1. What are some basic trouble shooting tips?
2. What can I try to test Internet connection problems?
3. When is the problem a virus?
4. How to take full advantage of phone support?
5. What do you mean by "listen to my computer"?
6. Where can I find more help?
7. Email Support@starnetpc.com for further help.

Start with the basics. 

• If your mouse jumps around, it may just be dirt on the rollers inside the mouse.
• If your system turns off unexpectedly, check the power plug.
• If your password will not work, check your username and domain name.
• If you are getting annoyed, take a break and let your sub-conscious work through it.

If you think you know what it may be, test your hypothesis.

• If the document will not print in Word, try printing from another program or try printing a different document.  This will narrow down the source of the problem.

When you have narrowed down the cause, go back to the last time it worked.

• If you made changes, change them back.  Find out if anyone else may have changed something.
• Use the default setting.  They are designed to work in most cases.
• Sometimes it is very easy to uninstall and reinstall the program or driver.  If a printer quits working on one computer and works on another computer, reinstall the printer drivers on your machine. 

To start with you need to know how your computer uses the Internet.  In order to Browse the world wide web your computer needs to have a Internet address.  A Internet address is needed so other computers know how to get information back to your computer.  Every computer needs a IP address in order to communicate on the Internet.  This may be a Modem or a Router, that becomes your Gateway to the Internet.  Your computer needs to know the Gateway's IP address.  In order to find the IP address of URL's like www.starnetpc.com, you need Domain Name Servers or DNS servers that have all the IP Addresses for all the URL's.

In order to connect to the Internet and the World Wide Web, you need and Individual IP address, a Gateway IP Address, and at least one DNS Address.

If you use a Modem to connect to the Internet, see if you can hear the usual connection noises.  Have the modem dial your cell phone to see if it is dialing out correctly.

If you have a dedicated connection such as DSL, ISDN, T-1 or Cable or your computer tells you that the modem is connected but you still can not get to the Internet try testing using the PING command  

Using the PING command

1. Go to the computer that you usually can access the Internet with.  If you are using a Internet Proxy server go to that machine.
2. Open a command prompt, a quick way to do this it to click on , select "RUN" and where it says "Open:"  type "Command" and click OK.
3. At the command prompt type in "PING 204.95.160.4" and hit enter.  
4. If the computer responds with a list of "Reply from 204.95.160.4," you are connected so we can go the the next step on line #8
5. If it lists "Request timed out", you can try a different IP but it looks like you are not connected to the Internet.  The problem is somewhere between you and your Internet provider.  Call your Internet Provider to see if there is a problem on there end.
6. If the computer responds Host unreachable your routing or IP settings are not correct.  
7. If there is a hardware or file not found error it is a problem with the Windows Network components or hardware failure on your machine.
8. If you are connected to the Internet but can still not browse the WWW,  try to Ping a website, i.e. "Ping www.yahoo.com" or "Ping www.starnetpc.com".  If you have a "Unknown Host" reply, there is a problem with your DNS server.
9. If you can ping both the IP and the URL by name, but you can view any Web pages, your Browser is the problem.

Diagnosing the problem to be virus is very easy if you have a virus protection program.  Symantec, McAfee or Inoculate IT will detect and help deal with all known viruses.  If you think you have a virus and you already have a protection program, check for an update.  

Most viruses will just annoy you, they do not often cause major damage.  The most of today's Virus, such as the Love Virus are actually executable programs that need to be run.  They do most of the damage as you watch.  Macro virus often can cause your system to hang or lock up in certain programs.

When there is a problem with a system that included free phone support, take advantage of it.  Unfortunately it is very hard to diagnose problems over the phone.  Some providers will not even answer some questions if they feel it is not a problem with their product.  Sometimes you may get very experience people, other times not.  Realize they are going to search out the problem in a knowledge base much like the ones available on the Internet, so here are some tricks to help them help you.

• Make sure you get their name, it is polite and they know you can call back to complain.
• Describe the problem clearly to the support personnel, when it occurs and what you were doing.
• Remember that they can not see what has changed, so tell them everything you can think of until they tell you to stop.
• Make sure you have all they documentation to prove it is their machine they are helping you with.  
• Tell them what steps you have already tried and what you think it could be.
• If you remember something, be sure to mention it.  Anything helps.
• Make your own recommendations, sometimes it may help.

Sometime you can learn a lot form listening.  This is very important if your monitor fails to start.  When a PC starts up, the PC speaker will beep to say all is clear.  There are other 'beep codes' if the system has a problem before even loading Windows or any operating system.  

If a monitor is bad the computer does not stop, so if you monitor will not show a picture listen for the hard drive, if you here the hard drive loading windows is probably stating up and the monitor or video card is not working.  If the monitor is dark only after Windows is loading then the resolution may be too high.

If you hear a hard clank inside your PC your hard drive is most likely malfunctioning.

If you hear your hard drive working all the time and your system is slow, it may be a sign that your system needs more memory.

If you computer becomes very quiet, your fans may have stopped.  Check your fans immediately, if the processor fan stops your processor can over heat.  If its your power supply, it will soon fail.  Get them fixed immediately.

Back to Top

Most computer equipment and software providers have support web sites.  Go to the main site and look for support.  E-mail support may take a while, but sometimes it is the only way to get a response.  Here are some excellent sites and phone numbers for support.

Microsoft Knowledge Base    Search for common problems with Microsoft. Phone (800) 426-9400

Dell Support    Dell has a vast support site to help you with your problems.  Phone (800) 999-3355

CISCO Support    CISCO will help you with problem and programming.  Phone (800) 553-2447

IBM Support    IBM supports mainframes to printers.  Phone (800) 772-2227

www.starnetpc.com    Sick of looking? We will take care of it for you.  Give us a call (613) 263-4133