*** Any suggestion provided here are performed at users’ own risk and CEC will not be held responsible for any mishaps, damages, warranty, or losses (including data). ***
SYSTEM WILL NOT START
No power or lights come on
Check to make sure there is power to the power supply. (Plug cable into monitor to check)
Make sure mouse and keyboard are plugged into the correct ports.
Disconnect all cables to pc except power cord. (Plug power cord in securely)
Check that the voltage selector switch on power supply is set to 110/115/120.
Turn the power switch on power supply to on. Press (O down is off, I down is on)
Press the power then reset to see if system will start.
Bring system in for service and have the following checked by a technician.
Check power supply.
Remove memory.
Remove all adapter cards.
Disconnect all data cables to drives.
Disconnect power switch, reset, leds, & speaker from mainboard.
Disconnect all remaining connections to mainboard except power supply and cpu fan.
Remove mainboard from case and remove cpu and cpu fan.
Check all jumpers on mainboard.
No video display
Is the indicator light on (amber) showing that the monitor has power?
Remove all disks from drives.
Try turning monitor off and back on then power pc on.
Check that the voltage selector switch on power supply is set to 110/115/120.
Disconnect all cables to pc except power cord and video.
Check pins on end of video cable and reconnect.
Turn up brightness and contrast on monitor.
Press the power then reset button to see if system will light.
Bring system in for service and have the following checked by a technician.
Check memory. (Try a different slot.)
Reset CMOS
Remove all adapter cards except video.
Check video card.
Check power supply.
Disconnect all data cables to drives.
Disconnect power switch, reset, leds & speaker from mainboard.
Disconnect all remaining connections to mainboard except power supply and cpu fan.
Remove mainboard and cpu from case.
Check cpu and cpu fan.
Check all jumpers on mainboard.
OPERATING SYSTEM
OS will not start to load/boot.
Clear the CMOS
Set first boot device priority to boot from cd drive.
Use original windows cd in drive.
Windows will not complete the installation.
This type of problem can be caused by almost any component of your computer system.
Clear the CMOS
Check that cd and cd drive is ok. (use original windows cd)
Check for bios update.
Low level format drive (0 fill drive.)
Change drive configuration from master to cable select, vise versa.
Check all hardware starting with memory.
System needs to be brought in and analyzed by a technician.
System displays NTLDR error when restarting system.
Remove all disks from system
Reset boot sequence to boot from proper device.
Releoad NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM files.
Check BOOT.INI and NTBOOTDD.SYS files.
(Refer to Microsoft documentation on NTLDR errors.)
Make sure the latest revision of the BIOS is installed.
Perform windows repair option in setup.
System will not start after loading windows.
Remove all disks from drives
Start system in safe mode, and then restart windows.
Relocate adapter cards to different slot.
Clear the CMOS
Reset the ESCD in the BIOS
System startup is real slow, freezing, rebooting or crashing
Check for hard drive space or defrag hard drive
Check to see if BIOS is searching for a device not installed on system.
Check network connection.
Start system up in selective mode
Try running system in safe mode
Check for spy ware, ad ware or virus
See individual component troubleshooting for addition suggestions on this topic.
COMPONENT TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE
*When troubleshooting components, all items need to be removed from system case and tested individually on a proper test bench.
POWER SUPPLY
Check power supply switch and set to proper voltage.
Momentarily short ps_on pin with common ground pin on atx plug.
(power supply should start up)
MOTHER BOARD
No power
Set up only the mainboard and power supply on test bench.
Connect only power supply to mainboard.
Momentarily short power switch pins on mainboard.
(power supply should start on most mainboards else install cpu and retry)
System freezes
Check for updated mainboard chipset drivers, e.g. Intel, Via
Check for bios updates
CPU
Will not light up.
Set up the mainboard, power supply, video adapter, memory, cpu, heat sink and fan on test bench.
Reset CMOS.
Check memory.
Check video card.
Check heat sink fan
Check clock settings and voltages.
Check system for safe recovery of bios
System starts then stops.
Set up mainboard, power supply, CPU, heat sink and fan on test bench.
Make sure that heat sink and fan are installed correctly.
Check heat sink fan.
Check clock settings and voltages.
Cpu speed/id is not correct.
