If your PC boot�s up but doesn�t load windows, then it might have been shut down without using the shutdown facility provided. To fix it, simply press F7 and select safe mode from the command line menu and follow all in-screen instructions. Some files or system drivers get damaged by such events so have the driver cd�s at hand. Once the check disk facility finishes, you should be able to gain access to your PC normally. If it still won�t load properly, try shutting down and re-starting for there might be some corrupted programs that need to be restored. Try getting the windows installation CD�s and re-install windows to restore all the damaged system files.

First check the power chord and the cable that connects to the CPU. If these are firmly seated and there is still no display, the video card may be defective or the least needs to be re-seated. Pull out all the plugs and wires connected to the CPU and open it. Try to remember the place where the monitor is connected and you get the video card. Remove the said card by unscrewing it from the casing and removing or sliding any retention tabs that was supposed to prevent it from pulling loose. Pull it out while taking care not to remove any of the other wires that are in the CPU unit itself. Check for any visible damage such as burn marks or a smell that I assure you that you won’t soon forget. Any of those signs and get packing for you are getting a new one. If unsure of the type (there are several types of video cards), bring the one you pulled out as a basis. When at the store, try getting something either equal to or better than the one you have. When you get home, touch the CPU power supply to again discharge static and re-install the aid card. Remember to re-attach any cable or fan power supply you might have had to pull out to get access. Re-assemble the unit and boot up(you might have to install the drivers of the new card if you were unable to get the same type and brand).

If you have just re-furbished your computer say replacing parts (memory, video cards, hard drive and other bare essentials) make sure all power connections are properly seated and connected then try to power-up. If that fails, try to un-plug and re-plug all cards and connections (IDE cables, SATA Connectors, power supply connections, etc.)
connections to ensure they seat properly (it would be nice to check for bent pins before you re-plug them in their proper sockets for that sometimes happen) and check for broken pins that may be preventing proper connections. Re-check what you have done by powering up and see if that works.

There are a couple of very easy steps that would allow you to troubleshoot a motherboard that doesn’t power up but be sure to get a grounding wrist strap to dissipate any static electricity that would kill any electronics you may touch. Make sure all power connections are unplugged before servicing a computer to prevent stray electricity from kicking you with a jolt of electricity. As with many PC problems, it would be best to strip down the PC to a bare-bone system, which would be the, Power Supply, Motherboard, processor, memory, hard drive and the necessary CPU fan. Take out all peripherals that may be connected to the computer and un-hook all connected printers and other devices. This would allow you to do an elimination process whereby you get to add components that may be causing the failure to power up.

A manual would be great and better for it eliminates mistakes which could not solve the problem at all and worse send you off buying a new board due to a short you created when you hastily did the operation. Boards come in several versions from several manufacturers, and if you’re like me who sticks to a select group of manufacturers, chances are they will have the overall same labels that allow easy understanding of the board even without the manual. If the reset pins come in the form of a three pronged arrangement, then there should be a jumper that shorts out two of them which in it’s current state would be the normal setting, switch the pins using the jumper and short the pins labeled reset, wait for a few minutes for the bois to reset then return the pins to the normal position. Some boards have labes some don’t and have numbers that have to be referenced with the manual.

The advent of the Terabyte hard drive has many techies drooling about the endless possibilities in terms of the amount of data they can hold. Though still quite expensive, there are certain situations where such a huge drive would be advantageous such as with use in video and animation which tends to be quite hard drive space hungry. Bigger is better, right? Not always, for consider this, you may have a terabyte of data stored into a compact drive but what would happen to that very terabyte of information should your hard drive suddenly fail? Having several drives is still better due to the redundancy that exists, and is the reason why servers have several hard rives in a RAID configuration that has the ability to either have several hard drives having the same information, ready for hot swapping should the primary hard drive fail without much problems. (more…)

That would be a question that you yourself would have to address for determining the feasibility of such a task depends mainly on cost. Consider these points, if you are upgrading your computer because it has considerably slowed down, then a total retrofit or even replacement would be in order. This would be more akin to older machines that may have already been serving you for a good couple of years, besides, you may not be able to find any compatible hardware anymore due to the fast pace at which technology advances. (more…)

Down with the Windows XP slow boot? Feels like an eternity, eh?

According to the experts the best way to go about this is to find the source:

Legitimate programs usually put an icon in the SysTray, next to the clock on the Windows Taskbar. Right-clicking an icon will often let you tell the program not to load. However, Microsoft provides msconfig, a good utility for controlling how Windows starts up. To run it, click Start, select Run, type msconfig in the box and click OK. The Startup tab on the far right lists the programs being loaded, but it’s worth looking through the other tabs. Microsoft has a trouble-shooting guide to using it: search Google for Q310560.

More info here.

Image source: www.businesscomputereconomyinternet.com

The first issue is simply that most businesses, particularly smaller ones, don’t fully appreciate the value of the information they have stored on their computers and believe that manually retrieving it (presumably by making a few phone calls and checking old paperwork) is a relatively trivial process.

Those that have recognized the need to protect their data are then faced with the challenge of knowing what the threats are and how to protect against them.

Data can vanished through hardware failure, software problems, malicious software such as viruses, theft of equipment, human error or major physical disasters such as fire and flood. Taking into consideration all these issues can be a major challenge in its own right.

The next issue is that backup solutions are notoriously tricky to run and manage dependably – no one wants to take day-to-day accountability for them and all too often they are left flawed for lingering periods.

Finally we have the old favorites: time and money. With all the other pressures placed on small businesses it is usual to put data backup on the “to do” list. Spending money on marketing and sales is seen as more important, so protecting the data will just have to wait… after all, it’s not likely to fail, is it?

Look for the video card and check if it hasn�t popped out of it�s slot (remember the monitor, the card to which it is connected to is the video card), if so re-seat and try booting up. If the video card is embedded (meaning it is part of the motherboard) it may have failed (sorry, replacement is the only option for this form of motherboard) or if you have a slot for third-party video cards you may purchase one and disable the one embedded within the system.

Note: It is normal for Video Cards to pop out of their slots (AGP or PCI) due to some manufacturers making them with teeny-tiny edges where the contacts are located that fail to seat firmly into the board. They tend to jump out by themselves especially if the PC is used heavily or there is a source of vibration nearby say in an office. The short edges, instead of being grabbed by the connector on the motherboard, sits just above the clamping part which acts as a spring hence the jumping part.