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A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e. Chapter 16 Fixing Windows Problems. Objectives. Learn what to do when a hardware device, application, or Windows component gives a problem Learn what to do when Windows Vista won’t boot or boots with errors

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A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

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  1. A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e Chapter 16 Fixing Windows Problems

  2. Objectives • Learn what to do when a hardware device, application, or Windows component gives a problem • Learn what to do when Windows Vista won’t boot or boots with errors • Learn strategies that you can use to solve problems with Windows 2000/XP startup A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  3. Fixing Problems Caused By Hardware • Steps to determine device causing a problem • Research an error messages • Use the Vista Problem Reports and Solutions window or the XP Error Reporting window • Check logs in Event Viewer • Check the Reliability and Performance Monitor • Consider recent changes A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  4. Fixing Problems Caused By Hardware (cont’d.) • Steps to discover the problem source • Check simple things first • Ensure Device Manager recognizes device with no errors or warnings • Verify BIOS setup recognizes device with no errors A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  5. Fixing Problems Caused By Hardware (cont’d.) • Solving a problem with a device driver or service • Update device drivers • Update Windows • Try moving device to a different port or connector • Try reinstalling device • Try moving device to a different computer • Use System Restore A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  6. Fixing Problems Caused By Hardware (cont’d.) • Solving a problem with a device driver or service (cont’d.) • Check manufacturer’s documentation • Search the Internet for help • Boot into Safe Mode • Use System File Checker • Consider application using the device • Replace device A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  7. Fixing Problems Caused By Applications • Steps to find the problem source and fix it • Interview user and back up data • Ask user to reproduce problem while you watch • Use Task Manager to end a process not responding • Try a reboot • Suspect a virus causing a problem • Allow Windows to provide a solution A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  8. Fixing Problems Caused By Applications (cont’d.) • Steps to find the problem source and fix it (cont’d.) • Windows update might solve the problem • Download updates or patches for the application • Use the application setup to repair the installation • Consider data corruption • Try restoring default settings • Uninstall and reinstall application • Use System Restore A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  9. Fixing Problems Caused By Applications (cont’d.) • Steps to take if application never worked • Run application as administrator • Install application as administrator • Consider whether an older application having compatibility problems with Vista • Windows Vista Compatibility Center • Try running application in compatibility mode • Verify application digitally signed A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  10. Fixing Problems Caused By Applications (cont’d.) • Considerations to determine if problem is caused by other applications, services, Windows, or hardware • Another application might be interfering • Use the Services console • Might be low on system resources • Verify Windows system files • Problem might be bad memory • Use Event Viewer to look for clues A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  11. Fixing Problems Caused By Applications (cont’d.) • Considerations to determine if problem is caused by other applications, services, Windows, or hardware (cont’d.) • Use the Reliability Monitor to look for clues • Use the Chkdsk command to check hard drive • Run application in Safe Mode with Networking A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  12. Troubleshooting Vista Startup • Three startup stages of the boot • Stage 1: Before the progress bar • Stage 2: After the progress bar and before logon • Stage 3: After logon A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  13. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears • Check with user • Verify important data location • Verify data backed up • Attempt to copy data to safe location if possible • Progress bar not showing • Portions of Vista kernel, critical drivers, and services not yet started • Indicates problem with hardware or startup files • Failing hardware may include: power supply, motherboard, CPU, memory, hard drive, video, or keyboard A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  14. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears (cont’d.) • Is the screen blank? • Absolutely nothing on the screen • Verify system power, monitor is plugged in and on • Suspect no power to system • Verify system not in standby mode or hibernation • Monitor totally without lights • Check monitor power • Monitor LED light lit • Reboot, check monitor power, and that it is on • Trade monitor for a good one A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  15. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears (cont’d.) • Does the computer appear to have power? • Can’t hear spinning drive or see lights on case front • Suspect electrical system • Check power connections and switches • May have bad power supply • Loose connections inside case A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  16. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears (cont’d.) • Does an error message appear before Vista starts? • BIOS displays error message on-screen if problems • Uses beeps if video not working • On-screen messages for nonessential hardware • Try to bypass error by pressing a key and moving forward in the boot • On-screen messages for essential hardware • Focus attention on the error message, beep code, and voice message describing problem A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  17. Figure 16-10 This error message at POST indicates a hardware problem Courtesy: Course Technology/Cengage Learning A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  18. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears (cont’d.) • Can startup BIOS access the hard drive? • Possible messages • Hard drive not found • Fixed disk error • Disk boot failure, insert system disk and press enter • No boot device available • Check for physical problem • Drive, data cable, power, motherboard • Verify BIOS detected drive correctly • Turn on autodetection and reboot • Power down system, unplug it, and physically inspect A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  19. