How to Troubleshoot a PC Sytem Problem

When you have a computer that is not working and you are responsible to fix it, you should approach the problems as an investigator and discoverer. Do not compound the problem through your own actions. See this problem as an opportunity to learn something new. In this how-to I will show you some of the basics in troubleshooting your PC problem.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. If the computer is not yours, interview the user. You need to know exactly what happened when the problem occurred, if valuable data is not backed up, and what you must do to reproduce the problem. Therefore, you need to know how it happened exactly so you can do whatever it is that made the problem occur to better understand how to fix it. You definitely will need to pay attention to any error messages, unusual displays or failures. These are the most important part of PC troubleshooting. If you recieve an error message especially, write it down. This includes any series of numbers or codes. Ask yourself these questions: When did the problems start? (e.g. when I booted my computer after I downloaded a neat little screen saver from the web.) What was the situation when the problem occurred? (e.g. Starting up my PC, Opening a document is MS word, Researching a project on the internet.) What program

2. Ask yourself these questions:
   - When did the problems start? (e.g. when I booted my computer after I downloaded a neat little screen saver from the web.)
   - What was the situation when the problem occurred? (e.g. Starting up my PC, Opening a document is MS word, Researching a project on the internet.)
   - What programs or software were you using? (e.g. Internet explorer, Microsoft Office...)
   - Did you move your computer system recently? (e.g. Moved my office into my bedroom.)
   - Have there been any electrical problems or thunderstorms lately?
   - Have you made any hardware, software, or configuration changes? (e.g. No, but, I think my sister did.)
   - Has someone else used your computer recently? (e.g. My son uses it all the time.)
   - Is there any important data that has not been backed up that I should know about before I begin working on the computer?
   - Can you reproduce the problem? (Do exactly what was being done when the problem occurred.

3. Back up the data.
   
   If valuable data is at stake and you have not yet backed it up, don't do anything to jeopardize it. It never hurts to back it up, but, it could hurt it if you don't do it. If the PC is working well enough to boot to the windows desktop, you can transfer files to a external hard drive to flash drive.

4. Solve the problem.
   
   You are now ready to go ahead and solve the problem. I have provided some rules to solve a problem. These are very important rules so please read carefully.
   
   
   - Establish your priorities.
   Decide what your first priority is. (e.g. it might be to recover
   lost data or to get the PC up and running as soon as possible.)
   
   - Know your starting point.
   You need to know what is in working condition on the computer and
   what is not. You need to have some basic knowledge about
   the computer, such as, what operating system is running?
   What physical components are installed? Is the PC connected to
   a network?
   
   - Approach the Problem Systematically.
   Start at the beginning of the problem and walk through the situation
   in a thorough, careful way. Stay on topic and do not jump back and
   forth between different issues. Make sure to check and double check
   all of your work before you move on to the next issue.
   
   - Make NO Assumptions!
   I cannot stress this rule enough. It is by far the most
   important rule. This is the hardest rule to follow because
   we all have a tendency to trust anything in writing. Always
   take another look just to make sure.

[Biscuit4u]

on 1/10/2009 Thanks for the very informative read.