Diagnosing Your Computer

When your computer fails, there can be many causes and you must determine what 
failed by using a little common sense and process of elimination.

1  Check power cables including surge protector.

2  Check the connection between the computer and the monitor. We have found
   the following: the connection came loose; the cat or a mouse chewed it.

3  Determine whether the computer or monitor is the problem.
   ("no screen" can be either, and the pilot lite of the monitor can be misleading)

         Static Electricity is Damaging to Your Computer - Take Care!

4  Did you recently add something inside or have you recently moved the 
   computer. Cables inside come loose and cards also work loose. Memory also
   comes loose or pops out of sockets. Check these next. Reseat expansion cards 
   in slots. Check the power supply connections from the power supply.   

5  If your computer is completely dead, determine next which component inside 
   is the cause: power supply, serial/parallel, controller, hard drive, etc.
   
6  Pull out all cards except the video display card and see if the computer 
   comes to life. If you now get a display on your monitor and didn't before,
   one of the cards you pulled is probably the cause. Drive controllers and 
   serial/parallel cards are very likely suspects. Determine which is the
   fault if it came back to life. If it didn't come back to life, proceed
   below.

7  If you now at this point still appear to have a dead computer,  your 
   motherboard or memory is suspect. If your controllers or I/O is part 
   of the motherboard, there is usually little you can do as there is no card 
   to pull. Substitute another display card of the proper type. Memory chips 
   don't normally quit, although they do get flakey. Intel CPU chips rarely 
   don't go bad but you can destroy them by handling them.

8  Check the memory, that it is properly seated. Check the BIOS chip for
   proper seating. Make sure the CPU is 100 % all the way down in its socket. You may
   have to pull the CPU fan to do this. If all this does not tell where your
   problem is, you need a technician. If you are un-sure about handling the
   inside of your computer, it is best to have a technician do it for you.
   Try us, Gene's Computer Outlet, Frazer, Pa 610-644-3633