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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Methods For Making Text Larger

A How To for Windows 7, Vista, and XP

Sometimes I find the size of the print on certain websites a bit too small for comfortable reading. When that happens, I simply hold down the Ctrl key, and use the mouse scroll wheel to increase (or decrease) the text size. This “zoom” (or shrink) only affects the current window.

[The “keyboard shortcut” Ctrl + “+” (bigger font size) and Ctrl + “-” (smaller) works the same way.]

If this is a constant problem for you, there are a couple of quick settings adjustments you can make that will make the items on your computer screen bigger, without pushing everything off of the edges.

Microsoft calls these adjustments “Accessibility” settings.. which makes a certain amount of sense, if you think of reading your screen as “accessing” the information.

Tip of the day: Enlarge your fonts and icons for easier reading. The first and easiest way is to change the screen settings to a larger dpi (dots per inch), which, strange as it sounds, is not the same thing as changing your screen’s resolution. Your screen resolution is determined (usually) by your monitor’s size, and should be set to the highest setting your monitor allows. This is the number of ‘lines’ drawn to create your screen image, and the more lines you have the crisper (sharper) your image will be, reducing the blocky effect called “pixilation“.
However, increasing you resolution has the consequence of making the items on your screen smaller. But, that is what you want to do anyway; the higher the resolution the better.

To offset the shrinking effects of high resolution, (or simply to aid those with less than terrific vision) you may want to increase the dpi number.

Step 1: Right-click on any blank (non-icon) area of your Desktop. Then, click on the bottom menu choice — “Personalize” in Vista/Win7, and “Properties” in older versions.

I will demonstrate Windows 7 first. For older versions, scroll down:

Windows 7
On the bottom left, click on “Ease of Access Center“. Then click on “Make the computer easier to see“.

Then click “Change the size of text and icons“.

And, finally, you can use one of three presets, or set a ‘custom’ dpi size.

Click Apply, and you’re done.

Vista

Click on the menu link (on the left) “Adjust font size (DPI)”, and then click on the lower radio button and change the number from 96 to 120.

Click Apply, and you’re done.

Windows XP
In XP (and older), there are a few more steps to get to the right menu. From the Display Properties window, click on the Settings tab. In the lower right is an “Advanced” button, click on it. This opens a new Properties window.

Here you will use the drop-down arrow under “DPI setting:” which allows you to choose 120, or “Custom”. The Custom offers a sliding scale to set the dpi, and you can fine tune your setting here.. perhaps you prefer 112 dots-per-inch. Make sure the “Apply the new settings without restarting” radio button is selected to avoid a un-needed reboot.

These steps will change the over-all appearance of items on your screen, and everything will be larger and easier to read. And things will not get pushed off the edges, which a magnification, or “zoom” tool can sometimes do. If you try this, and do not like the effect, or look, of 120 dpi, simply repeat these steps and set it back to 96.

• For more vision-related settings adjustments, read this article as well.

[addenda: If you have tried these options, you may want to consider the purchase of a 22 (or larger) inch LCD monitor. Sure they’re more expensive, but It really does make a tremendous difference. I recently did this for my mother, and she can’t stop commenting on the “wonderful” improvement.]

Today’s free link(s):
• Authors, researchers, and teachers know the wonderful depository of information that is the Library of Congress. It is THE place for reference materials, digitized films, and everything ever published in the US. Much of it (if not all) is available online. Check it out, and be amazed.

• Five tips for becoming a superstar blogger (humor)

“Want to increase traffic to your blog by five thousand percent? These simple tips are guaranteed to work!“

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

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Enlarge your text and icons for easier reading

A How To for Windows 7, Vista, and XP

For those of you who find themselves squinting at your screen, or having to lean in real close, just to be able to read that darn small text, there are a couple of quick settings adjustments you can make that will make the items on your screen bigger, without pushing everything off of the edges.

Microsoft calls these adjustments “Accessibility” settings.. which makes a certain amount of sense, if you think of reading your screen as “accessing” the information.

Tip of the day: Enlarge your fonts and icons for easier reading. The first and easiest way is to change the screen settings to a larger dpi (dots per inch), which is not the same thing as changing your screen’s resolution. Your screen resolution is determined (usually) by your monitor’s size, and should be set to the highest setting your monitor allows. This is the number of ‘lines’ drawn to create your screen image, and the more lines you have the crisper (sharper) your image will be, reducing the blocky effect called “pixilation“.
However, increasing you resolution has the consequence of making the items on your screen smaller. But, that is what you want to do anyway; the higher the resolution the better.

