1. Processor overheating
Modern processors generate a lot of heat. That’s why all processors require some sort of cooling element, typically a fan of some type. When the processor temperature goes over spec, the system can slow down or run erratically. The processor fan may fail for several reasons:
* Dust is preventing the fan from spinning smoothly.
* The fan motor has failed.
* The fan bearings are loose and “jiggling.”
Often you can tell if there is a fan problem by listening and/or touching the computer. A fan that has loose bearings starts jiggling and vibrates the case, making a characteristic noise. You may barely notice the noise at first, and it’s common for even the experienced computer pro to overlook this change. But as time goes by, the sounds and vibrations will become so prominent that you’ll change the fan out just to stop the racket!
You don’t always need to replace the fan. If it is covered with dust, you can often spray away the dust with compressed air. Note that even though you might get the fan running again, its life span has likely been reduced because of the overwork. You should keep an extra fan in reserve in case of failure.
2. Bad RAM
Several situations can lead to a bad RAM relationship with a particular machine:
* RAM timing is slower than optimal machine spec.
* RAM has minor flaws that only appear on detailed testing.
* RAM is overheating.
In the “old days” of Fast Page RAM, buying new RAM for your computer was a pretty simple affair. You just needed to know what speed your motherboard supported and the maximum each slot would take. Today, there are many different speeds of RAM, and the better motherboards may be tolerant of using RAM that does not match the motherboard’s maximum specs. For example, your motherboard may support PC133 RAM but will still work with PC100 RAM. But be aware that you may see performance decreases if you install RAM that is slower than the maximum spec.
Minor flaws in RAM chips can lead to system slowdowns and instability. The least expensive chips often have minor flaws that will cause your system to slow down or Blue Screen intermittently. Although built-in mechanisms may allow the system to keep working, there is a performance hit when it has to deal with flawed RAM chips.
In the past, no one worried about RAM chips getting hot, because they didn’t seem to generate much heat. But that’s changed with newer RAM types, especially SDRAM. To check for overheating, open your computer’s case, power down, and pull the plug out. Ground yourself and touch the plastic on one of your RAM chips. Ouch! They get pretty hot. If you find that your RAM chips are overheating, you should consider buying a separate fan to cool your memory. If your motherboard doesn’t support a RAM fan, you might be able to get enough additional cooling by installing a fan card that plugs in to a PCI slot.
3. Failing hard disk
There are many signs of imminent failure before a hard disk finally gives up. Some of these signs include:
* Slow access times on the affected drive.
* An increasing number of bad sectors when running scandisk and chkdsk.
* Unexplained Blue Screens.
* Intermittent boot failures.
Detecting a failing hard disk can be tricky because the early signs are subtle. Experienced computer professionals can often hear a change in the normal disk spin. After the disk deteriorates further, you’ll see the system crawl to a standstill. Write processes will take a long time as the system tries to find good blocks to write to. (This will occur if you’re using a robust file system such as NTFS; other file systems will likely Blue Screen the computer.)
When you notice the system slow down, run scandisk or chkdsk, depending on your operating system. If you notice a bad sector where a good sector existed earlier, that’s a clue that the disk is going bad. Back up the data on the disk and prepare for it to fail soon. Make sure you have a spare disk ready so you can replace it when it fails, or replace the disk as soon as you notice the early signs of failure.
Disk noise and scandisk/chkdsk are your best indicators for identifying a failing drive that’s leading to a system slowdown. However, if you are managing a system remotely, or you can’t take the system down for a full chkdsk/R, you can use tools that monitor disk health, such as Executive Software’s DiskAlert.
4. BIOS settings
One often-ignored culprit of system slowdown is the machine’s BIOS settings. Most people accept the BIOS settings as they were configured in the factory and leave them as is. However, slowdowns may occur if the BIOS settings do not match the optimal machine configuration. Often you can improve machine performance by researching your motherboard’s optimal BIOS settings—which may not be the same as the factory defaults.
There is no centralized database of optimal BIOS settings, but you can employ a search engine such as Google or AllTheWeb and use your motherboard name and BIOS as keywords to find the correct settings.