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears (cont’d.) • Can startup BIOS access the hard drive? (cont’d.) • BIOS found hard drive, but could not read drive or find what it needed • Invalid boot disk • Inaccessible boot device • Invalid drive specification • Invalid partition table • No operating system found, missing operating system, or error loading operating system • Could not find bootmgr or bootmgr missing • Boot from Windows Vista setup DVD A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  20. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears (cont’d.) • Use BIOS setup to set the boot sequence • Access BIOS setup utility • Find screen to change boot sequence • Make sure DVD drive listed before hard drive • Force system to boot from Windows Vista setup DVD • Save settings and exit BIOS setup A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  21. Figure 16-11 Verify that the boot sequence looks to the DVD drive before it checks the hard drive for an operating system Courtesy: Course Technology/Cengage Learning A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  22. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears (cont’d.) • Can you boot from the Vista setup DVD? • If not then study error messages, and solve immediate hardware problem • Hard drive and optical drive might have failed • Try floppy drive with DOS or Windows 9x floppy disk • Successful boot from floppy indicates problem with both the hard drive and DVD drive • If able to boot from Vista DVD • Windows logon screen appears • Problem isolated to the hard drive A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  23. Figure 16-12 Select your language preference Courtesy: Course Technology/Cengage Learning A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  24. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears (cont’d.) • Can Windows RE find the Vista installation? • Launch Windows RE • Windows RE attempts to locate Vista installation on the hard drive • If Windows RE cannot locate the installation, but BIOS setup recognizes the drive • Drive partitions and file systems might be corrupted • If Windows RE does locate the installation • Problem likely limited to corrupted or missing system files or drivers • Attempt fixes: restart system after each step A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  25. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears (cont’d.) • Can Windows RE find the Vista installation? (cont’d.) • Run Startup Repair • Sometimes fixes drastic problems with system files, boot records • Run System Restore • Process won’t help if file system corrupted • Restart system and launch Advanced Boot Options menu • No boot menu: problem may be corrupted boot sector • Boot menu appears: probable BCD file or other startup file problem A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  26. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears (cont’d.) • Can Windows RE find the Vista installation? (cont’d.) • Restart system, launch Advanced Boot Options menu (cont’d.) • If boot menu appears: enable boot logging and reboot • Check boot log (\Windows\ntbtlog.txt) for the last entry • Might indicate which system file missing or corrupt • If boot menu does not appear: • Return to Windows RE, launch command prompt window, and attempt to repair boot sector A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  27. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears (cont’d.) • Can Windows RE find the Vista installation? (cont’d.) • If boot menu does appear: • Return to Windows RE, launch command prompt window, and attempt to repair the BCD file • Try to repair corrupted file system • Use command prompt window and chkdsk c: /r command • When startup files missing or corrupt • Vista may display an error message A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  28. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears (cont’d.) • Can Windows RE find the Vista installation? (cont’d.) • Use command prompt window to access drive C • Get to C prompt: use DIR command to list folders and files • Good list: check log file for clues • Not a good list: most likely Vista installation destroyed beyond repair • Make every effort to copy data to another media A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  29. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears (cont’d.) • Options to recover from a corrupted Vista installation • Option 1: Complete PC backup available • Restore system to last backup • Option 2: Complete PC backup not available and data backups available on hard drive • Install Windows Vista, format hard drive during installation, install all applications again, restore data • Option 3: Complete PC backup and data backup not available • Try to copy data to removable device and reinstall Windows Vista A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  30. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears (cont’d.) • Steps to reinstall Windows Vista when OS refuses to boot and important data on the drive • Boot from Vista DVD, select language, select Install now from opening menu • Follow directions on-screen to install the OS • Enter product key and accept license agreement • Select Custom (advanced) installation • When asked where to install the OS select partition on which Vista installed A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  31. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears (cont’d.) • Steps to reinstall Windows Vista (cont’d.) • Vista setup moves old installation folders into \Windows.Old folder • Clean Vista installation goes in the \Windows folder • Suspect hard drive failing • Copy all data and reinstall Vista again • Healthy hard drive • Run Chkdsk to fix errors • Install all applications and device drivers • Create all user accounts and customize Vista settings • Delete the \Windows.Old folder A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  32. Figure 16-16 Free up disk space by deleting the Windows.Old folder Courtesy: Course Technology/Cengage Learning A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  33. Problems at Stage 1: Before the Progress Bar Appears (cont’d.) • Reinstall Vista on a laptop or brand-name computer • Use hidden partition on hard drive to recover the Windows installation • During startup, press appropriate key for access • Menu should appear with two options: • One option repairs the Windows installation, saving user data • Other options reformats drive C and restores system to purchased setup • If neither method works use recovery CD or