Computer hardware problems
Computer hardware problems can be anything
from very minor annoyances to total, full-blown grief. You might be able
to live with the fact that the "F9" key on your keyboard sticks when you
push it down, but if you're trying to load something from a CD that you
just slid into your CD drive, and Windows says you don't have a CD
drive, that's a problem of a different magnitude.
What causes computer hardware problems?
Overall, computers are incredibly fast and
reliable devices. The typical personal computer can perform from several
million to several billion calculations in a second, day after day, year
in and year out. They achieve all this speed and reliability with
solid state technology. A solid state device uses the electrical
properties of semiconductors and avoids using moving parts or relying on
the electrical properties of a vacuum. Probably the best known solid
state device is a transistor, although there are several others.
Although solid state technology is both
fast and reliable, it can and does fail. Solid state devices are
sensitive to excessive heat and voltage levels, and when a failure occurs
in a solid state device it can many times be traced back to either an
overheating or power surge event.
Computers, however, are not 100% solid
state. There are moving parts involved; the most obvious example is the
keyboard - although mice, hard drives and optical drives (both CD and DVD)
are other prime examples. Anything with physically moving parts can wear
out, get jammed, etc.
By far the computer component with the most
moving parts, and therefore the most prone to failure, is the keyboard.
Luckily they are also one of the easiest things to replace (unless it's a
laptop keyboard).
The second most common area for hardware
problems is the hard drive. The hard drive is both packed with
electronics and at the same time a mechanical device, so it can be damaged
by either excessive heat or power surges, or it can just wear out. Fixing
problems with a hard drive or replacing it can be tricky simply because
the value of the hard drive lies in the data it holds - all your pictures,
downloaded music, word processing documents, tax returns and whatever else
you've stored on your computer through the years.
Hard drives / hard drive crash
You should be backing up your data
regularly. Many people make the mistake of thinking about backing up
their data after they have a hard drive problem, which could be too
late because hard drives, as mentioned above, are the second most likely
computer hardware component to fail after keyboards.
What can go wrong with a hard drive?
Plenty. Probably the most common term associated with hard drive problems
is "crash," as in "hard drive crash."
Inside your hard drive is a rapidly
spinning platter coated with a thin layer of magnetic material. There are
also magnetic read / write heads that skim along only a few thousandths of
an inch above the surface of the platter whose job is to read the data
off, and write the data onto, that layer of magnetic material. If one of
those heads hits the surface hard for some reason, it can gouge the
magnetic material rendering the data stored there inaccessible. This is a
what is referred to as a hard drive crash.
Although many people refer to any severe
problem with a hard drive as a crash, there are other things that can go
wrong, for example:
We realize how important your data is to
you. If you are experiencing any of the symptoms above
contact us today. Let us ask you a few
questions to better understand your situation and we'll provide you with a
free estimate. We'll work hard to recover as much of your data as
possible and either get your drive up and running again or replace it if
necessary.
Devices not working correctly or at all
One very frustrating computer problem is
when you have some device that either doesn't work correctly or doesn't
work at all. There are two categories of problems here: a new device that
you can't get to work in the first place and a device that used to work
but has stopped for some reason.
If you have a new device that you can't get
to work usually your best course of action is to contact either the store
you purchased it from or the manufacturer. Many times the issue is that
your new gizmo will never work because it either isn't supported on your
current PC hardware or your current version of Windows. If that's the
case the only option is to find your receipt and return the item.
If, however, your new device is supported
on your PC and your version of Windows, then things are no different than
if you had a device that used to work but stopped. Here is a partial list
of what might cause this:
