Day Six
PC Troubleshooting.
A computer tech
spends a good amount of his/her time troubleshooting. This is because most
users only call a tech when their computer has a problem that they cannot
fix. Most problems that seem complex have simple solutions that require less
than an hour of your time to fix. We will look at a number of different situations
and their solutions then look at the generic steps of finding the problem.
Situation
#1
The user has
installed a new game, i.e. Unreal II, Quake III, Return to Castle Wolfenstein,
but the game plays very slow or choppy.
Possible causes:
1. The software
drivers for the video card or motherboard are out of date.
2. The Microsoft
DirectX version is out of date.
3.One or more
devices within the computer are underpowered.
4. The game's
settings are set too high for the current system.
Solutions:
1. Go to the
video card vendor's web site and download the newest drivers for that specific
device. Install these updated drivers and restart the system.
2. To update
the DirectX version on a computer, goto the start menu and click, "Windows
Update." The computer will then go to Microsoft's web site and you must
select "download DirectX" The version that was used in Jan 2002
was, 8.1.
3. One or more
of the devices in that computer may be underpowered, so look at the minimum
system requirements for the game and check to see that all of the parts within
that PC are fast enough. Common devices that are underpowered are: Video Card
(should be a Geforce 2 or above), CPU (above 650MHz), System memory (256 MB
or more).
4. Set the game's
settings to lower video resolutions.
Situation
#2
The user has
installed a new device within an old PC and it does not work.
Possible causes:
1. The motherboard
and/or other devices are not compatible with the new device. (New wine in
old wineskins situations)
2.
The software drivers were either not installed or improperly installed.
3. The settings
within BIOS may need to be changed to accept the new hardware.
4.
The new device may be bad.
Solutions:
1. I have seen
many times when a user upgrades his memory to beyond the limits of the motherboard.
Normally a Pentium classic can use 128MB of RAM (4 times 16MB 72pin memory
sticks), a Pentium II can use 256MB of RAM ( 2 times 128MB SDRAM sticks),
a Pentium III can use between 256MB to 512MB of RAM ( 2 times 128MB SDRAM
sticks or 4 times 128MB SDRAM sticks or 2 times 256MB SDRAM sticks or up to
3 times 256MB SDRAM sticks), a AMD Athlon can use between 256MB to 1024MB
or more of RAM ( 2 times 128MB SDRAM sticks or 4 times 128MB SDRAM sticks
or 2 times 256MB SDRAM sticks or up to 3 times 256MB SDRAM sticks or 2 times
512MB SDRAM sticks or 4 times 256MB SDRAM sticks or 3 times 512MB SDRAM sticks).
Do not mix old memory with newer types of memory, i.e. DDR with SDRAM. Check
the motherboard manual to be sure.
2. To see which
drivers are being used for the computer, go to the start menu, settings, control
panel, system icon. You may also right click the "my computer" icon
on the desktop and select "properties", as seen below.
Then Select the
Device Manager Tab.
Select the device
that you wish to check the drivers on and then "Properties."
Now click "Driver"
You may now click
the "Update Driver" button if you know where the newer drivers are
located.
3. One or more
of the BIOS settings may need to be changed. For example, if the user installed
a new audio card, when their was an onboard audio card before, then the onboard
card must be disabled. To do this go into the BIOS settings from the start-up
screen by pressing the DELETE key. Find any text that states "Onboard
Audio" and do be sure that they are disabled.
Parts within
that PC are fast enough. Common devices that are underpowered are: Video Card
(should be a Geforce 2 or above), CPU (above 650MHz), System memory (256 MB
or more).
4. If the device
is bad, test it in another machine.
Situation
#3
The user has
installed a new software program in an old PC and it does not work ( Locks-up
or has other problems).
Possible causes:
1. The motherboard
and/or other devices are not compatible with the new program.
2.
The software has been improperly installed.
3. Some device
or program may be conflicting with he new program.
4.
The new software may have bugs.
Solutions:
1. Check to see
what hardware that the software calls for and see if the system meets those.
2. You may need
to remove it and then install it again. See below...
Click on the
Add/Remove Icon within the Control Panel.
Now find the
program and click "uninstall" or "Remove."
3. If the program
is conflicting with other devices or programs, then you may not want it to
start up when windows starts. To do this, follow the steps below.
Find the "system
information" icon located within the system tools sub folder.
From within the
system information program, click the Tools menu, then System Configuration.
