Compare a range of hardware and software troubleshooting tools.
Hardware tools and techniques for troubleshooting IT related issues.
The many hardware tools and methods used by technicians to troubleshoot various computer issues are listed below. With the use of the following tools and the application of certain approaches to determine and resolve in the most expedient convenient way, the technician assistance would be able to resolve computer difficulties in a faster, safer, and more effective manner.
1. Self-routine test
Self-routine tests are tests that are performed by the system itself to
determine if anything is out of the ordinary as it will alert the technician
when there is a problem starting up hardware. E.g. POST (Power on self-test) is
the firmware that launches when a computer system is turned on, this
self-routine test will indicate if there are any issues with the hardware (as a
common problem with installing hardware is configuring the hardware with the
computer then starting up the hardware). If there is a problem the computer
will start making bleeping noises, letting the technician know that there is
something wrong with hardware, (if the technician only just installed a new
piece of hardware and found this problem then he would already know that there
has been an error installing the hardware). This type of problem and
troubleshooting technique would be used a lot when working with older computers
with older components that can fail a lot easier issues can arise down to
general hardware failure or faulty components as well.
2. Monitoring devices
Monitoring devices are programs tools or equipment that
can help you monitor systems and aid computer networks and computer security.
This device or program can help technicians know when there is a problem, an
example would be if the servers went down then there was no internet an alert
would notify the technicians about this. You can use application tools to ping
other networks for a network response to find out if there is a connection
there or not. (An example would be if two users were in a chatroom one user
could ping another to check to see if their network is still allowing them
access to the chatroom network)
3. Suitable Tools
Below I have listed the tools that are used most commonly
by technicians to help identify and troubleshoot problems much faster. This can
save technician time and save Bolton college money and it also increases work
efficiency and tasks being completed in a health and safety manner.
Electronic voltmeters are used to in electrical
diagnosis. It is an electrical engineering tool that measures the voltage of
electrical circuits (e.g. a motherboard/power supply unit) to measure the
capacity, resistance, voltage and tolerance of the circuit board. The tool uses
a positive and a negative cable that connects the circuit board to the
voltmeter to read the systems voltage.
Screwdrivers are essential technician tools and are used
for opening and closing most computer hardware and components. Technicians will
not be able to open the hardware without the correct screwdrivers to fit the
correct screws (different hardware and system models will use different size
screws), they are also used for opening peripherals such as mice, keyboards,
printers, plotters etc.
3.4 Torches
Torches are not essential but can aid technicians majorly
to see the components more clearly. If there was a damaged component that a
technician may not be able to clearly see inside of the system, then it will
prolong the maintenance and cost more time and money. A small torch is very
effective at looking at internal components for hardware failure faults.
An anti-static wrist strap is used for health and safety
precautions when operating on computer hardware or other electrical items. It
is used to ground a person to avoid a build-up of electrostatic discharge, this
can break electrical components causing them not to work anymore. To ground
yourself make sure you’re ESD strap is around your wrist,
4. Software tools and techniques
Below I’ve listed software tools that are used by
technicians and the techniques that technicians can use to troubleshoot and
resolve common software issues that occur in software of computers.
Test
utilities are built in utility tools by the OS manufacturers to help aid
computer users, these tools (disk defragmentation/disk clean-up) will help
clean up the computer’s memory and arrange it in an order to what the computer
can read in a faster input/output compared to the memory files and data in a
fragmented order.
Due to the mixture of today’s technology and how
organisations can’t suffer any form of virus attacks. It’s become more common
over the centuries and will continue to grow over the future as well making it
mandatory for organisations to be on top of their security from virus attacks.
The most popular method is for the technician support to use anti-virus software along with
scheduled scans and checks on the systems to make sure that there are no
viruses. This is one of the most important troubleshooting software for protecting
organisations from cyber-attacks.
5. Troubleshooting techniques
Below is a list of troubleshooting techniques used by
technicians to help locate computer related issues and methods that can be used
to amend these issues resulting in better computing performance results.
5.1 Substitution
Substitution is when swap a component for either the same
component or an alternative component to test and identify troubleshooting
issues in that area and to receive the same or better computing results. This
could be substituting a fixed hard drive for a portable drive for memory uses.
If there is sign of hardware failure with the hard drive and the substitution
component (fixed drive/portable drive) works fine. Then you know to replace
that component to resolve the troubleshooting issues found on the system. This
will also improve performance results on the computer system.
5.2 Test
Test is when you then check the new component to make
sure that it is functioning correctly and at the speed it should be. Some
components like hard drives and RAM need to be booted up in BIOS and configured
digitally after being connected to function with the computer before they can
function with the system. Tools such as multi-meters can also be used to test
hardware components to aid technicians find the fault (this would usually be
sign of no voltage readings from the component.
5.3 Change of component and settings
Change is when you swap a component for the same
component for a better computer performance. An example would be swapping RAM
memory as it’s a common cheap easy change procedure used by technicians and
general computing users to fix any memory saving problems and to add more
memory to the computer.
Most hardware has configuration settings that can be
changed to match the system more accurately, sometimes the wrong settings can
make the system incompatible with the hardware. Therefore, settings must be
checked because sometimes issues can arise for example a printer may not be
printing correctly at not at all due to the incorrected settings being set in
advance such as paper size, colour format and which system to connect too.
5.4 Upgrade
Technicians
upgrade computers systems or internal components when there is a problem with
the old component it is currently using. If it may be not performing to an
efficient standard or the component is completely broken, the computer system
will be unable to function correctly without the aid of the component
performing at a standard, requiring an upgrade to fix this issue.
Upgrades can
also be taken place with software issues as-well as older software is most
likely going to have more potential bugs found in them, an example would be
Microsoft word 2001 having problems using some of the features, but by
upgrading to Microsoft word 2010 and being able to use the features you have
fixed any errors by applying the upgrade.
5.5 Reinstalling software
Sometimes
there can be bugs in software programs, resulting in errors using the software
such as it crashing and closing unexpectedly. Sometimes it can require a
reinstallation of the software which can help fix certain bugs such as
installing problems, start-up problems and the software not working for the
first time.
5.6 Elimination
Elimination
is the process of troubleshooting by testing each component individually, if
there is a faulty component issue then multi-meters can be used also to speed
up the testing process. By testing each component, Hard drive, CPU, modem etc.
The technician support can tick them off the list if they are in working condition until the
technicians find the faulty component that isn’t working.
5.7 Apply bug fixes
Sometimes
software programs need updating, the updates could be debugging to fix any
potential program problems. If the technician support encounter bugs, then they should report
the bug to the vendor, either by on their website or by email. Usually, bugs
would be frequent for everyone using the software to encounter, therefore the
vendors would usually notify all software users about a patch that can be
downloaded to fix the bug issue.
5.8 Generating error codes
Error
codes are diagnostics features displayed to aid the technician or computer
users with what the issue may be. For example, if the technician tried loading
the internet and got error 404, then he knows there is a network problem that
needs considering. By using and understanding error codes technicians can
become familiar with the errors they receive and will be able to put
troubleshooting methods into action by memory.
