We’ve all encountered the infamous blue screen of death or warning noise and failure while working with computers. Find solutions to deskstop issues and get PC help here for those nagging problems.
Windows PC’s and Laptops
Category:
PowerUp / Down issues
If your desktop or laptop computer fails to start, check the bios code, beeps or screen messages.
The screen will sometimes have a error code, sometimes in the lower corner of the screen indicating the bios error. Look these up with a smart phone to determine what is failing. You may need to replace a dead memory or mainboard, or other component.
Hardware
If your computer does not boot and does not give beeps or screen error messages, test it’s hardware. To test hardware glitches and problems, power it off. Unplug the power cable. If a laptop or portable, remove it’s battery, if possible. De-attach all coords, cables and devices. If you have external SCSI or USB drives, unplug them even if they are OS boot drives. remove all peripheral cards.
If you suspect it is a RAM problem, try inserting only one ram module you suppose is good. Remove the rest.
Plug in only the keyboard and power cable to a wall socket (non-battery) power, sheilded and surge protected ACPI compliant wall plug AC socket. Test this ahead by plugging a light or other device to see if the outlet has power. If so, continue. Power on the PC. If you have no problems, continue to add devices and peripherals like drives and memory until you find the culprit device(s).
Windows Errors
Often windows applications will crash, hang or exit with a error. To fix them, you may need to jot down the error and look up online what is the problem. If you still have issues, try uninstall and re-installing the application as well. Check that the computer has enough disk space and the permission to write to the drives on the computer.
Virus problems
Sometimes a virus will take over a computer. You can tell, if your application gets really slow and hard to click on. Or, it will display additional windows that you did not want open. Or, not work at all and your computer is slow or dead.
To get the virus or malware removed, start your browsers and erase all plugins and addons that could be slowing it. Reset the browser to clear it of all malware. Run your antivirus programs on full scan to find, quarantine and remove viruses. make sure to update your PC to the latest virus definitions and version of defender before running.
Slowness and Crashes
Computers will slow down with time. This is not necessarily a virus or malfunction of your hardware. Most times, the PC or VM will develop lots of files and extra data, and this can fill over time clogging the rest of the computer and its storage from functioning well.
If it is a windows based computer, you may want to check your startup programs (from start menu, search for startup) then limit the number of large applications that start like bookkeeping, system database and office software
I’ll post some examples and how to fix slowdowns as time goes be here. Come back soon and check up for these and many other performance tips!
Installation Issues
Installing a new operating system does not always go well. Always upgrade to the latest OS supported by the hardware. Consult the users manual for your PC or laptop model to determine this.
How to re-install the factory OS
Most modern PC’s come with a restore partition located on the PC’s primary boot drive. To enable the PC to boot from it and restore, put the PC in windows restore mode by restarting it and holding F11. On some computers, this may be control key + F11.
Once the PC starts up, you will see the windows recovery screen. select Restore and continue following the prompts to recover from a restore partition or media.
OS Upgrading problems
When your PC upgrade or update fails, it can leave your PC in a poor state. To recover, you need to restore by resetting the windows to a previously working state. By default, Microsoft saves the previous state before installing the upgrade or updates. To restore from the previous known working state, Startup the PC in safe mode. To enter safe mode, unplug all usb and external devices except keyboard and mouse and reset the pc. Hold F8 and select “Safe Mode”. After the PC comes to the login screen, login as your local administator accout and perform the reset to previous state.
Go to control panel. Select “Review your computer’s status”
Click Recovery link
Open system restore under Advanced recovery options
Click the Next button and from the list in the next screen, select the date and time of the restore point before the computer was last updated. Allow the restore to finish and restart the PC.
Virtual PC’s
Virtual Desktop PC’s are VM’s that can run just like on physical hardware. They run in memory on a host server, and with a viewer app or connection, will start up on a normal PC like a desktop or laptop running windows or Mac OS.
There are various configurations and software that can run Virtualized Desktops or VPC’s. Citrix Workstation is one, VMWare Horizon is another. The concept is to create a Virtual PC from an existing PC as a base VM. From this, you can then create others for various divisions of your company to use, based on the release/projects and engineering needs that are defined. IT and Lead people can control these from a central repository that hosts the .vdi file and other parameters. If you work in a group of people responsible for these, make sure you also track changes in a configuration database. This can be in reports, or in a larger CM server in the cloud.
Environment
Each user environment may vary. Some may require remote desktop connection to servers and services on ports running on your network. Others will require the latest binary of a certain application or service. Whatever the need, there is a best practice and a way.
Best Practices in IT
Follow strict best practice for your IT department and your users. This will enable a smooth running environment. If you allow engineers to tromp all over the computing platform with un-validated versions and software, it will slow them and your network down. Heed warnings from senior IT staff, and have a good awareness of all of your IT groups best practices. Work closely with Senior IT developers and formulate SDLC and IT environment release platform guidelines. Computers only come with so much bandwidth, memory and disk storage. Keep that in mind, as well as security and sanity when diving into new projects. In the long run, that will keep you away from future headaches.
Updated by Jason – 3/8/2024 from Orem, UT
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