and you can begin working.

Troubleshooting!

If the screen turns blue for several minutes but never shows the Macintosh desktop, you will need to restart the laptop. To restart:

* Press and hold the power button for several seconds, until the screen goes black.

* Lift your finger off the power button.

* Then press the power button again, normally, to start the laptop. Restarting usually fixes the login problem.

4. Check Your Airport Connection

1. Locate the Airport icon at the upper right:
   
   
2. Make sure that you see 3-4 black bars, indicating that you have a strong signal from our wireless network.

• If, alternatively, you see 2 or fewer black bars (with the remainder of the bars displaying a gray color), you do not have a good connection to the wireless network. As a result, you will not be able to print, connect to iPike, or browse the Internet. See Troubleshooting, below.

Troubleshooting!

• Click the Airport icon.
• You will see a menu. Click Turn Airport Off.
• Click the Airport icon again.
• Click Turn Airport On.
• Click the Airport icon again.
• Click the word Airport. Make sure it's preceded by a check.
• If you still don't see a checkmark before Airport, or you still down't see 3-4 black bars, restart the laptop. If that doesn't work, contat the Tech Department.