Guides & notes Board-level repair, electronics and PCB design
Short, practical notes — how to get the most out of a schematic or boardview, and how to build and fix circuits yourself.
Board-level repair
Find the right file, open it, and use it to track down a fault.
Where the board number is printed, how to read Compal, Quanta, Wistron, Inventec and Apple numbers, and how to check it without opening the laptop.
Read Board-level repair · 4 minBoardview file formats: how to open .brd, .bdv, .fz, .cad and .tvwWhich program opens which boardview format — OpenBoardView, FlexBV, Tebo-ICT viewer — plus tips for using a boardview together with a schematic.
Read Board-level repair · 3 minSchematic vs boardview: which one you need for repairThe difference between a schematic and a boardview, when you need each, and how to use them together to repair a laptop or desktop motherboard.
Read Board-level repair · 4 minWho really makes your laptop board: Compal, Quanta, Wistron and other ODMsMost laptop brands don't design their own motherboards. Learn which ODM builds boards for Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer and Asus, and how to read their board numbers.
Read Board-level repair · 6 minLaptop won't turn on? A schematic-based troubleshooting planA step-by-step plan for diagnosing a no-power laptop motherboard with the schematic and boardview: adapter, charger, always-on rails, EC and power sequence.
ReadElectronics & PCB design
KiCad, prototype boards and the small building blocks every project needs.
How KiCad organises symbol, footprint and 3D model libraries, how to add your own or third-party libraries, and how to attach and align a 3D model on a footprint.
Read Electronics & PCB design · 6 minMoving from Eagle to KiCad: importing boards, schematics and librariesAutodesk has retired Eagle. How to import Eagle .sch, .brd and .lbr files into KiCad, what the importer converts, and the checklist to run before ordering boards.
Read Electronics & PCB design · 8 minMaking PCBs at home: toner transfer and photoresist, step by stepTwo proven ways to make a prototype PCB at home — laser toner transfer and UV photoresist — with design rules, etching, drilling and safety notes.
Read Electronics & PCB design · 7 minHD44780 character LCD: pinout, 4-bit wiring and initializationDriving a 16x2, 16x4 or 20x4 character LCD: pin functions, contrast, 4-bit vs 8-bit mode, the initialization sequence, DDRAM row addresses and timing.
Read Electronics & PCB design · 6 min24Cxx I2C EEPROM: addressing, page writes and safe readingHow 24C01…24C512 serial EEPROMs work: device address bits, one- vs two-byte memory addresses, page size, write-cycle time, ACK polling and bench-programming tips.
Read Electronics & PCB design · 5 minTurn an ATX power supply into a bench supply (safely)ATX 24-pin wire colours and voltages, how to switch the supply on with PS_ON#, when a load resistor is needed, and how to add fuses and binding posts.
Read Electronics & PCB design · 5 minSoftware PWM on a microcontroller: the timer-interrupt methodHow to generate PWM in software when you run out of hardware channels: the timer-interrupt counter method, resolution vs frequency maths, multiple channels and bit-angle modulation.
ReadTorry's Delphi Editor & curator
Hi, I'm Torry's Delphi. For more than ten years I've been writing software that collects and organises data — scrapers, catalogues, automation pipelines. Repair documentation turned out to be the perfect mess to clean up.
The files listed here were collected by the community in the Telegram channel @schematicslaptop, plus a Google Drive archive. I wrote a parser that reads every file name, recognises the brand, the ODM manufacturer (Compal, Quanta, Wistron…) and the board number, and turns it into pages you can search and browse.
Next to the catalogue I keep a small set of practical notes on electronics and PCB work — KiCad libraries, moving designs from Eagle, making prototype boards at home, LCDs and EEPROMs. If something is sorted wrong or a note is unclear, write to me and I'll fix it.