Advanced Hardware Troubleshooting Techniques

What happens if you’re still stumped as to what device is causing the problems you’re experiencing? This section tries to answer that question by describing two advanced techniques that involve a lot of hands-on, detail work. Beware, they’re not for the faint of screwdriver.

The Barebones Setup Approach

One tried-and-true method used in deep hardware troubleshooting, such as you might have with a suspected motherboard or CPU failure, involves stripping your system down to its most essential components and then testing it. This works especially well when you’re trying to rule out certain components as the cause of your current crisis.

If you’re uncomfortable with expending this much effort, take the PC into an authorized service shop or hire a technician to do this. Don’t berate yourself if you do: it’s a slow, painstaking process that I don’t expect everyone will want to undertake. Yet it can be very valuable in giving you diagnostic feedback and a better understanding of how all those parts fit together. But be aware that this same barebones setup is likely to be used by the technician in troubleshooting your problem.

Warning 

Before you start, make sure you have a working mental or physical diagram of what is connected to your motherboard—along with how each piece connects—so that you can put it all back together when you’re done. If you diagrammed the inside of your PC when I recommended it in Chapter 2, you should be all set. If not, do it after you open your PC case and before you start working, putting the diagram right inside your PC journal for later consultation. You may also find such a diagram in your PC manual. Small pieces of masking tape that you can write on can be used to label wires and connectors as you work.

How You Accomplish It

OK, let’s pull out that PC toolkit and prepare to label.

To strip your system down to a barebones setup for testing, perform these steps:

  1. With the PC turned off and disconnected from power, first remove all externally connected components, including your mouse, printer, and so on. Set these aside. Note: Some users would remove the keyboard, too, but I suggest you don’t.

    Warning 

    Make sure to use a standard PS/2-style keyboard rather than a USB keyboard since a USB keyboard may not be recognized immediately upon bootup but after Windows loads.

  2. Use your screwdriver to remove the screws (if any) holding your PC cover in place. Remove the cover and set it aside.

  3. Don your anti-static grounding wrist strap and follow its instructions for grounding it with another object.

  4. Remove all installed expansion boards and unplug connections for all major devices except for the following:

    • The power supply as it connects to the motherboard and other components listed here

    • One known working memory stick (If possible, substitute your current stick for a stick from a working PC or a brand-new stick that’s rated to work with your motherboard.)

    • Your CPU and its fan

    • Known working video adapter

    • Known working drive (A single hard drive with operating system is preferable but even a floppy drive with a boot disk inserted should work.)

  5. Reattach the PC monitor to the video adapter connector at the back of the PC.

  6. Recheck the components in step 4 to make sure that only the essential components are ready for use, and that each is properly and fully installed.

  7. Remove your hands from inside the case and restore power.

  8. Turn the PC on.

As the PC starts and while keeping your hands out of the interior of your system, listen to the boot process.

Next, while working cautiously around the open and running PC, answer these questions:

Can you hear the power supply and feel air moving past your hand as you place it near the exhaust fan at the back of the PC? If not, see the section “Power Supply Failures” earlier in this chapter.

Do you see the CPU fan turning? If not, turn the PC back off immediately. A defective CPU fan may have fried your CPU already in earlier sessions. See the section “Central Processing Unit (CPU) Failures” earlier in this chapter.

Do you see a display on your monitor? No? Check the section “Video/Display Failures” earlier in this chapter.

If you see a display, do you see the memory count on your screen or some other indication the PC sees your memory? If not, consult the section “PC Memory (RAM) Failures” earlier in this chapter.

Is there an error message displayed about your CPU? If so, you may have found the source of your trouble.

I don’t see the problem now. If the computer works as it should (given what limited resources it now has), you should feel comfortable in assuming these core components are operational—at least for the time being. (See the following note for more details.) At this stage, you can power down and disconnect the PC (don’t forget to ground yourself), and begin adding back other components one at a time and then powering up and testing the PC’s operation.

Note 

Unfortunately, this process does not guarantee that one or more of these core components isn’t malfunctioning or is about to fail. For this reason, I often leave things apart and retest the system at least twice more, spread out over a period of several hours (when possible). It’s easier than seeing a positive result, assuming all is well, and putting my PC back together, only to see the same problem later.

Revert to Default BIOS Settings

Another hardware troubleshooting technique often used in conjunction with the barebones approach involves resetting the options configured under BIOS Setup back to the default factory settings. To pair them, simply perform the steps following step 7 in the instructions for the barebones approach.

The idea is that something you may have changed in your BIOS Setup may be causing the problem rather than just faulty hardware. And remember, BIOS and Windows control much of your hardware. When they control it badly, it can look very much like a hardware malfunction.

Tip 

If the BIOS settings won’t revert to their default values, this tells you something all by itself. It more than hints that you may have a corrupted BIOS—which may or may not be linked to a damaged motherboard—that must be repaired or replaced (see Chapter 8).

How You Accomplish It

To reset your BIOS settings to default, take these steps:

  1. Restart the system and follow the on-screen instructions to enter BIOS Setup. This typically requires you to press the Delete key as the system powers up.

  2. In the CMOS/BIOS Setup, check for a Reset to Default option or something similar. Choose it.

  3. Under the listing called System Chipsets or Advanced Chipsets, locate the setting for BIOS Shadowing. Follow the on-screen instructions to disable this.

  4. Before you exit, note the changes you’ve made (I would jot these in my PC journal, if I were you) so you can reverse them later, after your problem is resolved.

  5. Save your changes and then exit BIOS Setup.

  6. Restart the system and check to see if the problem has improved or is resolved.

Tip 

Disabling BIOS shadowing and caching in BIOS Setup can sometimes help you through a difficult upgrade of either hardware or your Windows operating system. You just restore them to their original state once the upgrade is successful.

You learned in Chapter 3, “Prevention: Limiting Your Risks,” that temperature and consistency of power are very important to your overall PC health. Chapter 11 explores this topic in more detail since you can’t afford to take either situation for granted.



PC Disaster and Recovery
PC Disaster and Recovery
ISBN: 078214182X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 140
Authors: Kate J. Chase

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