Hands-on PC Troubleshooting

Objectives Prerequisites Who should attend Course Outline Hands-on Sessions

PA-1.0

What you will learn...

This course is designed to enhance your knowledge through a practical approach by using hand tools, removing major components and investigating the inner workings of a PC. You learn to:

• Recognise and repair PC faults quickly and efficiently
• Significantly improve system uptime
• Differentiate between hardware and software faults
• Use troubleshooting diagnostic tools to effectively diagnose PC faults
• Carry out effective and trouble-free preventive maintenance

Prerequisites

This course is aimed at the general troubleshooter and for the PC troubleshooter specifically. You will need to have some experience or familiarity with DOS and PCs.

Who should attend

You might have a title such as Office Manager, PC Support Co-ordinator, Systems Analyst, Help Desk Officer, Network Manager, LAN Administrator or Computer Technician.

Course Outline

Introduction

• Computer types and terms
• Mainframes, minis, workstations, microcomputers

Understanding the computer system and the PC hardware

• How transistors work
• CPU, memory, input/output, disks, monitors and keyboards
• Interpreting hardware specifications
• IBM – PS/2 series of Personal Computers

Understanding the role of the program

• How operating systems work
• How programs run
• What operating systems do
• Understanding overlay systems

Application programs

• Spreadsheets, word processing
• Database management
• Software utilities
• Desktop publishing

MS-DOS useful commands

• Managing the screen
• The FORMAT and FDISK commands
• Directory/subdirectory management
• COPY, DEL or ERASE, REN etc.
• Batch files
• Microsoft Diagnostics (MSD)
• Defrag and Memmaker

Computer operation

• Computer operation principles
• Internal and external operation of a CPU
• Bus architectures
• CMOS and the BIOS

Precautions, safety tools and test equipment

• The work area
• ESD tools and setup
• The digital multimeter, Break-Out Box (BOB), port loopback connectors
• Safety and the video display
• The power supply
• Setup records

Troubleshooting and Preventive Maintenance (PM)

• Using the senses
• Power on process and the BIOS
• Power good signal
• The system files
• Config.sys and autoexec.bat
• Power On Self Test (POST)
• Hardware troubleshooting hints/tips

Software troubleshooting

• Identifying hardware/software faults
• Using diagnostics
• MSAV - virus detection

Troubleshooting the power supply

• Power supply DCV checking
• Inside the power supply

Troubleshooting the keyboard

• A faulty keyboard
• Keyboard cleaning
• Electronic testing of a keyboard

Troubleshooting the motherboard

• Periodic maintenance
• Motherboard cleaning
• Visual inspection of motherboards
• Motherboard handling

Memory theory

• How RAM works
• Memory types - ROM, DRAM, SRAM, Flash RAM, EDO RAM, Burst RAM, WRAM, Cache, LSI RAM, VRAM
• Conventional and system memory
• Extended and expanded memory
• RAM drives
• Virtual memory
• Memory troubleshooting and upgrades
• Memory expansion – latest options

Disks and controllers

• Concepts of coercivity
• Floppy disks and floppy disk drives
• Floppy and hard disk drive controllers
• Hard disk drives and upgrades
• CD-ROMs

Input/output functions – operation

• Background to hardware
• I/O and DOS
• Serial and parallel ports
• How the mouse works
• DOS MODE command
• Monitors, modems, fax cards, scanners and plotters

Overview of Local Area Networks and Wide Area Networks

• LAN and WAN
• File and print servers

Viruses, damaged and deleted files

• What is a virus
• Deleted files
• Damaged disks and files

Hands-on Sessions

PC setup and design

You will check the system, investigate the CMOS setup and hardware inter-connections. You will examine internal and external design variations of PCs.

Using DOS to troubleshoot

Use DOS commands to assist in troubleshooting a PC and limit the PC start-up to a simple system. You will learn to write batch files and menus for the user.

Working with hexadecimal

Work interactively with alphanumeric characters, words, binary, hexadecimal and decimal numbers.

Test equipment

Using professional tools, safely measure voltages and continuity in a PC.

PC disassembly 1

After confirming a fully operational system, you will completely disassemble the PC. Remove all major components from the PC and identify them. Reassemble the major components on the desk and test operational status.

PC disassembly 2 and diagnostics

Switch to another PC, test that it is operational, then disassemble it and remove the motherboard. Reassemble the PC (outside the case) and run diagnostic tests.

Hard disk formatting

Work with and understand the various levels of disk formatting. You will learn when to use low level formatting tools.

PC reassembly and fault finding

You will completely reassemble the PC, test and diagnose any problems prior to working in a real life fault finding session.

Peripherals and drivers

In this session you will work with a selection of peripheral devices, software applications and device drivers.

Data recovery

You will work with deleted files and recover them using DOS tools.

Viruses

The PC's hard disk will be infected with a virus and you have the job of removing it. You will then set up the PC to prevent further infections occurring.