Initial Diagnostics

First Steps

Some common problems cannot be resolved except by a hardware service  technician.  Problems with the mother board, chips, hard drive,  printer, or monitor may need an authorized service center.  Software based problems can be resolved by the user.

The following  procedures could be followed to diagnose, and resolve, problems  without calling a technician:

Perform A Physical Inspection

The logical first choice when problems occur is to perform a  physical inspection of the computer, printer, monitor, and cables.  50% of all problems can be detected with this inspection.  Look for buildups of dirt, especially around the cooling system, which would  interfere with proper air circulation.  In addition, it is important  to see that no foreign objects are stuck in the machine, or keyboard.  Paperclips tend to destroy, rather than repair,  computers.        

Run A Systems Diagnostics

Your hardware vendor probably supplied a diagnostics diskette.  When  problems occur, use the vendor supplied tests.  In addition, there  are several packages on the market place that will diagnose  problems, or provide comparative data to machines which are similar  in construction and configuration.  The diagnostics test will detect  problems and recommend

solutions.

Evaluate The Hard Disk

The hard disk is the most susceptible part in the computer to  failure.  There are several good disk diagnostic programs.

SCANDISK supplied with Windows, provides the most elementary tests,  and is OK as a first indicator.  However,  more sophisticated  packages can locate, evaluate, and correct more errors, and return  the system to operation more quickly.  Files become fragmented over time, as a nature of the way Windows  handles them when adding new data.

The standard Disk Optimizer utility ( in Windows Accessories ) will improve performance    by combining  files in successive sectors, eliminating the fragmentation.  This should be run at least once every two weeks.

Often  these tasks are offered in popular packages which group diagnostic,  and repair, tools.  Two packages currently enjoying popularity are  Norton's Utilities, and First Aid.  Both of these are available from  almost any software supplier, or discount store.  Care must be exercised, however, in that these may not be compatible with your  hard drive.  This should be confirmed with your hardware vendor  before using any package.

Evaluate The Data Files

Often data files will suffer a small amount of damage that can be  fixed rather easily.  Comtech Publishing, of Lake Tahoe, Nevada, has  a software program called dSalvage.  It is reasonably priced, and  highly recommended for every system owner.  This package can be used  to test for problems with files, and will repair most of the errors  without data loss.  Buy it now, rather than have your system go down  while you wait for more expensive, overnight delivery.  The system will check for header (the organization information)  damage, data errors, and false end of file markers.  The last  problem occurs frequently on multiuser systems when an operator gets  in a hurry and shuts off the power to a workstation before exiting  the program.  Most problems are fixed in minutes, and save many, many hours of data re-entry.          

Reformat / Restore

If all else fails, you may have to reformat the hard drive, and  restore from your last tape backup.  Should this ever occur, you  will realize the value of backing up your system at least once a  day.  The first step will be to reformat the drive, using whatever  software is recommended, and provided, by the computer manufacturer.

Once this is done, it will be necessary to reload the tape software.  Finally, run the restore routine on the tape backup system to reload  all files.  Your backups should always be file-by-file, and never image.  The  later will backup, and restore, everything on the drive, including  errors and problems.  Ask your computer provider to create an emergency disk.

This would  have DOS installed so that it could boot the machine when it is  down, and a format utility to re-format the hard drive, and the tape  backup software.  A simple batch file could be included that would  perform the format and load automatically with a single command.  We hope you never have to worry about a system failure, but it is  inevitable that sometime the hardware will experience difficulties.

After this is finished, your Windows software will need to be reloaded on to your machine.  Review the Windows manual for instructions.  Then you can restore your Auto Shop Writer files.