5. Disk type/controller compatibility
You’ve just purchased a new UDMA-66 disk drive, and it doesn’t seem any faster than any of the other drives in your machine. You do some benchmark testing, and the new disk tests the same as the other drives in your system. So what’s the problem?
It could be that your motherboard doesn’t support the UDMA 66 specification. Check your manual to determine what type of IDE interface it supports. If the motherboard only supports UDMA 33, then your UDMA 66 throttles down for backwards compatibility. You can get around this problem by installing a PCI UDMA 66 add-on card and plugging the new drive in to that interface.
Another potential problem may be the cable type you are using. UDMA 66+ drives require a different cable than older drive types. The drive may not work at all with the old cable type. Aged cables will break down over time, especially if they are tightly folded and the temperature of the case remains consistently high. It’s always worthwhile to change out the drive cable to see if performance improves.
6. Runaway processes
Runaway processes take up all of the processors' cycles. The usual suspects are badly written device drivers, and legacy software installed on a newer operating system. You can identify a runaway process by looking at the process list in the Windows Task Manager. Any process that takes almost 100 percent of the processing time is likely a runaway process.
We see an exception to this rule. On a smoothly running system, the System Idle Process should be consuming the majority of the processor cycles most of the time. If any other process were to take up 98 percent of the processor cycles, you might have a runaway process.
If you do find a runaway process, you can right-click the process and click the End Process command. You may need to stop some processes, such as runaway system services, from the Services console. If you can’t stop the service using the console, you may need to reboot the system. Sometimes a hard reboot is required.
7. Disk fragmentation
As files are added, deleted, and changed on a disk, the contents of the file can become spread across sectors located in disparate regions of the disk. This is file fragmentation. Some operating systems, such as Windows NT, don’t have a built-in defrag utility; you must obtain a third-party solution, such as Executive Software’s Diskeeper.
Disk fragmentation can significantly slow down your machine. The disk heads must move back and forth while seeking all the fragments of a file. A common cause of disk fragmentation is a disk that is too full. You should keep 20 percent to 25 percent of your hard disk space free to minimize file fragmentation and to improve the defragmenter’s ability to defrag the disk. Thus, if a disk is too full, move some files off the drive and restart the defragmenter.
9. Background applications
Have you ever visited an end-user’s desktop and noticed a dozen icons in the system tray? Each icon represents a process running in either the foreground or background. Most of them are running in the background, so the users may not be aware that they are running 20+ applications at the same time.
This is due to applications starting up automatically in the background. Look first for such programs in the Startup folder in the Start menu. Many applications place components in the Startup folder to run in the background. Some of these, such as the Microsoft Office Findfast, can really chew up processor and disk time and noticeably slow down a system. Review each of the entries in the Startup folder and delete any that are unnecessary.
9. File system issues
Some file systems work better than others for large disk partitions. If the machine runs Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows XP, you should use the NTFS file system for best performance.
File system performance is closely related to cluster size and the number of clusters on the disk. NTFS file systems will bog down if you have a 60-GB hard disk configured with a cluster size of 512 bytes. This creates an enormous number of clusters, which the file system must track and seek. This becomes especially problematic when the drive is highly fragmented. One solution is to use larger cluster sizes. If you set the cluster size to 4K or larger, you will see noticeable improvement in file load times. Please note, however, that large clusters can significantly increase the amount of cluster slack space and lead to a lot of wasted disk space.
Another trick to alleviate file system issues involves tweaking some Registry values (Start Menu|Run|Regedit):
* The first Registry value you can tweak is NtfsDisable8dot3NameCreation, which can be found at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Filesystem. When you set this value to 1, it stops NTFS from generating the 8.3 file-naming convention used for backward compatibility. If you do not need these old filenames, you can improve performance by preventing NTFS from creating them.
* Another useful NTFS entry is the NtfsDisableLastAccess value, which can be found at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Filesystem. This is a REG_DWORD entry, and when it is set to 1, it will prevent NTFS from updating the date and time stamp of directories after they are browsed. However, this does not prevent an update to the file-access information when a file is opened or changed.