Check mainboard fsb jumpers.
Check fsb settings in bios.
Check for mainboard BIOS update.
MEMORY
System will not detect memory size.
Does system support memory installed. (Speed, size, ECC, non ECC, single or double density)
Is memory allocated to another device (Eg. on board video)
System freezes / reboots
Check for intermitten power supply failure.
Run memory stress test
Is memory compatible with installed memory?
Check that memory is compatible with mainboard (especially PC3200 and above)
Check for mainboard BIOS update.
Check BIOS memory voltage/timing. (e.g. 2.6v, latency)
If more than one piece, try memory in different slots or by itself.
VIDEO CARD
*Before installing new video card remove old driver and install standard vga driver then shutdown.
Remove adapter or disable onboard video adapter.
No Video
Make sure video card is seated properly and no bent pins on the vga cable.
Try turning monitor off and back on then power pc on.
Check for a suitable power supply.
Check for latest BIOS update.
Check bios voltage settings
Does mainboard support video card e.g. 2x, 4x, 8x, 1.5.1.6.1.7 volts.
Is the memory installed in the right slot for onboard video? (Usually dimm slot 1)
Flashing cursor or no video in windows
Start windows in safe mode
Check monitor setting in device manager
Reset video refresh rate and resolution for monitor
Start windows in safe mode and remove all video drivers.
Reinstall proper video card driver.
Video displays garbage
Incompatibility or bad memory on card if displaying garbage before windows starts.
Start windows in safe mode and remove all video drivers.
Reinstall proper video card driver. (Check for manufacturer update or chipset mnfg update)
System freezes/reboots/crashes
Does the mainboard support AGP 2.0 specifications?
Check for a suitable power supply.
Disable the background (TSR's) programs before running any 3D applications.
Try running system in selective startup mode. (disable startup items)
Make sure video adapter is not sharing an IRQ other than IRQ holder for PCI steering.
Update your mainboard bios, chipset & controller drivers.
Try reload chipset & controller drivers after installing video drivers.
Reinstall proper video card driver. (Check manufacturer for updated video and agp controller drivers)
Check for updated directx and patches for applications.
Run video memory test.
See manufactures website regarding this issue (Nvidia, Sis, Ati, Ali, Amd, Intel etc.)
Try reformat and a clean install. (This will delete all your information stored on hard drive)
FLOPPY DRIVE
Bios does not detect floppy drive.
Check that the drive controller is enabled.
Check the drive power and data cables.
Cannot format/read disks
Check for proper format size of disk.
Perform a full format.
Try another disk.
Restart system.
Windows does not see floppy drive
Check that the bios detects drive.
Use most recent motherboard controller drivers.
HARD DRIVE
Drive does not spin up
Check power and data cables
Check for green, power or energy management.
Try another controller.
Cannot format the drive.
Partition hard drive
Low level format the hard drive (0 fill).
Run manufacturer's diagnostic program.
Contact manufacturer.
Bios does not see drive(s).
Check that drive controller is enabled in bios.
Check drives power and data cable. (ultra ata hard drive cable) (pin 1 to pin1)
Check drive jumper settings (especially with master/slave combinations), try cable select.
Run manufacturer's installation program to install drive.
Bios limitation
Try drives on another controller.
Contact manufacturer
Windows does not detect drive(s).
Check that bios detects drive(s)
Load proper Sata controller driver when installing windows.
Format and partition drive
Check windows disk manager. (Right click My Computer, Manage)
System freezes loading OS.
Run manufacturer's diagnostics to check hard drive.
Low level format the hard drive. (0 fill)
Contact manufacturer.
DRIVE CAPACITIES
System hangs or will only detect 32 GB
Check bios may only support up to 32 GB
Window XP and 2000 have a limit of 32 GB for FAT32
Use NTFS for larger capacities
Check the drive for a capacity limit jumper
(use convert.exe to convert FAT32 to NTFS)
System will only detect 137 GB
Use windows 2000 w/SP3 or XP w/SP1 or higher
Update harddrive controller drivers (Intel)
Install pci contoller ultra ata controller card
Use manufacturer installation software
Fdisk only sees 64 GB.
Download the patch from Microsoft *Q263044
System does not report full capacity of drive.
