Common PC Problems and Solutions

TROUBLESHOOTING AND ISOLATING PC HARDWARE PROBLEMS

Problem: NO POWER

1. Check the power cable and check and confirm right voltages of equipment.

2. Check the Power button. Short the Power pin in the motherboard. 

3. Reset the CMOS using the CMOS jumper pins. Make sure it is set to normal mode when you power ON.  
4. Remove the power supply connector in the motherboard, using a paper clip short the pin with green wire and black wire if the fan turns on check connectors with VOM if there are voltages.
5. Swap power supply with one that is known to work. If the system still doesn't work, the motherboard might be the issue.

Here are some of the problems related to RAM;
1. No Display. Computer has power up and the screen is shows nothing but black screen.

2. Blue Screen of Death or BSOD. 

3. Computer Operation Suddenly Stop or slow down.
4. Computer show random corrupted program files on POST (Power On Self Test)

5. Computer slow down or stop in copying files.
6. Automatic Restart.
7. Automatic Shutdown.

Here are some TIPS to resolve No Display issue in Desktop computer.

Problem: NO DISPLAY

1.  Check for the power cable, Data Cable of Monitor and the monitor. Make sure you see lights on monitor's power led. Usually you have no display if the LED is in red light or blinking in red. Green is Good so if you have no display in green LED, try to adjust the brightness or contrast of the monitor, or use a flash light and see if the monitor (LCD and LED) back light is not working.

2. Remove, Clean and Test Memory. 

Here are the Steps:
1. Turn off the system unit and unplug the unit from the outlet.

2. Use the Anti static wrist strap and remove the Memory from the memory slot.


3. Clean the memory slot using a paint brush to remove dust.  Remember dust may cause loose contact between the memory slot and the RAM contact.

 4. Use eraser to clean the Memory contact to avoid loose contact.

5. Install the memory properly

 5. Power on the system unit.

6. If the only problem is loose connection due to dust or dirt on Memory and memory slot, you should have a display.

If it still no display, do the elimination method. If you have two or more memory installed, test each memory one by one. If you can use a memory test software much better. If it still no display use the swapping method. Swap a compatible memory on the system unit.

3.   Remove, Clean and Test Video Card. Remove video card and clean the contacts using pencil eraser, use anti-static fluid and toothbrush to clean stains of dust in your video card IC, but make sure to dry it before installing. Clean also the video card slot (AGP or PCI-E) using paint brush then install the video card again and test. If you still have no display after cleaning, uninstall the video card then use the built-in VGA or DVI port if supported.

4. Reset the BIOS. If you still have no display after doing no 1 to 3, Try to reset the BIOS because misconfiguration in BIOS might also cause no display.

5. Remove, Clean and Re-Install Processor or Swap other Processor. 

Note: Make sure that the memory is compatible in the motherboard before installing it. 

If you successfully boot up the computer and have a display, test the memory to make sure that it is a good memory. 

How to test the memory? Click Here for the tutorial. 

HARD DRIVE RELATED PROBLEMS

Here are some of the problems related to internal Hard Drive problem. These will show on POST or Power on Self Test during Boot up process. 

BOOT DISK BOOT FAILURE. 

REBOOT AND SELECT PROPER BOOT DEVICE. 

OPERATING SYSTEM NOT FOUND. 

ATTEMPTING BOOT FROM LAN. 

How to resolve Hard Drive related problems? If you encounter these POST screen problems, here are some tips that might help to trace the real issue.

1. Access the BIOS and check if the Hard Drive is detected or present. Below is the picture of the BIOS where no drive detected, This might be the reason of Hard Drive problem.

If no Hard Drive was detected in BIOS, do the following 

2. Remove, clean and test. Remove and clean SATA/EIDE data cable and Power Connector for Hard Drive, SATA/EIDE controller using paint brush. Remember Dust might cause "Loose Contact". Then Power On to test again and if it still show No Detection of Hard Drive in BIOS,
3. Swap data cables. Swap SATA/EIDE data cable and use other SATA/EIDE controller. Data cable may be defective too. Make sure you swap Good data cable. If the Hard Drive is still not detected in BIOS,
4. Test the Hard Drive on other Unit. If the Hard Drive also fail in other unit, then you might need to replace it.


Another problem related to Hard Drive is the BSOD or Blue Scree of Death.

BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH

This will show on start-up or while the computer is in use. Here are some of the reasons;

1. Corrupted program files on Drive C.
2. Drivers (Device Software) Conflict on Device.
3. Conflict of application programs on System Software.
4. Misconfiguration of Hard Drive on BIOS.
5. Overheating of Hard Drive.

