(^620) PC Hardware: A Beginner’s Guide
The PC record can also come in handy when dealing with warranty issues. Your
memory and recollection of a problem will not carry as much credibility as a written jour-
nal of problems and actions relating to a particular problem or the PC in general.
When a PC problem is not apparent and needs troubleshooting, you should avoid
jumping to conclusions. Review the environment of the PC, review the PC’s record, and
answer a few simple questions and jot them down in your notebook:
When did the problem first happen? It is important to note when a problem
happens: during the boot or startup, when the PC is up and running, or during
shutdown.
Is this the first time this problem has happened? If a problem has happened
before, is there anything different about it this time?
What were you doing when the problem first showed up? The problem
could be caused by a particular application or file.
Can you re-create the problem? As any PC user knows, sometimes stuff just
happens that never shows up again. If you are unable to re-create a problem,
make a note of it, just in case it does happen again in the future.
Did you add hardware or software to the PC right before the problem
appeared? This is when most problems occur. If you have just added new
hardware or software, you can be sure the problem is related to this action
in some way. Even if everything to do with the new hardware component
or software program is perfect, you may have inadvertently dislodged a
connector or power cable or installed a different version of a system file
used by other software.
Is anything happening in the environment? For example, a blackout,
brownout, or lightning storms.
Did smoke come out of the PC or monitor? If the answer is yes, it probably
will not be difficult to find the problem. If the smoke came from the monitor,
take it to a repair shop—do not work on it yourself!If the smoke came from
inside the case, put on your ESD protection, open the case, and carefully examine
the motherboard, power supply, and expansion cards for smoke or burned marks.
If none are apparent, the best advice is to take it to a repair shop. Don’t power
it up again to see if you can re-create the smoke. You may just fry the next
component down the line.
Troubleshooting FRMs
A PC is made up of a number of larger components that can be replaced outside of the
factory. Each of these components is referred to in the PC hardware business as a field
replaceable module (FRM). Troubleshooting a PC is really an exercise in identifying
common symptoms and isolating problems on the major FRMs: