Sometimes they are easy to fix sometimes more complicated.
I had a call from a frustrated computer user, one I get calls from quite frequently. The usual
problems are he can’t remember his amazon password or the antivirus or the
firewall has given him a warning.
This was a new one… when he switched on the PC he was
getting the blue screen, index checking and it was finding bad sectors. Did the usual tests and checks. Oh goodness me, new hard drive. Cloned the
drive sent it back. I did add a few
little apps that would make my life easier in future. So that I will not have to rebuild the drive
Every. Single. Time. A month or so later the same PC was back in the workshop doing exactly the same thing. On a new hard drive?
Odd indeed.
I asked a few questions this time when I delivered it back. How do you turn off the computer? being one of them.
The answer ... "I swtich it off here," points to monitor switch, "then I turn if off at the wall."
I explained the proper way to shut down a PC and stole quietly back out into the night!!! A clear case of User Interface Error
Another PC that turned up for repair was a 5 year old system running Windows XP. The fault was "random reboots". I have a routine with unknown PCs. Clean the outer casing with a damp cloth, open up the box and shove a hoover insider to clean out the crap. 5 years of dust, pet hair, dead spiders or other insects….
This is usually enough, but on this occasion the heat sink
was quite thick with debris. I
dismantled the heatsink and fan and gave it a good clear out. Reassembled it. Put the cover back on and hooked it up. Checked there was and AV, a Firewall, and
finally, that the updates had been done.
Cleared out temp files.
Left it running for a couple of hours…..
Left it running all next day still no random re-boot.
Overheating and causing random reboot due to the obscene
amount of crap, dust and pet hairs.
