1001: Hardware and Network Troubleshooting Flashcards
List the steps involved in the troubleshooting process.
- Identify the problem
- Establish theory of probable cause
- Test theory to determine cause
- Establish a plan of action
- Verify functionality
- Document your findings
When a computer experiences a blue screen of death (BSOD) or pinwheel of death, what component of the computer is likely at fault?
Operating system
Power or operating system issues can cause abrupt shutdowns, but what could be a probable cause of a computer unexpectedly restarting?
Overheating
Interruptions in the power supply signal to the motherboard
A computer is locked up and not responding to any input from the keyboard or mouse. What are 3 probable causes of this lockup?
Memory issues
Virus or Malware
Bad Video Driver
When the computer encounters an error before it is able to reach a point with video output, what is used to indicate the error?
Beep Codes
While the computer is booting up, what is generally indicative of one short beep?
Everything in the POST test was okay
What is an important consideration when interpreting beep codes?
Each motherboard manufacturer may have different codes
You turn your computer on and you can hear the fan running, but the computer does not initiate the boot process. What could be the issue?
Motherboard is not receiving power
What may be a symptom of a dying CMOS battery?
Having to continually reset the system time
What is “chip creep” and what is its primary cause?
When motherboard components unseat themselves due to repeated heating and cooling of the PC (poor air circulation)
What is the risk of leaving slot covers open/exposed without an expansion card installed?
Allows dust to enter the system
If a computer is making loud noises it is generally caused by a moving component. What components within a computer could be the cause of noise?
Fan and hard drive (except SSDs)
What might be happening if the fans on the PC are spinning, but some of your external devices are not receiving power?
The power being drawn by one or more devices is exceeding the output of the power supply
In Windows, what is the most common cause when receiving BSOD error messages such as:
Data_Bus_Error
Unexpected_Kernel_Mode_Trap
Page_Fault_in_nonpaged_area
Most often a hardware problem, either installing bad hardware or existing hardware has gone bad.
Overclocking the CPU can sometimes cause this as well
What has likely happened when receiving the BSOD error message: irq1_not_less_or_equal
A kernel driver was attempting to access a memory address which it does not have permission. Likely a driver version incompatibility.
What is Apple’s proprietary version of Microsoft’s BSOD?
PWOD (Pinwheel of death)
If you receive the PWOD on an Apple device while running one specific application, it could possibly be an application permission issue. What tool can you use to resolve permission issues?
“Permission Repair” under the Disk Utility tool
You are experiencing a PWOD with a single application and want to clear the dynamic link editor cache to help resolve the issue. What is this cache and how do you clear it?
Recently used entry points to the dynamic link library.
Launch Terminal, use the command:
sudo update_dyld_shared_cache -force
Where can the recovery drive be found on an OS X device, and how can you boot a device from this drive to recover a corrupted system?
It is a partition on the local hard drive.
After the chime on startup, hold Command+R and select to boot from the recovery partition
What are some signs that a capacitor may be going bad? What symptoms can a bad capacitor cause?
Capacitor appears swollen, brown residue
Can cause intermittent reboots
What is an early warning sign of a failing hard drive?
Read/write failures
What is happening when a drive makes loud clicking sounds, known as the “click of death”?
The heads are making contact with the platters
What can be indicated by receiving an “IDE drive not ready” message when booting a system?
Drive may not be spinning fast enough to read
What does the acronym SMART stand for when talking about drives?
Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology
RAID can be software or hardware implemented. What is used to manage a hardware-based RAID array?
Controller Card
You have installed a new RAID array but cannot get it to function. you have checked all cables and cards to ensure they are connected and seated correctly. What could the problem be?
RAID needs to be enabled in the BIOS
The PC may have an integrated RAID controller causing conflicts.
In the event of a failed hard drive in a RAID 1 (mirrored) array, how can you determine the bad drive?
Remove each drive 1 by 1, rebooting in between until you find the bad drive. Replace the drive and rebuild the array.
What happens when more than one drive fails in a RAID 5 array?
The array cannot be rebuild. You must replace the bad drives, rebuild the array, and restore the data from backup.
You boot a system after replacing a bad drive in a RAID array and the PC cannot find the OS file. What likely happened?
The system rearranged the drives when the bad drive was replaced
When a display reverts back to 16-bit VGA mode and does not function at the video card’s supported resolution level, what is most often the issue?
Video driver (not installed or incorrect version)
What are some indicators of an overheating video card?
Garbled display, flickering, or the display failing shortly after rebooting
What is the probable cause of a projector shutting down unexpectedly after some use?
Overheating bulb, allow to cool and then try restarting
What’s the difference between a “stuck” pixel and a “dead” pixel?
Stuck - filled with a single color and will not change
Dead - black with no color
Your PC has an LCD screen that is very dim and hard to read. Adjusting the screen brightness does not help. What is likely the issue?
Since it is LCD, the backlight is likely going bad
What may happen to a display if there is a mismatch between the resolution and the screen refresh rates?
Flickering image
What is the most common cause of a screen displaying a distorted image?
Power issues
What types of displays are most susceptible to burn-in? When are these displays most susceptible?
Plasma and OLED
Within the first few hours of operation
A laptop has a NiCad battery and has troubles staying powered on under battery power for longer than 30 minutes. What is likely the issue?
The battery is susceptible to having a “memory” and needs to be discharged completely to restore its memory
What can often be the culprit of a ghost cursor on a laptop?
Overly sensitive trackpad, possibly by overheating. Updating drivers often resolves
What is a common way to fix pointer drift on a Windows machine with multiple displays?
Adjust the scaling settings for multiple monitors
What tool on Android mobile devices allows you to test and troubleshoot the functionality of a touch screen?
Device Diagnostics Tool
What must be enabled on mobile devices in order to send and receive encrypted emails?
S/MIME
What often causes lithium-ion batteries to swell?
Overcharging
What is the issue if you pull a printed sheet off a laser printer and you can smear the toner with your finger?
Fuser problem
What can cause excessive smearing on an inkjet page?
Damaged in cartridge or print head
What could be the cause of ghost images on a laser printed page?
Bad erasure lamps or cleaning blade
What is the most common problem encountered with laser printers due to the speed at which they operate?
Paper jams
What happens to the paper passing through a laser printer if the static eliminator strip is damaged or not operating?
The paper will stick to the drum and jam
On a laser printer, what are likely causes of vertical black lines on a printed page?
A scratch on the EP drum
Dirty charge corona wire
What is the most common cause of vertical white lines on a laser printed page?
Debris or toner on the transfer corona wire
How often should you clean the print heads on an inkjet printer?
At least once a month
Where is a problem likely rooted if you can ping a remote device by IP address but not hostname?
DNS failing to resolve
What command can be used to clear the local DNS cache on a PC?
ipconfig /flushdns
A user can reach everything within their own internal network just fine, but cannot reach the internet or anything external to the network. What are two possible causes of this?
Default gateway configuration
DNS issues
What is the advantage of a device assigning itself an APIPA or link-local address when none is assigned and a DHCP server is not avaialble?
It allows the device to communicate with other devices that have similar addresses
What can be done to resolve an IP address conflict when DHCP is active and in use?
Release and renew the IP address lease on the affected host
