LET’S TALK ABOUT - TROUBLESHOOT AND REPAIR A PC
LET’S
TALK ABOUT - TROUBLESHOOT AND REPAIR A PC
This is a simple guide and does not need to be a certified computer technician,
everybody can check his own PC, desktop or laptop, it doesn’t matter and of
course some people are more advance than others; but try this guide:
SUGGESTED TOOLKIT INTERMEDIATE
AND ADVANCE USERS:
- External hard drive to backup
- Patience
- Hiren CD (runs WXP in live mode, can backup drivers, format, recover, delete and do more advance technical operations such as reset admin passwords in Windows XP, 7, 8 even 10 and servers) unbelievable!
- More Patience
- CD Linux any version, but has to run mode LIVE (personally I used Ubuntu)
- A lot Patience
- 2 sets of screwdrivers (1 Philips & 1 plane)
- Patience is bigger and confusing
- USB at least 4GBs, better if bigger
- Patience has not to be lost!
- Any other requirements needs based on the exercise (UPS, antivirus, external CD/DVD ROM, antivirus rescue boot CD, etc.)
Sooner or later you’re going to experience a problem with your PC.
It could be minor, like a virus infection, or something more serious that
prevents Windows from loading. It might be something major, like a failed hard
drive, or even the dreaded blue screen of death (BSOD).
The first step is determining whether the problem you’re dealing
with relates to software or hardware.
Random PC lockups, slow performance and BSOD occurrences lead many
people to assume that the problem lies with Windows, but that’s not always the
case. Many times it’s faulty hardware. Defective memory and failing hard drives
can account for numerous PC problems. BSOD is quite often caused by bad memory,
and hard drives with bad sectors can cause the system to slow down dramatically
or simply to lock up when trying to access a program or data that resides on
those sectors.
MEMORY DIAGNOSTIC
You can used the following Memory-testing utilities: Memtest86 and
the Windows Memory Diagnostic CD. Both utilities are free and incredibly simple
to use. Basically you just download the software and then use the ISO file to
burn the application CD. Boot your PC off of the CD, and the tests start automatically.
The utilities give you a few options, but frankly it’s
boot-it-and-forget-it. The process runs automatically, and it prompts you if it
finds a problem. I’ve used these utilities for years and consider both a
must-have.
HARD DRIVE DIAGNOSTICS
When it comes to checking your HD, you have a number of options at
your disposal. The simplest test available is the Windows Check Disk utility.
To run the test, right-click on your HD in Windows Explorer and select
Properties, move to the Tools tab and under the section Error-checking, press
the Check now button.
Under Check Disk options check the boxes Automatically fix file
system errors and Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors. Now click
Start.
You should see the message “Windows can’t check the disk while it’s
in use. Do you want to check for hard disk errors the next time you start your
computer?” Press the Schedule disk check button. Then reboot your PC to start
the drive check. While this is a good starting point, it’s by no means the most
thorough test available.
Whenever possible, you want to run diagnostics outside of the
operating system. Most PCs have HD testing capabilities built directly in the
system BIOS. Since there a various system BIOSs available, I can’t give you
step-by-step directions on how to access it. On laptops for example, pressing F10
key on boot up, move to the Diagnostics menu and select HDD Self-Test. It might
be slightly different on your PC, but hunt around, and I’m sure you’ll find it.
You can also check your user manual, or go to the PC manufacturer’s tech
support site for assistance.
Perhaps the best option is to use the diagnostics tools available
directly from the HD manufacture’s Web site. Each manufacture has its own
custom utility for checking the status of its drives. For example, Seagate has
a utility called SeaTools and Western Digital uses Data Lifeguard Diagnostic,
and each has the capability to create a bootable diagnostic CD.
The folks over at TACKtech.com have compiled quite a comprehensive
list of links to all the diagnostic tools available from each of the major hard
drive manufacturers, including Maxtor, Seagate, Samsung, Hitachi, IBM and more.
Most of these utilities are vendor specific, which basically means
you shouldn’t use the Maxtor PowerMax utility to diagnose an IBM or Seagate HD.
It’s important that you download the right software for your drive. If you’re
not sure who produces the HD in your system I suggest downloading Speccy, from Piriform.
Speccy is an advanced system information tool for your PC, and it
gives you detailed information on every component of your PC, including
advanced HD and memory specifications. This free utility is very small and has
some of the most detailed information I have ever seen. This information is
incredible helpful, especially if you should you need to replace parts.
DIAGNOSING WITH LINUX
One last bit of advice. Sometimes you might suspect that a piece of
hardware is defective but, you don’t have a utility available to actually test
the device.
Ubuntu Live CD is a version of the Linux-based Ubuntu operating
system that runs completely off of a CD without having to install it to the PC.
This let me boot into a completely different operating system on the same PC,
without modifying the current Windows configuration.
By bypassing Windows, I was able to test the network adapter in a
clean environment. And wouldn’t you know
it; the network adapter was back online and working fine. This verified that
the hardware was OK, and that the problem was within the Windows software.
Now don’t misunderstand me, this a test isn't for every situation.
Linux has its own compatibility issues with various pieces of hardware, and it
not the easiest operating system to use. However, there are times when using
another operating system to verify the status of a piece of hardware, such as
network or audio adapter, can save you a whole lot of frustration. Not to
mention it’s free. That alone makes it a worthy addition to your troubleshooting
tools.
This is the best tools when a computer has virus and you have to take out the information and data. Runs on live mode, plug a external hard drive, copy and paste the info and data, remove the hard drive, kill the partition and format, then reboot and boot with the desire OS to install.
CONCLUSION AND FINAL WORDS:
- ALWAYS perform a backup: this is according how often and frequently you update and change, update and work in your files. Doesn’t matter if this are documents, spreadsheets, presentations, you are a music maker or a Hollywood director with movies
- Be aware and alert of your computer performance and sounds… it’s so easily to know when a hard drive is starting to fail. Makes a little tickle sound like tik tik tik tik and if is a memory failure, the computer hangs or reset, crash or malfunction every time to do something.
- Consider the option to back up to an external drive, cloud and burn CDs, DVDs, bluerays and other resources
- If your work consist in travel and visit so many places, look for an option like a cloud to save your data and info.
- According to every person and his lifestyle, there is a need and can be cover as well. Doesn’t matter what you do and what you are; all is based on the “basic purpose”.
As I always say: how much does your data and info cost?
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