To offset the shrinking effects of high resolution, (or simply to aid those with less than terrific vision) you may want to increase the dpi number.

Step 1: Right-click on any blank (non-icon) area of your Desktop. Then, click on the bottom menu choice — “Personalize” in Vista/Win7, and “Properties” in older versions.

I will demonstrate Windows 7 first. For older versions, scroll down:

Windows 7
On the bottom left, click on “Ease of Access Center“. Then click on “Make the computer easier to see“.

Then click “Change the size of text and icons“.

And, finally, you can use one of three presets, or set a ‘custom’ dpi size.

Click Apply, and you’re done.

Vista

Click on the menu link (on the left) “Adjust font size (DPI)”, and then click on the lower radio button and change the number from 96 to 120.

Click Apply, and you’re done.

Windows XP
In XP (and older), there are a few more steps to get to the right menu. From the Display Properties window, click on the Settings tab. In the lower right is an “Advanced” button, click on it. This opens a new Properties window.

Here you will use the drop-down arrow under “DPI setting:” which allows you to choose 120, or “Custom”. The Custom offers a sliding scale to set the dpi, and you can fine tune your setting here.. perhaps you prefer 112 dots-per-inch. Make sure the “Apply the new settings without restarting” radio button is selected to avoid a un-needed reboot.

These steps will change the over-all appearance of items on your screen, and everything will be larger and easier to read. And things will not get pushed off the edges, which a magnification, or “zoom” tool can sometimes do. If you try this, and do not like the effect, or look, of 120 dpi, simply repeat these steps and set it back to 96.

For more vision-related settings adjustments, read this article as well.

[update: a reader comment has prompted me to make it clear that these Options have been a part of Windows all the way back to Windows 95]

[addenda: If you have tried these options, you may want to consider the purchase of a 22 (or larger) inch LCD monitor. Sure they’re more expensive, but It really does make a tremendous difference. I recently did this for my mother, and she can’t stop commenting on the “wonderful” improvement.]

Today’s free link: Authors, researchers, and teachers know the wonderful depository of information that is the Library of Congress. It is THE place for reference materials, digitized films, and everything ever published in the US. Much of it (if not all) is available online. Check it out, and be amazed.

Orig post: 10/22/07

Copyright 2007-2010 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved. post to jaanix.

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Fix A Stuck LCD Pixel

“Stuck” screen pixels are usually a white, or red, or green, or blue, colored dot on your LCD screen, that remains “stuck” (fixed) with that one color. (Where as “dead” pixels are black, and generally cannot be fixed.) Stuck pixels frequently fix themselves (go away) with time – be that an hour, a day, a week, or a year.

If you have grown tired of waiting, and want to try to un–stick the pixel, the standard method is to use a program to “flash” colors repeatedly to the area, forcing the pixel react. This is not always successful, and you may need to contact the LCD’s manufacturer, and discuss a replacement.

UDPix screenshot

The program I use for this on computer monitors is UDPix (UnDead Pixel) which applies rapid display changes to a selected area for a period of several hours. You launch it, and drag a small, flashing rectangle over the problem pixel(s). You can continue using your computer while UDPix is running.

Today’s free download: UDPix
“UDPix is a simple program that helps you locate and possibly fix stuck pixels in your LCD display.”

For those of you who might want it, there is a good tutorial for using UDPix here. [note: I really do not recommend the alternative method mentioned at the top of the article under the title “UPDATE 1:”]

Related download: I have not personally tried this application yet, but another such tool is JScreenFix.
“JScreenFix is a software solution that can fix stuck pixels, reduce screen burn-in and improve the quality of images displayed on a screen.”

Copyright 2007-2010 © Tech Paul. All Rights Reserved. post to jaanix.

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Image On My Screen Is Upside-down. Help!

Accidental Click “Rotates” Screen Image 90 Degrees. Helpful Hubby Rotates It 90 More.

I don’t think you need to be any kind of computer genius to realize that you may have accidentally clicked something wrong, or pressed the wrong button, when suddenly your screen looks like this.

