All computer components such as hard drive, modem, sound card, motherboard, video adapter, monitor, processor and power supply are likely to give errors when something strange happens to them. The best to troubleshoot the errors is to identify the faulty hardware component and isolate it from the other components. Following is the basic overview and basic troubleshooting tips of the major hardware components.

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A.Rajesh Khanna

Hard Disk Troubleshooting Tips

After installing a new hard disk into your system if you notice some errors, try to fix the errors with the following techniques.

Cards Verification: Verify that all the internal cards such as modem, NIC, sound and video cards are inserted properly into their slots on the motherboard.

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A.Rajesh Khanna

Hard Disk Troubleshooting Tips

Compatibility: Verify that the host adapter and the disk drive are purely compatible with each other.

Jumper settings: Check that are the jumpers are set according to the hard disk’s instructions manual.

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A.Rajesh Khanna

Hard Disk Troubleshooting Tips



Connectors and Cables: Check all the connectors and cables after installing the hard drive into your system.



Virus Check: If you are using the hard disk of someone else, make sure to scan it for viruses and spywares before using it into your system.

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A.Rajesh Khanna

2. Sound Card Troubleshooting

Following are the possible errors which can be occurred in the sound card.

No sound is heard from the speakers

Make sure that there is not an audio conflict between the sound card and the other devices in your system.

Check the Microsoft Volume Control and audio mixer mute options and volume sliders.

Make sure that the speakers are properly connected with the audio card’s connector.

Temporarily remove the PCI bus mastering devices if they are causing the problems with the sound card.

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A.Rajesh Khanna

3. Network Troubleshooting

There are a number of networking errors can occurred and the best practice of troubleshooting is to identify the particular error and the associated device, drivers or software. The common networking error can be the connectivity problem so make sure that you have correctly inserted the one end of the RJ-45 connector into the PC’s LAN card and the other end into the network hub or switch. Run the diagnostic programs to identify the errors that may associated with the NIC card or other system’s configurations. Make sure that the LED green lights on the network card and the hub/switch for each system are blinking. Make sure that the NIC driver is up to dated and working properly. Ensure that your system has upgraded antivirus program because viruses, spyware, Trojan horses can also interrupt the computer network connectivity.

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A.Rajesh Khanna

PC Hardware Troubleshooting Tools

Due to the low cost of the some of the hardware components, it’s usually not advisable to repair the IC level problems of the components, instead they should be replaced. The repair cost of the component will most likely be high as compared to the actual cost of the component. There are some very excellent hardware problem detection tools that are very helpful in identifying and isolating the problems. These tools included Multi meter, Cable Tester, POST card and software diagnostic disk.

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A.Rajesh Khanna

5. Modem Troubleshooting

Current copper wire telephone lines are limited only to the 56 K and if you are not able to connect at this speed make sure that there is no noise in your telephone line. Check to see that you modem should be set to run at the full speed. Some modems may get special initiating strings to get the full speed.

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A.Rajesh Khanna

6. Video Card Troubleshooting

If you encounter the video card’s display problem, there are certain factors behind this problem so make sure that you have fully checked the following things.

Make sure that the video adapter is properly inserted into the appropriate slots such as PCI etc. Ensure that the display cable is securely and tightly connected with the display card. Make sure that you have selected the compatible video card and also installed the up to date drive for this device.

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A.Rajesh Khanna

7. Common Troubleshooting Tips

The personal computers are likely to get errors that may be caused due to the internal hardware, software and device drivers. The best troubleshooting technique is to isolate the faulty device and replace it with the new one and see if it works properly. After troubleshooting the problem make a note of it so that if you face the same error again, you should have the predefined answer of this problem. Occasionally run the diagnostic programs and scan your PC with the antivirus, anti spyware and anti adware programs

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A.Rajesh Khanna