Tips For Computer Problem Troubleshooting

There are some basic computer problem troubleshooting techniques you can perform yourself before calling your local tech support hotline. Before starting out it is important to know basic information about your computer. You need to know whether it is a Mac or a PC. You need to know who the manufacturer is, whether you have a white box, a dell, an IBM, etc. You should also know what kind of a Pentium computer it is and what operating system you have installed. You need to know how much memory and how large a hard drive you have in the computer. All of this information should either be written somewhere, or should be in your manufacturer's manual. Armed with this information you are then ready to embark on your troubleshooting endeavors.

Things to Keep in Mind

You should always remember what you were doing when the error occurred. If possible, write down the error messages for the technical department if necessary. Were you working on a document on your hard drive, or on the network?

Ok now that we have that settled lets try a few things

1. Reboot (turn the machine off and then on again) - Believe it or not but this resolves most computer problems.
2. Run a Virus check, but first run a virus update. You can usually get your virus updated online
3. Try to decide on the area of the problem. Determine if it's a network problem, a hardware problem, or a software problem. You can determine if it's a network problem very easily by checking to see if the computer is on the network. Network problems are the usual culprits for Internet problems.
4. If your computer doesn't start up, then you should look behind it and make sure that all the cables are plugged firmly into the computer. Make sure that the computer is plugged into the outlet (sometimes the cleaning crew messes this stuff up)
5. Check to see if you get any lights on the computer. If the computer lights turn on, but the computer won't start and you have no sound, then you probably need to replace the power supply. You should call a repair technician to have it replaced.
6. If your computer freezes in the operating system. Try rebooting your system and as it reboots press F8 to see if it will go into safe mode, from there uninstall the application you installed that caused the problem, or reboot.

If none of the above tips work at least you are better informed and can give technical support the information they need to help you. The most important thing is to remain calm and to pay attention to what the computer is doing, so you can help the technician help you in your computer problem troubleshooting.