PC Troubleshooting Part One

Hardware Preventive Maintenance :

Monitor

• Never spray cleaner directly on the screen and let drip down inside. This can cause an electrocution hazard and liquid will damage the monitor due to the high voltage. Instead, spray liquid onto a cloth and wipe.
• New monitors have plastic screens that can become permanently cloudy if harsh cleaners are used. Distilled water or a 50/50 distilled water / isopropyl alcohol solution is best.
• When cleaning a monitor, use a light touch - easy on the pressure against the screen.
• Tip: Monitors don't suffer from image burn-in anymore, so screen savers are unnecessary and purely for entertainment now.

Keyboard

• Keep liquids and food a safe distance away.
• If spills happen, turn the computer off immediately or quickly pull the keyboard cord out of its connector on the case (wired) or remove the batteries (wireless). An electrical short caused by liquid in a wired keyboard will affect the computer's power supply at the very least. This could be costly.
• For a sticky spill, rinse the disconnected keyboard under very hot water, shake off excess water, let dry for 2-3 days before using it.
• Use compressed air to remove particles. Disinfect keys to kill germs. Don't use a vacuum - too much static generation.

Printer

• Using good quality paper will result in a cleaner, long-lasting printer and better print quality (especially true with ink-jet printers).
• Try not to refill ink jet cartridges more than twice before buying a new one. They were not designed for prolonged use. A refilled cartridge typically voids the warranty.

Mouse

• Cordless mouse / keyboard have their own potential issues. Radio frequency interference, can make cordless less than problem-free.

Hard Drive

• Hard drives are not perfect. Even new hard drives can and do fail without warning. Protect your data with regular backups.
• Physical shock, smoke, strong magnetic fields and sudden temperature changes put hard drives at risk.
• Run error checking and de-fragmentation tools (in Windows) every month as a minimum. 
• Don't de-fragment SSD! Find SSD health tools online.

CD-rom / DVD-rom

• Top (label) side is actually more fragile than the bottom.
• Clean discs with a soft, dry cloth - no harsh cleaners.
• Wipe the disc in a straight motion in a line through the centre hole, never in a circular motion.
• Heat, direct sunlight, food, dirt, fingerprints and scratches are bad for discs.
• Experts are now predicting the data archived to CD-R or DVD-R discs may only last 10 years, maybe less.

Case / Power Supply

• Keep all case vents clear. Make sure all the fans are running. Fans get noisy from dirt build-up.
• A computer case is a very efficient electrostatic air purifier - clean the vents, power supply and circuits of dust at least yearly. Do this outside with compressed air. Only vacuum the outside of the case, never the inside (static electricity can damage components).
• A surge suppressor (rated for at least 750 joules) can save your PC. Insist on one with an LED which indicates when protection is still active. Once a suppressor has done its job, it becomes just a power bar - it needs to be replaced.
• Anything that comes in contact with the circuits inside the case must be static-free.
• Heat, magnets and locations high in static electricity or which risk the case being bumped / kicked put the contents at risk.

Troubleshooting Technique

• Document everything you do on your PC. Then refer to it whenever you repeat a task. Documenting makes tasks easier to do the next time around.
• There's no reason to make mistakes more than once.
• Logged steps and events help with troubleshooting and relaying the computer's history to others.
• Most faults have easy causes. Don't make the mistake of:
• Complicating a fault.
• Overlooking the obvious. 
• Assuming anything.
• Use a logical technique:
• When did it stop working? 
• What happened prior to fault? An install? Uninstall? Upgrade?
• Is just one program affected? Eg.: Can you open a doc in another program?
• Look for every possible clue - it could mean the difference between 10 possible causes and 3.
• If you're in over your head, stop messing with the problem, perhaps making it worse, unless you really don't mind the possibility of losing your data and re-installing everything from scratch.
• Become a researcher. The internet is a treasure trove of solutions to problems already experienced. You are likely not the only person who has experienced a particular fault.
• Burnt smells or smoke are bad news - remove power immediately.
• Cables work themselves loose, but be sure to check connections with power off. Check them with your hands, not your eyes.

Gathering Symptoms while Troubleshooting:

Computers don't always reveal their secrets to us in obvious ways. Here's list of things to watch for when trying to determine what's going on with your computer:

Monitor - typically has an LED on the front. If this LED is green (or blue - check the manual for specifics) it means that not only is the monitor getting power, it is also getting video information from the video controller inside the computer case. If the light is a colour other than green/blue (usually yellow, orange or red), it means power is fine, but video is missing. No LED - no power.


Keyboard - has 3 LEDs on the right side at the very minimum. If these lights flash during startup, it's getting power from the case. If once the computer is finished booting you can press Caps Lock or Num Lock and the LED changes state, you also have a functioning data connection between the keyboard and the motherboard inside the computer case.


Mouse - optical mice have an LED on the bottom. Once the computer is turned on and finished booting, this light should come on, indicating power from the case.


Printer - printers don't have any standard that the whole industry follows regarding their LED indicators, so always refer to your manual to determine what the various LED combinations mean. There are 3 basic parts to a functioning printer subsystem, the printer itself, the cables and the computer (especially Windows printer setup and the print queue).


Computer Case - again, there is no standard, but most cases have at least 2 LEDs on the front. One represents on/off state and the other represents hard drive activity. Many computer users pay little attention to these LEDs. The hard drive activity LED often reveals something about the state of the computer. If it is completely off, it means your computer isn't doing very much of anything requiring the manipulation of files. This LED will at least flicker from time to time indicating activity and appears to be on steadily when involved tasks are occurring involve files. Examples of such times include boot-up; when a virus scan is taking place, de-fragmentation tasks; downloading files or opening / using a large program. Mind the fans too. They will indicate if the case is getting power once you turn the computer on.


Task Manager - one of the most useful yet little known tools that comes with Windows. Access by right-clicking the task bar and choosing Task Manager. The performance tab reveals how much CPU power is being used in real time. If the CPU Usage meter is pegged at or near 100%, it means your computer is very busy doing something. If it seems unresponsive - this is why. What we can check next is what exactly is using all of that CPU power by choosing the processes tab and clicking the CPU column header twice to re-sort the list putting all the CPU-hogging processes at the top. Ignore the process called System Idle Process - if this process is using 90% of CPU power, it just means nothing is using 90% of the CPU power right at this moment - I know it's confusing. So if a virus scan is running, and it is at or near the top of the list and the CPU power meter is pegged, the reason your computer isn't responding as quick as you want is because it's busy scanning all of your files for viruses. Of course, your computer doesn't come right out and say this - you have to research the situation yourself. A combination of the hard drive activity LED on the case coupled with Task Manager will reveal much of what your computer is up to in real time.


Software Preventive Maintenance :

• Make backups! Develop a strategy of making a copy of everything that cannot be replaced. Programs and Operating Systems can always be re-installed. I'm talking about your documents, music, pictures, etc. Copy them to another hard drive; another PC; a CD-R(W); whatever is suitable for you.
• Warm (restart) and cold (from OFF) reboots often solve many problems. Users who leave their systems on all the time often forget to reboot (once a week is good enough).
• When installing new software:
• Before you install new software, close all other programs.
• It is a good idea to reboot after an install.
• Avoid installing another program until you see the result of your last install on your system.