Do you know what an electronics technician’s most useful tool is? A digital voltmeter? An oscilloscope? Nope. It is an eraser. Yes, an eraser. They use the eraser to clean off contact points on circuit cards, switches, and cable connectors. That is where most of the problems occur, with the connectors.
When I was in college, getting a degree in electronics, one professor warned us that it is the natural tendency of many electronics technicians to automatically assume a given problem is complex (just like us computer users) and start testing circuits with an oscilloscope. Yet after a lot of wasted time they find the problem was the power wasn’t turned on, or there was a bad on/off switch, or there was just a dirty connector at the input.
Always remember, when dealing with electronics and computers the majority of problems can be solved simply. Most problems can be solved by a simple reboot, or replacing a cable, or replacing the power module. Try doing the simple tests / fixes first. Remember this, and you’ll save a lot of time – and likely avoid reformatting your hard drive.
All right, back to the example. Let’s say that the last time you used the computer it worked fine. And you just used it to check email and then did a proper shutdown. And now Windows won’t load. What now? Start with the simple possibilities.
First ask who might be responsible. Check with anyone else who uses your computer – did they make any changes? Or have problems? Ask them. You might find a relative, with just enough knowledge to be dangerous, altered the BIOS settings via instructions from their IT friend at work. Or maybe they had a problem, and tried a diagnostic CD you had lying around (keep those CDs hidden) and tried to fix the computer themselves. They ended with a DOS prompt and they typed FDISK which they thought meant “fix disk”.
Second, list out all the possible causes of the problem you’re experiencing. Anything you can think of – simple or complex. In fact, write them out on a sheet of paper. I would also suggest calling a few computer literate friends and using another computer to post on http://forum.pcmech.com for any ideas. Doing a search of the internet “Windows not loading” is often helpful. In the case of Windows not loading, the list might look like this:
POSSIBLE CAUSES OF WINDOWS NOT LOADING:
The motherboard is bad – problem with the hard drive controller
The hard drive isn’t running
The data / boot sector / the Windows program on the hard drive is bad
The connector to the hard drive is bad
The BIOS is set to not boot from the hard drive
The BIOS battery had failed, settings have been lost or scrambled
There is a bootable or semi-bootable CD in the CD drive
There is a bootable floppy in the floppy drive
There is one time glitch in the computer boot process
Power source
OK, now start testing these possibilities, trying the simplest ones first. First you would check the CD and floppy drives to make sure they’re empty. Then you would try to reboot the computer. A reboot is simple enough to do and it solves many problems. Always try a simple reboot first. The exception would be if there were other problems, like the hard drive making lots of noise, or if there was a burning smell.
After checking for disks in the CD and floppy drives and rebooting, if the problem still exists, try the other simple solutions. Check the connector to the hard drive. Make sure the metal connectors are clean and the connector is attached solid. You might then check the BIOS settings and the BIOS memory battery. In most cases you’ll find the problem is due to a simple cause that you can fix easily.
One thing that can cause weird and intermit problems on many computers is the internal power source. An out of spec voltage, or a voltage that varies, or a small voltage ripple, can cause problems that look like overheating, hard drive, or even software problems. On many computers the voltage is displayed during boot [you might have to disable the Windows screen to see this]. And they now have voltage alarms built in. Still, if you can’t find any other problem, swapping the power section might be a good idea.
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