Troubleshooting and Maintenance Fundamentals Chapter 24 Troubleshooting and Maintenance Fundamentals

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 A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Troubleshooting Perspectives PC support technician PC service technician Bench technician Help-desk technician A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

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 A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Useful Troubleshooting Tools Multimeter Needle-nose pliers Flashlight AC outlet ground tester Small cups or bags A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Useful Troubleshooting Tools (continued) Antistatic bags Pen and paper Diagnostic cards and software Utility software, virus detection, and diagnostic software on disks A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Bootable Rescue Disk Enables booting of PC even when hard drive fails Ensures cleanest boot possible A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

POST Diagnostic Cards Monitor boot process and report errors and conflicts at POST, usually as coded numbers on an LED panel on the card A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

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. A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Diagnostic Software Identifies hardware problems Most effective diagnostic software does not run from the Windows OS Windows might mask a hardware problem A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

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. A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

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 A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

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 A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Examples of General-Purpose Utility Software A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Examples of General-Purpose Utility Software (continued) A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

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 A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Fundamental Rules of Troubleshooting (continued) Don’t overlook the obvious Check simple things first Make no assumptions Become a researcher Write things down A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Fundamental Rules of Troubleshooting (continued) Reboot and start over Establish priorities Keep your cool and don’t rush Don’t assume the worst Know your starting point A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Gathering Information Interact with user Investigate problem on computer Isolate the problem A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Interacting with the User Use good manners and diplomacy Don’t 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 Don’t disparage user’s choice of hardware or software A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

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? A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Isolating the Problem Consider the possibilities Eliminate simple things first Eliminate the unnecessary Trade good for suspected bad Trade suspected bad for good A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

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 A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

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 A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

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) A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Preventive Maintenance Plan Guidelines A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Preventive Maintenance Plan Guidelines (continued) A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Preventive Maintenance Plan Guidelines (continued) A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Preventive Maintenance Plan Guidelines (continued) A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Preventive Maintenance Plan Guidelines (continued) A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

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 A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Guidelines for Moving Equipment (continued) Coil all cords and secure them Pack in original shipping cartons Purchase insurance A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Disposing of Used Equipment A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Disposing of Used Equipment (continued) A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

Fire Extinguishers Mount a fire extinguisher for Class C fires (ignited and heated by electricity) near – but not directly over – the workbench A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition

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 A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, Fifth Edition