Troubleshooting Guide
As a non-profit association, OLPC is unable to provide direct technical support. One goal of the project is that children will learn to troubleshoot the XO themselves and subsequently use their experiences to help others. This support process is already underway in our international deployments—we encourage you to participate in this support network.
Information can be found online: on our Support wiki; the laptop.org website; email lists; and IRC channels.
If you have a question about your XO that is not addressed in the list of questions below please goto our Support FAQ to see a rapidly expanding knowledge base; if you are unable to find an answer online, please send us an email to help at laptop.org.
What if my laptop does not turn on?
Is the power adapter plugged in both to the wall and to the laptop?
Is the battery light
illuminated? (The battery light is in the shape of a battery;
it is to the lower-right of the display. It should be
on—green or orange—whenever the laptop is plugged
in.)
Did you press the power button? (The power button is in
the lower-right corner of the display unit.)
Note that you
need only press the power button; you do not need to hold it
down.
Is the power light illuminated?
(The power light to the right of the battery light, to the
lower right of the display. The power light should come
on—green—after you press the power button.)
How do I turn off my laptop?
You turn off the laptop by holding down the power button for 10 seconds (or you can use the hover menu on the Home view—select the shutdown option).
What if my battery does not work?
Is it properly inserted into the laptop?
Did you allow for a full charge?
What does the battery indicator-light color mean?
green means the laptop is plugged in and the battery is fully
charged;
yellow/orange means the laptop is plugged in
and the battery is charging;
no
light when the laptop is powered on means it is running on
battery power;
no light when the laptop is powered off means
the battery is not recharging;
red means the
battery is low; it should be recharged.
How long should a fully charged battery last?
With standard operation, the battery should last approximately 3–5 hours. Certain applications, such as video, may reduce overall battery performance. Turning the backlight off saves battery power. (Future software releases are expected to improve battery life.)
What if I cannot get online?
Do you have wireless internet/WiFi nearby?
Is your
WiFi access point locked? If yes, you must have the password
in order to connect.
Have you connected to your WiFi
access point?
You need to go to the Neighborhood view
and click on the circle that represents your WiFi access point
(the name of the access point is displayed when the cursor is
placed over a circle). Once you have single-clicked on the
circle representing your access point, the center should
blink. When you are connected, the rim of the circle turns
white; the center blinking stops. If your access point is
locked, you will be prompted to insert a key. (Be sure to
select the proper key format for your access point from the
pull-down menu.) You can confirm that you are connected by
returning to the Home view and hovering over the network
status circles. (Please see the Connecting Guide.)
For more information about connecting, please see the Support page in our wiki.
How do I save my work?
Your work is automatically saved for you in the Journal.
How can I backup my work?
You can backup your work onto a USB storage device. When you insert a USB storage device into any one of the three USB slots, it is automatically mounted and appears as an icon in the Journal (at the bottom of the screen). You can drag and drop Journal entries onto the icon in order to transfer them to the USB device. When you are finished, use the hover menu to unmount the device.
How can I add new programs and content to the laptop?
OLPC maintains an Activities page on our wiki with links to
many additional programs for your XO. You can install new
programs directly from the web browser. Activities are
“bundled” in files with a .xo suffix. Clicking on
a bundle will cause it to download from the Internet into the
Journal. Launching the bundled activity from the Journal will
install it on the taskbar. Similarly, you can download
content, such as PDF or DOC files, videos, and music into the
Journal.
You can also install software and content
from an USB storage device from within the
Journal.
Finally, you can install software and
content from the Terminal activity, which gives you access to
the Linux command shell.
How can I add proprietary software such as Adobe Flash® to my XO?
OLPC advocates the use of free and open source software; however, there are situations where one may want to use a proprietary alternative. General instructions on how to load many popular proprietary packages can be found in our wiki. Additional information about software and system customization can be found here.
The laptop comes preinstalled with Gnash, a non-proprietary Flash player. If you would like to install Adobe Flash, please refer to these instructions.
How do I upgrade the software on my laptop?
Your laptop is programmed to automatically check for software updates whenever you connect to the Internet. You can turn this feature off from the Sugar Control Panel (see below).
How do I change the color of my XO? How do I change my nickname?
There are many user settings that can be changed from the Sugar Control Panel, including your colors and nickname. Instructions can be found in the wiki.
Are there any keyboard shortcuts for navigating the user interface?
The system-wide keyboard shortcuts are listed in our wiki. There are additional shortcuts assigned by individual activities that are documented on their pages in the wiki.
I am an educator. Is there more information about how I can participate?
We have numerous pages in our wiki dedicated to our educational mission. A good starting point is here.
I am a software developer. Is there more information about how I can participate?
We have numerous pages in our wiki dedicated to software development. A good starting point is here.
How do I get a developer key for my laptop?
Please submit this form to apply for a developer key. You can see further instructions and information on the OLPC wiki.
I would like access to the source code. Where do I go?
Source code unique to the project can be found in our git repository. Additional source code can be found at the Red Hat Fedora source repository.
Release notes
There are several known shortcomings of the “Ship.3” software release:
(1) there is no printing support;
(2)
suspend/resume support is incomplete.
Additional details are available in the Release Notes.
How do I report a bug?
We are very interested in bug reports. Please report bugs by sending email to help at laptop.org. Developers, please continue to file bugs in our tracking system.
We are also interested in your suggestions for enhancements to our system.
Community input and collaboration is vital to the success of OLPC. Thank you for your participation.