Troubleshooting and Maintenance Fundamentals

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Chapter 24

• Troubleshooting and Maintenance Fundamentals

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You Will Learn

• About your role as a PC technician in
  troubleshooting and maintenance, and tools
  available to help you in those roles
• How to approach a troubleshooting problem
• How to develop a preventive maintenance plan and
  what to include in it

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Troubleshooting Perspectives

• PC support technician
• PC service technician
• Bench technician
• Help-desk technician

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Essential Troubleshooting Tools

• Bootable rescue disks
• Ground bracelet and/ground mat
• Screwdrivers (flat-head, Phillips-head or
  cross-head, Torx set, particularly size T15)
• Tweezers, preferably insulated
• Chip extractor and extractor

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Useful Troubleshooting Tools

• Multimeter
• Needle-nose pliers
• Flashlight
• AC outlet ground tester
• Small cups or bags

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Useful Troubleshooting Tools (continued)

• Antistatic bags
• Pen and paper
• Diagnostic cards and software
• Utility software, virus detection, and diagnostic
  software on disks

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Bootable Rescue Disk

• Enables booting of PC even when hard drive fails
• Ensures cleanest boot possible

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POST Diagnostic Cards

• Monitor boot process and report errors and
  conflicts at POST, usually as coded numbers on an
  LED panel on the card

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Examples of POST Diagnostic Cards

• Amber Debug Card by Phoenix Technologies
• PCI Error Testing/Debug Card by Trigen Industries
• POSTcard V3 by Unicore Software, Inc.

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Diagnostic Software

• Identifies hardware problems
• Most effective diagnostic software does not run
  from the Windows OS
• Windows might mask a hardware problem

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Examples of Diagnostic Software

• PC-Technician by Windsor Technologies, Inc.
• PC-Diagnosys by Windsor Technologies, Inc.
• Data Lifeguard Tools by Western Digital
• Programs that test memory
• Memtest 86 by Chris Brady
• Windows Memory Diagnostic by Microsoft
• DocMemory by CST Inc.

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General-Purpose Utility Software

• Diagnoses problems
• Repairs and maintains software on a PC
• Recovers corrupted or deleted data on hard drive
  or floppy disks
• Provides security
• Monitors system performance

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General-Purpose Utility Software (continued)

• Downloads software updates from Internet
• Might use installed OS or provide its own
• Do not run it continuously in the background
• Slows down system

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Examples of General-Purpose Utility Software
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Examples of General-Purpose Utility Software
(continued)
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Fundamental Rules of Troubleshooting

• Make backups before making changes
• Approach problem systematically
• Isolate problem
• Remove memory-resident programs
• Boot from disk to eliminate the OS and startup
  files on the hard drive
• Remove unnecessary hardware devices

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Fundamental Rules of Troubleshooting (continued)

• Dont overlook the obvious
• Check simple things first
• Make no assumptions
• Become a researcher
• Write things down

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Fundamental Rules of Troubleshooting (continued)

• Reboot and start over
• Establish priorities
• Keep your cool and dont rush
• Dont assume the worst
• Know your starting point

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Gathering Information

• Interact with user
• Investigate problem on computer
• Isolate the problem

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Interacting with the User

• Use good manners and diplomacy
• Dont take drastic action before asking about
  important data that may not be backed up
• Provide alternatives before making decisions for
  users
• Protect confidentiality of data
• Dont disparage users choice of hardware or
  software

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Investigating the Problem

• What OS is installed?
• What physical components are installed
  processor, expansion cards, drives, peripheral
  devices? PC connected to network?
• What is the nature of the problem before or
  after boot, error message, etc?
• Can you duplicate the problem? Intermittent or
  consistent problem?

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Isolating the Problem

• Consider the possibilities
• Eliminate simple things first
• Eliminate the unnecessary
• Trade good for suspected bad
• Trade suspected bad for good

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Intermittent Problems

• Hardest to solve
• Look for patterns or clues
• Ask user to keep a log of when problems occur and
  exactly what error messages appear

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Goals of Preventive Maintenance

• Reduce likelihood that events that cause PC
  failures will occur
• Preventive maintenance plan
• Lessen the damage if they do occur
• Disaster recovery plan

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When a PC Is Your Permanent Responsibility

• Organize hard drive boot directory
• Create rescue disks
• Document setup changes, problems, and solutions
• Record setup data
• Take practical precautions to protect software
  and data (eg, back up original software and back
  up data on the hard drive)

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Preventive Maintenance Plan Guidelines
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Preventive Maintenance Plan Guidelines (continued)
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Preventive Maintenance Plan Guidelines (continued)
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Preventive Maintenance Plan Guidelines (continued)
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Preventive Maintenance Plan Guidelines (continued)
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Guidelines for Moving Equipment

• Back up hard drive
• Remove removable disks, tape cartridges, or CDs
  from drives
• Turn off power to PC and devices
• Disconnect power cords and external devices
• Label cable connections

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Guidelines for Moving Equipment (continued)

• Coil all cords and secure them
• Pack in original shipping cartons
• Purchase insurance

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Disposing of Used Equipment
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Disposing of Used Equipment (continued)
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Fire Extinguishers

• Mount a fire extinguisher for Class C fires
  (ignited and heated by electricity) near but
  not directly over the workbench

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Summary

• Common-sense guidelines to solving computer
  problems
• Avoid making situation worse by damaging
  equipment, software, or data, or by placing undue
  stress on users
• Follow safety precautions