phone 541-632-0603

Computer Repair

computer service diagnosticMany things can affect a computer system: Failing hard drives, bad memory, corrupted file systems, electrical surges and virus infections tend to be some of the most common culprits. Often what is suspected to be the cause tends to be just a symptom of the true underlying problem. A full diagnostic and assessment of your system is the best way to make sure that thing start off in the right direction from the start.

One area that is commonly overlooked is the issue of heat. If left unchecked, your laptop can accumulate enough dust to act as both a heat insulator and a blockage for ventilation. Both prevent the laptop from removing internal heat. The more heat that a laptop has, the shorter its lifespan becomes. Some blockages can't easily be seen from the outside and require that the laptop be taken apart and cleaned. Even a standard visual inspection of the inside of your computer can give you a false sense of security. Even removing the fan from the top of the heatsink might show that everything is clean, however the blockage can be hidden even further -- accumulating into a thick sheet of dust, something that can't easily be seen from a casual visual inspection. On average, this single issue can cause a computer to run 10-30 degrees hotter than normal, something dangerous to a PC's lifespan.

What to do if a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) Appears

When your computer crashes with the dreaded Blue Screen of Death ("BSOD"), you can't easily capture the necessary information without either getting writer's cramp or being lost in a sea of technobabble. Fortunately, most of the technobabble can be ignored.

BSOD

In a nutshell, here is what is considered important when writing down information about a crash. Specifically, there are three important pieces of information that are extremely helpful to know when talking to a computer consultant:

  1. Item #1 tells us what error happened (IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL)
  2. Item #2 tells us where the error happened (STOP: 0x0000000A...)
  3. Item #3 tells us who caused the error to happen (SPCMDCON.SYS - Address FBFE7617...)

Oddly enough, item #3 is often ignored and forgotten; this is, perhaps, the most important piece of information on the entire page. And yes, recording all the numbers alongside each of the three items of information is very, very important.

The Following File is Missing or Corrupt

Occasionally, you'll receive a message on a black screen indicating that a file is missing. This is usually a critical system file that tells Windows how it should be configured for your computer. Typically, it must be repaired or restored from backup. Fortunately, it often means that your hard drive and personal files are safe as the damage is specifically with Windows.

Windows could not start because the following file is missing
or corrupt:

\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM

You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup
using the original Setup CD-ROM.
Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair.

NTLDR is missing

This message is the computer's way of telling us that it cannot locate a critical file required before it can even start loading Windows. In this case as well, it must be repaired or restored. This is also good news as it likely means that your hard drive and personal files are safe as the damage is also, in this case, specifically with Windows.

NTLDR is missing
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

General Troubleshooting Tips

Sometimes an error message can be misleading, and in some cases, it doesn't help us pin down much of anything whatsoever. However, these three pieces of information increase our odds in troubleshooting what possibly went wrong in the first place. Write down these three pieces of information and send them in an e-mail to your computer support professional; this will allow them to more easily research the error.

Additional questions to ponder: What happened immediately prior to the crash? Was a particular program running or exhibiting bizarre or slow behavior? Did anything out of the ordinary, aside from the crash, happen recently? Did anything new get installed (software or hardware) on the computer recently? When was the last time your computer was serviced? Again, many of these questions can be misleading and may not help us in our quest for an answer, however they often times are more revealing than we realize.

Removing Unnecessary Programs

As the saying goes, don't keep what you don't use (or need). With the built-in Control Panel in Microsoft Windows, you can easily add, change or remove programs on your computer. Each version of Windows is slightly different; below are instructions specific to the most recent versions of each operating system:

Computer Maintenance Recommendations

On a regular basis, you'll want to perform the following tasks:

  1. Download the latest critical patches and security updates from Microsoft.
  2. Download and install any updates to any critical programs installed on your computer.
  3. Remove temporary files to help speed up your computer using the built-in Disk Cleaner program.
  4. Update your anti-virus program. Your anti-virus program can’t protect you if it doesn’t know about the latest viruses and threats.
  5. Scan your computer for any previously undetected viruses or spyware.
  6. Run a full system backup using the built-in Windows Backup program.
  7. Defragment your hard disk using the built-in Disk Defragmenter program.
  8. If you have a desktop, clean out the interior using a can of compressed air.

For appointments, scheduling or any questions, feel free to contact us directly at 541-632-0603.

MCSE Microsoft Cisco Mactinosh Satisfaction Guaranteed
Protected by Copyscape Duplicate Content Penalty Protection