Troubleshooting 101
Midnight, your office. You're working on the project that
may make or break your career, and you'll be presenting it tomorrow morning
at 9 am sharp. You put the final touches on it, get ready to spellcheck
and proofread your masterpiece - and the screen goes dead. What do you
do?
First things first
First of all, don't panic. Instead, be patient, take
a deep breath, and think slowly. And carefully. Most of the time, a computer
problem is something very simple. First, look at the lights on your computer
and on your monitor. Are they still on, and green? Can you still hear
your computer operating at the box?
When a monitor suddenly dies, chances are something is not
getting power. If your lights are still on, turn everything off and
back on again (this is rebooting). If any of your lights are dimmed or
off, try the following steps. If you have a lot of devices, turn things
that you're not currently using off and try rebooting again.
If you have anything at all electronic or magnetic around
your computer, move it at least five feet away from all your computer
equipment. Magnets can damage or destroy computer equipment, and
electronic devices can generate magnetic fields that do the same.
Check the connections on the back of your CPU box.
Everything should be connected tightly, and any screws should be firmly
screwed in. You should have no dangling connections.
In the situation above, the most likely scenario is that
either the power cable to the monitor or the monitor's connection
to the computer have come loose. Make sure the monitor is still plugged
in. If you have a surge protector, make sure that the switch hasn't been
thrown. Check the back of the monitor as well; many older models, and
some newer ones, have a power cable that plugs into the back of the monitor.
Also, for some older computers, the monitor power cable may plug into
the back of the CPU - the computer box.
If these things appear fine, check the communications
cable between the monitor and the CPU.
Similarly, if your printer, mouse, keyboard, or scanner
has stopped working, check the power cable and then check the connection
between the CPU and the device you are using.
Virus scan
Be certain today that you have a virus scanning program
on your computer, and be certain that it gets updated regularly. In today's
online technology environment, everyone is networked with every other
computer in the world. Remember the old adage, when you sleep with someone
you're sleeping with every person that person has slept with as well?
This is true in the computer world as well - when you connect to a computer,
you can catch any virus that computer has been exposed to. Even if you
KNOW you are connecting to someone you trust, they may not be so careful.
If you don't have virus protection, get it now! There are downloadable
free packages on the net as well as commercial packages. You can find
a listing of both types here.
Of commercial virus protection packages, the most commonly
used are from Symantic, McAfee, and F-Secure. If you already have a virus,
you can sometimes fix it by installing a virus protection program and
scanning after the fact. However, it's a much better idea to get virus
protection on your computer now, rather than waiting until you're infected.
Scandisk and defrag (for PCs - Macs take care of themselves)
If you don't regularly do your computer "housecleaning,"
you need to start doing it now. Computers are very much like teenagers
- instead of putting things up properly when you save a file, they just
throw information wherever it will fit. This makes it much faster when
saving, but much slower when retrieving files. In addition, a virus infection
can damage data on your hard drive.
If your computer is working slowly, or if information
is pulling up in a not-quite-right way, try running a scandisk and a defrag.
On Windows 95 or 98, go to Start | Programs | Applications.
Select Scandisk, and let it run on your main hard drive. When this
is complete, return to Start | Programs | Applications and select Defrag,
running this on your main hard drive as well. You should see a significant
improvement in computer speed.
In Windows NT or 2000, you can find these two tools in Start
| Programs | Accessories | System Tools. (Apple systems take care of themselves;
these options are not available.)
For a damaged floppy disk, these steps often work
as well. Repeat the steps above, but run them on your floppy instead of
your main hard drive.
Ask, "What did I change last on this computer?"
If you've just installed new hardware or software, your
problem may be caused by a device or software conflict - a situation in
which an older piece of hardware or software does not function properly
with a new installation. Even if your new device seems to have nothing
to do with your problem, if you've gone through the other steps above
and still can't get the computer to work, you should remove and/or uninstall
your newest item.
Often you can find device conflict information on the website
of the manufacturing company.
Are you covered by warranty?
If none of the above has worked, it's probably time to call
a technician. If you're covered by warranty, be aware that opening your
CPU for any reason may invalidate the warranty.
Write Everything Down
No matter how elementary, no matter how certain you are
that you will remember what you've done, write everything you do to your
computer down with all the technical specs you can get (things like memory
or megahertz). If you have to call a technician, it will save him time
and you money to be able to hand him a log of things that have been tried
already, or things that have been changed on your system.
The bare minimum items of information you will need:
-
dates and times of changes;
-
brand names, part names and numbers,
and serial numbers;
-
logins and passwords, if applicable;
-
and any problems you may have had with the
change.
It's also a good idea to log things like power surges,
with date and time of occurrence.
More information can be found at the
PC Guide website.
Next issue: Second Things Second: Things To Keep In
Mind
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