What This Blog Is About

Welcome! I'm not a tech guru, and I cannot guarantee that the information on this blog provides complete solutions to your tech problems. I just chose to create this blog so I can take note of the things I have learned through self-study during my struggle to break into the IT field.

I am one of those people with an IT education who did not end up following the career path of an IT professional after college. But after six years as an IT recruiter, I am finally trying to make a career shift. The problem is I do not know where to start. I barely remember all the things I learned in college. After six years of not putting my IT knowledge to work, I find that I need to re-learn some things. I have been reading IT technician textbooks and Network technician textbooks, and even got an A+ certification, but I find that it is hard to retain the information I learn without being able to put it into practice.

So this blog serves the purpose of helping me note down the things I learn and writing about my experience in trying to successfully break into and make it in the IT field.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Troubleshooting: Dead Machines - Visual Inspection



When faced with a computer that seems dead always remember to visually inspect your system first! External visual inspection before internal visual inspection.

1. Check if the system is plugged properly into the correct power outlet.
Make sure that the plug is not loose. Is the outlet a 110 or 220 outlet? If it still does not work, plug your system into another known working outlet to verify if the problem could be the outlet itself.

2. Check if there are any loose power cables.
The other end of the power cable, which is connected to the computer might be loose. Even power cables connected to the motherboard might be loose. But you don't have to check these out first. Finish the external visual inspection first before attempting to open up the system for a internal visual inspection!

3. When your press the power button, check if the following become activated:

a. power supply - If the power supply of the fan does not work, do not attempt to replace the fan. Just replace the power supply. Do not attempt to fix the power supply! Just replace it.

b. system fans

c. system power light

d. CD-ROM/DVD power light

e. hard drive and hard drive light

If any of these items do not work, open the case and check if their wires are properly plugged into their appropriate slots on the motherboard.

If you spot problems during these inspections, then you are most likely having a hardware problem. You can also determine if you are having a hardware problem at bootup by waiting for POST to finish and make a single beep. If you don't hear the single beep or if you hear more than one beep, then you most likely have a hardware problem. Beep codes and their basic meanings can be found here.
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