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| Troubleshooting Techniques |
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Hardware & Software October 2000 • Vol.6 Issue 10 Page(s) 74-77 in print issue |
Troubleshooting Techniques Tips For Solving Mysterious PC Problems | ||
 You turn on your PC to do some work and maybe some play, and the machine starts as it normally does, but as you load your usual applications, you notice the entire PC is just crawling. It feels like you are using a five-year old system instead of the new one you bought just a few months ago. This frustrating scenario is common in the world of computers. When something like this happens to you, you might wisely suspect there is some sort of issue with your PC. If so, your first instinct may be to call your PC's technical support department. This is, of course, an option, but obtaining technical help over the phone can be a time-consuming process, and if the company doesn't have a toll-free line, it can also be expensive. Fortunately, there is an alternative: You can actually solve many PC problems yourself without needing to call the manufacturer of your system. In this article, we look at basic troubleshooting procedures you can do at home. The following scenarios are some of the more common difficulties that plague the typical PC user. However, in reading about these specific problems you will learn concepts and techniques that you can use to diagnose many different issues that arise when using your system.  Sudden System Slowdowns. Let's start with the scenario described above. It is certainly irritating to turn on your PC and find it has suddenly slowed down dramatically. In fact, this is a common problem, and it can manifest itself in a couple of different ways. Sometimes the slowdowns will appear suddenly, as detailed in the above scenario; other times, the loss of speed will happen gradually over time. How you troubleshoot these slowdowns depends on how the problem arises. Sudden slowdowns are normally a result of a sudden change in the system. Usually, you have either installed (or removed) a piece of hardware or an application that led to the change or something failed or became broken on its own. Here are some specific things to check: Anything that recently changed. Have you added a hardware device to your system or installed a new program or a new driver? If you have recently changed anything like this, that may be what caused your system's degradation in performance. If possible, undo the change and see if there is any improvement in your system. Viruses. If your system has a virus, that program may be stealing time from your processor and causing the PC to act sluggish. Be sure to regularly scan your system for viruses and be careful about downloading software from the Internet. File system. There may be a problem with the file structure on your hard drive so check for errors there. You can do this by right-clicking Windows 98's Start button and selecting Explore to open Windows Explorer. Next, locate your hard drive and then right-click its icon. Select the Properties command from the pop-up menu. In the Properties window, click the Tools tab. In the Error-Checking Status section, click the Check Now button. Overheating. Many modern systems have thermal monitors built into them. These detect overheating of critical components, especially the CPU (central processing unit). If the system gets too hot, the system may tell the CPU to run at a lower speed so it can cool down; this will result in a noticeable slowdown. Check to make sure your system's case has proper ventilation. Make sure the CPU fan (if any) is running and don't operate the PC in a room that is too hot if you can avoid it. Insufficient memory. If you are running many applications at once or applications that take a lot of memory, check your hard drive's activity light. If you see it flickering a great deal, especially when you are not actively reading or writing to the hard drive, then your system is probably thrashing. This means the operating system is running out of physical memory (the amount of actual memory in a computer) and using the (much slower) hard dive as virtual memory (hard drive space that mimics actual memory, RAM). Shut down some applications or add more memory to the PC to solve this problem. Incorrect BIOS settings. Double-check your BIOS (Basic Input/Output System; a special piece of software built into most computers) settings to ensure they are correct. In addition, make sure nobody using the PC tampers with them. Your system's BIOS routines control its startup process and other basic functions. Gradual Performance Loss. System slowdowns don't always happen suddenly. Slowdowns that gradually occur are more difficult to detect than ones that suddenly occur. Much as you don't notice yourself getting older by looking in the mirror every morning, you can't easily tell your PC is getting slower and slower during a period of weeks or months. However, you may over time begin to realize the PC just doesn't seem as quick as it once did. It is normal for a typical PC to seem to get slower over time. Part of this is psychological: When a PC is new, it seems fast compared to whatever system you were using before, but this sensation eventually fades. As the system ages, you may start to use newer software that runs more slowly on your system than older versions did. Your system also will tend to accumulate files and programs that can degrade its performance. There also are real potential problems with a system that has a gradual degradation of performance. Here are some of the most common ones: Full hard drive. The more you fill up your hard drive, the slower your system will run, all else being equal. There are a number of hardware and software reasons for this. If the hard drive becomes very full, you may notice substantial slowdowns. Try cleaning up the hard drive by removing unneeded files. Fragmentation. Over time, the file system on most Windows machines becomes fragmented, meaning the files become broken into pieces. The operating system can still find the files, but it takes more time. Defragmenting the file system will improve performance, particularly if you have not recently done this. Do this by right-clicking the Start button and clicking Explore to open Windows Explorer. Next, find your hard drive's icon and right-click it. Select Properties from the pop-up menu. Click the Tools tab and then the Defragment Now button, which is in the Defragmentation Status section. Software buildup. Most active PC users install more and more software over time but rarely uninstall any programs. This can bog down their systems. The worst culprits are programs that run all the time, even when you aren't using them. Look in the Windows System Tray (next to the time display on the Taskbar) for icons that represent running programs. Disable or uninstall any you are sure you are not using. You can usually do this by right-clicking the icon for the program you want to disable and then choosing Exit, Close, or Disable from the pop- up menu. Windows corruption. Various problems with the system rarely cause your Windows installation to become corrupted. If it does, though, this may make the operating