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In my years of PC troubleshooting, I've corrected many perplexing problems
and I've corrected many problems that are more run-of-the-mill. I decided to
make available to you this list of common problems and solutions to help you
with your own troubleshooting efforts.
Common Problems For Beginners
Here are a few of the most common complaints and ways to resolve them:
 | "The taskbar is gone." Often, the user has accidentally resized the
taskbar to where it's just a thin bar across the bottom of the screen.
Explaining how to resize it usually corrects the situation. |
| "My program is gone." When I hear this complaint, I suspect the user
has either deleted a shortcut from the desktop or may have accidentally deleted
the program's shortcut from the Start menu. I just walk the user through
re-creating the shortcut. |
| "My documents are gone." Someone may have changed the file location
that appears in the Open dialog box in an application program, such as Word. I
gave the user a quick tutorial on file and folder locations, and how to change
the save location. |
Startup Problems
"Won't start" is a very broad topic; the cause can be anything from
the monitor being turned off to a bad DLL. Here's a further breakdown with some
ideas for troubleshooting each situation.
No Video
One of the hardest problems to solve is when you don't get video after turning
your computer on. After all, it's somewhat hard to read any error messages that
appear on-screen without any video display. Here are some things you can check
when you're not getting any video at boot-up:
| Make sure the monitor is plugged in, connected to the PC, and turned on. |
| Verify that the computer is plugged in and turned on. Also, make sure all
connectors are snugly in place. |
| Sometimes, a reversed hard disk cable or drive jumper conflicts can prevent
video from appearing on-screen. You can disconnect all the drives except the
floppy and then add the other drives back in, one at a time, until you see some
video. |
| Make sure the video card is firmly seated. If it's a PCI card, try placing it
in a different slot. If it's an AGP card, forget about it, since there's usually
only one AGP slot. |
| Remove all circuit boards, drives, etc. so you're left with only the
motherboard, processor (with fan), memory, keyboard, and video card, and restart
the system to see if the video displays. If the monitor displays video, start
adding pieces back in, one at a time, until you find the problem component. |
Windows Won't Start
Suppose you get video to display on the monitor, and you can get into the BIOS,
but Windows won't start. The problem could be many things. To find the fix,
check out these potential causes:
| Make sure the hard disk that contains the Windows OS is functional. |
| If Windows begins to start but then hangs, a specific driver or DLL is
probably causing the problem. Using the step-by-step confirmations, make a note
of the last line that appeared on-screen before the hang. Then, start in Safe
Mode and remove the program that is causing the problem or use MSCONFIG, the
System Configuration Utility, to exclude that item from startup. |
| If Windows locks up at the point where the chosen video mode kicks in - that
is, after the splash screen but before you see the mouse pointer - an invalid
video mode has probably been chosen. Start in Safe Mode and change the video to
default VGA mode. |
Windows Starts, But With Errors
Errors are typically caused by a corrupted or missing DLL. For example, suppose
a user had a scanner with a driver that loaded at startup, but then he removed
the scanner and its software. However, for some reason, the Registry never got
the message, and now it still tries to load the scanner driver at startup. To
correct the problem, check the Startup folder and Add/Remove programs to make
sure the scanner software is not installed. If it still shows as being
installed, use MSCONFIG to exclude that driver's line from startup.
