Equipment repair
Assembly and maintenance of equipment
McGraw-Hill
Unit Index
1. Detection of faults in a computer equipment
2. Failures in the power supply
3. Failures in memory check
4. Problems with the microprocessor
5. Problems with the motherboard
6. Problems with floppy drives, CD or DVD
7. Problems with storage devices
8. Problems with the cards
9. Problems with peripherals
10. Incompatibilities and hardware expansions
[Link] tools
[Link] Tools in Linux
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Detection of equipment failures
1.1. Initial checks
•If the motherboard is properly connected to the case and receives power from
the power supply.
•If the microprocessor, heatsink, and fan are properly secured and
connected.
•If the memory modules are well secured and in position
adequate.
•If the cards are properly inserted into their slot and secured
through the screws.
•If the connectors for hard drives, DVD, CD, and floppy drives are fine
connected.
•If the connectors on the front of the case are properly connected.
•That the external connections, such as keyboard, mouse, and monitor, are
correctly in its connector.
•May the electrical power reach the power supply of the
PC and monitor.
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Fault detection of equipment
1.2. Light and acoustic warning signals
We must pay close attention to the acoustic signals and
bright, as they can indicate if the computer has any
problem.
1.3. Common Failures
Some of the most common errors we may encounter
they can be the following:
•The computer does nothing when it is turned on.
•Nothing is visible on the monitor screen.
•The team does not detect the hard drive.
•The mouse pointer does not move or the keyboard does not respond.
•The CD or DVD drive does not read the disks.
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2. Failures in the power supply
Some of the electrical problems
the most common are the following:
Voltage spikes.
Power outages.
Overvoltages.
Voltage drops.
Some of the symptoms that may indicate a problem with
nutrition are:
The PC locks up or restarts for no apparent reason.
Hard disk failures, write errors, errors occur
access to files, etc.
Data transmission errors occur in a network.
Some internal components fail.
The lights flicker and their intensity varies.
The PC behaves strangely when connecting a device
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high consumption.
3. Memory check failures
Some of the situations in which these problems occur
son
After installing the memory, we need to ensure that the
the memory module is perfectly seated in its socket and that
the type and speed of memory used should be compatible with the motherboard
base.
During the boot process or POST, the memory count
shown is wrong and is less than it should be.
The computer displays an address error message.
memory.
Memory problems related to the software.
A computer works well and suddenly starts to have
memory problems.
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4. Problems with the microprocessor
Some of the symptoms that indicate a possible failure of
microprocessor are:
The computer won't start.
The computer starts up, but does not boot the operating system.
The computer stops working during the startup process of
operating system, and if it starts, it crashes frequently when it
execute applications.
The computer suddenly has POST parity error issues.
on many devices.
The computer freezes after a few minutes of
functioning.
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5. Problems with the motherboard
Below is a list of rules that should be
help us identify and fix problems on the motherboard:
Checking all connectors.
Verification of all components mounted on the board,
like the microprocessor or memory.
• Check if the board has foreign objects. A screw, a clip or
A piece of wire can lead to a short circuit.
Check if all jumpers and DIP switches are configured
correctly.
Inspect all the screws of the motherboard and check that
Do not touch the traces of the printed circuit.
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6. Problems with floppy drives, CDs or DVDs
Some time ago, booting from a floppy disk or CD was very
frecuente, pero cada vez se utiliza menos. Los errores más frecuentes
They are often due to a bad connection or jumper configuration.
in the case of a more complex internal error to repair, the usual thing is
cambiar la unidad entera.
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7. Problems with devices
storage
Once the IDE or SATA devices are installed, we have to
check if the system recognizes them by entering the BIOS. To
in the case of IDE disks, if it does not recognize them, we will check the
jumpers master-slave and the connections with the motherboard and the
power supply.
If after checking the connections the problem persists, you can
it could happen that the data cable is damaged (we would try with another one
cable) or that the hard drive unit is defective because it
has damaged the axle motor; in this case, we would try with
a new unit.
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8. Problems with the cards
8.1. The video card
If the image appears defective on the monitor, it may be failing.
the video card. In that case, you need to:
Check the connections of both the card and the monitor.
If after this check the image is still not visible, we will try with
another monitor that works; if the problem persists, there is probably
to change the video card.
8.2. The sound card
Sound card failures are quite rare; if we detect
a problem, it is usual to replace it with another, but first:
We will examine that the connections are correct.
Make sure the volume on the sound card and the speakers are active.
8.3. The network card
Make sure the card is well connected and fitted.
Make sure the network cable is properly connected to the card.
We can use the PING command.
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9. Problems with peripherals
The main issues with the peripherals will be studied.
in unit 9 about peripherals. It is common to find some
type of fault in the following elements:
•The keyboard and the mouse
•The monitor
•The printer
In any case, given the cost of the components today in
day, the usual thing is that if one breaks, it is replaced with one
new.
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10. Hardware incompatibilities
When it comes to acquiring hardware to build a system or for
to expand it, we must take into account the problem of the
compatibility. In the computer industry, there are hundreds of
manufacturers that develop hardware and software and each one
will offer a unique solution for its products. The evaluation and
the selection of hardware and software is very important to the
time to carry out the planning of a system. Before
buying the products can be consulted with manufacturers and
distributors about the hardware and software we want
use to certify that the products are compatible.
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11. Diagnostic tools
Let's look at tools that are used to check that
everything is installed and working correctly:
1.Aida64
[Link] Sandra
[Link] 7
4. Burn-in Test by Passmark
5. File recovery tools
6. Maintenance tools
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12. Diagnostic tools in Linux
Some hardware analysis and diagnostic tools
under Linux that will help us to better understand the components
from our team are the following:
• cat /proc/cpuinfo.
lspci.
lshw.
• hwinfo.
x86info.
discover.
system information.
hardinfo.
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