NASARAWA STATE POLYTECHNIC

P.M.B 109, LAFIA

DEPT: COMPUTER SCIENCE NDII

COURSE: COMPUTER SYSTEM TROUBLESHOOTING II

COURSE CODE: 226

ASSIGNMENT

DATE: 3/10/2013

GROUP SEVEN (7) MEMBERS

S/N	NAMES	REG.NO
1	ABDULATEEF TAJUDEEN	11/143
2	ISHAKU AARON BUKAR	11/144
3	FATIMA LIMAN KYARI	11/145
4	SADIQ ABUBAKAR MOHAMMED	11/146
5	IBRAHIM MOHAMMED	11/147
6	ONUORA BLESSING OGADIMA	11/171
7	RASHIDAT ISMAILA	11/172
8	OGUNGBEEMI ABOSEDE RUTH	11/173
9	AKWAJI AUGUSTINE ODEY	11/174
10	ONIAH SUNDAY EKUNKE	11/175

QUESTIONS:

1.   In Power-On-Self-Test, how does errors are being display? List and explain the three ways in which POST errors are displayed.

2.   In diagnostics of operating system for general troubleshooting of windows bug check (stop blue screen) codes, list some of the following suggestion you will recommend to follow. 

3.    In Step-by-step, describe the basic start-up process.

4.   The basic tools should be use in every troubleshooting toolbox are?

QUESTION 1

INTRODUCTION

Post error message is an error message displayed on the monitor during the Power-On-Self-Test if the BIOS encounter some kind of problem while starting PC. A POST error message will only display on screen if the computer is capable of booting this far. If the post detests an error before booting point, a beep code or POST code will be generate instead.

The POST error messages are usually fairly descriptive and should give you enough information to begin troubleshooting whatever problem error message POST screen message.

The POST error message can be displayed in the following ways;

Ø Monitor

Ø Beep codes

Ø POST codes

SCREEN (MONITOR)

The Power  On Self Test error message will be displayed on the screen only if the computer is capable of booting this far. This is because some Power On Self Test are detected before the bootstrap process can occur as such, cannot be displayed on the screen. For example; a friend complained that the POST error message that was on my screen said that the CMOS battery had failed on my motherboard. 

BEEPS CODES

Beep codes are used by the BIOS during the POST to report certain initial system errors. If you are hearing beep codes after you turn your computer on, it typically means that the system has encountered some kind of problem before it was able to display any kind of error information on the monitor.

Beep code troubleshooting is based on your motherboard’s BIOS manufacturer such as AMI, Award, Phoneix, IBM.

POST CODE

POST code is a hexadecimal code generated can be viewed using a POST test card. POST codes correspond directly to tests that are taking place by the POST, when a POST test card stops at a specific POST code during the boot process, that specific code can be referenced to a list of possible POST codes generated by your specific BIOS and can help determine what the problem is.

QUESTION 2

For general troubleshooting of windows bug check codes, follow these suggestions.

1.   If you recently added hardware to the system, try removing or replacing it or check with the manufacturer to see if any patches are available.

2.   You can try running the hardware diagnostics supplied by the system manufacturer.

3.   Check with the manufacturer to see if an updated system BIOS or fireware is available.

4.   Make sure that any expansion board is properly seated and all cables are completely connected.

5.   Confirm that any new hardware that is installed is compactable with the installed version of windows. For example, you can get information about compatibility with window 7 at the windows 7 compatibility center.

6.   If new device drivers or system services have been added recently, try removing or updating then;

Note: Use safe mode when removing or disabling components. To enter safe mode, restart your computer and press F8, it will character-mode menu of that operating system, at the Windows Advanced Option menu, choose safe mode.

7.    Run a virus detection program

8.   Verify that the system has the latest service pack installed.

9.   Disable BIOS Memory Option such as Caching or Shadowing.

10.                Check the System Log and Application Login Event Viewer to see if any additional error messages have been logged recently. These might pinpoint the cause of the error. 

QUESTION 3

Start up process

i.             Applying Power

PC initialization starts when you turn the system on. If all output voltage from the power supply is valid, the supply generates a Power Good (PG) logical signal between 100ms and 500ms. When the motherboard timer IC receives the PG signal, the CPU starts processing.

ii.            The  Bootstrap

It is the very first operation performed by the CPU. It involve the initial search for the address FFFF:0000h and the subsequent redirection of the CPU. This address is almost at the end of available ROM space, as such the instruction is almost always a jump command (JMP) followed by actual BIOS ROM starting address.

iii.           Core Test

The core tests are part of the overall Power-On-Self-Test (POST) sequence, which is the most important use of a system BIOS during initialization. It involve the check of hardware to ensure that everything is present and functioning properly before the BIOS begins the actual boot. If it is successful, the system will respond with a single beep from the speaker.

iv.          Finding and Loading the Operating System

At this stage, the system needs to load an operating system. The first step is to have the BIOS search for an Operating System Volume Boot Sector (VBS) on the A: drive, if it is not  found in A: drive it move to drive C: but if the Operating System is found in drive A: BIOS will load sector1 from the VBS into memory, starting at 0000:7C00h.  The IO.SYS will load followed by MSDOS: SYS if it is a DOS. Then it will lead the user to the default desktop environment. 

QUESTION 4

1.   Installing and Running Troubleshooting Tools

Troubleshooting instability and startup problems, and restoring system and data files.

2.   Disaster Recovery Tools

Troubleshooting problems related to startup, applications, and services.

3.   Application and Service Tools

Troubleshooting a computer that is in a remote location

4.   Remote Management Tools

Maintaining disks and volumes to prevent problems before they occur.

5.   Disk and Maintenance Tools

Troubleshooting problems caused by incompatible, missing, or corrupted driver and system files.

6.    System Files Tools

Monitoring and Troubleshooting network performance problems.

7.   Support Tools

Are optional tools that you might find useful for troubleshooting.

8.   Debugging Tools

Enables advanced users to diagnose and troubleshoot complex problems that might not be solved by other means.

9.   Malware bytes Anti-malware

10.               K-lite codec pack

11.               Notepad++

12.               Peazip

13.               Revo uninstaller