If you encouter BSOD and you want to trace if it is really the Hard Drive that cause this problem, do the following steps;

1. Make sure the Hard Drive is detected in the BIOS.
2. Check for the correct configuration of Hard Drive in BIOS.
3. Use safemode in booting and check for drivers conflict on device manager. You might also need to re-install drivers.
4. On Safemode, run Anti-Virus also to check for Viruses.

Some problems that you might encounter in Hard Disk Drive is also Software related issue and because the Operating System is saved in Hard Disk Drive, specifically Drive C, restoring the system software is one best solution. Here are some problems where the software saved inside the Hard Disk Drive is having trouble. 

 WINDOWS COULD NOT START BECAUSE THE FOLLOWING FILE IS MISSING OR CORRUPT. 

NTLDR IS MISSING

To solve Software related issue problem on Hard Disk Drive, you may do the following;

1. Access Safemode and perform check disk command. If you cannot access any user account using safemode, 
2. Use the installation disk (Operating System Software Installer) to repair or restore any damage or corrupted program files. If it will show the same problem after the repair, 
3. Restore the system using image backup if any, but if it have no system image backup, 
4. System Restore using Clean Install or Fresh Install. 



Problem: Task Manager Has Been Disabled By Your Administrator

Sometimes you need to access the Task Manager in order for you to see the programs currently running, or you need to perform other actions like forcing one applications or services to stop. We know that we could  open the Task Manager when you do one of the following:

• Pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL on the keyboard
• Pressing CTRL-SHIFT-ESC on the keyboard
• Right-click on a blank area on the start bar and choose Task Manager
• Click on Start, Run and type TASKMGR in the run box and press EnterSometimes instead of Task Manager opening you'll see the following screen. In these cases, you'll have to follow the methods below to re-enable access to the Task Manager.

The problem is, when you press CTRL + ALT + DEL to access the Task Manager, a dialog box appear showing this message....

"The Task Manager Has Been Disabled by your Administrator"

So its weird, you are the Administrator because you are the one using your computer and you did not disabled it. What happened? 

Solution no. 1:  Use the Group Policy Editor

1. Access Run, then type gpedit.msc and press enter or click OK
2. In User Configuration, Click on the plus (+) next to Administrative Templates
3. Click on the plus (+) next tSystem, then click on Ctrl+Alt+Delete Options
4. Find Remove Task Manager in the right-hand pane and double click on it
5. Choose the option "Not Configured" and click Ok. 
6. Close the Group Policy Window

Solution No. 2: Use the Run program and type the following command exactly and press Enter

REG add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableTaskMgr /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Solution No. 3: Create a Registry REG file that will enable your Task Manager

1. Open Notepad 
2. Copy and paste the information below into Notepad and save it to your desktop as enabletaskmanager.reg
3. Then double click on the taskmanager.reg file to enter the information into the Windows registry

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"DisableTaskMgr"=dword:00000000

Solution No. 4: Edit the registry manually

1. Access, Run, and type REGEDIT and press Enter
2. Access the following :  HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies\ System
3. In the right pane, find and delete the value named DisableTaskMgr
   Close the registry editor

PROBLEM: NTLDR IS MISSING

POSSIBLE CAUSE: NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM file is corrupted or deleted.

SOLUTION:

1. Boot your computer in MS Windows XP bootable CD.
2. When "Press any key to boot from the CD" message appear, press any key
3. On Windows XP setup menu press the "R" key to repair Windows.
4. Windows is usually set in  C:, and it is usually set in first option. Press the "1" key and press enter.
5. If it ask for your administrator password, enter that password.
6. What you need to do is to copy the NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM from your Windows installation disc which is located in i386 folder back to drive C. Assuming that the Installation Disc is on Drive E, type the following:

copy e:\i386\ntldr c:\
copy e:\i386\ntdetect.com c:\

If you successfully copied the two files, remove the Windows installation CD from the computer and restart your computer.

PROBLEM: Windows 7 cannot access Safe Mode. F8 not Working.

Safe mode in Windows OS is useful specially when you need to perform simple repair solution . In Windows XP safe mode is ready to access by pressing F8 during POST or Power On Self Test. In Windows 7, you need to do the following solution in order to access it.

SOLUTION: 
1. Type MSCONFIG in RUN

 2. Under Boot Tab option, Check the Safe boot Option in Boot Option and restart your computer.

Problem: The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable. 

Here is an example of drive (Local Disk (F:) which is not accessible or cannot be open. 

This problem can happen on flash drive or external hard drive. According to Microsoft, the (Master File Table [MFT] or File Allocation Table [FAT]) might be damaged.