Now click on
the Startup Tab and select the program or programs that you do not wish to
load at at startup. Please notice that I left ScanRegistry, TaskMonitor, System
Tray, and LoadPowerProfile lines.
Situation
#4
The user complains
that the system is too loud.
Possible causes:
1. The CPU fan
rotates so fast that it sounds like a jet engine.
2.
There may be a wire making contact with a fan.
3. An old fan
may be worn and need replacing
4. Some device
may be ready to fail.
Solutions:
1. Replace the
60 MM fan with an 80 MM silent fan that pushes the same amount of air.
Buy an 80 to
60 MM funnel with a fast 80 MM fan and screw into place.
(Lowest on-line
price of the funnel is $16 - any ideas)
2.
Open the case and see if there are any wires that could be too close to any
of the fans.
3. If the fan
is not running right, replace it.
4. Some hard
drives and CD-ROM drives will make loud noises before they fail and need to
be replaced.
Situation
#5
The user complains
that the system's time/date function is not working right. There are boot-up
failures, spontaneous rebooting, lockups under normal conditions, memory errors,
HDD and fans cannot work at same time, overheating system, electric shocks,
error messages with 01x or 02x, and flickering LEDs
Possible causes:
1. The system
is possessed.
2.
The power supply is underpowered
3. The power
supply is failing
4. Some device
or devices may be ready to fail.
Solutions:
1. If the system
is possessed, unplug it and dump it in Holy Water - but the system will not
work again.
2. If the power
supply is underpowered, replace the power supply with a higher rated one,
i.e. 350 watt or more.
3. If the power
supply is failing, replace the power supply with a higher rated one, i.e.
350 watt or more.
4. If some device
or devices are ready to fail, then test each device, i.e. power supply, RAM,
CPU, HDD, and motherboard.
Situation
#6
The user complains
that the system cannot read CD-ROMs, because it lacks a CD-ROM drive and is
unable to install one, it only runs 10 years old software, and
the monitor only shows 16 colors, even with the correct drivers.
Possible causes:
1. The system
is antique
Solutions:
1. If the system
is unable to run windows 95 or 98, then it may be time for a new computer.
Try to save any
important documents from the old system, by transferring the data via a floppy
disk to the new system. Teach the user in the use of the new computer, (how
to turn it on and off- how to open a document- how to open programs).
Generic Steps
First - Record
Symptoms
What kinds of
symptoms do we look for?
Performance
Error messages
Noises
Others?
Second - Diagnose
Problem
Is this a hardware or
software problem?
Which hardware and
programs are being effected?
Research a solution
Record the solution
step by step to help you
Then - Prep System
Back-up any data
Get the system ready
for the solution, which you believe will solve the problem
Begin Operation
Unplug the system, if
you are working within the case.
Check the
operation of PC to see if the problem was resolved
What kinds of
problems and solutions have you seen?
Class discussion
Terms-
Fdisk and Format
Group Work
Pull items, each team
member should bring one item to me, re-install, test system, and install an OS
onto the hard drive.
Video Card, Control
Card, IDE Cable, Floppy Cable, One 30 pin SIMM (or other memory module), Floppy
Drive, Video Card, Control Card (if present), IDE Cable, and Floppy Cable
Test Practice
Questions
What does BIOS stand for and what does the CMOS BIOS chip
do?
The connector shown below would be used for what?
What is a common complication when adding a
1.6G IDE hard drive to an older system such as a 16 MHz 80386 system?
a) The drive is too big for the available
drive bays
b) The old style IDE connector won't plug
in properly
c) The power supply may be sufficient
d) System BIOS needs to be upgraded
During the normal PC boot process, which of
the following is active first?
a) RAM BIOS
b) CMOS
c) ROM BIOS
d) Hard disk information
When SHADOWING is enabled in a computers
BIOS:
a) Values are stored twice in the memory
for redundancy checking
b) The conventional memory is re-mapped to
the top of the extended memory
c) Data stored in RAM chips on adapter
cards are shadowed into extended memory
d) Instructions stored in various ROM chips
are copied into extended memory
What may you need to upgrade after
installing a brand new IDE drive on your old PC?
a) new drive controller
b) more Ram
c) ROM BIOS
d) new operating system
In CMOS setup, if you enable
Shadowing, what happens?
a) rom memory is minimized
b) rom is copied to ram
c) rom memory is maximized
d) rom cannot be used by the
bios
Basic system configuration information is stored in
a) BIOS
b) Config.sys
c) ROM
d) CMOS