Which is what happened to a reader, which prompted them to write the following e-mail:

Paul, we’ve run up against a snarl with my wife’s computer. We hope you can help us get it straightened out. She was reading her e-mail this afternoon, and suddenly—-for no reason she is aware of—-the picture rotated 90 degrees to the right. Insane! We fiddled around with various approaches to get it back to normal. We clicked on an icon on the desktop, which brought up a set of options, which included 90 degrees, 180 degrees, and 270 degrees. These sub-windows and option bars kept disappearing on us, if we didn’t do something quickly enough, so I hastily clicked on 180 degrees.

Bad choice! Now everything is upside down. And I can’t remember what I did to get to that set of choices, except that it did not seem very likely, yet it worked—-that one time! It is just that I blew it by making the wrong choice. There was probably a choice called “normal” or something like that, which would have solved our problem. But, Can you suggest what would be the way that we could most likely get to work?

Solution: I suspect that an accidental click (probably) changed the monitor’s orientation from “landscape mode” (horizontal) to “portrait” (the original 90° rotation error).
1) Get into your Display Properties by right-clicking on a blank area of your Desktop.
A menu will open: click on “Display Options” or “Display settings” [note: each machine is a little different, and your menu may say “Graphics” instead of “Display”.]

2) Look for the setting (aka “option”) labeled Rotation, and set it back to 0°.

3) Click on the Apply button, and then on OK.

That’s it. You should be back to normal.

Copyright 2007-2010 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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Troubleshooting the Blue Screen Of Death

BSOD’s, spontaneous reboots, freezing, and “incorrect password” lockouts. Bad computer. Bad.

Ah yes, the Blue Screen of Death. I sincerely hope you never see this rascal. The BSOD, or more properly, the Windows Stop Message, occurs when Windows detects a problem from which it cannot recover. The operating system halts and ‘diagnostic information’ is displayed on a blue screen as a series of hexadecimal numbers (there actually are a few humans capable of understanding, and using this information to effect repairs…but as far as I know, they all live in Seattle) which, frankly, will be of little use to the average user. Usually, a simple reboot resolves the issue. But sometimes it doesn’t–you reboot, Windows loads, you get the Welcome screen, and bingo! BSOD. Wash/rinse/repeat. Aargh!!!

If this happens to you, the odds are pretty good that you have (quite recently) added a new device (or card) or memory module to your machine, or installed a program that your machine just doesn’t like.
If it was a module, device, or card, try removing it and restoring your machine to the way it was before the install. If you run for a day or so with no BSOD’s, then you can be fairly sure you’ve found the culprit. It may be that the device is defective. It may be that you didn’t install it exactly correctly [maybe it didn’t “seat” all the way into its slot?], or maybe your machine was being fussy the day you installed? Don’t give up on your new card/device/module just yet. Go to the manufacturer’s Website and download the latest device driver for your version of Windows, and “unzip” and install it (by double-clicking on the downloaded file). Then reinstall your card/device/module–taking extra care to fully seat it, and double check your wires and cables–and reboot. If it is a defective unit, it will not be long before our friend the BSOD revisits…return the unit to the seller (or manufacturer) for exchange or refund.

If you suspect a recently installed application (or…Microsoft Update) is the cause, then use the Add/Remove Programs tool to uninstall it. (XP+older: Start> Control Panel> Add/Remove Programs, Vista: Start> Control Panel> Uninstall a program.) [Note: in Vista, uninstalling Updates is done through Windows Update itself, not Add/Remove.]
If you are unable to get into Windows, reboot and start hitting the F8 key to get into Safe Mode. [For more info, click here] Again, run for a day or two, and if you do not experience any BSOD’s, you’ve (most likely) found the perp. Again, you need not despair and abandon the program. It may have simply been an incomplete or corrupted install that was causing the stop errors. Try reinstalling it, but first make sure that there are no other applications running–turn off your AV, your IM, and close IE. You will soon know whether it is simply an incompatible or poorly written application.

I am going to stop here, but I want to acknowledge that this is far from a complete discussion on all the possible causes (nor cures) for BSOD’s and the other woes mentioned at the top of this post. I will return to this topic again, and I invite your comments and critiques, and suggestions. I close by suggesting you also read my article on the Windows System Restore tool (click here) and reminding you that — should all your efforts fail, my services are available at http://aplusca.com.

Today’s free link: Sandra Lite from SiSoft. This is a benchmarking and system analysis tool that shows you a wealth of information about the workings of your computer, and detects areas that aren’t working as well as they should.

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix

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