A Tale of Computer Troubleshooting

I’m a tech. And a one-man Help Desk. And I’ve been one for a long time.. since Windows 95, to give you an idea. The other day I get a call. (No surprise there.)

The caller tells me that when they went to turn on their computer that morning.. the screen is solid black. And they are quite concerned, of course, as they have tons of work to do that needs doing yesterday.

They tell me it’s an old Dell with Windows XP, and, no, (unprompted) they hadn’t visited any naughty sites, nor seen any ‘strange behavior’.

So I ask some questions, and have them try rebooting, you know, I go through the SOP.

They tell me the power light comes on, they can hear the fans, and that it “sounds normal.. there’s just nothing on the screen.” (am I hearing a case of the notorious “black screen”? No, this is a Desktop.)

So what would your diagnosis be?

You might guess the monitor died.. right? That they need to go buy a new one?

Well, I tell the caller that there are several possibilities (causes) as for their ‘black screen’ trouble, either hardware or software, and the only way I could zero in on it would require I have access to the machine (not over the phone), and that in all fairness they should be thinking about buying a new machine instead of repairing that old XP. (I wrote It is time to face facts and finally dump Windows XP way back in early 2011.. 2 years ago now.) Pay me to rescue and transfer their data, not keep a relic alive for another .. who knows how long?

Well, that’s not an option, so can I come over? And .. I don’t have much money.. (why do people always say that..?)

So I go over to their house and quickly verify that, as I suspected, it is not a dead monitor (by plugging one of my own).

See, my first suspect, and line of thought as I was driving over, was that a Windows Update had ‘gotten stuck’. Why? Because the day before the call was ‘Patch Tuesday‘, and Update glitches are a cause of startup failures (and black screens). I knew this last batch of Updates had had some troubles.. as two other calls, the day before, had shown. In short, a software failure.

And I knew there were other possible suspects. I have been doing this a while..

But when I powered up their machine to test my monitor/video cable. I heard something my caller had failed to mention — five long beeps, with a short beep. Which points at hardware. Those beeps are a code, you see, and their number and sequence tell a tech what is wrong (um.. at least, that’s the idea behind POST Beep Codes.)

So I powered up my laptop and went to the Dell website and downloaded the technical manual for that model, and looked up the beep code and discovered that the code I was hearing meant that their problem was a failure with the RAM memory.
Which will also produce a ‘black screen’.

So I looked at the RAM specs and then went out to my car and grabbed my package of 2x 1GB PC3200 DDR modules out of my kit (for just such occasions) and went back in their house, opened the computer’s case, popped out the old RAM and put mine in, and BINGO! — their computer started right up, faster than before. (Because their old modules were only 512 MB’s).

And I charged them $75. (One half-hour labor plus the parts.)

My client was delighted and flabberghasted. They were expecting to pay much, much more.. And they not only were able to get right back to work, but had gotten an unexpected upgrade.

I tell you this story not to blow my own horn, or drum up more clients. I tell you this because my client, upon hearing the bill, expressed what I find to be an extremely prevalent conception out there in “average computer user” land — that technicians are crooks, gougers, and/or incompetent, and/or always tell you to buy a new device.

Or they think they can “Google it”, and fix it themselves.

I tell you that story to try to explain why that conception, out there, common though it be,  isn’t fair to us techs.

We know what to look for (and listen for), what questions to ask, and can (usually) get right to the heart of the trouble and get you back online again in  jiffy. In today’s marketplace, with literally TONS of unemployed IT types willing to fix your computer, we simply cannot gouge in our pricing (were we so inclined).

And if we tell you a part needs replacing, it does. And I (and I’m sure other techs, too) do not profit on parts — we order ’em cheap and pass the saving on to our clients.

.. to test my theory, try googling ‘black screen’. See how many answers you have to read before you find “replace your RAM”.

I know this little story isn’t going to change the world’s view of repair techs but.. if your computer won’t start up, the screen is black, and it’s beeping at you? Be sure to tell your tech about them, won’t you? Have a great day, everyone!

Today’s reco: Windows Repair (All In One) – A GREAT Utility For The Tech Toolbox

“When it comes to computers we can find ourselves getting into all sorts of situations where it is very difficult to assess and fix the problem. For example, a couple of friends of mine recently ran into a situation where the windows updates service was broken on a computer they were working on and they had to resort to researching the matter on the internet in order to get a fix.” Read more..

