Need some resources on building laptop

[RainDreamer]

So currently I have a few broken laptops around, each has a different failing hardware. I figured I should try my hands on salvaging the remaining, still functional hardwares left on them and make a Franken laptop from whatever pieces that are compatible instead of leaving them there in the dust. Anyone got resources for a complete beginner to read for doing that?

Also, can anyone familiar with ubuntu tell me how to access some diagnostic tools? This one laptop I have refused to boot with Windows, and even in safe mode, it is stuck at disk.sys. I managed to get an ubuntu boot USB and was able to boot into ubuntu, but I am not familiar with it. Just need to run some tests to see if everything else is working or not.

Edited August 20, 2015 by RainDreamer
grammar

[Nibb31]

Laptops don't typically use standardized parts, so unless all your laptops are the same model, it's going to be hard. You can't swap motherboards, keyboards, screens, or video cards on them. The CPUs or RAM are swappable but there are many different socket types, so you'll be lucky if two of them share the same connectors. CDROMs and HDDs are the easiest parts to swap. You can also try to swap the wireless LAN/BT cards if you're lucky.

The PC that refuses to boot Windows probably has a corrupted filesystem or a dead HDD. You can try a reformat or swap the drive.

[Javster]

As above, and also building laptops is rarely worth it, they end up more expensive and/or worse specced than prebuilt ones. I'd say it's not worth the effort.

[RainDreamer]

Well, I am just trying to make use of still perfectly working parts that are currently getting no use. I guess I can instead salvage easily used parts like hard drives to build a desktop instead...but I will still need some reading material on that.

Also, can anyone familiar with Ubuntu tell me what kind of diagnostic tools I can use with it? I ran Memtest and disk check with it, but still need to see what other things I can run to test things like video cards.