Crashes, freezes, and Blue Screens
Suppose Windows starts normally but then starts crashing, freezing, or giving
serious error messages shortly afterward. This can be one of the most annoying
occurrences when trying to get Windows to run properly. It can mean many
different things. Try the following approaches to diagnose and fix the problem:
| Run ScanDisk (or Check Disk in Windows XP). This will fix about 85 percent of
the problems that end users have with Windows. |
| Check for signs of overheating. Random lockups that start several minutes
after you start up the PC are often the result of the processor cooling fan not
doing its job. Overheating can also result from missing back plates behind
expansion slots or from operating the PC with the cover off. You would think
that having more air in the case would not be a cause of overheating, but it
often is. This is because the case is designed to pull air in from the power
supply fan and force it through the case in a certain path. If the case is open
or there are extra air holes, such as missing back plates, the air doesn't flow
properly. |
| If you get a Blue Screen error that reports a problem with a specific memory
address and it's the same every time, use a diagnostic program to check the RAM
for errors. Bad memory could cause Windows problems. |
| Try to determine whether the error is the result of a specific action, such as
launching a particular program. If it is, see the following section on
"Problems with a specific program." |
| Check for viruses. It's worth the few minutes it takes to do this, but make
sure you have updated the virus definitions first. |
| If you can get to the Internet, try using Windows Update to see whether there
are any new patches available. |
| Check the Microsoft Knowledge Base to see whether there are any known issues
that could be causing the problem. |
| Reinstall Windows. The quickest way to do this is to reinstall over the top of
the existing copy; then you don't have to reinstall any applications. If that
doesn't solve the problem, try installing Windows into a different folder. |
Problems With A Specific Program
If a problem occurs only when starting or using a specific program, here are
some things to look for:
| Verify that the shortcut you're using to start the program points to the
correct file. If you have upgraded to a new version of the program, this may be
where your problem lies. The shortcut might still point to the previous version. |
| Run the Disk Defragmenter. |
| Turn off any programs running in the background, particularly antivirus
programs. |
| Before launching the program you are experiencing problems with, use the Task
Manager (or the End Program dialog box in Windows 9x/Me) to see whether there
are any programs or processes that are not responding. I ran into a problem
where a program that loaded at startup would stop responding shortly after, but
not show any evidence of it until it caused a seemingly unrelated program to
crash when launched. |
| Disable as many of the programs that load at startup as possible and then
restart the computer. Then, try running the application again. If that doesn't
help, try running the application in Safe Mode. If it works, you at least know
the program itself is okay and the problem is being caused by a conflict with
something loading at startup. |
| If the program doesn't work in Safe Mode, try uninstalling and reinstalling
it. Before you do, however, make sure you have a full set of installation disks
for it, and if you have an upgrade version, make sure you also have a full
previous version. |
Modem and Internet Problems
I also frequently see problems involving Internet connections. Modems seem to
give end users a great deal of trouble. Here are some ideas for troubleshooting
both modem and network-based connections:
Network-based Internet Connections
In a corporate environment where Internet access is provided through the
network, verify the following:
| Can this computer view other computers/servers on the network? In other words,
is the Internet access the only problem here, or is it a general network
problem? |
| Can other computers in the same workgroup or domain access the Internet? If
so, you know the problem is localized to this PC only. Try running the Internet
Connection Wizard in Windows to refresh the settings. |
On a small-office-based PC, network Internet access might exist with a cable or
DSL connection. In such situations, here's what I recommend:
| Check the documentation or setup kit for the cable or DSL service to see
whether a specific IP address or computer name must be used. With my cable
Internet service, for example, it works only if I specify a certain computer
name. |
| Turn off the cable or DSL terminal adapter, wait a few seconds, and turn it
back on again. It should reset itself with the network within a few minutes. On
most models, you can tell it has been reset because a row of lights will
illuminate. If you can't get it to reset, the problem lies with the network, not
with your PC. |
| Run the Internet Connection Wizard in Windows (going through Internet
Properties in the Control Panel is one way to do this) and make sure Windows
knows you intend to connect through a LAN rather than through a dial-up. |
| If you have both a dial-up connection and a LAN-based one and are plagued by
constant Connect dialog boxes popping up when you are already connected via LAN,
go to the Connection tab in Internet Properties and make sure Never Dial A
Connection is selected. |
Dial-up Connections
Here are some tips for troubleshooting a dial-up connection that won't dial,
won't connect, or won't stay connected:
| Check the modem. To do so, use the Diagnostics (or More Info) in the Modems
properties of Control Panel. |
| Make sure the correct driver is loaded for the modem. Remove the modem from
the Modems properties or from the Device Manager and let Windows redetect it. I
recently had a client who bought a new modem (same brand, similar model) without
removing the old modem's driver in Device Manager. Although Windows saw the new
modem, it wouldn't talk to it. A new driver specifically designed for the new
model solved the problem. Also, make sure the driver you are using was designed
for your OS version. |
| Check the phone line by plugging a telephone directly into it to see if you
get a dial tone. |
| Make sure that you don't have the line and phone cables reversed if the modem
has two plugs in the back. |
| If line noise is a problem or you experience slow connection speeds, have the
phone company check the line. Slow connection speed is often the result of a
noisy phone line rather than a problem with the modem or computer. |
| If the modem won't stay connected to your ISP or online service, wait 24 hours
before assuming there is a problem on your end. Sometimes, ISPs have
intermittent connection problems that resolve themselves within a day or so. |
These are just some of the techniques I use to help resolve customer complaints.
If you have similar problems, this list may be of help to you. Use these lists
as a quick reference tool to track down and fix some of the problems your users
encounter.
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