Basic Trouble-Shooting Handouts
2. Shut It Down
4. Virus Check
Basic Trouble-Shooting
1. Don't Overlook the Obvious.
Check all the plugs
and cables both to and from the computer, printer, scanner, and other pieces of
hardware.
Is everything plugged in properly? Don't just look at the cables, push them in
and make sure they are completely seated. Make sure you check each cord,
including the monitor. Make sure the power cord is plugged in to the surge
suppressor; the surge suppressor is plugged into the wall.
Check that the surge suppressor and computer switches are both
in the "on" position. If it still won't power up, plug a lamp into
the surge suppressor and wall outlets to make sure they both are getting power.
Basic Trouble-Shooting
2. Shut It Down.
Shut your computer off and wait one minute before restarting. Sometimes that is all that is needed to restore a finicky, misbehaving machine to normal.
Oddly many problems can be corrected by simply rebooting your
system. Rebooting in many instances is a good place to start.
To reboot:
Exit all applications.
Perform a
shutdown on your system.
Cycle the power
to your system including peripherals. (Off, wait 10 count, on.)
After the reboot, test the system to see if the problem still
exists.
Basic Trouble-Shooting
3. Using Safe Mode.
Safe Mode is essentially a limited, or minimal version of Windows that loads when your PC is having problems. Thankfully, in many situations Windows is smart enough to know when a problem has occurred and will automatically start in Safe Mode (or at least give you the option to start in Safe Mode) the next time you restart.
The
idea of Safe Mode, however, is to let you do things like install driver updates
or make other software changes (such as changing references to start up files,
as discussed earlier) while in a familiar Windows environment. Once you’ve made
your changes, you can restart the machine and check to make sure that
everything works.
In
safe mode, the only startup programs that are loaded are the operating system
and drivers for the mouse, keyboard and standard VGA display modes. Safe mode
does not run the autoexe.bat or config.sys files. The main
portion of the Registry is not loaded
Basic Trouble-Shooting
3. Using Safe Mode. (continued)
To start Windows 95,
98, 2000, Me, or XP in safe mode:
1.On the Windows
taskbar, click Start, and then choose Shut Down.
2.Choose Restart
or Restart the Computer, and then click OK or Yes.
3.While your
computer is restarting, hold down the Ctrl key (or the F8
key in Windows 95) until the Windows Startup menu opens.
4.Use the arrow keys
to select Safe Mode and press Enter.
5.Click OK in the safe mode message window.
To
start Windows NT in VGA mode:
On the Windows
taskbar, click Start, and then choose Shut Down.
1.Choose Restart
or Restart the Computer, and then click OK or Yes.
2.Select VGA Mode
and press Enter.
If you are unable to start your computer in safe or VGA mode using the methods outlined above, try the following: for Advanced Users only please
On the Windows taskbar, click Start, and
then choose Shut Down.
1.Choose Restart
in MS-DOS mode, and then click OK.
2.Type win /d:m
and press Enter.
Basic Trouble-Shooting
4. Virus Check.
Make sure your anti-virus software is up to date and all of
those updates have been applied. Each of the major anti-virus manufacturers
usually release updates at least once a week. Download and apply these updates
as they are released. This will ensure that your software is always
"aware" of the newest virus threats. That's important since every month dozens - if not hundreds - of
new viruses are found. Older software may pick up a newer version
of an old virus but the newest, unseen viruses can sneak by and infect your
machine.
Basic Trouble-Shooting
4. Virus
Check. (continued)
After you are sure your anti-virus software is updated, do a full scan of your system to see if a virus is the cause of your trouble. Up to date anti-virus programs should take care of most viruses.
If your anti-virus program will not install or run, a virus may
have damaged your computer. Some of the newer viruses are smart enough to
disable out-of-date anti-virus software. If you can't get it to run, you may need
to bring your PC in for virus removal/repair.
Basic Trouble-Shooting
5. Find the Culprit.
If only one program is misbehaving, try reinstalling that one
program from the original installation disk. Doing this is usually safe, but it
is still a good idea to at least back up your important data, if not all of it.
Did your problem start right after you installed a new program
or device (a scanner, digital camera, printer, etc.)? If so, try removing the
program or device.
Basic Trouble-Shooting
If you’ve added anything new and your computer isn’t working
right, you can remove it. Here’s how:
To remove a program click on Start>Settings>Control Panel> and
select "Add/Remove Programs." Select the program you wish to remove
from your computer, and then click the "Add/Remove" button. When
removal is complete, you may get a message telling you to restart your computer.
If you don't get such a message, it is still a good idea to restart anyway.