If you are getting an error message, or your system is locking up while booting, you need to ask yourself what has changed. Have you installed any new programs or updates to the programs that were already on your system? Did the errors start to appear after you installed that new modem or sound card? When did the errors start to occur and what is different about your system now from before the errors started to appear? Can you reproduce the error on a regular basis or is it an intermittent problem? If you can pinpoint the beginning of the problem, try to step backwards and see if the problem goes away. If the error started when you installed that great new game, uninstall the game and see if the problem goes away. If the new sound card is creating the problem then take it out of the system to see if the problem goes away. In both cases, if the problem goes away then it is time for you to do some research.

You can either call up the manufacturer of the software or sound card and spend the time to get the whole story explained to them, or you can do a little investigation on the web to try to find the answer for yourself. Or you can go one step further, call them up and search the web at the same time. Either way you will end up on the web if the problem can be corrected with an updated driver or a patch to the program. I will usually go to the web first to check for updated drivers and patches before I will spend time waiting on hold.

If you choose to try to correct the problem yourself, let’s be sure that you understand a few simple principles that are involved with fixing your computer. There are some times that a different error message can be construed as making progress. Usually I like to try to have fewer error messages and not just different ones. Be sure that as you attempt to fix a problem that you have, you are careful not to make the problem worse. This can be in reference to hardware as well as software. 

When you are trying to sort out a hardware problem, the first thing you need to worry about is the static electricity that you create by moving around the house. This static electricity, when discharged, is called ESD (ElectroStatic Discharge). It can damage or destroy a card and then you will be chasing your tail for a lot longer. If you decide to open your computer for anything other than to blow some air in to clean it out, I would suggest that you take it to the kitchen or some other room that does not have carpet. Carpet will create more static electricity than any well-grounded tile floor. Let’s stay away from the sink though. That is a whole other ball game there. 

The next thing is to plug the computer into the wall. This will insure a good ground for the system. Before you touch any of the components inside the computer, put on your grounded wrist strap. These are available at most electronics supply stores. Now you need to touch the metal case to dissipate any charge from your body. Better to shock yourself on the side of the case than on one of your cards. 

ESD is probably the leading cause of computer component failure. The Electrostatic Discharge Association has an extensive series of articles on the subject. The web address is http://www.esda.org. According to the article, it is estimated that as much as 33% of electronic parts are lost to ESD on an annual basis. This would amount to billions of dollars lost in product as well as time spent tracking and fixing the problems.

The tiniest spark from the end of your finger is caused by 1000volts. The larger car door and door knob sparks can be as much as 10,000 volts. This is thousands of times what it would take to damage an electronic part. You can ruin a circuit board or diode on a modem or other card and not even feel the spark. You could ruin a part and the failure won’t show up for years to come. The best defense for ESD is to use proper handling techniques. 

• Stay away from the carpet
• Keep the computer plugged in
• Wear a grounded wrist strap. 

There are a number of ways that you can protect yourself when trying to sort out a software problem. The first rule to remember is that you always want to be able to get back to where you came from. You don’t want to make the problem worse and then not be able to undo what you just did. With most of your software programs you have an undo button to press if you make a mistake. When you are working with system files and making changes you will not have that luxury. The most important thing to remember is to always work with a copy of the original file. This makes it easy to get back to square one. All you need to do if you have totally messed up you system.ini is to copy the original from wherever you have saved it, back into the Windows directory. When I am editing files on a customer’s computer, I will simply make a copy of the file in the Windows directory and use my initials as the extension. This way I know that I can get back to where I began without any extra headaches. If you do not want to go through the trouble of the DOS prompt then you can still make a copy within Windows Explorer. If you right click on a file and then left click on copy, this puts a copy of the file on the Windows clipboard. If you right click within the same folder and then left click on paste, then you will have made a copy of the original file within the same folder.

A great tool that Microsoft has come up with is called the System Configuration Utility. For those of you with Windows 98, you can access it by clicking on the Start button, then Run, and typing msconfig into the Open box and pressing OK. This program will allow you to create a clean environment for troubleshooting your system. Listed within the program is a copy of the autoexec.bat, config.sys, win.ini, system.ini, Windows Startup folder, and some of the files that are loaded from the registry. For those of you with Windows 95, the program will run on your system but is not part of your version of Windows. I have used it a number of times on systems with all versions of Windows 95 and have had no trouble at all.

If you are having an error message as your computer goes into Windows, you would use this tool to disable some of the items that load as your computer is booting up. By the process of trial and error you should be able to find out what startup program is causing the problem and either eliminate it or update with a more current version from the vendor. 

The best way to use this tool is to first choose the Selective startup and take the check marks out of all the files below it. This will create a very clean startup for your computer. If the error does not appear after this then you would go back into the configuration utility and add one of the check marks back to the list. Continue with the process until you find where the error is occurring. After you have located which area of the system files that is causing the problem, you then need to go into the specific file by choosing the appropriate tab within the utility. At this point, you will be choosing between all of the files within one of the system files. Use the same trial and error process to identify which of the programs is causing the problem. 

When you find out which of the files is causing the error you will be closer to finding a solution to the problem. If you find that the file that is loading your scanner software is conflicting with your printer software, then you have two places to start to look for a solution. I personally would start at the scanner manufacturer page. Check to see that you have the latest version of the scanner software. Look at the CD or floppy that you used to install the software. Open the program if you can and click on Help in the toolbar and then About. If you cannot find the version number there, go into the folder that the software is installed in. Look for a readme file that might give you the version number. After you have found what version of the software you are using, you can compare this to the latest version that the company has available for download on there website.

Another useful tool that most of the companies have available is what is called a Knowledge Base. This is a database of all the problems that other people have had and the procedure that was taken to correct them. This is what is called experience. There has only been one time that I have been the first one to have a particular problem that the tech support could not correct. Most of the problems that we encounter are problems that someone else has already had. You need to do your homework when you have a problem. Do a little digging on some of the basic things that the tech support is going to ask first thing. Try to find the error that you are experiencing in the knowledge base. It could save you a lot of time and heartache and it could be a lot simpler fix that you would have ever imagined.

When trying to correct a problem that you have with your computer, be sure that you have a plan. Be sure that you are not making things worse. Be sure that you can get back to where you originally were before you started to fix it. Always work with a copy, not the original and always protect against ESD whenever you are working inside your computer.