(^248) PC Hardware: A Beginner’s Guide
- If you have gotten this far and still haven’t found the problem, it is not a
generic one, such as loose cards or connectors. Beyond this point, you’ll need
some tools: a Phillips screwdriver, the documentation for all of your expansion
cards, and possibly a probe or stylus or needle-nose pliers (if your cards use
switches or jumpers for their configuration settings). - If you have just installed an expansion card, start with it. If you configured the
card manually, verify the DIP switch or jumper settings against the card’s
documentation. A common error is that when you set the jumpers or switches,
the card was backward to the orientation assumed by the documentation. For
example, you (or the documentation) may have had the card upside-down. ISA
cards have configuration settings for IRQs and I/O addresses, and in some cases,
DMAs. Make sure you have set all three, as needed, to the recommended settings
in the card’s documentation. Retest the system after verifying each expansion card. - If the problem persists, it’s all or nothing time. Write down the order and slot
placement of each card in the PC and label each cable. You may want to sketch
the expansion slot area to show where the cards and cables are connected. You
should also enter the system BIOS configuration data and record all of the BIOS
settings for the PC.
Get a supply of antistatic bags or make lots of room on a clean static-free surface.
Leaving only the hard disk controller card, if one is in use, remove all of the
expansion cards from the PC. Place each card in an antistatic bag or where it will
be safe (never stack expansion cards on top of each other, whether they are in
antistatic bags or not).
Install one expansion card at a time and test the system after each card. This
procedure tries to isolate the card that is causing the problem. It’s your call, but
to test for the fault with this process, you really should put the case cover back
after installing each card. The problem could actually be something like the
card is grounding to the case. If you find the suspect card, retest it without the
case on, just to be sure.
You may need to change the system BIOS setup data to indicate that one or
more of the cards has been removed and then reconfigure the BIOS data after
it is installed using the data you recorded prior to starting this procedure.- Should you find an expansion card that causes the original problem (and not
some new problem), you may want to verify that the slot is not causing the
problem. Retest the slot with a different compatible card. - If the problem persists, it is likely that problem may be related to the
motherboard. It could also be time to contact the PC or motherboard’s
technical support folks.