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How To Troubleshoot Your Pc: A Hypochondriac's Guide

#1 User is offline   PCWorld 

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Posted 22 May 2012 - 05:01 PM

Post your comments for How to Troubleshoot Your PC: A Hypochondriac's Guide here
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#2 User is offline   CheriDeng 

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  Posted 23 May 2012 - 07:00 PM

so great ! thanks very much !
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#3 User is offline   Evildave 

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Posted 23 May 2012 - 07:08 PM

Step 1. Partition the drive into two parts. About 1/3 windoze boot, 2/3 data.
Step 2. Do drive image on windoze boot, back up to external media (e.g.. USB HDD). Be sure to back up your other stuff, too.
Step 3. Make new boot images as you make 'big changes'. Don't overwrite 'old' images. Back up your other stuff, too.

Now whenever anything goes wrong, restore windoze boot partition to earlier, less ruined version, and your problem is instantly solved.

Windows is always breaking down, in all kinds of ways. Don't waste even a minute trying to figure out 'why'. Who cares? It's windows. It always breaks.

It can always be fixed WITHOUT questing for a solution.

Back it up.

This post has been edited by Evildave: 23 May 2012 - 07:09 PM

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#4 User is offline   RonGraves 

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  Posted 25 May 2012 - 05:32 AM

(as evidenced by tons of icons in your tray)


Indeed - especially when they should be on the Taskbar.
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#5 User is offline   MLStrand56 

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Posted 25 May 2012 - 05:32 AM

View PostEvildave, on 23 May 2012 - 07:08 PM, said:

Step 1. Partition the drive into two parts. About 1/3 windoze boot, 2/3 data.

Does anybody still use 1 HD anymore? The Absolute Minimum should be C:\Program Drive & D:\Data Drive.

Even Old mobo's usually offer a RAID option. HD's are cheap, why not build your puter as C:\Program Drive & D:\Data Drive (RAID 1)

If you build your computer to Minimum Specs, you will get Minimum Performance!!!!

MLStrand56
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#6 User is offline   germanogre 

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  Posted 25 May 2012 - 05:36 AM

Try inserting the Windows disc and rebooting. It can fix itself sometimes.

Ran into that issue when removing a failing backup hard drive. That drive contained the boot loader file, even though Windows was on the other drive.
Windows fixed itself in about 2 min.
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#7 User is offline   LostHearts 

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  Posted 25 May 2012 - 05:39 AM

One other thing regarding a flickering monitor or one that goes black-Before we recently moved our monitor would sometimes flicker on and off or suddenly go black. My first thought was that my refurb was finally dying.

However, when I would play around with the cable that connected to the back of the monitor, it would come on again. So I thought "new cable needed".

After we moved this problem never happened again. My idea is that the monitor's cable was somehow being slightly pulled by or jostled by another of our many cables that were on the floor. Upon moving we set up everything more neatly and voila! the monitor never acted up again.

Point of this over long post is to also check not only the monitor's connection to the PC, but also the other end that attaches to the monitor. You never know!
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#8 User is offline   porcupins 

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Posted 25 May 2012 - 08:43 AM

View PostEvildave, on 23 May 2012 - 07:08 PM, said:


Windows is always breaking down, in all kinds of ways. Don't waste even a minute trying to figure out 'why'. Who cares? It's windows. It always breaks.

It can always be fixed WITHOUT questing for a solution.



Anyone with an unbiased perspective knows this isnt the case anymore. What is this? 2006? Still using Vista?

You speak like a Mac ad. "Oh, windoze always break blah blah blah".

Grow up. Most of these problems are made by hardware or human errors.
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#9 User is offline   Evildave 

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Posted 25 May 2012 - 12:44 PM

No, this is still the case, and will ALWAYS be the case with any OS: It can always be fixed WITHOUT questing for a solution.

IF YOU BACK IT UP.

Unfortunately, so many people get stuck on attacking the messenger, they overlook the message.

BACK IT UP.

BTW, millions of people are still using XP and SHISTA. Windoze 7 can still be borked. Lots of people do it, every day.
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#10 User is offline   rdchas 

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Posted 25 May 2012 - 01:41 PM

View PostEvildave, on 23 May 2012 - 07:08 PM, said:

Step 1. Partition the drive into two parts. About 1/3 windoze boot, 2/3 data.
Step 2. Do drive image on windoze boot, back up to external media (e.g.. USB HDD). Be sure to back up your other stuff, too.
Step 3. Make new boot images as you make 'big changes'. Don't overwrite 'old' images. Back up your other stuff, too.

Now whenever anything goes wrong, restore windoze boot partition to earlier, less ruined version, and your problem is instantly solved.

Windows is always breaking down, in all kinds of ways. Don't waste even a minute trying to figure out 'why'. Who cares? It's windows. It always breaks.

It can always be fixed WITHOUT questing for a solution.

Back it up.



So, when my hard drive fails, or the power supply dies, it's because of Windows?
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#11 User is offline   Evildave 

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Posted 25 May 2012 - 02:44 PM

You were asking for help with your poor reading comprehension?
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#12 User is offline   porcupins 

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Posted 25 May 2012 - 04:38 PM

Some guy keeps saying we need to do a back up.
Yeah, we got that. To be fair, that's a great advice.

But what is stupid are the unnecessary hate directed toward Microsoft. Windows "Shista"? Really? The problems were long fixed by the service packs.
Everyone can read between the lines. Behind the "Back it up" message lies a dripping unreasonable hate for Microsoft. So immature.

Less ruined version? So it was ruined in the first place? Haters will say yes. Reasonable people will say no, unless you are still living in 2006 and using the raw version of vista.

"Windows is always breaking down, in all kinds of ways".

