PC Repair and Maintenance: A Practical Guide (Charles River Media Networking/Security)

Basic Repairs that Might Help (and Couldn't Hurt)

There are certain simple things to try with a malfunctioning computer that can save a great deal of time if they work:

• Check for power.

• Reboot (after removing the floppy).

• If the computer is locked up, you'll have to turn off the power, wait 30 seconds, and turn it back on. On ATX systems, which have a soft power switch, holding down the power button for at least four seconds will almost always shut the computer off.

• Boot from a boot floppy.

• Reinstall or roll back a device driver.

• Reseat expansion cards.

• Disconnect and reconnect connections.

• Clean adapter card contacts with a pencil eraser.

• Replace the power supply.

• Run ScanDisk and Defrag.

• Check Windows Device Manager.

• Check for a software patch or update, or update hardware's firmware.