If you are not using the NTFS file system, you may be able to improve performance by moving files and folders out of the root directory. With FAT partitions, you may notice a big slowdown in system performance after running scandisk because a large number of .chk files are placed in the root directory. Users sometimes fill their root directories by making it the default file storage location. Move as many files and folders as possible out of the root directory, and performance should improve significantly.
Senin, 19 April 2010
Quick tips for troubleshooting a slow PC
Scan for viruses
In a situation like this one, the very first thing that I recommend doing is performing a thorough virus scan on the machine. Some viruses can severely degrade a machine’s performance.
Check for overheating
Once you’re sure that the machine is virus free, I recommend checking the temperature of the processor. There are a couple of ways to check the processor’s temperature. You can give the processor the “finger test” and see if the processor feels like it’s hot enough to burn you. If you use this approach, unplug the computer first, and use a grounding strap to avoid damaging the processor with static electricity. A more scientific method is to use a multimeter with a temperature probe to test the temperature.
The appropriate temperature will vary depending on the make and model of the processor, but generally speaking, the temperature should be below 110 degrees. If you find the processor to be above this temperature, check the machine's fans to make sure they are operating properly. Also, check the fans and internal components for excessive dust buildup and clean if necessary.
Check for DOS compatibility mode
To check this, open the Device Manager, right-click on the hard disk in question, and select the Properties command from the resulting menu. This will display the drive’s properties sheet. You can use the properties sheet to determine the driver being used and the drive’s mode.
To compress or not to compress
You can check a disk’s compression by right-clicking on the disk in My Computer and selecting the Properties command from the resulting menu to view the drive’s properties.
Check for application or driver issues
There are some other possibilities as well. It could be that some program that’s running during the boot process is slowing the machine down. To test for this condition, try booting in safe mode. By its very nature, safe mode runs slower than normal mode. However, if you boot in safe mode and find the machine to be running much more quickly than it was in normal mode,then a program or driver is probably causing the problem.
Try a drive transplant
If booting in safe mode doesn’t pinpoint the problem for you, try taking the hard disk out of a comparable system and hooking it up in the system that’s having the problems. If the system boots slowly from the known good hard disk (which should also be running a known good operating system), your PC has a hardware problem. This hardware problem could be related to a bad ribbon cable, a bad disk controller, or a bad system board.
In a situation like this one, the very first thing that I recommend doing is performing a thorough virus scan on the machine. Some viruses can severely degrade a machine’s performance.
Check for overheating
Once you’re sure that the machine is virus free, I recommend checking the temperature of the processor. There are a couple of ways to check the processor’s temperature. You can give the processor the “finger test” and see if the processor feels like it’s hot enough to burn you. If you use this approach, unplug the computer first, and use a grounding strap to avoid damaging the processor with static electricity. A more scientific method is to use a multimeter with a temperature probe to test the temperature.
The appropriate temperature will vary depending on the make and model of the processor, but generally speaking, the temperature should be below 110 degrees. If you find the processor to be above this temperature, check the machine's fans to make sure they are operating properly. Also, check the fans and internal components for excessive dust buildup and clean if necessary.
Check for DOS compatibility mode
To check this, open the Device Manager, right-click on the hard disk in question, and select the Properties command from the resulting menu. This will display the drive’s properties sheet. You can use the properties sheet to determine the driver being used and the drive’s mode.
To compress or not to compress
You can check a disk’s compression by right-clicking on the disk in My Computer and selecting the Properties command from the resulting menu to view the drive’s properties.
Check for application or driver issues
There are some other possibilities as well. It could be that some program that’s running during the boot process is slowing the machine down. To test for this condition, try booting in safe mode. By its very nature, safe mode runs slower than normal mode. However, if you boot in safe mode and find the machine to be running much more quickly than it was in normal mode,then a program or driver is probably causing the problem.
Try a drive transplant
If booting in safe mode doesn’t pinpoint the problem for you, try taking the hard disk out of a comparable system and hooking it up in the system that’s having the problems. If the system boots slowly from the known good hard disk (which should also be running a known good operating system), your PC has a hardware problem. This hardware problem could be related to a bad ribbon cable, a bad disk controller, or a bad system board.