system run slower than it should. A Windows reinstall may help restore better operation, but you need to take the appropriate actions, such as backing up all your files and programs, before taking such a step. Stability Issues. Sometimes problems with your system will go beyond slowdowns to crashes and hang-ups. These are perhaps the most annoying problems that plague PC users. A system that is not stable is one you cannot trust, making it virtually impossible to get any work done. Unfortunately, these problems are hard to diagnose and repair because so many things can cause them. If you have an unstable system, the most important first step is determining what causes the instability. If the problem is repeatable, then that gives you a clue as to what is causing the crashes. If you can't detect any pattern, you will have to take a more broad approach. Here are some common causes of instability to investigate. Resource conflicts. Sometimes two pieces of hardware try to use the same system resources, leading to a conflict. This is particularly common when adding new hardware to an existing system. Check the Windows Device Manager for resource conflicts and resolve them by changing resource assignments. To open the Device Manager, click the Start button, select Settings, and click Control Panel. Next, double-click the System icon. In the System Properties window, click the Device Manager tab. "Dirty" power. Problems with the power supply or with the power your utility company is feeding your PC frequently leads to erratic behavior. The first thing you should do is to invest in a surge suppressor, or if you can afford it, an UPS (uninterruptible power supply) unit. Viruses. Viruses cannot only cause your system to slow down but also to reboot, crash, or behave in other strange ways. Routinely run a virus check on your system using antivirus software to prevent viruses. Overheating. Like viruses, excessive heat can cause both slowdowns and instability. Try the suggestions in the "Sudden System Slowdowns" section. Memory problems. Bad memory often manifests itself as rebooting and crashes of various sorts. It's rare for memory to go bad on its own, but it does happen. If you upgrade your system memory and start seeing instability, suspect the memory. You may need to replace your memory. Drivers. Bad drivers (programs that let a hardware peripheral communicate with a computer) are responsible for many crashing issues, especially video drivers. Try updating your drivers to their most recent versions. You can usually download them from the peripheral manufacturer's Web site. Poorly written software. Some applications just crash a lot because they have not been thoroughly debugged. Web browsers are particularly notorious in this regard. If only one application is routinely causing trouble, your system probably isn't at fault. The System Won't Boot. Another common problem is a PC not booting up properly. Obviously, you can't use your PC if you can't get it to boot up, so this is a serious problem. There are a variety of causes that can lead to a PC refusing to boot up. It is best to approach this dilemma by following the chain of events that occurs when the system starts up. Here are the most common causes of boot-time difficulties: Utility power. The system may not be receiving adequate power from the wall circuit. Try the PC power cord in a different receptacle or in a different room (or try a different device in the socket the PC was using). Check for a tripped circuit breaker or blown fuse. Have any electrical problems that you find addressed by a licensed electrician. Power protection devices. If you are using a surge suppressor, UPS, or other power protection device—and you should be—check to make sure it is turned on and properly functioning. Monitor settings. Check the brightness, contrast, and other controls on your monitor. If the brightness gets turned all the way down, for example, the PC may seem dead when it really isn't. Monitor swap. If you suspect a problem with the video, use a friend's monitor with your PC or your monitor with a different PC. This is a relatively easy way to determine if a blank screen is due to a video card fault or a monitor issue. Another thing to watch for is if you see continued hard drive activity on the PC but a blank screen; this means the system is booting, but you can't see it, which strongly implicates the monitor as the source of the problem. Loose cables. Make sure all the PC's cables are attached securely to the PC box. Pay special attention to the cables for the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Beep codes and error messages. As the system boots, you may hear a pattern of beeps, or an error message may display on the screen. These are notices from the system's BIOS program that indicate a hardware fault. Refer to your system manual or manufacturer's tech support for assistance. Drive or operating system failure. If the system seems to get to the point where the operating system should load but stops with an error message, there may be a problem with either the hard drive or the operating system. Can't Connect To The Internet. Another frustrating problem is when you can't connect to the Internet because you can't establish a connection. Most of us still use a regular modem to connect to the Internet. Sometimes a hardware or software problem can cause the system to not be able to connect to your ISP (Internet service provider). The technical support people at your ISP should be able to help you, but they will likely ask you to check the following items first, anyway, so save some time and try them yourself. Check your phone service. Is your phone service up and running? Try a phone to see if you hear a dial tone. If not, your phone service has somehow been disconnected. If your other phones work, plug a regular phone into the jack where your modem normally goes and make sure that particular jack works. Check connections. Make sure you have the modem correctly plugged into the wall. A common mistake is using the wrong jack on the modem for the cord; some modems have two: one labeled Phone and the other labeled Line or Wall. You want to use the latter. Resource conflicts. Check for resource conflicts between the modem and other hardware within the PC. The Device Manager within Windows (see above) is a good way to look for these. If you are using an internal modem, watch out for conflicts with the second communications port, COM2, and disable COM2 in the BIOS setup program if you aren't using it. Host problems. If you are able to dial out, but you can't get the system to negotiate a connection with the host it is dialing, then the problem may not be with your system at all; it may be your ISP. This is especially so if you notice the difficulties more during busy times. Try dialing at a different time to see if the problem goes away or try a different Internet provider. Software difficulties. Many Internet connectivity problems are a result of flaws or incorrect configurations with the software you use to connect to the Internet. Carefully check all settings and consider reinstalling the software if you suspect it is the cause of the trouble.  by Charles Kozierok
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