Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
safe way to run one of these ultrasonic humidifiers is to use distilled water. If you use a
humidifier, be sure it does not generate these deposits.
Ifyoudoyourbesttokeeptheenvironmentforyourcomputerequipmentclean,yoursys-
tem will run better and last longer. Also, you will not have to open your unit as often for
complete preventive maintenance cleaning.
Troubleshooting Tips and Techniques
TroubleshootingPChardwareproblemscanseemdauntingtotheuninitiated,butinreality
itismuchsimplerthanitseems.Mostproblemscanbediagnosedandcorrectedusingfew,
ifany,specialtoolsandcanbeaccomplishedbyanybodywhocanapplysimpledeductive
reasoning and logical thinking. PCs have become more complicated and yet simpler all at
the same time. More and more complex internal circuits mean that there are potentially
morethingsthatcangowrong—morewaysthesystemcanfail.Ontheotherhand,today's
complex circuits are embedded into fewer boards, with fewer chips on each board and
more serial interconnections using fewer pins (fewer wires). The internal consolidation
meansthatisolatingwhichreplaceablecomponenthasfailedisinmanywayssimplerthan
ever before. An understanding of the basics of how PCs work, combined with some very
simple tools, some basic troubleshooting tips, and logical thinking and common sense,
will enable youtoeffectively diagnose andrepair yourownsystems, saving atremendous
amount of money over taking it to a shop. In some cases, you can save enough money to
practically pay for an entire new system. The bottom line with troubleshooting PC prob-
lems is that a solution exists for every problem, and through simple practices combined
with deductive reasoning, that solution can easily be found.
Repair or Replace?
When dealing with hardware problems, the first simple truth to understand is that you do
not usually repair anything—you reinstall or replace it instead. You reinstall because the
majorityofPChardwareproblemsarecausedbyaparticularcomponentbeingimproperly
installed or configured. I remember hearing from IBM many years ago that it had found
that60%ormoreoftheproblems handledbyitsservice technicians wereduetoimproper
installation or configuration, meaning the hardware was not actually defective. This was,
in fact, the major impetus behind the plug-and-play revolution, which has eliminated the
needtomanuallyconfigurejumpersandswitchesonmosthardwaredevices.Thishasthus
minimized the expertise necessary to install hardware properly and has also minimized
installation, configuration, and resource conflict problems. Still, plug and play has some-
times been called plug and pray because it does not always work perfectly, sometimes
requiring manual intervention to make it work properly.
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