Rabu, 27 Januari 2010
Tips Works With Computer
1. Do not hesitate to consult with an expert technician in
field.
2.Do not hesitate to consult with an expert technician in
field. If not needed, do not connect power to the computer when
case is still open.
3.Keep your work place hygiene
4.Wear sandals when working with computers
5.Prepare for tagan broom to wipe the sweat
6.Prepare for a handkerchief to wipe the sweat
7.Prepare a place for screws and bolts and put a screw-bolt
8.Jangan melakukan pemaksaan terhadap komponen yang susah dipasang
9.Do not make the imposition of a hard-mounted components
10.
field.
2.Do not hesitate to consult with an expert technician in
field. If not needed, do not connect power to the computer when
case is still open.
3.Keep your work place hygiene
4.Wear sandals when working with computers
5.Prepare for tagan broom to wipe the sweat
6.Prepare for a handkerchief to wipe the sweat
7.Prepare a place for screws and bolts and put a screw-bolt
8.Jangan melakukan pemaksaan terhadap komponen yang susah dipasang
9.Do not make the imposition of a hard-mounted components
10.
Selasa, 24 November 2009
When the system is going to weak
Find out and solve their own problems in your windows
We sometimes experience health problems, either due to physiological or mind. Likewise with the Windows system on your computer. When the system was in conflict, both hardware and software so the quality of work will decrease. A number of instructions biased so here you guide, to explore strange behavior because the Windows system and solve common
Start-Up System Slowing
Too many programs that are uploaded at start-up can make a memory-intensive. To accomplish this, turn off all applications, then come up with a dialogue box Configure System Utilities by clicking the [Start] [Run]. Type "msconfig" (without the quotes). Click the [Startup]. Inside is a list of programs that run from the Windows start. If the bullet enough, then reduce and allow only the programs that you think should be running. Click [Apply] and [Ok] to activate it. And click [Yes] in confirmation to restart your system
Computer System Hang
The first step to solve it, try to press a combination of [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Del] simultaneously. If the Close Program Box appears, then cut one of the programs contained information "Not Responding". Please, click the program name and click [End Task]. If the system still hangs. Restart the system through the [Restart] on the PC
Safe Mode
If when booting a sudden Windows recommends you to use safe mode, then something is wrong in anda.Untuk system check, enter it into safe mode and ScanDisk once your hard disk. Click [Start] [Programs] [Accessoris] [System Tools] [ScanDisk]. If the result is not a problem, then the possibility of damage occurred on the file system. Restart, and this time forced to use the normal mode. See, usually windows will issue an error statement. To overcome this you can reinstall Windows system. However, once a back-up all your important data to hard disk drives or other
Defrag Jam
This condition can occur if you also run other programs while defrag progress. Perhaps you feel you've closed all programs, but the computer system was still noted some program activities. To find out, press the key combination [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Del] simultaneously. Once the Task Manager window appears, check what programs are running. Besides Explorer and Systray, stop all other programs by clicking from the list and click [End Task]. Then start again defrag. If you are still having problems, try to come up with a dialogue box Configure System Utilities by clicking the [Start] [Run]. Type "msconfig" (without the quotes). And press [OK]. In Tab [General], rather look at the options under [Selected Startup] remain checked. Restart your computer and run defrag again. Except for the above steps do not solve the problem, consult with your subscription computer technician
(source :computer aktif)
See More
Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems
We sometimes experience health problems, either due to physiological or mind. Likewise with the Windows system on your computer. When the system was in conflict, both hardware and software so the quality of work will decrease. A number of instructions biased so here you guide, to explore strange behavior because the Windows system and solve common
Start-Up System Slowing
Too many programs that are uploaded at start-up can make a memory-intensive. To accomplish this, turn off all applications, then come up with a dialogue box Configure System Utilities by clicking the [Start] [Run]. Type "msconfig" (without the quotes). Click the [Startup]. Inside is a list of programs that run from the Windows start. If the bullet enough, then reduce and allow only the programs that you think should be running. Click [Apply] and [Ok] to activate it. And click [Yes] in confirmation to restart your system
Computer System Hang
The first step to solve it, try to press a combination of [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Del] simultaneously. If the Close Program Box appears, then cut one of the programs contained information "Not Responding". Please, click the program name and click [End Task]. If the system still hangs. Restart the system through the [Restart] on the PC
