Chromebooks are great because they're cheap and dead-simple to use. But that doesn't mean you won't ever run into hardware problems. Fortunately, Google now includes diagnostics in Chrome OS to help root out hardware problems. You can open this diagnostics tool by going into the App Launcher and selecting "Diagnostics."

Testing the Battery

If you've been using your Chromebook for a few years, you might notice that the battery seems to run out faster than when you first got it. This is because lithium-ion batteries lose their capacity over time with the number of charge cycles, or how many times you charge and drain the battery.

Chromebook diagnostic battery test

The Battery section of the Diagnostics program gives an estimate of how much time is remaining on your battery charge, as well as the "Battery Health" based on the number of charge cycles.

The "Run Discharge test" button will test how quickly the battery drains. If you plug in your Chromebook's power adapter, it will switch to "Charge test." If there's a problem charging, it may be due to a problem with the battery, charging port, or the power adapter itself.

Related: How to Check Your Laptop's Battery Health in Linux

Troubleshooting Issues With the CPU

Chromebook diagnostic CPU test

CPUs can have problems as well. They may overheat, especially if you're running a resource-intensive process. The CPU section allows you to perform a stress test on the processor. It shows the current usage, the CPU temperature, the processor speed, and the system vs. user usage graph.

Testing the RAM on Chromebook

RAM is another important hardware component. If it's damaged or defective, you'll find a lot of strange problems. If your Chromebook keeps crashing, this might be a reason.

Chromebook diagnostic RAM test

You can test the RAM in the Diagnostics, by clicking the "Run Memory test" button. This is the most time-consuming test of all of them. You can use your Chromebook while all of these tests run in the background but might find performance degraded.

Related: A Quick and Dirty Guide to RAM: What You Need to Know

Now You Can Check the Health of Your Chromebook

With the new Chromebook Diagnostics tool, if you need to send results to your manufacturer to obtain technical support or make a warranty claim, you can click the "Save session log" button at the bottom of the screen.

This will output a text file named session_log.txt in the directory of your choice. The file contains logs of the battery, CPU, and RAM tests you've run. You would email this result as an attachment to a customer service representative or use your manufacturer's website to upload it.

You can also run similar hardware tests on a regular PC with the right tools.