Troubleshooting Hardware

Question 1

When troubleshooting hardware you should NEVER

Answer 1

Troubleshoot with the device ON

Question 2

The PC is beeping when booting

• Where could the sound be coming from?
• What does it mean?

Answer 2

• BIOS/UEFI POST
• See MFG documentation to find out

Question 3

What are 2 things that could cause over heating?

Answer 3

• Dirty/damaged fans
• Bad Thermal paste job

Question 4

What are 4 possible solutions to solve PC Overheating?

Answer 4

• Add/Replace fans
• Liquid Cooling (Desktops)
• Replace HDDs with SSDs
• Clean case of debris

Question 5

PC is giving off a burning smell, what could the problem be?

Answer 5

• Power Supply may be going bad
• Fried component

Question 6

User is complaining about random/intermittent shutdowns. What are 4 possible causes?

Answer 6

• Overheating
• Power cable may not securly plugged in
• Bad Driver/OS
• Malware/Virus

Question 7

User is complaining about a grinding noise from the PC. What are 3 possible causes?

Answer 7

• Power Supply may be failing
• Mechanical Drive may be failing
• Fan may be failing or dirty

Question 8

User is complaining about the PC booting to BIOS/UEFI, but the Operating Sytem is not booting. What are 4 possible causes?

Answer 8

• Wrong boot order in BIOS/UFEI
• Improperly installed Hard Drive
• Bad/Corrupted boot sector
• Bad Driver

Question 9

User stated that the computer is booting but there is a message that says “OS not found”. What are 3 possible causes?

Answer 9

• Hard Drive is found, but OS is not
• Hard Drive may be installed, but the slot may be damaged. Try another slot
• Motherboard may be bad. Try another drive to make sure

Question 10

What does the term “Time Drift” refer to?

Answer 10

When time deviates from the actual time.

Ex. PC says its 10pm but its actually 9:30pm

Question 11

What are 2 possible causes for Time Drift?

Answer 11

• CMOS Battery needs replacement
• NTP Server may be having problems or can’t be reached

Question 12

Peripheral device is not working. What are 4 common troubleshooting techniques?

Answer 12

• Unplug and plug back in
• Try different port or different device
• Check Drivers
• Make sure port is not disabled (BIOS or Device Manager)