This article is written with this in mind: you have a computer system that you are just about ready to throw away. For whatever the reason, your computer has finally ticked you off enough that you are ready to junk it. If that is where you are, then this article is for you.
If, however, you have a more minor technical computer problem, do your internet research, check the forums and even get professional, technical computer help first. Some of the suggestions that follow may, if applied in the wrong way or at the wrong time, cause your situation to go from bad to worse. You have been warned. I am not an IT tech, even though I’ve been told I should be. I’m simply a guy that likes to figure out what is wrong with computers and try to fix them.
But if your computer situation couldn’t get any worse, then please continue.
What’s wrong with your computer? Let us start with some of the more frequent problems that seem to keep coming up when you own a computer.
1. My computer is throwing out all these pop ups, running real slow, opening things I don’t want opened, and generally freaking out. What’s wrong with my computer? I’m sorry to tell you this, but you have a virus. Viruses (typically a Windows thing) cause your system to do things you don’t want. At the very least, a virus on your Windows computer can cause it to run tracking spyware so that those on the internet that are so inclined can monitor you activities and even use your system. At the very worst, a virus can render your system a big metal boat anchor.
What would I do to fix your computer? There are literally hundreds of different websites with ideas on how to fix pc’s that have suffered from some type of virus or other. So, if you don’t like my suggestion, try one of those sites. Here is what I would do, though:
a. Get a livecd that I like and run it on the bad system. I have written other articles on livecd’s, so I won’t go into detail here. They are basically an entire operating system (OS) located on a cd. I have also written articles on salvaging computers from virsuses, so I won’t detail it overly here, either. Suffice it to say that I would take the livecd, run it, get all the data I needed off the computer and then save that data to some other medium, either another cd-rw, a usb flash drive, or an external hard drive.
b. Now you need to try and get rid of the virus. If you can run a livecd that has some type of virus killer on it, that would be best. This way your system doesn’t actually have to run to get rid of the virus. The livecd would run on top of the system and clean it off. Again, I mention this in other articles in more detail. But in some way run a virus cleaning tool on your system. Make sure your virus cleaner is up to date or it may not catch your virus and eradicate it.
If you can’t get rid of the virus, you may have to reformat your hard drive and reinstall your operating system (OS). I suggest you pick something less virus susceptible like Linux, but to each his/her own. If Windows is what you live and die by, then Windows it is.
2. My system won’t boot. It gives crazy error codes and says something about the master boot record. What is wrong with my computer? When your computer starts, it reads it’s BIO’s first. These are basic hardware routing and recognition routines. Then it runs a boot loader. This is what the computer uses to tell itself which OS it should use. In most cases, this is Windows. In Linux, the bootloader is usuaully either Grub or Lilo. Windows has it’s own bootloader.
What would I do to fix your computer? If all I got was the command line prompt (that is the black screen with a flashing cursor. This is usually DOS which is a sub system for Windows) then I might try to rebuild the master boot record by typing FDISK /MBR. This is typically used for this very situation.
If I couldn’t get back the MBR this way, then I might try to find Windows in the directory. Perhaps you can run Windows from the command line. Usually this is “windows” or “win” at the C:/ prompt.
If this fails, I would probably try to use one of the many master boot record repair disk available on the internet. Many are free Linux disks. I have had some success with these in the past.
If all else fails, re load your operating system and start from scratch. Make sure to have better virus protection next time; destroying the MBR is a popular viral tactic.
3. I hit the power switch on my computer, but nothing happens; no lights or anything. What is wrong with my computer? You’re in luck; you may simply have a bad power supply.
What would I do to fix your computer? Take the case cover off. Remove the power supply and replace. If I take my time and have the wrong tools it would still only take about 5 minutes. Seriously, using a phillips screwdriver, take the case cover off. Be patient, as there are usually one or two mystery clips, but usually a screwdriver is all you need.
Once the case is off, look at what type of power supply you have. You’ll see where the power plug goes. It looks like a metal box with a bunch of wire coming out of it.
Now that you have the case off, being careful of the fans and such, plug the power back in. Do any of the fans come on? No? Then it is probably the power supply.
After unplugging the power plug, carefully disconnect the power supply. Usually it is four screws and a few plugged in clips.
After taking out the power supply, analyze it, noting what type of wattage yours is. Then go to a computer parts store or a reseller and buy a power supply of the same wattage. For relatively inexpensive effort, you can have a running computer.
4. My hard drive (or) my cd player is making a weird noise and running weird (or) not running. What’s wrong with my computer? In general, the hard drive doesn’t make weird clicking noises unless it is damaged. Try to save what data you can and expect to replace it. If the cd player isn’t running and is making sounds, expect to replace it too (same goes for a DVD player).
What would I do to fix your computer? If I didn’t need any data off of the hard drive, or if it didn’t run at all, then I would replace it. Same goes for the CD/DVD player. Both are very easy to replace.
Open the case as mentioned above. Look and see how things are plugged in. Usually you have a floppy drive, a hard drive and a cd/dvd player. Usually each one has a power plug, some type of ribbon plug and, in the case of the cd/dvd player, one other smaller plug in the back of it. By unplugging any of these, removing the screws, and observing how the item is removed, any of these can be taken out with very little effort.
Just like the power supply, a trip to a reseller or a computer parts person and a little effort and you can have a running computer again. One extra note: when putting in the new item, either hard drive or cd player, pay attention to the jumper settings. Ask the person that you buy the new piece from what I am talking about. Show them your old harddrive/cd player. Make sure the settings are the same on the new item.
Before you throw that computer away out of frustration, take a deep breath and analyze what is wrong with it. If you are willing to think, “What the heck, let’s give it a shot,” then put forth a little effort, you could quite possibly figure out what is wrong with your computer and repair it on your own. Good luck and enjoy the learning experience.
