Diagnosing System Crashes and Lockups

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Virtually all PCs lock up at one time or another, 9x more than 2000 and XP. Also unpleasantly common is the "near lockup," in which the mouse pointer still moves, but nothing else works. If the mouse and keyboard are of the PS/2 variety, check to make sure they are connected to the correct ports and that no pins are bent. Make sure the heat sink and fan are properly mounted on the CPU. Check the air intake and other fans, and the operating temperature. Use a laser thermometer such as the Raytek to check the processor temperature, and/or a hard drive temperature-monitoring program such as SIGuardian (siguardian.com). Check the system resource use as discussed in Chapter 2. If there are too many programs running, close them and see if the system runs better. If it does, follow the instructions in Chapter 2 to resolve the problem. Also scan for viruses and malware. Run ScanDisk & Defrag. If Windows or applications have been recently upgraded, consider adding memory.

Shorted out parts can also cause lockups. If all other attempts fail, you can use a program such as Micro-Scope to diagnose the problem, or you might have to remove all expansion cards and then add one at a time until the computer locks up. Cables can also short, so check the cables and power supply. If you don't have a tester, you'll have to swap all the cables and power supply for known good units.



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PC Repair and Maintenance(c) A Practical Guide
PC Repair and Maintenance: A Practical Guide (Charles River Media Networking/Security)
ISBN: 1584502665
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 175

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