Safe Mode
If when booting a sudden Windows recommends you to use safe mode, then something is wrong in anda.Untuk system check, enter it into safe mode and ScanDisk once your hard disk. Click [Start] [Programs] [Accessoris] [System Tools] [ScanDisk]. If the result is not a problem, then the possibility of damage occurred on the file system. Restart, and this time forced to use the normal mode. See, usually windows will issue an error statement. To overcome this you can reinstall Windows system. However, once a back-up all your important data to hard disk drives or other
Defrag Jam
This condition can occur if you also run other programs while defrag progress. Perhaps you feel you've closed all programs, but the computer system was still noted some program activities. To find out, press the key combination [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [Del] simultaneously. Once the Task Manager window appears, check what programs are running. Besides Explorer and Systray, stop all other programs by clicking from the list and click [End Task]. Then start again defrag. If you are still having problems, try to come up with a dialogue box Configure System Utilities by clicking the [Start] [Run]. Type "msconfig" (without the quotes). And press [OK]. In Tab [General], rather look at the options under [Selected Startup] remain checked. Restart your computer and run defrag again. Except for the above steps do not solve the problem, consult with your subscription computer technician
(source :computer aktif)
See More
Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems
Kamis, 19 November 2009
Fixing a broken process
Do not trigger anxious when part of your PC problems
Do not panic. The bright mind will help you analyze what really happened with the PC. Truly a work process to understand a little PC, you can fix it. Instructions are here. If still have to service computer, at least you will not be easily deceived
PC Technician's Troubleshooting Pocket Reference
Do not panic. The bright mind will help you analyze what really happened with the PC. Truly a work process to understand a little PC, you can fix it. Instructions are here. If still have to service computer, at least you will not be easily deceived
· PC Won’t Turn On
When this happens, make sure you have pressed the power button on the PC properly. Check also that the power cable (cable is the main conductive path for the PC) has been connected with both of his power outlets (where is the source of electricity in your house) to the PC. Users who use stabilizer (Tool-out PC-to stabilize electric voltage) needs to see the whether it's stabilizer works well when turned on. Make sure the power outlet is not problematic. After checking but the PC does not want to live, maybe the problem is the power cable. Try to replace with new. If you are going to change but the problem still occurs, maybe it's time to submit a subscription service where you
· Often Restart
This problem may be caused by electrical current noise, both in his power outlets, stabilizer, power cable, power supply or motherboard. Damage memory can also cause it. Perform these steps as above checks. Voltage instability can also affect
·PC Turn ON but won’t booting
Symptoms, the monitor will not display anything and the computer sounds a beep sound repetitive. Turn off the PC, remove all of the cord, then open the casing (PC Cover) it. Bring your PC into the light so you can see clearly into it. Check that the memory card (RAM) is embedded correctly. Check by opening the key, pull it back again properly, and the key returned. At the same time, make sure the card and cable in the PC is connected properly, and do not break even disability. If the case is still happening, try to swap the position of the memory card into the slot / memory other places. If not done well, take it to the computer service technician
· Hard disk, Keyboard, or Optical Disk Undetected
When going on the hard disk it will show the message "Primary Hard disk failed". To overcome PCdan restart immediately press [
· PC noise
The cause of bias comes from the fan dalm computer (processor fan and cooling fan) or the hard disk. Turn off the PC and open the casing. In an open case, turn on your PC and carefully back where the sound source. Clean or remove if there are wires or cables attached to the fan. Clean the fan on the processor and cooling fan computer regularly to avoid it. When the sound source comes from the hard disk to check its position. Placement position sloping hard disk can cause the hard disk read and easily damaged
· Often Hang
The demise of the cooling fan is biased because the temperature rise of the PC, and finally the PC hangs often experienced. Heat can cause the components in the PC easily damaged. So, check these fans. Clean the dirt well in it, and make sure the connecting cable is not broken
(source :computer aktif)
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PC Technician's Troubleshooting Pocket Reference
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