Today’s quote: “You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” ~ Walt Disney

Copyright 2007-2013 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Fix Windows 7 Blackscreen (a How To)

Why is my screen black when I start Windows 7?

Video adapter problems are the most common cause of this issue. First, try to find out if there’s a problem with the cables you’re using or the way they’re connected. If you have an alternate way of connecting your monitor to your PC, try it. For example, if your monitor is connected using an HDMI connector, try disconnecting it and then connecting with a DVI or VGA connector instead.

Note:Always turn off the power to your computer and all external video devices before plugging them in or unplugging them.

If you’re using multiple monitors, try using just a single monitor. If this solves the problem but you’re not using the cabling options you ultimately want, attach the cables back to the way you want them, remove all floppy disks, CDs, and DVDs from your computer, and then try the following troubleshooting procedures, in order. If the steps in the first procedure don’t fix the problem, move on to the next procedure.

Use the “Enable low-resolution video (640×480)” startup option, and then update your video adapter driver

Boot into Safe Mode

1. Click the Start button , click the arrow next to Shut Down, and then click Restart.
2. Do one of the following:
   • If your computer has a single operating system installed, press and hold the F8 key as your computer restarts. You must press F8 before the Windows logo appears. If the Windows logo appears, try again by waiting until the Windows logon prompt appears, and then shutting down and restarting your computer.
   • If your computer has more than one operating system, use the arrow keys to highlight the operating system you want to start in safe mode, and then press F8.

Next

1. On the Advanced Boot Options screen, use the arrow keys to highlight Enable low-resolution video (640×480), and then press Enter.
2. Log on to your computer with a user account that has administrator rights.

If you can see your desktop, there’s a problem with your video adapter. Try updating your video adapter driver. For more information, see Update a driver for hardware that isn’t working properly.

If these steps solve the problem, you’re done. If not, go to the next set of steps.

Start the computer in Safe Mode and disable your video adapter

1. On the Advanced Boot Options screen, use the arrow keys to highlight Safe Mode, and then press Enter.
2. Log on to your computer with a user account that has administrator rights. When your computer is in safe mode, you’ll see the words Safe Mode in the corners of your monitor.
3. Open Device Manager by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Security, and then, under System, clicking Device Manager.  If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
4. In the list of hardware categories, expand the Display adapters category. Make a note of your display adapter.
5. Right-click your display adapter, and then click Disable. When prompted for confirmation, click Yes.
6. Close all open windows and restart your computer normally.

When your computer restarts, if you can see your desktop, there’s a problem with your video adapter. Try updating your video adapter driver. For more information, see Update a driver for hardware that isn’t working properly.

If these steps solve the problem, you’re done. If not, go to the next set of steps.

Start the computer in Safe Mode and run System Restore

1. On the Advanced Boot Options screen, use the arrow keys to highlight Safe Mode, and then press Enter.
2. Log on to your computer with a user account that has administrator rights. When your computer is in safe mode, you’ll see the words Safe Mode in the corners of your monitor.
3. Click the Start button , type “system restore” in the search box, click System Restore, and then click Next.  If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
4. Choose a restore point when your PC worked as expected, click Next, and then click Finish.
5. Restart your computer normally.

If these steps solve the problem, you’re done. If not, try repeating the steps and selecting an older restore point (if one is available). If that still doesn’t solve the problem, contact your computer manufacturer or technical support for further assistance… such as myself (shameless plug).

Today’s free download: Fences Your tool for a clean desktop. (requires .NET Framework)

“It wasn’t five minutes after installing Fences that I realized I’d be using it for the rest of my computing life. It’s that good.” – PC World
To learn more, click here.

Today’s quote: “Oh, for the good old days when people would stop Christmas shopping when they ran out of money.” ~ Unknown

Bonus: Does anyone know why I am still getting these?

A: because, hard as it may be to believe, some of you out there are still responding to them. Ah, that P.T. Barnham was so, so right…
Sorry, “Vladimir”. I never open emails which have “!” (nor, “!!!”) in the Subject, so I guess you’ll have to try someone else.. maybe someone named “mark”?

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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