Identify the problem in PC which does not boot due to improper assembly or defective peripherals, fix it toget the computer back to working condition.
AIM: Hardware
troubleshooting Troubleshoot:-
1. If you hit the power button & nothing happened.
Check all power connections.
Check for power on motherboard.
2. If the system turns on but does not beep or begin to bootup.
Remove all components except motherboard/ cpu / mother check by giving
power to them
Computer error beeps codes:
No beep: short, no power, bad CPU/ MD, :loose peripherals.
One beep: everything is normal & computer posted tax.
Two beeps: post / CMOS error.
One long beep One short beep: Motherboard problem.
One long beep two short beep: video problem.
One long beep 3 short beeps: video problem. 3
long beeps: keyboarderror.
Repeated long beep: memory error.
Continuous high- low beeps: CPU overheating Experiment no: 1
Basic troubleshooting:
Sometimes things do not work exactly as planned at this point. Sometimes the system will not power
on at all. Sometimes it will power on, but you get no video. Sometimes you will get beep codes.
Sometimes you hear the fans, but the rest of the PC just sits there and does nothing. If things didn't go according to plan, troubleshoot the system. Walk mentally through the boot process and check all
hardware as it goes. Think like the computer thinks, if you know what I mean. Here is a list of some
of the more commonproblems.
1. The power does not even turn on. This sometimes happens on ATX machines and it usually
tracks down to the fact that the power switch is not properly connected to the motherboard or
it is not connected at all. Find the power switch lead and make sure it is connected to the
motherboard.It’sapossibilitythatsimplyreversingtheleadwilldothetrick.Ifthisisthenot
the case, then make sure the motherboard is not grounded somehow. Make sure that the board
is not touching the case (this is what the spacers are for). Make sure that none of the screws
that hold the board in place is touching anything metal or any of the electrical pathways on the
motherboard. If you have any doubt on this, you can remove each screw one at a time and
place a washer on them. You do not need to remove the motherboard to do this.
2. The PC boots, but it is giving beep codes. This is actually better than having to track
everything down on your own, because at least the PC is giving you a hint as to what is
wrong. You can also use the PC Mechanic Beep Codes E-book available on the PC Mechanic
CD to track it down for other BIOS versions. Often, these beep codes will not tell you exactly
what the problem is, but will point you at the trouble device. This information will then get
you pointed in the correctdirection.
3. The fans come on, but you get no video or beeps. Sometimes, this is because some key
component may not be plugged in well or may not be operational. Check the memory modules
and the processor to be sure they are firmly installed. You might want to make sure the
processor is actually working. One way that I have used to see if a processor is working is to
remove or unplug the CPU fan and place your fingers on the CPU to see if it heats up real fast.
If it does, its OK and don’t let it run this way for long. If it remains at room temperature for
awhile, then there is no juice going through the processor and it may need replacing. The
keyboard doesn’t seem to work. This one doesn’t happen too often, but if it does, your two
trouble sources will be the keyboard itself or the keyboard controller on the motherboard.
Hope it isn’t the secondone.
AIM: Software troubleshooting
PROCEDURE:
Error messages encountered during boot before Windows loads
Ensure that your computer BIOS settings are correctly configured to the hardware that is installed in
your computer Error messages while windows loading
1.If you have recently installed or changed something that could have caused normal windows to stop
loading , try loading the last known good configuration
2.If you are unable to get into Normal windows and believe that removing or uninstalling a program
or changing a setting may help enable you to get into windows , boot the computer into windows XP
safemode.
3.If your computer has worked fine in the past but recently has been experiencing the issue you are
encountering run the system restore option to restore the computer to an earlierdate
Other error messages that occur while windows is loading or after windows is loaded
1.If error occur but windows still loads , verify no issues or conflict exits in device manager
2.Ensure that if programs are loading automatically that these errors are not associated with these
programs
3.Make sure Windows XP is up to date by checking Microsoft windows updatepage
4.If your computer has virus protection installed make sure that it is up to date and that no virus are
Being detected
5. If your computer has worked fine in the past but recently has been experiencing the issue you
are encountering run the system restore option to restore the computer to an earlierdate.
Software Troubleshooting:
BIOS SETUP & DISK FORMATTING
What Is BIOS?
BIOS is an acronym for Basic Input Output System.
To run any system, there must be default settings so that the system can load those settings when it is started or restarted. For a computer system the basic I/O settings and boot process details are
necessary to start a system.
All these default, predefined settings will be loaded in the BIOS and whenever we start the system,
these settings will be loaded.
How to view BIOS?
Whenever we start the system, we can enter into the BIOS Setup Utility by pressing Del Key.
Sometimes an F1 or F8 key has to be instead of DEL key, depending on the type of BIOS.
When we enter in to this utility we get these following menus/services, depending upon our mother
board.
In main Menu, we can view the details such as BIOS Version, Processor Type, and Speed, RAM
Size and the system bus speed and memory speed.
We can change the settings like language system time and date. We can even change the hyper threading facility if the processor supports this technology.
We must be very careful when we change these settings otherwise it may cause our system to
malfunction.
Here, we can change the settings of PCI devices, Floppy Drives configuration and chipset, USB
peripheral devices and even monitoring the Hardware.
Security
We can set the supervisor password, to restrict unauthorized users to enter the BIOS setup utility.
User password can also be set to restrict the unauthorized persons to boot or use the system.
How to type a Password?
We can even set the Chassis Intrusion to protect the system devices from removing the components of the system.
Power
The power settings protect the system from power failures by configuring the ACPI.
For example, after power failure we can stay off the system or Power on the system or else we can
even make the system to restore its previous state by selecting the appropriate options.
Boot
Silent boot : If this option is enabled it displays only the OEM logo and in the background
POST (Power on Self Test) completes. If this is disabled, instead of LOGO, we can view POST
messages
Rapid BIOS Boot: By enabling this option it will decrease the time needed to boot the by skipping
some unnecessary tests.
Here, we can also set the boot sequence from the available devices by selecting Boot Device Priority.
We can even view the Hard Drives and any removable devices and attached to the system.
Exit :
By selecting the appropriate options we can exit from the BIOS setup like exiting the setup by saving
or discarding the changes or even by loading optimal or default values.
