Be Maintenance Conscious
//-->Sunday, July 23, 2006
Be Maintenance Conscious
Monday, July 17, 2006
Computer System Maintenance
Computer maintenance should be taken seriously if the life span is
to be prolonged.Computer system being a working tool for most businessowners both Online and Offline, should not be pushed aside as a mere
continuous working tool.
Maintenance culture should be adopted by all users, knowing well this
is the tool that facilitate ones work.
Preventative-Maintenance
This an act of preventing premature breakdown of a Computer
Steps to be taken to prevent early breakdown are as follows
Do give your Computer room to breathe:it has to have access to fresh air
so that the fan can keep the electronic working.
Do not block the air vents by stacking books or magazines over the back
of the Computer.
Do keep the Computer dry.
Do not eat or drink while using your Computer: crumbs can clog up
your keyboard. A split cup of Coffee/Tea can reck your Computer and
cause a loss of all the files stored on the Computer.
Do not expose your Computer to extreme temperatures.
Do shut down the Computer in an orderly fashion, by systematically
closing the applications you have opened.
Do not just switch it off or pull the plug from the socket.
Do keep diskettes away from the screen: the strong magnetic field
generated by the sreen, especially sreen with cathode ray tube, may
erase or change some of the data.
Do not move the system unit while the Computer is in operation- you
risk damaging the hard disk drive.
Do check for viruses regularly. It is not just important that data could be
lost if your computer is infected with viruses, the performance of your
Computer can be seriously affected. Investing in a decent up-to-date
anti-virus package especially by downloading from the Internet, should
be welcomed.
Keep your hard disk free of unwanted files. Take note of software not used
regularly and get rid of them. They likes, occupy space and does not help in
Computer performance.
Check device manager from time to time: This can be accessed by, right
clicking on My Computer from your desktop, click on Properties, click
on Hardware tap then click on device manager. If any component is not
working properly you will see a red cross covers the icon for the component.
For a simpler problem, a yellow exclamation mark covers the icon.
What you need to do here is to insert the system driver (CD Rom) that came with
your computer motherboard and run auto installation program to correct the anomalies. But first right click on your mouse to update on the icon then insert the cd rom.
Run scan disk regularly, this takes a look at your hard disk and reports any physical problem plus any file that have become problematic. This is done
using Anti-virus software installed on your Computer
Run Defragmentation regularly: This utility moves files on your hard disk to free
up space, making the hard disk work more efficiently. Defragmentation
should be run every few months, or more if you install and uninstall a lot of software. To access this go to your desktop by clicking on
Start-----Program----Accessaries----System tools---Defragmentation. As soon
as the page opens, click on defragmentation to begin.
Run Disk clean-up utility: this helps to control hard disk. It takes a look at
all the applications packages and recommends uninstalling any that have not been used for a while. Steps in doing this,
From the desktop, click on Start-----program---Accessaries--- System tools-- Disk clean-up.
Driver disks and manuals that came with the Computer should be kept in a safe place where handy should there be future need for them, such as maintenance.
General Trouble Shooting On Your Computer System
This is an act of detecting the causes of faults and finding solutions to them
on your Computer and its peripherals(accessaries).The discussion will narrow in on symptoms, causes and remedies.
Symptoms
Computer or other equipment turns on and seems to function, but there is no
power light indication.
Cause
Burnt out power lamp or LED.
Remedy
Where feasible, remove old power supply unit and substitute with an exact
unit.
Symptoms
Disk drive door jammed(either opened or closed)
Cause
Disk is jammed inside due to faulty spring mechanism
Remedy
Remove drive from enclosure and inspect for problem.
If a door part is jammed inside, try to free it. Several door-latching and disk
ejecting mechanisms are in use. Determine the "Logic" of yours and work
accordingly. For example there may be a hook designed to release a return
spring that is supposed to kick the disk pathway out of the drive slot. The hook
or the latch may be bent enough to prevent ejection. If the mechanism is not
broken a little twinddling may fix it.
Symptoms
Disk cannot be inserted.
Cause
Another disk is already in place. Latch mechanism is faulty. Head is being held
down by head loading solenoid.
Remedy
Remove offending disk. Check condition of latching mechanism. Fix if Possible, turn off computer system and reboot. If head loading solenoid is okay, the head will release and disk can be removed or inserted.
Symptoms
Disk cannot be removed.
Cause
Either two disks are jammed together or there is defective latch mechanism.
Also, head is held down by head loading solenoid.
Remedy
Remove jammed disks. You may have to open drive to accomplish this. Check and repair latch mechanism. Reboot your system to release head solenoid.
Symptom
Various disk related error messages appear during computing session.
Causes
Defective diskette or defective software or electronic/eletrical/mechanical problem as discussed before.
Remedy
Reboot the system, if this proves fruitless, reboot with a good copy of software
for the computer.
Symptom
Computer seems to be working but video display unit is blank.
Causes
User video controls (contrast and /or brightness) turned down too far.
Monitor power is loosed is disconnected.
Power switch is swicthed off.
Video cable is disconnected or defective.
Blown fuse.
Remedy
Readjust the contrast and brightness control to suitable level.
Check the apprioprate cables to ensure they are rigtly in good position,
For blown fuse, give your system to a technician for replacement.
Symptom
Computer is running , power supply unit and monitor power indicator are on but nothing is displaying on the monitor.
Cause
The system has enter hibernation for labtop users, or the cmos
jumper pin calls for resetting.
Remedy
Shut down for while before restarting(laptop).
Open the system unit and reset the jumper pin to abnormal position( 5-15secs)
before setting to normal position . Then reboot to refresh the system.
Symptom
Computer system is huming.
Cause
Processor fan is clogged due to dirt.
Power supply fan is clogged due to dirty.
Remedy
Listen to ensure the loaction of the noise.
When you are certain, shut down the system unit and Open it.
If either of the fan is involved use a blower to remove the dirts from the fan.
If it is difficult then replace with another fan(for processor) or power supply unit if it is the fan.
Symptom
Your computer system is rebooting continuously.
Cause
This may be due to virus attack.
Power leak on the motherboard.
Remedy
Scan your computer with the latest anti-virus software.
Replace the motherboard.
Symptom
Your computer reboot and stops half way.
Cause
It may be due to faulty boot sector on your hard disk drive.
It may be due to faulty floppy or cdrom drives.
Faulty RAM(ramdom access memory) may be also responsible.
Remedy
Reformat the hard disk and reinstall all the program softwares if you cannot fix the boot sector using disk utility software.
Replace the floppy or cdrom or RAM.
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