Like have said, a lot of these problems are hardly the fault of Windows. Most are hardware and human error.

Even the problem of getting a virus is the fault of the user, not the OS. So people would say, "it's Microsoft's job to make things secure". That's not really easy considering literally hundreds and thousands of hackers and virus makers are out there targetting the OS.

Does his message about backing your data and the OS' eventual breakdown have sense? Sure.
But the dripping personal hate is just childish.
-----

So many people get stuck attacking Windows, they overlook the weakest link- the user.
It wouldn't simply break down on it's own. You must have done something wrong. I don't care if you can "fix it without question for a solution", but don't blame the OS for every error you get.

Im done here. Goodnight.

This post has been edited by porcupins: 25 May 2012 - 05:07 PM

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#13 User is offline   porcupins 

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Posted 25 May 2012 - 04:42 PM

View PostEvildave, on 25 May 2012 - 02:44 PM, said:

You were asking for help with your poor reading comprehension?


This is from the same guy who said something like "so many people get stuck on attacking the messenger, they overlook the message".

Hypocrite, eh?
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#14 User is offline   Evildave 

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Posted 25 May 2012 - 05:07 PM

Nah, though your childish trolling with a scratch account is amusing for its lack of subtlety, it is ultimately kind of pathetic.
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#15 User is offline   porcupins 

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Posted 25 May 2012 - 05:14 PM

View PostEvildave, on 25 May 2012 - 05:07 PM, said:

Nah, though your childish trolling with a scratch account is amusing for its lack of subtlety, it is ultimately kind of pathetic.


Right. Because having more posts and staying in this site longer gives you more sense. /sarcasm

Again, the guy who complains about people attacking the messenger calls me a troll with a newb account. Hypocrisy at it's best.

Goodnight. I have to sleep so I can troll again tomorrow. /more sarcasm

This post has been edited by porcupins: 25 May 2012 - 05:15 PM

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#16 User is offline   Evildave 

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Posted 25 May 2012 - 05:55 PM

Nope, having few posta and doing nothing but pick fights with them usually means it's an account custom made for attacking.
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#17 User is offline   artzy65 

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Posted 25 May 2012 - 06:09 PM

View Postrdchas, on 25 May 2012 - 01:41 PM, said:

So, when my hard drive fails, or the power supply dies, it's because of Windows?

When hardware fails mechanically, that's no fault of any given OS.. like if your car gets a flat tire it's no fault of the engine. Just make sure you have a spare tire in the trunk.

Don't panic if your computer conks out and you don't have your files backed up. A year ago my G5 Mac croaked and I was unable to boot the system... I kept getting a kernel panic. So I used Target Disk mode (hooking my G4 PowerBook to the G5 via a Firewire cable), and was able to access the G5. In the meantime, I was able to continue along with a web site design, since I had the same versions of Adobe creative software on my Powerbook, and all files backed up there (on CDs as well, and on an external drive). I eventually bought a Mac Mini to replace the G5 Tower; it was time to go Intel anyway, so I'm glad the G5 croaked :-)

Certainly Windows must have similar rescue methods. Also, it's always helpful to have an extra computer in your setup.

This post has been edited by artzy65: 25 May 2012 - 06:32 PM

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#18 User is offline   mjd420nova 

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Posted 25 May 2012 - 07:43 PM

My experiences (personal) have all been with a failure on the motherboards(6) after six years of flawless operation. With an external unit to mount the old drive, all data was recovered with minimum hassle. I suppose that this might make me complacent but I still back up everything, twice. Once after the original install or starting configuration and a full back up of added data weekly with a complete backup yearly. This might seem overkill to someone but so much is irreplaceable you have to protect yourself. rossing my fingers, hard drives have never failed for me and only a few for clients. Those few were recovered by replacing the control boards on the drive itself and returned to full operation.
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#19 User is offline   LiveBrianD 

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Posted 25 May 2012 - 07:54 PM

View PostEvildave, on 25 May 2012 - 12:44 PM, said:

No, this is still the case, and will ALWAYS be the case with any OS: It can always be fixed WITHOUT questing for a solution.

IF YOU BACK IT UP.

Unfortunately, so many people get stuck on attacking the messenger, they overlook the message.

BACK IT UP.

BTW, millions of people are still using XP and SHISTA. Windoze 7 can still be borked. Lots of people do it, every day.


And as you always conveniently ignore, so can OS X and Linux.
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#20 User is offline   LiveBrianD 

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Posted 25 May 2012 - 07:58 PM

View Postartzy65, on 25 May 2012 - 06:09 PM, said:

When hardware fails mechanically, that's no fault of any given OS.. like if your car gets a flat tire it's no fault of the engine. Just make sure you have a spare tire in the trunk.

Don't panic if your computer conks out and you don't have your files backed up. A year ago my G5 Mac croaked and I was unable to boot the system... I kept getting a kernel panic. So I used Target Disk mode (hooking my G4 PowerBook to the G5 via a Firewire cable), and was able to access the G5. In the meantime, I was able to continue along with a web site design, since I had the same versions of Adobe creative software on my Powerbook, and all files backed up there (on CDs as well, and on an external drive). I eventually bought a Mac Mini to replace the G5 Tower; it was time to go Intel anyway, so I'm glad the G5 croaked :-)

Certainly Windows must have similar rescue methods. Also, it's always helpful to have an extra computer in your setup.


Unfortunately, they don't. If your situation had occurred with Windows machines, you would've had to put the internal hard drive in another desktop or use an external enclosure to recover the files, boot the computer off a linux liveCD to copy the files off, or simply reinstall the OS on the same partition and copy your documents out of the Windows.OLD folder (this won't work with a recovery disc though). Ditto for linux. I'm not saying I support Macs or anything, I'm just being factual. (unlike someone here...)
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