HOW I RESOLVED
A
COMPUTER FAILURE?
Well, it finally happened! My computer died on me, after
using it for a
couple of years to write this website and for other things, both
personal and business.
I was getting ready to sit down at the PC to start
another page of the
website, and nothing happened on the screen when I moved the mouse. If
I had the computer itself to use as a troubleshooting tool for this
computer failure, I might have used "Microsoft fix it", or some
computer help forums, or some other
software utility as a diagnostic. Also, I might have looked else ware
for someone to help fix my computer for free, but I decided to do it
myself. The
first thing that I checked in resolving this computer failure was to
see if there was anything obviously
wrong with the computer. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, I
powered down, and then powered up; in order to see if this would
straighten out the situation and eliminate the possibility that the
computer will not turn on. Of course, this didn’t solve my problem.
Now it was time to take a more serious look at the computer failure. I
removed
the covers and began to troubleshoot the computer. After determining
that the operating system was not loading; it was easy to see that the hard drive had failed.
Using my computer shopping resources
I ordered a new 500 Gigabyte hard drive from one of the online
computer stores, and
in a few days it arrived. When I tried to install the new HDD, the
computer would not recognize it. My problem was either that I had
gotten a bad drive from the vendor, or something was wrong on my motherboard. Usually new
components are pretty good, so I began to question the motherboard.
While I couldn’t use the C: drive as a
troubleshooting tool, I was able to run diagnostics from the DVD drive.
This showed up as a motherboard failure in the hard drive controller.
Would you believe it? I was able to find an exact
replacement for my
five year old motherboard. The price was a little high, and it didn’t
have the newer technology that I wanted; so I began to look for other
options. After
searching through our online sources, I found a barebones computer
package that contained; a computer case with a 450 watt PSU, a
motherboard, a 2.7 GHz dual core CPU, and two Gigs of ram. The
only thing I had to add
was the new hard drive that I just purchased, and all the other
peripherals from my old system. Best of all, this package only cost a
few dollars more than the replacement motherboard.
As soon as this package arrived, I began the assembly
process with the
hard drive that I bought the week before, and my original peripherals.
When everything was complete and thoroughly checked, I began the power
up testing. As soon as I was satisfied that the hardware was working
perfectly I added the original hard drive back to the computer to see
if truly had malfunctioned. It still did not work, and I could
discard it without being concerned.
At this point, it was time to begin the time consuming
task of loading
the operating system,
all of the programs with their updates, all of
the downloads necessary to be creative, as well as all of the data that
I had backed up so carefully. After hours of work my computer was
finally back to being a useful tool, and allowed me to once again start
building my website.
The final job is the disassembly of the old computer to
see if I can
salvage any components, cables, screws, nuts, clips, etc. Anything not
usable was discarded.
Whenever I complete a project like this one; I like to
reflect on it,
and see how I might have handled this computer failure differently,
perhaps better. I was
reasonably good at finding the hard drive problem, but, I should have
found the bad motherboard problem sooner. It was a good decision to
purchase a barebones kit. But, if I had run diagnostics on the
motherboard sooner, I would have found a better deal and ordered the
barebones kit with a hard drive. The assembly went smooth enough; it is
a slow tedious process that requires great care. When it comes to the
testing it requires making sure that each component is working
properly. Its a good thing that I know how to fix my computer, but one
should not be afraid of asking for help.
If you would like to comment, or add any
information to
this computer failure page, please do so. Use the Contact
Us form and we will respond as
quickly as possible. If you would like to ask any questions, use the Questions
and Answers
form and an answer will be provided.
Return
from this page computer failure to Repair my Computer.
Return
from this page to Build a computer home page.
|