Solution: 

Let us try to repair the damaged flash drive, external hard drive file system index using the "Chkdsk" command on command prompt. just follow the following steps:

1. Press Win + Logo + R
2. In the Run command box, type chkdsk /f :, where is the letter of the drive of the damaged flash drive, or external hard drive.
3. Click OK.

So if successful, you can access the files inside the flash drive or external hard drive. 

HOW TO DOWNLOAD THE RIGHT MOTHERBOARD DRIVERS FOR YOUR COMPUTER. 

Most of the personal computer user lost their motherboard installation disc. The Mobo drivers installation disc is needed after the operating system is installed so the following devices will have a full functionality.

1. Video Adapter (Built-in VGA/DVI port) 
2. Audio Adapter 
3. Ethernet (Network Adapter) - LAN 
4. Chipset

For laptop we have additional devices like

      5. Wireless Network Adapter - WLAN

      6. Webcam
      7.  Touchpad
      8. Bluetooth
       9. Card Reader  

If this happen the computer technician should download the drivers directly from the website of the motherboard manufacturer. One mistake in re-installing the motherboard drivers may result to computer problems like Blue Screen of Death, (BSOD) or restarting. So a computer technician must be accurate in downloading and re-installing the right motherboard drivers for the unit he is repairing. So here are the steps in downloading and installing the correct motherboard drivers. 

1. Know the system Operating System and its system type. You can get this on System Window. 

2. Know the computer motherboard manufacturer, series and model. Below is our example unit. Here the manufacturer is ACER, the series is V5 and the model is 122P

3. Go to ACER official website. The complete URL address of ACER Philippines is http://www.acer.com.ph/.

4. Most of the manufacturer have their download link of their drivers under SUPPORT link. If you could see a DOWNLOAD link already then click it.

 5. Then Click Drivers and Manual link. Most motherboard manufacturer website have their Drivers and Manual page under download link.

 5. Since Acer aspire V5-122p is an Ultra Thin type, we will click Ultra-thin link.

6. Ultra thin has only one type which is the Aspire.

 7. Under the model or products, select the Series and Model of the unit.

8. Select the Operating system running in the computer unit. In this example, we could see that Aspire V5 122p has only 2 operating system compatible with it. Here I choose Windows 8.1 64 because that is the type of system installed in this computer.

9. Now you could download the drivers needed in your laptop or desktop. In case there are 2 device with different brand, you should double check the computer information first.  Usually it is located at the back of the computer or read the sticker on Wireless LAN module.

10. Wait for the download and install it directly.

COMPUTER MOTHERBOARD DRIVERS

ACER
ASROCK
ASUS
BIOSTAR

ECS
EMAXX

HP

Gigabyte

Intel

MSI

PC Chips

Toshiba 

Samsung

SONY

HOW TO CLEAN INSTALL ANDROID OS IN A TABLET.

If the hard reset is not working for a tablet, clean install of the Operating System will be the next option. This will require the following software and files.

1. ODIN V3.09. This software will be use to re-program the tablet Operating System using the correct firmware.

DOWNLOAD ODIN HERE

2. The Tablet drivers (USB Drivers) for PC. In my example, I will be using SAMSUNG KIES since SAMSUNG GALAXY 2 7.0 model GT-P3100 is the unit I am repairing.

DOWNLOAD SAMSUNG SKIES HERE

3. The TABLET's compatible FIRMWARE. Since its GALAXY 2 7. model GT-P3100, I used torrent to download its firmware because its too large.

DOWNLOAD GALAXY 2 7. model GT-P3100 TORRENT HERE

STEPS:
1. Power off the tablet Press and hold  Volume Down and  Power button . Once it gives a warning, Press Volume UP to enter debugging mode.

2. Run ODIN as administrator  and connect the tablet (Galaxy Tab 2) to computer via USB.

3. You will see a gree or yellow color in one of the ID:COM box in ODIN software

4. Click PDA button and select the extracted file, the .tar.md5 file

5. Now make sure that options “Auto Reboot” and “F. Reset Time” is ticked in ODIN software.

6. Click on START button to begin the process.

7. The device will be restart automatically once the downloading is complete to start the re installation process.

8. After the installation is complete, the yellow colored ID:COM will turn Green. 

HOW TO GET THE MOTHERBOARD INFORMATION

DOWNLOAD POWERPOINT PRESENTATION OF MOTHERBOARD FORM FACTOR


COMMON DEPED COMPUTERIZATION PROGRAM UNITS PROBLEM  - FOR TEACHERS




NO POWER


HANG, STUCK UP, NO RESPONSE ON DCP CLIENTS

OUR DCP UNIT SET UP