| Tips | -
Unplug any PC before you open it: Electricity is your friend, but there's no reason to get personal with it. Never, never, never open a PC that's plugged into a wall socket. This mistake can get you or your machine (or both) fried. This is, technically speaking, not a good thing. -
If you can't go forward, make sure you can go back: Sometimes, after you install a NIC, you turn on the computer and get a big, fat, resounding nothing! The worst case of all may require sending the computer to a professional for repair. In the not-so-bad (and more common) case, if you take out the new stuff and reverse any software changes you've made, you're back where you started. Reverse software changes, you ask? This brings us to a crucial preemptive step that you must always take before fiddling with hardware. Before you start messing around, back up any system that will be affected. Backing up confers two vital benefits. First, assuming the worst happens and a DOA computer results, you can install your backup on another similarly configured machine and keep working until the original computer gets back from the shop. Second, if the new installation doesn't work, you can use the backup to restore the machine to the pristine state it presumably enjoyed before you mucked it up. Before you go the backup route on a machine you've rendered comatose by adding new hardware, try rebooting using the Last Known Good Configuration (LKGC) option. This rolls back recent Windows 2003 Registry changes and may enable you to keep working. However, like our other worst-case scenario, the key to using the LKGC is to have a good Registry configuration available. Make sure that you reboot your machine when your machine appears to be working properly again; that way, the saved version of the Registry should maintain your computer in its working condition. -
Figure out what you're dealing with: A PC can act like a minefield when you add another interface to an already jam-packed machine. If you don't have an inventory of what's installed as well as related configuration data, prepare that list now. This makes quick work of installation and may head off configuration anxiety. Time may be money, but remember: It always takes longer to do it over than it does to do it right the first time. One of the many benefits of the built-in PnP support in Windows 2003 is that it goes through what's called an enumeration phase each time the system boots. This phase occurs also when a new hardware device is added to the system or an existing device is removed from the system. In plain English, this means Windows 2003 keeps track of what's what, hardware-wise, on a system and can even keep up with changes that occur while the system is running. This is more meaningful on laptops, where PC cards may come and go while the system is running, than on server machines, where you'd typically have to shut down a system to add or remove an interface card. In any event, with the help of Windows 2003, you can now look in the Hardware Resources folder of the Computer Management utility to obtain a current list of devices and related settings on any Windows Server 2003 machine. (Use the following menu sequence: Start All Programs Accessories System Tools System Information Hardware Resources.) |