Different systems report capacity in binary vs. decimal
e.g. 1gb binary = 1,048,576 bytes
e.g. 1gb decimal = 1,000,000 bytes
CD DRIVES
Bios will not detect drive(s).
Older drives may not be atapi compatible.
Check that drive controller is enabled in bios.
Check the drive power and data cable. (pin 1 to pin 1)
Check drive jumper settings (especially with master/slave combinations), try cable select.
Try drives on another drive controller.
Windows does not detect drive(s)
Check that bios detects drive(s)
Redetect hardware in windows.
Check windows disk manager (Right click My Computer, Manage)
DVD/CDRW DRIVES
Bios does not detect drive(s)
See CD Drives above
Software will not detect drive.
Check that bios detect drive.
Make sure Windows XP sp1 or higher is installed
Check properties of writer to see recording tab.
Update software to support drive.
Try using burning software that came with your drive.
Cannot not burn DVD/cd.
Check UDMA/PIO mode
Update mainboard chipset drivers.
Make sure Windows XP sp1 or higher is installed
Enable CD recording on drive (check recording tab under properties).
Ensure hard drive has enough space for recording. (1 GB or more)
Defragment hard drive
Burn image to hard drive first
Disable all TSR's (e.g. update programs, msn, winamp).
Perform a full erase on RW media.
When burning audio cds try and eliminate the 2 sec gap between songs.
Set drive as a master on the secondary channel.
Try burning software that came with your writer.
Try burning at a slower speed.
Try burning a different project with different media.
Check for firmware update from manufacturer.
NETWORK (LAN)
System will not start.
Try network card in a different slot.
Disable any onboard LAN adapters.
Check assigned NIC Mac address.
Remove all other adapters.
NIC will not connect.
Check all cable connections
Load proper driver for lan card.
Check for updated drivers from manufacturer
Run ipconfig (release/renew)
Limited or no connectivity
See above
Remove firewall affecting connection
See http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=892896
Run the Microsoft patch (KB884020) for SP2
MODEM
System will not start.
Try modem card in a different slot.
Disable any onboard modem/riser adapters.
Remove all other adapters except video.
Modem will not connect.
Check all cable connections
Load proper driver for modem card.
Check for updated drivers from manufacturer
Check windows modem diagnostics in control panel
Check dialup with hyperterminal.
SOUND CARD
*Remove existing sound/game drivers from system before removing or disabling device.
System does not detect card
Check plug & play in bios, auto/manual
Assign another IRQ to sound
Try another slot
Remove all other adapters except video
No Sound or Distorted
Make sure volume is not muted
Disable onboard sound/game ports in BIOS.
Make sure front audio left and right outputs are jumpered.
Install sound drivers.
Check for new manufacturer's updates.
Try another IRQ/DMA channel
Check for mainboard compatibility issues. e.g. Via 686B & Creative SB Live. (set latency to 0)
ROUTERS
Cannot connect
Make sure you are using compatible standards IEEE 802.11b vs. IEEE 802.11g (super g)
Perform a hardware reset usually found on the router.
Check that cables are good and properly connected. (Try cable first over wireless)
Many problems can be solved by powering off your equipment and restart modem, router and the pc in order. Wait for each device to completely power on before starting the next.
Check the ISP parameters make sure they match in the router settings
Windows operating systems such as Windows XP and Windows 2003 tend not to have IRQ conflicts. However, they are common in Windows 95 and Windows 98.
Reset MAC address
Disable conflicting firewalls, Windows firewall,Antivirus,Norton,Zonealarm etc. Routers will do a better job.
Performance & Connectivity
Check for virus and spyware
Check for frequency interference from microwaves, radios, phones etc. (wireless)
Microsoft published a long list of software problems for XP SP2 see: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=884130
Disable IEEE 802.1x authentication for network if using Windows XP SP1
Update the routers firmware,utilities and drivers. (Eg. Utility to improve wireless MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit).
For routers with the following features:
Set the Transmit Threshold on slower computers
You may find that you can get higher speeds with Ad-Hoc mode for certain chipsets.
WIRELESS KEYBOARD & MOUSE
Make sure batteries are installed and in good working order
Remove any 3rd party keyboard/mouse drivers installed on system
Synchronize the receiver with the keyboard/mouse (may take several attempts)
