5 PC troubleshooting tips

Whenever something breaks on a computer, many people assume it’s time for the inevitable trip to the PC repair shop where you may or may not be charged for something that you could do yourself. Admittedly, some things are best left to the experts to diagnose.

However, these days it’s pretty difficult to break them while diagnosing an issue. Today we’re giving you 5 PC troubleshooting tips you can use for your own computer in the event of something breaking down.

1) Were any updates or drivers recently installed?

Although hardware drivers and software is often rigorously tested by companies responsible for supporting their products, it’s impossible for companies to test with every single computer configuration out there to make sure things are 100% bug-free. Sometimes, drivers and software updates can ship with bugs in them that cause software to fail.

If you find that your problems began after a driver or an update was installed, or your game was recently patched, try uninstalling or rolling back any patches and see how things work.

2) Are all the plugs in the right place?

That one…the yellow one…yes, that’s the problem right there!

If you are sure it’s not a driver or software issue, you can safely open up the side of your chassis to make sure all the plugs are in their sockets and nothing seems to be dangling when it shouldn’t be. Check that all the power cables for the motherboard are plugged in firmly; the same goes for your GPU – if it needs extra power and has open power connectors, those need to be used.

This also extends to the components themselves. Sometimes RAM modules pop out of their slots. Over time, heavy graphics cards can bend pins inside their PCI-Express slot. Unless your chassis has a warranty sticker on it, taking a peek inside won’t do any harm.

3) Its almost always not a virus

Some techies go by the rule: “Its never a virus.” For a lot of PCs that’s certainly the case, but there are instances where viruses are the culprit. Some viruses spread using adverts on dodgy websites, banners telling you you’ve won $1 billion, or through flash drives when you copy over some data.

Malware is what commonly gets onto a PC and infects it with one or a number of viruses through a security bypass, known as a “back door”. Some viruses can’t copy themselves onto your system unless you click on an advert, or install an app you found that appears to be cool.

If you do suspect it’s a virus and you don’t think your current antivirus is working, you can load up McAfee’s free online virus scanner. It does require an internet connection to work properly, but it’s a useful piece of software.

4) It could be a broken peripheral or connector

Some peripherals can cause severe issues as well. Those 16GB flash drives sold by street vendors for R100 might look like a bargain, but I once tested one that kept on freezing a user’s computer. Every time he plugged it in, it would crash Windows and the system would reboot. I’ve also seen a motherboard that I diagnosed as having faulty PS/2 ports. As soon as I used USB peripherals, the problem went away.

See if your USB cables are plugged in correctly. If you live by the sea, are they rusted and are the pins covered in dirt? If it’s a wireless mouse, have the batteries gone flat or has it lost signal because of interference? Have any pins inside the monitor cables been bent or damaged?

“Yes sir, I think I know what your problem is!”

5) It could be a hardware issue

By the time you reach this part of the guide, your problem must be something that’s not a simple fix. Perhaps it’s faulty memory, an old power supply, or a broken GPU. Perhaps your system is overheating because of broken fans, dry thermal paste, or your PC doesn’t like being stuffed in a cupboard or under a desk.

In these cases, step 5 requires more digging and Googling to find the root cause. Often, this goes along much quicker if you have spare hardware to test with and an experienced friend to help. Make sure your PC has enough ventilation. Does your issue only happen when copying data or playing a game? That could be a hard drive issue or something to do with your GPU.

Some people, though, get to this step, check everything themselves and take it to the technician anyway. At least by now you’ll be able to tell the technician four vital things: Its not a virus, no software has been updated, all the cables seem to be in place, and it’s not a broken peripheral.

Knowing all of this beforehand makes the technician’s job much easier and your PC should be returned faster because of your work – and PC guys love customers like that.