DVD A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  34. Problems at Stage 2: After the Progress Bar Appears and Before Logon • Microsoft progress bar appears during the boot • Windows kernel loaded successfully • Critical drivers and services configured to be started by the kernel running • Session Manager (Smss.exe) running in user mode started the Win32 subsystem • If logon screen not displayed: • Probable corrupted driver or service started after kernel finished its part of the boot • Fix by isolating and disabling Windows component, service, or application causing trouble A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  35. Problems at Stage 2: After the Progress Bar Appears and Before Logon • Back up data before focusing on the problem • Follow these steps: • Launch Windows RE from Vista setup DVD • Run Startup Repair from Recovery Environment menu • Reboot, launch the Advanced Boot Options menu • Select the Last Known Good Configuration • In Windows RE, run System Restore A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  36. Problems at Stage 2: After the Progress Bar Appears and Before Logon • Steps (cont’d.) • Try booting into Safe Mode • Immediately run antivirus software • Run Chkdsk c: /r • Examine all logs in Event Viewer • Use Software Explorer, MSconfig to stop applications just installed, then uninstall and reinstall • Use Device Manager to check for hardware errors • Use the System File Checker (SFC) tool • Rename the \Windows\Ntbtlog.txt file A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  37. Problems at Stage 2: After the Progress Bar Appears and Before Logon • Steps (cont’d.) • Boot to the Advanced Boot Options menu and select Enable Boot Logging • Compare the Ntbtlog.txt file to the one created in Safe Mode • Easiest way to view the logs is to boot into Safe Mode and view the files with Notepad • Problem service or device identified • Boot into Safe Mode and use Device Manager to disable • Use Services console to disable A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  38. Problems at Stage 2: After the Progress Bar Appears and Before Logon • Steps (cont’d.) • Cannot boot into Safe Mode • Open Recovery Environment command prompt window • Back up registry, find key that loads services and drivers • Disable service or driver by changing Start value to 0x4 • Reboot, replace program file, and restart service or driver A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  39. Problems at Stage 3: After Windows Logon • Problems caused by applications or services configured to launch at startup • Shortcuts in startup folders, Scheduled Tasks, or software installation processes affecting registry entries • Error message at startup • Disable program using MSconfig A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  40. Table 16-1 Error messages during the Vista startup and what to do about them A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  41. How to Recover Lost Data • Use Windows tools, third party software, or commercial data recovery services • Recovering a deleted or corrupted data file • Look in the Recycle Bin • Use the Recover command • Use application manufacturer’s web site • Find third party software A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  42. How to Recover Lost Data (cont’d.) • Recover data from a computer that will not boot • Remove hard drive and install as a second nonbooting hard drive in another system • Use IDE to USB or a SATA to USB converter kit • Temporarily connect hard drive to a USB port on a working computer • Browse drive and copy data using Windows Explorer • Use a data recovery service • Google “data recovery” • Read up on reviews, understand warranty and guarantees, and get a recommendation A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  43. Troubleshooting Windows 2000/XP Startup • Steps: • Talk to the user • Recent changes, conditions right before error, new hardware or software, data backup location • Important data not backed up • Make every effort to copy data to another media before working on the Windows problem • Determine point in the boot where system fails • For problems related to hardware check simple things first A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  44. Troubleshooting Windows 2000/XP Startup (cont’d.) • Steps (cont’d.) • Error message displayed on-screen • Start by addressing it • Problem software related and cannot boot to desktop • Boot to the Advanced Options menu • Select the Last Known Good Configuration • Can boot load Windows desktop • If system giving many errors or is extremely slow, suspect a virus and run antivirus software A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  45. Table 16-2 Error messages during Windows 2000/XP startup and what to do about them A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  46. Troubleshooting Windows 2000/XP Startup (cont’d.) • Steps (cont’d.) • System recently changed • Assume installation is guilty until proven innocent • New application or utility program installed • Go to Control Panel Add or Remove Programs applet • Uninstall software and reboot • System will not start normally • Boot into Safe Mode and XP recognizes System Restore used • Launch System Restore Wizard • Choose a restore point A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  47. Figure 16-21 Windows XP gives you the opportunity to launch System Restore before it loads Safe Mode Courtesy: Course Technology/Cengage Learning A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  48. Troubleshooting Windows 2000/XP Startup (cont’d.) • Steps (cont’d.) • After boot into Safe Mode • Use SFC, Chkdsk, and Defrag commands • Cannot boot into Safe Mode • Try Safe Mode with Command Prompt • Use SFC, Chkdsk, and Defrag commands • Cannot boot from hard drive • Create and use a Windows 2000/XP boot disk A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  49. Troubleshooting Windows 2000/XP Startup (cont’d.) • Steps (cont’d.) • Cannot boot from Windows 2000/XP boot disk • Load Recovery Console • Try to restore system files • Problem still not solved • Assume Windows installation corrupted • Need to restore Windows installation • Try various tools to restore A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

  50. Summary • Solve Windows problems by using strategies and techniques • Diagnosing a Windows problem • Problems involve hardware, applications, and Windows • Problems occur after the boot with hardware or software • Problems occur during the boot • Determining the best tool for each situation • Solving Windows Vista boot problems • Different from solving Windows XP/2000 boot issues A+ Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC, 7e

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