Using a computer can be a boon to productivity and entertainment, but when it begins to cause problems, it can be one of the most irritating phases of your life. Since dependency on computers has gone by leaps and bound today, any downtime would be subject to losses financially as well as hampers efficiency. In the process, if you end up losing some date, that would be an icing on the cake. In this scenario, it is worth keeping your computer under an annual maintenance contract with a hardware maintenance company in the neighborhood to avoid such plaguing problems with your computer infrastructure. Most problems today like the blue screen of death are software related, but hardware faults are not ruled out. This article examines the top 10 computer errors and the ways of fixing them.
1. Hardware Conflict: This is the most common reason for a computer crash. A conflict occurs when two different pieces of hardware installed on your computer try to share the same IRQ (Interrupt request channel). If you have too many accessories installed on your computer, an IRQ or hardware conflict is a common occurrence. The simplest solution for this would be look at IRQ’s being used at any point of time and reinstalling the device that is trying to find an IRQ or using repeated IRQ with another piece of hardware.
2. Fatal Exception: RAM or random access memory is the memory that your computer uses to do temporary work while processing. A bad component here could cause your computer to crash. Normally this is called a “Fatal Exception”. This could also mean a serious hardware problem, but this is normally caused by a bad RAM chip or a mismatched RAM chip. Mismatch happens when the RAM’s being used in your computer are of different speeds and the hardware is trying to run all of them at a lower speed. This error is best avoided by replacing the RAM chips of mismatched speed and making sure that all chips are working on the same speed. Temporarily, you can increase the RAM wait state in the BIOS settings on your computer.
3. BIOS Settings: You computer comes with an integrated motherboard that has a BIOS chip embedded on it. This embedded chip has integrated settings that are useful for the computer to function. A change in these settings or if the settings are wrongly set, can play havoc with your computer causing it to crash. To access the settings of the BIOPS chip, you will need to press the “Del” or the “F2” key on your computer. You will come to the settings screen, check for any inconsistencies like the CAS latency that may not suit the latency of your RAM or the IRQ settings. Do not change what you do not know, make changes only if you are confident of what you are doing. You could end up doing more damage otherwise.
4. Hard Disk Drives: Slowing down of your computer is an issue that can be addressed by optimizing your hard disk space. Every few weeks of use, your hard disk will get fragmented (stores files in parts at various locations) and you will need to de-fragment the same for better performance.
5. VXD Errors and OE Exceptions: These are “fatal” errors normally caused by video card issues. The easiest way to rectify these is to reduce the resolution.
6. Viruses: This is the most widespread problem in the IT industry. Viruses, contrary to normal perception can cause a lot of more harm than just running malicious code. A virus can also cause you to lose critical data and corrupt windows system files resulting in you computer stalling. The only way to prevent this is to have anti-virus software installed on your computer and configure it to scan everything that comes in or goes out.
7. Software: Improper installation of software or installation on incompatible software can cause your windows system to crash. The only way out of this is to uninstall the software and install it properly only if you think it is fully compatible with the version of windows you are running.
8. Printers: A system crash may occur when you send large documents to the printer. In such a scenario, you will need to switch off your printer for a few seconds and turn it on again. Since printer memories are small, they only take pieces of files sent to print and this causes the computer to stall temporarily.
9. Overheating: All of today’s CPU’s generate a lot of heat since as the technology progresses, CPU manufacturers are packing more and more transistors into the CPU. Overheating of the CPU causes a kernel error. Although all CPU’s come fitted with an optimal cooling fan, installing a extra fan inside the CPU would be a good investment.
10. Power Supply Problems: One of the most sensitive parts of your computer is the power supply and it is susceptible to a host of problems caused mainly by power surges. To keep it protected, investing in a good surge suppressor or a UPS is recommended.
The above are the 10 major computer problems that we normally face and their remedies.