Basic Computer Troubleshooting

Whether caused by programming or manufacturing glitches, phases of the moon, curses placed upon you by disgruntled colleagues, or something else entirely, computer catastrophes are most likely to take place in the memory and hard drives. The CPU is the least likely to develop terminal disease. Steps to curing your own computer ailments and retaining your sanity:

1. Buy from a quality vendor with long warranties and a reputation for good service. Any major PC magazine, such as PC World or PC Magazine, conducts truckloads of product and vendor reviews.

2. Consider buying extended warranties, especially if they include on-site service. (Most laptop makers will not offer on-site repair; you have to ship your machine to them.)

3. Keep all manuals and documentation.

4. Take it slowly and logically; often common sense is enough to see you through.

Daily Prevention

• Plug your computer into a good-quality surge protector. Even better is a surge protector plugged into an uninterruptible power supply. (UPS for short)

• Backup your data! No excuses!

• Never ever move your computer while it is turned on.

• Never plug in a mouse or a keyboard while the computer is turned on.

• Always shut down Windows using the shut-down menu. If it hangs at shutdown, give it a good long wait before turning off the power switch. If any program than hangs, hit ctrl + alt + delete to bring up the Task Menu, and select End Task. Be patient and give it time.

• If everything locks up, or you get the dreaded Blue Screen of Death, try ctrl + alt + delete twice. Go get a cookie or do something that takes three minutes.

• If it still does not respond, turn off the power switch and go get another cookie. If Scan Disk runs when you restart, say yes to everything.

• Never click the power switch on and off quickly.

• Be very paranoid about static electricity. If possible, park your chair on an anti-static mat. Ordinary plastic chair mats generate all kinds of static electricity.

• When deleting a program, use its own Uninstall program, or use Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel.

• Absolutely have an anti-virus program installed and running, and update it at least monthly.

No Documents!

• No documents? No problem. Visit the manufacturer's Web site. For example, Seagate keeps extensive archives of technical data. Find jumper settings, how-tos, and everything. Anytime you research a problem, make the Web your first stop.

Obvious Dumb Things

• No matter what weird behavior your computer displays, do the obvious first:

1. Rebooting cures most Windows ailments.

2. Check all cables and power cords.

3. Pay attention to error messages and write them down word-for-word. If you call tech support, this is essential information.

Software or Hardware?

• First step is to figure out if you have a hardware or software problem. Most of the time it will be software. Does the problem only occur in one program, or in all programs? Does it happen when you have certain applications running at the same time, or certain devices?

Software Fixes

• ...can be tricky. If you have warranty support, use it. Uninstalling and then re-installing a problem application often cures problems. Again, the manufacturer's Web site should be a wealth of information. A good Web site will list known problems and fixes.

• Configuration errors can drive you nuts. Get "The Mother of All Windows" book by Woody Leonhard and Barry Simon. Indispensable for taming Windows.

Hardware Bad

• If you get a lot of "page faults," most likely your RAM is toast. Easiest way to check is run Tuff-Test Pro. Or, if you have extra RAM modules, swap them in one at a time and see what happens. If you are really lucky, a repair shop near you will have a tester, and can test them for $10 or so. RAM testers are hideously expensive, so few shops use them; try a shop that sells refurbished computers. Testing the RAM modules is best, as a de-fective mainboard can act like bad memory.

• Hard drives usually fail with much noise and drama, but not always. If you start having a lot of corrupt files, run ScanDisk. If it finds a lot of bad sectors, cross-linked files, or cannot complete the scan, sorry Charley! All gone.

• TuffTest Pro does an extremely thorough disk scan. I recommend it because it completely bypasses Windows, going straight to the hardware.

Other Stuff

• Computer slows way down. Check for overheated CPU. (A good ball-bearing CPU fan is $20, and don't forget to stick the fan to the CPU with thermal goo.)

• Check your power supply: it can fail partially and still start the computer. Swap in a known good one, or test with a multimeter. A failing power supply may cause spontaneous rebooting.

Bogus Mainboard

• Some or all of your ports will not work. Again, TuffTest is a great diagnostic tool.

No Sound

• Make sure your speakers are connected correctly. Soundcards are not helpful, having cryptic, nearly invisible markings. When you find the correct connection on the soundcard, mark it with a laundry marker. If you have program sounds but no CD sounds, your CD drive is not connected to the soundcard. This is an internal connection: a cable runs from the back of the CD drive to the soundcard.

Cannot Read From CD

• Try different disks; if they all have problems, the CD drive is a goner. It pays to spend a little more for a quality brand with a year warranty. I prefer Toshiba drives. For the ultimate in satisfaction, replace a defunct CD drive with a DVD drive. I installed a Toshiba 5x DVD, and love it, it reads CDs faster and more smoothly than the CD drive it replaced. Doesn't matter much for installing software, but for gameplay it makes a big difference.

General Diagnostic Rules

• Any time a new problem occurs, ask yourself if you made any changes. New software, new hardware, changes in configuration? Undo the change and see if that heals it. Any time you make changes, do one thing at a time. Make sure everything works before doing the next thing. If you have a lot to do, this gets tedious, but it saves big headaches.