Testing the Computer System (P7)

As I mentioned earlier, general hardware tests should be made right after the computer system has been assembled. Although lacking an OS, you can still see whether your hardware is working the way it’s supposed to.

The first step when testing is to look at the BIOS messages. Every time you start your computer, right before your OS loads, the BIOS makes checks to make sure everything is running well. If it encounters any errors it will notify you. If it doesn’t, chances are, there is no major damage, or connection problems, on your components. Most importantly, it will notify you if the CPU fan is spinning slowly or failed. If you don’t notice in time, your processor will rapidly accumulate heat and eventually melt. Note that you can freeze the initial boot screen by pressing the “Pause/Break” key.

After checking the initial boot screen, you may want to go in the BIOS Setup. You should check whether all the devices are recognized and that the temperatures are normal.

From the picture above you can see the processor make and specifications. You can also see that there is a HDD and an

Optical Drive

currently operational. The RAM is 4093MB and it’s operating at 800 MHz. This means that the hardware is connected properly and it’s recognized by the system. The next step is to check the processor temperature, which should be in another tab. 40 degrees centigrade is a normal temperature for a processor when idle, and up to 50-60 when under stress. If your temperature is above 60, check the CPU fan RPM from the BIOS Settings. If the fan is spinning and the temperature is still high, check whether the CPU Cooler is making good contact and replace the thermal paste. Otherwise consider buying a new Cooling System.

Hard drive problems are rare, especially on new ones. After some time the hard drive platter might get physically damaged. The damaged area is no longer usable and it’s marked as a bad sector. Windows Scan Disk (or Check Disk) is a tool that scans for errors and bad sectors and tries to recover damaged data. You can access it by going to Windows Explorer and going in the properties menu of the hard drive that you want to scan. From the Tools tab find the Error-checking panel and click the “Check now…” button. Select both checkboxes and click scan. If the system tells you that the drive is currently being used, click on schedule now and it will run the next time you start the system. If bad sectors are found, and the hard drive is still under warranty, contact the vendor for a replacement. Otherwise consider buying a new one. If the hard drive is not replaced, the bad sectors may increase and you may lose your data.

Memory problems are unusual, but still possible. To diagnose RAM Problems do the following:

1.      Go to start menu

2.      Type “diagnose memory problems” in the search bar

3.      Choose either to restart now or to check problems the next start up

The memory diagnostic utility is very effective. When it starts you can press F1 to choose the type of the performed test (Basic, Standard, and Extended). After it finishes, it would tell you whether any problems have been detected. If there are, you should replace the chip. Also keep in mind that problems may be caused by incompatibility issued between two different chips. This may cause occasional BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) appearances, system crashes and inexplicable restarts.

Video card problems can be detected when running 3D benchmarks and games. A 3D Benchmarking tool is Furturemark 3D Mark. The problems are usually distortions in the picture and may be caused either by the GPU or the Video RAM. VRAM artifacts are horizontal or vertical lines in 2D applications or spikes in 3D games. The corrupted amount of VRAM is usually small, but it can still be noticed. When those problems are diagnosed, you should replace your video card. GPU problems are major distortions in the picture with many random colors. Everything is barely recognizable. This may be caused by overheating issues, so check the Graphics card fan. If it is working and the Video card is still hot, you should consider replacing the cooling system with a more powerful one. Underclocking is another option, although it leads to loss of performance. Sometimes problems may disappear when updating the Video card drivers with the latest version.

External devices should also be checked. The mouse should be able to move and the keyboard should be able to input letters and numbers. The picture of the monitor should be clear and still (should not flicker). Some audio should be played to test the speakers (headphones) and the microphone should be tested too. The printer should be working – this can be tested by printing a test page. If any problems occur, check the cables and update the drivers. If they continue, test the hardware on other systems and as a final measure, contact the vendor.