How to diagnose a specific PC problem

by Fred Litt, Family Technology Associates

PC is making noise

As you probably place your desktop under a desk or in a cabinet, it’s a good idea to occasionally place your ear next to the desktop and listen to the sounds it makes.

You will probably hear the following when you turn on your PC:

• the fan – PC chips generate a lot of heat - this heat must be exhausted or the PC will overheat and components may fail.  Cool air is typically pulled in from small holes in the front of the PC and exhausted by the fan in the rear, near the power plug  The plug and the fan combine to form a part referred to as the AC power component aka 'the power supply'.  A PC fan is typically quiet unless something is interfering with its movement – such as dust or animal hair. Wipe the rear of the PC (by the fan) with your hand.  If you find dust, you must open up the PC and vacuum the inside.

• a single beep – you probably never realized it but your PC generates different diagnostic beeps that tell you if there is a problem – and what the problem is.  You should either hear ZERO or ONE beep.

• the diskette drive - it's looking for a diskette

• the hard drive – it's looking to begin running Windows

Your hard drive is making LOUD sounds – you MAY be in trouble

Your hard drive (C:) is a metal platter that stores your programs and data files.  It spins to locate the data is needs and to perform necessary tasks.  Older PCs with older drives make a lot of noise.  Newer drives are much much quieter.  As you install your new PC, become accustomed to the many sounds your PC makes.  These sounds will help you diagnose problems that will eventually occur as your PC ages.

Hard drive GROANING?

When your hard drive is highly fragmented (i.e., files scattered all over the hard drive), it will spin longer to located and coordinate needed information.  This is not a hardware issue, but a simple maintenance issue requiring you to defragment the drive - which should dramatically reduce information access time and reduce the groaning sound.

Hard drive CLICKING? 

This will sound like a baseball card hitting the spoke in a bicycle wheel.  This is really bad.  This sound typically denotes a physical defect on your hard drive.  If your PC is still working (consider yourself very lucky), backup your important files ASAP – because your hard drive is going to completely fail very soon.  This is a non-repairable situation.  You need a new drive.  

PC is completely dead

• Desktop.  If you try to power up your desktop PC and absolutely nothing happens, this typically means that your power supply has failed.  This actually isn’t that awful as it is an inexpensive and easy to replace component – typically about $50-$70.

• Laptop.  You’re in big trouble.  Internal hardware components on a laptop are extremely difficult to replace.  Professional assistance is required.  A new laptop is in your near-term future.

This article may be reproduced with permission of Fred Litt, Family Technology Associates. Contact Fred at 201-315-4943 fred@FamilyTechnology.com for details.